WW I this weekend

Well, gamed with the crew in Alexandria this weekend. And did we have fun! The game was set during the last German offensive in 1918. I played Germans mainly b/c of all the toys we got, tanks, flammenwerfer, mortars, Stosstruppen. Yeah, it was just too tempting.

I ended up commanding what soon became described as the pinning force while the other guys on my side moved up the left. Well, I got hammered. My tank was riddled with HMG fire and everybody died...but not before I got a breach in the wire. So, I pushed everybody through...only to watch only two of them make it to the British trench line in the end, and die in the melee.

On my left, the attack went alright, the British bunkers were suppressed, and the tanks kept stalling out (mine was the only one that was consistently moving...as it turned out). They got into the British trench line, and the A7V trundled through the British trench line(happily, our artillery had waxed the British Heavy Mortar that had been covering the sector with a lucky round). But, alas, the tank and one German survivor cowering in a captured bunker was all that was left of approximately a company's worth of Germans. Yep, typical WWI. I had a good time though. The mayhem was picturesque and the rules (Trench Wars), were simple buckets o' dice rules, which I happen to like.

I wanna thank Steve, Dave, Jason and Wyatt for a fun and engaging game. Here's to next month. The terrain and company is simply awesome.

And now, here's some pictures:



The bunker on the left that the Germans managed to take.



My forlorn Mk IV after being riddled with HMG fire.



A panoramic view of the field.


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A closeup of my MK IV



The A7V that made it through the British trench line



Here I am about to make the fateful breach



Here's some of the British defenders.

TWO AARs! With PICTURES NO LESS!

Well,
The first was a Renaissance Pike and Shot game with the French (nominally, they had troops from half of Europe) and the Spanish (who had troops from the other half!) hacked each other to a thin marginal victory for the French. Both sides were exhausted by the end, and one thing I found I liked with Pig Wars rules? Units die quick..it takes good planning and luck not so much to keep units from folding, but to make sure his units fold faster than yours. I also found out, Spanish Sword and Bucklers don't like two handed swords and halberds AT ALL! (Both of my units on the flank were hacked to pieces!) They exacted a price, mauling both French units, and I brought up my pikes to make the Halberds go away...but by the end...there weren't many Spanish units that weren't hacked up...then again, the French were in much the same boat.

Here are some pics of the setup (My phone died soon after!)







Today's game was another playtest of Tomorrow's War. It was another close run thing that came down to the FoW Cards, and some lucky pulls for the defender. This led to a lot of artillery showing up for him and stopping the attacker cold. Heavy Mortars are murder on armor. 120mm shells versus deck armor....OUCH!

The scenario will probably be published in the final rules, and we got some very good playtest data today. I can't say too much more, give away the game...no sir!

Here are some pics of that. This first set it taken by Krieger of Kriger's Wargaming Records, he runs a good blog, and well, the Droid's got a good camera on that phone! They're used here with permission!





















The next set is mine and isn't as nice...hey, my camera isn't as good!









As you can see, artillery can be decisive in the new rules. I am looking forward, however, to their release. I think honestly, you're all in for a Science Fiction gaming experience that isn't just "20th Century with ray-guns!". It has technology seamlessly integrated into the mechanics, and anyone familiar with AA/FoF should be able to pick this up fast. We did 4 turns in 3.5 hours. Not many games that can manage that these days.

That's it for now folks! See you across the table!

AAR from Last Night's Irish Rebellion Game.

Well, the trip was worth it, even if the trip iteslf was open to a lot of frustration. Thanks Metro! In any event, I got there around 8, happily the game hadn't begun, and I met Steve (the game organizer), Dave (my ride back to metro, THANKS DAVE!) and Stephen (who was something of the comic relief) and Andy, who was a hale fellow himself.

The game was set during the Rising of '16 and was of course, in Dublin. The Irish (Dave and I) had to inflict 10 casualties and force the beleaguered British garrison (Played by Steve)in the Barracks(a Miniature Building Authority Roadside Tavern) to surrender. The British (Andy and Stephen) meanwhile, had several relief columns coming up to help out the garrison and kill us Irish and save the crown's presence in Ireland. Rules were Trench Wars, a neat little set for skirmishes in this scale. Might pick it up for RCW.

After some planning and judicious use of barricades, we setup in buildings surrounding the barracks, Dave's larger force was going to hold off, best he could, the British relief column. It was a tall order, as they had a Lewis Gun and an a 18lbdr. Me, I was to assault and take the barracks. I left one squad behind to support the assault and sent my other three squads in on the right of the barracks. We did shoot some Brits dead on the way in, but they gave as good as they got, and their fire killed many a lover of Guinness and Yeats that day.

Meanwhile, Dave was giving the Brits a bit of a problem overlooking BOTH intersections the Brits needed to get to the barracks, and the car barricades we setup didn't help matters. Stephen at this point, had been shooting the snot out of my stay behind squad, and with only two survivors left, sent a half squad in to finish matters. Well, the Irish versions of Jason Statham and Jackie Chan musta been up there, because those two killed all 5 of the Brits....(Yes, I had some very un-Jason-like rolling). So, we held, until another group of Brits came up and finished us off very unceremoniously.

While all that was occurring, my surviving Irish knocked down the fences covering the approaches to the barracks and killed two Brits in the courtyard with rifle fire, then assaulted the ground floor of the main barracks block. Amazingly, we took no casualties in the melee, and killed 5 Brits, forcing the surrender of the remainder of the garrison. We elected to play a little longer, and a group of Highlanders made an assault to retake the barracks, they ran into some rifle fire, then gained entry, only to find out they were outnumbered. It wasn't going well for them when we called it, but the British had retaken the anteroom of the barracks and there were a few fresh British units behind. They would have eventually retaken it, but I suspect the price would have been high.

The game was fun, and the grill that Steve put on was a very welcome surprise. I'd so do this again, and I did a bit of telling them about Victory Comics and what we do there once a month. So, all in all, a very successful outing.