Exploit the Breakthrough!
"Cannonball Run" scenario from the Too Fat Lardies magazine. American Sherman tanks are racing for Berlin, trying to beat the Russians. Who will get there first?In the scenario, 8 tanks enter along the far edge. Their job is to get as many off the near edge as possible. The Germans have a hasty, thrown-together defense along the way. As the Shermans enter each new area of the board, the German rolls to see what defense he can place in that area.
This was a couple turns in. One Sherman got some great movement rolls and was racing the table. The Germans had 2 panzerfaust teams that watched in disbelief as he zoomed right by. But a couple of Pak-40's and a Stug took care of him. He did reveal most of the ambush to his mates.
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| The panzerfaust team lines up for a perfect shot into the side of the Sherman from cover... |
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| And shoots the damn rocket backwards into the woods! |
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| The Stug waits patiently for his next victim as tanks burn in the distance |
Later in the battle, both panzerfaust teams are gone. One got a kill then wasted the rest of their ammo. The idiots who fired backwards? Well, Red 1 down below there didn't like what happened to his buddy so fired a couple rounds of HE right into their position.
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| But now a Pak-40 is shooting. These guys have great camouflage. I mean, it's right there! But the top tank can't even acquire the target. Middle tank is laying in on him. |
(In the scenario, it's very hard for buttoned-up tanks to acquire the AT guns and 'faust teams)
(And yes, there is a lot of proxying going on. Those are regular Shermans, not Jumbos. Those guys were carrying panzerfausts, not MG-34's. And that is definitely not a Soviet field gun!)
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| Still can't acquire the target. What the hell is the other tank shooting at in front of me? |
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| Well, that's one way to solve the problem! Green 2 kill-steals from the red tank. It's a short-lived victory, as the cumulative damage to his treads makes him immobilized. |
More to come...
PART 2:
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| Several turns later, and 7 Sherman's are dead on the board. The Pak40 has been engaged in a duel with the immobilized tank, finally scored a kill shot. One lone Sherman has penetrated to zone 4, and a single panzerfaust team deployed to stop them. The Germans still have 1 panzerfaust team in reserve. They were waiting to deploy because of the undamaged Sherman up top, but he just got smeared by the Stug in the trees. |
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| It is the lone remaining Sherman's turn. All of his permanent hits have gone into his turret! Almost unbelievably, his running gear is undamaged. The driver can hear screams over the intercom from the turret. He desperately needs to get out of the kill zone. But he only has 2 command dice to roll... |
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| There is the finish line. If he can get across the marker pen (end of the board), he will have successfully escaped the ambush that claimed all his brothers. But he only has 2 dice. |
A one on the dice will give him a movement of 2 dice. A six will let him choose any number. He only has 2 dice to roll.
He rolls:
A One and a Six!
Converting both to movement dice, he can roll 4d6 for movement. This is the final roll of the game:
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| Success! Green 1 makes it out of the ambush. But at what cost? 7 brother tanks lay smoking behind him. It seems that the cannonball run has ended at this point. |
