Fortified company game 1st try

Me and Lochy last week discussed the possibility of testing a Fortified Company in a Flames of War game so we actioned that and lined up a game the following week. There are now a lot of Fortified options with forces able to include HMG nests and/or bunkers, mine fields, tank obstacles, Anti-Tank bunkers and so on. So 1750 points, Late War, I faced this...with the addition of Air Support.

I made a list like this.

Cassino 1st Falschirmjager.

HQ and 1 Panzershreck Team (Panzerknacker upgrade)

Full Infantry Platoon (Panzerknacker upgrade)

Full Infantry Platoon (Panzerknacker upgrade)

Smaller Infantry Platoon (Panzerknacker upgrade)

Mortar Platoon (Panzerknacker upgrade)

Reserve Panthers x 2

Barbwire x 3

Panther Turrets x 2

Trench x 1

HMG Nests x 2
Flak Nests x 2
I forgot to get a group photo of them.

We rolled up 'Hasty Attack' as the Mission and the table looked like this....

It was a very odd experience for me in many ways as my force was basically static. I am usually a very mobile player so that kind of threw me from the get go. But it was a huge learning curve. The game boiled down to a concentrated effort by Lochy to attack and keep on attacking one objective (lower part of the image above). I managed to make it messy for him as I managed to slowly destroy a few platoons including his 1iC. However Lochy managed to get rid of my 1iC when I was desperate in a must repel tanks in a suicide assault late in the game. End result was a 4-3 for the British. They won, but I made them pay.

Lochy tried gapping a Barbwire section. Infantry must stop at Barbwire for crossing or gapping so it meant they can (and did) get decimated when they do so.

Panther Turrets....interesting. I see a use for them but only one really participated in this game (The one on the hill). The other was deployed away from the action like my HMG nests that also played no role apart from making Lochy avoid that part of the table. The turret fluffed it's shooting most of the time but it took a few turns before it was silenced for good.
Thoughts.

Reserve Panthers. The Panther option while discounted in points cost arrived late in the game. They are the last to arrive (special rule)...Delayed Reserves for me (start rolling for reserves from turn 3). So as expected they arrived in turn 6 or 7....DOOH! I think in future I would prefer Medium tanks over Panthers.

Integrated Anti-Tank with my infantry was a real gap in my defensive game. Even though leaders had Panzer Knacker upgrades it wasn't really enough to deter or stop Tank Platoons have a go and crush infantry under tracks.....Ouch! So perhaps some Anti-tank guns may help (and more panzer shrecks).
I didn't start with my mortars on the table and I think perhaps I should have. Having the ability to throw some smoke or just bombard the attack could have been really useful.
My deployment of the Fortifications needed a lot of improvement as well. Experienced fortification players can probably see my Barb Wire sections scattered across the table when I should have considered having them all touch each other side by side. Lots of trench sections as well might be an excellent investment for a Fortified force. The 1st FJ pass Platoon Morale checks on 2+...nice so perhaps the smaller sized platoons is what the list is encouraged to have and to me it actually seems more historical really.
Anyway it was a fun game and here are some game pics.

Observer plane is a substitute for Air-Support.



Brit Pioneers dismount, M-10 and Panther Turret exchange shots.

Panther Turret dead and more forces arrive but first wave of infantry (Pioneers) stall at the wire and are removed. 

Shermans punched through only to get wrecked by Reserve Panthers. More armoured cars arrived over the hill to the right and it was all over for the FJ.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)