Broadside Empires of Steel: Encounter Battle!

 

Last night at the Wollongong Wargamers Broadside: Empires of Steel was our themed game.

I and my elements of the High Seas Fleet Scouting force was up against Gary and the might of the Royal Navy Battlecruiser fleet! 400 points each:

Admiral Gary is on the left, discussing strategy with his Flag Captain, Caesar. Although this was only his second game of Broadside, Gary had beaten me in his first game. With RN Battlecruisers...

Although my BCs were undergunned compared to the RN, they were slightly faster. And I had an extra Light Cruiser, and intended to make full use of that!

Gary found the range very quickly, scoring a punishing first round salvo on Von Der Tann:

It looked like he was going for an anvil attack, splitting off his Light Cruisers to the south of me... 

Whilst his Battlecruisers would stand off along the table edge and use their range advantage to full effect:

Seydlitz was also quick to close to medium range and score hits on the Invincible, whilst my Light Cruisers set off to achieve a torpedo solution of their own:

The fast British Light Cruisers closed to torpedo range:

The first torpedo attack was from HMS Caroline - only one fish hit and caused only superficial damage:

Other British cruisers were closing in from the south, but Seydlitz' formidable secondary and tertiary batteries were able to sink HMAS Sydney, reducing the risk somewhat!

Gary took great care in setting up his next torpedo solution:

It paid off - the Seydlitz was sunk!

But not until having caused severe damage to HMS Lion!

Whilst my Light cruisers, with shorter ranged torpedoes, continued to attempt to get within range of the British heavy units, the remaining RN Light Cruisers had now got a solution on the struggling Von Der Tann. Together with serious damage from the British 12 inch guns, a series of torpedo hits ripped her bottom out!

A second win for Gary, and a convincing one!

Clash of Steel: Cents & Sensibility

 

For this week's Clash of Steel game Daniel prepared the scenario and brief: a border incursion by Panzer forces of the nascent East German Nationalen VolksArmee to prove their mettle. If not resolutely rebuffed, incursion would become liberation!

NATO forces in the area consisted of Nero Squadron 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, albeit with an altered order of battle. The tankie's long range AT support of 2 Charioteer troops were all U/S and REME were desperately casting about for a sufficiently large hammer to fix 'em up. 

Fortunately a pair of Tortoises manned by the King's Troop RHA were on hand to provide that long range AT with their 32 Pounders. 

Helmstedt, West Germany. Rather too close to the Inner German Border for comfort!

The mission drawn was The Clash, with three objectives spaced along the length of the table. Daniel was unwillingly conscripted into the forces of peace and progress and lost no time advancing his spearhead platoon of T34-85s into Helmstedt:

Objective STEINADLER...

For the first time in a long time I was the NATO player so relaxed into my carpet slippers and smoking jacket...I also extended my deployment area with my Recon troop of Cromwells onto the second objective.

With only a few very expensive platoons, the unexpected requirement to put 40% of my forces into immediate reserve threw me 10 left! I was left with just the lone Conqueror and the pair of Tortoises to deploy. Still, if you only get three tanks, these are the ones to have:

The Tortoises were deployed in a central position to dominate the landscape, but along with the mighty Conqueror were feeling a little outnumbered:

Oh well - they did some good long range work against the T34-85s:

And fortunately I rolled well for reserves - the first troop of Cents moved up to covered positions on my right flank:

With my Conqueror supporting the Cromwells in the farm to the left of this photo below, it was clear that Daniel was trophy hunting as he moved to swarm the area with his T-54s:

It was time to give up that objective - the Cromwells sprinted into town and the Conqueror edged back to what I thought was a safe distance...

Meanwhile, the Cents were nicely ranged in from the edge of the woods:

And steadily turning the IS-2s into scrap:

Daniel was absolutely NOT giving up on getting side shots on the Conqueror and pushed his T54's deep down my right flank. 

The Achille's heel of the Conqueror is that it has no moving rate of fire, so I had to keep withdrawing...

By this point the centre felt secure:

And my second troop of Cents, arriving on my far left flank, soon tidied that area up!

And secured that objective:

With my Conqueror finally having reversed into cover, surely my right flank was now also sorted out?

No - Daniel was determined to get his side shots in:

I began to realise being a NATO player wasn't all beer and skittles - he was very close to getting bragging rights on bagging my Conqueror - but even with an events card reroll his round failed to penetrate - pheww!

With that unexpected excitement over my right flank was also finally secure!

In accordance with his orders, the East German chief politico tapped the Panzer commander on the shoulder and sensibly announced that the 'special military operation' had achieved is objectives and it was time to advance smartly to the rear! NATO 47 VP, East Germans 44!

A great scenario from Daniel, enhanced by the dynamic objective system of Clash of Steel into an exciting and rewarding game.