DUST: Massacre in Zverograd

The IS-48 heavy tank rolled into Zverograd's industrial wasteland, five men riding on top of it, they were equipped with the best the SSU had to offer to infantrymen. Clearly, Red Guards. 

As the tank grinded to a halt, a commissar carrying a PTRS-47 (rocket launcher) approached the men.
''Good day Comrades, ready for another glorious victory to make Comrade Stalin and the people of the Sino-Soviet Union proud?''

As they cheered he climbed on the tank's back and clunked his PTRS-47 on the side of the vehicle to signal the driver they could go.

Conditions of the Battle: None
''I wished for the snow, rain and cold to spit at our enemies but not a single cloud would form above Zverograd today. A clear day is the worse kind of weather when it comes to facing an advancing Trans-Nationalist Panzer Platoon.''
--Andronik, Red Guard Tank Rider

Battle Objectives: Assassination
''The objective is simple Comrades: kill the Axis Kommandant and retreat. Make Stalin proud!''
--Grigori, Derzhavin Commissar

Deployment of the Battle: Advancing Lines
''We 're almost there! I can already see our Naval troops and Rifle Soldiers massed and waiting for us to launch the assault.''
--Radoslav, Red Guard Tank Rider

Forces:
SSU: 15th Guards Shock Army + Naval Troops from the 244th Naval Infantry with the 131th  Rifle Battalion

--- Heroes
Red Yana (22)

--- "15th Guards Shock Army" Red Platoon (139)
Command Section: "Red Command" Red Guards Command Squad (25)
1st Section: "Red Thunder" Red Guards Antitank Squad (20)
3rd Section: IS-48 B "Lavrentiy Beria" (85)
Commissar: "The Fonvizin" (9)

--- "Naval Troops from the 244th Naval Infantry with the 131th Rifle Battalion" Political Platoon (131)
Upgrade: Political Importance (5)
Command Section: Nikolaï (20, Hero)
1st Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
2nd Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
4th Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
Commissar: "The Sumarokov" (5)
Support: MIL MI-45 Airborne Transport (40)

Axis: Major Guillaume's Panzer Walker Platoon

Command - Kommandotrupp (Pinpoint Observation) (29)
1st - Heinrich (20)
2nd - Flamm-Luther (40)
3rd - Wotan-AR (55)
4th - Sturmkonig (90)
Support #1 - Pinpoint Beobachter (12)
Support #2 - Pinpoint Beobachter (12)
Transport Support - Prinzluther (38)
Platoon Upgrade - Improved Command (5)
== 301

Pre-Battle Anylisis:
First I'd like to talk about my list: I love it!
In my list I have three different ways to try and attack the Panzer Walker Platoon:
1-Red Guards anti-tank squad joined by a Commissar tank riding a IS-48, said IS-48 is piloted by Red Yana...who could jump out, join the Red Guards and provide Fighting Spirit if need be.
The resilience of the IS-48 means that only fully dedicated anti-tank vehicles might damage my Red Guards tank-riding it before they reach the front line.
2-Fakyelis embarked on a Transport Helicopter, the goal is to drop them in the back of walkers and molotov them.
3-2 Ohotnikis merged with a Commissar and joined by Nikolai, a lot of bodies, able to absorb some punishment. Hopefully could kill some V4.


For the sake of gaming we decided to go for Assassination, meaning he has a chance to win with the scenario and not auto-lose. As he has only one command squad, it is easy for me to know where to attack, on the other hand, I have two with one being a twelve men strong command squad so he'll have to try and find it.

He does have really good anti-infantry/anti-air walker so I'll have to be extra careful not exposing my troops too much. I wish I had taken a KV-3 to deal with the SturmKoenig.

The Game:

The deployment of the proud soviet comrades fighting the Axis threat in Zverograd.

Here comes the Axis Panzer Walker Platoon v2!

Quickly the Ohotnikis move away from the SturmKoenig. Not only are they my secretly chosen command squad for Assassination, but I also hope they can bring their grenades and rifles against the walkers up of the map.

Here comes a Flamm-Luther...At the same time, the Wotan fires at the IS-48 and set it on fire despite only causing one point of damage...The worst thing that could happen.

Because now I need to disembark the Red Guards Anti-Tank Squad if I don't want splash damage from not extinguishing the fire... Fire! Fire!!

Aim Comrades! Lets bring the Trans-Nationalist walker down!

As fate would have it, the IS-48's canon and Red Guards Anti-Tank squad only manage to bring the Flamm-Luther to 1 damage left and break a machine-gun. The Axis SturmKoenig is not so merciful and cuts down the whole squad.

Providing some much needed diversion comes the SSU copter from the side.

Sadly the Fakyelis get slaughtered before they can throw any molotovs.

With the Fakyelis' threat removed, the Flamm-Luther moves back to face the IS-48 and gets ready to move forward...

But the IS-48's canon puts an end to the Flamm-Luther.

In the meantime, The Naval troops and Ohotnikis are almost there.

The unnerving presence of the useless Copter proved too much for the Axis HQ, ordering the PrinzLuther to shoot it down from the skies.

And crashing it goes!

Poking through the street corner, the naval troops bring their rifles against the PrinzLuther.

The IS-48, uses Fighting Spirit, fires at the PrinzLuther, scores 6 hits, 2 are removed from firing through cover...And as my luck would have it, my opponent scores 4 hits on his 4 dice to save.
My IS-48 will then lose its last damage point (because, I never extinguished the fire) to the Wotan)

Knowing the fight is almost over, the Kommandotrupp steps out and tries to finish the remnants of Nikolai and the Naval troops.

Thankfully, Nikolai and one Naval soldier survive the onslaught while the SturmKoenig fires at the Red Guards Command squad...yes, the one on the bottom left corner in the 4th picture. My opponent suddenly realised this command squad, that he totally forgot about, stayed hidden and never moved could be the Command Squad to kill for the scenario.
Thankfully both survives, and Tie it is!

Conclusion:

AT last! Not a loss!! Okay...2 damage away from another of my crushing defeats. So? What did I learn? What should Battlefront change?
 #1: Make the Walker-Transport Copter available, like a 20pts upgrade when you purchase an aero-walker KV47. I wanted to play that, but guess what? 80pts and two support slots! Unplayable. A shame because it would have been better than Fakyelis.
 #2: The Panzer Walker Platoon seems fine.

Apologies for unpainted models: I got some new SSU whereas my opponent is just lazy ;) (okay okay, he paints a lot and he's quite good so pressure him into having the best Axis army you'll see. If you are interested in slowing him down from this goal: http://www.yaumlamachine.com/p/home.html )

Thanks for reading,
Feel free to leave a comment!