First game in the desert

When I first learned my wife's career would bring us to New Mexico I did a little searching on the interwebs for a new group of guys to game with.  With no prospects I quickly resigned myself to four years of very little Flames of War action but lucky for me I found a small group of mostly brand new players at a local comic shop here in Las Cruces, Zia Comics.  I found their Facebook group and arranged for a game last week and played Adrian Lopez.

2000 points of Panzers vs. Soviet tanks in Counterattack.

Panzers cross the river to fire on the Soviet infantry.

My attempt to force the bridge crossing ultimately failed.

Again, I get to the objective a bit early...

As the reserve T-34s shot me in the flank...

Panthers get some payback though!

Outnumbered...

But victorious!

Just about everything else in my army was dead though, and I failed company morale.  4-3 victory for Adrian.

Last game in Cali...

Now that I'm mostly moved in and unpacked I finally have some time to update.  Gotta squeeze it in before the end of the year, right?
Dave Ripperda and I have known each other for more than 10 years, since the old Mechwarrior clix game.  We've been playing Flames of War for about seven.  We drove down to Gamescape North in San Rafael, CA for what was supposed to be an open play day with a few other guys but we were the only ones who showed up.  Since most of my stuff was packed for the move, I had to throw a list together with what I could still access.  German Panzers with some proxies.  Dave took some Finnish tanks but they were well supported by artillery and infantry.

We played Counterattack and here is my deployment.  Dave occupies the buildings with infantry. 

Panzers chasing his reserve KVs.

I got to the objective early, but now had to defend against his reserves and artillery.

My infantry assault, pushing back his lines.

Eventually breaking into his artillery park, doing quite a bit of damage.  Unfortunately, most of my tanks were dead by now from some very deadly T-34/85s and flank shots.  4-3 win for Dave.  

Thanks for one last round at GS North!  Great shop, if anyone's ever in the San Francisco area it's worth the drive across the Golden Gate Bridge up to San Rafael.

Last Round with Reno?

Got a chance to play Reno the other night, possibly for the last time.  Reno quickly became one of my favorite opponents and it's been awesome gaming with him.  He's also a wild and crazy guy and a great friend.  I was supposed to be packing in preperation for my move to New Mexico, but when Reno called me and asked if I was up for a game, I decided to put off the work for a few hours.  Thanks mucho for the desperately needed diversion!

Both of us used the armies we want to bring to Shifting Sands in January.  I ran the custom Stugbatterie and Reno had a SP Artillery Regiment.  We decided to play a Fighting Withdrawl since that is one of the missions being played at Shifting Sands.  The board is pretty standard with trees, buildings, a river, etc.

My deployment: StuHs on the far side, StuGs on the close one.  Scouts holding the center with the CiC, Marders in Ambush.  Reno lurks in the background.

Reno's side: Su-122s on both flanks, 45mm ATGs on the left, 57mm guns in the center.  Rota platoon and Recon supporting the right side Su-122s.

Pre-game Recon moves from us both.

Reno's Turn One:  Armored cars try to MG my Scouts but miss.  Other stuff advances.

My Turn One:  The CiC (not a Panzer III, it's a StuG D!) moves through the trees to support the Scouts, destroying one.

StuHs roll out from behind the trees and shoot at some Su-122s, but miss.

A StuG fires at a single 122 through the buildings, but also miss.  

Another fires on the Rota and gets a transport, killing one of it's passengers.  

Rota gets dumped out!  Weird blue tint can be blamed on my aquarium light...

Reno's Turn Two:  57mm guns fire at the StuGs but miss.

Armored cars push onwards, firing at the Scouts, but they've Dug In.

Rota unpins and charges towards the center objective supported by Su-122s.

More Su-122s attempt to engage the StuGs in the trees, but miss.

My Turn Two:  Marders appear from Ambush!  

StuHs fire on the Rota, killing two stands.

Marders destroy two Su-122s.

StuGs fire on and destroy 3 of 4 Su-122s.

Scouts withdraw from the Rota threat, CiC moves to counter the armored cars.

Reno's Turn Three:  Lone Su-122 Bails Out a StuG.

Armored cars get crazy and kill a Scout stand.  Rota keeps charging forward.

My Turn Three:  StuGs finish one of the Su-122 companies.

CiC gets another armored car.

Marders Bog Down... (what else is new?)

StuHs continue to fire on the Rota, killing two more.

Reno's Turn Four:  Su-122s get a little revenge, knocking out a StuH!

Rota keeps advancing, bringing the CiC with them.

They Assault after hitting two stands with their flamethrower.  

The Rota quickly finish the Scouts and consolidate towards the objective.

My Turn Four:  StuGs move to assist the CiC, killing another armored car.

CiC MGs a Rota stand.  Both platoons make their check.

Marders unbog, then re-bog...  StuHs Bail an Su-122.

Reno's Turn Five:  122 gets back in and Bails a StuH.

Rota Digs In, CiC and armored car fire on the StuG D, but miss.

Unfortunately for me, I forgot about the 57mm guns across the board...  They quickly made me pay for my mistake, killing a StuG and Bailing the other.

Reno's CiC then Double Bails the remaining StuG which then fails it's platoon Morale...

Allowing his 45mm guns (!?) to capture my objective.  Seriously, has this ever happened before?  5-2 for Reno!!

Reno, I love you man.  You have made the NorCal circuit an awesome place to roll dice.  You travel more than any of the other regulars and paint some beautiful communists.  I really hope you get down to the desert in January.  Some hotel down there must have a bathrobe that needs flung out a window.

I'm digging the Stugbatterie!  Even though they lost, it was looking good until Reno made all of his Morale checks and I failed the important one.  Also, Marders why can't you ever drive?!, lol.   I've never seen an anti-tank gun capture an objective, so this game immediately makes the list of awesome.