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IABSM Battle Report;
28/04/05 British Armour Vs Clivey's DAK Panzer
Company
couple more games to try out my house rules for IABSM 'Confused Tank Actions'.
Clivey came round with his DAK Panzers which, when added to mine, gave us just over a full
Company for the German's. Essentially I used asimilar force to that which Jez had used but
added a troop of Crusaders to the Brits and gave them a couple of 6pdr AT guns firing direct over
open sights from off-table using our house rules for these.
the cloth, I had created undulations providing rises and depressions for hull down positions. In
addition I decided to use my recently acquired rocky out crops bought from Peter Pig's scenery
range at this years SALUTE.
Roman columns available from The Square
(7 Oakwood Road, Moordown, Bournemouth, BH9 3DF. Tel 01202531659)
two blinds. Clive would choose the number of the first two blinds to come onto the table, and I
would do likewise. The first two blinds would be placed within 6" of ANY table edge on our side of
the centre line running EW.
Subsequent forces would arrive two at a time at a location we chose on our baselines. Once again
we would choose each others blinds numbers.
Our forces consisted of;
Gun 1 Marder III 7.62 (r) (Armour 2, Gun 12) VETERAN
Gefreiter URSIGER Big Man 7 (D4)
Gun 2 Marder III 7.62 (r) (Armour 2, Gun 12) VETERAN
Panzer HQ PzKpfw IV ‘Special’ (Ave, Armour 6, Gun 12)
Armour 1 PzKpfw IV F1 (Ave, Armour 6, Gun 7) VETERAN
Hauptmann BEREICH Big Man 1 (D4)
Panzer Platoon PzKpfw III J (Ave, Armour 5, Gun 5)
Armour 2 PzKpfw III J ‘Special’ (Ave, Armour 5, Gun 7)
PzKpfw IV F1 (Ave, Armour 6, Gun 6)
PzKpfw IV ‘Special’ (Ave, Armour 6, Gun 12) VETERAN
Leutnant BOCKSTEIN Big Man 2 (D4)
Panzer Platoon Two PzKpfw IV F1 (Ave, Armour 6, Gun 7)
Armour 3 Two PzKpfw III J (Ave, Armour 5, Gun 5) VETERAN
Feldwebel KENDERMANN Big Man 3 (D4)
Panzer Platoon PzKpfw III H (Ave, Armour 5, Gun 5)
Armour 4 Two PzKpfw III ‘Special’ (Ave, Armour 5 gun 7)
PzKpfw IV F1 (Ave, Armour 6, Gun 6) VETERAN
Unterfeldwebel BASSERMANN Big Man 4 (D4)
Armour 5 Four PzKpfw IIF (Ave, Armour 4, Gun 3) VETERAN
Feldwebel RUPPERTSBERG Big Man 5 (D4)
Armour 6 Three PzKpfw IIF (Ave, Armour 4, Gun 3) VETERAN
Obegefreiter WURZGARTEN Big Man 6 (D4)
Off-Table Artillery Four 105mm Howitzers guns firing indirect fire only
using BIG MAN 1 as Forward Observer
One Blind Per Unit Plus D6+2 Fake Blinds = 11 - 16 Blinds
National Characteristics Cards
Blitzkrieg Recce Force
Petrol Shortage Vehicle Breakdown
Gun Bonus Fire Rally
Dynamic Commander Heroic Leader
Ammo Shortage
Kev's British Armoured Company
Forward Observer Carrier Mounted Forward Observer
Tank HQ Four M3 Grant I (Ave, Armour 7, Hull Gun 7, Turret Gun 5)
Armour 1 Captain ‘Lifter’ ROUNDWOOD Big Man 1 (D4)
Tank Platoon Three M3 Grant I (Ave, Armour 7, Hull Gun 7, Turret Gun 5)
Armour 2
Tank Platoon Three M3 Grant I (Ave, Armour 7, Hull Gun 7, Turret Gun 5)
Armour 3
Cruiser Platoon Three A15 Crusader Mk II (Ave, Armour 4, Gun 5)
Armour 4
Recce Troop Three Stuarts (Fast, Armour 5, Gun 5)
Lieutenant Hugh JARCE Big Man 2 (D4)
Off-table AT Gun 6pdr AT Gun (5 crew) [Gun 7] firing direct fire long range
Off-table AT Gun 6pdr AT Gun (5 crew) [Gun 7] firing direct fire long range
Off-Table Artillery Four 25pdr guns firing indirect fire only using Forward Observer
One Blind Per Unit Plus D6+2 Fakes = 8 – 13 Blinds
National Characteristics Cards
Gun Bonus Fire
Armoured Bonus (Cruisers only) Recce Force
Vehicle Breakdown Heroic Leader
Clive and I chose the location for our inital blinds, BEFORE
finding out what each of had picked for each other.
A Platoon of Panzer IIF's appeared down my left flank, with
another unspotted blind hiding behind a low ridge, in the
centre.
One of my blinds, which was hidden by a low rocky rise, I
chose to reveal at tea break, voluntarily, as a troop of
Stuarts, with another unspotted blind behind the ruins and
scrub on my left.
Luckily, at the beginning of my next turn Lt Hugh Jarce,
commander of the troop put a nice couple of shots into a
German panzer, destroying it. Next, my troop card came up
and the other two Stuarts opened up immobilising another
Panzer II.
I chose to spot the blind with one of my tanks revealed as a
mixed Platoon of Pz III's and Pz IV's. Big mistake, Clive had
held his dice on his blinds move card and had brought on
another couple of blinds.
Clive spotted my other blind as a fake, and raced the
remaining Pz II up the table after hitting a Stuart with fire from
his Pz IV's. Tip here, try not to spot blinds which have
reserved dice, they fire first!
Another couple of blinds appearred for the Brits. One
adjacent to the Stuarts. Clive successfully spotted again, a
troop of Crusaders was revealed. My other blind, on the
extreme right flank, remained unspotted as yet.
The Panzer II which had been immobilised, bailed out, and
the last remaining platoon member occupied the scrub and
ruins.
Two more of Clive's blinds appeared, again, this time taking
advantage of dips in the terrain opposite my right.
I opened up with my Crusaders, destroying a Pz III, with no
small amount of luck, at long range. However, Clive's Pz IV's
opened up knocking out one A15, immobilising a second
and forcing the other off-table at tea break.
The big factor here had been the Veteran Panzer crews and
their three man turret design allowing a multitude of shots.
I had actually managed to save quite well though, with only
the third shots penetrating my armour.
Clive spotted my right flank blind as three Grants and then
fired at them with a Marder III from a hull down position
opposite them. In quick succession the long 75mm Kanone
despatched two Grants, its gun 12 no match for their armour
rating of 7.
At tea break, I revealed another blind, behind the Stuarts as
four Grants.
When the next turn ensued, the remaining right flank Grant
was brewed up by the Marder. However, my other Grant
troop engaged first the Panzer IIF destroying it and then
commenced firing upon the German Panzer III's and IV's.
Another bloody Marder was revealed by Clive which, quickly
knocked out another Grant. My losses were piling up now
as crews abandoned their burning hulks and made their way
to the rear, concussed and somewhat chagrined by the DAK
Panzers. Their Veteran status was ensuring that their shots
were more accurate than those of mine, and the advantage
of the turret design making itself felt.
The first Marder III however, no doubt celebrating their
success against the Grants, and despite being directed by
Gefreiter Ursiger managed to hit only one target in ten
attempts!
To cap it all the Marder III then found itself low on ammo, and
able to fire only at short range (12").
Clivey's Panzer Company HQ appeared and commenced
firing the shots bouncing off the Grant's armour. I managed
to knock out the PzKpfw IV F2's long 75mm Kanone
however, with return fire.
Casualties were now piling up as my troop of Grants in the
centre knocked out a couple of Panzer III's but then became
immobilised and bailed. Clivey's second Marder ran out of
fuel and so its crew bailed, no doubt to beg some jerry cans
from somewhere.
I had only two Grants functioning by now and they were
outnumbered by three to one with a second Panzer II unit
appearing on my right.
Discretion being the better part of valour I buggered off.
The game revealed many tenets that I'd read about Desert
tank battles;
1) Although the Grants have a good sponson gun and good
armour their high silhouette makes them easier to hit. In
addition the hull gun is unable to fire when they are hull
down. This is a real sod as the 37mm is not really adequate
for taking on later marks of Panzer III and Panzer IV's
2) Generally short 5cm Kanones and to an extent long 5cm
Kanones of the Panzer III's are not really able to penetrate
the Grants effectively, certainly frontally.
3) The Stuart is really quite a decent tank in the Desert. A
gun and armour rating of 5 is adequate for facing Panzer II's
and early model Panzer III's. Its manouverability and recce
card inclusion makes it very hard to pin down and it is able
to hit and run very quickly seeking cover.
3) The Desert itself plays a huge factor. Dust gets in the way
of visibility which can make a real difference but its the
propensity of vehicles to bog down in soft sand (two ones
rolled for movement) and breakdown if the wrong card turns
up that can really frustrate you.
4) Long 75mm Kanones are killers! If the DAK have even
only a couple kiss your arse goodbye!
5)Self-propelled AT guns such as Marders, with four initiative
dice and the ability to keep up with the advance and then
shoot-and-scoot can be really effective.
5) The German tanks have a massive advantage in the three
man turret and Veteran crews as they are able to fire faster
and more accurately from longer ranges and don't need to
practice fire and movement whereas the British tanks,
particularly Crusaders and Stuarts have to close if they are
to have a chance.
Again a cracking, fun game, with lots of action and packed
with incident.
A good win for Clivey.
