Wednesday 18 May 2016

Last Victory

With our second summer of four days over I drove off to the club in the rain, it was fairly busy last night, we had a Bloodbowl game, Sharp Practice II demo and two boardgames along with our Bolt Action table.

I need more terrain.
 We had an awkward three player thing again so on the hoof we came up with the last days of the war with the British and Soviets planning to meet at a nearby crossroads for some frozen vodka and warm beer, however they run into some strong lager in the shape of some hard bitten remnants of a Kampfgruppe not willing to give up the thousand year Reich, albeit consisted of three houses. The Germans were dug in supported by a Panzer IV and a PAK 40, the British contingent was the smallest with three squads, a Cromwell and a Humber armoured car, the mighty Red Army fielded their mighty KV1 which Simon was chuffed with as it looked huge and he got it in a deal from Japan!

The diehards.

The unlucky PAK and transport, a beautiful little model.
 As the game kicked off on rumbled the Soviet juggernaut heading for a small barn which it intended to grind to dust along with the infantry inside it, whoooosh, a panzerfaust opened up and bang went the Russian tank throwing tank riders all over the place. Simon frantically scanned the rule book to stop his tank burning but failed, Andy had a smug smile on his face, I couldn't care less, bloody commies, they were going to be trouble after the war, I could sense it.

The ill-fated KV.

I had the usual trouble, my advance was basically over open ground, but as the PAK 40 was facing away from me I took the chance and ran my armour up the field, within a short time the anti tank gun crew were dead and the weapon neutralised. I didn't realise till later Andy had moved a Panzerschrek team into the nearby house and it quickly took out my armoured car, the Panzer IV and the Cromwell were exchanging shots but neither could get a kill. I thought stuff this and put a nice blob of smoke down between them. Now I moved my infantry up to hopefully assault the house with the help of the Cromwell, bang, the 'schrek team got their second kill.

By this time the Russians had rallied and took their revenge on the Germans in the outbuilding by overwhelming them and turning a flamethrower on them at close range, flushed with victory they began to manoeuvre for a final assault on the crossroads. Once again just as the action was coming to a head we had to pack up, we took stock of the game, the Allies had lost all their armour but the German position in the hamlet looked precarious, especially from the Russians as most of their forces were facing the British. We magnanimously decided to give Andy the win despite both sides losing three units each, I am unsure whether the victory goes on dice removed or points, but we'll get to that later, we lost our most prized assets so well done Andy.

The Russians assault the charnel house.

The game, well Andy's small anti-tank teams just couldn't miss while has Panzer IV seemed to have rubber shells, we learned a lot more of the rules this time, what we need to do is get faster and I think that is coming, we lost a good hour sorting the game out and setting up. I will have things better organised once I get my other PC back and get a small campaign running which is my eventual aim.


2 comments:

  1. George!
    Sounds like good fun. Pity you had to pack up before you'd quite finished the game. It's definitely better if you can sort out the scenario, table, etc well beforehand.
    Good that you're getting faster at play too. Dave and I still cannot remember vehicle movement rates and have to look it up every time. If v2 wasn't coming out soon then I'd do my own QRS.
    Had our second Sicily campaign game and crumbs it was a corker! As good as the first (if not better IMHO coz I won! :o)). The surviving Paras that our narrative allowed Dave to carry over from the first game nearly won the day for the Allies - they're proper 'ard b*****ds!
    Dave made a big hill especially for the game too - what a first class chap eh?
    I managed to hold on to the hill-top village by the skin of my teeth. We'd agreed beforehand that if the Allies took the village then that meant they'd swept across Sicily and would quickly launch an attack on the Italian mainland (where the Axis powers would be unprepared)... But instead my Hun will be preparing a very warm welcome for Dave's Kiwis and Canadians. Game 3 is a beach assault - should be fun!
    Later in the campaign Dave is thinking of a multi-player game for the big push against the Gothic Line.
    Anyway, I ramble on...
    Cheerio
    Matt
    PS - we all 'need' more scenery! :o)

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    1. It was a good game, but now back to normal with the computers and the pressure is off a bit from the maps so I shall have time to get a look at this campaign stuff.

      I look forward to seeing and reading about the beach landing.

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