Chris at Panzerschreck 2009 Over the years I have been regaled by tales of trips to the deep-south (okay Palmerston North is not the deep south, but in winter if feels like it!) as members of the Battlefront team have made the trek to Panzerschreck. They all told stories of great weekends, fun games and general merriment, so after my failure to get my army finished for the Mid War GT I was keen to redeem myself by putting together a force and joining the expedition. Phil's Panzerschreck VIII Journal... Tigers in the Snow... Ken's Sperrverband At Panzerscreck VIII 2009...    Panzerschreck Results...

I knew I wanted to put together a new army for the event and I had gotten excited about putting together a force based around Schwere Panzerregiment Bäke. There was something about a force that included Tigers and Panthers as the core platoons that got me interested.

As luck would have it James (one of our painters) had been working on an article for Wargames Illustrated about methods for doing Winter Wash camo schemes that even I could put together something that looked good from a distance.

All told the army took about 35 hours to put together and paint and whilst it does not look like some of the masterpieces that some of the studio painting gurus manage to achieve, it did complete my goal of having a 1750 point army put together that looked reasonable on the tabletop.

As for the event itself, Phil has managed to relate the much of the story there and back in good old Bessie – the hard working rental van. Needless to say it was actually more fun than it sounds cramming half a dozen guys into a van for a day-long road trip!

The Gaming! Round Mission Opponent Opponent's Army Round 1 Encounter Josh Forrester Soviet Motostrelkovy Batalon Round 2 Hasty Attack Bede Bailey Soviet Strelkovy Batalon Round 3 No Retreat Andrew Karl New Zealand Armoured Squadron Round 4 Fighting Withdrawal Simon McBeth Frnech Compagnie Char de Combat Round 5 Free-for-all Nick Garden German Strumkompanie

The games themselves were a blast and I managed to play a good range of opponents and armies, each with a few memorable highlights. Josh and I had a great gunnery duel as two Tigers and a Panther went toe-to-toe with an IS-2 company.

The IS-2 tanks eventually left the field, but not before killing both Tigers and putting the entire left flank under pressure.

Bede had a massive artillery battery that I managed to slowly destroy over the course of the game. The last two guns however were almost invulnerable to enemy fire with gun shield saves and failed firepower rolls keeping them in the fight long after most other things would be long dead.

Andrew introduced me to the art of smoke, smoke, smoke, and in case there was any confusion, more smoke. His Shermans advanced right up to my army, getting around the sides of the Panthers and Tigers, but the dice were just not his friend on the day!

Simon managed to use his AOP in a textbook fashion, crippling my ability to ambush where I needed and calling in devastating artillery bombardments. Last but not least Nick and I had a fantastic game of manoeuvre, with Hornisse duelling with Tigers and Hummels on one flank, and infantry stalking Panthers on the other. The final result was a respectable 9th, with good scores across the board.

The only issue was that after running the army for the weekend I now really want to do a few more platoons to round it out, but with the Late War GT a few months away I should be planning the next army instead! Thanks to Evan for the invite to come down and experience the event, and a special thanks to Dawn and Tom (who organised the event with Evan) who were kind enough to host me for the weekend as Casa Del Evan was full to the rafters with Battlefront staff and it was getting tight for space! ~ Chris