Afrika, Turns 8 to 10

Played turns 8, 9, and 10 of Second Edition Afrika by the gamers today and will be playing again tomorrow.  The three game turns led to a seesaw battle of attrition for the most part with forces moving to attack and usually destroying the targets.

End of turn 8

The Germans moved units forward during turn 8 with plentiful supply and a couple of replacement points.  Although the Allies rolled a 3 for replacements (meaning they had to send two units away) they attacked the box that was in Fort Capuzzo and managed to destroy the forces that were there (one step loss from an overrun attack and the remaining forces destroyed in combat).  O'Conner then goes on to take Bardia for the draw!  (OK, quite a few turns left before then...)

End of Turn 9

Even without Rommel (who gets severe nasal diphtheria)  the axis counter attack.  They kill 4 allied units outright and nearly destroy the units next to Fort Capuzzo.  I can't remember what the supply situation was for the Axis this turn.  During the Allied turn the reinforcements come in and the 3 replacement points are used to bring O'Connors forces in Bardia up to strength, a roll of 2 on the replacements DR means that the 2 new units are sent away before getting off the boat...  O'Connor attacks the units next to him in overrun, then again with arty support in the combat phase, and then the one just south of him in the second exploitation phase causing a lot of damage to the Axis in the area.  The units stuck in the trap next to Fort Capuzzo use up all the supply to make sure none is available to the Axis later.

End of Turn 10

Axis shipping this turn is one point, causing sever supply strain.  They destroy the units next to Fort Capuzzo and attempt to attack Bardia - which causes losses to both sides.  They leave it surrounded.  The UK replacements roll is a 5, luckily the result ends up being no effect since this was rolled twice already.  O'Connor attacks the surrounding units and causes a lot of damage (rolled a 12 I think, D3R3 or something like that).  The NZ and Aus troops (I think they are AUS) attack a stack together and force another D3R3 result.  Since that stack had to retreat through a ZOC it took four step losses.  Finally O'Connor leads the NZ troops in a last overrun attack clearing the path to Bardia for supply (one supply point was moved to a spot where it could supply everyone when that path was opened).  The NZ troops then moved into Bardia making it impossible for the Axis to take during their turn (well, perhaps it could be but it would take a major effort and lots of luck - which both of us have been getting in spurts...).

So at the end of turn 10 the Axis are badly spent and on shoestring supply.  The Commonwealth is only better off in the supply situation.  All else being equal it is important to ATTACK in this game.  Even at 1-4 odds a roll of 10-12 is a major victory and at 1-1 or above the odds favor the attacker (in extremity of results, the best roll for 1-1 is a massive victory made even better if the defender must retreat through a ZOC while the worst result is not terrible for the attacker and the mid point roll is equal losses for each side).  Even if the Axis gets a good replacements roll they will not be able to use it for front line units since they are not adjacent to supply points while a good replacements roll will allow O'Connor to attack out of Bardia with fresh units while leaving a strong defensive force to hold it if needed.  A bad roll for either side is going to be interesting to say the least.

We managed to get three turns done in 4 hours but they were intensive turns, the next few turns should go a good bit faster since the temp is most likely going to slow down due to losses sustained these last three turns.

Fireball Forward, Brigade Box (Tiger Variant)

Played Fireball Forward, the Brigade Box (Tiger Variant) scenario with my son today - first two turns at any rate, and plan to finish up tomorrow.  Four German Tiger tanks and two panzer grenadier companies attack two British companies supported by Sextons and 17lber AT guns.

Table Setup

The picture looks tan/brown but that is a light green sheet with all the wrinkles...  Next to the box on the right is an orchard, in the middle is woods, the stream goes the whole way across the table (ignore the fact that it does not...), and the bocage is the ones I made yesterday (Detailed in yesterdays blog post).

Closer View of the Bocage

Germans use their prep barrage

My son correctly guessed where my AT guns were setup and used his prep barrage.  One of the guns broke but the other was only suppressed.  Between the bocage and the tree line is an orchard.

Smoke was not going down wind...

Start of Turn 2 - my first two platoons (in the woods) have come off blinds (they work very well!) and fire at the Germans moving in the open, NOT doing as much damage as I would hope - but enough to hold them off.  German return fire is ineffective.

17lber Kills a Tiger

The first 17lber opens fire and kills a Tiger (just).  The total of the range dice was just enough to reach the Tiger and the hit die was exactly what was needed.  The Tiger then rolled a single 6, and single 1, and the rest were 2-5.  Seven hits stopped out of eight and a dead Tiger!  Sadly my son did well on the tank morale roll...

Another shot and Kill!

My other 17lber rallied and fired on the other visible Tiger and the same result!  17lbers are on a roll.

Germans Continue the advance

A German platoon is coming up my left side of the board and managed to run through two of my dummy blinds (most of my guys are on the table already).  My platoon in the woods manages to break them.

Situation at end of turn 2

At the end of Turn 2 I have placed my left platoon on the board and CCd the a broken squad, and the broken squad WON vs 2 fresh squads (I rolled two twos and my son a 5 so both my squads had to take morale checks).  Luckily one of my squads passed and the other ran back to the Platoon Leader.  In the woods my left most platoon's PIAT guy ran from cover behind the broken tiger (Forget how that happened, I think it was arty) and MISSED!  Now he is still sitting behind that Tiger waiting to be shot at.  On the Right I deployed my units in the building and opened fire on the Germans heading down the right side, we managed to push them back but they rallied after routing back to the leader behind the bocage.  In the middle woods my heavy squad was killed and my PIAT team is locked in melee.  Beneath the bottom of the picture in the gap between the bocage on the right and the are three sextons and over on the left behind bocage and just above the stream is a Cromwell.  Off the picture to the right I have a platoon.  A German barrage broke everyone in it save for the leader and destroyed the attached halftrack.  My leader moved up to rally two squads and I rolled four threes in a row so nobody rallied.

I'm feeling pretty good at this point, the Germans have a long way to go and with the Tigers gone it will be hard to take out the remaining allied units.

Homemade Bocage

Instead of going to Fall-In today I decided to stay home and do some terrain creation.  Clump Foliage and Bocage being the items on the agenda.

I made the clump foliage using this method shown in a youtube video, messy but it works (make sure the wife does not see you using the blender!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOlssl5C2Pc

Here is my home made clump foliage bag.

DIY Clump Foliage

That was two different batches (done on the same day) with more blank paint added to the one.

Next up is to buy a disposable furnace filter that looks like so.

Furnace Filter

Then cut it into 3/4" (or whatever width you prefer) strips.  Below is an earlier (thicker) attempt that did not look so good.

Basic Filter.

Then take Cammo spray available at walmart and other places.  Mine were the following.

Camo Spray

In Particular I sprayed the light green first and then dark green over top.  Could have gone with the dark green only but I had more of the light.

When that dried get out the old hot glue gun (no hot glue gun!  Blasphemy!)  and hot glue the clump foliage onto the top of the cut up furnace filter.  I finished off 8 feet of bocage this evening before I got tired of burning my fingers...

Completed Bocage

The pic above shows the first two and a half feet of Bocage.  Since the weather is nice tomorrow and Sunday I plan on making more clump foliage and finishing off the rest of strips of furnace filter bocage.

One last bit - for 6mm bocage hot glue the clump foliage onto 1/2 inch wide strips of black foamcore - less work and looks great.

Afrika Second Edition

Lawrence and I played the first 7 turns of Afrika yesterday.  We tried playing the first version twice before and found the movement values so high as to make the game unplayable.  The movement values have been halved (or more) for this second version which makes for a much better simulation in our opinions - speed on the main highway was doubled which makes up the difference when just chugging down the map but now the 2mp penalty for entering a ZOC actually means something.

Game Setup

Here is the game at start, not very exciting.  UK is to the left (in the glare...) and Italians to the right.  Things start off with Mussolini ordering an advance!

End of Game Turn 1

At the end of game turn 1 the Italians have crossed the line of death (the line above the Bardia box).  The Commonwealth is waiting to build up some supply.  A major difference with the first game is the Commonwealth supply is not as mobile, only 2 truck points in the first couple turns.

End of Game Turn 2

The Commonwealth attacks!  O'Connor leads the way (he stays on the board till a 3 or less is rolled on 2 dice, one check at the start of each turn).  Five Italian units are cut off and need to have supplied restored by the end of their turn.

End of Axis turn 3

This is actually the end of the Axis turn 3, The axis tried to attack the 1-2-12 armor unit in the pic above and rolled a 3, which mean the Axis lose 2 steps.  The 1-2-12 reigns supreme and cuts supply.  the Axis end up losing a step per unit and ends up with two out of supply single step divisions.  O'Connor thinks he can use this opportunity to drive the Italians away from Bardia and Perhaps even Tobruk but Chruchill has other plans and takes 3 infantry brigades and an armor brigade away.  The Italians are having equally bad luck with their supply situation, rolling a 1 (worst) for shipping and thus being on a shoestring.

End of Game Turn 4

End of game turn 4 and Churchill takes ANOTHER 3 Infantry brigades and another tank brigade!  Just enough left for O'connor to hold position but taking ground is out of the question.  On the plus side another random reinforcement roll of 4/5 will be considered no effect from now on - rather than losing those troops.  The Italians again roll terribly for shipping as well keeping them from reinforcing.

End of Game Turn 5

I spoke too soon!  For my reinforcement roll I rolled a 3, Churchill demands that ANOTHER 2 brigades be sent elsewhere.  I leave the New Zealanders up front in a box (defensive position) and pull the rest back.  The only consolation is that the Italians roll lousy for shipping again and can not take advantage.

End of Game Turn 6

High Command finally cuts some slack and sends some troops.  Not a lot, but better than losing them...  Italians are still in bad shape but the O'Connor can not take advantage.  Which is a problem since Rommel comes in next turn.  The LRDG has also been causing problems, skulking in the mountains to the right (and mucking up supply).

End of Game Turn 7

End of Game Turn 7, alternate view.

At the end of turn 7 Rommel has moved forward (he is under that 3-4-10) by blasting the LRDG out of the way in the Mountains.  O'Connor is still around and rolled the max replacements this turn, bring back 5 units.  This allows the CW to build a nice defensive position in front of Mersa Matrah.

So far the Axis is winning (they need to hold Bardia, Tobruk, and Benghazi at game end) so the CW has to attack but with 21 turns left to go...

Both Lawrence and I like the changes that were made to this version of the game - personally this is my goto game for North Africa now.  The main changes are that movement rates are halved (while the coastal highway was doubled), Artillery now give a column shift and can no bombard, early supply for the UK was constrained, O'Connor was added, and the Axis supply shuffle was eliminated - the Axis player was given a false choice in the first edition between using air points to help supply into Tripoli or using it on the table but the supply would just pile up in Tripoli with no way for it to be moved out.

Our next 2 games days or the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving (Nov 24th and 25th).  We both have vacation we need to burn and what better way to do so?

First Playtest Test Game of IABNM

FINALLY got the group together yesterday for a Playtest of IABNM.  Long story short the entire group had fun (despite the scenario being an unbalanced dog and my forgetting about fire and move - NEXT game at Fall-In will take care of that).

Below is a pic of the table layout from the attacking Russian Viewpoint (up to the tree line is all woods)

Opening card rounds of the first turn - Russians tried to spot the US (far tree line) and managed a single spot to see the Blind (hey! those look like IABSM cards filling in for IABNM cards...)  In return the US side spotted two platoons Russian tanks.

And the Russians score the first kill!  An M2 Bradley is taken out by a 125mm round from a T80.  The Bradleys had previously fired on the T80s and missed - the tanks were within 18" of the TOW's minimum range and combined with the targeted tanks moving back into the woods made it a very bad chance to hit.   Vehicles that have not yet had a turn can react to missile fire - those with held actions can fire back before the missile attack strikes home.   Before the tanks were done all 4 Bradleys would be toast.

The infantry part of the Bradley platoon were in the next woods line over, they opened up with their Dragon missile launchers - and also missed.  A single Russian tank returned fire on a bonus card and managed to Suppress 3 stands (all within 2" of target) and killed a single figure.

Soon after the previous picture a Platoon of M1A1 tanks gets a turn and it puts a nasty spin on the Russians.  They managed to destroy 5 of 10 T80 tanks on the field.    (Final pic shows that.).  The Russians get two AGS-17 auto grenade launchers into action and they chew up the US infantry platoon in the woods...  One squad totally gone and another so badly off that it can't do anything.

Some real fun starts here.  The Russians use their smoke dischargers to create a smoke wall and run up their left flank.  (I ruled the smoke blocked even the TI imagers of the US - experimental hot smoke - I could not find the rule for TI in the rule book when I needed it, unprepared Umpire strikes again).  The US HQ platoon and second Bradley platoon respond by repositioning and chasing after the T80s!  Two Bradleys managed to get on the rear of the straggling T80s and managed to annoy one (it had to stop and fire at the Bradley that shot it) and the other one was suppressed and suffered 2 shock - which would leave it with no actions on it's next activation).  This pic also shows the remain of the US Infantry platoon.

At that point we called it a game.  The Russians were in a very bad way - below is the remains of the starting lineup - 5 tanks dead, one of them stuck (I forget why), one of the AGS-17 launchers blasted by the Abrams tanks and the other one with 2 dead crew and suppressed.  Oh yeah!  That batch of white smoke slightly off by itself from the rest - a Russian heroic leader card allowed that APC to break cover and try to fire at an Abrams's exposed back side (normally no moving and shooting a missile) but another Abrams was on overwatch and blasted it before it got off the shot (I allowed a roll-off to see if the Abrams shot first and the Abrams player hot dice stuck again).  This pic also shows the smoke screen made by repeated firing of Smoke Dischargers.  Russians did this till the M1s view was blocked by woods...

This was an easy first game to get used to Missiles really, which are an interesting take in IABNM vs the regular fire rules in IABSM.  Too close and they can't fire, and you need to be a ways beyond that for them to be effective.  From now on our group is going to use centimeters rather than inches in order to allow the needed distance and still have room for maneuver.

Combat is DEADLY in IABNM compared to IABSM - the guns are bigger and the smaller ones usually come in the autocannon variety.  The armor penetration has been revamped - you compare the armor value (with separate stats for front, side, rear, and top - very nice!) and then roll two dice on the effects chart using a modifier.  All the players in our group liked that change from IABSM.

Next up is another game in 2 weeks at Fall-In.  This time with Arty and Helicopter thrown in to the mix and using Centimeters instead of inches.

Commands and Colors Napoleonics first game(s).

Played the first two scenarios of Commands and Color Napoleonics, at this rate the name Wellington will be lost to history...

First game was Rolica, French First Position.

First the Setup, I was the hapless Wellesley

My Cavalry (that lone block between the woods) charged the guns with a charge card, and was soundly beaten back with a first strike card, OWW!

The british manage to punish the French a good bit - pushing them off the hill and taking a Victory Point.  Things are looking up!

On the bottom left the french finished off the horse arty and the attached leader, game over.  If the leader had lived  the British would have moved in to take a victory up at the top right, close but not close enough!

The second game was Rolica, French Second Position.  I was once again some guy lost to history, name of Wellesley or something like that...  Once again the setup first.

With some good cards I launch for line infantry units for melee attacks on the french guns and infantry on the left flank.  the guns are destroyed and the infantry retreated.

I end up losing all those units (4 of them but not the leader) and only take out 3 enemy units - but I had destroyed all of his guns giving me a range advantage if I played it right.

Things are still going well if I retreat those light infantry.

Game over!  I tried a 3 unit attack, 1 with cavalry and 2 with the foot arty and the remains of the infantry you see on the bottom right.  The French had 2 First Strike cards - smashing both of my units.  The light infantry on the hill was eliminated as the last act of the game giving the French 4 victory flags.

The game is light on simulation but very fun  and quick playing (2 games completed and rules leaned in 5 hours).  I highly recommend it as a starter game.  I wonder how much variation there is between different games in the series (Ancients, Battle Cry) so I will read up on the rules for the ancients title to find out.

It Never Snows turn 5, 6, 8, and the wrap up.

On Saturday the 13th of September Lawrence and I finished up the It Never Snows game we had been playing, we called it at the end of allied turn 8.  The Germans felt like a punching bag and the wonky rules were getting to be a bit much for such a time investment.

Completed Turn 5 of It Never Snows last month (yup a bit behind on updates...)

Allied Turn, the 82nd is cutoff from supply...

Red Devils form a perimiter.

XXX Corps lined up on the road.

XXX Corps makes it across the Grave Bridge!  Lucky bridge roll back at Zon.  Another one of the quirky items in the rules - a bridge unit can create a bridge on the same turn it uses road movement.  Rules specify it has to start the movement phase adjacent to the river - which it did, after the road movement.

German turn 5
Germans make a push to cut the highway, never really having a chance.

Red Devils are now surrounded.

Germans manage to cut the Grave Bridge off, but not for long.

The 101 with its tank support start clearing out the Valkensward area.
Also this turn the Germans managed to destroy the second bridge unit (bad placement on my part - allowing a german unit to overrun it)

Turn 6  (forgot to take pictures after the German turn, sorry about that)

101 area, the fighting is fierce but the Germans don't really have any chance.

Red Devils still encircled.  Pushing the attack does not really help the Germans all that much but they do close in on their turns 6 and 7.

The Zon bridge is cleared but there is no highway bridge to the Nijmegan area...

Turn 8  (end of Allied turn pics)

The Germans cut the last remaining heavy bridge heading to Nijmegan, XXX Corps comes out the crossing from the Nijmegan side of the river (they are not allowed to cross the river to the other side due to zone line restrictions) while units of the 101 and 82 fight on the other side.

The way into Nijmegan.  On Turn 7 the Allies bombed German units that had a ZOC (with airpower) across the railroad bridge.  Managed to get one hit which removed the ZOC and DGd that stack.  Thus allowing XXX corps to cross and create a strong line.  This also put most of the 82nd back in supply.  Turn 8 the Allies started clearing Nijmegan but rolled losts of 2s 3s and 4s...

The Pols land and spread out (oops, no movement when landing in Polder,silly rule)

The German threat near entry area B (Eindhoven) is pretty much done.  Much of 101 would be moved to clear up the bridge to the 82nd.

At this point we called the game.  In our opinion the game just did not work and was not worth the time investment to keep playing.  The DUKWs were about to get up to the Nijmegan area and could have crossed the rivers with ease.  The highway movement rules don't do much to allow movement up and down the main highway but DO allow a unit to snake around the roads if each crossroad is not guarded, with the ability of unit to road move and then regular move and attack it just felt silly.  Add into that the inability of the airborne units to do anything if they land in polder (and thus not manage to reach places they reached in the actual operation).  Last and not least the German player felt like a punching bag - he had very few powerful units and without them an attack is not really possible.

So I picked up Monty's Gamble Market Garden and plan to give it and Hell's Highway a try.