Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men go somewhat awry, and this was the case on Tuesday. I was due to meet up with friends to play a game of Keith Flint's Startline rules, but the night before my wife luckily spotted a nail in our car's tyre, which was only a week old! I was able to get it to the garage to pick up on Tuesday morning, but would not be able to make it for the start of the game, which was a real shame. However I did arrive just before Midday as Turn 2 was nearing its conclusion. With the game in full swing, I chose to observe rather than take part, as I wasn't up to speed and didn't want to slow things down. This was fine as it was interesting see the game unfold and how the playtesting was helping Keith refine things.
So rather than an AAR, there are just photos of the game with some notes that might help give an idea of how the game progressed before I had to leave.
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| A Combat Command of the 3rd US Armoured Division is advacning from the left towards the village of Beringhausen, which is defended by a German Kampfgruppe. |
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| Germand infantry dug-in and supported by Stug III's. |
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| Loads of US tanks, with the infantry following on behind, some way back it must be said. |
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| A mix of Shermans and Pershings. |
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| I'm not sure what took out these Pz IV's as they were already brewing up when I arrived. |
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| All the toys were from the collection of Roy Boss, with some bits from Keith I believe. |
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| German reserves or reinforcements that would arrive from Turn 4 on a die roll of 4+, then 3+ etc. |
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| German AA half-tracks, which did sterling work driving off most of the US air attacks! |
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| They arrived and then flew off due to the heavy flak. |
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| A mortar strike KO's a US tank destroyer. |
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| US tanks begin to overun the German positions, but they stubbornly refused to die or surrender despite being heavily outnumbered. |
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| Sod's Law and the King Tigers and Panthers arrived on Turn 4, just in time for the Germans but a real blow to the Americans. |
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| The half-tracks arrived the next Turn too. |
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| US tanks try to flank the German positions. |
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| The Germans still hold on. |
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| They didn't even fear the Pershings! |
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| A view along the German defensive lines. |
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| The Panzergrenadiers debus. |
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| The Americans still struggle to get round the German flank and take hold of the important objective markers. |
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| The Panthers move to meet the American threat to their right flank. |
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| Despite being rather menacing, their shooting was shocking at this point! |
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| Infantry move up to try and KO the German infantry and to seize the objective markers. |
End Of The Game
Well by the time I had to leave, the game was still being played, with things nicely in the balance. In the end Keith declared it a minor German victory and the Americans could not gain control of enough objective markers for an outright victory.
A few thoughts in no particular order:
- It was great to meet up with the chaps and have a great time watching them play and exchange plenty of good natured banter. Let's hope next time I can make if for the start!
- I'd suggested we meet up at the Big Battles centre in Cirencester rather than Keith's house, so that we didn't impinge upon Jane, plus we would have plenty of space to play, which we had in spades. However it was the coldest day of the Autumn with frost on the cars and was rather cold inside. What was I thinking! Next time only play in late Spring to early Autumn;).
- I think the game proved useful for Keith to clarify some points, to consider others etc. Certainly playing very late War was of course a different kettle of fish to say Poland 1939, plus we all had slightly differnet views on some points or were in agreements on others. Having this variety of opinion is what a playtest is all about.
- It did highlight the importance of playing with rules you know and are comfortable with, as it soon became apparent that the German decision to dig-in in front of the BUA's was maybe not the best choice. I think it was a bit of a steep learning curve for all of us and with hindsight, the deployments would have been rather different.
- Getting the Germans out of the BUA was a real challenge and hadn't been completed by the time I'd left. This has always been a challenge for me whilst playing BKCII, as you want a balance between game play and historical accuracy and so far I've not found an easy answer.
- It's been mentioned before, but the WRG rules that Startline are based upon, made infantry somewhat superfluous to the game, given their very slow movement rates compared to the tanks. I know even in BKCII, it can be hard to make the infantry keep up and be part of the game, but you need them to secure an objective, which armour can't. How you solve this for Startline/WRG I'm not sure. Maybe giving them increased movements rates, having the in half-track or as tank riders or making them the only units able to contest an objective might help?
Eye Candy
Next to our table the Big Battles chaps looked like they had a table set for a game, and very nice it was too. The buildings looked to be a mix of scratch built and shopt bought MDF ones. So here are some shots for your delectation!
I hope you enjoyed this post and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!
TTFN.
Plenty of gorgeous, well painted toys fighting over some lovely terrain 👏👏
ReplyDeleteAs I primarily game solo I generally go with whatever deployment & tactics I feel is right for that period/army - even if the rules as written don’t necessarily favour that approach.
Cheers,
Geoff
Roy's toys are really nice and very kind of him to let us play with them:). Solo games do allow us to go with a more historical approach, especially if you use rules that encourage this sort of thing. Sadly some rules don't, which is a shame.
DeleteAll involved seemed to enjoy themselves immensely, which is what it's all about I guess. It was great for me to have 5 of my favourite friends and gamers gathered together.
ReplyDeleteYou're right to say that getting the infantry moving is one of the challenges I have faced in developing the rules. Increasing the basic move above 6" seems problematic to me, but you can get increased moves by having company commanders nearby. I would have deployed U.S. halftracks to carry the infantry, but the models weren't available. I probably should have suggested that the American players have the infantry ride on the tanks, at least for the first 2 or 3 turns. I was surpised that they put the tanks in the lead when they deployed, which meant the infantry were behind from the start.
Thanks for the report!
It was a great atmosphere as always Keith and nice to be able to play amongst friends for sure. We all have the same approach which is good and can easily resolve things amicably, with suitable ribbing along the way of course;)!
DeleteThanks for your thoughts on the infantry. Not being there at the start, I may have missed a few things, such as possibly how best to get the infantry co-operating with the tanks. Easier with Churchills and their slow pace, less so with the speedier tanks. Plus of course we all like playing with tanks!
By the way, it was the Pershings that got the Mk.IVs. They turned them into scrap during the first 2 turns!
DeleteThat was pretty good shooting early on!
DeleteWonderful looking game and quite possibly historically accurate too, the Germans were pretty stubborn when they chose to defend a position, even late in the war!
ReplyDeleteAs to the speed of infantry, they would need to be in transport surely, OR their "commanders " simply don't move the tanks at their maximum speed, but rather at the same speed as the accompanying PBI?
Finally, that table set up with all the buildings looks fantastic!
It was a bit hit or miss on whether the Germans fought to the bitter end or not; in this case they did. A risk with the transport is that they could be hit by mortar fire, but a risk worth taking I think. Something to consider for the next game I think.
DeleteFantastic looking game sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal:)!
DeleteLooks good. Glad it was useful. As for infantry speed. If you want them to move fast, do what they did at the time and stick them in vehicles to transport them. Plenty of sexy armour on the table.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard! As Keith has mentioned above, Roy didn't have any half-tracks, but having them as tank riders could have been an option. Lots of nice tanks for sure:).
DeleteGreat that you still got there despite obstacles Steve. Sounds a convivial evening with nice people and not least nice toys!
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
It's always a good laugh playing with this group of friends as we all have the same attitude to wargaming:). Turning up late I still had fun, even though I didn't get to push any toys around the table.
DeleteExcellent, what a big, beautiful fight, and I particularly appreciated your comments at the end.
ReplyDeleteV/R,
Jack
Thanks Jack and there was plenty of space for the toys to move aorund the table:). Glad you enjoyed the post game thoughts too.
DeleteFine looking table and great looking armor! Too bad you missed out on the stat and doubly bad that you didn't dive into a command once you arrived. Still, excellent photos and a useful wrap up of your thoughts. As others have noted, perhaps having more transport available would solve the slow-moving infantry issue.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon and Roy's tanks are a joy to behold:). A shame I missed the start but once I arrived, the guys were so into it, I didn't want to interrupt the flow, and was quite happy watching from the sidelines, adding the odd comment or reminder here and there. Transport would certainly help and something to address next time for sure.
DeleteSuper looking table, the scenery and figures look great. Always nice to spend some time with good friends.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie and it was good to meet up with friends for a convivial days gaming:).
DeleteSounds like you had fun as an observer, lovely looking toys and terrain!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
It was fun looking in from the outside as it were and having that broad overview from both sides, as I was able to wander around the table at leisure:).
DeleteVery nice models and a good sized space to give them the room to breathe. I tend to agree with Keith above, the rules are not the problem when it comes to infantry movement, I feel the rules are doing what they probably should. The WRG set was all about mechanisation. Infantry units were bussed about to locations to hold them or to assault jump off points.
ReplyDeleteWith that in mind the rules deal with a fairly narrow range of action types and scenarios need to better reflect that. In my WRG younger years, I would have a smaller table with several settlements spread over it and used 6mm, that seemed to give the right dynamic for the rules.
Also when looking at the relationship between the scenario and the rules, for my money there is a problem that despite playing for some time, the game did not come to a natural conclusion.
I recently bought ‘Armoured Warfare at Company and Battalion Level 1925 to 1950’ by Bill Farquhar (AKA - John Salt), which is a set constructed fully in the WRG style and likely encompass what Keith is working on. they are both fascinating and nostalgically joyous and hold most of the system that I was using as a teenager.
Some of the things like Target Acquisition bring a sense of realism, but at the cost if easy play and I think we have moved into an era of looking for slicker ways of getting WWII to the table these days.
Thanks for your thoughts Norm! From what I've read over the years, the infantry would debuss outside of likely shooting range and then proceed on foot. Certainly this is the best approach for these rules it would seem, but at the risk of begin hit my indirect fire in an open topped vehicle. In a sense I have the same problem with BKCII, which might show itself in the latest game I have set up.
DeleteYour point about having the right scenario for the rules is a good one. We touched upon how would they play out in the Western Desert of the Russian Steppe, during the course of the game, both in terms of spotting and actually having any use for the infantry. OK if you like playing with tanks of course, but not so good for combined arms.
I'm pretty sure Keith has either been in correspondence with John or has bought the book. Whilst there seems to be a good dose of nostalgia about these rules, certainly these days I feel the more zoomed out approach makes for better games and ones that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.