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: Stiffening Resistance (Game two)

 Started a second round of Stiffening Resistance on Tabletop Simulator.  We finished up to the end of turn 3 in 2.5 hours.  Not bad since it includes setup and rules reading time.

The situation at the end of turn 3.  The Germans are taking lumps.  Blind fire into the buildings by the UK resulted in a lot more Morale Checks for the Germans then averages would allow.  One tank rolled double red sixes when fast moving for instance.  One UK halftrack is down and the Germans have lost a squad and 3 Halftracks.  The one with the 75mm is still in the game though.

First Blood!  The Germans got the first kill in the game - which was quickly followed by the Germans losing their unit as well.

Fireball Forward: Stiffening Resistance

 Played this one today with Jeff and my son.  The Brits did not get to the VC conditions in time (mainly due to my messing up the vehicle terrain crossings with hills not applying).  Germans were doing great till turn 4 when the Brits took out half of their force).

Overview at game end.  The Brits needed to get the two buildings at the bottom on the picture and needed another turn just to reach them.  The tank on the left could have made it off the board but would have needed to use an initiative chit to do so (they brits had one chit left and no chance to get more).

A closeup of the advancing British Sherman V tanks and a piat team (the team had taken out the Burning German Halftrack near the top left of the picture).

Fireball Forward: The Crossroads. From Panzer Lehr at Saint Lo

Reffed this one with a new friend and my son.  Jeff (new guy) took the US and Jordan (My son) took the Germans.  A six turn fight over a crossroads in Normandy.

The Germans enter from the bottom and the US setup behind the line.  I made a mistake and the US roll of a 1 on the setup only allowed a single unit to setup south of the topmost hedgerow.  It would make a big difference.  Also forgetting that moving off a road required a bog check.

The Germans throw in the towel on turn 3.  The first US shot at a PZIV is a crit and kills the tank.  The unit morale makes the survivor run off the board.  The next shot is another crit and kills another German tank.  The remaining German tank managed to kill that Sherman (the exchange of shots shown) but then failed it's unit morale check for having lost a tank.  The US passed their check so at this point the Germans were down 4 tanks (one broken tank left) while the US were down a single tank with 9 left.  Points wise it was over.  If the hits had not been crits or if they had missed it may have ended differently but the odds are with the US in this one.  It also does not help that the stats on the PZIV are different between the 2nd edition rules, this module, and the latest unit charts.  The latest unit charts probably would have given the PZIV an edge since they had more armor and might have stopped another hit.  The M4s also had another point of armor too though.

Fireball Forward: Operation Crusader scenario 1

 Played the Counter Recon Encounter scenario from the Operation Crusader scenario book with my son today.  It was partly a test of using Tabletop Simulator to play Fireball Forward.  The test worked great.  Hidden units work as well as measuring and dice rolls.  Going to start playing it more and hope to get more involved in it as well.

The Brits won this one handily due to very effective Arty (Germans had to spread out more!).  I will be giving it another go sometime but there are many other scenarios to try first.

Fireball Forward: Darkness Before the Dawn continues

We continued the Fireball Forward game on Tabletop Simulator and managed to finish up one and a half turns (turn 2 and half of turn 3).  All pictures are from the end of the game session.

Overview of the action.   The smoke markers are killed tanks.  

A close up view of the end of session carnage.  The US used an initiative chit to do a double activation of their M10s.  They go lucky and killed a Panther and the rest of the Panther platoon failed Morale Checks caused by the loss of the one.  So the US is in great shape right now, though a lot will rest on who wins initiative next turn though the US has the shifting initiative chit next turn.

From the other end of the table.  The other M10 platoon took out another Panther.  Off to the left is a dead M10 from turn 1.

Fireball Forward on Tabletop Simulator. Darkness before the Dawn

Played Fireball Forward on Tabletop Simulator.  We finished up the first turn of the scenario and will be continuing on two weeks from now.  Overall it flowed very smoothly - much better then I thought.  The only real problem is making sure voice communication works beforehand!  (TTS itself as well of course).

The table at the end of turn 1.  The Germans entered the road on the right.  They have more forces to enter next turn.  To win they have to get more VC then the US by taking the buildings at the bottom and/or getting tanks off the top or bottom road exit.

A closeup of the German entry area.  

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.