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Saturday 22 August 2020

The Egyptian front

Today, Phil and I had a couple of games of 'What a Tanker'

In the first, we used my Arab Israeli variant as I wanted to use my newly painted Egyptians...

The table, representing the Sinai!
 A long view.
Phil wanted to use an IS-3... 
 ...so I joined him in the Egyptian army!
 My solo system ran a pair of...
...M51 Super Shermans (or 'Ishermans' in common parlance) 
My IS-3 started across the table looking for Shermans. 
 Phil started his down the right flank.
 The first Sherman moved to a walled enclosure...
...and immediately acquired my IS. 
 The other Sherman started towards a hill from which he could see our tanks.
 The first Sherman opened fire...
...but missed. 
The second Sherman breasted  the hilltop.
My IS retreated behind the hill to break the Sherman's acquisition. 
Phil continued round the flank of the Sherman. 
 My tank moved forward again, acquired and fired.
 My shot damaged the Sherman.
It scanned the horizon for our Tanks. 
Phil was on its flank and tried a shot. 
The Sherman was untroubled. 
The second Sherman was approaching the centre of the table. 
The Isherman was firing at Phil's Tank, but couldn't hit it. 
 Phil stayed behind a wall, and fired, a good hit would wreck the lightly armoured Sherman, but its French 105mm could wreck an IS-3.
The Sherman hit first... 
...see what I mean? 
The second Sherman was heading for my position... 
 He was getting close!
 The first Sherman was keeping me busy.
When the second Sherman fired at point blank and missed... 
 ...My IS-3 decided to leave!

The second game:

As we had a desert terrain, and Phil hadn't used my French we next did a battle pitting the Vichy French against some Allied tanks.

I had a Renault R-35...
...and a Hotchkiss H-39 
 Phil had a Somua S35.
The solo system had an M3 Stuart... 
...and an M4 Sherman tank. 
The Sherman started with a long range shot... 
...which forced my Renault to back up in alarm. 
My H-39 was moving forward towards the Stuart.
 Phil's Somua moved down the flank, in the tracks of his ill-fated IS-3 in the previous game!
 My Renault returned to cover.
 My little shell bounced off the Sherman's turret.
 Upset the crew though!
 The Sherman still hadn't moved.
 The Somua had by now got on the flank of the Stuart.
The Sherman still couldn't hit my little tank... 
...but he made me fall back again! 
In the centre, the Stuart was hit...
... in the turret... 
...by my H-39! 
The Stuart was still popping rounds off at me. 
 ...but my Hotchkiss...
...was untouched. 
The Somua had got closer...
 ...and hit the Stuart.
It now had track damage. 
 My Renault got the dreaded double 1- and electrical failure which stopped me dead.
The Sherman took the opportunity to head for cover on the hill. 
 The Somua fired at the Stuart again.
 The Stuart fell back.
The Sherman was finally getting the range... 
I was losing temporary damage which was stopping me shooting back at the American behemoth! 

Mt H-39 was still keeping the Stuart's attention. 
 It moved deeper into cover.
 The Somua moved closer.
 The Stuart was looking a little 'Ropey' by this time. 
The Somua had little problem getting behind it. 
A shot in the rear from the Somua's 47mm blew the Stuart up. 
My H-39 moved to help the Renault. 
Unfortunately, the inevitable happened... 
...a good hit from the Sherman's 75mm killed it. 
The Somua had again got round the back, but it too had a system failure. 
My H-39 got into a stony field. 
 My shot made the Sherman retreat.
 Another shot damaged it! 
The Somua and my Hotchkiss had the Sherman bracketed.
A further Hotchkiss hit damaged its optics. 
The Somua knocked off another dice. 
Phil's Somua got a double six. 2 extra hit dice! 
 He damaged the running gear.
My Hotchkiss got a great hit too... 
...which knocked off 2 more dice.
The Sherman had no chance, so backed off the table at his earliest opportunity! 
Vive la faux France!

All in all a couple of good games! I hope you enjoyed watching!

2 comments:

  1. Great vehicles and table.
    Gotta love that early war French armour (looks I'm talking).
    Not interested in armour only games so haven't tried What a Tanker but they seem to handle armour well.

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    1. Thanks Cap'n! I always look love the retro look of French armour too! - I always look at the Somua S-35 as a sort of cross between a Dalek and K-9 from Dr Who!

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