Lock N Load Band Of Heroes played

Nice session of three scenarios (for some reason I only took pics of two ?) of Lock N Load tactical combat system played with my Dad.

Lovely components (especially after replacing the original 'white halo' maps) and a nice playable game system.

We played two US Airbourne scenarios from Normandy and a British Airbourne at Arnhem game.

Lock N' Load Band Of Heroes game played

I managed to pick up a copy of the 2nd Edition of Band Of Heroes game (the one without the 'haloed' hexes) and played a scenario with my Dad.
A good system this being sort of Squad Leader lite with excellent graphics.
I had Yanks racing against Fallschirmjager to take a crossroads and nearby building.
Did not use my mobile/armour assets well enough (in that I forgot to mount any Infantry on them) and my foot sloggers took to long to get to crunch areas.
Still great fun with a decent game system

Small catch up

Another busy period has meant little time for gaming or blogging but did manage a couple of games of Lock N Load system at my Dad's past couple of Sundays.
Scenarios were from 'Heroes Of The Blitzkrieg' and 'In Defeat Defiance' modules.
Cannot remember details of scenarios other than both set in 1940 with one pitting British against Germans trying to cross a canal (The Canal ?) and the other a French versus German affair with a few tanks on each side (Steel vs Steel ?).
Both very enjoyable games using this interesting tactical system and nice to be in 1940 rather than late war bashes for a change.

Oh and these arrived but no time to read properly yet !

I also received an 'Update Kit' for most excellent 'The Hunters' from GMT Games but not even opened yet !!

Band Of Heroes first outing for Lock N Load system

Played Lock N Load: Band of Heroes game tonight with my Dad the first we have tried the game together. Played the Neuville scenario.
We had good fun with the game despite having to get heads around a few novel gaming systems within the rules.
Nice to have tactical game with Tanks again and I would rate this game system as just behind Combat Commander but ahead of Conflict Of Heroes. Components rather nice (even the original 'haloed' maps I have) with good clear info.
The Operations Phase is an Impulse style which I like with players alternating Activations of hexes/units. AFVs took a bit of getting used to being essentially mobile support a few hidden vulnerabilities.
For instance an AFV hit by enemy weapon but which does not penetrate and destroyed they still test morale and can go Shaken if failed with two such occurrences causing Abandonment for game duration.
I found this sits well with bulk of battle accounts I have read but did seem strange when used with uber Tanks in many board or miniatures rules.
Movement is fairly intuitive but firing bit different in how it is calculated (a differential system) and resulting effect on troops (a morale test with differential added).
Leaders are important for their ability to co-ordinate adjacent hexes and especially for Rallying as bulk of units can only Rally if leader in good order in same hex.
Some units can attempt self rally like Tanks, Snipers and the like.
Infantry can become Shaken (no firing or moving) be reduced to half squads or Eliminated outright.

Units can use some low level tactical moves such as Low Crawl or Assault Moves if capable in addition to normal movement.
These little nuances are reminiscent of Squad Leader of course but scenarios are generally smaller here so bit less complexity overall.
Several items we did not come across in game were Hero generation and the various Skill cards and Events of other scenarios.
Looking forward to trying this one again especially as I have the British Para expansion and the 1940 Blitzkrieg stuff.

Lock N Load: Band Of Heroes first outing (and other stuff)

Managed to get couple of hours free today to put this EBay purchase on table and have a go at a small scenario solo.
This is the initial edition produced by Matrix Games with the much denigated 'haloed' maps.
I dont mind the halos but confess not sure of the point of them over standard outlines ? I know new editions have lost the halos. Counters are very nice and are big (especially AFVs).
Game system is rather good too much less complex than SL/ASL but maybe a tad more intricate than CC:E.
Hexes are activated individually (unless adjacent to a leader) and alternately between players which gives a nice interaction.
Combat is pretty straight forward with attacker and defender rolling D6 each.
Depending on if and by how much an attack exceeds defenders morale this yields varoed results from morale checks to casualties to eliminated. AFV and Ordinance combat is similar requiring usual 'to hit' roll in addition.
The game comes with a heap of scenarios and several small geomorphic style map boards.
Initial impressions are good although I still think CC:E (especially as Stalingrad Pack arrived today !!) will be game of choice for awhile yet.
But this does include AFVs/Panzers/Bazookas etc so that is a very big bonus.

As stated above this arrived today and jolly good it looks too with some interesting scenarios and maps and one or two new rules (sewers, rubble, factories and suchlike).
Looking forward to getting into this.

Also accomanying this was my first ever issue of C3i Magazine (in house magazine of GMT) an older issue with some CC:E content. Have not had time to peruse it much but looks good and gives me that same meaty content feeling that the Avalon Hill (RIP) General always did.