Fireball Forward: Darkness Before the Dawn

 Got in a Face to Face game of Fireball Forward at the Dragon's Lair game store in Fort Myers.  An old standby scenario my son and I have played a few times before.  It is good one so almost certainly will play again.

The setup.  The German Panthers come on at the road at the bottom.  The German infantry within 6" of the road.  Points are scored for controlling the buildings, destroying Panthers, or getting Panthers off the board.

End of turn 1 (of 5).  The Germans come on with Infantry to scout ahead.  A few Americans are spotted.  Nobody is harmed in the first batch of fire.  

End of Turn 2.  Germans move up into position, still nobody is hurt even with many more units opening fire.

End of Turn 3.  The Americans get crushed by fire this turn and the Germans hardly hurt.  The first building is cleared out and a rampaging Panther finishes off some routed US squads by overrun (top right just beyond the building).  Further to the right a Panther is destroyed by an M10.  To the left of the building two M10s are destroyed with no loss to the Germans in a shootout over there.

End of turn 4 and the game.  The remaining US infantry on the left break and run.  A Panther is shocked by a hit from an M10 while the other Panthers move up on the US infantry to clear out the building.
On the Right 3 M10s and 2 Panthers trade a bunch of shots.  The Panthers miss and the M10 rounds bounce off the front armor of the panthers even at close range.  The one M10 that probably could have killed a Panther (since it was at point blank) missed it's shot.

Ending result was a German win.  A lot of lucky results on firing in the third turn along with almost all the M10 shots being no effect sealed the game.  Could easily have gone the other way.

Fireball Forward; Find the English! (and boy were they found...)

 Played a round of Fireball Forward with John at Dragon's Lair.  My Brits got stomped!  The Brits had arty but rolled a 3 (second to worst result) and a 4 (third worst result) for each attempt - having no effect on the Germans.  The German arty rolled an 11 and a 12 and an 11.  The best and then 2 second best results, leaving the majority of my armor broken from failed morale checks or destroyed from two failed morale checks.  The only breaks the Brits got were the German 50mm guns all breaking and the 88mm gun being destroyed before it could shoot.

End of turn 1.  A couple of Honeys have already been taken out at long range by fast moving Panzer IIH tanks.

End of turn 2 and things are only getting worse for the Brits.

Fireball Forward, Operation Crusader: Counter Reconnaissance Encounter

 My first FTF game in year (Thanks Danny!).  Also my first time getting the miniatures out in an even longer time.  The Counter Recon Encounter scenario from the Operation Crusader scenario book.  A good clean intro to the Desert and back into Fireball Forward.

First turn of the game.  The UK rushes onto the board.  The Germans did not fire so no losses were taken.  The UK spots the Germans in the depression to the left.  They fired upon them but due to range they miss with all shots.

End of turn 4.  The German PzJgr 1 AT vehicles were taken out by Arty when I used the initiative to call in back to back arty.  That plus forgetting the +1 to the morale check for an open top vehicle.  Though I think one of them still would have been eliminated and the other broken.  This left the table pretty much open for the Crusaders.
The red markers are destroyed vehicles and the black are those out of ammo.

End of turn 5 and game called. Due to the Arty wiping out the PzJgr vehicles the Crusaders cleaned up.  The Germans were down to 1 operational vehicle at the end of the turn and 1 with no ammo.

Fireball Forward: Brigade Box Tiger Variant

Fourth time playing or Umpiring this scenario and every time has been a UK win.  Each time the German Tigers were too aggresive and paid the price.

The setup.  All of the chits are hidden UK units, most of them are dummies.  I do this instead of hidden units since hidden units are a pain and the end result is almost exactly the same.  I forgot my orchards so blue tape filled in.  There is also a bit of blue tape for a stream that can be crossed (it is labeled).  the trees denote wooded areas and the brush is hedgerow.  The Germans have to capture the command post (top of map) or get 12vp to win.  The Germans get 1vp for each UK unit destroyed or 2vp for each tank or squad exited off the far side of the map.

End of turn 1!  (out of 8 possible turns)

The highlight is the Tigers moving forward and getting side shotted by the 17lber AT gun.  The first shot was the 17lber reaction fire and the second was when the 17lber activated.  Two Tigers down.  The Morale roll caused the other tigers to become broken and one of them (above) had to run off the board.

And the rest of the table.  Even though there are 6 German squads (or leaders) that broke for awhile it seemed like the German player would never fail a Morale Check.  In response the UK troops failed at a high rate.

End of Turn 2!

Highlights.  Two German 251/9 halftracks (with 75mm guns) tried to rush forward and were destroyed by the Sextons in the back line.  The Tiger had run for the hills and been destroyed by another 17lber hiding on the road.

The end of the Game.  German infantry fire did fairly well up top, forcing two UK squads to fall back but the middle to bottom was mostly a UK shooting gallery.  It had taken a few hours to get to this point so we called it a game since the German player was out of vehicles and his infantry was getting chewed up badly.

Fireball Forward! Darkness Before the Dawn

Ran the scenario yesterday for the 3rd or 4th time.  Still managing to mess up some simple rules, Suppression - BAH!, Overruns - BAH!, Close Combat against a single guy - BAH!  (till the last turn that is).  Almost forgot that a 1 on the Malf roll stills need a second roll to confirm it.  It was a fun game the time I forgot that for a few turns, half the guns on the board were malfed.

Table Setup.  Both sides get points for holding buildings, Germans get them for each Panther moved off the board and the US gets them for each Panther Destroyed.

End of Turn 1.  A US Bazooka team takes out a Panther, 1VP for the US!  The square blocks are blinds, the game uses hidden movement but I find it a pain and go with blinds.  Each side gets one dummy blind and one real one for each Platoon.  Works out pretty well but am thinking of going with 2 smaller blinds per unit so they can split up.  I'm also going to be spiffing them up with Allied and Axis symbols on the back sides instead of empty like now.

End of turn 2.  Sorry about the light being bad.  Since this scenario takes place at night perhaps it is appropriate...
Quite a lot going on by the end of this turn.  The Germans are heading off to the northern exit (off to the right) and the middle road is getting congested with dead vehicles.  

End of turn 3.  The Germans take one of the VP buildings!  One VP for them (they get 5 if they capture all three of the buildings off to the right).  The middle road is a death trap for either side.

End of turn 4.  The Germans overrun all the US survivors and the 57mm gun had no luck firing at a Panther.  On the middle road the Germans clear out the remaining US forces

The Germans capture the Farm Complex (off to the right) in a CC with a single US leader (looking through the rules the leader would have to run away even on a draw, oops).  The Panthers on the road hustle off the board, another Panther bogs on the Hedgerow and the last VP building is Close Assaulted by the Germans (US units were pinned after being fired on, another was Broken).  CC ends up as a US win so they hold the final VP building for a DRAW!  US go 6 points for six destroyed Panthers and one VP building while the Germans got 5 VP for the right building complex and 2 VP for the Panthers off the road.

Painted Minis

Finished painting a batch of miniatures.  First batch in a while.  Now that the group down in Florida shows some interest I have the urge to paint again...

First up the UK forces.  These are from the GHQ Glider troop Combat Command.  Now to get a Pegasus Bridge model for them to assault!

Jeeps and FOs

The Gliders, Leaders, MMGs, and others.

Grenade throwing guys (and a rifleman joined up).  I really dislike the grenade throwing guy pose.

SMG guys.  I like SMG guys!

And the early war Polish troops.  This is a mix of the Polish Combat Command and a standard Polish infantry box.

Heavy Squads (they have an LMG on the base).  For games where squad stands are mixed, in Fireball Forward there are Heavy and Regular squads so I use an LMG figure to distinguish.

MMGs and Mortars behind them.  Off to the Right are the ATRs and behind them are LMGs.

Individual Riflemen!  YUP - I play skirmish games in 6mm, you can fit a whole game on half a banquet table easy!

Polish Vehicles and 75mm guns just to the right of them.  I guess I still need to get the obligatory Cavalry...

Fireball Forward Operation Crusader scenario 1

I ran a game of Fireball Forward today.  Playing the game were my son as the Germans and my friend Cass as the UK in the first scenario of the Operation Crusader scenario book.  The game was played with 6mm miniatures and I used Hinches for inches.  Allowing the 6' by 6' map to be setup on a 3' by 3' table space.  I also used blinds and like them - will be using them from now on.  Most likely 3 blinds per real unit.  For this game it was 2 blinds per real unit.

The setup for the game.  The German setup area is to the right of the grey line while the UK enters on the bottom left.  Finally on the Top Left and left hand side  is where the Germans can retreat off the map after turn 4.  The game last six turns.  The lined felt is a wadi and depressions while the other two bits of felt are higher ground.

End of turn 1.  The UK enter the board while the Germans moved forward to try and get some early spotting and kills.  Both sides get some crappy rolls and no damage is done to either side. 

End of turn 2.  More firing and no kills.  One of the Germans does fail a morale check and somebody breaks a gun (the pink circle thing)

End of turn 3.  The UK forces swamp the German Armored cars (and got lucky when they are not hit by them).  Two German Armored Card are destroyed and the last one (with the broken gun) fails a morale check and is broken status.

A closeup of the Armored Cars getting swamped.

End of turn 4.  A German 232 Armored car runs forward and manages to kill two Crusader 1 tanks (lucky shooting).  In return he is fired upon by the remaining Crusader and a Humber and fails a morale check.  Further up the other 232 Armored car is destroyed by a lucky shot from another Humber.  Finally the UK finally gets arty contact and brings down a barrage on top of the German Panzerjager 1 mobile AT guns.  It is not pretty as both of them fail their morale checks.

And the end of the game, the UK Humbers rush forward and kill one of the Panzerjaegers.  The Germans have no way to win at this point and the game is called.

Some really crappy luck mixed with good luck in this one.  The early shooting was without any kills and then it was deadly - mostly for the Germans however.  With fast moving Humbers getting critical hits while needing a 7 on a D6 (you can get that by being within a range die that is also rolled), a 6 also meaning a critical hit so armor is not as good as it could be.    Looking to play another game at the end of April.

6MM Helicopter Holders

I finally came up with a cheap and easy way to store my helicopters on their flight stands.  Materials are tubular foam insulation from Home Depot with a 1" inner diameter (the flight stands have a 1" hexagonal base on the bottom), Really Useful Boxes from Staples, and some cardboard cut to size - foam core would do nicely for that as well.

The tubular insulation.  They were about $2.50 each.  The two of them will probably be all I ever need.

Cut the cardboard or foam core to size so it fits snugly in the box you will hold the Helicopters in.  Cut the tubular insulation so it covers the base.  I cut mine at about 3/4" high. 

Glue the rings to the cardboard and let sit overnight to dry.  In the morning put the helicopters in.

Some aircraft as well.  Next up is to make these for my Vietnam helicopters as well.

A possible addition would be to make columns that fit snugly against the top of the carry case to keep the whole thing from bouncing around if I hit a bump while driving to the game location.  Total cost was $5 for the tube insulation and $15 for the boxes.  If I needed to buy foam core it is available for $1 a sheet at the local dollar store. 

Fireball Forward: Brigade Box (Tiger Variant) scenario

Umpired a game of Fireball Forward yesterday.  A little rusty so made some mistakes but it was a fun game.  The scenario was the Brigade Box Tiger Variant from the Villers Bocage supplement.  Third time playing or umpiring this one - 4 Tigers and 2 17lber AT guns, whats not to like?  The miniatures are 6mm GHQ.

Sorry for the pictures - blurrier than I would like.

Picture of the terrain from the German entry area perspective.  To the right is orchards, to the right is bocage and a small town.  In the middle is a stream (not a river, anything can cross rather easily).  Also in the middle is 4 woods sections (you can see into it but not through it).  Toward the read is more bocage and orchards and a couple other building zones.  Germans have to accumulate 12 VP in 8 turns.

End of turn 1

German entry area is now to the left.  Near the top and next to the bocage 2 251/9 halftracks take up firing positions.

Left side of German entry the Tigers and a platoon enter the buildings.  (has to be turn 2, infantry could not go that far so quickly)

Closer view of the 251/9 halftracks. 

Turn 2!

First Tiger destroyed - those 17lbers pack a wallop!  As an aside I forgot that a confirmation roll was needed before breaking a gun.  All the Tigers and both 17lbers would be broken by the end of the turn.  I then had them make the second roll and all were back in play...

Another shot.

A UK platoon exposes and opens fire.  This would be on the German left flank.  Just past the stream.  On the black felt means in a building "zone"  (I also forgot that all units in a zone are HIT when fired upon - will remember that for next game)

The 17lber that killed the Tiger.  The chit means it malfunctioned.

On the German right flank the troops move up through the Orchard.

Overview from German perspective.

A very very fuzzy turn 3...

Overview - Germans on left, UK on right.

Germans continue to push up the right flank.

Tigers were allowed to hide after finding out the 17lbers were not malfunctioned - hiding behind the buildings currently.

The other 17lber takes a barrage hit and is broken (I think, might just be suppressed).  A Bren team is broken and ran away from the woods (bottom left of picture is where he ran from - currently in the back building zone)

German infantry back near their start area are roughly handled and break.

The Tigers move out with the one 17lber out of action currently.  The far 17lber managed an LOS and popped a shot off at one and killed it.  The remaining two take cover behind the bocage but a UK PIAT team takes a shot from 5" away, rolls a 2 for the range die and a 6 to hit.  Tiger dies from the well placed PIAT shot.  The morale roll results in the last Tiger running away and the game is called in favor of the UK.

We are planning to give this scenario one last play through in two more weeks and then it is on to another one.  These have become my favorite set of WWII miniatures rules - easy to play, with choices to make.