Arc of Fire miniatures game

 Played a playtest round of Arc of Fire with the South Africans versus the Angolans in the eighties.

My South African forces.  90mm armed wheeled vehicles with light armor, 20mm armed autocannon ones, and a spotter truck.

The game table (lots and lots of trees!).

My South Africans (in blue) spot the Angolans and take out two T55 tanks straight away (lucky rolls).

Another T55 taken out and more spotted further back.

Lots of destroyed vehicles (mostly Angolans).  A few South African 90mm armed vehicles lost as well but lousy shooting (and crews) for the Angolans makes it a lopsided fight.

I forget what was happening here...

Angolan infantry being mopped up by South African infantry.  Almost all of the Angolan vehicles are destroyed.

End of game.  South African arty was chewing up the Angolan infantry till it tried to switch targets and then it just kept going way off target.

ASL AP193: Hit it and Quit It

 Fun little scenario but pay attention to the VC ONLY full squads count for exit VP and only 1VP each!

The setup.  The Partisans get VP for destroying the trucks which are immobile.  They also get VP for German losses and 1 VP for each squad (not half squad or equivalent) off the board by game end.

Halfway point were Partisans make for the exit.  They got 12 VP for destroyed trucks and 4 more for German losses.  Here is where we both messed up, we forgot that only full squads count for exit VP and only 1VP each.  German reinforcements went for CC attempts.  The bottom one worked but the top one was Partisan ambush and that squad went to S5 to move off next turn.

Game end.  The Partisans had a reinforcement come on at H3 and then advance right off for 1VP, the squad in A5 moved off for another VP.  At the top of the map the squad in C2 did not make it.  We called it there though not totally impossible for the two squads in D1 to Rally their chance of getting off the map is slim, the unit in H10 is a Half Squad so no VP there.

Miniatures "Modern" gaming

 Got in a playtest game of Arc of Fire featuring a scenario from the book itself.  Fun to play with "modern" toys (scenario set in the eighties - which is now as far back in time as WWII was when I started gaming...)

The board layout.  The Angolans and Cubans come in from the left and have to exit off to the right.

Same board from the other perspective.

End of turn 1.  The Cuban scouts get knocked around by a missile (lucky considering).  A scout car is out in the front of this group - can't spot nuttin though!

End of turn 2 or 3.  More Angolan forces come on.  The South African missile launcher was found and taken out.

A couple turns later and the missile launcher was not taken out - it took out a T55 and then was destroyed.  the other T55 failed a MC and got neutralized for a turn.

Continuing to move up to the stream when a barrage starts coming down.

Game Over man!  Game over. 
My forces are spotted by a 90mm armed vehicle that takes out the PT-76s one by one and then my scout car.  THEN the arty falls.  The game ends pretty much historically with my Angolans getting smacked around.

A closer view of the 90mm armed vehicles.  I think the name was ratele.

This is once again at John's house and as you see he has a nice large spot for laying out a map and a nice layout to go along with it.  

ASL scenario BD 167 - Blow that Bridge!

 Got in a quick game of ASL today with Dispatches from the Bunker's scenario 167, Blow that Bridge!

The Partisans need to either blow up or hold the bridge at the end of the game in order to win.  We finished it up in roughly two hours and it is a fun scenario we both agree would be worth another playing (but so many others to play first...).

Situation at game start.  The Germans had to start within 4 hexes of the bridge and with many forced to start in the buildings.  The Partisans had to start 6+ hexes from the bridge.  There is also a +1 lv hindrance up to 4 hexes and +2 beyond that.  We messed up the LV forgetting NOT to apply to residual placement and FFMO too.

The situation at game end.  The German defense on the East side of the bridge held strong, the Partisans fired over and over and over again at the MTR carrying squad but I don't think they ever even needed to make an MC (and if they did they passed).  On the flip side the MTR never went on a rate tare and the one time it scored a CH it did not do anything.  On the west bank of the river the German defense fell apart from the start.  The MMG that was setup on the bridge got off on shot (doing nothing) before return fire broke the crew and the leader.  A couple of CCs later and the Germans were cleared from the west bank.  The Partisans ran across the bridge and Germans fire from the east bank did not have any effect.

ASL: 290 Last Train to Lenningrad

 Played this scenario from Twilight of the Reich.  Not a favorite.  I did not "grok" how to play it the entire time but looking at the end game it was up for either player to win.  The Germans have to have 6 good order squads left of the green dashed line at game end to win.  So far they had 8 with reinforcements on the way.  My opponent conceded after two full turns but he only beat my out by a half turn perhaps (I was ready to concede myself).

The special rules for TotR are nice and I would like to see more scenarios use them.  SW are hidden at start, leaders stacked with MMC are as well.  The defender gets an automatic HIP unit.  Both sides get purchase points for things like SW, mines, wire, concealment counters, etc.  So you don't know exactly what you are up against and can't use stack size to figure out where the MGs are...

Situation at start.  

The situation at the end of turn 2 (and the game).  

ASL: Quick 6 scenario 1 Simple Mission

 Fun game, lots of bad luck on both sides.  My FT did zip, same for my DCs.  His 25LL could not take out a tank after a couple of solid hits.  Said tank malfed his MA on the first shot (which would cost the game by a single VP at the end by not having a functional MA for the exit VP).  

All that said it is a good little scenario with options for both sides.

German had to get offboard at the bottom left, jussst a little bit too little...

ASL: HazMo 7: Left Behind

 Played the Russians, got stomped.  Though it is possible the one remaining turn would have been enough for the Russians to pull out a win it was extremely unlikely (Germans would need to have gacked all their rolls and the Russians make all of theirs not matter how unlikely).

ASL Action Pack 36: Second Crack at Caumont

 Played this one today FTF with Mike McGrath.  I did pretty good (even with a bunch of crappy rolls - Mike would verify that) till I got very sloppy with the tanks.  Going to have to slow things down a bit next game.  It was nice to get in a FTF game after roughly a decade of online only ASL.

Game setup.  My Amis would take all of the main building complex and had plenty of time to take the needed remainder till I got sloppy and lost due to CVP cap with the tanks.  A fun scenario that I would play again - strangely enough this was the same scenario I last played FTF roughly a decade ago and I did not choose it.

A House Divided end of game

 The end of the game in March 62.  The CSA never really stood a chance.  An attack to retake Richmond ended the game with a massive loss for the CSA.  Perhaps the best bet is only to entrench a bunch later in the game and make the USA bleed for every area taken.

Next up is Victory in the Pacific.

A House Divided

 At the start of September 1861 the USA has taken Richmond and gone south but have over-extended.  The CSA has a large force ready to pounce in the eastern theater while the USA has much more force in the western theater for now.  

We are going to be picking up the game again Tuesday the 16th.

ASL Quick 6 scenario 22. French Spirit by Lone Canuck Publishing

 Game two for today.  An interesting situation but I don't see how the Germans can win outside of extreme good luck (I had decent luck).  I'm not saying it is unbalanced, just that *I* can't see a German win in this one.

Situation at game end.  The Germans start with a platoon in the red area.  To win the German's have to have a good order MMC in the Red Lined area.  The French had troops on the level two hills to start and reinforcements came in on turn one at the roundel to the left.  At the bottom a platoon of FT-17s came on turn 2 as well.  An equal size German force entered from the top of the map on turn 1 as well.  Perhaps I should have taken my time and advanced in slowly while having the initial guys retreat away to come back later.  May have to try it again someday since it is an interesting situation and I love a scenario with FT-17s in it.

ASL The Steelworks Scenario 3: Tiger Attack (Finish)

 Finished up this game today.  The Brits got all the smoke they needed and managed to kill a tiger from the side when it was in +3 smoke.  When another Tiger was recalled for MA malfunction I conceded.

At this point the last Tiger had to destroy 4 Shermans in two turns for a win.  

Midway!

Today's game is AH's classic of Midway.  I took the USN and Dan took the IJN.

My USN had the IJN in it's sites right up till the turn we get in range for air strikes...

First strike goes after the Enterprise.

Second strike goes after the Hornet.

The Hornet managed to avoid being sunk but Enterprise and a lot of support ships are out.

The USN follows up with a strike on Akagi.

Taking out Akagi and a couple of other vessels.  The Japanese made a mistake by having different task forces instead of one big blob.  Due to the wonky AA rules in the game having all the carriers and support ships in one square is often better then having them seperated.

The USN finds the Japanese first early on the second day of battle and what little is left strikes.

Two more Japanese carriers down.

The IJN strikes back a couple hours later (one turn) and finishes off the USN carriers.

The final tally at game end.  A lot of the IJN losses can be attributed to very lucky Die Rolls for the USN.  My average roll had to be near a 5 and the IJN average closer to a 2.

The positions of the ships (from the USN search) at game end.

A fun game but a mess when it comes to being a simulation.  If the Japanese hold off on bring their forces forward till the second group comes on it gets nearly impossible for the USN to win.  The Coral Sea variant plays a good bit better since the forces are more even but even that has the problem with soak off attacks versus a fleet - which is something that was not done on purpose.

ASL The Steelworks Scenario 3: Tiger Attack

 One more try for The Steelworks scenario pack from Lone Canuck.  The map looks great and the situation interesting but this one is not rating high on my favorites list.

the setup.  The Germans have to clear the map below the paved road by the end of German turn 6.

The German Rocket OBA drifts to the worst spot possible, it DMs a single HS but is more of a hindrance to the German advance then any kind of help.

German Tiger tanks come on turn 2 followed by the UK Firefly group on the same turn (a dr <3 needed to come on this turn).

The Firefly gets in position to fire on the Tiger, still a risk since the Tiger will get off a couple shots but that smoke from the small mortar is a decided pain in the arse.

The Tiger made it through the turn by the Germans bringing up a few squads (lots of Fausts!) to take on the Firefly.  The Tiger managed to Malf it's MA trying an IF shot at the Firefly however.  A Faust took out the Firefly in return.  Another Tiger went up near the map top to take on the regular shermans and so far managed to take one out even though it tried to cover itself with smoke.  So at the end of German turn 4 this could still go either way.  The main problem is that the best bet for the UK to win is play hide the Shermans from the Tigers, just silly and not a lot of fun.

Arc of Fire game 2

 Played another round of Arc of Fire.  This time with recon forces.  A German Puma and other Armored Cars with an infantry platoon versus American Greyhounds and Stuart tanks also with an infantry platoon along.

The Germans block the road so the US go off to the right (for the most part).

A close up of that.

The situation after the Germans move to the right as well.  The two ACs that were on the road went forward.  One is next to the destroyed Stuart and the other is just to the right of that.

Another shot of the action.

I think this was end of game.  The Germans moved forward after shooting up some US jeeps and ACs moving across the road.  German infantry had been eliminated but US losses were high.

John's Napoleonics.

More of them,

And a few more.