I decided on US armour this year. This was my list.
HQ - 2 x M5A1 Stuarts
Combat Platoon - 5 M5A1 Stuarts
Combat Platoon- 3 M4A1 Shermans
Weapon Platoon- Armoured Mortars with one extra .50 cal
Weapon Platoon- Recon Platoon with extra Zook
Weapon Platoon- 3 M8 Scotts
Divisional Support- 4 M10 Tank Destroyers
Overall I loved this list for US Armour. Lots of firepower. Lots of .50 cals. Lots of 3+ firepower. My overall strategy was to use smoke to get in close range then use movement and stabilisers for max effect.
My first game was against Bob Kelly and his 8 Panthers. We played a Free for All. I guarded one objective with my Recon Platoon and the 2iC. The rest of my army was to push the opposite objective. Luckily about half of the table was covered in wheat fields, which gave concealment for my M10s. I pushed my entire army as far as they could move in the movement step. In the shooting step, I used indirect and direct smoke to make sure all the Panthers I was facing were smoked. After three turns of moving and smoking, I was finally within distance of being able to flank the Panthers on my next turn. By this time I had lost all the Stuarts and Scotts from each platoon. I revealed my M10s. The M10s and Shermans moved and were able to flank and destroy the Panthers on the objective. Bob's closest Panther had to make a stormtrooper to contest the objective, otherwise he would lose the game. Bob failed his stormtroooper and that was a 4-3 win to me.
My second game was against Roger and his Company of Compagnia Carri. We played Counterattack, and I was defending. I placed the Shermans in ambush, and M10s on the table. He had 16 M14/41s, 4 Semester 75/18s, 3 Recce, and some air. This was always going to be a hard fight for Roger against my AT guns. On my first turn, the M10s completely destroyed the Semesters in their ambush. From their out, my Shermans and M10s slowly destroyed tank after tank. Roger's Planes were unable to do much as my AA MGs kept them away. In the end, Roger managed to destroy all the M10s. It was a 5-2 victory for the Americans. Roger was an outstanding sport and always kept a great attitude. I voted him as best sport, and so did a lot of other players as he won best sport. Roger and I played another game, as we finished within an hour. On the second time around, he got much better results against US armour.
My last game of the day was against Jeremy Hughes. We played Breakthrough. He had a Tiger,two platoons of 3 Panzers each. He also had a couple of 8 rads. This was always going to be a very hard match up for Jeremy. I placed my Shermans and M10s on the table. I outgunned him by A LOT. On my first turn my M10s destroyed all the Panzers in one platoon. On my second turn, my shermans killed his CiC and 2iC. Jeremy failed to roll any reserves which would cost him the game. As on my next turn, I rushed all my Stuarts (which I got on my first reserve) at his 8 rads and destroyed them. Jeremy had 1 platoon on the table, 2 destroyed with no commanders. He company was broke. 6-1 to the Americans. Like with Roger we played another game, and he had much better results the second time around.
On day two my first game was against Daryl. This was a bit of a grudge match, as last time his Churchills destroyed many of my Tigers. The mission was Fighting withdrawal. Daryl played a Panzerspahkompanie. He had lots of Luchs, some recce, 5 Panzers with 3 F2s, and 2 Hornesse's. Daryl was defending. He placed most of his force on the middle objective. I placed my entire force on the objective on my far left side. We played on a desert table, and I was able to get my recce unit on the objective at the end of my turn one. The rest of my force moved as fast as it could forward to support my recce units. I dropped smoke to cover the advance of the recce units. Daryl responded by throwing everything at the objective. The result was a massive battle of our entire armies all within an area about 1 metre by 1 metre. In the end I managed to break Daryl's army. I had many platoons on their last team, but none routed. This was a match where I managed to pass all my motivation checks while Daryl failed all of his taken. Another 6-1 to US armour. As this one finished quickly we had another match, where Daryl got the upper hand and broke my company.
My last match was against Stephen and his German Infantry. He had a gun line list with 4 anti-tank platoons of anti tank guns. He had ten platoons so I had to kill 2 platoons to get one point. The mission was No Retreat and once again I was attacking. He placed two platoons of 5 cm Pak guns with some infantry on the near objective. On the other side protecting the flank he placed his 3 StugDs. I placed my entire force on the flank and moved up to shoot the StugDs. I made the mistake of not pushing hard, and only pushed a little. I changed how I had been playing all day and this cost me the game. Stephen placed his ambush of 3.7s behind the StugDs. I slowly pushed up killing the StugDs. I killed some guns but failed to break them. I managed to kill his captured KV1e with my M10s for a point. The game time out for my first lost 2-5. I should have pushed the StugDs hard (like I had been doing all tournament) then as soon as he placed those last two AT gun platoons, I should have shifted back to the near objective. Stephen had started to move the 5cm Pak guns so I missed a chance for more points or possible win.
I learned a lot about US armour. Push them hard, use direct and indirect smoke until you get close. When you get close enough to flank them, use your stabilisers and watch tanks go up in smoke. I was surprised to win Best Allied in the end. There were four of us all at the top with only 4 points between us all.
Thanks again Stephen and look forward to next year.
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