Operation Cricket. Three games at Liberty Aviation Museum in Sandusky, Ohio. This was the headliner event at the Hold the Line 2023 mini-con, with the games being played in the museum’s  decommissioned hanger. The atmosphere was incredible and the day was shaping up to be as well! There were 21 players from multiple states and a huge variety of lists and units. The event format was 1250 points, Generic Reinforced Platoon only, 1-2 platoons.

My List

For this event I wanted to do something completely different from my normal approach. I went with theme over competitiveness – Rule of Cool, if you will. I went for a list themed around Last Levy, the final hours of the Third Reich. The center piece to this list would be my King Tiger Super Heavy Tank. And for additional theme and style, it will be a Fuel Shortage King Tiger.

Generic Reinforced Platoon
HQ
SS 1st Lt – Reg – 70 x1 Buddy – 10 Blind Obedience	80pts
Medic – Vet – 30	30pts
Infantry
33rd SS Charlemage Squad – 7 men – Vet – 119 No Way Out	119pts
Hitler Youth Squad – Inexp – 8 “men” – 64 Party Indoctrination	64pts
Volks Grenadier Squad – Inexp – 10 men – 105 x5 Assault Rifles Mixed Quality	105pts
Volkssturm Squad – Inexp – 10 men – 70 Green	70pts
Late War Replacement SS – Reg – 6 men – 60 x2 LMG – 40 Replacements	100pts
Med. Mortar Team – Inexp – 35	35pts
LMG Team – Reg – 35	35pts
Artillery
Heavy Auto Cannon – Reg – 65 Gun Shield	65pts
Armored Car
Kubelwagen – Reg – 36 Pintle MMG Armor 6 Recce	36pts
Tank
King Tiger – Reg – 555 Super Heavy AT Gun w/ coax MMG Hull MMG Armor 11 Fuel Shortage – -55pts Tiger Fear	500pts
Tow
Horse-Drawn Limber – Reg – 10 Slow (when towing)	10pts
Total – 13 Order Dice	1249pts

Game 1
Cole (Germany)

Cole’s Army
My Game 1 opponent Cole is also a man of culture and brought a King Tiger (though his did not have Fuel Shortage). He also had an unusual infantry force based around the Osttruppen and Feldjägerkorps. Cole ran two Platoons with this combo, including a mortar and a few Volks Grenadiers.

The Mission
Three objectives across the middle line, half your list (rounded down) into Reserves with Outflank allowed. Extra VPs scored if you killed the enemy Lieutenant. Unique rule for a bombing run at the top Turn 2 and beyond. If you rolled a 3+ nothing happens, but on a 1 or 2, each unit on the table takes a Pin! Ouch!

Game Highlights
Turn 1 – Both armies arrive via First Wave.
Turn 2 – My Heavy AC kills three of Cole’s Volks Grenadiers and puts two Pins on them. The unit remains Inexperienced with a no-upgrade Green roll. His King Tiger hits mine and puts a Pin on it, thankfully the shot failed to penetrate. My King Tiger fails its Order Test and reverses 4.5 inches.
Turn 3 – Bombers arrive! Every unit takes one additional Pin. My King Tiger fails its Order Test again! My Mortar drops a template and kills Cole’s Light Howitzer. His Howling Cow kills three Hitler Youth and puts three Pins on them, but they upgrade to Regular on their Green roll! Cole’s Mortar lands a hit on my Heavy AC but only kills one crew. The LMG Team failed their Order Test to come on the board. Enemy King Tiger puts another Pin on mine, but once again the hit failed to pen.
Turn 4 – Bombers fail to arrive. Howling Cow kills my Medic. My Replacement SS squad kills Cole’s Sniper Team with a Super Six hit!
Turn 5 – Bombers hit again. My Volkssturm lost a member, but upgraded to regular! The LMG Team fails to arrive again … Cole’s Volks Grenadiers fail an Order Test and go Down at a critical moment.
Turn 6 – No Bombers. Enemy King Tiger hits mine and, unbelievably, fails to pen. My Heavy AC kills two of his Volks Grenadiers, adds two Pins  and they fail their Moral Check.

At the end of the game, I controlled two objectives, killed one Lt, and the third objective was contested. A 3-0 victory!

What could have been a heavyweight battle actually ended up being a pillow fight between the two King Tigers. They were able land a few hits and even set each other on fire. But each passed their Morale Checks and held. Ultimately neither of the Super Heavy Tanks did anything, including no instances of Tiger Fear all game. All in all it was a fun time and Cole was a worthy opponent.

Result – Win (3-0)

Game 2
Greg (US Airborne)

Greg’s Army
My second game’s opponent was Greg who was rocking a Late War US Airborne list with a Glider squad, Airborne squad, LT, M2 Greyhound, Vet Easy Eight, Light Howitzer, MMG Team, Forward Artillery Observer, and a squad of Engineers.

The Mission
Five objectives evenly spread, two on my side, two on Greg’s, and one in the middle. Each player had a rectangular Deployment Zone on the left side of their long edge. You scored 1 VP each turn if you held the objective in your Deployment Zone. Scored 2 VP per each objective in the middle and 3 VP if you controlled your opponents. Finally you could score 1 “line breaker” VP each turn you had a unit fully inside your opponents’ Deployment Zone. Finally half your list (rounded down) started in Reserves with Outflank allowed.

Game Highlights
Turn 1 – Each player moves his army on in First Wave.
Turn 2 – My King Tiger runs outta gas on the first Order Die! Heavy AC kills three of the Glider troops and puts two Pins on them.
Turn 3 – Volks Grenadiers kill two of his Engineers, including the flamethrower! My Volkssturm charge and kill the American Lt in the building, but lost five due to return fire and defensive combat. The Easy Eight kills the Kubelwagen and kills one man of the LMG Team. His Mortar hits on a 6 on the Volkssturm, they take three casualties and the remaining flee on a bad Moral Test. The King Tiger kills the Arty Observer before it can call in the strike! My Charlemagne squad arrive from Outflank on my right side board edge and kill two of the three MMG gunners, but the lone solider holds.
Turn 4 – Volks Grenadiers kill three Engineers including NCO, but they hold on the Moral Check. The Easy Eight kills my Replacement SS Squad and then my Volks Grenadiers roll a 1 for Green, adding four Pins!
Turn 5 – Heavy AC plinks away at the Easy Eight and putts two Pins on. My Charlemagne charge and kill the MMG Team while the Hitler Youth kill two of the Glider troops holding the middle objective, simultaneously contesting the middle objective. The Easy Eight kills my LMG Team, opening up my right flank.
Turn 6 – Hitler Youth kill two more Glider troops, three remain in the center. My King Tiger kills Greg’s Mortar Team as they desperately move forward to try and contest an objective.

Greg was a newer player but played this game very smartly. He was hamstrung by poor luck on dice pulls and from being heavily outnumbered. He was a great sport during the entire game and both had a good time. In fact, I voted him as my favorite opponent on the day as it was just a delight playing against him.

Result – Win (17-4)

Game 3
Henry (US Airborne)

Henry’s Army
Henry was running a two US Airborne Platoons a medium AT Gun, Bazooka team, four Airborne squads, HMG Team, MMG Jeep,  Sniper Team, Light Howitzer, two LTs, a Hellcat, and Medium mortar. Henry is part of Father and Son Gaming who run a fantastic group of events and a wonderful online store with their own mdf terrain pieces!

The Mission
Half your list (rounded down) into Reserve with no Outflank allowed. You scored 1 VP for each kill and 1 VP per turn if you had a unit within 6” of the center of the table.

Game Highlights
Turn 1 – The King Tiger runs outta gas again on the first Order Die of the game! But this time it redeems itself by taking out four airborne and putting three Pins on them with a shot from the main gun.
Turn 2 – Henry’s Airborne 57mm AT Gun kills two Volks Grenadiers who fail their Green roll and stay Inexperienced.
Turn 3 – The Hellcat misses the Kubelwagen. Paratroopers shoot at the Heavy AC, puts a Pin on it. Attempting to activate, the Heavy AC FUBARs and blasts the Charlemagne next to it, but thankfully misses! A Jeep adds more Pins to the Heavy AC. US Light AT kills two more Replacement SS troopers but the Medic saves them both! (We didn’t realize until post-game that Medics can’t save against HE.) The King Tiger kills the Airborne Bazooka Team and Henry’s Paras kill my Mortar Team.
Turn 4 – Paras charge and kill the Heavy AC. Henry’s Hellcat finally hits the Kubelwagen and knocks it out. Volkssturm open up and kill three Paras but they hold (they are Stubborn after all). Paras kill two Replacement SS and no Medic saves. His Jeep zooms up and kills three Charlemagne troops. For the third turn in a row the Hitler Youth failed their Reserve roll.
Turn 5 – King Tiger fails its Order Check even with 1st Lt standing right there! Hitler Youth finally arrive and kill two Airborne. Volks Grenadiers in the middle lose four, hold on one their Moral Check, but are down to just three men. My Lt kills two men on the squad of Paratroopers in the middle, including their NCO.
Turn 6 – Disaster. Henry gets the first four Order Dice in a row and pulls off three masterful assaults. The Charlemagne, Volks Grenadiers and LMG Team all succumbed. On the fourth Order Die, Henry snipes my Medic. Hitler Youth kill two more Paras in the middle but they hold again (damn Stubborn). Henry then kills the rest of the Replacement SS with his Light Howitzer, opening the door for my Volkssturm to assault and kill his remaining Paras.

Game ended with each of us scoring 5 VPs for middle control, but Henry killed 8 units to my 2 giving him a 13-7 victory.

Result – Loss (7-13)

Henry played the game extremely well. His Paratroopers carved up my Inexperienced infantry and poor dice rolls sunk any chance I had. I say that and mean no disrespect to Henry. He was both skillful and tactical in his handling of the game. I definitely would play him again as we both had a good time.

Final Thoughts

Going 2-1 with a King Tiger and a theme-heavy list was well beyond my lowly expectations. I missed Best Overall by four points and Best Axis by only two points! It was slightly disheartening seeing how close I came to getting top honors. But I won the “Close Call” award for killing a Forward Observer before the strike came in.  Honestly awards and placement aside I had a great time playing and was proud to bring my super theme-y list to this fantastic tournament. Big shoutout to Jax (the TO) for running the event and securing over $2,000 of prize support. It truly was incredible. Also shout out to Liberty Aviation Museum for graciously allowing our little tournament to be held at such a cool and unique venue. I’ll definitely be heading back next year!