Itty Bitty Soldiers: Showcase Comics 1780 LW Tournament

So this weekend I went up to Showcase Comics for a 1780 LW tournament. While I was originally planning to take some British Armored Cars, the tournament kinda fell out of my mind until a few days prior. So I posted up a poll on which army I should bring, and guess what won out!

So, a few things to note. Yup, that's the Polish Home Army Militia army. Pretty sweet, huh? And yep, that's a 1635 pt list for a 1780 tournament. I was planning on bringing some snipers with me, but I left them at home. And playing against mostly armor all day, they wouldn't have done much anyway. But, it's a bit outclassed at 1780. It struggles just to reach that point level even taking everything I can. Ideally, I'd have another AK platoon, and a HMG platoon, probably dropping the Panthers, but I haven't modelled them up yet, and my 3rd and 4th street barricades are still unpainted.

All in all, this was a poor decision. Now don't get me wrong - I do LOVE playing this list. Modelling it was a blast (it's made up of partisans, women, children, dogs, and other sweet things!), it looks super sweet, and it's not as awful as it looks on paper. But as much fun as I (and my opponents) have playing this list, when you're traveling six hours to a tournament, taking a list where you just get kicked in the balls for 2.5 hours a game was probably not the best use of a great tournament opportunity.

Round one I played Ed, who was playing some 11th Armored Brit Shermans. The mission was Fighting Withdrawl, and I was defending. I set up the big blob in the center, with a Kedyw platoon on each flank objective. Ed deployed his entire force on one flank, as to be expected. I did end up attempting to move the Kedyw platoon on the far flank over, but they never made it in time. I ambushed the Pak40s, but in hindsight, probably should have ambushed a Kedyw platoon. Ed won with a 5-2.

Some Kedyws on the far objective

Kedyws on the objective that was forced

AKs in the middle!

My lovely trained RoF1 panthers in the woods

Nothing subtle about this deployment

The Brits move up

"I think we saw something move behind that window, sir!"

First blood for the Polish!

"Hey, there's the Soviet reinforcements, right? Right? Guys?"

Pak40s pop their ambush, but only two guns, firing four shots, hitting on 5s...doesn't do a lot.

It's just piles and piles of brits swarming forward!

Trained RoF1 Panthers vs Vet AT 15 Fireflies. This was a poor decision.

A brave flamethrower takes out some armored cars - my only platoon kill of the entire tournament!

This is looking grim....

And so much for that fearless morale.

Round two I played Jim with his American boots. I was attacking (blagh!) in Breakthrough. I ended up reserving the AK platoon, Panthers, a Kedyw platoon, and the Pak40s. Jim had two batteries of 105s, and two batteries of mortars. The first two turns were an artillery firefight! Jim ended up winning 6-1.

My (conscript) artillery park.

Jim had more stands of veteran infantry than I did conscript infantry...

Some 105s.

Used the street barricades in no-mans land to slow his movement to the objectives

Some Kedyws taking the offensive!

My artillery takes a (Time on Target) beating. I guess when you range on on 2s you can count on that ToT.

Americans moving up

Kedyws and some Engineers exchange fire over some buildings

Reinforcements! It's a shame they have to bunch up so much.

Well, this is kinda how my infantry saves went all game. That's one bombardments worth...

The Poles are pretty close to pulling this off. In fact, they actually would have won if I didn't remind him to feed the objective with an infantry stand after he finished his movement!

You can do this little Panther! Ok, maybe you can't.

Round three I played Phil playing a Soviet Light SP Arty list. If I could design a list specifically for killing mine, this list would have been it down to every last unit. 30 breakthrough gun shots a turn flanked with some AA-HMGs and a blob of T34s. Needless to say, Phil won this 6-1, although if my panzerfausts were slightly more effective, I might have stole a VP or two! Mission was Free For All.