Wednesday 18th September 194ish
The Vast Snow Fields of Garvald.
Temperature-A Balmy 21.
El Presidente had decreed that he had convalesced enough and demanded we headed out to Garvald for a game or something along these lines.Most of us acceded to these demands and traipsed out to El Presidente’s Manor House with wives in tow.The wives plan was to down Shiraz by the bucket full and to call into question the habits of their erstwhile spouses.
Game wise found us back into the snowy expanses of Finland with another game of Finns evictingsomebody from the premises this time it was the Germans’ turn.To save the Finns a mauling they were informed by the Soviets that the Germans would have to be sent packing so we found ourselves re-enacting this event.Chief Skulker and myself took charge of the defenders whilst the Finns came under the guidance of El Presidente,Comrade Gilchristi and Herr O’Brien.
The game was to take seven turns so the German’s plan was to hunker down and hang on to the end.Our main defensive asset was a Panzer iv so our plan was to have it take out the enemy’s T34 and solve all our problems.The problem with that was getting our tank into a position to take out the enemy tank wasn’t as simple as that as it kept on taking minor hits from its nemesis giving it little chance to do anything.
The Finns came forward in what was basically a long skirmish line across the snow so the defenders just shot at anything that moved hoping to pin them down.I spotted Herr O’Brien moving a machine gun into a nearby wood so I peppered it with gunfire and sent it on its merry way towards the casualty pile.First blood to the Germans but this just raised the hackles of the Finns and they continued to move forward in the deep snow-the majority of them clad in skis.My partner in crime had for once had some forward thinking and moved a squad of mountain troops into a wood for some forward defence which was unusual as his plans are usually just to dig in and hope for the best.
My mortar came into play and began its consistent evening of missing the barn door whilst the rest of our squads just fired on anything that moved including the sniper team of Herr O’Brien which was edging its way into firing range .Little did I know that both the Finnish sniper teams went to the same finishing school as my mortar.The T34 now came out to bat and edged its way towards its prey mainly my tank and although it tried hard it couldn’t even scratch the paintwork.I saw this as an opportunity to close in with our Panzerschrek team but lo and behold it missed leaving them stuck out in the middle of no mans land inviting repercussions from all around.These repercussions came in the form of accurate gun fire from the Finns and saw the team heading for the dead pile.
Our stoic defenders were handling themselves well and pining down the advancing Finns but I thought that the gunfight between the tanks was going to be the most important event of the evening as this meant the victorious tank would be able to run amok amongst the remaining infantry as with one lucky shot Chief Skulker had done away with the Finnish panzerschrek team.
Fortune began to sway the other way as El Presidente’s mortar began to hit paydirt,firstly with the demise of our machine gun team and then with a fortunate hit on one of my squads who were hunkering behind a wall peppering them with squad decimating shrapnel.Not so good.We kept up our gun fire and done away with a couple of infantry squads so it still looked like a victorious evening for the Germans.I did hear the enemy commanders whispering about some “reinforcements “so I knew something was about to happen and lo and behold it came in the form of a squad of elite troops hitting my flank from the rear immediately doing away with one of my squads who were looking the other way.This meant I had to reorganise my defences.Good thing these reinforcements arrived on the second last turn as their arrival saw the remainder of the Finns advancing on my now beleaguered positions.The only good thing that was happening was the Panzer had finally got its act in gear and had done away with the T34 but was too far away to help in the proceedings going on on the other flank.
The last turn arrived with the Germans hanging on for dear life and I was expecting an assault on one of my buildings but for some reason it didn’t happen as the elite troops decided that doing away with my headquarters was more important than assaulting the building.Who am I to argue.
Another great game brought to you courtesy of the Garvald Film Studios and it’s proprietor El Presidente who provided all the figures,scenery and scenario as well as a kick up the a**e to get us gaming again.
See You All Soon.
This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.
