Desperate Heroes: an AAR

Well its officially Christmas break at Battlefront and that can only mean one thing: time to play some games! I headed over to Steve's place to get in a Late-war game. I've got another lined up against Andrew where we will try out his Early-war Finns against my Soviets in a classic motti ambush game (patterned on the old Roadblock mission).

Today's game ended up being a Desperate Measures match-up with Steve running a Hetzer Panzerkompanie and me running a Hero Motostrelkovy.

Steve's army was 2x Hetzer Platoons (4x tanks), a Beute Panzer platoon of 4x T-34/76, 2x Panzer II Luchs patrols (3x tanks each), and a battery of three Nebelwerfers.

I ran essentially the same list I used against Patrick a few weeks ago, but swapped the AA trucks for three BA-64s.

We rolled up No Retreat, and as I'm a Mechanised Company, I "got" to defend. As a side note, I hate defending. I'm not one to sit in my trenches and let things happen to me. I'm just not cut out to put together a solid defense line and have it hold. I much prefer to get up in there and be erosion itself, rather than be the one eroded. But, them's the breaks when you take a mechanised company: sometimes you gotta defend.

 

The set up was pretty straight forward. I placed my objective center-forward and Steve put his on the hill. From there I placed my Reserve Artillery, the BA64s and a platoon of infantry in reserve. I wanted to start the game with two large platoons to bog down Steve's assault, so I chose to place a Motorstrelk on the hill objective, and the guns on the center line. The IS-2s went in ambush in order to react to whatever gains Steve may make. I wasn't overly happy with my strategy, but there was little else left to do with my small six-platoon force. 

First move to Steve, as he moved the Panzer IIs up in his Recce move, then once more in his proper turn. The T-34s followed at the double along my right flank to threaten the guns.

Steve managed to bag a gun straight away, but my IS-2s deployed from Ambush along the back right flank to block the T-34s and destroying one.

The ZiS-3 guns opened with a volley fire against the Panzer IIs, knocking two out of one platoon and one out of the other in rapid succession. However, the recce stayed in it as they passed their Enjoy the War rolls.

The Hetzers pressed forward, knocking out a few more guns.

Steve launches an ill-fated assault into my ZiS-3 guns. The T-34s had a great shot at rolling them up and succeeded in killing two of them, but one got bogged down dealing with the guns' command team in a building, and the others failed to counterattack. The IS-2s finished the platoon commander, but that platoon also passed its morale to stay in the game.

Steve's Hetzers push forward to tackle the infantry holding the hill objective.

Steve's survivors on the right duck into the woods to get away from the IS-2s.

The IS-2s redirect and focus on the threat on the hill. They manage to tag two Hetzers, but only kill one. I'll bet the crews in the second one were pretty shook up!

Reinforcements arrive.

Steve presses the assault, overrunning my infantry, which steadfastly refuse to engage the enemy tanks for several rounds.

Steve's Hetzers wipe the hill of the defenders at the cost of a single Hetzer. The remainder survives to enjoy the war, and do not quit the field.

With everything too far to challenge the objective, all I had left to do is attempt to score a point. After a remarkable inability to hit the broad side of a barn, the Germans capture the hill!

Result 6:1 German victory!

In terms of an after action analysis, I've got to say that this Hero Motostrelkovy list isn't well optimised to deal with defending against tanks, despite the many guns in the list. The ZiS is an excellent gun for the offense, utilizing Volley Fire to clear out stubborn defenders. However, it cannot be relied upon to deal with tanks, especially tanks rated at armour 7.

I stand by the choice to take the IS-2s in the list, its too good of a platoon for dealing with assaults. They are not anti-tank weapons, they are assault weapons. In that role, they serve this force well. This list all about assault, assault, assault. When I couldn't do it, the whole thing collapses. Oh well, that's what you'll get when you over-optimise.

Would I change the list moving forward? Nope. It does what I want it to do, and I like it. It'll just have to take it's licks moving forward, but I do like to attack with it.

Alright! Let's hope for a better result when these infantry get stuck in a Finnish motti!