Hail Caesar at SJCW

Played Hail Caesar at SJCW (South Jersey Confederation of Wargamers) on July 8th.  Amazingly the traffic was not bad, my dice rolls were another matter.  Atrocious is a good description.  Despite my exceeding amount of whining I had fun (thanks Bill!) and decided to pick up the rules.  Along with Bolt Action and Black Powder I might be turning into a Warlord boy...

The start of the battle (or when Jordan and I arrived, I thought the game started at 1pm).  Yup, that is my son Jordan at the top right.  He actually wanted to play a game without tanks!  The battle is Germans vs Romans, or more likely Roman allied Germans vs Germans not allied with Rome.

Pictures appear to be out of sequence.  This is later in the game when my first line was crushed by two morale rolls of 2,1 in a row, leaving the fellow off to my left to hold the line (I forget his name, sorry - I'm TERRIBLE with names).  Run Away, Run Away!

There is my line, up on the hill (second from the top of picture).  Now you see now you don't...

Romans beating up on Germans.

I'll quit pretending I remember anything exact about these and just post the pictures.  Bill's miniatures are lovely and the Cigar Box Battle Mat (I think it is CBB) is very nice.

ASL scenario J41: On Our Own

Robert Zinselmeyer and I played ASL scenario Journal 41: On Our Own back in July (yup, I'm behind on the logs again, shocking!).  Fun all infantry scenario.  The Norwegians have to take 16 building locations on board 22 while sustaining less then 10 CVP.

Situation at start, board 22 is the lower one.  German reinforcements enter on turn 3. 

Only damage done on first half of turn 1 is Defending German MG squad on left is broken.  Not looking good for the Wehrmacht!  If the Norwegians blast a hole in the line this quickly they can force the Germans to counter attack in order to win.

End of Allied turn 1.  We both forgot that German MMGs are rout portable, no harm since the Leader did not manage to find it although I most likely would have broke and routed him too in that case (he was pinned).

End of German turn 2.  The dice are swinging to German favor this half of the turn by putting a hurting on the Norwegian kill stack.  The German MTR in the center is saved by the fire from himself and the squad to the right - they manage to pin and DM two adjacent units.  The German MMG squad rallied and retook their position in the line as well.

End of Allied turn 2.  Not a whole lot happened.  Steady push up to attack.

The Allies manage to break the MMG nest to the left again.  Blowing a hole in the German line

The Allies pour through the left edge and the middle - the German LMG between them holding on valiantly for dear life...

German turn 3 reinforcements start to arrive.  A lucky roll by the Norwegian HS might have spelled big trouble but the LOS is blocked and the resulting Little Sniper wounds the Norwegian 9-2 leader.

End of German turn 3.  Other reinforcements enter without being shot at and take up positions and everyone advances into position.  The LMG squad in the center fell back to the building. 

End of Allied turn 4.  Norwegians still pushing for the VC buildings.  In the center the LMG squad eliminates a Norwegian squad for FTR when it is broken by fire from the 9-1 stack.  On the right the German MTR HS is taken out by ambush.

End of German turn 4, a 467 fires on a broken HS rolling snakes - killing the HS.  Every CVP counts.  In the middle the LMG squad falls back again while the 9-1 stack loses one squad to fire from the left.

The Germans cause the 10th CVP on the Norwegians and it is all wrapped up.  The CVP cap make this a tough one for the Norwegians.

A fun scenario easily played in one sitting.  Not sure of the balance though both sides had lucky and unlucky times - the LMG in the center caused a major headache for the Norwegians having broken his kill stack up and then holding on till the end of the game.  I'd happily play it again as either side.

ASL 86: Fighting Back

Early war scenario showing the Pols counterattacking the Germans.  I played poorly and had some lousy luck.  But mostly I played poorly and gave up too soon.

Game setup, Poles have to take the buildings marked with a V to win.  Reinforcements enter on the left side where the line is on turn 4.

First turn charge onto the board.  I wasted the tanks moving them forward to quickly.

End of game on turn 4, again moving the tanks too quickly down below - losing all of them to a German AT gun.  Over half the game left and I threw in the towel.  WHINE!!!

Columbia Games East Front

Quick notes from a game of East Front by Columbia games.  Played this on June 10th.

June, 1941, Operation Barbarossa begins.

End of June, Not as much progress as I had hoped.  Probably should have started more battles than I had.  Well, it is a learning game.  We were fumbling through the rules a good bit - they are not complex but it was a first game.

Another picture of the end of the first turn.

End of July.

A solid front?  Something is not right...

End of August.

Russians pull back a bit - attacking river lines is a PITA!  A 1 or 2 repulses a unit and you can only get one unit across per hexside.  We did manage to surround some Russians this turn.

End of September, just before possible mud.

Russian line was shattered BUT checking the victory conditions the Germans are just barely getting by - and that due only to the extensive number of Russian units currently eliminated.  First count through I forgot to subtract 40 and it seemed like blowout.  It would really depend on the weather rolls for the next month, mud and it would be a long slog for the Germans, clear and it would very likely be game over for the Russians.

We are set to restart the game this coming Saturday.  We will see how are play progresses.

ASL 175: Hunters at Ylimaa

Played this one on June 3rd, just a little late with the writeup (perhaps I should make that my tag line).

Finns vs Germans in October of 44, Germans trying to delay the Finns from getting off board long enough for a win.

The setup, At to the top of the board is the Panzerfaust availability stacks, Fausts for Germans and ATR's for the Finn's fausts (since there is no Finn colored faust counter).  Finns come in on the right side and have to make it to the left between the dots in 8 turns).

And the first shot of the game!

I take this game too seriously...

Second shot of the game...  Finns returned fire and this is what happens to me...  Whine, bitch, moan...

End of Finnish turn one.

End of German turn 1.  The German arty does a number to the Finns but the Finnish sniper is on a rampage.

Just before Finn turn 2 route phase.  German Arty is doing some harm, at the bottom the fighting starts up.  I was hoping for a better result from the 8-1 shot when the Finns walked right up to my Concealed guy.

End of Finnish turn 2. 

End of German turn 2.  I don't think the Finnish fire did a thing this turn.

End of Finnish turn 3.  Captions sum it up, looked for a faust three times and nobody knew what they were.  (maybe four times).  So now I have guys in CC with a tank (and they couldn't find an AT mine for CC either!)

End of German turn 3.  A German squad finds TWO! Fausts and toasts two tanks with them.  For their heroism the Finns blast them good and manage to DM them.  Down below a German squad went Berserk and charged, managed to get into the hex with the Finns too.

End of Game, with the two destroyed tanks and the mud the Finns do not have enough time to get the required CVP off the left edge of the map.  The Germans never even revealed the two AT Guns. 

This scenario is kind of like a race to the edge, the Finns have overwhelming firepower but don't get a good chance to use it since they have to hustle, giving the Germans a good chance to cause casualties and slow them down.  Perhaps pinning the Germans with one group and swinging around with another might have worked, hard to say.