Monday night games night saw us play again the no retreat mission that we played with Scott from Scotts Wargaming and Paul from Kapiti FOW (see previous post). Scott had offered to come down on Monday night for another game, but I said to hold fire (excuse the pun) because I wanted our next game to be competitive, rather than another instruction game for him.
So we replayed the same mission, with the Fallschirmjager defending again against an Irish Guards Rifle platoon, with a Sherman armoured platoon in support, heavy mortars and two armoured car platoons (the Market Garden list allows one, but we needed to match for points the FJs). First use of Easy Army, as referred by Scott, before the match made life a whole lot easier. For just $2.00US you have access to all the Market Garden Lists, which is superb.
Before the photos come out, I must say it got it a little tense regarding rules and mistakes etc. Me and Steve probably the biggest culprits. I think we will chill out in time, just our enthusiasm getting the better of us.
Here are the photos from the night's action:
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| A sleepy village in Normandy |
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| The Fallschirmjager dig in and go to ground as the recon approaches |
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| Chris advances the first platoon up the left flank |
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| The Shermans advance on the right to sweep through the FJ |
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| And the Pak 40s ambush them |
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| Carnage |
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| But Steve and Zac forgot the objective on the left |
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| The Germans start to push resources over to the left |
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The StuGs come on finally from reserve
Geboren um zu toten aka born to kill (watch Full Metal Jacket) |
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| The mortars have a lazy day pinning platoons and never being shot at. |
As an after thought, I actually played through a few turns myself and it did indeed turn out well for the British, losing another Sherman and a stand of infantry but otherwise mopping up. I discovered that the best way to take out Pak40s is to assault them with infantry really.
I have brought in a few supplies for the Brits so expect to see more pictures of them shortly. We are all very FOW obsessed right now and have decided that DnD will indeed end so we can fit more games in.
Great to see you getting stuck in with the game, it really is the best way to learn the rules and tactics. I learnt a lot by making horrendous blunders! (and still am!) If you need any clarification of rules don't hesitate to drop us a line.
ReplyDeleteAT guns are very vulnerable to infantry assault as they usually have a low number of defensive fire dice and the guns can't move to counter attack. Deploy them mixed in with an infantry platoon (the much vaunted "integrated defence") and they will be hard to shift.
Thanks Paul, it is tips like that that are very helpful. Hopefully Steve won't see that before we next play! I had played around with the idea of an integrated attack of infantry and Shermans to take care of fausts etc, but have yet to implement it and don't know if it would work in practice.
DeleteWonderful to see you guys getting further to grips with the rules.
ReplyDeleteYou will probably find the game quickly grabs you... when you win, you'll no doubt want to do it again , and when it goes pear shaped, you'll be wanting another crack at it to try again...
The game rewards sensible/realistic tactics, so yes, infantry can take out lone AT gun platoons with relative ease, so protect them with infantry..., and remember if the infantry don't move, the guns can fire over their positions...
Still playing from the perspective of things going pear shaped. Still haven't won a game yet, but keen to keep on working at my strategy. I think the Germans did alright and it took a while for the Brits to crack our defence. We were dug in and gone to ground for a while making it almost impossible for them to shoot us down and making a line of defence made it hard for the Brits to crack our defence. The PaK 40 ambush went well to but unfortunately the last Sherman bailed out, twice (although I think the second time it would have been destroyed, may have got the rules wrong there) rather than being destroyed.
DeleteLooking forward to giving it another shot next week!
If an armoured vehicle is already bailed out, and then gets bailed out again (double bailed) it immediately takes a motivation test. If it fails, it is destroyed. If it passes, it remains bailed out. If you are unlucky enough to get "triple bailed" it's two immediate motivation tests, and so on. You still only have to pass the one motivation test to remount your vehicle in next turn though, providing you're still around by then!
DeleteDon't worry, you're in good company, most of my games go pear shaped too ;-) It took me an age to win my first game... you just got to keep trying and learning, and trying to remember to put it into practice in the next game, and so on ...
DeleteWhat I have usually found, especially playing Paul, has been that just when you think you've got it sussed, he'll change his force for the next game, and of course the change in mission will always change how the game is going to work... so you are constantly learning... which makes it always interesting!
There does seem to be endless possibilities for FOW with how you design your force and then what tactics you use. Can keep your opponent guessing, and can keep the individual spending!
DeleteNever played FOW as one of the Rejects who started it has yet to still put on a game, as long as you both are enjoying it is the main thing!
ReplyDeleteVery cool looking game. Love the graffiti on the Stug. Best, Dean
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean it was a good game. I thought I would have some fun with the Stug and happy with the result!
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