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Monday 17 February 2020

End Game At Rahnstadt

Dave came over today for the last game in our mini campaign using Battlegroup, Fall Of The Reich, the assault on Rahnstadt itself. Due to their run of success in the previous games the Russians would get an extra 50 points of troops to choose, despite this the Germans had a slight edge in their Battle Rating, 25 v 28 respectively. Game on...…………………..

The bombardment was thankfully short, our men held up well despite their inexperience, we can only hope their courage holds up once the Red tide descends on us. We can see troops advancing on our left attempting to flank the town, we are weak here, reinforcements are on the way we are informed, we must hope this is a diversionary attack and hold that flank as best we can.
Two T34s are heading our way in the centre, our right being protected by the Hazell Marshes, our Pak40 gives fire to no avail, but wait! We hear an approaching aircraft, it is one of ours! Its cannon roar and one of the Red tanks goes up in flames.



Our joy is short lived another T34 appears supported by a JSII, we trust that the fly boys stick around for another strafe, meanwhile our dug in Panther takes a long shot at the JSII with no luck, wait it has stopped, we see smoke billowing from the engine (drew a breakdown chit) the crew are abandoning it, hurrah! Then we hear the noise we all dread, Katyushka rockets, our men get off lightly but our Panther is destroyed, while our Pak40 crew have gone to ground, we rely on the Luftwaffe for our anti tank capability as our Panzerfausts are not yet in range.




The Stuka comes in for another run and takes out another T34, but the supporting infantry are now advancing on the town and the Russian flank attack is making ground and the Red mortars are now raining down shells, we are becoming hard pressed, where is our Hetzer battery we could really do with them arriving. Another run by the Stuka halts the remaining T34 to buy us more time, we are thankful that the Luftwaffe still have some bite and the first of the Hetzers arrive, there is hope yet. Our 105s rain down more shells, the Reds lose heart and are beginning to fall back, Rahnstadt is safe for now, we may have won this battle but the end for us is still in sight I fear.







Another spiffing game, Dave's Russians had drawn some dire chits and could not afford to unpin the remaining T34, the loss of an infantry unit from the 105 strike finally tipped him over his Battle Rating total.
Despite getting double victory points for the win earlier campaign victories saw the Russians win the campaign by just one victory point. 

TTFN 

















16 comments:

  1. That's a grand write up of what was a fascinating game, tipped against the Russians by the unusual airstrike actually happening! But, overall we Reds have had the upper hand so no complaints. I'm off to parade through Red Square on my white horse now!

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    1. Thank you Comrade B. A close run thing, one win away for the Germans.

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  2. Great looking table and an exciting looking game. One day I will get around to giving BG a try (I have the rules, so no excuse).

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    1. Thank you Mark, much appreciated. You will have to give BG a try, I would be interested in your thoughts on them.

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  3. Cracking look game Phil and that plane is excellent!

    Christopher

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    1. Thank you Christopher, most kind. Gotta love a Stuka, unless your the Russian player of course🙂

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  4. 1 point, tough for both sides. Hans Rudel flying that Stuka?

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  5. I think so, three shots and three hits, makes up for all previous games where the Luftwaffe didn't arrive, to late to win the campaign though.

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  6. Looks like a great and intense game! One of those days I'll try Battlegroup.... I promise!

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    1. It certainly was, the beauty of Battlegroup is You never know how near to victory you may be, you certainly know if you are near defeat.

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  7. Great looking game, got to love a late war stuka that performs like that!
    Best Iain

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  8. Splendid looking game Phil everything coming together đź‘Ť and close to the end

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    1. Thank you Matt. One more win in the previous encounters would have clinched it for the Germans, life is tough in 1945.

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  9. A splendid looking game Phil...
    The town certainly looks like it could do with some post war redevelopment...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you Aly. Some good old Teutonic efficiency will see to it🙂

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