Today we had another game of What a Tanker at the club, and Phil decided we try the Churchills again. I worked out against 3 Mk VII Churchills, a fair battle would be a Tiger and 2 Panthers!
The Germans were run by my Solo System.
Lawrence provided most of the terrain, I added a few fields, and brought the tanks!
My Churchill was on our left.
Lawrence was in our centre...
...and Phil on our right!
Opposite Phil was a Panther G
Lawrence was in eyeshot (!) of another.
I, of course had to face the Tiger!
The battle would begin in the centre, obviously!
My first move was a mighty 4"!
Lawrence wasn't able to move, but fired at the Panther.
Phil decided to try and co-ordinate with Lawrence...his tank having received a hard rap from the 75mm gun of his Panther
The Tiger, opposite me probed forward cautiously.
Lawrence's Panther advanced on him, having already hit at long range.
The Panther was soon in a good firing position.
Phil's opponent made a very rapid advance towards him!
Phil took a hit which his driver reacted to by a rapid retreat!
I know the Churchill is a slow tank, but mine was ridiculously so!
The Germans had the initiative!
Phil, using a corner as cover, began a gun duel with the Panther there.
The panther took a glancing hit...
...and lost a temporary Command die.
The Tiger had advanced far enough to spot me!
Phil was being shot at effectively...
...The Churchill has great armour though!
Lawrence, too was shrugging of Panther fire.
I finally spotted the Tiger and fired!
My shot bounced off its thick frontal armour, and it fired back!
Fortunately, he missed!
The Tiger was in a position effectively covering all my approach routes.
Lawrence and Phil were equally pinned.
Neither side seemed able to cause more than Temporary damage to their opponents.
The Tiger kept whanging big shells my way, fortunately most missed, and the rest deflected off my armour...so far!
Lawrence was getting some hits on the centre Panther.
Phil too had damaged his opponent without taking any.
The Germans seemed happy to stop and fire at us.
I was worried by the Tiger, as all I had caused was a single Temporary damage on it, My Armour throws had saved my tank a couple of times!
Suddenly Phil's tank took a hit in its running gear!
Lawrence was getting more hits on his Panther...
It didn't seem to be reacting!
What was happening?
The Panther had taken a hit in its tracks, and when it tried to shoot back, it had an electrical failure!
I decided to try and outmaneuver the Tiger, as frontally I was doing nothing.
The Tiger fired, but again failed to penetrate my armour.
The battle lines were static, waiting for the first bit of luck.
My tank was still not moving well, so I parked it behind a hedge.
Phil changed position to get a better firing line on his Panther.
Lawrence got a lucky hit on the central Panther's turret!
Its shooting was now less of a threat.
I got a lucky set of command dice with lots of moves, but my dice were rather poor!
The Tiger was surprised and his shot missed!
My friends were winning against their Panthers, especially Lawrence.
Both Panthers were looking a bit 'ropey'.
Lawrence got another hit in!
The Panther was immobilised by a broken track!
Soon, the crew bailed out of their stricken vehicle!
I got a move which put me out of arc of the Tiger, and pressed on round its flank, but it got a great response and destroyed me with one shot!
It then moved down the road...
It saw Lawrence...
...Another one shot kill!
Phil wisely left the field, he was on the cusp of destroying his Panther too...
The Tiger saved the day!
I think its another example of balance in tanks...
The Churchill has 12 Armour, but only 6 for a gun (75mm)
The Tiger has 10 Armour and gun.
The Panther has 9 Armour and gun.
I feel its often the case that the more balanced tanks do better generally? - what do other players think?
