Sabre Squadron first try

Had first try with Sabre Squadron rules with a US vs USSR match up circa 1985 (this is about as fantasy based as I get) at Stephens.
Used his excellent 10mm kit and terrain (got to love the roads) and I had a defending US force against Stephens hastily attacking Soviets.
Yanks had a Troop of 4 M60A3s with 1 Platoon of Infantry with mix of SAW/LMG/Assault Rifle stands in M113s with couple M901s and support from 107mm Mortar battery (but no dedicated FOO), they were all Superior troops.
Soviets had a Tank Company of T80s (10 tanks ?) and essentially a Company's worth of Infantry in BMP1 with battery of 122mm in support, Ivans were Regular troops.

Couple of queries re opening bombardment and buildings that not clear in rules as to level of cover afforded (or not) but we resolved by not setting the Yanks up in the buildings.
An enjoyable system but I did struggle with its pure IGO-UGO method especially the lack of any form of opportunity/overwatch fire (seemed rather odd for modern setting) but overall a decent game.
Rules have good variation of AFV weapon vis armour types although this is ultimately superfluous as once hit most things die horribly, but does give the 'impression' of making a difference.

Not a great deal of troops/AFVs needed for a reasonable sized game which is a plus.

L'Art De La Guerre at Ulster Wargames Society

Attended UWS today with Stephen and we managed to play a whopping 3 games of LADG !
Stephen wanted to try out a couple of armies for possible use in Munster Competition in January.
First up he had Hunnic and I used Sassanids.
A fairly tight game this one with multiple losses on both sides but a very good melee phase by Stephen (surprise surprise) saw him Disorder 5 fresh units tipping my lot over edge.
Next up Stephen had Gothic and I used Urgyuk Turkish (bit out of sync time wise).
This was much more of slaughter of my lot as Gothic lancers chased down my Mounted Heavy Bowmen and minced them.
For third game Goths tried again against Sassanids.
I tried to do an outflank with my Cataphract command which whilst it certainly surprised Stephen of course failed to appear before rest of army chinned.

Bryn watched last two games and was amazed, nay flabbergasted at number of 1s I could roll (I did roll a few 6s but the 1s were Legion) so much so he expressed a fear of even touching my dice in case contagious !!
I will win one of these LADG games one of these days....................

Stole these next couple of pics from Bryn

A Distant Plain -short scenario played 'Obamas War'

Played short (4 Propaganda cards) scenario 'Obamas War' with my Dad last night of this COIN game.
I again took Warlords and Taliban as pairing against Coalition and Government (Warlords could be paired with Coalition as interesting twist with Taliban and Government co-existing).
A very close game in the end with Government narrowly losing with -20 compared to Warlords with -18 (Coalition finished on -9 and Taliban on -7).
All done to last event card which allowed me to claw back 4 Resources with a special activity.
So many key decisions to make with every card and turn with this game.
Events can be very enticing and indeed beneficial but sometimes you just need to take Ops and Activities instead in order to progress your score.
Great stuff once again.

Panzer Grenadier Deluxe again Eastern Front this time

Another PzGr scenario played today 'Ogledow' set in August 1944 on the Eastern Front.
Stephen used his Russians and I took the Germans.
Another great game with this playable set of WW2 rules.
My 2 Royal Tigers did diddly squat (only managed to damage a T34 and a JSII) and suffered 3 (yes 3) double 6 rolls against them in a row seeing therefore one brew up and the other damaged !
I had 3 PzIVGs which dueled with several T34/76 but only managed to kill one.
The single Russian airstrike later took out 2 of these whilst the other had been damaged then routed off table.
I had a Panther that however done sterling work (despite going low on ammo after first shot) taking out 3 T35/85s.
However my Infantry losses were heavy losing 3 out of 3 Platoons (1 entirely to an MMG at close range rolling of course a 12) giving Ivans the field.
Both sides Artillery (we each had 2 Direct and 1 General support missions) were fairly ineffective.








The battlefield from Russian perspective

Royalty on road (they had 2 check for Bogging/Breakdown everytime they moved)

Panther Abteilung covers left flank

T34/85s suffering

Ivans in field (from where they cheek to try to use a PzFaust against Panthers !!)

Russian big stuff arrives (JSIIs ans ISU152)

Overview

The result of 3 double 6 rolls......................

Panthers forced to disengage

PzIVs and T34s have at it

Danaged Tiger dominates road

PzIV damaged (it later routed)

Panzer Grenadier Deluxe - Cintheaux scenario

Panzer Grenadier Deluxe Cintheaux scenario played today at Mr Ps using his and Richards 20/25mm kit and terrain on his 10' x 6' table.
Mr B and I took the Allies against Mr P aided later by Le Duc and John.

Nebelwerfers fell short to no effect and our flight of 'Tiffys' targeted two Tigers but failed to inflict any damage, our 3" Mortar battery was also pants failing to activate several times or missing target (an 88mm Flak on high ground).
So much for the support arms !

Usual cat and mouse between Shermans and Fireflys and the Panzers.
However we did between us managed to destroy a Tiger 1 (Mr Wittman !!), a PzIVH and a Flak Mobelwagen.
We sadly lost 3 Shermans.
Mr B had the bulk of our Infantry which assaulted the town inflicting heavy losses on SS defenders.
In fact German losses mounted quickly so that they were soon rolling for Faltering each end phase.
Game was conceded by Huns after some 9+ turns, as they were 1 loss from auto break level (12) despite still having 2 operational Tigers, whilst we were still in good shape with a mere 5 losses overall.
Another highly enjoyable outing with this rule set on a super table with BIG kit.

View from Allied start line (Huns all hidden)

Shermans deployed behind start line as Infantry moves forward

My Squadron (Northants Yeomanry) moves out

Tiger 1 Company appears (Wittman nearest)

Canadian armour advances

Yeomanry spreading out

Tigers edge forward

Le Duc took a pile of pics including this atmospheric shot (see them at https://warfareintheageofcynicsandamateurs.blogspot.com/2019/10/20mm-action-at-steves-cintheaux-44.html) showing Pz IV and Wittman brewed up

Field Of Battle - demo game at club

Rolled out FOB at club tonight.

A quick match up between Prussians and French circa Autumn 1813.

Set up for 4 players and that is what we ended up with, Billy, Luke, David and Chris.

They all seemed to enjoy the game and as always with FOB lots of action and incident, groans at poor rolls and cheers for good rolls (its all about the history really).