Great War

Anticipation over the planned release of the latest version of "Great War" made us get out our figures and try the old edition.  Well, it made sense at the time.  😊 We had to retool our thinking to 3rd edition Flames of War with the Great War modifications, which interestingly to me made me appreciate the changes in 4th edition more.

The Germans had a Stosstruppen company with 7.7cm guns and a pair of A7 tanks in support.  The British had an elite infantry company with Vicker MGs and a full battery of 18pdrs. in support.  The Germans naturally chose a night attack and with their opening move bonus started literally on top of us.

The British trenchline with wire.

After the German deployment.

Those strange cheese boxes on treads looked scary.

A skill test to cross  the wire held up some Germans so others waited.

Despite being pinned by artillery or MG fire the Germans advanced.

A deadly flamethrower.... that hit open air (bad dice).

The sharp-eyed reader might notice the figure stands are smaller than the normal Flames of War bases.  That's because we based our forces on the free "1916" rules and it is too early to consider (and then reject) rebasing.

As did the other one.

The aftermath of a failed assault.  

The British had delayed reserves but got some on the first try.  The Germans have the option to self eliminate a platoon below half strength and bring it all on again, but at their table edge.  Our table was over-sized but it still would take them critical time to come forward.

One of the objectives was so close, but wire and MG fire was
decisive in blunting it.

One "landship" failed its motivation test and abandoned it.

With two of three companies destroyed along with one of the tanks, the game ended after turn three.  All the British reserves were on table and closer to the action so given the situation it seemed proper.  The German dice were abysmal.   Besides the whiff on the flamethrowers, in one assault the Germans failed six of nine saving throws.  One of those days.  The British on the other hand, though frequently pinned, relished the trench cover and only lost one stand.  It will be interesting to see what changes have been made in the new release.

Desert Dust Storm

After a foul weather and health induced long layoff, we finally got the crew together for a Flames of War game last Sunday.  We've been doing some quickie games from the Firestorm Stalingrad system but for a change of pace shifted to North Africa, giving me a chance to use my new-used cloth mat.  With four players we each prepared a 109 point list for the 5x7' table.  Unfortunately a mistaken box grab meant we had to cobble a German force together and only came up with 103 points to complement my Italians.  Both the Germans and I had infantry companies (mine was a Bersaglieri weapons company) with anti-tank guns and some armor in support.  The Germans had stukas for air support, the Brits had none.

The British both went armor heavy.  One with Shermans and guns, the other with Crusaders and Grants and guns.  I'm a big fan of combined arms so these games are always a test of the system to me.  Fortunately for us, the mission rolled was Encounter with Meeting Engagement rules and Delayed Random Reserves.  The British "won" the toss to be the attackers, or we would have had to wait a long time before we could attempt to attack.  As it was we could let them come to our big guns.  Each side had 40% in delayed reserve.

Looking down the table after Turn 1 is complete.

The British came out swinging right from the start, moving aggressively forward even though their guns couldn't bombard.  The Italian contingent had recon and had advanced the AB41s towards the village with a bersaglieri weapons platoon trailing, ready to jump into the center buildings.  Little did I know that it would become a focal point for the British.

We attempt to react.

Outside of occupying two of three buildings there was little we could do besides hold and punch back.  Stukas appeared but outside of occasionally pinning guns they did little against great saving throws.

Shermans advance with only a single 88mm that can hurt them.

I had Lancia gun trucks, Semoventes and engineers off table, so for the most part had to just hunker down, wait for flank shots and bombard with my 100mm guns.  The Germans weren't any better off in terms of mobility.

From the other end.  

Crusaders pose little problem but the Grants are a different story.

Earlier: My M14s do a dance of death, failing multiple crossing checks.

As an experiment I bought three command cards.  Pietro Brunno, Pazzaglia bombs and a reroll one dice card.  This time all three ended up being used.  Once to unpin my village Bersaglieri, once to help them assault Crusaders that wandered into town, and to get shots against flank armor values. 

The Pak43 are proxies for the standard "barn door" German 88s.

Since I had to put together the German list from my holdings I bought all the extras for the DAK infantry platoons.  Some were useful, like the ATR, others like the mortar never had a viable target.

The big red dice tracks the turn number.  We need some reserves!

The British on this flank had two formations, one of Crusaders
and one of Grants.

Shermans are pretty terrifying for Italians.  They kill M14s easily.

Stand fast my heroes!  The attached 47mm gun lurks in the palms.

The British poured a ton of fire into the village, trying to dislodge the Bersaglieri but although pinned almost every turn they kept hanging in and firing galling shots.  Even popped out to assault Crusaders that got too close.

A great roll brings in most of the British reserves.

The 88 survives multiple last stand checks and the 10.5cm guns
are firing over open sights.  Marders to the rescue!

The horde of British tanks on our right are getting thinner but the situation is still desperate.  On my flank I got my Lancia guns who quickly neutralized one platoon of Shermans.  But they will have to dash somewhere else to contribute more.

My Semoventes arrive and go hide, but still get one bailed anyway.

Hot dice vs. cold dice ends the crisis on our right.

Semoventes kill a Sherman and Bruno bails another.

Both tank formations on our right broke or in the case of the Crusaders, were wiped out.  Although we still hadn't advanced beyond the center line the British conceded the game.  With our lists if we had needed to attack it would have been a disaster.  On the defense we had a tight game with chances for all.  A frigid turn where the British couldn't seem to hit anything didn't help.  My rolls for elites were below average but the Bersaglieri in the village earned their status.

Next up a day of demo games at a local public library.