Ardennes '44 (or Not Going to Historicon Day 2)

Yesterday Lawrence and I started Ardennes '44 by Mark Simonitch and GMT games.  We were favorably impressed with the rules and the presentation - enough so that I sent Mark a message on Facebook asking to use the system for a Market Garden game...  (see my old blog posts on It Never Snows).

We started at 10:45 but took a good bit of time reading rules so by 4:30 we had only gotten 2 and a half turns done, plus the shortened night turns.

I don't remember too many details so the comments will be sparse.

Just after German setup before the game proper commences.

End of German turn 1.

End of German turn 1, German left flank.  Attacks here go well, three Allied units are stuck with Engaged markers which means they are not allowed to move in their turn though they can roll to disengage.  (we messed this up and did the roll as part of movement which makes a difference since the units could end up disrupted).  Near the top of the map the Bulge has started to form.
The markers at the bottom are German Prime Movers to move arty - on the flip side is a Strat move counter.  Elegant way to handle traffic (in addition to the congestion/greif markers).  You can only strat move with 6 units - and if you have a skinny breakthrough down one road the allies will put traffic markers all over that path causing a +2mp every time you run into it.  Another nice thing about this game is there is a 2 hex any number of MPs movement option OR you can use normal movement and count MPs - in addition to extended and strategic movement.

Things on the right flank - the attack versus one allied unit went poorly (middle of pic under the engaged marker) and so my tank unit next to that did not get to advance and put the units to the left OOS.  (Another neat item in this game, advancing units do not have to advance into the vacated defenders hex first in most cases)

End of Allied Turn 1

End of Allied turn 1.  The engaged unit to the left was unable to run away, further up I forgot to mention the attacker advantage marker last time - if that stack attacks in the direction of the arrow they get a column shift.  Another neat item in the game is that attacks strengths are capped at 15, you can attack with more but it will not make the attack any better - the only reason to attack with more is they can all advance after combat.  More important in this game is trying to get column shifts, for things like armor superiority, arty, bad enemy supply or enemy disruption, and the just mentioned attacker advantage marker.

And the situation on the German right flank.  The markers with red squares are German arty.  They can fire off any number in a turn but can only resupply 3 of them per turn (6 in the first turn).

Another pic of Allied Turn 1 with the overhead light turned off.

And the right side of the map without the light.

End of German turn 2.

End of German turn 2 (end of first day, with Night turn coming up).  Sorry for the fuzzy image up top.  The left flank is advancing steadily, the two units at the top of the picture are disrupted US units with German units right behind.  There is a large gap formed in the Allied line here now.

The right half of the map, the allied unit holding up the advance is eliminated and the advance on St. Vith begins.  To the left of the picture are three US units that are now OOS.  Since they are green units they will surrender when they get 3 low supply points on them, every turn they roll for one in their supply phase with a 2/3 chance of getting one added.

End of Allied turn 2.

End of Allied turn 2 on German left flank.  Generally they are falling back.  Near the center of the map the Allied player found out he made a mistake (just above the three blue units) since the Armor unit is not able to cross a river or enter forest without a road the tank unit is now stuck.  A tank unit also strat moved (left side of map near the top - strat move marker on top) 

And the German right flank.  Allied units fall back and try to keep a formed line.  Not the Traffic markers at the bottom of the map, they are covering my entry area K hexes so any units entering there have to pay an extra two MP to enter.  The OOS units tried to break the encirclement but ended up with just an engaged result (left side near the "1" maker).  Since they are OOS the whole group rolls for a supply check and fails it - thus getting the one marker, if it gets to three they surrender.  

End of German night turn, normally the Allied night turn would come first but you have to place markers on night turn stacks (max of three) and the Allied player did not do so this time - since do so means only moving one hex in the previous turn.  The Germans did not either but Kampfgruppe Peiper (4 units) is allowed to use the first night turn with or without the markers.

This is a pic of the German right flank (Peiper was on the right Flank - no change on Left flank).  The two disrupted Allied units were where the 327 unit them now sits.  Two hexes down and to the right is where KGP tried to attack that 443 to no effect.

End of German turn 3.  (turn order is flipped at night so first the Allies have a chance for two turns in a row and then the Germans)

The advance on the left flank continues.  The stuck armor unit manages to hold off its attackers.  Another Allied unit jst left of it is also  stuck now.  Two new traffic markers slow down progress down the one road (left side of map just above the middle).

With KG Peiper leading the way the right flank is finally being prised open.  The Allies do get reinforcements heading that way but to get to the area in time they would have to use Strategic Movement which is very bad if they are attacked.

At this point we called it a day.  19.5 regular turns and 9 night turns to go.  On turn 7 the fuel shortage table starts being used, turn 11 the ground freezes (making armored movement much quicker), and on turn 15 the sky clears for the air support.

FAB: Bulge finished, or what I did instead of going to Historicon...

As the first day in my "Not at Historicon but will instead take two days off to play boardgames" I finished up the game of FAB: Bulge that I have been playing the past couple months (one game day a month, 3 turns a session).  This session covers turns 6.5 to the end of turn 9.

The start of the allied half of turn 6, a refresher pic from the end of the last session.  This will be the high tide of the German offensive.

End of Allied turn 6.  1st Infantry tried to assault across the Meuse (left side of map)  but was thrown back with heavy losses.  A unit also engaged more German units (on the allied side of the Meuse) but since it did not cross a river it was able to abort the attack without falling back.

End of German turn 7.  Left to right, the Germans attempted to attack the the units it was facing (far left), I rolled well and they called off the attack.   The same thing happened a couple spaces over (space with a blue start, an improved position, and the orange filled German unit).  Bastogne was not attacked and finally a couple spaces to the right a third German attack was aborted after what would have been heavy losses.  Note - the attacker has the option to abort any attack and then only has to take one loss and mark his units as disrupted.

Different angle , same game turn.

End of Allied turn 7.  Bottom to top.  Did a switch-out in area C by moving in British units and moving out the US unit that was there.  Fought a battle and took some lumps while doing no damage to the Germans.  Two spaces further up another allied attack is aborted to avoid heavy losses.  One space beyond that (where there is a blue start and two allied units but no Germans) the attack went very well and the Germans fell back 2 areas.  In Bastogne the Allied attack went INCREDIBLY well, they took one loss and scored enough hits in return that the Germans had to retreat to save their troops (out of 8 shots with a 50% chance to hit there was only one hit).  

Another shot of the end of Allied turn 7

End of German turn 8.  Bottom to top again.  Germans retreat across the Meuse leaving the other side to the Brits (who are not allowed to cross over themselves).  That is the only attack I remember them making this turn.  They do put a Greif team on the Allied Airborne unit in Bastogne...

End of Allied turn 8.  Bottom to top again.  Just above the Meuse another attack stalls out.  Just above that another attack goes through but neither side causes enough losses to call it off or change the situation much.  A couple areas further up the allies called off the attack due to defensive fire.  Just north of Bastogne the allies attack to areas and handily win both fights leaving two German units OOS and surrounded.  The Airborne unit in Bastogne tried to move and rolled a 10 (only bad possible result)...  This kept that unit from moving and gummed up Bastogne enough to keep armor units from moving through and getting a breakout.  To be fair this is the only Greif team die roll that did not go my way so I should not whine too much...

End of German turn 9.  The OOS units near Bastogne ATTACK! and call it off after I rolled excellent losses on them, but they have one hit and can stay where they are - now in supply.  I should have sent a single unit in to their area and they would not have been able to do so, opening up their line to a massive breach and forcing them to most likely lose two units.  Other than that they dress the line as best they can and wait for the final Allied move. 

Another shot of the end of the German turn.

End of Allied turn 9 and the game.  The Allies try to create a breakthrough to allow reserve marked armor units to move through.  The Germans used a special action to retreat from one and in the other the attack was one hit shy from destroying the German unit there.  At the top of the map the Allies attack to try and retake the Victory point there but no luck.  At the bottom the Allied attack is called off since they took so many hits (7 of 8 possible with a 50% chance) that they would have lost a unit (a German victory point).  Same exact thing two spaces above that.  Just next to Bastogne the allied fire managed to destroy one of the previously OOS Germans and the other retreated.  Finally the reserve units move in to attack the German that retreated just below Bastogne and others move in to attack attack the one that had survived the previous battle.  The retreated unit lived through the battle but the other one was destroyed.  Totally up the Victory Points the allies had 1 more than the Germans for a minor victory.  A really fun, hard fought battle.  

Close up of the Bastogne area.  The Final (game winning) German casualty is the now empty space with the Airborne and the Armor unit in it, the battle that fell one short is right below it.

The large dead units box.  Each unit of size 3 or more counts as victory points at the end of the game (along with Victory Spaces held by each side).

A preview shot for Tomorrow's game, Lawrence and I had back to the Battle of the Bulge with Ardennes '44.  This time I will be the Germans to Lawrence's Allies.

SJCW Game day July 1th

A few pics from the SJCW game day yesterday.  I played in a game of Blucher (first time I have tried it and I really like it despite losing!).  A second game of Great Northern War was also being played but I don't know what rules were in use for it.

First a PIC of the rulebook.

Initial Deployment.  The battle is Eaylu I think.  The Russians are on top of the hill.  The forces to the left are my group and would be deployed a little further to the left - and the woods would be pushed further left as well.

Closeup on the Russian Figs, lovely work!

And some French...

Opening Move!  The French flank force comes in on the Russian Left Flank!

The rest of the line after that move.

French Cavalry charge my guns!

Two units of French flankers close with my flank guns and a nearby infantry stand.  For a while it looked like the left flank would collapse.

A French close assault on my troops "above" the guns failed and they were pushed back.  He decided not to charge the guns though.

The Guns on the hills from earlier were broken...

Later on the left flank.  The Russians manage to flank a French unit and destroys it in the Close Combat that follows.

Another shot of the main line of the battle.

I pull back from the crest, on reflection should have done so earlier since French Cannon and Skirmish fire were ripping holes in my troops.

Final pic before I had to leave, two of my cavalry and one infantry facing down the lone French unit on the left flank.  Up above the woods a French Infantry and Cavalry unit are CCing my Infantry unit.  If we lose one more base the game is a French victory so that one CC should be the end of it.

Finally a couple shots of the Great Northern War game that was being played.  I didn't ask for any details so can't give any comments.

Afrika Korps and assorted vehicles painted.

Finished painting and basing the following yesterday.

10 PZIIIJ
15 Honey
18 Squad. (54 figs)
12 Heavy Squad (36 figs)
10 Light Mortar(20 figs)
20 HMG (40 figs)
13 LMG
12 Leaders
18 FO
19 Individual SMG figures
22 Kneeling Riflemen
12 Advancing Riflemen
5   Soviet lmg
4   Soviet mmg

For a total of 25 tanks and 255 Infantry.  My hands are tired!

A Picture of everything.

Advancing Riflemen, Kneeling Riflemen in the background.

LMGs

Another LMG pic

Russian LMG and HMG troops.

HMGs, the assistant gunner was a separate piece on these, a real pain in the butt putting them on the base with the gunner and the MG!

Light Mortar.

Closeup of a squad stand.

Honeys, from game table distance the brown splotches give a decent caunter cammo scheme effect.  Just run the brush from front to back on the mini.

Out of Focus PZIIIJs.

That's better!  Unlike late war German equipment Desert stuff is a breeze to paint.  Base coat, a couple highlight colors (black wheels on top, a black smudge at the end of the barrel),  tracks in grey, and the dip and your done.

Heavy Squads in front, Honeys in back.

Side shot of a squad.

Finishing off with a side shot of a couple Kneeling Riflement

With these finished up I have most of the forces I need to play out the Fireball Forward North African scenarios I purchased last year, the IABSM scenarios I've been sitting on for years, and a bunch of Fistful of Tows scenarios based on "Sands of War"