Rumble in the Desert - FJ vs. U.S. Rifles

Sat down for a game of Flames of War last week.

Scenario was CAULDRON; I took Tunisia Fallschirmjaeger against U.S. Rifles (both from the North Africa book).

The battlefield after deployment:

The view of the German positions from the US HMGs

I kept 2 large FJ platoons with HMGs attached on the table (1 right in the center covering the objectives, the other a bit further towards my table edge (towards the rocky out-cropping) to guard my artillery), as well as my artillery and light AT guns.  

My opponent started with 105mm artillery, chemical mortars, HMGs and some 37mm AT guns (lots of support).  

Naturally, he got a reserve platoon in on turn 1 and brought on his Shermans.  However, my artillery was feeling rather heroic and 1 gun at short range managed to burn 2 Shermans in both turns 1 and 2, eliminating the platoon (get that crew some medals!).  Meanwhile, he advanced and fired directly with his other weapons to little effect.  His commander was able to take the farmhouse near one of the objectives:

He steadily received more reserves, bringing his Rifle platoons in on the far side of the board (from the perspective of the initial picture).  I in turn brought a medium-sized FJ platoon, followed by some AA guns in right near his reinforcements.  Between the 2 of them, they chewed through a Rifle platoon and the Chemical Mortars, and generally slowed his advance.  His Recce platoon arrived and made life hell on my artillery (really excellent showing by them).  Unfortunately, they did eventually die, causing my opponent to hit 1/2 strength in terms of overall # of platoons, and he promptly failed his Company Morale check, giving me the game.  Even if he'd made it, without his tanks or his mortars, he would've been extremely hard-pressed to shove 2 full FJ platoons off of the objectives with just a platoon or 2 of U.S. Rifles. 

A very fun game overall - the Cauldron scenario is excellent.