Played the following at WO:
WO31 Ma Duece Delivers vs David Ford: I had the Germans with their 3 King Tigers and pedestrian infantry vs the Americans and their two Meat Choppers, 4 turn 3 arriving TD's and their pedestrian infantry, bucked up by a 9-2. The VC revolve around either clearing G/O Americans from adjacent to a road that stretched the width of a Fort board OR grabbing buildings, the exact number of which can be reduced by the positive difference between German armor lost and American armor lost. This last part proved decisive, as my opponent didn't realize the OR condition (as opposed to AND) until later in the game.
To compensate for this, my armor leader KT and another KT both boxed their MA and proceeded to recall themselves. I at least had the satisfaction of watching the armor leaders KT roast for his incompetence. This not withstanding, I was able to overwhelm one Chopper (Insert Arnold accent here) and made good headway towards the buildings. My opponent, by now realizing that it was either/or for the VC and I was not in the least bit worried about the road VC, began to concentrate on the buildings. The personal highlight for me was my 6+1 leader, an elred 7-0, taking out an American TD, with an ATMM. Burning it in fact, and the other infantry managing to make up for the KT's lack of enthusiasm by getting two more. One of my recalled KT's made it off board, and the other survived the battle, giving me all the buildings I needed to win at the end. Dave would have had to counterattack to take a building back and no longer had the manpower. So despite a 7 cars to 1 snakes game, I was able to pull it out. Interesting scenario. I suspect there will be a lot of discussion about this one.
RO2 Second Step vs Brian Wiersma: I played Brian as the Germans in this one. Brian is an elite player who went on to win the tournament and he doped the defense out for this one perfectly. The Germans need to clear out 3 factories in 7 turns. They are supported by pre-registered 200mm Rocket OBA, a couple of 81 mm mortars and a Stug B for smoke and some variable arriving Stukas that attack into a mixed conscript/1st line/elite Russian force, holding 6 factories in front of them.
There is a forward factory that is somewhat of a speed bump. Brian put the conscripts in there. There is a small gutted/roofless factory to the right rear of it. Brian used this as speed bump number two. To the left front of the German attack is a large factory where Brian used some of his fortified buildings, his three wire and two minefields to shut down. It was manned by 6-2-8 guards and was easily re-enforced from the rear factories before the Stuka's would have a chance to arrive. As we did a post-mortem, despite having to draw two cards, this is where the OBA should have gone. The 200's could have blown a hole through the wire and mines in addition to potentially causing some loss to the defenders within, all provided the never accurate rockets drifted the right way. In the event, I went for the rear of the gimme house as there seemed to be a concentration of force there. However the first turn led me to reconsider my rockets and they came down on the rear portion of the second speed bump factory, causing casualties and other assorted mayhem.
Factory one took two turns, factory two another two, although counterattacks there forced me to keep forces guarding it in excess of what I would have preferred. As the rockets didn't hit the big building, I likely tied up more squads trying to give a show of force there, then I should have. About 5-6 in all, that dwindled as needs piled up elsewhere. This left three turns to try to shoot through a funnel into the third factory and it just was not going to happen. Fire from both sides frequently encircled my guys and I was only able to get one hex in the last factory and was clearly going to be repulsed in the effort to take it. There just was not enough time and Germans to clear it. I would have had to clear either to the left or right of the funnel and that would have taken the remaining time.
Good win for Brian and a brilliant defense. He correctly groked the defense the first time seeing the scenario and I think his defense, properly executed, will result in Russian wins, likely, 70% of the time. The other 30% the rockets might find enough of their mark on the left hand building to make a difference and undermine the defense there. Good game.
WO30 As Luck Would Have It Game three was against Lindsey Murillo. I again had attacking Germans against his defending Brit Para-troopers in Normandy. My Germans had to gain 8 more VP and did so by capturing building and exiting personnel off the opposite side of the board. 11 German squads backed by a MKIV and three OT SPG's against 8 Birt paras and a 57L ATG and a 9-2 ldr. Bocage is in effect and all hedges are Bocage.
I went after the extreme right of Lindsey's defense and muscled his one top of the board squad out of the way. During his turn one, Lindsey missed a LOS and it cost him the 9-2 and a squad, so his infantry was 75% mission killed after turn one. I was hoping that Lindsey would have the ATG down towards the middle of the board looking to block the exit vc part of the condition and he did.
I was able to turn his flank and get into the stone buildings on the map before the Brits were. This meant Lindsey had to counter attack the main German position. Lindsey got one tank to knock a point off my total when I tried to overrun a vulnerable British squad and got my teeth kicked in for my troubles as the tank failed miserably. Still, I had an 8-0 who was running for the board edge with the captured squad that used to guard the north and things looked good as I was still 5 to the good early in the game. The ATG had to be manhandled across the middle of the board and never fired a shot in anger.
Lindsey did break the 8-0 and reduce the prisoners to a HS as they tried to sneak off the board, but the 8-0 rallied and with another HS sneaked off the board for another 4 points and further -1 leader and squad got off by game end, giving me 14 points -1 for the tank = 13. More than the 8 needed. In retrospect, probably best to put the ATG in the rear/middle where he will have the best chance of being engaged somehow and the bulk of the British infantry smack center with delaying troops on either flank. If the Germans go board edge, you have time to react and pin them to the top or bottom of the board and you can beat them into the VC buildings. An interesting scenario. I think Pete has a good one here.
WO29 Pynda Avenged: This one sees a Greek force trying to capture more buildings in a town than the Italians hold at game end. The specific condition is within 4 of Z13 on a Fort board. My opponent was Kevin Killeen. Kevin had the Italians and I the attacking Greeks. The Italians are your father's Italians with 3-4-6's and 2 ELR. The game pretty much was a slow grind as Kevin put up a good defense and slowed my attack, particularly with a 45 SW mtr from hell. The Greeks benefited greatly from the extra +1 to their broken side morale as it made the difference in several rally tries. On the last turn, the Greeks were poised to break through into the middle of the VC area and Kevin's defenders could not hold them out. I was also able to take the church, which was a 4 point swing. Another interesting scenario. Kevin thinks the Italians are too weak to pull it off and too spread out. I think the Italians might be able to pull it off with more of a point defense in the +3 buildings closer to the objective. Either way, I wouldn't mind trying it again with either side.
Good time had by all. Ended 3-1 and one of my ride down buds, Brian Wiersma took home the gold. I also got a chance to sit with Perry for a bit and catch up on some business talk about coming projects. All in all, a good time. Too bad WO is always in the winter.....................go figure.