Lock N Load Tactical: Rejoining the Regiment

Played this one today with my son.  Germans came very close to pulling off a win.  The US managed to rally just in time to block the road off the map.  The Germans jumped into melee and took those US units out but that blocked the hex from being moved through.  The remaining US units went to the exit hex so the Germans would have to stop and melee instead of getting off the map.  The other US option would have been to go into melee with the Germans who would have had to fire or accept the melee and they only had just enough to get off the board for a win if they moved everyone.

Lock N Load Tactical: Rejoining the Regiment

 Played LNL, Rejoining the Regiment with my son.  No pictures since it was a learning game.  He lost track of movement points to get off the board.  Next week we switch and I play the attacking Germans.  It appears to be a tough one for them with the need to move move move.

After that moving on to full LNL and larger scenarios.

Lock N Load Tactical Start Kit

 Played the Lock N Load Tactical Starter Kit scenario with my son.  He learned quickly and we will be giving it another shot in to weeks.

Jordan took the Germans and so I defended with the US.  The goal is to control 4 of the 7 circled buildings by the end of turn 6.

First Blood to the US Sniper - which is pretty much a given.  I gave him a slight hint to not move the leaders by themselves.

The shot that ended the game on turn 6.  The US had a +7 shot versus a 0 defense modified shot.  It ended up shaking the German leader and eliminating the German squad.

Lock N Load Tactical, Heroes in Defiance: Phony War.

 Played this one with Mark today.  I've not played LnLT in over a year and I forgot how much fun it can be.  A lot of ASL style tactical combat and tense decisions without the rules overhead - though it still has a good bit of rules.

The start of the game.  The Germans get points for controlling the circled building and for there being no French adjacent to it.  The French gets points for eliminating German squads.  The LOS is limited to 3 hexes,  starting turn 2 it can go up by one hex a turn by rolling a dr less than or equal to the turn number.  I would end up increasing it every turn.

First Blood to the French!  Moving in the open is never a good idea but I wanted to spread out the targets as much as possible.

End of turn 1.  The French reinforcements come on in the German rear and I leave a small rearguard to slow them down.

LOS went to four hexes in turn 2 and the French make a blunder.  Two squads and a leader move into range as a stack and are all shaken.  The next two activations by the Germans would see them Taken by Lt. Wurtz and a squad.

End of turn 2.  The French melee a broken "cover" squad (to the left) and go into Melee with another - that one ends up with no losses this turn.  The Germans enter the VP building and take out a shaken French squad.  An event marker sends in the French units just outside the building.

End of turn 3.  

End of turn 4.  The Germans get initiative (I think) and the leader in the building activates the locations around him.  Shaking the French upstairs and adjacent. A German hero then mops up with his Running Killer skill.  The French reinforcements are quickly shaken as well.

With that we also call the game.  The remining French units in the VP building are shown here, surrounded by Germans (who got the first impulse again) and would be shot at from 3 different spaces with a -1, +2, and even differential on the shots.  If any one of them shakes the hex another squad would move in to take them.

I'm sure my luck (when I needed it most) with the dice helped and I do like being able to figure out rules quickly and continue on with game play.  If only there were as many LnL players as there were ASL players (and scenarios!).  Looking forward to playing more.

LNLT: Heroes of Normandy - Brothers in Arms.

Finally got round to playing Lock N Load Tactical again.  This time it is the Americans VS the Germans.

The map setup.  The Germans have to take 18 building hexes in the circled area OR eliminate 5 US Squad/Half Squad/Weapons Teams in 7 turns.

End of first turn.  All maneuver so far with no shooting.

First shot!  No Effect!

First shot at a Stug!  Also No Effect!

End of Second turn.  The Stug Fired back and since it moved the Gun lost it's Acquisition.  Going to have to look into the rules more on that since it did not seem to state that a firing unit loses acquisition when it moves.  Most likely we missed something.

First Blood!  The US Sniper appears and Shakes a German squad.  Leaving Sgt Fury unspotted.

End of third turn.  (click on image to see more detail).  Some Crossfire on the top of the map and the Stug and Gun exchange fire at the bottom.  The squad with the gun Assault Move to fire at the Stug to no effect.

First German Blood!  He had no luck with the Gun target again (nor the gun at him) but he did fire MGs at the US Squad and shook them.

End of turn 4.  LOTS of firing back and forth, most of it doing nothing.  The MTR shot at the guy in the middle did not happen - I got that confused with next turn.

End of turn 5.  The Stug and Gun continue their duel.  Up in the Village a massive crossfire breaks out.  The US units are unscathed sitting in buildings while the Germans are cut to pieces when the move into the streets.

End of turn 6.  Very much a repeat of turn 5 except the Gun finally wins the duel with the Stug taking it out and the squad moves out to CC the shaken crew.  The MTR also caused it's target to generate a hero which is important next turn.

On turn 7 the Germans make a last ditch attempt to cross the street to the VC spaces, generating 3 heroes in the process.  At the top of the map every attempt to cross is stopped except a hero generated in H2 jumps into CC in I2 and is promptly eliminated by 2 squads and a leader.  The street was littered with dead bodies by the end of this turn.

End of turn 7.  The US Hero with the Baz used his interrupt ability before the Stug could move and fired the Bazooka - the effect was even and the stug passed the MC so it was Shaken, just enough for the last turn of the game.  Another pile of bodies is created trying to cross the street near the Stug (and the third German Hero).

A fun scenario which may be tough on the Germans but I would like to try it again sometime as the Germans.  The US also had a LOT of luck in the last 2 turns, often rolling a 6 when the Germans rolled a 1 on the DFT.  Even a roll of 1 on the damage check doesn't help then (which the Germans did 3 or more times to generate 3 heroes). 

Lock N Load Tactical: Attack of Das Koch.

Played this scenario last Saturday the 3rd (it is the 12th as I write this).  Another fun game of LNLT with tanks added into the mix.  First game online with Bruce who knows the rules well.  Looking forward to more of the game.

The setup.  The Germans have to take the 3 circled hexes by the end of Turn 7, they enter from the left side.

First turn is all movement.

Second turn has both sides shooting with no effects.

First blood on turn 3!  The Germans in D4 fire at and hurt the Brits in C3.  

End of turn 3.  The already shot at Brits are overrun by a PZIV and all but the leader are killed, leader is shaken I think.  If so I have to check and see if that leaves him dead for being alone with the tank.  Tank wanders off to the next hex.  The other PZIV moves adjacent to the Brits in D6 in order to maximize hit potential.

Turn 4 the Brits get their first kill.  After winning initiative and rallying (if he had to, can't remember) the Sarge fires his PIAT and kills the PZIV next to him. 

End of Turn 4.  The squads next to the now activated sarge fire at him (should have just moved in, he was unable to Melee - next time).  The PZIV next to the Brits was taken out in CC, then the Marder overran (might not have been legal, CC gets marked with Melee but no mention in rules about no overrun after melee - just no shooting.  Time to do some reading).  The Germans then moved in and finished off the remainders of the Brits (that would have been a no-go if Melee marker already existed.

End of turn 5.  The Brits take out the Marder, no vehicles left!  Some shots at the Brits followed with a shake em and take em captures the second VC location.  One to go!

End of Turn 6!  The Wounded Brit leader had the decisive skill and put it to use, putting a stopper on the German assault.  One stack shaken but the other OK, sadly the German assault fire had no effect. 

End of turn 7 and the game.  Another mistake could have been the one that cost the Germans the win.  The Shaken squad with the German leader should have gotten the +2 for being behind the hedge to the only known enemy and that would have been enough to rally him.  The German charge at the last VC hex went badly and it is game over with a well played British win.

Lock N Load Tactical: Heroes of the Motherland: Rattenkrieg

Played my second game of Lock 'N Load tactical with Bill, this time Arty is added into the mix.

A simple scenario when it comes to VC, the Russians must control both of the circled building hexes at the end of the game.  The game is six turns and in a big twist on the normal procedure initiative is rolled for EVERY impulse so it is very possible that one side never gets to act in a turn.

First Blood!  Lt Koch (the decisive guy) shakes the Russian first move units.

End of turn 1.  I think the 12.7mm MG also fired at Lt. Koch's stake to no effect.

End of Turn 2.  Lt Koch keeps pouring fire onto the Guards stack.  

Turn 3 and the Russian Artillery falls!  Luckily for the Russians it is right on target, luckily for the Germans it has very little effect (in what should have been a disaster for the German defense).  The turn also ended with not much else happening.

End of turn 4.  Lt. Koch keeps up the fire on the wounded Russian leader and his stack, he is fired upon by the 12.7mm MG to no effect.  The Germans get initiative enough times in a fow to finish off the turn without the Russians getting any other moves.

End of turn 5.  The Germans move two squads back to the VC building and then get the initiative 3 times in a row to end the turn.  Since the Russians now have no chance of even getting to the VC building the game ends there.  As the German I was extremely lucky this game, suffering only one shaken unit the entire game and getting the initiative three times in a row on a couple of game turns - allowing me to end the turn before the Russian could move all his troops and they NEED to move in order to win. 

As I mentioned this is my second time playing the game and I really like it (besides being a lucky bastard to boot).  The turns flow nicely, each player has choices to make, there are multiple tactics that can work (I hate "puzzle" games or games where there is obviously one best way to handle each situation), and the rules are easy to read and understand without being simplistic.  Looking forward to my next game on Monday - this time featuring tanks!  Speaking of easy to read and understand rules, I read the tank/vehicle rules and understood them the first time through.  I'm looking forward to moving onto the Pacific and Desert (not to mention modern and Vietnam) titles.

Lock N Load Tactical Starter Kit Scenario 1: Assault on Vierville

Played my first Lock N Load Tactical game back on the September 8th but only got round to blogging it till now (lazy and busy, bad combination).  Tomorrow night Bill and I will be playing again.

The setup.  The winner is whichever side controls 4+ buildings at the end of turn 6.  The US starts in control of them.

First Blood!  a US MMG fires on moving Germans shaking them (which in ASL speak - I'm an old ASLer - is equivalent to breaking)

End of turn 1.  The US sniper does very little and then is eliminated in Melee.  I'll know better next time.  Major Tom comes on board (we made a mistake, reinforcements were placed onboard instead of entering - will take care of that next time too)

End of Turn 2.  A little bit of movement and Major Tom fires again.

First Melee!  Although the Germans were eliminated they kept Major Tom occupied.

End of turn 3.  Not much else happening for the turn.  The Germans want to rally before moving forward.

End of Turn 4.  Still not a lot of movement as the Germans are trying to recover and Major Tom did not want to move in the open.

Another Melee!  This time things go Jerry's way.  The victory is now in site for Germany.

End of turn 5.  We called the game after this, both players thinking the other had it won.  The Germans needed one more VP building but had 4 squads left while the US only had 3 left.  The Germans could activate 4 in sequence and the US would have run out of shots.  On the other hand the US could have help off, and reinforced a melee or perhaps retaken a building via melee and won that way.  

Had a lot of fun with the system and the ease of reading the rules.  I've played ASL since it came out and this system captures a lot of the tactical feel that ASL does with much less rules overhead.  There are some things I miss like MG firelanes and Residual Fire but the clean system easily makes up for those items.  Looking forward to tomorrow's game (the 24th as I am writing this on the 23rd) where we add in Artillery.  The game after that is armored combat.