Major Issues
Elder Member
Very late AAR – I’ve been hiding after being named a 'person of interest' in the Mueller probe.
Played Blitzkrieg! with Justiciar at Winter Offensive. This is actually the first time we had played. And, if he gets his wish, probably the last! He took the Germans, I had the French.
We picked this even though it is a little big for a tournament. We started first thing in the morning. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe the excitement, maybe the fact that at least one of us was drinking heavily. (I did have a bottle of fine French wine on the table as inspiration.) But neither one of us brought our ‘A’ game. He forgot to fire Smoke. I forgot to DFF some AT guns to get them pointed the right direction.
Big board. French are defending stone buildings all over.
Germans can come in on two sides. Five German tanks come in on turn 1, five on turn 3. Stukas will also join the party. The French get 10 tanks that come in on turns 2-5.
If you haven’t played any of the Death To Fascism scenarios, SMCs and SWs can set up HIP, and both sides receive points to purchase additional SWs. Andy bought a big mortar. Going for AT capability, I bought every ATR and 37* INF gun I could. The nice thing about the latter is that they come with a crew. I figured the French could use additional bodies to defend the buildings.
This wasn’t my favorite sort of game to do a defense setup. My infantry were scattered around, and it seemed like a ‘hold until broken, then die’ defense. The French are very short of leaders. The buildings are scattered, and I didn’t feel I could completely abandon any one area. My AA and AT guns were set to make a killing field of the north side of the stream. All the ATRs and 37* guns were towards the west edge.
All the Germans entered on the south edge, and easily crossed the stream. I started plinking away at his tanks with my 25mms. I did Shock one, but it recovered. Return fire got a CH on my AA gun. Ouch!
Three Somua S-35s came in on the east edge of board 66 and headed for the hill. S-35s are awesome tanks for 1940, except for the weird paint jobs. They usually look like they were painted by an untalented child. Who was colorblind. And had lost most of his box of paints. Or, they were painted by a genius French artiste who is ahead of his time and greatly misunderstood.
Andy Smoked one AT gun, so I tried to push it out of the hex. They are little and light. Even a small child could do it. But not a small French child. I think I failed to push it three times. The crew did break a charging squad, firing inherent out of the smoke. A 468 got into the hex, and was killed by them in CC. All part of the plan...
Meanwhile, I nailed three tanks, while losing none. The German light tanks came on, and began rushing east. I started to shift my western infantry over, as it didn’t look like there was going to be a push for the western buildings.
For my second tank platoon, I brought on three H39s from the north edge to shoot at his infantry as they tried to cross the board 66 open ground.
Andy threw in the towel. While his infantry losses had been light, I think he lost 4 tanks, including all the good IIIFs. The Stukas, when they came in, may have been able to take out a tank or two. But he was left with mostly light tanks, and chances are I could take out a couple with my tanks, ATRs or the INF guns. Every tank he lost meant he needed another stone building for victory. He didn’t feel he was going to be able to take that many buildings.
Andy thought that this was pro-French. I’m not so sure. There are a lot of potential buildings to be taken, and the Germans can concentrate on one area to get them. But they will need to take buildings somewhere else on the map, also.
German 8, French 10 on ROAR.
Having defeated the Hun, just like we did in 1918, we retired to the cafe. Someone took out a concertina. We discussed Voltaire and cassoulet, secure in the knowledge that the Germans would never return.
Played Blitzkrieg! with Justiciar at Winter Offensive. This is actually the first time we had played. And, if he gets his wish, probably the last! He took the Germans, I had the French.
We picked this even though it is a little big for a tournament. We started first thing in the morning. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe the excitement, maybe the fact that at least one of us was drinking heavily. (I did have a bottle of fine French wine on the table as inspiration.) But neither one of us brought our ‘A’ game. He forgot to fire Smoke. I forgot to DFF some AT guns to get them pointed the right direction.
Big board. French are defending stone buildings all over.
Germans can come in on two sides. Five German tanks come in on turn 1, five on turn 3. Stukas will also join the party. The French get 10 tanks that come in on turns 2-5.
If you haven’t played any of the Death To Fascism scenarios, SMCs and SWs can set up HIP, and both sides receive points to purchase additional SWs. Andy bought a big mortar. Going for AT capability, I bought every ATR and 37* INF gun I could. The nice thing about the latter is that they come with a crew. I figured the French could use additional bodies to defend the buildings.
This wasn’t my favorite sort of game to do a defense setup. My infantry were scattered around, and it seemed like a ‘hold until broken, then die’ defense. The French are very short of leaders. The buildings are scattered, and I didn’t feel I could completely abandon any one area. My AA and AT guns were set to make a killing field of the north side of the stream. All the ATRs and 37* guns were towards the west edge.
All the Germans entered on the south edge, and easily crossed the stream. I started plinking away at his tanks with my 25mms. I did Shock one, but it recovered. Return fire got a CH on my AA gun. Ouch!
Three Somua S-35s came in on the east edge of board 66 and headed for the hill. S-35s are awesome tanks for 1940, except for the weird paint jobs. They usually look like they were painted by an untalented child. Who was colorblind. And had lost most of his box of paints. Or, they were painted by a genius French artiste who is ahead of his time and greatly misunderstood.
Andy Smoked one AT gun, so I tried to push it out of the hex. They are little and light. Even a small child could do it. But not a small French child. I think I failed to push it three times. The crew did break a charging squad, firing inherent out of the smoke. A 468 got into the hex, and was killed by them in CC. All part of the plan...
Meanwhile, I nailed three tanks, while losing none. The German light tanks came on, and began rushing east. I started to shift my western infantry over, as it didn’t look like there was going to be a push for the western buildings.
For my second tank platoon, I brought on three H39s from the north edge to shoot at his infantry as they tried to cross the board 66 open ground.
Andy threw in the towel. While his infantry losses had been light, I think he lost 4 tanks, including all the good IIIFs. The Stukas, when they came in, may have been able to take out a tank or two. But he was left with mostly light tanks, and chances are I could take out a couple with my tanks, ATRs or the INF guns. Every tank he lost meant he needed another stone building for victory. He didn’t feel he was going to be able to take that many buildings.
Andy thought that this was pro-French. I’m not so sure. There are a lot of potential buildings to be taken, and the Germans can concentrate on one area to get them. But they will need to take buildings somewhere else on the map, also.
German 8, French 10 on ROAR.
Having defeated the Hun, just like we did in 1918, we retired to the cafe. Someone took out a concertina. We discussed Voltaire and cassoulet, secure in the knowledge that the Germans would never return.
