Pete's Place

[redleg]

That's a great looking village Pete!

[foxbat]

Nice village, Pete. I concur with Polish, thatched roof will have different aspects depending on how it was built and how long ago it was made.

[pmskaar]

Thank you both very much, Redleg and Foxbat! Buildings are fun to paint.

Right now, I am working on painting some 28mm Apaches for a friend but found some time to base coat some T-34s. Ten of those are to round out my 1943 T-34 Battalion with the last company to bring it up to 31 tanks. These are the M1943 models. The other six T-34s are the M1940 models which GHQ released a couple years ago. These will be for a Barbarossa project which I am slowly working on.

[redleg]

Pete, I saw your Apaches on FaceBook and they are amazing! I don't know how you do the skin tones and shading, but it looks awesome!

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Redleg! I am really just getting started on the Apaches but made more progress this week. They are do in mid April.

I will be posting some pictures here as well as more on my Facebook.

[pmskaar]

Here is my AAR and some pictures from my "Stemming the Tide" scenario played at Sand Wars on June 7th in Chandler, AZ. Games time was 2:00.

I decided to run a Mein Panzer game again at Sand Wars this year. This time I chose the Russian Front set in August 1943 after the Battle of Kursk.
Here is the background to the scenario. The Russians have gone over to the offensive and have broken through an area of the German front line and sent a Tank Corps to exploit the gap. One of the brigades in the Tank Corps is tasked with seizing some objectives in the German rear area in order to continue the offensive and further disrupt the German lines. The Germans have sent elements of a Panzer Division to plug the gap and try to restore the situation.

I had 4 players for the game plus me as the game host. My two Russian players commanded a T-34 Battalion of 30 tanks between them while each of my two German players took command of a reduced Panzer Company with a mix of Panzer IIIs and IVs. My 4 players had various degrees of experience with Mein Panzer including 2 that were completely new to the game, 1 that had not played in several years, and 1 that had 2 games under his belt previously playing this scenario.

This scenario was a tanks only game as I was getting my players up to speed on the rules without burdening them with the additonal rules modules for infantry and artillery.

The geographical objectives for the Russians were to seize the village in the Northwest of the map, take the road on the hilltop in the Center, seize the 3 bridges in the South and, if possible, exit units from the West side of the map. The German objectives were to hold these areas plus try to inflict 60% casualties on the attacking forces. In addition, both sides received points for knocking out or brewing up enemy tanks.

After getting everyone up to speed on the rules, I gave the 2 German players a pregame move to allow their units to arrive at the battlefield first but not have time to really set up a coherent defense.

Turn 1. The Russians sent 2 T-34 Companies up the middle while the other Company headed for the bridges in the South. The Germans had sent one Company to defend the bridge while the other Company sent 2 Platoons to defend the Center and 1 Platoon to hold the bridges.

Turns 2-5. The Russians seized the 3 bridges in the South while destroying the Panzer IIIs that were defending. In the Northwest, the Germans handily held the village. In the Center, the two German Platoons reached the buildings on the hilltop road and prepared to stop the Russian onslaught. This was where the climax of the battle took place as both sides sent reinforcements into the battle with the T-34 Company that seized the bridges coming up from the South and the Panzer Company defending the village coming in from the North.

The battle for the Center turned into a real close-range knife fight and both sides lost heavily with one German Company reduced to 2 tanks while inflicting heavy losses on the Russians.

At the end of Turn 5 near 6:00PM we had to call the game as a couple players had signed up to play in other games that were about to get started. At that time, we assessed the game to be a draw as the Center road was still heavily contested but the Russians had taken the bridges while the Germans held the village. The losses were heavy on both sides but pretty even overall.

Of the three games using this scenario that I have run, this one was the closest so far. Despite their initial inexperience with the rules, the new players picked up the concepts quickly and by turn 3 I could see that things were starting to flow pretty smoothly. The players, Richard B. and Chris B. for the Germans and Michael J. and Rob G. for the Russians did a great job and all of them seemed to have a lot of fun. I will host another game later in the year.

Here are some pictures of the action.



An overview of the map early in the game.



A view from the North with the village in the forground.



In the South, one T-34 Company heads for the Bridges while the other two start heading for the high ground in the Center.



The Germans send a Panzer III Platoon to defend the bridges.



The Russians win the battle for the bridges.



In the North, the Germans hold the village while bracing for the Russian onslaught in the Center.



Measuring a shot as the battle is in full swing.



German reinforcements from the village begin to arrive to bolster the Center.



The Russians send their own reinforcements from the South to help seize the road in the Center.



The climax of the battle was the close range "knife fight" in the Center with the road still being contested with heavy losses on both sides.

[Hoth_902]

Pete,

As always your AARs are awesome. The terrain is a feast for the eyes. Amazing work.

[Paul B]

Pete,

Stunning as always. Wish I lived nearby to partake of such a spectacle. Bravo!!!

[chrisswim]

Pete, great set up and game.
I really like the stream and the bridge, that looks very well done.

[pmskaar]

Thank you all very much, Hoth, Paul B., and Chris! I really appreciate it.

This was an interesting scenario in that I wanted a scenario for beginners but one that could be expanded to accommodate more players if need be. As stated the rules are Mein Panzer by Old Dominion Game Works.

I also designed this one with the forces being a bit more asymmetrical than in my Norh Africa "Cruisin for a Bruisin" game that I ran at Sand Wars last year. In that one the Crusader II and the Panzer III match up pretty closely.

In this one, the Panzer III is definitely outclassed by the T-34 in almost all critical aspects such as speed, armor and armament. The Panzer IVG/H is a pretty close match to the T-34 having a better main gun but not quite as well armored or fast as the T-34,

I putting this scenario together, I wanted both sides to have a decent chance to win but of course nothing is a given. In trying to balance the scenario, I decided to make the Germans Veteran Troop Quality with some limited special ammo for the main guns such as APCR for the long barreled Panzer IIIs but unlimited HEAT for the Panzer IIINs. The Veteran status gives the Germans better troops all around plus a bonus shot. The better troop quality gives the Germans a better chance to hit when shooting plus recovering suppression.

For the Russians, their tanks are better overall as stated but their troop quality being Regular means that they will not get any bonus shots and their base number to calculate almost everything is 10 vs 12 for the Germans. The Russians also had 30 tanks to work with vs. 26 for the Germans.

I almost had 6 players for this scenario but ended up with 4. One guy that had committed to playing had a family emergency that called him away and another player had a scheduling conflict with another game. With 6 players, I had a contingency to add more forces to the game including a T-70 Battalion that I had just finished plus giving some action for my Panther Ds and Tiger Is for the Germans (in very limited numbers of course).

This was the 3rd iteration of this scenario with the first played in December, a warm-up in early May, and then again at Sand Wars. Overall I am very happy with the way things went for this game and the players seemed to enjoy it as well.

[foxbat]

Beautiful terrain and miniatures, Pete. And an interesting scenario, as it introduces the hobby to new players. In such occurences, the speed of the game nis crucial to keep up interest. Well done!

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Foxbat!

As stated earlier, I wanted a scenario for beginners to be able to get into early but still have a fun and challenging game. I believe even more experienced players can have a lot of fun with this one.