US 7th Armoured Div vs Finn Infantry in Breakthrough

Detroit's finest run into a Finnish wall!

Game 3 of Operation Cobra (LW 1650) was against Nick and his Finns.  The mission was Breakthrough and that meant that I was going to be trying to punch through his veteran infantry to get to the objectives.  Nick was getting ready to head off to the ETC where he was going to represent Canada.  His 1650 LW list looked something like this:

Nick's Finns
OC and 2IC
Infantry platoon
Infantry platoon
Pioneer platoon
4 x HMGs
2 x PaK 40s
2 x PaK 40s
2 x PaK 40s
2 x BA 60 Recce
1 x ISU-85

US 7th AD
Patton
OC in E8
2IC in Jumbo
4 x Shermans (2 x Easy 8s, 1 x Jumbo, 1 x M4A1)
4 x Shermans (2 x Easy 8s, 1 x Jumbo, 1 x M4A1)
Armored Mortars
4 x Stuarts
3 x Priests
Recce half-track and jeep
AOP

Set Up

Objectives are in the top right corner in the ploughed field and behind the wood.  North is the long table edge on the right.

The US Armored force ready to roll out

The Finns ready to defend with their PaK 40s while the infantry move to dig in on the objective to the North of the church

A mixture of PaK 40s and infantry block the route south of the church

Turns 1 - 3

The Shermans waste no time taking out the Finn recce

PaK 40 fire is mostly absorbed by the Jumbos but a couple of shots get through and destroy an Easy 8

The American tanks slowly start taking out the PaK 40s

Turns 4 - 6

With all by on PaK 40 taken out the Americans start spreading out getting ready to assault the Finn defensive line

Without any defensive fire it looks like the US tanks will roll the Finns but they only kill a single stand and the plucky Finns take out 3 American tanks!

Stuarts arrive from reserves and quickly take out the HMG platoon holding the objective through a combination of MG fire and assaults

The AOP tries to find the best vantage point to aid in the armoured breakthrough

Turn 7

The remaining tank in Dixie's platoon falls back to Patton, who quickly motivates him to get back into the fight while naming him the new Platoon leader.  Meanwhile the armoured advance shifts its line of advance and swings around the dug in Finns

The lone Finn AFV finally arrives and destroys a Stuart but it is too little too late.  The Stuarts start the next turn holding the objective.  The Americans have broken through!

This was an amazing game and Nick is a very strong player.  Because my lone tank survived it was once again a 6- 1 game for the US 7th Armored Div.  My Jumbos where beyond a shadow of a doubt the MVPs for both this game and the whole tournament.  I ended up taking best general/overall and had an excellent time meeting a bunch of new guys.  I want to thank Nick and Dave for organizing and putting on the whole Operation Cobra event.  I can't wait for the next tournament in Nov, I think I may switch sides for it.