Back in France

Today Lawrence was missing again due to having to wait in for a visitor, so it was just Phil and me, so we tried What a Tanker again.
Fortunately I have started painting German armour and have some terrain, which Lawrence usually provides.

As we have never fought a Tiger before, we balanced the game with two Sherman 75s and a Firefly. We diced for who got what, and guess what? - the Firefly was run by the solo system and was our commander! - So...

...I started on the right... 

...The solo run Firefly in the centre... 

...and Phil on the left. 

The Tiger (solo run) - was in the middle on the other side of the table, looking untroubled! 

The Firefly decided to go Tiger hunting. 

My Tank refused to move! 

 The Tiger also just sat there.

The Firefly edged into sight of the Tiger. 

Phil tried to take his tank up a steep hill... 

...and got stuck there! 

The Tiger decided to engage the Firefly. 

This could be interesting. 

The Firefly got first shot... 

...and missed! 

 The Tiger returned fire with its 88...

... a near miss... 

...the Firefly fell back hastily. 

The Tiger edged into cover in the ruined town. 

 My Sherman finally got moving and I climbed a hill to get a bead on the Tiger.

Phil was able to get round the flank of the Tiger, which did not seem over worried.

 (Our positions at this point)

 Phil moved towards the Tiger, shooting with his pea-shooter.

 Ping!

The Tiger was busy shooting at the Firefly. 

 His shot winged it.

 The Firefly fired back with its 17pdr...

 ...The shot hit a glancing blow off the Tiger's thick armour.

 The Tiger fired back again...

 ...but the big tank was only throwing half his 6 command dice.

He did manage to get a couple back in his next turn, untroubled by the 75mm's on our Shermans. 

The Firefly fired again.... 

...and knocked the 2 command dice off again!  

 The Tiger managed another shot...

...The Firefly exploded, killing the poor crew.

Phil had advanced, and fired again...

 

 ...the shot bounced off the armour again.

 Worried that the Tiger would now focus on him, Phil reversed his tank into some ruins. 

I raced into cover on a hill overlooking the town.

 We now had the Tiger bracketed. 

My tank fired at the beast! 

Missed!

Phil fired... 

...another ricochet! 

 The Tiger, though, now retreated. 

Phil fired again... 

...but missed to moving tank. 

Both sides now experienced a period of...quiet! 

 ...The Tiger crew were trying to get their command dice back!...

...but settled for retreating further back. 

The Tiger was looking 'ropey'. 

I had to move to regain acquisition once the Tiger had moved. 

 The Tiger could not acquire me though...fortunately!

He fell back further. 

Phil now left his ruins and moved in for the kill... 

The Tiger was looking vulnerable. 

 Phil fired...

...but the Tiger's armour was still as thick! 

 I moved forward too...

...my shot bounced off too... 

...but the Tiger had had enough, and left the table! 

The second game

I had a Cromwell...Phil a Challenger. 

 We faced 3 Panzer IVG's

Phil moved forward onto a hill. 

He had a clear sight on one of the Panzers. 

The Panzer moved forward into cover. 

My Cromwell moved to face the same Panzer IV. 

 The other 2 German tanks seemed unable to see us, though they advanced to try! 

 The first Panzer moved into the ruins... 

...before shooting an excellent shot! 

The Challenger was shaken, but not really damaged...

...he had good armour! 

The other Panzer IV's were slowly advancing. 

The Challenger moved forward... 

...having a clear shot on the Panzer, he fired...and missed again!

 My Cromwell moved to outflank the Panzer... 

...which fired! 

The Challenger was destroyed!

 The Panzer began looking for me

 But I made a quick exit! 3:1 was not good odds!

We did do a last opposed game on a new terrain...

Phil had a Cromwell IV... 

...Me, a Panzer IVH. 

 Phil got in a good position with his great mobility...

...and eventually won!

1:1 battles do tend to end up as a dice rolling exercise!