US 7th Armoured Division Sherman Tank Platoon

Primer and base coat done. Time for dry brushing and painting tracks and details.

German Versus Russian Late War Encounter

This battle was between a German Panzer Jager Kompanie and a Russian T-34 Company. The Germans had 10.5 Howitzers, Pak 40s and 88s as well as two platoons of veteran panzer grenadiers in support. The Russian has similar mix of artillery, anti-tank guns, and infantry, with some ISU-85 as well.

The terrain was varied with lots of buildings and woods to contend with. This, of course, gave both sides cover, but also meant engagement ranges were reduced. While this didn't completely nullify the affect of any of the anti-tank or artillery weapons, it did make things more challenging.

The scenario was set up with both sides starting with only 60% of their forces on the table. Getting

A Hetzer stalks the enemy in the town.

the reserves in action early is a crucial factor in winning these games. It is also important to carefully consider which forces you should place on the table to start. If you end up not receiving reinforcements while the other side is getting a steady stream of them, you really need forces that can hunker down and hold objectives - read infantry. Despite know this, I decided to put all of my Hetzer SP AT guns on the table first and backed them up with the 88s and Pak 40s. My decision was based on thinking my opponent would try and rush me with his tanks in good old Soviet fashion.

Both sides started by trying to dig in their artillery units and launching their on table units in flanking maneuvers. I sent half of my Hetzers around the left flank while I positioned the other half to defend the approaches to one on the objectives near the town in the center of the table. I figured my 88s and Pak 40s would do a good job of defending the other objective.

Panzer Grenadiers close assault T-34s destroying them.

When contact came there wasn't a great deal of damage. My Hetzers in the town managed to knock out a ISU-85 a T-34, but were soon knocked out in turn. My flanking force of Hetzers was caught by Russian reinforcements and wiped out. Soon there were German vehicles burning everywhere and things were looking grim. However, a second platoon of Hetzers in my center managed to cause quite a bit of damage and forced a platoon of T-34s to back off. This gave my forces breathing space and finally reinforcements appeared.

Russian Infantry takes out the German Pak 40s in the final move of the game. 

My infantry worked in concert with my 10.5cm
artillery to close with and destroy a platoon of T-34s and things were looking good on my right flank. Meanwhile my Pak 40s knocked out some T-34/85s, but they still kept coming. Then Russian infantry assaulted the Pak 40s and my last platoon of Hetzers was knocked out by fire from the ISU-85s in the town. This meant I had lost all of my combat units except my formation commander and I was forced to withdraw.