Carried to Victory: DanCon II
Well, dice were rolled, tanks destroyed, infantry pinned down, and aircraft shot down at TCOW today as 22 players descended on the club house for DanCon II: Electric Boogaloo.
As I mentioned in the previous post the format was a bit unusual. 700 points, Late War, Doubles (pairs randomly picked each round). So we had different partners for each of the four rounds.
Mike's Jagdpanthers
Reluctant Veteran
(using 654. Schwere Jagdpanzer Abt from Bridge at Remagen)
Headquarters: 1x CiC Jagdpanther + 1x 2iC Jagdpanther
Combat Platoon: 1x Jagdpanther
Support Platoon: Light Anti-aircraft Battery (4x 2cm FlaK38, Reluctant Trained)
So let's dive in!
Round 1: Counterattack
Wayne (Hungarian Zyrinis) & Steve (Hero T-34s)
vs.
Kit (US Glider Rifles) & Me
With my FlaK guns tucked away in Reserve, and my Jagdpanthers safely guarded by Kit's glider rifles, the tank-hunters set up with a good line of sight to Wayne's Zyrinis and Steve's T-34s. However they quickly moved out of sight in the first turn. Steve's T-34s were bearing down on the objective and my FlaKs showed up right in their midst. I was horrified, but still I pushed them toward the objective,... maybe they'd survive?
Then the most peculiar thing happened...
Kit's Glider Rifle platoon also arrived from reserve in the face of several Zyrini and near Steve's 9 T-34s... His glider 105s popped a Zyrini (from the same platoon as one of my kills). Unable to reach a suitable assaulting position against one of the platoon's Zyrinis, the platoon's bazooka maneuvered into the rear of the assault gun, fired, and destroyed it. A failed Morale Check (2/3 destroyed) saw off the platoon. Thinking that was a great result, and settled in for what would surely be the loss of that confident trained rifle platoon,
In the next turn, Steve wheeled his T-34s around and machine-gunned the platoon. The first platoon of 3x T-34/76s with Tankos onboard, hit Kit with 9 hits. Kit then proceeded to make all of his infantry saves and one gun save (60mm mortar). Shocked, Steve then opened fire with 4x T-34/85s and this time only five of Kit's teams survived (including the 60mm, which survived 2x 5+ gun saves). Wayne's Zyrinis were a bit to far off to render assistance, but they moved in to support the assault with gunfire, sadly missing altogether.
Kit then passed his platoon morale...
Frustrated, the Tank Escorts and T-34s charged in for the assault (the bazooka being a casualty to the turn's shooting). After the Hero tanks went in with a vengeance, three of Kit's teams remained to break off.
Kit then passed his platoon morale...
In the following turn, Kit then passed his platoon motivation to Unpin after the assault and shooting ordeal. Kit's artillery landed a round on top of Wayne's CiC, bailing it out with a TOT 6-gun bombardment and the Jagdpanthers bagged a Zyrini, forcing another platoon morale check (failed).
Kit, with a single command rifle team within range of Wayne's bailed CiC, then assaulted...
With 2 destroyed platoons, Wayne was under half and auto failed his morale, winning us the game 6-1 after one unbelievable turn.
Thanks to Kit's billions of passed Confident motivation tests in a row, the Luftwaffe FlaK gunners were spared a fate worse than death after all... Meanwhile, the Jagdpanthers' kill tally was 2x Zyrini and 1x T-34/76 tanks. They'd have to do better next time!
Once again paired with an Allied player, Damian's 8 Tetrarchs, 2x 75mm guns, and priority Typhoons were an awesome match. Damian proceeded to run circles around and through terrain as the Jagdpanthers suffered a loss to Howard's Panthers. Luckily it was 'only' my CiC, and the other two had their revenge and knocked out a Panther with return fire. The Typhoon swooped in and destroyed another, forcing the Panthers to run away. Jonathan's grenadiers put the pressure on my tanks with an infantry assault, but a detachment of Damian's fast tanks countered it long enough for the bulk of his force to dart in and destroy a Panzergrenadier platoon and the FHH Flak half-tracks. this forced a Reluctant morale check, and ended up giving us a 6-1 victory.
My tally for that game was one Panther and a bailed FlaK half-track, which the Typhoons destroyed in the same step anyway. Cheers, Damian! The FlaK boys spent the game pinned under sniper fire and ineffectually attempting to return fire.
Yay! A German ally! With a King Tiger and Me262s, no less! Using some arcane method it was determined that we would attack (their Tank + Inf vs. our Tank + Tank, ignoring my auto defend, apparently). Yeah, I'm looking at you Gav... A'ight, ez gonna be one of those games... ;)
Anyway here we go!
The Jagds charged up one flank, followed by the KT. MGs caught the paras relocating a bit and caused some casualties. With my dander up over having to attack, I recklessly charged in, braving faust and bazooka fire which, thankfully missed. The assault dropped the paras below 1/2 but they passed and I lost first a Jagdpanther (the one worth a VP) and then the rest in short order. It was up to Dan and my FlaK guns, the latter of which had doubled into gun range, but failed to make anyone respect them.
Gav's T-34s arrived and attempted to pick off my FlaK, killing a gun team. Meanwhile, Dan was winning the game with a bold Panzer IV assault into the building held by the paras. The assault pushed them out and far enough away as to not be able to reacquire the objective. Gav launched one last attempt to kill my FlaK guns (the only thing holding me in the game) and killed all but one 2cm gun. However, they were reasonably keen on sticking around on a result of 5!
Dan's bail-out scored us a narrowly won 5-2 victory. My total kills were just a little over 50% of a para platoon.
Tank for tank, we actually out numbered our opponents' 8x Tetrarchs and 3x Tiger IE tanks with our 9x T-34s and 3x Jagdpanthers, but they had Typhoons and knowing how Damian used them in our second game, they were going to be a problem if my FlaK boys were caught snoozing!
Early exchanges saw two of my FlaK guns get knocked out, my CiC and reserve Jagdpanthers bailed out (lucky results!) by a Typhoon attacks. Damian pushed through the center after maneuvering through the town. I think I bagged one Tetrarch during the first few turns, but Damian kept them well hidden. Even Steve's T-34/85 ambush had a difficult time seeing and engaging them.
Meanwhile, Francis and I engaged in a short-range firefight and I knocked out one Tiger and Steve got another. Francis wisely backed his last Tiger away from my Jagds, screening my line of sight among the buildings and engaged Steve.
Having lost no platoons, that netted us a 6-1 victory. My tally here was 2x Tetrarchs (1x credited to the FlaK battery, which incidentally shot down several Typhoons as well, while pinned) and one Tiger IE.
And that was it!
That was four great games against eight excellent opponents. Thank you for the games!
A special shout out to my four allies, who totally won all of our games. I was the very epitome of the cheeto eater, that, with no small measure of guilt, won best overall at DanCon II. That's all you guys.
Final standings:
1st Place: Mike Haught 23 points
2nd Equal: Patrick Gribble (Winner of fist fight for actual Second Place) 20 Points
2nd Equal: Kit Goldsbury (Runner up in fist fight for Second Place) 20 points
2nd Equal: Mike Haycock (Knocked out of fist fight for Second Place) 20 points
3rd Place: Daniel Linder 19 points
4th Place: Rob Sadler 16 points
5th Place: Charlie Mair 15 points
6th Equal: Damian Caulfield 14 points
6th Equal: Greg Lockton 14 points
6th Equal: Gavin van Rossum 14 points
6th Equal: Peter Welsh or Walsh 14 points
7th Place: Andrew Paul Haught 13 points
8th Equal: Sofia Chambers 12 points
8th Equal: Andrew Duncan 12 points
8th Equal: Damian Reid 12 points
9th Equal: Steve Eyles 11 points
9th Equal: Jonathan Carryer 11 points
10th Place: Faizal Mohammed 10 points
11th Place: Howard Mair 9 points
12th Equal: Wayne Arthur Turner 8 points
12th Equal: Paul Monk 8 points
13th Place: Francis Hambrook 7 points
A super special THANKS! goes to Dan for organizing everything, and TCOW for hosting. You dudes know how to throw a party!
And now even more photos!
Then the most peculiar thing happened...
Kit's Glider Rifle platoon also arrived from reserve in the face of several Zyrini and near Steve's 9 T-34s... His glider 105s popped a Zyrini (from the same platoon as one of my kills). Unable to reach a suitable assaulting position against one of the platoon's Zyrinis, the platoon's bazooka maneuvered into the rear of the assault gun, fired, and destroyed it. A failed Morale Check (2/3 destroyed) saw off the platoon. Thinking that was a great result, and settled in for what would surely be the loss of that confident trained rifle platoon,
In the next turn, Steve wheeled his T-34s around and machine-gunned the platoon. The first platoon of 3x T-34/76s with Tankos onboard, hit Kit with 9 hits. Kit then proceeded to make all of his infantry saves and one gun save (60mm mortar). Shocked, Steve then opened fire with 4x T-34/85s and this time only five of Kit's teams survived (including the 60mm, which survived 2x 5+ gun saves). Wayne's Zyrinis were a bit to far off to render assistance, but they moved in to support the assault with gunfire, sadly missing altogether.
Kit then passed his platoon morale...
Frustrated, the Tank Escorts and T-34s charged in for the assault (the bazooka being a casualty to the turn's shooting). After the Hero tanks went in with a vengeance, three of Kit's teams remained to break off.
Kit then passed his platoon morale...
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| The guns live to fight another day! |
Kit, with a single command rifle team within range of Wayne's bailed CiC, then assaulted...
With 2 destroyed platoons, Wayne was under half and auto failed his morale, winning us the game 6-1 after one unbelievable turn.
Thanks to Kit's billions of passed Confident motivation tests in a row, the Luftwaffe FlaK gunners were spared a fate worse than death after all... Meanwhile, the Jagdpanthers' kill tally was 2x Zyrini and 1x T-34/76 tanks. They'd have to do better next time!
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| Best Friends Forever! (until round 4....) |
Round 2: Free-For-All
Howard (Reluctant Trained FHH Panzergrenadiers) & Jonathan (CV Grenadiers)
vs.
Damian (6th AARR's Tetrarchs!) & Me
Once again paired with an Allied player, Damian's 8 Tetrarchs, 2x 75mm guns, and priority Typhoons were an awesome match. Damian proceeded to run circles around and through terrain as the Jagdpanthers suffered a loss to Howard's Panthers. Luckily it was 'only' my CiC, and the other two had their revenge and knocked out a Panther with return fire. The Typhoon swooped in and destroyed another, forcing the Panthers to run away. Jonathan's grenadiers put the pressure on my tanks with an infantry assault, but a detachment of Damian's fast tanks countered it long enough for the bulk of his force to dart in and destroy a Panzergrenadier platoon and the FHH Flak half-tracks. this forced a Reluctant morale check, and ended up giving us a 6-1 victory.
My tally for that game was one Panther and a bailed FlaK half-track, which the Typhoons destroyed in the same step anyway. Cheers, Damian! The FlaK boys spent the game pinned under sniper fire and ineffectually attempting to return fire.
 |
| So... much... blow... |
Round 3: Hasty Attack
Gavin (Tankovy 76s & 85s, CT) & Faizal (82nd Airborne Paras)
vs.
Dan (of DanCon fame, with SS-KG Peiper) & Me
Yay! A German ally! With a King Tiger and Me262s, no less! Using some arcane method it was determined that we would attack (their Tank + Inf vs. our Tank + Tank, ignoring my auto defend, apparently). Yeah, I'm looking at you Gav... A'ight, ez gonna be one of those games... ;)
Anyway here we go!
The Jagds charged up one flank, followed by the KT. MGs caught the paras relocating a bit and caused some casualties. With my dander up over having to attack, I recklessly charged in, braving faust and bazooka fire which, thankfully missed. The assault dropped the paras below 1/2 but they passed and I lost first a Jagdpanther (the one worth a VP) and then the rest in short order. It was up to Dan and my FlaK guns, the latter of which had doubled into gun range, but failed to make anyone respect them.
Gav's T-34s arrived and attempted to pick off my FlaK, killing a gun team. Meanwhile, Dan was winning the game with a bold Panzer IV assault into the building held by the paras. The assault pushed them out and far enough away as to not be able to reacquire the objective. Gav launched one last attempt to kill my FlaK guns (the only thing holding me in the game) and killed all but one 2cm gun. However, they were reasonably keen on sticking around on a result of 5!
Dan's bail-out scored us a narrowly won 5-2 victory. My total kills were just a little over 50% of a para platoon.
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| Obviously the Greek Orthodox church had a successful raid across the street on the Catholic monastery. |
Round 4: No Retreat
Francis (Schwere Panzerkomanie) & Damian (6th AARR's Tetrarchs, my former ally from game 2!)
vs.
Steve (Hero T-34s, my former enemy from game 3) & Me
Tank for tank, we actually out numbered our opponents' 8x Tetrarchs and 3x Tiger IE tanks with our 9x T-34s and 3x Jagdpanthers, but they had Typhoons and knowing how Damian used them in our second game, they were going to be a problem if my FlaK boys were caught snoozing!
Early exchanges saw two of my FlaK guns get knocked out, my CiC and reserve Jagdpanthers bailed out (lucky results!) by a Typhoon attacks. Damian pushed through the center after maneuvering through the town. I think I bagged one Tetrarch during the first few turns, but Damian kept them well hidden. Even Steve's T-34/85 ambush had a difficult time seeing and engaging them.
Meanwhile, Francis and I engaged in a short-range firefight and I knocked out one Tiger and Steve got another. Francis wisely backed his last Tiger away from my Jagds, screening my line of sight among the buildings and engaged Steve.
Damian charged up the middle and had to make a quick maneuver to dodge the arrival of Steve's 76s. The combined shooting of Steve's reserves and a stationary Jagdpanther yielded a single Tetrarch kill for Steve. Damian didn't hang around and went for the half-strength FlaK platoon. Pinned Down, the flak gunners attempted to defensive fire somehow scoring 3 hits from 4 shots! They all penetrated, causing the statistical 1x kill and 2x bailed results! The Tetrarchs remained steady, but my Luftwaffles were just too jittery to unpin and seal the deal. So my 2iC doubled back and had a shot, of course missing. Luckily, Steve's 76s were there to finish the job and win the game with his 85s after a successful cat & mouse game with Francis' last Tiger.
Having lost no platoons, that netted us a 6-1 victory. My tally here was 2x Tetrarchs (1x credited to the FlaK battery, which incidentally shot down several Typhoons as well, while pinned) and one Tiger IE.
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| *computer beeps, noises and buzzes* DING! |
That was four great games against eight excellent opponents. Thank you for the games!
A special shout out to my four allies, who totally won all of our games. I was the very epitome of the cheeto eater, that, with no small measure of guilt, won best overall at DanCon II. That's all you guys.
Final standings:
1st Place: Mike Haught 23 points
2nd Equal: Patrick Gribble (Winner of fist fight for actual Second Place) 20 Points
2nd Equal: Kit Goldsbury (Runner up in fist fight for Second Place) 20 points
2nd Equal: Mike Haycock (Knocked out of fist fight for Second Place) 20 points
3rd Place: Daniel Linder 19 points
4th Place: Rob Sadler 16 points
5th Place: Charlie Mair 15 points
6th Equal: Damian Caulfield 14 points
6th Equal: Greg Lockton 14 points
6th Equal: Gavin van Rossum 14 points
6th Equal: Peter Welsh or Walsh 14 points
7th Place: Andrew Paul Haught 13 points
8th Equal: Sofia Chambers 12 points
8th Equal: Andrew Duncan 12 points
8th Equal: Damian Reid 12 points
9th Equal: Steve Eyles 11 points
9th Equal: Jonathan Carryer 11 points
10th Place: Faizal Mohammed 10 points
11th Place: Howard Mair 9 points
12th Equal: Wayne Arthur Turner 8 points
12th Equal: Paul Monk 8 points
13th Place: Francis Hambrook 7 points
A super special THANKS! goes to Dan for organizing everything, and TCOW for hosting. You dudes know how to throw a party!
And now even more photos!
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| Spooners... |
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| Be sure to check out the TCOW AAR here... |
Fantastic reports Mike, sounds like a great day. Love the concept of the tournament. Well done on the win :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting format. Changing partners each round is really a novel idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat write up Mike! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe format was AMAZING fun, next time...1000 points, 8 x 5 tables, random doubles. Panzerschrek, West Auckland style!
^GL
TETRARCHS!!! going to flesh that list out I think, they were so fun.
ReplyDelete