'Oktoberfest' Mini-Get-Together...

On Sunday 20th Oct, I hosted a mini Flames of War Get-Together.

Over the last couple of years the 'Kapiti Coasting' FoW players of our little group, have got to know many of the regular Flames players, by attending several of the tournaments in and around our region. Recently, one of whom; Damien (Damo) Tyson, offered to drive up to the coast, to have some games with us, so with a modicum of planning a small event was put on...

The theme of the friendly 'Tournament' was Late War 1350pts, with myself, Brett and Paul, entertaining Damo... 1350pts was chosen as we have often found 1750pt games either drag on too long, and/or cannot be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, in a couple of hours of game time. No-one likes a game to time out...

There is also something more visually appealing about the smaller games as they seem to better represent the company level game that FOW is, without drawing in huge amounts Divisional support like artillery parks and such like...

I set up two tables; one fairly dense terrain Western Europe theme, the other a more open steppe Eastern Front theme.

We had planned to have a simple round robin of games; each player playing the other players once, for a total of three games each, but we ran out of time over the afternoon, and the last game turned in to a general chin-wag instead...

For myself, after some pondering over a suitable force I decided to keep things simple and go with a Tank Company - not too much stuff to worry about or move around, and relatively simple tactics - attack!

I had a Panzerkompanie from Grey Wolf:

HQ: 2 x StuG G, + Bergepanzer III
5 x StuG G
5 x Panzer IV H
2 x SdKfz 7/1 3.7cm Armoured AA guns
1 x 250/1 + 2 x 250/9

Brett had brought along his FJs - mostly Fearless Trained, led by Von der Hydte and his trap teams

Paul had decided to rock the Shtraf again! His massed penal forces led by flame throwers and supported by breakthrough guns...

Damo, had brought 3 different armies, and randomised each game which one he would play, by a dice roll by his opponent.
He had a very colourful Polish infantry force, a US mechanised cavalry recon force featuring lots of tanks, and a Finnish fortified company.

On to the games!

First game was Free for All. I was drawn against Bretts FJ, and Pauls Shtraf went up against Damos Poles...


Game 1 - Brett vs Scott (Free for All)

Deployment, as pumpkin head 'trophy' looks on... with Tidy the cat in his customary place

Reverse angle - Scotts panzers hope to swamp the exposed objective.

Our game became a typical see-saw, with Brett choosing to attack my weaker side with his recce force supported by mortars and trap teams who had eventually partly revealed their hand, whilst he mostly stayed put in the face of my tanks. He did start a cheeky advance through the centre with three infantry scout teams...

I managed to hold off his recce on my right flank, losing my own in the process... My tank approach was slightly hindered by terrain due to my worries about the trap teams materialising. By the end of the game, I had held my right and was beating Brett off my target left objective, having lost a StuG platoon tangling with trap teams, shrecks and fausts in the wood, when I should have just broken off... but the battle was decided when Bretts scouts reach my left side objective, which was only defended by my Bergepanzer!

We'd given each other a bloody nose in the process and the game went 4-3 to Brett with his cheeky scouts! Had I got stuck in with my Panzers a turn earlier it might have gone my way...

Game 1 - Paul and Damo (Free for All)

Pauls Shtraf Soviets, rolled up at the other end of the table, and a dice roll later revealed they were up against the Polish home army... As per first caption below, I believe this is an army Damo borrowed from Andrew - superbly presented!

Pictorial commentary from Paul:

Andrew Stanton's Polish Home Army

The "mini-Shtraf". Even at 1350 points there's still a lot of stuff.

Starting positions in Free For All against Damo.

The blob pushes forward.

Very lucky defensive fire pushes back the Shtraf assault, but they still do enough damage for a 3-2 draw in the Soviets favour.

Game 2 - Damo vs Scott (No Retreat)

Game two and I was up against Damo, and having rolled a dice found I was playing his US Mechanised Recce Force - which had a Sherman platoon, two platoons of Chaffees and two recon patrols...

Since Damo was Mech and I was Tank, I would be attacking, even though Damo had about as many tanks as I did!

I put an objective down on my front left, which Damo covered with his Shermans and held a Chaffee platoon in ambush. My plan being to hold/deal with the Shermans with my Stugs, whilst the Panzers, recce and AA went on a thrust for the rear objective.

I advanced and let fly with the StuGs at the Shermans hoping to start knocking some out, only to find out what a Jumbo was, and the 'Jumbos lead the way!' rule, not having played against one before. FA12 on a Sherman! WTF!? ;-)

My recce thrust had not been the cleverest either... allowing Damo to ambush with his chaffees against my Panzers, though I only lost one, with 2 bailed, which thankfully, both subsequently remounted.

I swung everything I had at the Chaffees and they went down in hail of fire, the last failing morale...

The Chaffees behind the corn on the right  have all just died, as Damo starts his 2nd turn...

The game dissolved into a slug fest between my StuGs and the Shermans, where I just couldn't seem to get enough hits to get past the Jumbo, and if I did Damo passed his armour saves or I failed FPs... curses. Consequently I was steadily bleeding StuGs to the Shermans attentions... More Chaffees arrived with good covering fire, from a hill, over the centre, stopping me sending my Panzers over to help the StuGs... So instead I sent the Panzers and CO after this 2nd Chaffee platoon, and over two turns destroyed those too, again the last failing morale.

By this point it was just my 2iC StuG holding up against the Shermans, but everything else I had was now chasing Damos Recon patrols in the backfield... eventually I got enough hits from the Panzers and AA, and bergepanzer to destroy a recon patrol, though the 2iC Stug had finally succumbed! Again Damo failed his third morale check in a row, this time his Company Morale, giving me the game 4-3! Woot! :-)

I really thought I was going to lose this as I just couldn't knock out the Shermans, thankfully the Chaffees were a much easier proposition. Damo thought I would win from the start, and said I should have just rushed both tank platoons at the Shermans and dealt to them... probably a very good point! I think I got a bit twitchy though, once I realised the resiliance of the Jumbo...

Game 2 - Paul vs Brett (No Retreat)

Initial deployment against Brett's FJ in No Retreat. 

Shtraf shaping up for assault formation as volley-fire and breakthrough guns take their toll.

Turn 4. German lines after the flame-throwers. The FJ on the right failed morale, taking von der  Heydte with them. Brett called it before the mass Shtraf assault. 6-1 to Mother Russia. The Shtraf in FOW are essentially like a shot gun - not much to worry about at a distance, but up close it will take big lumps out of you. Missions like No Retreat are really it's party piece, with only half the defending platoons on to try and thin out the "blob" before impact. 

Results

After two games a clear winner had emerged. With the Shtraf bullying the FJ, for the 6-1 win for Paul, this had shot him to the front with a total of 9 points over two games.

I managed to come second with 7 points, with Damo and Brett tying for third place on 5 points.

Well done to Paul, a clear winner on the day, and he wins the Oktoberfest trophy I knocked up over the preceding couple of days, when I wasn't converting my Bergepanzer!

Paul - Mr PumpkinHead - The Winner!

Big thanks to the guys for coming and making the day, and especially to Damo for taking the time to drive up to see us. We are not too far from his place as the crow flies but there's a darn big bunch of hills/mountains between us, meaning a lengthy drive around them. So again, thanks for the effort Damo, hope to see you this way again! (BTW - when does a hill become a mountain? I never figured that one out!)

And thanks to my dearest Darling for putting on some drinks and nibbles for the troops - an army marches on its belly as they say!

Hopefully this can become another regular event for us... and I hope to rejig my playing area...

I have a permanently set up 12' x 6' table, as when I designed and built the room I had had grandiose visions of massive armies clashing over it, but these games never materialised... and we haven't even managed to organise a big FoW Total War game... most of our games are standard size, mostly due to time constraints in playing time, or are skirmish games... and these can cause problems having to stretch and lean over the table to reach stuff in the middle.

To demonstrate the point, Paul presents his derrière, to all as he micro manages his Shtraf blob forward to crush the FJ, as Brett looks on in amusement...

Paul's Shtraf advance, sustained by macaroons!

So if I break the table down into three 6'x4' tables, I'll be able to host more games at once and thus slightly bigger mini-tournaments - I could even squeeze a table or two into the adjacent garage...

When I next get some leave I'll have a go at organising this, as the table also conceals a host of material underneath, which I'll have to find storage space for!

So keep your eyes peeled for the burgeoning Kapiti Tournament scene! ;-)

Thanks for reading!

Tournament Etiquette and Sportsmanship

 Having recently ventured back into the tournament scene after mostly playing amongst ourselves for the year so far, as a group we have noticed a few “quirks” in the way the wargames in general are played. Thus, we offer the following observations on gaming etiquette, particularly at tournaments where you are often playing unfamiliar opponents:

It's "grumpy old(ish) men" time! We're not nearly as grumpy as this post sounds. It's just sometimes a good old rant is more entertaining to read and write :-)

 1.  Dice rolling, specifically the physical act of dice rolling. Massive kinetic energy does not enhance your odds of getting the required number! Much time can be wasted retrieving dice from the far end of the room. There is no +1 bonus for added height on your dice roll/throw/launch. If you throw dice into terrain that frequently results in cocked dice, continuing to throw dice into the same terrain will continue to result in cocked dice. A die is cocked if another die will not sit on top of it, with out falling off. Do not throw dice into piles of other dice, its then difficult to see which dice you threw and what the resulting number was, as the dice all bounce about from the impact. Just shake up the required number of dice in your hands, and then drop or gently roll them onto a flat, open area of the table. Easy.

If you really just can't keep the dice under control, then for everyone's safety maybe you need these? Knitted dice! Perfect for winter.

2.  Dice rolling, specifically the declaring of. Do not start rolling dice without declaring what you are rolling for, what number you need, and how you arrived at that required number if need be, eg: “rolling to unpin my artillery, needing a four” or “three main gun shots at your Panthers, they’re Veterans so that’s 4’s, long range 5”. Remember that you need to declare the targets for all shooting teams in a platoon before any dice are rolled. If you just start rolling dice in front of yourself, scooping them up and claiming success without your opponent having any idea what you are doing, do not be surprised if you are asked what you are doing. Full disclosure at all times is a good rule. Likewise, pay attention when your opponent is declaring. Don’t claim you didn’t know what was happening if you weren’t focused on the game.

3.  Declare your force at the start of the game. This entails a quick run down of what is in your force, any special rules or characters you may have, any proxy models you are using and anything else your opponent may need to know. This doesn't need to be your life story, just a heads up on any relevant points. Having done this does not relieve you of all obligations to be sporting on these points during the game. Don’t expect your opponent to gain an instant knowledge of the ins and outs of your force. Answer their questions, correct any mistakes, eg:  if you have mixed skill levels in your force, point out if your opponent is shooting at Trained troops as though they were Veterans (i.e. he thinks he needs a 4 when all he actually needs is a 3, not correcting this, is poor sportsmanship indeed). Declaring dice rolling (and listening to your opponents) helps to avoid errors like this impacting a game. When deploying, and throughout the game, be clear about where platoons start and end. Remember too, it is your responsibility to know when your platoons need to take morale checks and to take them at the required time, it is not up to your opponent to request that you take them.

Never a truer word! So don't try and hide them or use confusing proxies please.

4.  Declare intentions. This means be clear about what you are doing. If you are fully inside a wooded area, state that you are moving to be fully inside the area. Most of the time you will be able to show this with no problems, but it will save you being caught out if a base gets bumped later and a corner is poking out of the wood. It also reduces the need for tedious micro measuring where you have ample movement ability to execute what you want to do. Declare lines of sight and concealment, eg: if you move a tank forward behind some cover, state whether you can see an enemy team or not. You may assume there isn’t a line of sight to a particular target, so you don’t shoot at it. It’s not good to find out in your opponents turn that you can suddenly see each other. You may have shot, or not moved there at all.

5.  Discuss terrain at the start of the game. Make it fair. A good general guideline is “keep it simple”. Terrain should obviously have an impact on the game, but you should be fighting the enemy first and foremost, not the terrain. Be really clear about what constitutes area terrain, concealment etc and then stick to it. Different groups play these things different ways, so long you are both playing the same interpretations it often doesn’t really matter.

6.  Rules disputes – play the ball, not the man. For anyone unfamiliar with the sporting metaphor, take this to mean stick to the issue in question. If you can’t resolve a rule issue quickly and to mutual satisfaction, look it up in the rule book. Don’t try and force your view on your opponent without backing it up. Nobody likes a bully. Don’t try and brow beat someone into your point of view, and then back off saying “ok, we’ll play it your way because I’m such a nice guy” when you realise you don’t have a leg to stand on. If you’re wrong, admit it. Stick to the issue, reach for the rule book. If in doubt, dice for it and move on. Simmering tensions will quickly lead to more issues if anyone feels they are “owed a break”. Similarly, don’t question someone’s integrity or call them a cheat without being able to back it up. You may know they cheated, but you won’t achieve anything positive without being able to prove it. Conversely, just because you forgot something or didn’t ask about something you were unsure of, or had a genuine miscommunication, does not make the other player a cheat. An error on your part does not constitute cheating. Deliberate, contrived cheating is extremely rare, and most issues can be sorted in a gentlemanly fashion, so don’t be too quick to start name calling. There would be few sadder sights than grown men having fisticuffs over a game of toy soldiers! Plus, you never know who’s secretly a ninja-trained killing machine when they’re not painting little tanks…

Don't be this guy.

7.  Some real basics, but you’d be surprised (or not) at some of the things we’ve seen. “Elastic tape measures” are one of these things. Also measuring movement, then taking away the tape measure and moving the model past the allowable distance. If you’ve forgotten to do something in a particular step and moved on to the next step, either suck it up and remember next time, or ask your opponent if they mind you acting out of sequence. Do not just start moving models around after shooting, or deploy a “forgotten” platoon half way through the game without asking first. 99% of the time it will be OK, and you should always try and correct these errors in a way that doesn’t adversely impact your opponent. After all, it was your mistake. I once had an opponent start making some “forgotten” movement in my turn, after I’d moved some of my platoons! He didn’t even ask, just did it brazenly. I was not impressed.  

8.  Take it like a man! Don’t deliberately play slow for a time out win. If a game times out and robs you of victory but your opponent was playing at a good pace then don’t take it out on them. Likewise, don’t blame your opponent for slow play if you spent half the game wandering off around the room. If it’s not going your way, don’t sulk. Always try and play as positively as possible. You’ll have more fun and gain more respect, and probably get better results too. 

 Whew! Quite a rant indeed! Please note that these observations are gained from years of our own experience, the experiences of others, and just general pet peeves. They are not aimed at anyone in particular, but hopefully set a standard for all of us. In my own experience, the vast majority of gamers play to enjoy the game and that will always shine through. At times things can get tense, but communication is the key. It’s all war stories in the end.

 Cheers,

 Paul and Scott.

Panzerschreck Day Two - AARs

 Hi, Paul here to wrap up the action from Panzerschreck. I'll start this post how we started Day Two, with the obligatory Beauty Pageant:

Scotts Guards Armoured

Pauls British Paras

My personal vote for Best Painted went to Steve Hill's Soviets. As usual, there were several armies that displayed a very high level of brush work. The way I separate them is looking for creativity and custom built work. I loved Steve's objective marker featuring dogs armed with mines that were trained to run under German tanks, triggering the mine in the process. Woof, woof, boom!

Russell Briants superb objective markers

We're environmentally conscious in this part of the world, so were encouraged to reuse our cups. I helpfully named Scott's cup for him so he wouldn't lose it. 

Bob rode his bike up from Shannon. He must have been exhausted after pedaling that far!

FoW designer Phil Yates guides Rhys through an aerial dog fight in his new game Flames in the Air. It was very popular with those who got to play it, and Rhys could happily have stayed at this table all weekend. 

The telescopic rods and dashboard of dials really caught the eye. We'll be hearing a lot more about this game in the near future I think.

 After the trials and tribulations of Day One, Scott and I approached Day Two with our spirits remarkably high. We had a good drive up to Palmerston North, and in between laughs we set some goals for the day – still to get a win, and if nothing else to make it into double figures for VP’s for the weekend. Above all else, we agreed to keep our chins up and play to win each game in a positive fashion.

 Game 4 was a Dust Up, played against Robert Groom and Mark Anderson. They were local guys I think, and fielded a double Sperverband combo featuring three platoons of RSO’s (vehicle mounted Pak’s) and lots of veteran infantry with high tank assault values. The table had a large town in the centre, which almost entirely blocked line of sight between our initial deployment areas. Scott and I both quickly agreed to place our “enemy deployment area” objective as close as possible to the edge where our reserves would come on.  Given the table size, we just couldn’t cover two objectives and grab a third with only four platoons, so our force was split in two. Robert and Mark figured the same and mirrored our objective placement. One Para platoon, both artillery batteries and the Stuarts started on table. 

We dig in artillery in our table quarter, a Para platoon moves up to head off enemy reserves.

 Both sides plan for the early turns was the same – bombard each other and wait for reserves. We lost a Stuart to an airstrike, but that was it. The first couple of turns whizzed by as we could hardly see each other across the table. Our opponents got reserves on their first roll, and immediately declared their intentions by bringing them on along their own long table edge and moving them towards their own deployment area. To be fair, with two infantry companies and no armour to speak of, this was going to be a difficult mission for them to mount an attack in. Luckily we had other plans!

We placed our objective as close to our reserves entry point as possible. Death or glory!

The German air support knocked out a Stuart, but that was as hot as it got on our side of town.

 Turn 4 and we get a platoon from reserve. We bring the Para’s on and they immediately assault an RSO platoon lurking in a wood. Defensive fire is minimal due to the wood blocking the view of the infantry holding the objective, and the RSO’s only having hull mounted main guns, which can’t defensive fire. The RSO’s were swiftly despatched and the Para’s moved up to occupy the woods.

 As per the script for the weekend, it was all going too well! We got more reserves next turn, so brought on some Shermans to add some MG support for the Para’s push onto the objective. Unfortunately we pulled out the dreaded “snake-eyes” when trying to unpin the fearless Para’s and their gallant CO. Another turn wasted.

The Para's got straight down to work, but couldn't get any further.

 As the game was nearing time, our armour kept hanging on against artillery and air strikes, and kept the German infantry pinned down. The Para’s weathered a couple of bombardments of their own, and then moved up to assault. There was no time to thin down the defensive fire beyond eight shots hitting on fours. Shaky odds, but still in our favour, and we had nothing to lose by going for it. Five hits of DF and that’s that plan down the toilet! Again. If that assault had gone in we would be fighting right on top of the objective against Reluctant troops, with little nearby that could push us off if we managed to gain the ground. It was not meant to be.

 We tried to grab a point on the other side of the table. An RSO platoon came on from reserve and finished off our Stuarts, but the other Para’s were close enough to assault. They passed tank-terror, no defensive fire, seven veteran teams of TA 3 and 4 against top 0 vehicles, should be odds on to gut them, right? Between a combination of missed hits and great saves, the only damage was one bailed RSO. Unbelievable! They pulled back, and the game timed out.

 It was a frustrating game, as it ended just when things were getting interesting. Full credit to Robert and Mark though, they kept the pace of the game up even though they never looked like getting anywhere near capturing an objective. It was always going to be a very difficult mission for them with two infantry companies, but they were sporting players and it was good to play against some different guys for a change! End result was 1-2 in Robert and Mark’s favour (as with our error in Game One we should have claimed a point for each platoon, so we diddled ourselves out of a 2-2. We didn’t bother correcting this as it was hardly likely to upset the medal ceremony, and apparently lots of others had made this mistake too).

 Only Game 5 to go and it would all be over, a no pressure, bottom of the table clash against similarly hapless opponents, right? Partly right! Our opponents were none other than Team Buddha, aka: Mike Haycock and Chris Townley from Battlefront with their German/Hungarian combo, not exactly easybeats! They had also had some disastrous luck with the list they had used to win the competition in 2011, so at least we were in good company.

Hmmm... which end would you defend? Answers on a postcard!

A King Tiger reminds the Hungarian tankettes who's the senior partner prior to deployment. They were so tiny they looked like they could get sucked in by the Tigers gravitational pull and crushed!

 The mission was a No Retreat, and we defended on a table featuring a river and a charming novelty hedge maze. We chose to occupy the maze end, forcing the attackers to cross the river and planning to turn the maze into a tourist attraction at the end of the war. We put down two Para platoons, a Howitzer battery, and a Sherman Platoon in ambush. The main threat from Team Buddha was 10 Zyrinis with breakthrough guns and three King Tigers. I won’t dwell too much on the action of the game, but we put up a gallant fight in the face of the near untouchable King Tigers and punishing fire of the Zyrinis. A heavy artillery battery also added to our hurt. Our only option to knock out the King Tigers was for them to get caught under a repeat bombardment from our artillery, but that was well beyond our dice rolling abilities. The big cats sat back and covered the Zyrinis as they removed the first Para platoon, and then pushed the second back to claim the forward objective. By this time our armour was nearly all ablaze. We did take down two of the Zyrini platoons in the process, one with Shermans and one fell when it assaulted the Para’s. The 9+ platoon rule did apply in this game however, and we only got one point for our efforts. 2-5 to Mike and Chris.

 These guys were a real pleasure to play. They were easy to get along with, played in a relaxed but efficient manner, and it was a great game to end the weekend on. Our only concern was that by scoring two points we may have blown our chance of securing last place, the irony! 

Shake, shake, shake, what will it be....?

A one! Who would have picked it?

For Sale: one novelty maze, some fire damage, may contain shrapnel, phone Gunther for details.

Scott and myself in our sadly prophetic team t-shirts! Beaten but not broken, we'll be back. 

The pride of Kapiti FoW Gamers, and proof that we're not completely hopeless - Rhys and Brett, Runners Up for Best General.

At the end of it all, we were last on total Victory Points with a stunning 9! Army and Sportsmanship points pushed us up to the giddy heights of 21st. Thanks to the support of Battlefront, no one went home empty handed – Scott got the latest copy of Wargames Illustrated and I got the 2013 FoW Late War Catalogue.

Thanks also to the organisers and to everyone who brought terrain along. It was a mammoth effort to bring the whole weekend together, and they did a sterling job. Reflecting on our force, I think we tried to cover too many bases with too little stuff. Maybe being more one dimensional and strong in one area would have served us well, but we chose our list to have some historical context and work with the models we already had and enjoy playing.

We find it satisfying to get a “combined arms” force running smoothly, but it was a bit beyond us this time. Tactically we made the odd small blunder, but no major disasters. In four of the games we were either beaten by better players or the clock.

 As for the luck of the dice, the bad rolls are always the ones you remember most, but I suspect the numbers averaged out more or less. It was more the timing of the bad rolls that hurt us. The higher the stakes, the lower the numbers we rolled, and the lucky break we were “owed” failed to materialise. If the dice gods are reading this, Scott and I both expect a torrent of sixes at Call To Arms! Two draws and three defeats doesn’t necessarily make for the most fun weekend of gaming I’ve had, but overall it was a good time.

The highlight for me was playing with Scott instead of against him all the time. Through every game we hung together as a team and managed to keep each other’s spirits up. We’ll always be bound by our crushing defeat, and are considering a “redemption” theme for next year’s Panzerschreck. But for now, I’m off to introduce some dice to my wide selection of hammers…

 Cheers, Paul.