Pulling out of a spin – Buningrad 25 AAR

It has been a long time since I have written and article. With no new releases for FOW and the delayed Pacific and Early War offerings, I must admit my enthusiasm has waned. However, with a new year and a bit of a change in job role meaning I wasnt going to be away from home as much, it was time to get stuck back in. Buningrad 25, run by the ‘Bun Shop Boys’, was the perfect 100pt, MW, 5 game opportunity to get my FOW mojo back.

I hadn’t played MW beyond a single game with Richard Hardy (which I lost) in over a year and while I keep up with the dynamic points I hadn’t really seen them in action. My immediate reaction was to go full US Lees, lets face it, they are the best value force in the game atm, but having seen Richard running some Self Propelled Guns I was (foolishly) convinced to try something different and not used in the meta.

Enter the Russian mixed self propelled gun formation.

The idea is that you have the flex to bombard with 5 templates (inc HQ) and then have a good dollop of infantry to push on an objective. Makes sense in theory eh. They can pump out a respectable number of AT9 and 10 shots vs tanks as well. Lets see how it went

Game 1 vs Fez’s Lee Company:

Of course game one was a Breakthrough Assault grudge match. Eddie has slowly been morphed from a crazy list, happy go lucky player to a steely eyed ETC meta list power broker; I am a little proud. That said it means he is now rather hard to be beat and that’s before he arrives with 14 Lees and 4 x M10s.

We played Dust-Up and and I kept my typical reserves off table meaning I only had SU76s to hold him off. In all honesty it started well with my Vet IL2 ranging in and and blowing up 2 x Lees and bailing another. Along with the SU76s his attack was blunted. Meanwhile he marshalled his platoon of 3 x Lees to join the 5 from reserve which overwhelmed my other 4 x SU76s (also thanks to his air) and meant the obj was only defended by ATRs with AT5 (vs SA4) and some infantry with no AT. Needless to say he took the obj before my SU122s even arrived for a 8:1 win. It was purely a battle for survival which was eventually lost.

Game 2 vs Quentin’s US Shermans and Brit Motor Rifles.

From one ETC player to another, but this time with a Canadian twist, but also more Lees (with Shermans for good measure). The mission was Escape and Quentin’s face dropped as he released he would be defending. Given his 6 Pdr ambush, 3 plus counter infantry and capable reserves I was less convinced.

I advanced pretty aggressively with the infantry and ranged in on the back woods where I expected his guns to ambush. The big issue was that he had 3 x templates and I have aggressive infantry. He quickly caught on that once the infantry was murdered by MG fire, and a lot of artillery I didn’t really have anything to assault. His Lees and Shermans arrived with double reserves and the combination knocked out 2 platoons of guns. At that point it was clearly a 8:1 loss. In full disclosure we actually played the mission wrong and forgot defender got first go. This only would have made his victory even swifter!

Game 3 vs Justin’s US Shermans

The final game of the day and I was facing more US armour but this time with many more Shermans and a couple of M10s to boot. The Mission was Scouts out. I stuck with my standard reserves and Justin stuck some Shermans, 2 x M10s and his Stuarts in reserve keeping his infantry in a house towards the rear obj and massing a big platoon of Shermans with his HQ for a good push.

I advanced my SU76s in a bunch up behind the hill hoping to either blitz onto it or go for broke pushing for the obj on turn 2. Justin rapidly sent his mortars forward to secure the obj and with a lot of AT10 facing me I wasn’t keen to drop onto the front face of the hill.

Justin advanced, planning to claim the hill which forced me move onto the crest and engage. 1 x unit successfully blitzed and a couple of Shermans were knocked out. By now his other Shermans arrived and started engaging me while my ATRs took shots at his Priests and mortars. My IL2s were failing to do much with only a bail on a Sherman.

Eventually all my SU76s were wiped out and my SU122s, now arrived from reserve desperately tried to hold off the enemy but the formation broke. With no AT above 4 it was just a matter of time until my inf was dislodged from the obj but I hung on long enough for my IL2s to claim a Sherman and make the last one flee to at least get me a 2pt loss.

At the end of day one I was in a bad place crashing and burning with 5pts after 3 games!

Game 4 – Dave ‘Mad Dog’ Madigan – Crusader Company

At last a list other than US armour and something that my AT9 could at least bully! We rolled up Bypass with me attacking which fortunately meant his Churchills would not arrive until Turn 3 at the earliest.

This board was a bit tricky, as ruins are classed as short terrain it meant I had nothing to block LOS as I drove to the obj. Therefore I instead decided to go for a company break (or get his forces so low that I could then get to the obj).

Utilising the tree line I started to engage, gradually reducing his numbers despite his excellent use of DF smoke. My reserves arrived rapidly and the FP 2+ of the SU122s proved nasty. With a few bombardments of the other SU122s I managed to get his 25Pdrs dealt with and the Air support bagged another Crusader.

Meanwhile my recce pushed to the far obj forcing his infantry to contest. With my forces pushing deep into his deployment area and now racing for the obj Dave knew it was all over but fought on to get some extra points. Alas it was in vain and his company broke for a 8:1 win.

Game 5 – Nobby – Armoured Panzergrenadiers.

Nobby has been fixture of the FOW community for many years and is gradually being coaxed back to events after a few years absence. Fielding one of his last remaining armies (beautifully painted by the late Steve Charlton), he present a very balanced and historically appropriate list.

We played Counterstrike with me attacking. Nobby had 2 x 88s and 3 x pak40s (in ambush) to face my forces but his Nebs were a nasty threat to my infantry. His turn 1 saw no reserves and as he couldn’t bombard he just moved up his recce. I spent the 1st couple of turns bombarding, not wishing to move the inf until I had got the Nebs down to the level that they had to re-roll hits. Lucky this was achieved in 2 turns along with killing a 88, causing the other to flee.

His armoured inf arrived behind me and started to bully my ATRs meaning they had to advance. Luckily the weight of DF I had in the area, fixed his inf in the Church but not before his halftracks killed off my HMGs.

With his Panzer IVs arrived from reserve I got lucky and killed one with an IL2. At the same time I started to bully his infantry near the obj with artillery, whittling them down. By turn 6 I had my BA64s and several SU76s on the obj. I just had to survive and wipe out anything he fed in. Unfortunately for Nobby his infantry failed to unpin and his shooting didn’t manage to kill enough (pesky mistaken target rule allowed me to get further hits on my bailed SU76s). As a result my return fire bailed his AA and wiped out his recce leaving me to claim the obj for another 8:1.

Conclusion

In the end I came joint 5th of 14 players so I cant really complain. The first day was dismal but I pulled out of the spin during day 2. Fundamentally I think the list was flawed but did well against specific builds (noting Nobbys was not tourney optimised). The main issue is that while it looks like a lot of stuff it does die fast. Aggressive inf just doesn’t cut it as an attacking force, without significant softening up. However if you do that with the arty then enemy reserves arrive by the time you get to the obj. Also that arty is needed for another job killing armour ie splitting its focus.

It is interesting that the 3 losses were all against US armour. There is a joke that the ETC this year is called the ‘LeeTC’! the ability to move and still kick out ROF2 is nasty, especially vs aggressive troops. Combined with core smoke options and a nice AT12 option with the M10s and they are a tough nation to take on.

Overall I am on the fence with the IL2. It certainly helped in the final game by killing a Neb and a PZ4 (late) but fundamentally was to unpredictable even with a vet rating. It probably costed correctly though.

So will I be taking this force to Scottish Nationals…no I will not. But if you like the look of my SU122s they are on Ebay!

As a side note i did win a special prize… best terrain featuring cows! As a reward I am the proud owner of 3 x cow pats which apparently when burnt will help create a cleansing spiritual environment!!