PS NJ
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2021
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 503
- Country
So to wrap up another great Albany tournament experience, I enjoyed every one my games and the camaraderie of a fine group of people. It was heartwarming to see so many longtime friends, especially those I haven't seen in a long time like Vic and Dr. Rob.
Thanks to Steve for organizing things and keeping everyone on track. A big thanks to Joe for handling some serious adversity from the hotel management and for making an awesome diorama. While I didn't win anything in the raffle for the first time (thanks to Steve's new and clearly malfunctioning raffle drawing app), there was some cool stuff in the raffle as always. Congrats to Bill on the win. I was psyched to win the 'Balls' award for highest winning PBS bid, I will display them (I mean it) with pride! Went 5-1 overall and took home the 4th place plaque.
For the final round I played my friend Jim Bishop who was visiting all the way from Germany. We picked Panther Cull DTF16. Since I played it once before I took the germans and suggested we give them three extra concealment plus downgrading the US 9-2 to a 9-1. This is a fun, short scenario where two panthers and six squads defend four buildings against six assorted brits AFVs (a 76LL challenger, three 75 Comets, one 94* comet, and a scout car) with a 9-2 AL, plus five riding 747 US squads. The Allies need four net VC points. They get 2 points for controlling each of four multi-hex stone buildings, three points per panther, and subtract one per AFV lost. Since the Allies can come in on three board edges the germans need to spread out across a 20-30 hex front. IMO the germans need to deny the allies an easy entry into the village, keep the panthers from getting swarmed, and should give up the forward factory without a fight. I think a winning approach for the allies is to take the factory with one or two squads but to focus everyone else on swarming one panther before they have the chance to pair up with some supporting infantry. Then they are very tough to approach.
Jim guessed exactly which two of my six big concealment counters were my panthers, but came on heavy in the center without pressing my panthers too directly. This allowed me to concentrate in the middle (pictured at start of allied turn 2) with lots of PF/Psk toting infantry supporting the panthers to make any 'dance of death' unpleasant. Jim struggled a bit on what to do next and didn't make much progress allied turns 2 and 3. Turns 4 and 5 he pushed hard for a rear building and pressed my tanks but both managed to go into motion (one getting sN smoke) making them very hard to hit. His infantry passed an 8(-2) shot only to fall to a 2(-2) shot. This is a fun, quick scenario with a lot of puzzle-like complexity.
Thanks to Steve for organizing things and keeping everyone on track. A big thanks to Joe for handling some serious adversity from the hotel management and for making an awesome diorama. While I didn't win anything in the raffle for the first time (thanks to Steve's new and clearly malfunctioning raffle drawing app), there was some cool stuff in the raffle as always. Congrats to Bill on the win. I was psyched to win the 'Balls' award for highest winning PBS bid, I will display them (I mean it) with pride! Went 5-1 overall and took home the 4th place plaque.
For the final round I played my friend Jim Bishop who was visiting all the way from Germany. We picked Panther Cull DTF16. Since I played it once before I took the germans and suggested we give them three extra concealment plus downgrading the US 9-2 to a 9-1. This is a fun, short scenario where two panthers and six squads defend four buildings against six assorted brits AFVs (a 76LL challenger, three 75 Comets, one 94* comet, and a scout car) with a 9-2 AL, plus five riding 747 US squads. The Allies need four net VC points. They get 2 points for controlling each of four multi-hex stone buildings, three points per panther, and subtract one per AFV lost. Since the Allies can come in on three board edges the germans need to spread out across a 20-30 hex front. IMO the germans need to deny the allies an easy entry into the village, keep the panthers from getting swarmed, and should give up the forward factory without a fight. I think a winning approach for the allies is to take the factory with one or two squads but to focus everyone else on swarming one panther before they have the chance to pair up with some supporting infantry. Then they are very tough to approach.
Jim guessed exactly which two of my six big concealment counters were my panthers, but came on heavy in the center without pressing my panthers too directly. This allowed me to concentrate in the middle (pictured at start of allied turn 2) with lots of PF/Psk toting infantry supporting the panthers to make any 'dance of death' unpleasant. Jim struggled a bit on what to do next and didn't make much progress allied turns 2 and 3. Turns 4 and 5 he pushed hard for a rear building and pressed my tanks but both managed to go into motion (one getting sN smoke) making them very hard to hit. His infantry passed an 8(-2) shot only to fall to a 2(-2) shot. This is a fun, quick scenario with a lot of puzzle-like complexity.