15mm WWII Tank Battle: Hunting T-34s

Sylvain, in his usual phlegmatic gallic style, tells Jeremy to cheer up - there is always the good wine (or is that whine?)

Sylvain here, reporting from my basement. I hosted a game set on the Eastern Front and the players were provided with the following intelligence:

German Objective: May 1942. The rasputitsa is almost over. In one month, the Heer will launch Fall Blau. High command wants us to test the Soviet defence line and to accomplish our mission, we have been given three band new PzIV equipped with the new long 75mm gun. A recent air reconnaissance patrol reported the presence of a company of T-34s in the village of Karrotgrad. This is where we are going. Our mission is to hunt T-34s.

- The German player gets one victory point per T-34s destroyed and minus one victory point per PzIV F2 destroyed.

Soviet Objective: Kamarads, the Motherland has been invaded by the nazi barbarians and the time for retreat is now over. General Zhukov wants us to protect the village of Karrotgrad and I intend to destroy any enemy coming close. We already have a company of T-34s, the best tank ever designed. We also received 10 new tanks from our Canadian friends. We will see what we can do with them. If we see the enemy coming, we will hunt him with our T-34s!

- The Soviet player gets one victory point per German vehicle destroyed and minus one victory point per T-34 destroyed.

House Rules: The core rules were “Flames of War” with a few significant changes:
1. The turn sequence used cards (inspired by Too Fat Lardies).
2. A spotting rule was added to make reccon units more important (inspired by Firefly).
3. The artillery was off board (inspired by reality).

Jeremy, in the back, confident that the Gods of Dice will be smiling upon him. (They won't!)

My goal was to come up with a somewhat realistic simulation of tank warfare on the Eastern Front with 15mm miniatures. I decided to set-up a table as big as possible. It was 10'x6', and there was barely any room to move around.

Each unit (platoon or company) was represented by a card. There was a deck to set up on the table an another deck to use for orders.

Jeremy commanded the Panzers while Curt and Stacy oversaw the defences of Karrotgrad. The Soviet players hid half of the cards representing their units under terrain features like hills, woods or buildings.

A BA-10M, minding his own business.

I added a rule for spotting. It was to be used by the German to reveal Soviet units in ambush and by the Soviet to accumulate "threat points". These threat points could be used to call reinforcement and stronger units, like a company of T-34s, required more points than a simple platoon of anti-tank rifle.

Some German panzers bogged down in the stream.

Jeremy entered his units on the other side of the river. There was a small platoon of BA-10M in the woods that the panzers quickly dispatched. However, Fortune started to become unfavorable to the German side. You can see in the picture above that some units got bogged down while crossing the river, including the Air Liaison unit in charge of calling in the Stukas.

Lend-Lease Valentine tanks sent from Canada, in neat parade formation, en route to intercept the panzers.

This was a very lucky company of Valentines. They survived a few bomb runs from the Stukas (when the observer was not trying to push his half-track out of stream) and many hits from the German guns.

Realizing that staying too close can be dangerous, the Valentines fan out in the field.

Destruction brings satisfaction to the host.

More reinforcement on the way. This does not look good for the German.

 

The Valentines are standing firm in front of intense German fire.

A company of seven T-34s enters the battlefield. Is there any end to this flow of reinforcement?

In conclusion, the German did not make it very far onto the table. Crossing the river proved difficult, with lots of units bogged down. It took too long for the German to deploy effectively and use their superior gunnery. Basically, the Soviet were able to destroy the German tanks piecemeal as they showed up.

The house rules I prepared for this scenario did not work very well. The spotting rules were not clear enough and the Soviet were able to activate most of their units before the German got too close. The activation sequence needs to be fine-tuned as well. Eventually,  I will come up with a satisfactory set of rules. I just love 15mm scale and I have a few more ideas for scenarios.

Many thanks to the players who showed up. Their patience and good sense of humor made the whole evening enjoyable despite glitches in the rules.

From ByronM: 15mm WWII German 88s, PAK 75s and HMG Platoon (120 points)

From Byron:

Here is another batch of 15mm Flames of War Germans, that continues my “pile of lead” cleanup attempt.  These, as with the last were cleaned, based, and primed probably 8 years ago and then sat…  After doing up the 88’s last week I figured I would finish off a bunch of the rest of my primed 15mm’s.  This pretty much cleans the ones that I have together, so after these it is back to work on my 28mm WWI project. 

Here are the 88 carriages, with guns in transport more, that I couldn’t find in time to include in the last batch of painting. 

Also included are a pair of PAK 7.5 cm guns with crew, and two command squads with transports.  I know there should only be one, but I came across two and figure, why not paint them both.

Also rescued from the pile of lead in my closet are 4 HMG squads and their command squad, along with 5 half-tracks as transport and support for them.

OK, back to work on finishing a squad of 10th battalion Canadians and a squad of Germans.  Should be done those in a few days.

Lovely work Byron. I really like the subtle weathering on the vehicles and its nice to see some 88s on their carriages for a change - very cool.

This group will give Byron 120 points, enough for him to slip into third place in the overall points standing to date. Well done!

From ChrisP: 15mm WWII American AT and HMGs (132 points)

From Chris:

So more US in 15mm finished! It has turned out that they are pretty good to paint in between doing other things, paint a colour on these then go off to do something else, like paint other things, or do things around the house, etc. Or entertain Smaug....

This time, first up we have a Heavy Machinegun platoon of 4 Browning M1917 HMGs, and a command team. Painting is the same as the ones which I have done before, nice and simple.

Then we have an Anti-Tank Platoon made up of 3 57mm guns, as well as their supporting infantry which in this case is a command stand and three bazooka teams, Lots of small, scary anti-tank!

But for your bigger problems, you can't really argue with the 3" gun (see top of post). A repurposed anti-aircraft gun, firing a high velocity shell and later in the war firing HVAP rounds which were shown to be quite capable at penetrating the larger German vehicles, even King Tigers at close range. The platoon of Tank Destroyers is three carbine teams and 4 3" guns.

Lastly, going from very large, to very small. A single sniper stand, taking aim at some unlucky Hun from behind a fencepost.

Some great additions to your collection here Chris. I particularly like those 3" AT guns (and I didn't know they were originally designed as AA guns - interesting).

This collection will add 132 points to Chris' total. Nice job!

From ChrisP: 15mm WWII American Infantry 104th 'The Timberwolves' (80 points)

From Chris:

Some 15mm US from Battlefront miniatures. Seeing Michael F's Big Red One reminded me just how bad my old US stuff looked. So, I put it all into the Simple Green (paint stripper) and I have decided to repaint it all! 

I have managed to get the first few units done.

We have a Company HQ, comprised of a Company Commander, 2iC and two Bazooka teams. I have chosen to represent the 104th Infantry Division, the Timberwolves, so like Michael has, I have been adding a company patch to their shoulders. Although, my phone camera is maybe a bit too bad to do it!

Next we have a Combat Engineer platoon (see top image), made up of 7 Engineer rifle teams and 4 Bazooka teams. I have used some Battlefront obstacles to remind me that they are engineers, they are clearing an anti-tank obstacle or some such.

Pretty simple paint scheme and basing, but I am really happy with how they came out. I think a comparison between old/new will have to come with the next update....

That is a great redux of an old force - I look forward to the before and after shots.

These Timberwolves will give Chris 80 points.

From MichaelF: 15mm WWII American Infantry 'The Big Red One' (81 points)

From Michael:

Second platoon for my 'quick' Big Red one project. Again Battlefront miniatures and again lots of mold lines, flash and other annoyances.

I should have done them in greatcoats as these miniatures look much better and are easier to paint as well. Anyway, I'm getting tired of them so I will probably leave them after I finished the Weapon platoon. 

Hopefully these guys will get more tabletime then my other 15mm armies.

Can't really decide what to do next. Armistead leading his Virginians, Eureka's French Revolutionary or Finnish Winter war?  

Beautiful work Michael. As I said before you've really nailed the olive drab and khaki on the models in this project. I really like the shoulder insignias! 

My  vote is for you doing some more Revolutionary French!

These yanks will give Michael 81 points.

From SteveM: 15mm WWII German Panzers & Ronin #44 (80 points)

From Steve:

A Wargames Factory 28mm samurai. My first samurai painted ever and first time ever even thinking about painting one. Umm. I watched "The Last Samurai" a few years back and am starting learn more about this era because of the contest.

A Flames of War Bergepanther Recovery vehicle. These were important vehicles during WWII, being able to tow even the largest German tanks when called upon.

 

Flames of War Tiger platoon (see above). This is from the box set of five Tiger 1E tanks. A very important part of the German army. It has a 8.8cm KwK36 gun and was much feared by the allies. I think I remember seeing a stand-in double for the tank during the "The Battle of the Bulge" movie.

A Flames of War Panther A platoon of three tanks.

Excellent job on these German 'cats' and I love the Samurai as well - thanks! For the tanks I'm assuming you used an airbrush for the camouflage? The effect looks great with the weathering and stowage.

Ronin #44 and these tanks will give Steve a base of 74 points but I'm going to tack on another 6 for the detailing/weathering on the vehicles. 80 points even. Very nice work!

From AndrewS: 15mm WWII German Prime Mover & 18mm Napoleonic Polish Artillery Battery (88 points)

Andrew sends in two different periods: one Napoleonic in 18mm and the other from the Second World War in 15mm.

From Andrew:

I have been burning some midnight oil and completed a couple of items for my 1st entries into the challenge.

The first item is a 15mm Battlefront sdk250/9 recovery truck and driver. The size of this took me by surprise requiring a base half as long again as my Tiger, the main reason for adding this to my DAK force. The painting of this has completed my DAK tank company.

The next items were found recently when I was clearing out my drawers and hidey holes. I have painted 4 pieces of 18mm Napoleonic Polish artillery with crews. They are all from AB miniatures. These were due to be additions to my Saxon corp in 18mm but as I am venturing back into 28's they are no longer required but needed to fund new 28's.

Very nice work, Andrew. I especially like that battery of Polish guns. Those AB sculpts are so nice and you've really done them justice.

I'm going to count the 18mm AB's as 20mm for scoring. So, 88 points in total.

From SamuliS: 15mm WWII German Grenadiers (74 points)

Samuli from Finland sends us a platoon of German WWII infantry based for Flames of War.

From Samuli:

Some franctic painting after finishing my last exam in the University yesterday evening leads to a platoon of German grenadiers and their company command. First time ever painting 15mm and I tried some speedpainting techniques with a lot of drybrushing and washes. The whole lot painted in around 4-5 hours. Paint job looks surprisingly good to my eye. A lot faster to do than my Napoleonics :) I'm not too happy with the quality of some of the new Flames of War plastic figures though. Quite a lot of warped detail etc.

Excellent work Samuli! These 37 infantry will give him 74 points, pipping Miles for the lead.

From ScottB: 15mm WWII German Pak40 Anti-Tank Guns (78 points)

Scott here adds another excellent unit to his growing German force for 'Flames of War'. This time its a group of Pak40 anti-tank guns along with their command element.

From Scott:

I can add them to my Grenadiers or Panzergrenadiers, in a couple of formats, either as a divisional support option with all 4 guns, or often as a company weapons platoon of 3 guns, but then I can include the 4th spare gun as an upgrade option for the 15cm nebelwerfer platoon, that I am now halfway done.

Hopefully I'll have it done by the deadline. Might even squeeze in a 8cm Mortar platoon too...

These are 15mm Battlefront castings.

This group will give Scott 78 points. Very nice work!

From MilesR: 15mm WWII German Panzergrenadiers (210 points)

Miles sends in some more reinforcements for his 'Flames of War' force. This time we have some panzergrenadiers along with their supporting halftracks and a command car.

These are 15mm Battlefront castings and models.

This group will give Miles 210 points. Nice work!