South Dakota Grudge Match! Flames of War CLT vs. RDU!

Hi Kids,  Ok, ok, I know two Flames of War groups based in North Carolina (Charlotte and Raleigh) have absolutely nothing to due with South Dakota, but ever since I first heard that term (South Dakota Grudge Match) I just can't resist using it whenever I get a chance!  Anyway, on with the story:  The CLT lads and the RDU kids decided it would be fun to set up a meet on Neutral Ground to have some fun and meet some new opponents.  High Point NC is roughly halfway between and had a store (Gaming Underground, or Underground Games, I can never remember) with lots of table space, and so it was on!
RDU had 8 guys turn up, CLT had 4 until two of us Winston-Salem gaming pariahs showed up to join the CLT side.  The plan was to have 1:1 games in the morning and after lunch play a big honkin' game of Total War with CLT vs. RDU.  Each player made a late war 1750 pt. army for the single games and modified it to 1000 pt. for the Total War game. Since RDU had a two player advantage each CLT player got extra points to make up the difference; 8000 pt. per side. Here are some shots of the 1:1 games.  A lot of them are from my game and the games near me. I didn't have time to wonder around and take pictures of everything since I was busy getting stomped!

 Here is a shot of my beginning forces, five ISU-122's and two 100mm ATG's (Proxy!).  Everything else was a scattered delayed reserve.  Bummer, I know.  Turn one, here comes the Luftwaffe!  Yeah, that was a bummer too! I don't even remember the last time I played late war, and I made the fatal error of loading up with Tiger killers!  Unfortunately Rate of Fire 1 just doesn't put enough hate mail down range to crush normal armies. I brought a plastic spoon to a gunfight! ISU-122's are Old Glory and the 203mm tracked guns are also available from them, but from a different manufacturer.

 The Finns charge across the table!  If you want to win, employ a Finn! Two T-34's pop their tops with 122mm hits!

 One of the CLT lads brought some Big Guns, too!

 It's Panthers-a-go-go! on the table next door!  Special rules about flank shots and bad luck with the dice lead to the Panthers destroying about 75% of the Russian army they faced.

 Meanwhile on my table my heavies are getting systematically crushed by the Finns.  My CO never did get a single hit, even while stationary!  Bummer!

 Some of my reserves arrive in the corner, three JS-2's!  They manage to blow the infantry to atoms!

 But meanwhile over on the objective its a different story!

 Some madman from RDU brought Cav!  I think they were Hungarians.

 Man, those are some Big Guns!

 I knew there'd be some Tigers around here somewhere!  One RDU army had 4 of the wee beasties.

 Some hardcore ammo carrier brought nothing but arty! Eye-yi-yi...

 Getting ready for the Total War game, a 6x20 foot table!

 My lads are set up!  Once again they would basically do nothing the entire game, blasting massive shells everywhere except towards the enemy!  Then again, the enemy wasn't foolish enough to come out of hiding anywhere near them...

 A tiny bit of the grand battery in the center of the RDU position.  I thought this kind of set up went out of style after the First World War, but by golly it was ugly being on the receiving end of all those muzzles! It's a wonder the table didn't collapse!

 The center of the CLT deployment, nowhere near as intimidating!

 Turn One, Shot One, One Dead ISU-122!  Aw crap!  Arty with AT5 barrages? Gee whiz! And I didn't even get a turn yet!

 The horsemen arrive in our deployment zone, turn two!  Things are heading south in a hurry!

 But one of the CLT (W-S auxillary) guys had a mean infantry list!  Soviet Combat Sappers!  Trashing tanks, ATG's, infantry, cavalry; they spank everybody one at a time or all at once!  None Shall Pass!

And with that it was all over.  In all the excitement some of us didn't get a third turn, but the CLT side was getting crushed so comprehensively I really don't think it would have made any difference if we had.  The objectives were still pretty close, RDU being ahead by one, but the CLT armies were so badly hammered we packed everything up and called it a day!

 

Maybe I should've gone with the T34/85 list...