American Civil War Action

A few weeks back my friend Stewart invited me over to play a three-vs.-three game of Regimental Fire and Fury, my first ever game of American Civil War gaming.  The forces were randomly generated and the scenario was simple:  the US forces were to attempt to flank the Confederate forces, and drive them from the field.  I was assigned a brigade of Confederates from Georgia.

North Carolinian troops arrive on the Confederate left, supported by a battery of guns.

The Confederate center, manned by Louisianans, and some of my Georgians moving forward along the road to form the right.

Union troops advance on the left, but are met in the woods by the rebels.  This area would see fierce hand-to-hand fighting.

My Georgians would hold the wooded right flank against repeated charges from Union soldiers.

The center would also see fierce fighting, as the Union guns could fire here unimpeded by woods.  These stone walls would be the only defense against the larger numbers of the Union army.

After many turns and many casualties on both sides, we called it a draw.  Both armies had reached their morale limit, and were mostly spent.  Thanks for hosting Stewart!

Gauntlet Con Tournament

This past weekend a new historical gaming convention was held here in Sacramento, The Gauntlet.  We had 10 players for a Mid War 109 point warm-up for West Coast Nationals in Las Vegas.  I brought an Armored Panzergrenadier list from Ghost Panzers, with the Reconnaissance Company build card to represent a Gepanzerte Aufklärungskompanie.

In Round One I played against Mason and his Churchill Armoured Squadron in Counterattack.

Mason's Churchills made broad advance supported by armored cars.  My Nebelwerfers and Mortars concentrate on the 25 pounder battery.

My defense, Panzergranadiers and artillery.  

My other objective was defended by Assault Pioneers and Sd Kfz 231s, but the Panthers arrive quickly from reserve.

Once the Churchills get closer I ambush with the Marders, knocking out several.

The Panthers blunt the Churchills that were threatening the right objective, and knock out a few armored cars as well.

Once the Panthers arrived the Churchills were in trouble.  I was able to knock out all of his formation units and win 8-1.

My second game was against Clive and a combined US Armored Rifle Company and British Crusader Armoured Squadron.  I would be attacking in Breakthrough.

I push forward out of the pre-plotted artillery area, but can't go much further since the Armored Rifles are Regulars and in a fortified building.  The halftracks are lurking as well.  A whole Crusader Squadron is waiting in reserve as well. 

My Panthers and Armored Infantry try to work around the fortified church, but 6 pounders ambush the halftracks, knocking them all out.  I lost half of my unit as well.

Half of a second Armored Rifle unit would support the anti-tank guns and my attack would stall due to the firepower concentrated in this area.  

My Assault Pioniers came in from flank attack, but while my flamethrowers killed a pair of supporting jeeps, they couldn't hurt the halftracks.  I couldn't immediately assault them due to the volume of fire, and the spread out Armored Rifle would quickly move to reinforce the objective.

We would time out to a 1-3 draw, I lost both Panzergrenadier platoons and the Marders, while only destroying an Armored Recon unit, but my Pioniers were still sitting near his objective.  Looking back I should have sent a second unit in the flank attack.

My last game was against Sam and his British Motor Company, attacking in No Retreat.

I moved aggressively forward towards the front objective, which was hiding behind Sam's dice tower, with my Pioniers and infantry.  Nebelwerfers and Panthers would knock one of Sam's 25 pounder batteries down to a single gun.

The Pioniers move through the minefields, and assault a Motor platoon out of the trees, then clear some of the mines to allow the half-tracks to follow.  More infantry and armored cars advance forward by turn three.

Unfortunately, Sam had a Motor platoon in ambush, and they showed up close enough to move into the houses near the objective.  M-10s and Universal Carriers would come in from reserve soon after, to reinforce the objective, and the Brits even captured one of my 231 armored cars! One last desperate attempt to throw off the defenders would see me pushed back by defensive fire from my own armored car...

Well, another draw, this time 3-3.  I destroyed a Motor platoon and two units of Universal Carriers, while Sam chased off my Marders, Panthers, Pioniers, and armored cars.  So close to a victory, but not quite.

Overall, a good event and I enjoyed playing this list.  Top score was 17 points, as everyone had at least one draw, and my 12 points were good enough for third place.  I predict that there will be lots of draws at Nationals at this high point level.

Not-so-Quick Game: FJs vs. Polish Home Army

Had a game against Alan and his Polish Home Army force at Great Escape Games a few days back.  We played Late War at 1765 points, the mission was Encounter.

Alan's Polish Home Army was quite large and I would be on the defensive early.

Alan pushed just about everything forward, concentrating on my troops that had just advanced into the buildings.

Another group of his infantry would come right up the lightly-defended middle.

My Panzerwerfers and mortars would stop them for a few turns, while thinning out their numbers.  

HMGs and captured armored cars would put pressure on the center building, but panzershrecks would chase off the cars.

More stolen German equipment would arrive from reserve, including Panthers.  The Poles hold the church.

Yet more Polish troops arrive from reserve and chase my Panzerwerfers out of the woods.  The then clear my HQ out of the smaller treeline, but are hemmed in by StuGs.

Marder IIs arrive from reserve along with some FJs, and begin to put fire into the church.

Both of our forces were mostly exhausted after about 12 turns, so we called it.  

Whenever two large infantry forces battle it gets ugly, especially when they're both Fearless.  We played for about 3.5 hours to a 3-1 draw.

2018 Review

A whole year back home now and I saw a large uptick in the amount of games I was able to play, even though the NorCal Flames of War club saw diminishing numbers and less frequent events.  I also ran several events.  Sadly, I only painted two things, though I did build quite a few that are ready for the airbrush.  2019 will see me finishing a huge Team Yankee commission for my friend Dave, and hopefully some stuff for me!

Gaming wise, I got to play in three major events in Arizona and California, plus a bunch of smaller local events and friendly games.  I finally got play some Star Wars games, both Armada and X-Wing 2.0.

2.8cm sPzB 41

British Para Objective

New crew for my StuG III A Batterie

Shifting Sands

Kublacon

Pacificon

I completely went crazy when it came to buying more than I painted, but I blame new Flames of War plastics and the purchase of a Bolt Action army.  116 new models versus 2 painted.  Hopefully I get closer to breaking even in 2019.

Additions to the Mountain

Next up is MidWar Nationals in Las Vegas this February.  I need to finish a West German Team Yankee army from a commission and a pair of Panther ds for myself before then.