Bob’s Going ‘Nuts’

Move 3 started with both sides trying to use Artillery on each other fo no appreciate effect.

Jo also tried to Panzerfaust one of the fireflys, and missed. Then he  tried to turn the building where his Panzerfaust had fired from into a stronghold only to have it successfully cleared by British Infantry from one of the British event cards ( 3rd 6 on the trot  it’s not Kevin!)

Jo again went 1st and raced his Panther across the gap. Kevin spotted him with the buttoned Firefly but missed with his single dice shot.

Alex, 1st Sherman spotted the 2nd Panther as it entered the wood, Who returned the favour but couldn’t fire as being buttoned up as  he had to use his tactical move to spot. as did the Humber which was moving up.

( rather fortunate as we will see).

Kevin continued to move up the road loading like mad.

Jo fired his Panther at Alex 2nd Sherman ( Cpl Nobbs) and hit, then rolled for location  and got running gear, the worst possible result as it was as only place he wouldn’t get an auto knock out.

( if I’ve read rules right).

This crippled the  Sherman, only allowing movement in the tactical phase.  So shoot or scoot effectively.  , but leaving it sill in the fight.

Sgr Colon being what happened replied next hoping for a miracle   and got it , you  guessed it, the  running gear, and just managed to penetrate by one crippling the Panther.

Jo saw what looked like a good chance of victory disappear  so  raced the Panzer IV across the gap , dodging both the hasty 17pdt shots from Kevin . Maybe he might get away with it.

But of all things the Humber scotched this plan. Alex thought what the he and fired his 2pdr at the Panzer IV hoping for a Forlorn Hope…..

And guess what got it…. yup another rolling gear hit  with a 6 for effect crippling Jo’s Panzer Iv as well.

Now for those wondering Rolling gear is only a one on a d6 table from the front, and so far 3 shots in succession had hit that location.

At this point Jo called it quits, as he had effectively two pill boxes with two Fireflys racing up behind him.

Just of curiosity we added up the victory pts  Kevin and Alex got 6 ps for the one  kill and two cripples and Jo got one for his cripple,

History was maintained with 3rd Royal Tank Regiment stopping 2nd Panzer Division’s from reaching the Meuse. Nobby survived for another day with no doubt a whole new pile of German Souveniers.

But the main thing was achieved   both sides enjoyed the game  and although we only managed one game in around 3 hours, slowed initially as learning new games mechanics and move 3 went far quicker as the players had quickly picked up most of the rules by then.

On 2nd Move Jo failed his radio check , so decided to bugger up both sides by playing an event card which put static across both sides radio nets to randomise everyone’s  initiative .

Unfortunately it probably caused him more problems than his enemy  in that the Rotweilers tank had to activate 1st, so cautiously moved it forward to the crossroads corner  leaving  his nose sticking out.,  his Gunner furiously speed loading his main gun , hoping to survive the possibles fuselage of shots.

Alex kept his ooll with his now positioned Sherman at the head of the road, and decided to aim at the Panther, Kevin did the same with his equally well.postioned Firefly,  moving the other into position  for a later shot.

As it was Jo opened up again with the Panther, and missed ( a lot of ones being rolled) Alex then replied having aimed and hit. He had decided not to risk  aiming for a specific spot ( the running gear) and his shot bounced harmlessly of the armour.

Kevin fired his aimed Firefly and despite 3 dice failed to get a 5.

Realising that Jo would probably race across the gap and out of harms way for some time  decided not aim and fire a desperate single dice shot. The Dice God’s for once smiled on him and he slammed a round into the side of the Panther, having managed to avoid the location score for partially concealed and with anther 6 for effect ( who is he and what has he done with Kevin) the Panther was toast.

There at this point a stunned silence .

Once the Dust had settled the rest of the German force continued it’s flanking manoeuvrable  just reaching the suohern side of the cross road which had been Rotweilers demise.

Alex moved his 2nd Sherman up ready to cross the road and Kevin cautiously moved down the road, failing to speed load both his tanks.

With the length of the table and the available cover  both side spent the 1st phase taking up their lines of advance.

Jo decided to send one Panther up the main road, but skirted the 2nd and the PanzerI V up the left flank using much of the village as cover . He also successfully used his machine guns to clear the two potential ambush points in the farmyard and the Garage compound

Kevin decided to send both his fireflys down his left flank  avoiding potential ambush point of the Church. Alex decided to skirt the church on the British end of the table , with both the Humber and his two Sherman, to cover the main road.

Kevin decided to send both his fireflys down his left flank  avoiding potential ambush point of the Church. Alex decided to skirt the church on the British end of the table , with both the Humber and his two Sherman, to cover the main road. With the Humber taking up position (very bravely I thought ) to look down the main road going hull down behind the road.

Both sides had used any for tactical moves to load Armour piercing, the Fireflies reserving their special ammo for the moment.

Alex cool stayed in position and spotted the on coming Panther,  which meant that with its Scout ability the whole British force knew were the Panther was.

At this pont both side decided to use their Asset cards , Jo brought down  2 Artillery ( not sure decks had been shuffled enough) one on a Firefly on a Sherman( Artillery is die for random tank)

Although no hits were obtained, it forced both tanks to button up.

Kevin had 2x Mortar bombardment  which have the advantage of being able to pick targets, and he gave their love to each of the Panthers. Both failed to damage the tanks but glancing blows again forced the commanders to button up  unfortunately for Jo, wounding  Commander of his the Panther moving up the road  Sgt Rotweilersanther ,dropping  him 2 star ratings for rest of game. This would reduce his  events hand cards hand by one card for the following moves , plus severely reduce his crew checks, plus for all now buttoned up, they would no longer be able to spot as a free action.

Jo at this point decided to fire on the pesky Humber, but missed ( I think he got Gerrys luck for rest of game).

Alex bravely didn’t move it ( though for now  at least he was safe and through a smoke Grenade out to concealed himself, whilst his two Shermans cont to move towards the road behind the Humber  the Two Fireflys cont to move,  using extra spurts of movement towards the road which crisscrossed he town hopping to be able to cover the crossroads before the Panther passed.

Well I abandoned the original battle report as work etc took all my free time  so never got chance to finish re-write before I’d completely forgotten what happened.

So table was re set for what ended up a 3 player game, 2 British, and One German.

I modified the Scenario victory conditions,  with the Germans getting a complete victory if they got a tank off the British end before the 35 mins allowed time for game . This gave a bit of urgency for the Germans, with thr Brits playing for time.

The tablayout changed slightly in a Farmhouse and out buildings were added( hadn’t built them originally).

1. The platers diced for which side they played  highest die roll got Germans which put Jo commanding them and Kevin and Alex the British. Kevin got thec 2 Fireflys and Alex took the rest.

With 8 vehicles on the table each side drew 5 event cards +1 card for having at least one veteran commander.

Then I rolled and despite only 2+ for the Germans  and 3+ for the British, failed both ( I forgot the Humbers Scout ability gave me Re-roll for British).

This did mean though that I could draw alt chits out of bag and put them on the Tank Cards.

This meant that Germans had Lt Bockwurst’s Panther ,moving 1st Sgt Junkers Panzer IV 5th and Sgt Rotweilers Panther last.

The British had  Fred Colon’s Sherman moving 2nd, Capt. Carrot on 3rd   and Lt Angua’ Humber 4th. This left Nobby being 6th and CSM Sam Vimes 7th.

This 1st .ove was very much the tanks loading guns and attempting to move around  the village.

The main bit of excitement was as Fred Colons tank skirted the Churchyard, the Germans triggered a reinforcement in the form of the Panzer Knacker card.

As it happened the Germans appalling dice rolls continued and they missed, As this meant the  hurchard was cleared Fred ignored it and machine gunned the ruin on front of him that had an ambush marker, with his case Assault mg of 2 dice and one for pintle as he was unbuttoned fo 3 dice , managing to clear it on a 6.  Which gave the British 2 cleared Ambush markers.

With the excitement over, the Germans sent 3 tanks up the main road and Sgt Rotweilers tank to scout round the lower edge. Capt Carrot an headed to take up position covering down the one road whilst Sgt Colon took up postuon in the gap between the Churchyard and the 1st line of ruins.

Lt Angua took her Humber around the Churchyard and managed to spot Lt Bockwurst’s Panther coming down the road.

The remaing British Tanks moved around the flank for what they didn’t know could be a Confrontation with Sgt Rotweilers Panther, with neither side being able to see the other due to the intervening walls and outhouse.

Finally I rolled for The British Asser cards and rolled a 4 on +2 to d6 giving me 6 stars, so I picked following cards.

Finally I pit down the 8 ambush markers on the terrain , which are the potential sites that all the Asset cards are used from.

The 3rd RTR’s force from the 11 pts came to 2x Sherman Fireflys, 2 x Sherman V’s and a Humber AC. The later will introduce the quicker but less Deadly to fire 2pdr, and give the British a vehicle with the Scout ability.

So going against Historical convention,  I put my Troop Commander in the 1st Firefly which Threw a 6 for stars giving it 7.

So :

Capt ‘Carrot’ Ironfounderson 3 stars, Gunner  Cpl ‘Cheery Littlebottom 3 stars, and Driver Trooper Reg Shoe 1 star.

2nd Firefly threw 2 so only 5 stars:

CSM Sam Vimes 2 stars  , Gunner Albert Detritus 2 stars , Driver Sid Visit 1 star

1st Sherman  V threw 3 so again 5 stars :

Sgt Fred Colon 2 stars, Gunner Trooper ‘Buggy’ Squires 2 stars, Driver Trooper Pediment 1 star.

2nd Sherman V threw a 4 so 6 stars:

Cpl ‘Nobby’ Nobbs  2 stars Gunner Trooper Alf Boggis 3 star, Driver Trooper Peter Fidement 1 star

The Humber threw ( sigh of relief) a 6 :

2nd Liet. Angua Uberwold 3 Stars. Gunner Trooper Bert Downspout 1 star, Driver l.Cpl. ‘Cheery Littlebottom,  3 stars .

I rolled for Special ammo , British get plus 3 to die roll for early 45, so would have had 7 but only the Fireflys can have them, and each tank is Ltd to 2 per tank so both Fireflys got 2.

11 pts gives me 2x Panthers and a Panzer IV H, a fairly solid force.

I then have to roll for Crew stars rating for each tank using thr medium calibre on the table.

For the Panthers I rolled a 2 and a 6 so 5 Stars for one and 7 stars for the other.

The Panzer IV threw a 3 so again 5 stars .

So for Oberleutnant  Otto Bockwursts Panther I went for

3 for himself 3 for His Gunner Corporal Hans  Frankfurter 3, and lowly Driver Gunter Bratwust 1.

For the Panzer IV’s Sgt Piter Junker 2,  Gunner Ernst Focke 2, Driver Michael Wulf 1.

I rolled for Special ammo and as I set it in the middle of Battle of Bulge is early 45  rolling a 1 on a minis 3 table meant they hot no special ammo.

1. For Sgt Kurt Rottweiler 2,

l.  Gunner Sigmund Dachshound  2,  and Driver Rolf Doberman 1

For the Panzer IV’s Sgt Piter Junker 2,  Gunner Ernst Focke 2, Driver Michael Wulf 1.

9

I rolled for Special ammo and as I set it in the middle of Battle of Bulge is early 45  rolling a 1 on a minis 3 table meant they hot no special ammo.

I finally rolled for the German Asset cards and rolleda +2 for the 8 vehicles in play giving me 4 pts.