Bolt Action at Bryns

Game at Bryns (my first visit to his 'Shed of War') on Thursday evening and a WW2 1940 French vs German game using Bolt Action 2.

Bryn had set up the attractive terrain and Shane brought his excellent 28mm kit with the Char B and the PzIV looking very 'sexy'.
German attack vs French defence (but no hidden units bar a French sniper team) to keep things simple as all new to rules.

Bryn and Shane took the Nazis and Simon and I the French.

I had tried version 1 solo eons ago and thought bit meh but found this outing produced a surprisingly enjoyable game despite a couple of jarring abstractions.

Not a fan of the Artillery model with the all or nothing hit or miss (no deviations) and burst circles but it sort of works in game context.
Infantry model ok (buckets of dice shooting) but lacking variety ie no setting up your MGs to suppress whilst rest of section moves in as whole sections operate as one entity at all times.
Close Assault a real dice fest with defenders firing then attackers rolling 1 dice per man the defenders if they survive (simultaneous in certain circumstances) with loser completely and utterly destroyed (no push backs or retreats or similar), certainly decisive !
Did not happen in this game but previously I thought it was just too easy to Close Assault and sort of a no-brainer if you outnumber enemy and so way too many such assaults can occur.
But again works in context of fast playing KISS style WW2 lite system.
The Pinning/Damage system works fine and the best aspect of game for me is the Orders dice as you simply have one dice per unit placed in bag with enemy dice, you pull these out randomly and then activate a unit to complete 1 of 6 orders, simple and fun with some nice decisions to make.

Overall an enjoyable game (think player attitudes helped) with low rules overhead giving a fluid fast paced game, very suitable for an evenings time slot.
Certainly more 'game' than simulation compared to say Chain of Command but if one plays historically (ie minimize the Warhammerish gimmicks of system/army lists) it is a decent light set preferable to both Flames Of War and Battlegroup for me.

Maybe its just an age thing that I am increasingly attracted to fast playing sets despite their abstractions ? although I do think rules such as Bolt Action could become stale quickly as not enough depth and some abstractions that may grate, but with my variety of games, periods, and rule sets this may be unlikely to happen :-)





French section in orchard supported by Panhard

French in house with visible blokes actually inside on ground floor with other on 1st floor but this was apparently incorrect as a whole section cannot split so must be all on 1 floor or other, bit odd but again just fits in with how rules for shooting/command/actions works

Char B in all its glory (did very little bar intimidate in game) with section in support as Simon sets up a 25mm ATG

Two sections of Boche advancing. Version 2 has enhanced rules for Officers (the chaps to rear at house) allowing them to activate nearby units in addition to themselves (they simply remove additional dice from bag) up to a limit dependent on Rank.

More Boche advance under Bryns command with very annoying spotter in upper floor of damaged house.

My sections taking some Pins

Order dice (commercial versions) in evidence

Panhard ko'd by Sdkfz 222. No defined ground scale in BA but it sort of feels like 1" = 10yds or so, meaning all combat is pretty close

Boche lining wall (hard cover)

Char B pokes its head out

French firmly stuck in that orchard

Shanes PzIV arrives

Damnable German 105mm (yes on table)

Simon sent to sleep by Bryns attack

Tank Duel first outing

Played Tank Duel with Dad last night and very fun time it was.
Essentially game is Up Front for Tanks but with considerably lighter rules overhead.
Artwork is terrific (my poorly lit photos do NOT do justice to look of game) and its a very playable card driven system.
Eastern Front only (no doubt expansions for other regions in due course) but lots of tanks included (as large 'battle boards') such as T34 (several models) SU100, JS2 and of course Pz II, PzIV, Panther, Tiger 1 mainly mid to late war types.
A lot of abstraction in rules (to keep it playable) including limited Infantry and Anti-tank gun system but it all gels together well.
The cards (basic battle deck is 100 cards) are gorgeous with some variety included for scenarios (such as substitute terrain cards for city fights).
All game actions are conducted by card play (as per Up Front) and results recorded on the individual battle boards a separate Damage Deck is used for ....well... damage results and Morale tests.
For two players (up to 6 can play) its a minimum of 2 tanks per side.
After going through the helpful tutorial we set up a basic scenario using a PzIVG and StugG versus a pair of T34/76 M43.
Dads Stug proved deadly and hard to hit (has a -10 silhouette) taking out both T34s, lost vehicles 're-generate' (simulates other tanks in battle-group coming to the fore) at end of turn to keep players in game.
In the vein of Up Front/B17/The Hunters things can be quite 'luck of the draw' dependent but does make for an exciting dice-less game.
For second game we had a Panther and Tiger versus a T34/85 and a SU100 using Take The High Ground scenario.
This proved to be a bloodbath for Dads Germans as the SU100 got lucky with several Catastrophic Hit results brewing in the end both the Panther and the Tiger twice each with the T34 adding a Panther kill of its own and amazingly all for no Soviet losses !!
Mind you the SU100 was hanging only with 2 dead crew and having manged to put out 2 Fires and recover Broken Morale twice.
Not a good day for the Panzerwaffe.
Fun light game and first to push COIN games off table in awhile.

As stated above crappy pics as lighting very poor


Initial set up 2 x T34/76 vs PzIVG and StugIIIG

T34/76 battle board showing crew positions and general layout.
This tank is 'in motion' as denoted by Move card showing.

PzIVG

T34/85 in 2nd scenario in the default Field terrain

And the SU100 tank killing machine (The card at bottom left is used for Initiative with lower number cards going first, the cards being numbered 1-100)

Tiger 1 in Woods

Other Big Cat the Panther

SU100 showing first 2 of 4 Kill Markers (beside bragging rights these are used as tie-breakers if Victory Points level at game end)

Bataille Empire solo play (Spring 1813 French vs Russians)

A quick solo game to help get Bataille Empire rules embedded in brain.
They are not difficult as such but have a lot of 'moving parts' and as they say practice makes perfect.
Set up a bash in Spring 1813 using French versus Russians both with 4 Divisions.
For my 40mm UD units I have settled on 150cm x 100cm as ideal for small 200pt game size.
Battle turned out to be an Encounter so only 1 Divn apiece starting on table with others 'marching to the sound of the guns'.
Whilst a solo game it was still rather fun.
Cavalry can move quite a distance in BE moving 8UD in Line with +2UD bonus if charging so some 40cm or nearly half the board.
6pdr guns fire 16 UD but over 8UD its generally ineffective fire or a single attrition (ie half-loss) hit.
Beginning to realise some of the nuances of this rule set although still some book look up required although the QRS is excellent (as is the same authors LADG version).
Pretty much have shooting/movement/shock combat/supports down now but still need to work on Opportunity/Reaction Charges and several outcomes.
Whilst not as slick a terrain/scenario set up as FOGN it has good variety and I like rolling for varied terrain effects as each can have light/medium/heavy effects on movement and/or combat.
I played 6 turns with Russians sort of getting best of situation having taken 2 objectives whilst killing 2 French units to 1 loss of their own.
Another game scheduled for next Friday with Stephen French vs British in Spain 1812.
(Would have played to completion but Tank Duel arrived so cleared table to sort this enticing title out :-) )

Another double whammy game day (Bataille Empire and Pike And Shotte)

Full gaming day of dice rolling joy :-)

First up was at Stephens as we tried Bataille Empire again this time Stephen took Russians 1812 and I had French.
Another interesting game with this very flavoursome set but it is proving hard to assimilate the rules fully (maybe it because we are both pensioners !?) so lots of checking and re-checking what we are doing or trying to do or how we are doing it.
The rules are however fairly logical overall with nothing odd so far.
One or 2 minor clarifications aside the rules are very complete and they definitely give a good game for the period and scale.
The Russians have a couple of Poor commanders and are poor shooters but are tenacious so in Shock Combat they can hold their own and have a couple more units than the French.
The scenario this time was an Encounter which was also interesting with both sides deploying only 1 Brigade on table the others coming on on turns 2 and 3.
I was able to use Operational Moves with first group of reinforcements but unfortunately Stephen had his Cuirassier Brigade coming on on Attack orders in same area and I lost a unit which failed to form square.
Infantry in Line are essentially dead if they fail to form square or cause significant casualties to charging Cavalry as a Retreat becomes a Flee but Cavalry catch Infantry in first 2 UDs of Fleeing.
We also used our full 40mm UD on a 150cm x 100cm table which seemed to work better for us than 30mm on 120x80.

Only a couple of pics (I took loads but seem to have corrupted on phone)

Then in the evening it was off to Billys (after a generous invite) for a game using Pike and Shotte rules (Black Powder stable) with Bryn, Simon and Mike also in attendance.
Game was set in ECW with Billys New Model Army (assisted by Simon and I) against Bryns Royalists (with Mike in tow).
Figures are 10mm Pendraken and very fine they are too.
P&S is a rather odd set of rules in how it 'models' pike and shot units as a 'standard' units is 3 bases 1 of Pike and 2 of muskets, but which can all operate individually if wished (not always a good idea.
This led to some jarring occurrences with single Pike units charging across the field to hit other pikes being able to ignore their accompanying muskets (as not actual targets of charge) and pikes leading the units as they have better saves.
This would be stymied somewhat with house rule Mike proposed that units in same Regt cannot be more than a base width (or maybe the 3" support distance) apart voluntarily.
When muskets are charged (it seems by either Cavalry of Infantry in P&S) they can form hedgehog with nearby by Pikes becoming an immobile block that can spread shooting hits and fights/dies as combined units (ie add all dice together but hits go on pikes).
Chargers can pull up short.
I kept mistaking the 3 base units as single units initially but once we got going it worked better than I thought (the individual option not withstanding)
I faced off against Mike and we had a good old ding dong with his Cavalry Breaking mine easily but my Infantry grinding his down and breaking them, my successful use of Rally order helped.
In hindsight Mike should have used his Cavalry to 'force' my Infantry into hedgehog as dead meat to Cavalry otherwise but they don't move and musketry is lessened so his Infantry could have out shot me.
A very enjoyable and playable game (cannot fault the BP series in this regard) but maybe more game than history as the free flowing nature movement and long shooting ranges seemed a little out of kilter for this period.
The rules do include Tercios, Dutch Brigades and Swedish Brigades but not really sure how they would operate in the game ?
Enjoyed the hospitality and the game which is what it is all about.

Varied quality on pics as I tried to sort new camera app and lighting variable.

COIN system 2 more games played.

At my Dads tonight and another two session of COIN magic.
Have both Liberty Or Death and Pendragon in my library now but not had any time to learn so it was Fire In The Lake and Colonial Twilight again.

First up was Fire In The Lake trying the full scenario again and once more Dad with the VC/NVA won an auto victory early in game.
Very hard to Pacify enough of VC Opposition areas or remove bases quickly enough to stop them achieving 35 VP (they start on 29).
A card we have not seen before 'Chairman Ho' proved very powerful giving 3 Free Limited Operations to VC and NVA.

Then it was onto Colonial Twilight again the full scenario this one was as ever much closer although my French twice were 1 VP short of an auto win.
However when last Propaganda card appeared I had just managed to reach 37 VP and win as FLN were still some 10 VP from their victory level.