Hunting Tanks we are...

 So,

Today my buddy Robert and I threw down another Bolt Action game, this being the 4th game for me and Roberts 5th game. Robert wanted to try something a tad bit different today and I was all game for it. He wanted to try out a all tank army against a more balanced list as written in the book. I know, I know, some of you are thinking, "You can't take all tanks! It's not in the rules!" Well, Robert and I love trying out new ways to play games and Heh, this is our game! Oh and we also took about 1100 points to boot, I know crazy huh?

So here is Roberts force below:

4 Sherman's
1 M10

I can't remember which Sherman's he took and I am sure he will chime in when he see's this post.

 My force is as follows:
Veteran 1st Lieutenant with two attendants all armed with SMGs

Squad 1 - Regular 10 man unit with NCO with SMG and a light MG, also equipped with tank grenades.
Squad 2 - Regular 10 man unit with NCO with SMG and a light MG, also equipped with tank grenades.
Squad 3 - Regular 10 man unit with NCO with SMG and a light MG, also equipped with tank grenades.
Squad 4 - Veteran 10 man unit with NCO with SMG and a light MG, also equipped with tank grenades.
All Infantry squads are Tank Hunters 
2 Regular MMG's
1 Regular PaK 38
1 Regular Panzer IV

Total cost 1128 Oh and I forgot to take pictures of my force!

We played scenario 3 Point Defence and we agreed that Robert would be the attacker while I played defender. Below you can see how I deployed, most troops being Hidden as per the scenario rules. the Veterans and the 1st Lieutenant were deployed in the buildings yard in the center.

This scenario uses 3 objective markers which were deployed 6" in from the edges and one in the center of the board. Here is a MMG team covering one objective wondering how they will stop a tank!

 My Panzer IV deployed on the road awaiting the Americans!

And my Pak38 hidden in the wheat fields with another squad of Tank Hunters lying in wait.

Robert opened up with a Preparatory Bombardment and the best he got was 2 pin markers on a few units, while most only got 1 pin marker. So Turn one started with me having to rally most of the units which I was successful with.

Robert got his tanks to come on his left flank and slowly moved towards my line.

 And he push forward on the right flank with the other two tanks, he kept the M10 in reserve. Once both tanks advanced on the right they took their shots at my Panzer IV, but both failed to damage it but caused me two pin markers and also caused me back up!

Turn two started with Robert pushing his tanks on the left closer towards my line. Meanwhile I kept most of my troops hidden not wanting to reveal them just yet. He took aim at my Veterans that moved into the farmhouse and one unlucky veteran was killed by MG fire from the tanks.

On the right the other tanks started to push up and close in. My squad in the wheat field advanced to the hedge line while the Pak 38 took a shot at tanks that revealed themselves on the right, but the gunners missed. Also my Panzer IV took a shot at the approaching tanks but failed to cause any damage, they must still have been shook up from rounds taken earlier.

Turn 3 started with my PaK 38 taking another shot at the Sherman's on the right, but once again they missed, the Panzer IV took another couple of shots from the Tanks approaching on the left, but now the US gunners could not hit anything.

So Feeling lucky, the German tank crew took aim at one of the Sherman's and scored a hit causing it to be knocked out

The Veterans that had moved into the farmhouse decided to move out and head towards the woods next to the Sherman's to get  into a better position to attack the Sherman's. While heading towards the woods one Sherman opened up with it's MG's and they manged to kill 4 more Vets, which was not enough to cause them to test. meanwhile the 1st Lieutenant moved up to assist with his Leadership for the Vets in the next turn.

 My regular unit decided to head towards the two approaching Sherman's that were concentrating on the Vets, while my MMG on the Left went into Ambush awaiting the M10 that was sure to appear.

Turn 4 started with the veterans in striking position to spring their trap but the M10than decided to enter on my left side.

Good thing my MMG team was on Ambush because it opened up on the M10 and got lucky to cause a Pin marker. This worked out for me since the M10 crew decided to open up on my regular troops coming out of the woods, but  their aim was off and no hits were scored.

the next order dice came up German, so the Veterans sprang their attack and since they were Tank Hunters with grenades they caused damage to the Sherman and caused it to catch fire. The crew had enough and lost their nerve and broke and ran.

Seeing that the Veterans did a great job, the PaK 38 trained it's sites on the M10. It was a long shot, so they took it and scored a hit on the M10 causing it to become knocked out.

With three tanks out of four being either knocked out or on fire, Robert called the game giving me my first win in Bolt Action! The Germans had fought off the American armored attack and they would live to fight another day.

So after was all said and done Robert and I sat down to discuss the game and we both came to the same thing. Unsupported armor in this game had the same troubles that real tank commanders in war have now, it is tough! What we also understood was that this was a very unique game with specific army lists. First off, Robert took all tanks and was the attacker, secondly I took all tank grenades giving my troops the Tank Hunter ability. So with that this was not like most games and I would have to say that I had a huge advantage in this fight, but I could have seen this going the other way for me as well. Robert dice rolls were terrible and I was glad that the dice Gods were on my side this time.

Well to sum things up, I know that the standard Bolt Action game is balanced for play, but both Robert and I both agree that this was yet again another great game and we will be playing this in the up coming year. Now I must get working on my Pim Markers and the rules for our little Tale of Three paint challenge.

TK