First battle with the 50th

I played my first game of Flames of War last night. I used all standins, as my minis are being painted or are still on order. Jeff and I played a Hold the Line scenario I was attacking and Jeff's SS Panzergrenadiers were defending.

On my first turn my mortars and air support proved very effective, the 4.2" mortars and the Vickers MGs pinned Jeff's Pioneer team at one bridge while the 3" Mortars luckily, re-rolling hits because I only took two tubes, pinned the infantry at the other bridge. The Typhoons first run of two aircraft lost one plane to German AA fire, but still managed to take out almost half of the German Hvy. mortars. My snipers did not prove as effective as I hoped, they did not score one hit the whole game, so I will look at spending that 150 points somewhere else.

On my second turn I only got one plane for air support. The German AA was ineffective, allowing the plane to remove enough of the rest of the Hvy. mortars to cause them to quit the field. My 3" mortars showed the flaw of only taking two tubes by scoring two hits that turned into misses. My 4.2" mortars and Vickers MGs both failed to range in, allowing the Germans some breathing room. As my Infantry advanced the Germans MGs attacked them taking out about a quarter of them.

The game went downhill from there. Of the three objectives (two bridges and the town) Germany held the town uncontested. Germany would have held one of the bridges in one or two more turns, while I might have been able to take the other bridge in the same amount of time. I was able to remove one of Jeff's platoons by the time we called it a night, but several of mine where about to have to make checks.

What I learned from my first battle:

• Never go below three guns when firing bombardments.
• Snipers are not worth the cost, at least when attacking.
• Keep clear lanes of fire for your direct fire weapons while your infantry advance.

I will be altering my list to adjust the weaknesses that I saw.