Royal Oak Rapscallions at the Battlefront Mid War Grand Tournament The Royal Oak Rapscallions (RoR) is a Auckland based Wargaming club, formed from the gamers at Historic Games in Newmarket around 2006. If you are interested in joining them to partake in some gaming email them at: [email protected] In this article, they tell us how they faired at the recently held Mid War Grand Tournament hosted by Battlefront. See the final results of the Mid-war Grand Tournament here...

Scott Lindsay & Aaron Mathie: Team Kilo 11 Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers and Pantherkompanie - Kursk by Scott Lindsay Aaron and I went into the tournament untested; Aaron’s first game of Flames Of War was game one of the tournament and I haven’t played Flames Of War at all this year prior to the tournament.   Our greatest (and only victory) came against the KV hordes of Paul Newman and Mark “Markovy” Darling. Despite facing 14 KV hulls, the Panzergrenadiers never wavered in their resolve, and held their ground tenaciously. In that same battle our PaK38 ambush was a roaring success, neutering a T-70 platoon. The Panthers finished them off, and gearboxes grinding under the strain, rushed across the 8 foot wide board to confront the KVs on the far side. We didn’t escape totally unscathed – we had just pulled our AA back to the rear (Fighting Withdrawal) when a passing Shturmovik took the opportunity to add another Panther to his kill count.   In our other battles we learnt a lot. Sometimes we learnt a lot about ourselves – the first mission was a prime example, as we came to grips with the tools we actually had at hand to get the job done. Sometimes we learnt a lot from our opponents – mission two against Rob and Tony, where we were definitely outplayed by two solid veteran players.   We had to leave early on Sunday, but all-in-all the tournament was a success for us and the hobby has gained a new convert in Aaron. ~ Scott. Below: The Panthers move to strike against the KVs.

Steve London & Gavin van Rossum: Team Ich Bin Mit Dumm German Pioneers and Pantherkompanie - Kursk by Steve London With but one practice game using what was supposed to be our chosen list (Soviet Tankovy) the match and pre-tournament intelligence led us to believe that the grand tournament would be swarming with German Big Cats and other nasties that T-34s would struggle with (correctly as it turned out).  We had four days to decide upon a new army and chose a combination of German Pioneers and Panthers. Two full platoons of rifle pioneers, backed up with a weapons company, Pioneer supply truck, and three PaK40s. The Panthers had a single company of three Panthers and the HQ section had two, plus a Bergepanther. Hs129Bs filled out the points. With no practice we were a little unsure whether it would work, but went into the weekend full of hope that it could at least sit somewhere comfortably in the middle. Below: Steve and Gavin's Army.

Our first game was against our club mates Best of British, Jason Farley and Lee Jacques. That battle is detailed below in the Admirals report. The result was a 5-2 to us after some insane luck and courage under fire, great way to start the tournament. The second game was against another team from our gaming group fielding Soviet mixed Tankovy: Team Karve It Up. They had the misfortune of attacking us in Breakthrough over a fairly busy Italian board. They tried a relatively ballsy approach by placing the heavies in reserve, and rushing the T-70s towards our front lines. Unsurprisingly the combined fire of Panthers, PaK40s and HS129s tore thru the light tanks. Barely holding on by passing Company Morale checks the Soviets had their reserves turn up right behind each other; into a wall of PaK40 and Panther fire. It ended pretty grimly with a 6-1 win to us.  It seemed a bit of a cheap win, but that's not to say the Soviets couldn't have done it. It did provide for us a certain degree of confirmation that Tankovy would have been a disaster- the tournament was bursting with German and Soviet big game. Below: Karve It Up's Soviet Mixed Tankovy Company.

Then round three saw an interesting game of watch the left flank disintegrate as we attacked Team Cubetto Assassino in Fighting Withdrawal. Will and Rob had a fairly mild combo of Italian Bersaglieri and German Panzers. Will is a Flames Of War veteran and Rob was still counting his total number of Flames Of War games on one hand.  We were on our back foot from almost turn one as a 4 tank ambush popped out along with some L6s who cheekily drove up and annihilated our left flank with MG and main gun fire. All the Pak guns, the mortars and a poor Pioneer unit were caught in the fire. The only reprieve happened when a flight of Hs129Bs annihilated the L6 unit....yes, hitting soft targets on 2+ is awe inspiring! Our right flank was forced to hasten the attack on an objective while they still could. Below: Cubetto Assassino combined Italian and German force.

The immediate payoff in shooting was destroying the Trained Italian CO (Hi Will!). This soon turned to be a negative, as without the trained CO planted in the middle of a Veteran Bersaglieri unit the moving rifle teams had no chance to hit the veteran units. The Pioneers and Panthers tried their best to dislodge the stubborn Bersaglieri unit, to little effect. The Panthers died in a round of assault due to some lucky spaghetti bombs. We did the only reasonable thing we could and sent the remains of the left Pioneer unit out tank hunting for a last minute successful grab at Victory Points. The Pioneer company promptly broke after that round, but it was a close run affair on the right, all the same it was a 3-4 loss and very tough. Below: The Panther try to dislodge the stubborn Bersaglieri.

The next day was a brand new morning full of optimism for our lucky German force. We were riding high on 14 Victory Points and thought we would be happy if we could get to 20. Facing Team Dad’s Army (Andy Duncan and Robbie Duncan) with British Motor Company and Death or Glory Grants and Crusaders we attacked in No Retreat. An early chance to thwart the Panthers occurred when a platoon of up-gunned Grants appeared from ambush to flank a Panther unit and released hell. Of the six 37mm and 75mm hits, only one achieved any results: a single bailed Panther. The Grants were promptly dispatched and the rest of the game focussed on the Panthers trying to snipe at Rob’s command tank, and any Crusaders that got in the way, while Gavin’s Pioneers snuck up warily through woods upon the unwavering British infantry. All of a sudden we were told we had a half hour to go and the tempo increased as our team realised we couldn’t win, but could scrape out some Victory points before the inevitable loss. Again, we managed a 3-4 through decent shooting. Below: Dad's Army British Force.

The last game saw us in high spirits, as we faced Team Figaro in Free-For-All with Mike Haycock and Phil Yates from Battlefront fielding Fucilieri and German Panzers. By this stage Gavin and I had a good synergy going and were well clued onto what we should be doing and when. We promptly took it to the Italian flank with the Panthers with some Pioneers in tow. Little did we know that Phil and Mike would be so aggressive in the face of our Big Cats. The Panthers spent most of the game trying to whittle down a short reluctant trained Fucilieri unit out of cover, who had gained the Unknown Hero almost immediately. Meanwhile Phil had sent his tanks successfully across a river while under constant air attack and through a Pioneer infested forest to threaten the flanks of my left Panther unit. Unfortunately the German Panzers luck ran out, and the Pioneers and Panthers combined to see off Phil’s CO and remaining tanks for a surprising 6-1 victory. Below: Phil's Panzer cross the river.

So we started the tournament with no practice, moderate hope and expectations of a tough tournament. The competition and players were tough and at the top of their games, but over the course of the event Gavin and myself managed to get a solid synergy going. We provided a quality assurance measure to each other's actions, and at the same time issued forth an insane amount of "friendly banter" towards each other to keep spirits up. It certainly was different being paired up with someone rather than relying on your own actions, but on the day everything seemed to combine to provide one of the most enjoyable tournaments we have participated in. When things went well, you and your partner could rejoice in the collective effort it took in vanquishing your foes. Also when things went bad, you could blame the loss on your teammate’s poor dice-rolling technique (in jest, of course). Oh, and amazingly we came 3rd Overall out of 21 teams. Awesome! ~ Steve.

Chris Russell & Daniel Linder: Team LolKatz Tigers and Pantherkompanie - Kursk by Chris "The Pink Panther" Russell The strategy was simple; the Panther company would take care of any heavy armour at a safe distance, while the Tigers and Maultiers would deal with any soft threats. Our force was however, was only successful on three out of five occasions. Our two failure came under the boot heal of some Trained Italians or on the pointy end of some Commando's extra stabby blades, with flat head screwdriver capabilities. Right: Team LolKatz.

In any game our main goal was to knock out the weakest company. As all of our enemies were combined arms opponents, this was almost always possible. Having played against Rob and Will’s Cubetto Assassino forces before and knowing we out classed their tanks and were confident of the outcome. We were not however, anticipating the level to which the student of our elite gaming club had absorbed training during the time of his brief apprenticeship. Cunningly (and with a little advice) he kept his only vulnerable platoon out of reach. As the brave German artillery men weathered fire from medium tanks, light tanks, and an entire Italian company on one flank, the Tiger and four Panthers lead the assault. They were to be welcomed by fine operatic singing and large dishes of spaghetti as all of the tank drivers and crew abandoned their tanks, for only what we can assume must have been some five star dining. As our commanders were in smoking wrecks and the Maultiers were still barely holding the flank, the army dissolved like over cooked gnocchi, Daniel and I were left reeling. It wasn't the mission or objective placement so much as the flaw was obviously over confidence and the enemies abilities to play on their previous experiences of knowing us and our weakness. We would not let this happen again. "Keep one tank platoon on each objective at least!" I commanded for our subsequent battles. Below: The Big Cats meet their match.

Round two was against a German Pioneer company and a German Recce company. After a long and meticulously thought out enemy deployment, our tanks went down far enough away from their flame-throwers. They deployed Rommel and some Nebelwerfers way off on the other side of the table, not close enough to contest the far objective. We sat there for three turns, under smoke, gingerly keeping away from their flame-throwers and discouraging the Recce from leaving their cover. Turn three saw the first our reserves arrive. Enemy communication chatter went into frenzy as they realised they had misread the rules and completely left the back objective unguarded. Better yet, Rommel was now in the direct line of sight of two Panthers. The following turn, two more showed up. At this point it was in the bag; we did however to fail to kill Rommel with four Panthers at close range in three turns of shooting. We walked away with a 6-1 victory.

Bolstered by the win, we were beaming. But my heart sank into my chest; it was to be a Fighting Withdrawal against Commandos and Churchills! It’s not that I am scared of Commandos or in the least the Churchills, it was more the mission I was afraid of. I have never successfully attacked and won. We started quite well; the rockets rained havoc down on a trained artillery battery, which was in a gully surrounded by a Guards platoon and a Commando platoon, both of which took casualties from the artillery fire and fire from the tanks helped finish off the platoon. Our tanks, carefully over the course of several turns, skirted around the remaining weakened platoons instead of going for the kill. As the turns rolled on, objectives came off, weakened platoons came off, and we ended up further away from victory than we were if we just took our chances three turns ago. At the bottom of the seventh turn, the Churchills came out of ambush only to take out a single Panther, but doing enough to allow the Commandos to pop out of their foxholes and assault. The result was abysmal, coordination collapsed and I steamed off whinging about my luck on such a mission, when really it’s all down to strategy. Below: The winning combination of the Churchills and Commandos.

The next day at the Kiddies table, we deployed our tanks against an eight gun battery of New Zealanders supported by British tanks and 17pdrs. While both opponents were cheerful, friendly and good guys to play against, they lack the killing edge! He put the 17pdrs on the table, leaving the ineffectual 6pdrs in ambush. After losing the 17pdrs and short Kiwi rifle platoon, they didn’t get reserves until turn six. However the supporting platoons were 6pdr Portees and a three tank strong Trained Sherman platoon, easy pickings for Panthers and Tigers with re-roll misses. After attempting to drag the game out, as long as we could in their favour, with advice we should have given on deployment to be good fellows, we stunningly crushed them. We were in high spirits for the fifth and final game and our spirits rose higher once we discovered we were up against a Conscript Russian army supported by some KV-85s. While the infantry fearlessly moved at the double in front of the Panthers and Maultiers. The KV-85s spent more turns moving backwards. The KV-85s were their weak point. Get those, and a couple of Katyushas and we have the game in the bag. The Katys however hid well, and being faced with an entire Russian company supported by Pioneer teams sitting on our objective, I deemed it prudent to re-allocate some of our resources so Dan sent over two panthers, that did the job. On the other objective my Nebelwerfer commander popped up from his foxhole, at the sight of over nine thousand Russians running for their lives from their Komissar. The command was given, and the Maultiers lurched forward, gunners taking position at the AA MGs. The entire Russian conscript battalion fell to machine gun fire; only the Komissar and the Commander were left alive, imploding as the Commander and Komissar shot each other. On the far flank one lone Tiger had managed to trundle over to the far side objective, which was now littered with the shells of Russian KV-85s. The tournament was without doubt the best I had been to in ages, Happy as I was to have actually enjoyed myself rather than feel exhausted and abused as I often had in previous tournaments, it rekindled the spark I had for this Flame of War. ~ Chris.

Jason Farley & Lee Jacques: Team Best of British British Rifles and Light Armoured Squadron by Jason “Admiral” Farley The story of the Mid-war Grand Tournament for what eventually became known as team Best of British began at the start of 2011. Lee and I were both considering taking British forces so it was natural match. As Lee was initially interested in playing either a Commando or British Airborne list, we play tested several variants of these with my Crusader Squadron before it became clear that the army history requirement would be for forces on the same battlefield. The solution seemed simple; I suggested that Lee instead use an Australian Rifle Company, which would give him the Fearless Veteran infantry he wanted to use while being a historical match with my Crusaders at Alamein. This went well in concept and play testing and we were ready to head out when, only a week before the event I posted our list and history on the Flames Of War forum. Suddenly it was realised that the unit I had supporting, the Australians, in our history used Valentines, not Crusaders and our Australian Rifle Company was not legal as we only had two Rifle Platoons.

Going quickly back to the drawing board we re-wrote our history to instead represent the 131st Infantry Brigade and 4th County of London Yeomanry, who fought in 7th Armoured Division at Alamein. We also went with a Generic British Rifle Company, rather than the Australians, which allowed us to pick up the 3rd Rifle platoon at the cost of only a couple of AT rifles. We were ready for the tournament! Right: Best of British: Lee and Jason in action.

The terrain at the tournament was clearly of a far higher standard than we have been used to at previous Battlefront tournaments. Every table presented an interesting challenge for both infantry and armoured commanders which we greatly appreciated. So too the mix of missions had made things challenging for a variety of different force styles. Looking back on it our selection of light armour and infantry with solid artillery support was far from typical. There was an overwhelming quantity of heavy armour, British Churchills, German Panthers, Tigers and Ferdinands as well as Soviet KVs. We were fortunate to have a skilled commander running our artillery and infantry, without Lee and his boots and guns the Crusaders would have had a real uphill battle. Our best two games were our first on each day. Day one began with a tight battle against the Panthers and Engineers of Ich bin mit dumm in a Dust Up which teetered back and forth between the two teams. The Crusaders nailed a Panther platoon at the cost of one of their own and, importantly, the Company Commander while our infantry came on in force from reinforcements and overwhelmed the defenders of the rear objective. However astonishing shooting from a PaK40 platoon who walked on under the guns of a 25pdr platoon and proceeded to shoot them to pieces and the Panthers who eliminated a second Crusader platoon broke the Crusader Squadron before the infantry could fully secure the objective. Below: Defending the buildings.

Day two began with a No Retreat against the SS T-34s and Pioneers (with Ferdie) of team Papa Joe. We were defending a town at the end of a narrow valley and team were attempting to take the oasis at the centre of the valley. While some fire duels erupted on either flank it was the destruction of the smaller Pioneer platoon by the CS Crusaders on the right flank which was the most significant early development. Artillery fire cost several teams and a turn of critical delay to the large Pioneer platoon in the centre. While the initial assault by the T-34s and Pioneers wiped out the defending infantry platoon the hail of fire from the nearby village annihilated the infantry while 25pdrs in direct and Crusaders from reinforcement raced in to destroy the T-34s. The shattered offensive force fought bravely, but their momentum was broken and the defence held. Below: The Armoured Recon and T-34s of Team Papa Joe.

Overall we had a fantastic time and really enjoyed ourselves. Taking great pleasure in defeating the overall tournament winners in the last game, just not by enough to claw them back from Best Overall, was an added bonus. A great competition which really has us looking forward to playing doubles again in the future. ~ Jason. Will Mays & Rob Wood: Team Cubetto Assassino Italian Bersaglieri and German Panzers by Will Mays Will and Rob have posted their report from the Mid-war Grand Tournament in the After Action Reports section on the Flames Of War forum. Check out their report here…