US Rifles vs Finnish Jaakari in Cauldron

A few days back my friend came over to play a battle report. I wanted to try my US rifles again, so I let him borrow my Finns. We rolled for the mission and came up with cauldron.

US Thoughts:
Strike hard and fast on one spot and break his line wide open
Finnish Thoughts:
This strategy seems to work well with Al, so wait until the right moment to counterattack!

Finnish Turn 1

Straight to the fun part, shooting! PAK40s get first blood and pop 2 shermans and bail another. The Sturmis are less successful, only bailing a single sherman.

US Turn 1

The Sherman tanks stick on the board and both of their crews remount them. Reserves also come on in the form of a rifle platoon, which comes on to the Finn's right flank.

The Hellcats are first to strike and kill one of the Sturmis and bail another, while the 76 Shermans are able to finish the platoon. The rifles and the 75 Sherman try to score some of the PAK40s, but fail to damage any of the guns.

The rifles assault the PAK40, take one hit from defensive fire, and are able to save it. They swing and take out one PAK40, while the rest of the platoon and the guns retreat.

Finnish Turn 2

Company command plus the PAK40 commander move up to take on the rifles. The ISU-152 barks from across the board and its powerful gun knocks another Sherman out of action, while the lone PAK40 is able to bail another. The trio of SMGs pins the rifles down, but kills only 1 stand.

US Turn 2

The rifles fail to unpin, but the Sherman platoon sticks around, although the commander's crew doesn't want to come back to their tank. The bazooka scores the last PAK40, although the Finnish command and PAK40 command all live. The hellcats are only able to bail the ISU, its heavy armor bouncing most of their shots.

 

Finnish Turn 3

No reserves, but the fearless crew of the ISU remounts their tank. The crew is unable to hit the enemy, but his buddy, the PAK40 CO, manages to take down a stand of infantry after passing morale. The PAK40 CO decides to go out with a bang and charges into the rifles, who are unable to push him back in defensive fire, and in return he kills a team of rifles. The platoon then fails motivation and runs from the 3 man team. lol.

US Turn 3

Ready to shatter the remaining Finnish army, recce jeeps arrive and the infantry unpin. Together they move up. The bailed Sherman's crew chooses to hide under its tank despite any real danger. The recce jeeps unleash their fury upon the Finnish company command, scoring 9 hits, although the command saves all of them.

The rifles are far more successful, and with only 2 shots, finish the Finnish command

The 76 Shermans try and get a few kills on the Jaakari, but are unable to hit anyone.

Finnish Turn 4

Still no reserves! All other shooting whiffs, but the ISU takes out the last 76 Sherman tank.

US Turn 4

The Sherman platoon sticks around, though the command Sherman's crew continues to cower under their tank. Everything moves up, but 2 of the recce jeeps bog in the woods. The other 2 jeeps kill some Jaakari teams, while everything else whiffs.

The rifles assault the PAK40 CO, who refuses to back down and massacres 2 of the rifle stands in defensive fire, although he cannot save himself from the sheer weight in numbers. The 3 man team is finally put to rest.

Finnish Turn 5

Reserves finally find their way onto the field, while the ISU turns to face the rifles, who lose a stand to its massive gun.

 The T-34s snipe a hellcat, as well as the last Sherman (can just be seen in the pic)
Knowing victory must be theirs, the ISU assaults into the rifles, whose bazooka fails to save them. The ISU kills a stand of infantry, who fail motivation and immediately flee the field in panic.

US Turn 5

With things looking grim, the pioneers march onto the table, the US' last hope. Everything else moves up to deliver the death blow!

I hate to leave you in suspense, but the last of the report will be up tomorrow. Happy Easter from all of Team Truman!