AAR: Flames of War: Soviet Heroic Tanks Vs. Grenadiers!

My first Stuka air strike in Flames of War. I only took seven years!

    The other day, I met up with my friend, Tom to play our first Flames of War game against each other at my new house. He had yet to see it, and I had already played three games at his new house. So, it is only natural to have our normal German versus Soviet affair, since he is a good Soviet player, I decided this time to shake things up a bit, since I run mostly Tank and Mechanized forces against him. Besides, I have some newer units that I am selling for another friend, so why not use them!
    I did that awesome ASSUME thing that we are not suppose to do! We all know what it means. I was expecting that Tom would have a Strelkovy list of some type. This means that I am going to have to cut down lots of infantry. My solution to this was to bring out some MG42 teams, mortars, and even, two Sd Kfz half-tracks with 2cm AA on them for both ground fire and the possibly of planes. For some AT, I had a Reluctant Trained 8.8 Flak gun and two happy King Tigers. I almost never use King Tigers. I can hit myself better normally that hit my target with King Tigers! However, I took them anyway. And, finally, I took my new Stuka Dive Bomber with the AT guns! Even, if it is Sporadic, it is still there! And since I mentioned assuming, it turns out that I was facing a Fearless Trained Hero Tank Company. I should have stayed with some Pak40's! It was okay, because Tom did not really have any AA to deal with planes, and hates King Tigers.
    We rolled off to play the Dust Off mission. I do like this mission. I think my opponents are sometimes surprised on how much terrain I have on the table, when I set it up. I had three long range, hard hitting AT options that could have been a serious problem for Tom crossing large open ground areas. I guess I just can't bring myself to favor my side in games.
   The game started out with a bang. I rolled for the first turn and shot a T-34/85 to pieces! My Tiger Ace skills was "Every Shot Counts" to re-roll misses. More T-34/85's died. I rid of one with a Stuka attack. One platoon of T-34/85 disengaged from the field. Tom tried to take a King Tiger in the side, but only bailed the monster. They recovered and shot back without mercy.
   Else where on the battlefield, Tom's reserves came on and have a brief fire fight with an Flak 88. It did not last long. A platoon of T-34/76's ended up on the objective unopposed by the infantry that was going to assault them. On his side, I had two infantry units threatening his objectives along with the half-tracks well on the way for another. I would have had Tom, if I set up my infantry differently. I should have used them as a speed bump to react quicker. I think we would have had two more turns, if this was so. Either way, it was a good game. Tom won at a 5-2.
 

The Board.

King Tigers and Grenadiers over-watching an objective.

A T-34/85 fires into the side of a King Tiger only to bail it!

The one time the Stuka came on, it delivers!

Trying to take out the King Tiger again, it fires back with destructive results!

Grenadiers running to the objective.

Infantry stacking up!

The T-34/76's shoot at the dug-in Grenadiers.

The Grenadiers and a King Tiger try to attack the T-34/76's. The assault is stopped by defensive fire!