Operation Sealion, London Bridge comes Falling Down?

Well hey there everyone. After a couple of very busy days I've finally found a moment to post up our final Operation Sealion battle report.

The fine folks at WWPD have held one hell of a campaign and I'm glad to say it's one of things that really got me into blogging and playing FoW as my main miniatures game.

Seriously, hats off to the The Signal, Steven and the whole WWPD team for putting together one hell of a two month, global campaign of pure awesome-sauce.

Rumor has it that the next WWPD campaign will be 6 months or so from now (although the time line seems squishy, and for good reason, those boys need a rest!) and will be a mid-war desert campaign.

Welp, it's time to get started on that Yank Armored Rifle Company. It'll be the 36th Division, the T-Patchers, where my great-uncle served on a Priest motorized artillery piece.
In the mean time we'll be painting up and playing some early war with me doing French, Loon doing Germans and Rotny doing Polish Cavalry. We'll also be running our own little D-Day campaign (with Russian Lend-lease of course!) and participating in the local battle board league.

While Operation Sealion got this whole thing started, I assure you even though it's over we'll keep putting out the good stuff.

Now, on to the bat rep. I've decided to do this one a little differently than the rest. I'm going to post up all the pics and do a little narrative, but really, this huge 16000 point London battle is an homage to all the great fun we've had these last few months. Enjoy the pics, all 60-ish of them!

So, without further ado:

The Table

German Objectives are the 4 bridges, Hold any one and win. 

The contesting armies were roughly
Allied: Russian Strelk, Russian Sappers & British Commandos
Axis: German Panzer Kompanie, Panzer Lehr, Schwere Panzer Kompanie
Both sides had tons of air support.

Allied Deployment

They deployed all of their forces first. 

And got a full half of the table to do it, with immediate ambush and ambush. 

Not knowing where the Germans were coming from they needed to cover the whole front. 

We weighted to the right

With tanks leading the way and Panzer grens held in a mobile reserve to ward off flanking attacks and exploit a break through. 

We kept a very weak left side with Stug's and King Tigers protecting the arty. 

Germans got turn 1 and the Panthers push off to roll into the British commandos

Panzergrens take up over watch positions, Halftracks a the ready in case they need to move quickly

As the armor trundles forward

Allies start to spring the trap with flanking Shermans/Fireflies and Russian Sappers heading in from the German Left

While M-10's spring up in the center

And two companies of heavy Russian armor shore up the German right

Stalin's Give Germans the tummy aches

And the armor starts taking it's toll early. 

And the Allies push in on the weak German left

Feeling the urgency, the Panthers on the german right start the assault

In two places

This attracts a ton of russian attention, despite heavy British losses

There are just to many of them

Far to many, the assault fails

However the Panthers on the far right fair much better, pushing forward

Wacht Am Themes

King tigers take aim at the M-10's and score 2 kills

As those plucky brits prepare a counter assault on the German Panzergrens

And the nearby Czech's and Russians keep pressing, eliminating the stugs

And one of the king tigers

As the brits assault!

And are pushed back, however, the German attack has most certainly bogged down. 

Despite casualties from their comrades the Panthers on the German Right keep up the pressure

Air support swoops in over the Russians in the open

As the Panzer Grens counter attack the Brit commandos, killing them almost to a man

And the Panthers on the German right start getting tantalizingly close to one of the bridges

The Panzergrens go Full court press to support the Panthers on the right in order to tie down the russian infantry. 

And air strikes hold off the Left flank push by the russians

Wiping out a full company

But Russian Reinforcements arrive on the German right at the right place and exactly the right time

SHHH... those are really IS-2's!

The Panzergrens Push Forward

As the Russian Reinforcements take the devils due on the Panthers

And the advancing Brits & Russians on the right begin to press into the German rear despite heavy losses

The Panthers losses are just heavy and the entire assault is in danger of collapsing

Only inches away from one of the bridges, the Panzer Grens simply cannot make it. 

With losses getting desperate the German Commanders call off the attack

Leaving the victorious allies in control of the Themes bridges

And hulking ruins of German armor litter the field.

Many thanks to our Local FLGS, Eagle and Empire, for hosting us on this one.