Columbia Games East Front

Quick notes from a game of East Front by Columbia games.  Played this on June 10th.

June, 1941, Operation Barbarossa begins.

End of June, Not as much progress as I had hoped.  Probably should have started more battles than I had.  Well, it is a learning game.  We were fumbling through the rules a good bit - they are not complex but it was a first game.

Another picture of the end of the first turn.

End of July.

A solid front?  Something is not right...

End of August.

Russians pull back a bit - attacking river lines is a PITA!  A 1 or 2 repulses a unit and you can only get one unit across per hexside.  We did manage to surround some Russians this turn.

End of September, just before possible mud.

Russian line was shattered BUT checking the victory conditions the Germans are just barely getting by - and that due only to the extensive number of Russian units currently eliminated.  First count through I forgot to subtract 40 and it seemed like blowout.  It would really depend on the weather rolls for the next month, mud and it would be a long slog for the Germans, clear and it would very likely be game over for the Russians.

We are set to restart the game this coming Saturday.  We will see how are play progresses.

ASL 175: Hunters at Ylimaa

Played this one on June 3rd, just a little late with the writeup (perhaps I should make that my tag line).

Finns vs Germans in October of 44, Germans trying to delay the Finns from getting off board long enough for a win.

The setup, At to the top of the board is the Panzerfaust availability stacks, Fausts for Germans and ATR's for the Finn's fausts (since there is no Finn colored faust counter).  Finns come in on the right side and have to make it to the left between the dots in 8 turns).

And the first shot of the game!

I take this game too seriously...

Second shot of the game...  Finns returned fire and this is what happens to me...  Whine, bitch, moan...

End of Finnish turn one.

End of German turn 1.  The German arty does a number to the Finns but the Finnish sniper is on a rampage.

Just before Finn turn 2 route phase.  German Arty is doing some harm, at the bottom the fighting starts up.  I was hoping for a better result from the 8-1 shot when the Finns walked right up to my Concealed guy.

End of Finnish turn 2. 

End of German turn 2.  I don't think the Finnish fire did a thing this turn.

End of Finnish turn 3.  Captions sum it up, looked for a faust three times and nobody knew what they were.  (maybe four times).  So now I have guys in CC with a tank (and they couldn't find an AT mine for CC either!)

End of German turn 3.  A German squad finds TWO! Fausts and toasts two tanks with them.  For their heroism the Finns blast them good and manage to DM them.  Down below a German squad went Berserk and charged, managed to get into the hex with the Finns too.

End of Game, with the two destroyed tanks and the mud the Finns do not have enough time to get the required CVP off the left edge of the map.  The Germans never even revealed the two AT Guns. 

This scenario is kind of like a race to the edge, the Finns have overwhelming firepower but don't get a good chance to use it since they have to hustle, giving the Germans a good chance to cause casualties and slow them down.  Perhaps pinning the Germans with one group and swinging around with another might have worked, hard to say.