Conflict Of Heroes: Storm of Steel back on the table

Played couple of scenarios of this lovely looking board wargame with my Dad.
Been a long while since we played this but due to its overall ease of play and low rules overhead we got back into it fairly easily.
Forgot how high the casualty rates can be but still a fun nights gaming.

White Star Rising Operation Cobra expansion arrives

This expansion for my recently acquired White Star Rising arrived today being a bunch of new scenarios covering the Op Cobra breakout and a sheet and a bit of new counters for the game (Includes extra German US & Brit counters with new Canadian and Free French). Nice addition if a tad expensive and a rather 'cartoonish' cover to the booklet.

Also had a quick solo play of a Conflict Of Heroes scenario from the Storm of Steel edition and jolly enjoyable it was too even though the Ivans got trounced (I sort of forgot how potent German units generally in the game especially their single Tiger Tank). I ought to play this one more as such beautiful components and a really good system of Command and Control/Action Points/Cardplay.

Conflict Of Heroes: Price Of Honour

Arrived today, excellent. 

Usual high quality components and the scenarios look very interesting especially with the inclusion of the Polish units.


Update: Managed a game at my fathers last week playing through the first scenario. Interesting to see lowly PzII and Sdkfz222 in action. 

Polish infantry no push-overs in a tough situation for Huns. Really cool bonus to have the replacement unit counters for Awakening The Bear and a new complete and up to date series rule book.

Conflict Of Heroes: Storms of Steel! Kursk 1943

Another scenario played tonight against my Dad. FF15 Dance Of Totenkopfs. A big scenario, but using only 2 boards, with piles of Tanks with air power (2 Stuka strafes and 1 Sturmovik) and a Nebelwerfer card. Great stuff with tanks brewing up all over the show. Only problem I discovered afterwards was that the scenario is designed for 2 Ivan versus 1 Hun (although perfectly playable with Ivan conducting 2 separate 'player' operations etc) and in the scenario it is noted that:-

Reminder: Each Soviet player takes a turn for every one German turn!

We done this incorrectly as we allowed Germans a phase in between each Ivan phase thereby restricting the Ivans a great deal and making Hun rather too effective. Still it was a lot of fun and well worth a replay, especially as Germans (ie my father) came out winners.

We both really enjoy this game with its excellent aesthetics and game play without being bogged down with overly complex systems and can therefore accept its abstractions as a trade-off against sheer fun.





T34 (right centre) close assaults a Tiger but fails miserably !!

Deaths Head commander plotting destruction of next T34

Overview of scenario after first couple of phases

Looking forward to release of latest Conflict of Heroes expansion 'Price of Honour' which covers Poland 1939 but also includes updated counters for Awakening The Bear. 

However despite its imminent release in USA and elsewhere it seems to have no outlet in UK as yet !!! Hopefully in time for Santa to deliver ?

Conflict Of Heroes: Storms of Steel! Kursk 1943

Played another couple of scenarios (sorry I cant call em Firefights !) last night with my Dad. Ivans crushed Huns in FF8 Black Knights of the Steppe with the hidden KV1s doing sterling service (taking out Tiger) great fun. Nice to see one of my favourite tanks the Churchill in action too. Second scenario we played was FF14 Luchki (part 2) now this one was a bit disappointing (despite use of Panthers for first time) due to the rules regarding anti-tank guns. ATGs count as armoured targets when fired on frontally (due to gun shield) and as soft targets from flanks, which is fine when engaged by Infantry small arms (as they use their lower Blue anti-tank firepower) but when engaged by Panzers this is a tad farcical as a hit almost certain and usually two hits (therefore destroyed). ATGs have frontal defence of 13 but Tigers & Panthers have strikes of 12 & 13 respectively (PzIII has a 9) meaning a guaranteed hit even if ATG is in terrain, and with average rolls a destruction is likely. Strangely the ATG is safer if fired on from flank as Panzers use red FP (usually 5) against a red defence of 10 !! This meant the ATGs (whose own AT firepower is low) where literally sitting ducks (no hidden set-up in scenario) yielding an easy 7 victory points. I actually man-handled a couple backwards into woods out of line of sight (means no LOS from them either of course). First real problem we have encountered with game. Pity but a house-rule will fix. Good fun otherwise trying to swamp big cats with T34s and KV1s.

Luchki with only 3 ATGs left (out of original 7)

More Conflict Of Heroes

Friday evening and another run out with Conflict Of Heroes against my Dad, played two firefights from Awakening The Bear and a large Tankfest from Storms Of Steel. Great stuff again and further rules learnt. Only major mistake we made was with Close Combats in that we misread rules to allow a Close Combat to occur for one Action Point rather than counting it as a full Fire Action. Will know for next time. Only downside to these games are large amount of table space required as large maps and displays, a minor criticism.






The Gap from Awakening The Bear

Germans going airbourne :-)

The 'Tankfest'

Panzers deployed in wheatfields

Conflict Of Heroes: Awakening The Bear

Conflict Of Heroes: Awakening The Bear arrived today. Another high quality product, I got it second hand but it is in mint condition and includes the extra Marsh board.

Storm Of Steel gameplay first impressions

Played first two scenarios (again oops I mean Firefights) tonight with my Dad having read through first two rule sections. Rather impressed that we managed to play (the albeit small and managable) first couple of firefights. The rules are fairly straightforward especially the mechanisms of Actions, Firing, Moving with the counters and QRS containing all relevant info. Several checks in rules that we were doing this correctly but nothing drastically wrong. The straightforward mechanics are somewhat deceiving though as regards playing the game well and effectively. The interaction of Action Points, Command Action Points and Card Play combined with the myriad added interactions of Multiple Activations, Group Actions, Group Opportunity Fire leads to a deeper set of tactical possibilities than first meets the eye. Not that our tactics were in any way stunning as we tried out a few things just to see how they went. One big lesson was that stacking units in a single hex (no limit in game) is potentially very dangerous !! In Firefight 2 my Dad had a stack of 2 PzGrenadier squads which he group activated and moved into a wood hex out of enemy LOS but which were then Spent, however an Ivan Inf squad activated and with a nice 'Move 2 hexes Free' card was able to sneak into the woods behind and adjacent to the Hun stack and then proceed to decimate them with a +3 firepower bonus (for adjacent) and the fact that each unit in a stack is attacked with separate rolls. My Dad had no Action Cards or Cmd Action Points left to thwart this (we were unaware of the presence or effect of the +2 extra hex move card). We both felt this was a very nice game system that was easy to learn but would take a bit of mastering. Of course lots of options and kit still to learn and experience but initial impression very favourable.

Original game 'Awakening The Bear' purchased via Board Game Geek marketplace on foot of this (HMV will kill me if ie when she finds out !!)  

A thing of rare beauty

Conflict Of Heroes: Storm Of Steel arrived today and after opening the weighty package I was very pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality of the game components they are simply beautiful (especially for a WWII game) in particular the boards and counters (if only Squad Leader looked like this !!). The counters in particular have a lovely heft with excellent tactile feel and are about 1" square and nice and thick (bit like myself). Brief read of slim and colourful rule booklet and it seems an elegant and playable system and nice to see some solo play rules included for several scenarios (sorry firefights). I think I am going to enjoy this. So impressed I am for ordering its pre-cursor Awakening The Bear

Couple pics of game on my table.

Firefight booklet and an Action Card

Initial firefight set-up

Close up of a Panzer Grenadier Squad counter

Some Ivan counters

The colourful rule booklet

Conflict Of Heroes: Storms of Steel! - Kursk 1943

Just ordered this online after being reccomended and reading several rather favourable reviews !! Expensive but looks good. When I will get to play it is another question !!