Emergency Miniature Work - 15mm USMC Super Cobra
Gianna v. Oriskany Live Game, Part 2
In preparation for today’s stream, the conclusion of last week’s German-Soviet showdown between Gianna and Jim, I thought I would post just a few pics of where the game is at the moment.
In all the game is set up for 10 turns. Five turns are complete. Five more turns will be resolved today.
There are five objective hexes on the table. Currently my Soviets hold four of them. Whoever holds three at the end of the game is the winner. So Gianna’s Germans have to take at least two.
She just might do it.
Again, the stream is scheduled for Sunday, 7PM UK time (2PM Eastern US). We hope to see some of your there!
So here are the dispositions on Turn 1. To get the stream going, I had both forces enter the table through the designated entry zones and try to take the most objective terrain possible. The Germans end Turn One winning 3-2.
Gianna decides to fall back in the center, giving up one objective hex to deny a point-blank battle against large Soviet armored forces. Personally I feel she underestimated the resilience and firepower of her German force (including Tigers, including Michael Wittmann who was there on 12 July 1943), but she does have a strong case where she's now engaging the Soviets at LONG range over open Russian steppe, where her tanks are MUCH better than mine. As I take the objective, however, she fires against my spearhead with opportunity fire - it's a sound tactic, she just rolls a "6" (worst possible roll).
The Germans fall back AGAIN, pivoting to turn the left Soviet wing on Hill 252.2. It is admittedly a craft move, but its also yields me a FOURTH objective hex, and allows me to turn the inside wing of their Panzerjaeger Abtg, where mass Soviet tank fire manages to take out a battery of Marder III tank destroyers.
Now here is where Gianna has me worried. On the Soviet left, a whole SS StuG battalion, plus Tigers, plus the bulk of an SS Panzer battalion (PzKpfw III and IVs) are piling up against my infantry and airborne guards. Two objective hexes could be put BACK into play here, depending on how Gianna handles her artillery and reinforced grenadier company now deep in my rear.
Things get serious in the center, where I am more or less dominating. Two platoons of PzKpfw-IVGs are toast, as are all the Mader IIIs. I am taking some losses, though, especially from those HS-129 tank-buster planes that just showed up.
The situation at the beginning of Turn 6, where tomorrow's game will start. In broad terms, Gianna has yielded the center of the field, which I have graciously accepted and will NOT be giving back. However, there are issues on my right wing, where German grenadiers and artillery is on high ground ... 1000 meters in my rear where more German grenadiers are poised to strike from under the cover of Okbriabsky State Farm, and definitely on my right where a NIGHTMARE of German Waffen SS armor and assault guns are about to come around the east side of that tree line like the Kool-Aid Man on bath salts. :)
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