The Dark Sands comes to an end

 The game of The Dark Sands, that started with a lot of promise ends with a sour note.

The map after the last Commonwealth attack of turn 15.  At best the Commonwealth can attack 8 more times if the Chits always work out.  Since there is no overrun mechanic in the game I setup the Axis Defense like so.

If all the combats on turn 16 end up with the defender eliminated that still leaves roughly 1 combat unit per defensive "line".  Axis Reinforcements consist of two units on the next turn and 3 on the last turn.  Just enough to plug all the lines enough to hold off the Commonwealth just long enough.  End result would be 3 Axis VP for holding the VP spots to 0 Commonwealth VP.  Even if the Commonwealth took a VP in the first turn (more than that is not really possible without insane luck) it would still be an Axis victory.  The lack of an overrun mechanic along with Commonwealth tanks serving very little purpose (they are faster and stronger and the advantage ends there) makes the end game very WW1 like.  Sadly the search for "the" game on the desert war continues on.

Next up, a Great Battles of the American Revolution game.

The Dark Sands continues

 Played Turns 13 and 14 today.  Two turns done in three hours.

Start of turn 13.  The Germans have the initiative and attack to the push the Allies back.

End of turn 13.  The Germans manage to push the Allies off of the center map and get a foot hold on the East map.  

End of turn 14.  Due to the auto Defender Retreat result for a map edge the Germans manage to keep the Allies at the map edge for the turn.  The Allies attacked the Axis units on the edge, which either died or retreated and then the Axis used a chit to attack forcing the Allies back again.  With only 11 more attacks possible (11 attack chits in Allied hands last three turns) the Allies have to go 14 hexes to reach the first VP space (Sollum) and a few more hexes to reach the space further up.  If the Axis can keep a line of units in the way the Allies will only gain one hex per attack - and depending on losses keeping that line is very possible.

The game started out very promising, handling the early part of the campaign well.  Then the impossibility of taking Tobruk combined with there being no chance for the Axis to gain VP without it make the 1941 portion of the game almost meaningless.  Rommel has no real incentive to push on to take the Allied base since there is no real chance of doing so.  The best to hope for is by making the Allies fight for it they lose units.  The instant 1942 comes along Tobruk is an instant death trap for the defenders (needing to retreat 4 hexes means losing two steps at least if defending the forts and losing more if overstacked).  The map edge, auto DR sounds good in theory but in practice it makes it a slugging match if utilized as a defense point.  Finally there is no incentive for Rommel to try and move off the center map, extra VP would be nice but even if the Allies managed to have a VP by now (they can get one if things work out well in the early game) the Allies would HAVE to retake Sollum to get a draw.

ASL, Lone Canuck, To Battle By Air Scenario 6. Flames on the Borders.

 Played this one with Tycho.  Got whipped.  Could have been worse, the Tropical Storm that was off the coast could have hit this area...

The setup.  The Germans had 5 turns to get 15+ CVP off the far edge.  FT tanks are nice but they are slow and red MPs.  At least FTs can be deadly in motion.

End of German turn 4 and I conceeded.  The Piat at the top of the board broke when firing the first time so I did not fire on it and took out a nearby squad instead.  Of course the thing was repaired and smoked my in motion FT tank.  Not a good start.  WORSE is the trail of the pesky 8-1 leader I show.  He managed to stay concealed when jumped by CC, manage to survive the CC, broke when leaving the CC hex, routed, self rallied first chance, broken again leading a squad, routed to the wood building, rallied right away (I think), survived a 30 flat FT attack, picked up the PIAT the DM HS in his hex was carrying and picked off the other FT tank.  I tried a few more IFT shots to try and clear the last enemy defenses but they all came up bad and I conceded the game.  

I probably should have kept some guys on the tanks and did an end run off the map using the other squads to pin down the defenders.  At any rate I played poorly and Tycho played well.  A fun scenario that we manage to play in 90 minutes (not including setup time).

The Dark Sands Game 2 Turn 12

 Got in the last chit of turn 11 and all of turn 12 today.  That took 3 hours to complete.

The starting point.  The Germans just started a combat chit when power went out last time.  

The results of the attacks (forgot to show one - the Italian in the center got an A1 result).  The Allies are forced to retreat in all but one battle.  Putting a large number of their forced in jeopardy of being OOS.

At the end of turn 12.  One allied stack is eliminated for being OOS, another was eliminated by a retreat it could not make (surrounded and escarpment).  A final stack was eliminated in an exchange.  The Germans took a good bit of tank losses in the exchange but certainly made out the winner.  Good luck and good luck with the chits are helping the Germans right now.  Later the Commonwealth get better chits but will it be enough to force the Afrika Corps back far enough to get 2 or the VP spaces?

The Dark Sands continues

 Continued The Dark Sands turns 10 and part of 11.  Near the end of the last chit the power went out (and I'm getting too lazy to post images).  Tobruk fell easily after the Panzers came back.  The front is a long line for both sides with neither having a huge advantage in chits (but the Germans having an advantage for a couple of turns).  Holding onto gains is the name of the game now.  Perhaps taking the Mersa Matruh for VP as well.

ASL GJ009: Polar Bear

 Getting lazy, and whiny, and tired.  So no pictures.  Played this one and got smacked for bad play.  Interesting scenario and I recommend for either side.  My Germans took the north flank through the orchards but then I turned south too quickly and ran into the very guns I was trying to avoid.  Then I pushed to far forward with Infantry and Vehicles and lost too many of each.  

Festung Budapest campaign game 01, Day 2

 Played the second campaign game day of Festung Budapest campaign 1.  The Russians did not make headway on the first day due to heavy wind clearing away the needed smoke screen at the worst possible time (Russians were in the street adjacent to Germans in buildings and trenches and went from +5 smoke to none...).  This day starts with overcast and rain possible with a 10+ on the WCDR.

The situation at game start.  Wish I had noticed that sweet AT gun setup spot near the bottom right of the picture on the first day.

End of Russian turn 1.  The FIRST shot with the AT gun on the hill comes up boxcars.  On the other hand the Russians get the worst of it over on the left flank and don't do very well elsewhere either.

End of German turn 1.  My shots went crappy as I recall but it has been a couple weeks since I wrote this up.  I know my PMC was about to crack but then the Russian player rolled a 10 for the weather and conceeded the campaign.

I would still like to give this another play through sometime but it is intense gaming.  A Red Barricades style city fight with better tanks, Fausts, and host of special rules for Ammo shortage and Hungarian unit types.