Certainly a lot more action this time as units deployed from Combat Patrols and fire was exchanged with our armour reserves also appearing and artillery stonks falling across the table.
As so often happens (in any game with any rules) game pretty much decided by a couple of turns wherein I had horrendous dice rolls whilst Stephen had correspondingly excellent rolls.
The Panzer Grenadier rule came to fore couple of times with extra hit for double 6s and from re-roll for spotted targets, which saw units inflict 4-6 hits which Brits only partially saved seeing Platoons decimated in short order.
My Churchills arrived and later took on the reinforcing Hun PzIV damaging it but they were whacked by a medium artillery barrage and that b*****d sniper (frustrating as hell as you have no method/ability to effect them in any way and can only hope it self-destructs) and were shocked and suppressed.
We quite like how AFVs do not really dominate proceedings in O Group (I personally feel it is and works best as an Infantry game, not really sure how fielding a full tank Bttn would work in practice?)
My Crocodile appeared but failed to get into flame-throwing range (6") before game ended.
Pretty tough for attackers when defenders are in built up areas (even heavy artillery struggles to do meaningful damage) and in ambush as generally they will get first dig which of course is not unexpected and today their fire was accurate and devastating.
At start of session (beginning at turn 6) we had lost a single stand each but by end (turn 11) the Brits had been slaughtered losing a further 11 Infantry stands and hence 3 Fubars to end game (think Germans had lost a mere 2 stands).
Once Fubars mount and you start losing Order dice it is nigh impossible to maintain any momentum.
On one turn I had a mere 3 Coy orders and had to spend my entire HQ pool to conduct any meaningful activity.
During course of game I would estimate that Germans won Initiative on 7 out of 11 turns and mostly had more orders than attacking Brits, such is how the cookie crumbled.
We both used the Reactive Withdraw order a lot more than before that is for certain especially once the mortar rounds start arriving.
Also got some clarity on our queries ref objectives and consolidation points from the ever helpful author Dave Brown on TFL forum and we were glad to see that we had been playing it pretty much as intended (note I also highly rate his Panzer Grenadier Deluxe rules)
Great stuff overall and we both really like the rules once one accepts the inherent parameters, the Command dice and orders system is the heart of game with the combat being very easy to pick up with its minimal modifiers and overall simple D6 system.
A good deal more photos as bit more kit to see :-)
'Beware The End Is Nigh' as Brits 1 stand from game ending 3 Fubars
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ReplyDeleteSo do you prefer PGD or O Group?
ReplyDeleteWe are currently playing PGD and there is talk of changing - but having read through I am not keen on the O group order system which allows the best units to be certain to move.
Hi Steve, if pushed I would say I prefer PZGR as it allows more flexibility of game size and has more nuance to combat. But O Group is pretty good at what it is designed for ie 1 Bttn (3-4 Coys plus supports) vs 1 Bttn with emphasis on Command/Orders system with simpler combat systems, not really able to do Larger or indeed smaller engagements. Of course both playable with same toys :-)
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