Blood & Guts, Tunisia, Fight #4

All,

It's 1215 on 2 April 1943, and the US tank platoon is heading into action.  About an hour ago their platoon leader, Lt Barker, headed into the Tunisian town of Al-Egheila, where a German panzer was spotted.  The Lieutenant hasn't been heard from and so SSG Smith, the Platoon Sergeant, has assumed command of the platoon and has taken the remaining tanks, commanded by SGT Ross, SGT Snow, and CPL Grunhard, around to the north end of the Arab village.  However, along the way, SGT Snow's tank dropped out of the column with mechanical difficulties, so three American Shermans are moving east, into the village, as a German platoon of three Panzer 4s are moving south into the village, setting us up for our second game of "What a Tanker!"

The board, north is up, showing the northern end of Al-Egheila (the previous fight happened off camera to bottom).  It's basically the same setup: scattered buildings, hills/knolls/escarpments, a bit of brush, but now we've stepped up from 1v1 to 3v3 tanks.

The US column, heading east on the hardball, SSG Smith in the lead, followed by SGT Ross and CPL Grunhard.

The German Platoon, with Lt Stransky in the lead, followed by Sgt Steiner and Cpl Stichle, who re-joined his platoon after knocking out Lt Barker in the last fight.

For you "What a Tanker!' fans, I should point out that we are not using the cards, of which Cpl Stichle would have had one for his kill in the last fight.

Cpl Grunhard (bottom left) looks on as SSG Smith turns off road and tries to move up the hill but runs into difficulties with some soft sand (top center) and SGT Ross moves up (top right) then suddenly halts: "Contact!!!"

SGT Ross (bottom left) has spotted the German platoon (top right) and he decides to immediately open the fight.  His tank halts: "Target, enemy panzers in the open, 300 yards, armor piercing, hit the center tank, fire!"  A 75mm round screeches across the desert towards Sgt Steiner's tank...

SGT Ross's (center left, with SSG Smith's tank left of him) round misses, kicking up sand and debris (top right), as CPL Grunhard's tank (bottom left) moves up, spots the enemy, and fires.

The round skips harmlessly off Sgt Steiner's panzer, but it does cause his driver to back up, right into Cpl Stichle's panzer, shaking up the crews of each (-1 Command Dice each)!!!

Lt Stransky's panzer dashes into the center (left), while Sgt Steiner (center right) and Cpl Stichle's panzer both cut right, towards the American tanks (off camera to top center).

Sgt Steiner's panzer (bottom center) is able to acquire and line up a shot on SGT Ross's Sherman (top center, with CPL Grunhard's tank behind him), but the round misses.

Lt Stransky (top center right) continues to push into the center), Cpl Stichle (center right), looking to get his second kill in the last hour, hops up in front of Sgt Steiner's panzer.

Where he lines up a shot on CPL Grunhard's Sherman (top center) and fires, but the 75mm round skips away harmlessly.  Sgt Steiner's shot is now blocked by his overeager Corporal (that's not true, he was still lined up for a shot, but didn't have a 4 or 6 to shoot with)...

So the German Sergeant pushes his vehicle up into cover (center right) behind a knoll.

SSG Smith gets his Sherman up the embankment (far left) as SGT Ross is feeling the pressure and backs his tank up (left) and CPL Grunhard's tank dashes right (far right).

Sgt Steiner moves his tank up (center bottom), spotting SSG Smith's Sherman atop the hill (top center).  The Pz Mk IV fires its long 75mm...

The round ricochets off the front armor of SSG Smith's tank, but they are forced to fall back (bottom left, with SGT Ross's tank to their right).

Lt Stransky (bottom left, with Sgt Steiner at center and Cpl Stichle off camera to bottom right) knew the Americans had a tank on the road (top center left), but as he creeps his tank forward to engage, he's surprised to find the road vacant.

SGT Ross has his driver creep forward (center left, with SSG Smith at bottom left), where he spots Sgt Steiner's panzer (top center, just left of the building; Lt Stransky's panzer is at top right).

Sgt Steiner (center top, with Lt Stransky at far left) sees SGT Ross's tank (top center) and slams his hatch shut, ducking down into his tank, just as Cpl Stichle's panzer pulls up (bottom center) and fires, missing SGT Ross's tank.

SSG Smith pushes his Sherman back up the hill (bottom left) where they quickly acquire Sgt Steiner's panzer (center).  They lurch to a halt and fire...

The round tosses up dirt and debris (top center) missing.  SSG Smith's crew slams another round into the chamber and fires again, but misses again!!!

With SSG Smith and SGT Ross (top left) in a fight with Sgt Steiner and Cpl Stichle (top center and top right), CPL Grunhard, once confident about his stab to the right (bottom center), now feels a bit left out to dry.  He pslowly pushes his tank forward on the right, not sure whether to keep moving east (right) or climb up the hill and get in the fight.

Unaware of CPL Grunhard's tank (top left), Lt Stransky pushes his panzer up in the center (center bottom) and takes a shot at SGT Ross's Sherman (top center, with SSG Smith just right of him, atop the hill).  The German round hits the Sherman, but doesn't penetrate, just shakes the crew up a bit.

"Dammit!  Smith (far left), you're gonna have to take that panzer on the left, I've got one moving up in the middle!"  And with that, SGT Ross directed his driver forward, up to the road (center bottom), where they acquired Lt Stransky's tank (top right), lined up the shot, and suffered a malfunction! "Misfire!!!"

Hearing SGT Ross (top left) call out the enemy tank in the center and the misfire, Cpl Grunhard now understood he needed to do something, and do something quick.  He ordered his driver to gun it, and the Sherman shot east (far right, rounding the knoll) as fast as it could, flanking the Germans (Lt Stransky at the crossroads at center, Sgt Steiner behind the building at center top, and Cpl Stichle at top right).

Back in the northwest, SSG Smith's crew (far left, with SGT Ross at bottom center) reload, aim, and fire,, missing Sgt Steiner's panzer (top center, with Lt Stransky's tank at far right) for a third straight time!

Sgt Steiner's crew (bottom center) returns fire, skipping another round off the SSG Smith's front armor, shaking the crew up a bit more.

With Sgt Steiner's panzer (center, Lt Stransky's at left) shooting it out with SSG Smith's Sherman (top center right), Cpl Stichle creeps his tank forward (bottom right) and lines up a shot on SSG Smith's tank.

SSG Smith's crew (far left) is getting beat to hell, but SGT Ross's crew needs a minute to get their marbles back together, so rather than engage Lt Stransky's panzer (top right), he pushes them forward to cover (bottom right).

Doing that (top left) allows Lt Stransky to push right, line up a shot on SSG Smith's Sherman (top center, which is now facing all three German tanks by himself!), and fire.  The German round slams into the American tank but does not penetrate, further shaking up the crew.

I'm not sure as I didn't write it down and didn't want to burden my gentle readers with every minute detail, but I think at this point SSG Smith's tank is down to two Command Dice.

The slugfest continues in the north as Cpl Grunhard maneuvers his Sherman (far right) up onto a hill in the enemy's rear.

Up on his hill, SSG Smith's crew is dazed, the cabin is filled with smoke, it's hot, smelly, they've got three enemy tanks taking shots at them, and they've fired three times at a nearby panzer and haven't hit it yet.  SSG Smith is holding is crew together by their shorthairs, in the fight by the skin of his teeth.  They somehow get the gun reloaded and they once again fire on Sgt Steiner's panzer...

KA-BOOM!!!!  Despite all their problems, they just dusted a Panzer IV.  Lt Stransky's vehicle is nearby (top left), but he can't see what happened, he only knows Sgt Steiner is no longer answering the radio.

SSG Smith then orders his tank forward (center, from bottom left, with the burning panzer at top center left and SGT Ross's Sherman at bottom center right).

In the southeast, CPL Grunhard is finally able to put his superior maneuvering into play: he pushes his Sherman into a rear aspect on Lt Stransky's panzer (top center) and fires, damaging the German's turret.

With Sgt Steiner's panzer out of action (center right, just visible above the building) and Lt Stransky's damaged (just below that same building), Cpl Stichle pushes his panzer around from the north (top center right), running smack into SSG Smith (left) and SGT Ross (bottom left).

Cpl Stichle continues pushing forward (far right), then pulls up for a shot on SSG Smith's (center top, with SGT Ross just beyond him) flank.  The round hits and penetrates, damaging the American tank's turret.

SSG Smith reverses his tank out of the line of fire (far left, from smoke at center, with Cpl Stichle's panzer at top center and Sgt Steiner's panzer burning at far right).

Lt Stransky's crew (bottom left, between building, with Sgt Steiner's panzer burning at center and Cpl Stichle at far right) is shook up and his tank damaged, so it's all he can do to get reloaded and aimed in on SSG Smith's damaged Sherman (top center left, with SGT Ross at top left).

Okay, time to do something, SGT Ross says to himself.  He charges his Sherman (bottom center, with SSG Smith's tank at left) straight at Cpl Stichle's panzer and fires at point blank range

SGT Ross's crew (bottom left) immediately reload and fire again, severely injuring two of Cpl Stichle's crew (top center).

Lt Stransky hears Cpl Stichle call over the wireless that his crew is abandoning their vehicle, so he pops smoke...

And leaves (top right, from center), with Cpl Grunhard (bottom center) unable to get a shot off before he made the cover of the hill.

That's a joke, I just let Lt Stransky's tank withdraw.

As we see Cpl Stichle and his crew abandon their panzer, chalking up a kill for SGT Ross and his crew.

With that, SSG Smith immediately moved he and SGT Ross's tanks forward to link up with CPL Grunhard's vehicle to consolidate their gains, but there they halted in order to regroup and try to repair SSG Smith's Sherman.  They called in a contact report and sat tight, awaiting reinforcements.

Well, that was a lot of fun.  First, because I won ;) and second, it's just more fun with more tanks on the table.  It does take quite a bit to keep track of three tanks per side, six for the table, and I can't really see us going more than six on the table.  I foresee a lot of 3 on 3 or 3 or 3 on 2, maybe even some 4 on 2 once the Germans get some bigger vehicles.

Regarding lethality, here are the stats:
Total shots - 16
Misses - 5
Bounces - 6, including one from the flank!
Penetrate but only damaged - 4, including one from the rear!
Straight out Kills - 1

Having said all that, about halfway through this fight I realized I was making the mistake of not penalizing vehicles that were hit but not buttoned up, though it really wasn't that big of a deal as it's only +1 dice and we're actually pretty good about having our tanks buttoned up by the time the shooting starts.

All in all a fun fight, with SSG Smith and SGT Ross both getting a kill.  Also, for leading the fight and keeping his tank crew in the fight under extreme duress, he was awarded the Silver Star.  More to come.

V/R,
Jack

Blood and Guts Roster

All,

Well, time for another new project, because I don't have enough going on, right? ;)  I've been wanting to play some very small scale (five or six guys versus four or five guys type of thing, sometimes bumping up to eight or nine guys versus six or seven guys) fights honoring the American dogfaces of World War Two.  No Special Forces, no high speed, nerves of steel, steely-eyed killers, just regular old guys pulled from the farm or the factory and thrust into action against Hitler's legions.  So I plan on using Ivan's "Five Men in Normandy" for the former, and "Five Men at Kursk" for the latter, and the Germans will start out qualitatively better than the doggies, though I'm hoping enough GIs will survive from campaign to campaign for them to actually get better.  Plus the German troop quality will get progressively worse.

I plan on following a squad of guys through the American portion of the Second World War in Europe; the platoon will be part of a cavalry unit, either Corps or Army level, not really going to specify, that way I can do whatever I want ;)  And the point of being a cavalry unit vice my normal rifle platoon is that I plan on getting a vehicle onto the table quite frequently, ranging from a Jeep to a halftrack to Stuart to a Sherman or Wolverine, all operating in conjunction and arriving at my whimsy.  I plan on starting in North Africa, probably not until Tunisia (I'm not interested in fighting Vichy French), then Sicily, some Italy, pulling out and landing in Normandy, the breakout, and into Germany (probably Hurtgen, Aachen, that sort of stuff).  Let's get to the boys.

I'm also going to follow supporting tank and tank destroyer platoons in 6mm, using Too Fat Lardies' new "What a Tanker" rules.

Squad Leader: SGT Cherry, 30, Refugee from Czechoslovakia (formerly Cernosek), joined in 1936, he's hoping for revenge against the Nazis for what they've done to his country.  After North Africa, he's really doubting whether he's cut out for the infantry. -PH (T7), North Africa

Assistant Squad Leader: SGT Hackett, 21, dropped out of college in KS to join after Pearl Harbor, he fancies himself Errol Flynn and longs to prove his gallantry. -PH (T5), BS/V (T12), North Africa

BAR Gunner: CPL Burress, 18, Straight out of high school in MD, drafted, he's here to serve his country. -North Africa

BAR Assistant (1): PVT McGovern, 29, joined in 1931 out of OH, busted numerous times in the peace-time Army, he's an adventurer looking for excitement, not always in the best of ways. -North Africa

Grenadier (2): PFC Porter, 29, aspiring novelist in OR, joined after Pearl Harbor, he's chasing glory in the Hemingway model.  He's lived up to it in North Africa, but it's not really all he'd hope it would be. -PH (T7), SS (T12), North Africa

Rifleman (3): CPL Graham, 21, nephew of Congressman from MO, drafted, a model citizen looking to burnish his credentials in furtherance of his own political career.  He'd become friends with Saxon, a real hero, which had made him become a hero, but he's in a funk after Saxon's death. -BS/V and meritorious promotion to PFC for rushing MG (T7), North Africa

Rifleman (4): PVT Lowery, 17, Family owns a restaurant chain in NY, drafted, but all he can think of is getting back to his Mama.  He's really feeling ostracized by the squad; they're claiming he was goofing off after getting hit, instead of getting back into the line.  He knows they're right. -PH (T1), North Africa

Rifleman (5): PVT Goodburn, 17, Family farmer in KS, drafted, he's a simple patriot looking to fight for freedom.

Rifleman (6): PVT Alt, 24, construction worker in NC, drafted, his wife couldn't stop crying when he left, said she saw his death in her dreams.

Rifleman (7): PVT Copeland, 17, family farmhand in OK, drafted, his adventure meter has been pegged since boot camp, he can't wait to see what's next.

Rifleman (8): PVT Pearson, 23, father is an automobile manufacturer in MI, drafted, his old man's business is part of the arsenal of democracy, and now he is too.

Rifleman (9): PVT Cooper, 17, farmhand in NE, drafted, he never thought he'd escape the cornfields, this is one big adventure.


Of Interest:

Platoon Leader: 2nd Lieutenant Pelluer, 22, Coalmining family from PA, college scholarship, ROTC commission, he's a patriot defending democracy. -North Africa

Platoon Sergeant: SFC Thomas, 32, Grade school teacher from IA, drafted, identified as NCO material and sent to 'Shake and Bake,' he just wants to do his job and get back home to his wife and kids.-North Africa

Runner: CPL Birden, 23, Father runs a radio station in NY, drafted and thought he was getting into radio, this is all so new and foreign to him, there's no way he's going to make it outta this alive. -North Africa

Anti-Tank Gunner: CPL Roberts, 21, Worked at a cannery in northern CA, drafted, his young bride just delivered a baby girl, and there's nothing he resents more than the Nazis pulling him away from them, so he's determined to make them pay. -North Africa

Anti-Tank Assistant: PFC Maas, 19, Roughneck from TX, joined up after Pearl Harbor, he's a patriot looking to defend his country from fascism. -BS/V (T8) and meritorious promotion to PFC, North Africa

Tank Platoon:

Platoon Leader: 2LT DeBerg, 21, just finished college at Harvard, ready to see what he can do in this man's war.

Tank 2: SFC Smith, 31, Depression-era drifter kid from NJ, joined the Army in 1934 for the chow, he loves the comradery of shared hardship. KILLS - 2, awarded Silver Star (T4), PH (T11), North Africa

Tank 3: SSG Ross, 29, Ties to the Mob in NY, joined up in 1937 to avoid the heat, he's looking to make a name for himself to advance his criminal career. KILLS - 2, North Africa

Tank 4: SGT Snow, 22, Teamster from IL, drafted, he's filled with a sense of dread that there's no way he'll see home again. -North Africa

Tank 5: CPL McNair, 27, big band leader from TN, drafted and put through Shake and Bake, he figures big band man equals big hero, no problem.

Tank Destroyer Platoon:

Platoon Leader: 2LT Lutz, 22, family farmhand from AL that made it to college on a football scholarship, he plans on being a hero just like his Pappy in the Great War and his Grand Pappy in the War of Northern Aggression.

Tank 2: SSG Gamble, 34, Warehouse manager in MI, drafted, a little nervous, but here for Ma and apple pie.

Tank 3: SGT Donaldson, 25, Beat writer in DC, drafted, he's a registered Democrat simply doing his civic duty.

Tank 4: SGT Lewis, 34, former soldier of fortune in Spain and Africa from MT, changed identity and joined in 1938, he's happy the war came along to give him a shot at turning his life around.

Tank 5: CPL Word, 28, Former biologist in CA, joined after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted out of a sense of patriotism.

Convalescent:

None

Gone:
2LT Barker, Tank Plt Ldr (T3), KIA with entire crew
PVT Jones, rifleman, lost leg to MG-42, sent home to Louisiana (PH T5).
CPL Petry, rifleman, legally blind from head injury, sent home to Massachusetts. BS/V (T2), PH (T6)
PVT Baldinger, rifleman, KIA (T8)
CPL Grunhard, Tank Plt, 2 tank kills, posthumous Silver Star, KIA with entire crew (T10)
CPL Saxon, rifleman, DSC and meritoriously promoted to CPL (T7), KIA (T12)
PVT Eatman, rifleman, KIA (T12)

Replacements:

PVT Szott, 20, Small time crook given a choice by the judge in IN, but he's no hero, he's simply looking to get back home.