DudraCon "Treadheads" battle AAR This is an after action report of a scenario of play testing the Treadheads tank skirmish system at DundraCon on Feb 14-15 in San Ramon, CA. This play test is an attempt to see how well firing at moving targets works and how successful a tank can be at getting out of LOS before being fired upon like moving from cover to cover. There are no real tactics involved. The Russians are attempting to maneuver within 500m before opening fire. It’s a play test. Opportunity Fire example: http://www.slideshare.net/wolfhag/opportunity-fire-example-v1 General Rules: http://www.slideshare.net/wolfhag/treadheads Sample Gunnery Chart: http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/wolfhag/media/gunnerychart_zps766d2bc5.png.html?o=2 The first battle starts out with four T-34/85’s in a meeting engagement against four Panther A models. Both sides have veteran crews. Conditions are perfect with no battlefield haze, smoke or fog. The starting range is 1600-1800 meters which is well within maximum detection range for both sides. There are a number of small hills and groups of trees that can block LOS that the Russians will be using. Ground conditions are excellent with no areas to bog down but no locations for a good hull down position. All commanders are unbuttoned and all tanks have 12 rounds in their ready racks.

All tanks that have a LOS to the enemy pass their Situational Awareness check and detect enemies to engage. Panther #2 and T-34 #1 and will engage. T-34 #1 does the same against Panther #2. Panther #3 and #4 are on the right flank of #1 and #2 and will move further to the right in an attempt to outflank the Russians and has a small hill screening their movement. Russian T-34 #4 and Panther #1 will engage each other at a range of 1600m. Panther #1 needs to rotate his turret 60 degrees which will take 3 seconds (20 degrees/second) and he’ll need to do a Ranging shot taking 9 seconds of aim time and the Time of Flight to the target is 1.7 seconds (rounded up to 2 seconds). The round will arrive at the target in 14 seconds. The T-34 needs to rotate his turret only 20 degrees taking 1 second, 9 seconds of aim time for a Ranging shot and 2 seconds TOF with the round arriving at the Panther in 12 seconds, two seconds before the Panther round. T-34 #4 gets his shot off first with an accuracy letter of “Y” (average of 4.0m dispersion from the aim point) and the round misses going 3.2 meters above the center mass aim point which puts it about 2 meters over the turret top of the Panther. The commander senses the round and gives a correction which will use an accuracy letter of “T” (about 3.0m dispersion) for the next shot. Follow up shot accuracy is always based on the accuracy of the previous range to simulate bracketing. The Panther #1 gets his shot off with an accuracy letter of “T” that has an average dispersion from the aiming point of 3.0 meters. He gets lucky on the first ranging shot and the round drops just 0.9m below the center mass aim point and .1m to the left

striking the T-34’s front lower hull. With an armor of 45mm that slopes at 55 degrees and no horizontal angle it gives 115mm of protection but is not enough to stop the 75L70 APHE round that penetrates 123mm. The T-34 has its ammo stored in the hull floor which is where the APHE explodes setting off a huge explosion. Panther #1 reloads and moves out in search of another target. Panther #2 and T-34 #1 fire and miss each other from 1800 meters. T-34 #1 decides the range is too far and wants to move up. Panther #2 seeing his target is now moving decides to stay put and track him. A few turns later as T-34 #3 moves up and he detects Panther #1 moving towards him coming into LOS from around the small hill but decides to keep moving altering course to his left to get behind some terrain and increase the angle making him harder to hit. Panther #1 detects T-34 #3 and wants to engage and gives a halt order taking two seconds to slow down and stop (1 second per 10kph speed) and engage at 1200 meters which is at the maximum of his Battle Sight range. Taking 2 seconds to stop, 1 second to get the gun on target and 6 seconds for the Battle Sight aiming and 1.3 seconds TOF (rounded to 1 second) and an additional 2 seconds to track a moving target means the round will arrive in 12 seconds. However in the 12 seconds the T-34 can move 108 meters and only needs to move 80m to get out of the Panther LOS. The Panther fails to get the shot off as he watches his target disappear behind some trees! He decides to stop in an overwatch position waiting for the T-34 to come out from the other side of the trees he has ducked behind and move into a position to point his hull and gun at the edge of the trees. This simulates being in an overwatch position without additional overwatch rules. Panther #3 and #4 continue their flanking movement with no targets yet in LOS. T-34 #1 is staying put in an overwatch position to cover T-34 #2 who is attempting to move up to detect and engage a target as there are none in his LOS. T-34 #2 decides to stop and engage Panther #2 at 1400m. The T-34 going 30kph takes 3 seconds to come to a stop, 9 seconds aim time for a ranging shot and 2 seconds for TOF. The round will arrive at Panther #2 in 14 seconds. Panther #2 is stopped and has been tracking T-34 #2 so can get the shot of in a shorter time since he is static and the gun is already on the target. He wants to take his time and make the shot good so uses a ranging shot which takes 9 seconds aim time and TOF at 1400m is 1.5 seconds rounded up to 2 seconds. The Panthers round will arrive at the target in 11 seconds, 3 seconds before the T-34 does. Panther #2 fires first with an accuracy letter of “N” at 1400m which is an average dispersion of 2.0 meters and aims at center mass even though he is close enough to select the hull or turret. He makes his shot good with the round landing 0.4m high and .2m to the right hitting right on the T-34 turret ring and penetrating into the turret killing the driver and gunner and wounding the commander. The tank comes to a halt smoking and the loader and radioman bail out. T-34 #1 in the overwatch position fires at Panther #2 again and misses. He decides to move out to get closer moving at 30kph. Panther #1 and #2 are waiting for T-34 #3 to

emerge from behind the trees. Panther #3 and #4 have moved to their flanking position and are moving up to engage T-34 #1 which it has not detected yet. A couple of turns later T-34 #3 emerges from the woods at a 90 degree angle to Panther #1 and #2 hauling ass at 30kph. The range is down to 900m but the T-34 is in a gap between some woods trying to get out of LOS from the Panthers again. The Panthers will need to get their shots off quickly so both gunners will attempt a snap shot. Since they are in an overwatch position with their guns already pointed at where the target is there is no turret rotation time. A snap shot will take 4 seconds of aim time and TOF is 0.9 seconds rounded up to 1 second plus an additional 2 seconds to track a moving target. Seven seconds later the two Panther 75mm APHE rounds arrive at the target. They are firing at the T-34 side aspect with a 90 degree deflection now and the base accuracy for a snap shot is a “K” at 900m but a snap shot is very unpredictable in accuracy and the letter is increased by a roll of a D10. Panther #1 rolls a 6 increasing the accuracy letter to a “Q” for an average 2.6 meter dispersion. His shot is still pretty good going 1.1m high and 0.5m to the left of the target which could be a turret hit. However, the lateral dispersion for the moving target puts the round a further 1.5m behind the target. The round passes two feet behind the turret and one foot over the engine deck of the fleeing T-34 as the gunner fails to lead the target enough. Panther #2 rolls a 9 on the D10 for a snap shot accuracy of “T”. The shot goes 1.6m low and the lateral dispersion for the moving target puts it 1.2 meters behind and the round hits the dirt below the engine compartment, another near miss!

The T-34 has moved 63 meters since emerging into the gap and being fired at. He needs to move another 50 to get behind a small hill and out of LOS of the two Panthers. Both Panthers see they need to perform another snap shot to engage the fleeing target. They attempt to but in 6 seconds the T-34 moving 54 meters disappears again before either of the Panthers can get a shot off which would have taken 4 seconds for the snap shot aim time, 2 seconds to track a moving target and 1 second TOF for 7 seconds. The T-34 escapes again but just barely.

Now the action is on the right flank. Panther #4 and T-34 #2 come into LOS at the same time and Panther #3 is behind terrain out of LOS. T-34 #2 has a successful Situational Awareness roll and detects Panther #4 which fails his Situational Awareness roll and continues moving. T-34 #2 stops to engage and lines up a battle sight shot at 800m. Panther #2 is oblivious for now. T-34 #2 will get a battle sight shot off in 9 seconds of aim time with an accuracy of “L”. Before the T-34 can get the shot off the game goes into another 5 second increment and the Panther #4 can perform another Situational Awareness check and detects the T-34 lining up a shot at 800m. The tank commander shouts the warning to the crew and the veteran driver knows exactly what to do as he’s been in this situation many times before on the Russian Front. He yanks hard on the right brake handle halting the track for a moment while the left track continues putting the Panther into a dangerous skid turn. He knows this could throw a tread or break the final drive but he has no choice. The maneuver works and the dodge and lateral error

are enough to make the T-34 miss his shot. The driver gets behinds some trees and out of danger for now. The T-34 #2 reloads and waits for another target. The action continues on the right flank. Panther #3 moves and comes into LOS of T-34 #2 and they detect each other with successful Situational Awareness checks. Fortunately for the Panther his turret is pointed right at the T-34 while the T-34 is 40 degrees off. The Panther wants to engage at 900 meters and takes two seconds to come to a halt, 6 seconds aim time to line up a battle sight shot and 1 second for TOF. His round will arrive in 9 seconds. The commander of the T-34 shouts the targeting orders and the gunner slews his turret around the 40 degrees taking 2 seconds. He’s within battle sight range now and will take 6 seconds aim time to line up a shot. However, with the Panther already pointing at him that may be too late. He decides to order the gunner to take a snap shot taking only an additional 4 seconds aim time rather than 6 hoping that at 900m he’s close enough for the inaccurate snap shot to hit. He’ll get his shot off just three seconds before the Panther. At 900m the base accuracy for the 85L52 gun is an “M” and he rolls a D10 getting a 5 moving the accuracy letter to a “R” which is an average of 2.8m dispersion. Not a great chance for a hit but the only thing he can do. He aims center mass on the frontal aspect of the Panther and the round goes high 1.2m and to the right .3m hitting the very top of the Panther mantlet. It’s a front aspect shot with no horizontal angle. The Panther has only 50mm of armor at the edge of the mantlet but is sloped at 55 degrees giving 110mm of protection. The penetration of the Russian gun at 900m is 109mm. The slope of the Panther mantlet saves it as the Russian tank commander and gunner see sparks fly off the Panther turret as the round ricochets and passes just over the head of the German tank commander. Three seconds later the 75mm APHE round from the Panther impacts directly in the middle of the T-34 mantlet on the loaders side. The 90mm of armor does not stop the 152 mm of penetration and the round slices through the turret, the loaders upper body and explodes in the rear of the turret among the ten remaining 85mm ready rack rounds. The turret lifts off its ring and settles back down at an angle with smoke and flame pouring from the hatches. No one survives. Just as this action ends T-34 #3 comes flying at 30kph into LOS of Panther #4 that has been hiding but just happens to have its gun and hull pointed right at the emerging T-34. The Panther detects the T-34 but the T-34 fails to detect the Panther this turn as it was in its front left aspect and harder to notice the enemy around you. Before the T-34 can take evasive action the Panther gets off a snap shot from just 500m away into the front 45 degree aspect of the T-34. The Panther aimed at center mass and the shot is pretty accurate but the maneuvering target was not led enough by the gunner and the round goes 1.6m to the rear of the T-34 impacting on the lower hull side in the engine compartment. The armor is 45mm with 0 degrees slope but the 45 degree horizontal angle increases the effective armor protection to 85mm. However, that’s no match for the 168mm of penetration and the shell impacts into the engine exploding and rupturing the nearby fuel tank and starting a fire. Game over.