Defcon 2012 aftermath.

I am back after a long weekend of gaming and socializing. If you read my previous post before Defcon and my thoughts about my army list will get a conclusion if my initial ides where correct. But first the short battle reports of my 5 battles (I appolegies for faults because my notes are very few from the battles):


Battle 1: After an early rise to catch the buss in to Linköping from my nice friends how allow me to stay in there lovely house. The First mission for the day is Domination with 6 objectives worth 2points each. My opponent onni Harrius is fielding a Strelk with support of a full God of War and KV-8 flame tanks.
I know from the start that It will be hard for me to control 4 objectives because of the shear amount of troops in the strelk. So my goal was to go for a draw (control/contest 3 objectives every turn) and kill as much as possible. This was my first time to use tank escorts and I can tell you that I like them allot. My smal Stug platoon of only three stugs could hold out and fight with a Strelk for many turns even if the tanks bail. In the end after a few bloody assaults was there an draw. With the new point system did I get 4 points and my opponent got 7 points. This is very few points with they points system we used for this event. Normal counting 1-2.

Battle 2: Next battle after some food was Cauldron. My opponent was Johan Fågelholm on of the tournament organizer he fielded a Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment from Red Bear. I have to mention that we battle was on a snow table so every open ground was difficult going. I had the luck to become defender and put my Hornisse in immediate ambush to counter the heavy beasts rolling down on me.
I think my opponent forgot that I had the first turn, so I got a few lucky shots and could snipe out his commander for the T34/85 and hos Battalion commander was on the far edge of the board game. I also had clear shoots on his ISU-122 and took one tank out.
And after turn one was it hard for Johan to recover because his T34/85 where stuck on one flank and they could not do there planed flanking manoeuvre as planed so I had enough fire power to take care of the ISU-122 one by one. In the end was is a Victory to with 27p to 7p. Normal counting 6-1.

Battle 3: Last battle for the day and yes my head is getting tired and the beer was staring to take effect. Defcon is actually the only bigger event where alcohol is sold on the tournament. This time we it was time for a new mission again and it was Outpost and yet again did I get a snow table but the problem this time is that there where no roads and the outpost scenario needs allot of movement. My opponent this time is Magnus Lindroth we have meet a few time before in Gothenburg sins he is one of the local gamers. Magnus fielded a Rota Razvedki with SU-100 and a lot of Shermans. The Rota Razvedki is always attacking so I had only my Sturm platoon on the table from the start. This battle was on of the closer on the tournament it was not until turn 9 I could grab the victory from the Russian claws. His SU-100 and my two Horniss was battling between each other the game for 8 rounds and we both had trouble to get our tanks to the centre where the two objectives where because all terrain was bog check and movement was down to 20cm.
This was not the greatest matches I played because of the table with all the snow and in combination of the missions which dictates you to move allot. But as I wrote before I could grab a close victory 21p to 6p. Normal counting 4-3 victory.

Battle 4: Second and last day of the tournament. Early rise again and I feel a bit hangover and tired but it will not stop me after few pints of coffee. This time was it time for a normal mission again Fighting withdrawal my opponent was Simon Holm how fielded a Sthurmovye Battalion. We played on a normal table with enough terrain. My biggest worry for the game was 6 T34/85 that where held in ambush.
So turn 1 did double with one of my Stug platoons and off course did Simon reveal his ambush  and shoot the crap out of the platoon. But I returned the fire the next turn with horniss and Stug + HS 129B3 planes and the T34/85 platoon run home again. So after my biggest threat to my Stugs was gone could I operate a bit more freely. On turn 3 was I on one of the objectives but was counter charged with flamers and sappers. Yet again did my escorts play there role because even if the flamer bail my tank will my escort fight on. So i thank my brave escort soldiers for the major increase of staying power of the Stugs´s. After allot of brawling and fighting fourth and back did I win because my opponent rolled really poorly on his moral for the Strelk with commissar and Battalion commander. It was a close game and the result was 18 to 8 points victory to me. Normal counting 4-3 victory.

Battle 5: Last game for Defcon. I know that I am not close to any high placement in this tournament so I will try to enjoy my last game. This is Free for all with a twist. The deployment is hidden, you use dice or counter to mark the platoon commander placement so your opponent do not know where you placed what. My opponent was Johan Bermann how fielded a Self-propelled Art Regiment with allot of heavy ISU-152 and IS-2.
I know from the start that I will have a hard time to do a out front assault because my Stugs can not penetrate there armour. So I do the normal shoot and move tactics with my Hornisse with the help of  Dietrich Von Saucken how grants a rerole of the stormtrooper move within his command.
After a slow advance and  allot of rule discussions did we end up with a draw and the final result was 10 to 0p. Normal counting 2-0p.

The final score for me was 80p which would place me in the topp middel I think. Unfortunately was the final score lost in transit but the final champion was:

1. Karl B
2. Per E
3. Patrik F
Best painted. Patrik H
Best sportsmanship. Mattias A
Jumbo. Pommac Johan B



Summary of the tournament is that Tank escort is very power full but I understand that there will be changes in how tanks assault infantry in the 3rd edition of the rules. Also I like my Stug Battery list it is fast and fragile when it meets heavies like ISU/IS-2 but usually it can out manoeuvre them and get flank shoots. My HS-129B3 is a solid air plane and the Russians need to think twice before moving and grouping there heavy tanks. If I can go next year will I definitely go.