I picked up the base game and a fair number of extra models last week and I was able to set up the game at the FLGS tonight. I bought the Pripyat marsh mat so we used that for all our games tonight. For my first game, I played as the Brits and went with a Sherman Firefly with high velocity ammo, two Sherman Vs, and a Cromwell. My opponent (mainly plays Star Wars: Armada and Euros) took the Germans and chose two Panzer IVs, a StuG III, and a Panther with Wittman in command.
A few things stuck me right off the bat.
I found it a bit odd that British Shermans are much less robust than their US counterparts for some reason. Oh well. Guess it's for play balance.
The British semi-indirect bonus to firing while stationary was teeth gnashingly frustrating as the Cromwell is a speed demon so you want to keep it moving in order to get around and get flank and rear shots off. The Brit Shermans can't take a lot of hits so it's a real gamble to stay still and trade shots with the Germans. You're much harder to hit if you're moving at full speed but then your accuracy suffers and, as the Brit, you lose your bonus.
Anyway, the Germans stuck their StuG and both Panzer IVs in a tight group and sent them into the woods for cover while their Panther brazenly charged off to one side. I put one of my Sherman Vs into the woods and hid the Firefly behind a building so that only a bit of it was peaking out. I sent the other Sherman V with the Cromwell to try to get around behind the Pz IVs and the StuG.
Wittmann gave the Panther an initiative bonus so it always got to fire first. It zeroed in on the stationary Sherman V and landed some good hits on it, nearly taking it out on the first turn. The Firefly fired back and managed to get a lucky critical on the Panther and set it on fire. Nobody else managed to score a hit.
On the second turn, the Panther crew managed to extinguish the fire and knock out the Sherman but the Firefly tagged them again with another crit which stunned the crew.
The Pz IVs lightly damaged the other Sherman V and one took minor damage in return.
Because the Panther's crew was stunned, the Firefly got to fire simultaneously and, thanks to its high velocity ammo and the Brit's special ability, landed a killing shot in exchange for having one of its tracks blown off.
The Pz IVs knocked out the other Sherman V but the Cromwell got behind them and heavily damaged one. They were forced to alter their positions next turn in order to face the Cromwell and allow the StuG to turn around. The Firefly, having repaired its damaged track, moved up and had a nice shot at the rear of the remaining Jerries. It finished off the heavily damaged Pz IV. The Cromwell continued zipping around like a meth addict and got some shots into the side of the remaining Pz IV but took a few hits in return.
Combined fire from the Firefly and Cromwell took out the last Pz IV but the Cromwell's engine took a crit from the StuG.
Both sides had terrible rolls on the next turn and everyone whiffed on their shots but the Cromwell crew was able to repair the engine damage.
the StuG landed a light hit on the Cromwell but then decided to call it a day and bugger off the map as the Brit tanks were close enough that they could easily steer outside of the firing arc.
Whole game took about 45 minutes to play out and never felt like it was dragging or getting bogged down. Lots of laughs, lots of cursing at the dice, lots of wondering what the devs were smoking with some of the rules. We decided to make a house rule and say that the movement arrow must always be placed at the front of the tank in order to slow down reverse movement.
The second game was against a friend who was the one that set this whole night up. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a write off off as my friend had a staff party tonight and showed up with a few too many drinks in him. Lots of cringing as he managed to drop pretty much every single component he touched on the ground. Seeing his condition, I just ran the Barkman's corners scenario but subbed in Brits in favour of the US as I already had the minis out on the map. He didn't fare too well and I managed to take out his Panther without a loss.
The third game game was ridiculously fun. I played against a guy who's really into Bolt Action (not a system I enjoy myself. Actually, all the guys I played against are regular Bolt Action players) and he wanted to give this a whirl. He took the USA and fielded two Shermans with 76mm guns and a Pershing. I had a Tiger I with elite commander, deadly gunner, and tungsten ammo, and two Pz IVs. Things went well for me initially as I had great luck with the dice and my Tiger was an absolute beast. It ripped the Pershing up quite handily and did a fair bit of damage to one of the Shermans. Luck changed though and the Yanks always seemed to crit me once per turn and I always drew the "lucky shot" crits. I took 3 crits and was down 6 hull points. My Tiger took out one of the Shermans and died right after. I figured that mopping up the final Sherman shouldn't be a problem with my two remaining Pz IVs as the German's special ability lets them make an extra move at the end of the round so I should always be able to flank him. His damned gyroscopic mount was my undoing though. He just gunned the engine and plinked away at me and I couldn't manage to land a good hit. In the end, he took out my last Pz IV while he had only 2 hull points left.
I'm kind of surprised at just how much I'm enjoying this game as I'm a bit of a grog at heart and tend to prefer rule sets that strive for realism via complex granularity. At any rate, there were quite a few observers and the game seemed to be a hit. Three guys ordered copies of the base game and some extra minis after watching our game so hopefully we can set up a regular group here.
Edited by user Friday, February 24, 2017 3:13:26 AM(UTC)
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