Midway!

Today's game is AH's classic of Midway.  I took the USN and Dan took the IJN.

My USN had the IJN in it's sites right up till the turn we get in range for air strikes...

First strike goes after the Enterprise.

Second strike goes after the Hornet.

The Hornet managed to avoid being sunk but Enterprise and a lot of support ships are out.

The USN follows up with a strike on Akagi.

Taking out Akagi and a couple of other vessels.  The Japanese made a mistake by having different task forces instead of one big blob.  Due to the wonky AA rules in the game having all the carriers and support ships in one square is often better then having them seperated.

The USN finds the Japanese first early on the second day of battle and what little is left strikes.

Two more Japanese carriers down.

The IJN strikes back a couple hours later (one turn) and finishes off the USN carriers.

The final tally at game end.  A lot of the IJN losses can be attributed to very lucky Die Rolls for the USN.  My average roll had to be near a 5 and the IJN average closer to a 2.

The positions of the ships (from the USN search) at game end.

A fun game but a mess when it comes to being a simulation.  If the Japanese hold off on bring their forces forward till the second group comes on it gets nearly impossible for the USN to win.  The Coral Sea variant plays a good bit better since the forces are more even but even that has the problem with soak off attacks versus a fleet - which is something that was not done on purpose.

ASL The Steelworks Scenario 3: Tiger Attack

 One more try for The Steelworks scenario pack from Lone Canuck.  The map looks great and the situation interesting but this one is not rating high on my favorites list.

the setup.  The Germans have to clear the map below the paved road by the end of German turn 6.

The German Rocket OBA drifts to the worst spot possible, it DMs a single HS but is more of a hindrance to the German advance then any kind of help.

German Tiger tanks come on turn 2 followed by the UK Firefly group on the same turn (a dr <3 needed to come on this turn).

The Firefly gets in position to fire on the Tiger, still a risk since the Tiger will get off a couple shots but that smoke from the small mortar is a decided pain in the arse.

The Tiger made it through the turn by the Germans bringing up a few squads (lots of Fausts!) to take on the Firefly.  The Tiger managed to Malf it's MA trying an IF shot at the Firefly however.  A Faust took out the Firefly in return.  Another Tiger went up near the map top to take on the regular shermans and so far managed to take one out even though it tried to cover itself with smoke.  So at the end of German turn 4 this could still go either way.  The main problem is that the best bet for the UK to win is play hide the Shermans from the Tigers, just silly and not a lot of fun.

Arc of Fire game 2

 Played another round of Arc of Fire.  This time with recon forces.  A German Puma and other Armored Cars with an infantry platoon versus American Greyhounds and Stuart tanks also with an infantry platoon along.

The Germans block the road so the US go off to the right (for the most part).

A close up of that.

The situation after the Germans move to the right as well.  The two ACs that were on the road went forward.  One is next to the destroyed Stuart and the other is just to the right of that.

Another shot of the action.

I think this was end of game.  The Germans moved forward after shooting up some US jeeps and ACs moving across the road.  German infantry had been eliminated but US losses were high.

John's Napoleonics.

More of them,

And a few more.

Barkman's Corner done in Arc of Fire

John hosted a game of Arc of Fire for my son and I today.  Fun game.  My son took the Germans and I got the Americans.  

The setup.  The US enters at the bottom and need to exit off the top.  The Germans setup somewhere near the top.  The first group I encountered were at the middle hedgerow and I am fairly certain the Panther was at the crossroads.

The Panther makes itself known by knocking out two tanks.  The rest of the US forces get bunched up on the table entry.  3rd platoon makes the fastest headway going off toe the right.

3rd platoon moves up and just about now an over-eager Jerry fires off a faust and misses due to being just out of range.  2nd platoon gets bogged and fails morale check after morale check.

3rd platoon pasted the German squad that fired on it and then moved into the hedgerow, only to be nailed with a faust (this time taking out a sherman) from the next hedgerow.  Return fire from the remaining two shermans kills off the second German squad.  Then another unit kills another sherman and the remaining one made a run for it.  On the right the 76mm armed platoon also take a bunch of time getting through the bocage and the mud on the right.

The action moved to the right flank.  The Germans got tired of waiting and moved the Panther up.  The US fired on smoke shell which did just about nothing since everyone made spotting rolls through it and fired like crazy.  The Panther hit the US tank in the front but did not manage to kill it outright - merely making the crew bail out.

The US get the next few activations and manage to roll a 10 (out of 10) three times in a for three solid hits on the Panther, knocking it out.  At that the game is called for the US, they still had not run into the Pak-40 but could have skirted around it when it was found.

A close up shot of the knocked out panther and the losses from the us 3rd platoon.

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.

ASL: The Steelworks 2 - Hunt the Hun

 Got in a game of ASL.  Tycho was busy with an online tourney so we kept it small.   The Steelworks Scenario 2.  A fight for a small industrial area in France.  With mist and stone buildings this is a tough one when the Germans start with four squad equivalents onboard and the UK has 10 SE coming on turn one.  The Germans roll for a further three squads starting on turn 2 but...

The setup.  The UK wins if there are no Good Order Germans in the buildings inside the red lined area at the end of the game.

First turn coming on for the brits.  The only units that were broken were either moving in non-building terrain or the one stepped into mines.  The +1 for mist up to 6 hexes (and going up every 6 from there) along with stone buildings makes defensive fire (or offensive) somewhat meaningless.

I left a guy in the road to try and get a kill, hoping he would only be possibly DM in response if things went badly.  Nope, multiple shots killed him outright.  The UK troops stream on and CC my other units after 1 hex shots at them in buildings (8+4) does nothing.  To be fair Advancing fire did nothing as well but self breaking and routing was not an option or there would be no one left to hold the line at all.

Germans get reinforcements as early as possible on turn 2.  They run up the road on the left.  Blast the units in the building adjacent and move in for CC.  Still did not manage to kill everyone even with an ambush so they jump out the hex to see if they can shoot them with firepower and move back in.  They did manage to break everyone but also get pinned by return fire so can not jump back in later.  I conceded on that note.

Maybe using snap shots is a better idea.  A 4+1 shot being better then an 8+4.  Hard to find good snap shot angles but worth keeping in mind for next time.  OK - won't be a next time for this one, too many better scenarios to play at least once first.

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.