Flames of War Tips… Bogged Tanks

The best moment I’ve had with infantry versus armour in fact happened just the other day. I was playing with a LW US Parachute Infantry Company when on one side of the board a five strong Panzer Platoon machine-gunned the remnants of a platoon destroying everyone but my Company 2ic. However, on their stormtrroper move, two on the five Panzers bogged on a hedgerow. There was nothing else my 2ic was going to be able to do for the whole game so he decided to go out in style and assault the Panzers. Step 1, he moves out and fires his SMG at the nearby enemy 2ic doing no damage. It’s at this point that I remembered I was going to fire a smoke bombardment but this should go first in the shooting step, I instead decided to drop a four team barrage of 81mm mortars onto the tanks instead. Would you guess it, I managed to bail one of the bogged tanks forcing a morale test reducing their number to four :-). In the assault phase I passed my tank terror test and assaulted a running tank, screened by the bogged and destroyed tanks to limit defensive fire. Nevertheless with other infantry and independent teams nearby he managed to get in seven shots of defensive fire, of which four scored hits (not enough to pin) and which the heroic 2ic emerged unscathed. In my first turn of assault I managed to blow up the running tank to which the rest of his platoon were none too impressed and passed their motivation to counter-attack. In moves one Panzer and his own Company 2ic but I was obviously hiding in the burning ruins of the Panzer because no hits were scored against me. A second tank terror test is passed and I instead turn my attention on the enemy 2ic as he’s easier to kill – and down he does indeed go. On the enemy’s turn to counter-attack he unfortunately fails backing his two surviving Panzers out of range but enabling my heroic 2ic to capture the still bogged tank. Three dead tanks, two runners, platoon morale check and yes he fails it 🙂 Needless to say my 2ic was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour after the game.