Arc of Fire miniatures game

 Played a playtest round of Arc of Fire with the South Africans versus the Angolans in the eighties.

My South African forces.  90mm armed wheeled vehicles with light armor, 20mm armed autocannon ones, and a spotter truck.

The game table (lots and lots of trees!).

My South Africans (in blue) spot the Angolans and take out two T55 tanks straight away (lucky rolls).

Another T55 taken out and more spotted further back.

Lots of destroyed vehicles (mostly Angolans).  A few South African 90mm armed vehicles lost as well but lousy shooting (and crews) for the Angolans makes it a lopsided fight.

I forget what was happening here...

Angolan infantry being mopped up by South African infantry.  Almost all of the Angolan vehicles are destroyed.

End of game.  South African arty was chewing up the Angolan infantry till it tried to switch targets and then it just kept going way off target.

ASL AP193: Hit it and Quit It

 Fun little scenario but pay attention to the VC ONLY full squads count for exit VP and only 1VP each!

The setup.  The Partisans get VP for destroying the trucks which are immobile.  They also get VP for German losses and 1 VP for each squad (not half squad or equivalent) off the board by game end.

Halfway point were Partisans make for the exit.  They got 12 VP for destroyed trucks and 4 more for German losses.  Here is where we both messed up, we forgot that only full squads count for exit VP and only 1VP each.  German reinforcements went for CC attempts.  The bottom one worked but the top one was Partisan ambush and that squad went to S5 to move off next turn.

Game end.  The Partisans had a reinforcement come on at H3 and then advance right off for 1VP, the squad in A5 moved off for another VP.  At the top of the map the squad in C2 did not make it.  We called it there though not totally impossible for the two squads in D1 to Rally their chance of getting off the map is slim, the unit in H10 is a Half Squad so no VP there.

Miniatures "Modern" gaming

 Got in a playtest game of Arc of Fire featuring a scenario from the book itself.  Fun to play with "modern" toys (scenario set in the eighties - which is now as far back in time as WWII was when I started gaming...)

The board layout.  The Angolans and Cubans come in from the left and have to exit off to the right.

Same board from the other perspective.

End of turn 1.  The Cuban scouts get knocked around by a missile (lucky considering).  A scout car is out in the front of this group - can't spot nuttin though!

End of turn 2 or 3.  More Angolan forces come on.  The South African missile launcher was found and taken out.

A couple turns later and the missile launcher was not taken out - it took out a T55 and then was destroyed.  the other T55 failed a MC and got neutralized for a turn.

Continuing to move up to the stream when a barrage starts coming down.

Game Over man!  Game over. 
My forces are spotted by a 90mm armed vehicle that takes out the PT-76s one by one and then my scout car.  THEN the arty falls.  The game ends pretty much historically with my Angolans getting smacked around.

A closer view of the 90mm armed vehicles.  I think the name was ratele.

This is once again at John's house and as you see he has a nice large spot for laying out a map and a nice layout to go along with it.  

ASL scenario BD 167 - Blow that Bridge!

 Got in a quick game of ASL today with Dispatches from the Bunker's scenario 167, Blow that Bridge!

The Partisans need to either blow up or hold the bridge at the end of the game in order to win.  We finished it up in roughly two hours and it is a fun scenario we both agree would be worth another playing (but so many others to play first...).

Situation at game start.  The Germans had to start within 4 hexes of the bridge and with many forced to start in the buildings.  The Partisans had to start 6+ hexes from the bridge.  There is also a +1 lv hindrance up to 4 hexes and +2 beyond that.  We messed up the LV forgetting NOT to apply to residual placement and FFMO too.

The situation at game end.  The German defense on the East side of the bridge held strong, the Partisans fired over and over and over again at the MTR carrying squad but I don't think they ever even needed to make an MC (and if they did they passed).  On the flip side the MTR never went on a rate tare and the one time it scored a CH it did not do anything.  On the west bank of the river the German defense fell apart from the start.  The MMG that was setup on the bridge got off on shot (doing nothing) before return fire broke the crew and the leader.  A couple of CCs later and the Germans were cleared from the west bank.  The Partisans ran across the bridge and Germans fire from the east bank did not have any effect.

ASL: 290 Last Train to Lenningrad

 Played this scenario from Twilight of the Reich.  Not a favorite.  I did not "grok" how to play it the entire time but looking at the end game it was up for either player to win.  The Germans have to have 6 good order squads left of the green dashed line at game end to win.  So far they had 8 with reinforcements on the way.  My opponent conceded after two full turns but he only beat my out by a half turn perhaps (I was ready to concede myself).

The special rules for TotR are nice and I would like to see more scenarios use them.  SW are hidden at start, leaders stacked with MMC are as well.  The defender gets an automatic HIP unit.  Both sides get purchase points for things like SW, mines, wire, concealment counters, etc.  So you don't know exactly what you are up against and can't use stack size to figure out where the MGs are...

Situation at start.  

The situation at the end of turn 2 (and the game).  

ASL: Quick 6 scenario 1 Simple Mission

 Fun game, lots of bad luck on both sides.  My FT did zip, same for my DCs.  His 25LL could not take out a tank after a couple of solid hits.  Said tank malfed his MA on the first shot (which would cost the game by a single VP at the end by not having a functional MA for the exit VP).  

All that said it is a good little scenario with options for both sides.

German had to get offboard at the bottom left, jussst a little bit too little...

ASL: HazMo 7: Left Behind

 Played the Russians, got stomped.  Though it is possible the one remaining turn would have been enough for the Russians to pull out a win it was extremely unlikely (Germans would need to have gacked all their rolls and the Russians make all of theirs not matter how unlikely).