J113 Maczek Fire Brigade – Paul vs Ron

Paul’s Germans defeated Ron’s Polish defenders on July 23, 2011.
An interesting early war slugfest. Wait, I meant slapfight. Those early war tanks get far more hits than kills. It made it more interesting to have lots of hits, but few kills.

The AFV advantage lies with the Germans, though. The Poles are forced to use platoon movement, in fairly awkward terrain. The Germans AFVs, by contrast, could zip around freely, and cover considerable terrain.

Knowing that the anti-tank ability of the Poles was weak at the start, I began by sending a Pz1 and a BU armored car deep into the Polish rear area turn one, to mess with rout paths and generally cause havoc. The majority of the infantry arrived by motorcycle on the left, and were able to dismount and engage in the woods. Lucky (and clever) use of smoke dispensers allowed the three trucks full of infantry to unload fairly close to the village.

Small arms fire on both sides was fairly desultory. The German AFV were able to sweep through the village, either smoking out or tying up Polish infantry in CC.

CC was the big killer of infantry on both sides, leaving the Poles too few units to recapture buildings, and the Germans barely enough.

A notable melee:  one of the German panzers in Melee against a 4-5-7 and a 8-1 leader. Germans reinforce with a 4-6-8 and a 9-1 leader. Since CC with vehicle is non-sequential, non-vehicular player going first, the Poles turn around and attack and kill the reinforcing infantry before they can do anything. Luckily, the German tank was able to grease the remaining Poles that phase.

Another notable event:  A German half-squad holding a squad of prisoners received notice to charge down the road to draw fire. They got shot at, and the half-squad broke, while the prisoners just casualty reduced.   One of the other German tanks decided that it was more important to eliminate the prisoners than to keep the half squad alive, and shot up the hex but good. Everybody died.

An interesting scenario. I’d play it again as either side.