General's Day at Knightly Gaming

A smashing time, smashing tanks (and infantry)

Once again, I found myself out in the quaint town of Lanark to visit the ever welcoming 'Knightly Gaming', run by Brett Knight. The last time I was down was for his opening back in late September.
This time around the plan was to have a 'General's Day'. A day where novice (or experienced) players of Flames of War could come down and have a few games to hammer out some of the rules with lower points cost and experience playing a different opponent than usual.

The shiny new sign that went up a week after opening

Let the games begin

I rolled into the shop around half-past nine with my good friend Iain; who was acting as driver and an extra player today. With two tables set up and the points being a lower value, we were looking to get a good few games in over the course of the day.

With one of the tables set up as a Soviet style town, I got to work setting out the other in a Western European style, using a good whack of Gale Force Nine terrain. A few bocages, a destroyed church and a smattering of houses; the table was then ready to go.

A good looking table, ready for the day's battles

In addition to Iain bringing his German Grenadier Kompanie, we also had on the day; Keni with his British rifles, Martin fielding German Panzers, Murray with American Paratroopers, Tommy with Russian Tankovy and James with the 51st Highland Division Rifle Company.

The original idea was to have players show up and have ready-made armies for them to use, but time constraints alas made this an idea for the future. Instead, players were to make an army of 750pts to use, and led to some interesting ideas. One such idea was Keni taking the bare minimum rifle platoons, command and... 3 Churchill Crocodiles.

Keni's Crocodiles, a daunting prospect with their armour and flamethrowers.

The first games were set up, with Tommy and Martin being regular opponents, instead we split them, letting Martin face the daunting prospect of the Crocs, while Tommy's Tankovy Batalion faced off against James' Reluctant Veteran Highlanders.

Martin was apprehensive about the Crocodiles after finding out that against the front armour, his Panzer IVs could do absolutely nothing. But, after giving him some encouragement and advice about getting round the sides of the lumbering behemoths, he felt a little more confident about the idea, even if sometimes his dice rolls let him down.

A lucky shot from the Churchill's 75mm gun ends one of the Panzers

The game was a decent one though, with both players having a run of luck which came to a shuddering halt. Eventually, the armour of the Crocs held out against the Panzers. It was a closer game than the result made it look though, with Martin's long, looping flank manoeuvre taking a large chunk of his tanks out of the game for a while. But, that's what the day was all about; learning some tactics, seeing what worked and what didn't.  

 Over on the other table, it looked to be a one sided affair from the set-up. But, as they say, looks can be deceiving. Tommy advanced his Soviet T-34s (Some looking a little Sherman-ish, towards James' dug in Brits. I didn't watch the majority of the game, as I was helping Keni and Martin with their game, but on the occasions that I took a walk over to the other table, it seemed the game was an interesting one. 

A formidable line of Brits await the Russian armour

A few early exchanges let to some burning armour left strewn across the cornfield, while the few remaining tanks wheeled round the house after dealing with the couple of Shermans James had as support; the fearsome 85mm guns on the T-34s making a mockery of the front armour.

"Dress up tank as Emcha, confuse opponent. Nothing can go wrong"

As Keni and Martin's game wrapped up, I managed to catch the end of the game between Tommy and James. The 6-pdrs doing their bit to slow the advance of the few remaining Soviet tanks. for the most part, both knew the rules fine, there were just a few to hammer out, and a couple of reminders about little things such as 'Cautious, Not Stupid' for the Highlanders. It was the Brits who won the day, as the last Russian tank went up in smoke.

The Soviets make a final push round the flanks, but it is to no avail as the last tank goes up

It was at this point we broke for lunch, and some lovely fish (or in my case sausage) and chips.

 Second half and a few more games

SIG33 and PaK40 face down the Crocs

 The afternoon began, and games were set up. This time, Murray had arrived with his American Paratroopers, and Iain set out his German Grenadiers to play Martin and Keni respectively. Once again, the muttering about dealing with the Crocs arose and the advice of  'Don't panic' levied out.

 I stuck mostly to the table with Iain and Keni, offering advice to the more novice players, while still staying on hand to answer questions from the other game.

 The game began and Iain's question about dealing with the Crocs was answered for now, with his SIG33's landing a bombardment onto them and taking one out of action immediately. A small victory, but one that gave him a little confidence for now. Meanwhile, on the other end of the table, some German Grenadiers and some British Riflemen sat staring at each other, a forest for the Brits and a bocage line for the Germans, and a gap of 7" meaning neither wanted to risk moving into the open to engage for fear of being ripped to shreds by the other's MG fire.

 The Crocs then showed what they can do when they get close, by clearing out the SIG33s and knocking a few teams out of the Grenadier platoon hiding in the nearby forest.  A bad move, since the PaK40s were left in action, and this was soon to be the death knell for the Churchills.

The Churchills pick their targets and inflict some damage on the Germans

Iain moved his PaKs round the building and engaged the 'weaker' side armour of the Crocs. The shots were telling though as both of the mighty machines succumbed to 75mm rounds. Withholding the usual 'I told you so', the game continued, with the British Infantry advancing from house to house down the road towards the German positions.

 Their shots were rattling off the gun shields of the PaKs as they moved to engage them. The plucky Grenadiers who had survived the horror of the flame tanks picked themselves up and advanced out of the forest to help the entrenched guns, a move that ultimately proved to be the game changer.

The Grenadiers await the advance of the Churchills

 With the Grenadiers out in the open, Keni changed targets, and whittled down the hapless Grenadiers, ultimately forcing Iain into a platoon, then a company morale check, resulting in the game going to Keni. Iain definitely learnt some lessons about dealing with heavy tanks, and the importance of keeping platoons safe. I also think that Keni learned that while something as big and impressive as a Churchill Crocodile can add some punch to a force, it can lead to a lot of points being sunk into a tiny part of your overall force.

A sound defensive line by the Germans was picked apart by some brave Brits

 Once again, I only caught the last turn or two of the other battle, but the dug-in Yanks were pipped to the post by some few inches as the objective was taken from them. The wrecks of the Panzers on the table though was testament to their resilience and a reminder that Infantry don't bounce off armour.

The Paratroopers leave the Panzers smouldering husks

 With both final games wrapped up, we decided to call it a day. I'm sure if it were not for travel time and tiredness setting in, we would have been able to get a lot more played. With players quite hyped about the prospect of something similar being done soon, I have no doubt that Knightly Gaming will be accommodating another day of Flames of War soon, and perhaps the word will spread and the attendee numbers will continue to rise.

 A big thank you to Brett for allowing the games to be run, and with all the set-up he did for it. Thanks to Martin, Tommy, Keni, James, Murray and Iain for attending and having some memorable games. I'm sure when this comes round again, we'll be seeing them down; Especially with Martin taking advantage of the '3 for 2' offer Battlefront have at the moment, and almost clearing Brett out of German boxes.

All that remains is for me to put up a few more pictures of the day and to sign off for now.

Murray (left) and Martin (right) engage on the Eastern Table

Iain (left) and Keni (right) battle it out on the Western table

 

Turn Two, Week One- ...Seriously?

More points, more fun!

 Turn two begins, and with it an additional 200pts for players to play with, and the added ability to take support options (Minus Tanks and Air Support). The lists that looked quite similar in the first turn start to divert a little, as players decide on the best option to take for their list. With a couple of the players using lists from the FoW Forces Book, I gave them the opportunity to branch out into one of the more specific books to give more choice. So far no-one has come to me to ask, so we'll see what happens there.

 For my own army, I kept the list from turn one and added in a machine-gun platoon and an anti-tank platoon. Now, the AT platoon might not sound like the best option, but in Late-war, the British 6pdr fires 3 shots and with a firepower of 4+, is fairly decent at digging infantry out of holes.

Lorried Rifle Company, Welsh Guards, Market Garden Book (Confident Veteran)

H.Q.

Rifle Company HQ - 40

Combat Platoons

Rifle Platoon, 2 rifle squads - 150

Rifle Platoon, 2 rifle squads - 150

Weapons Platoons

Mortar Platoon, 2 mortar sections - 130

Anti-tank platoon, 2 OQF 6pdrs - 85

Support Platoons

Machine-gun Platoon, 2 machine-gun sections - 140

Total: 695

You'll have to excuse the weak writing from here on. I was in the middle of writing this the day after when I received some bad news, and thus only continued a week later. Also excuse the lack of pictures, I tend to get too into the game to take them. Apologies again.

Taking on the Oberst

 My game for this week was against the Axis Commander, Gordon, with his 90. Sardinia Panzergrenadiers. His additions were a pair of 7.5cm leIG18 Infantry Guns, This was similar to his comrade, Iain, who instead took the 15cm Infantry guns.

 The mission I can't seem to recall. It might have been No Retreat, but details are sketchy. As the attacker, I placed an objective out in the open near a wood, so that I could probably sweep into the position with infantry, where they could hold it. Gordon placed the other behind a hill, safe in the knowledge that I would have to advance over or around it, meaning he could screen it well.

 With the mission having Reserves, Gordon elected to put his two Grenadier Platoons in reserve, while keeping his Mortar, HMG and Infantry Gun platoons on the field to form a formidable defense, and hopefully buy enough time for his Grenadiers to show up and reinforce them.
 The mortars and HMGs were positioned behind the hill, covering the advance from the railway station in the middle of the table, while the Infantry Guns were placed in the forest to deter any advance on that objective.

 I set my own Mortars behind the hill diagonally opposite his on the table, the machine-gun platoon right in the middle, dug in and safe. My 6pdrs were placed in the forest on my left flank to offer supporting fire to the advancing infantry who set up on either flank.

A quick run through

To simplify this and to let me get onto the next week's games I'll run through the battle quickly.

The first few turns were quiet for the most part, with the Infantry picking their way forward on either flank. The mortars raining destruction down upon no-one as failed rangings and lack of firepower meant casualties were scarce either side. The real meat of the pudding came when the Riflemen on my right flank swept into one of the Infantry Guns, who when trying to fall back to a safe location managed to sink into a ditch in the forest, bogging the gun down and allowing a free assault from the infantry. At the same time, a team from the rifle platoon assaulted the Infantry Gun Observers in the Train Station, hoping to clear them out easily. The riflemen in the forest performed admirably, destroying the gun and pushing the rest of the platoon off the objective; the same couldn't be said of the rifle team, who assaulted, survived the crack of the Observer's rifle and then were useless in assault, not hitting and being destroyed by a guy with a pair of binoculars. This, needless to say, amused Gordon no end as a cheer of triumph went up from the other side of the table. Oh the humanity.

That was a turn-up for the books, but the celebration was short lived as in the next few turns Gordon lost the Infantry Guns and the Mortars and HMGs were wavering under heavy fire from the 6pdrs. The late-war 6pdrs I love, due to the fact they can almost be used as slow firing HMGs. With the loss of the 'No HE' rule, 3 shots per gun and a 4+ Firepower, they make effective medium tank destroyers and semi-decent infantry removal devices.

The Infantry Gun is left to it's fate... in a ditch

The final few turns were no better for Gordon, as even though his two platoons of Grenadiers showed up, they were soon cut apart by combined fire from the HMGs, 6pdrs, and a very tactical assault from the Rifle Platoon in the forest, near the objective.

That git... I should put a price on his head

 In the penultimate, and last turns though, he had a small reason for cheer. Turn 5 came round, and determined to remove the Observer Team, my 2iC fixed-bayonet, and died the same way as the first rifle team. And then, just to compound matters, the sneaky Observers took a pot-shot at an HMG team, and killed it! Even though he lost the game, Gordon was still feeling triumphant, and lauded praise onto his Observers.

Result: Allied Win

Location Scored: Continental Hotel

XP: Gordon Hamilton: 2
        Myself: 4

Tama: Podpolkovnik Yuri Trotsky

Iain Cameron: Hauptmann Heinrich Himmelsdorf

Leon: Hauptmann Konrad von Krauz

Gordon: Oberst Boff ze Jenerals Dötter (This one might not be contemporary)

Grace: Hauptmann-Frauline Oofty Oosh Bommer

Murray: Captain Johnny Walker

Myself: Captain John-Howard Hughes

Turn One, Week Four- A last gasp push!

The Axis try to even the scores

The outcome of the last few weeks gaming meant the Axis forces were in a bad spot. They needed two wins to tie 'The Rapido', same with 'Castle Hill' and the only position currently in their favour was 'The Barracks', which were level in terms of score.

It should be noted that during this turn, any locations currently tied in points would be awarded as a victory for the Axis. So, that means their attacks would have to be meticulously planned and of course, the wins going their way to secure the points necessary.

Step forward Oberst Hamilton and Colonel MacLean

An intriguing thought struck me; perhaps there should be some sort of 'chain-of-command' for the two sides. This meant that there was more scope for planning and a little added something to the game. By this I mean that each Commander would be issued an amount of tactical edge tokens, which they would then distribute amongst their players, giving forces a small edge where necessary.

I put it to confidential vote, with the rule that you could not vote for yourself and the Allies were not allowed to vote for me. When all the votes were in, it was decided that Gordon would be Oberst (German Army Rank Colonel), and Norman would be Colonel for the Allies.

It has since come to my attention that the dastardly Axis has set up a sneaky secret base (On Facebook), in which to discuss their nefarious schemes. I hope they don't think they can get away with cheating!

The battles get underway

 The players present on the night were;

Axis

• Gordon with his 90th Sardinien Grenadiers
• Grace with her "Wee Men" Grenadiers
• Iain (Proudly displaying his fully painted army)
• Leon with his 1. Fallshirmjager

Allies

• Myself, and my 'Taffy' Guards
• Murray with his American Paras
• Colonel T. with the unpronounceable Pulyemyetno-Artillyeriyskiy 
• Ian Morton, joining in for his first foray, with his American GIs

 To save on packing up and space, it was decided that Gordon and myself would sit out. This not only let me watch over and help some of the newer players, but as I'm also the Club Secretary it allowed me to perform my administration duties.

Murray, Leon, Colonel T. and Grace fight it out on the grassy table

I decided to set up a couple of Grudge Matches on the night, with Murray and his good lady fighting it out, in what we deemed 'The Domestic', old foes Colonel T. and Leon would face off; They played each other quite often during the Tank Aces campaign, with Colonel T. infuriating people with his Konigstiger. Finally, it was the battle of the Ia(i)ns, as Iain Cameron of the Axis and Ian Morton of the Allies took the third table. This was the game I watched over, so the in-action report comes from this game.

Hesitation leads to defeat

 The mission rolled for tonight was 'Surrounded'. A good game to get your teeth into, as there are no Reserves to roll for. This was a common complaint the past few weeks, that with so few platoons on the table, having reserves can really put either, or both sides at a serious disadvantage and grind the game down.

Iain C. won the dice-off for attacker, and so it was that Ian M. set up his Infantrymen in their foxholes, with the HMGs taking up positions in the only building on the board. Iain C. then had his own HMGs split off from the rest of his force on the North side of the table as his Grenadiers advanced from the south, under the cover of the HQ Mortars.

The two forces face off, with Iain C's HMGS off camera to the left, while Ian M's hide in the house

The first few turns resulted in a few exchanges of gunfire to no effect as concealment and bulletproof cover stymied any sort of hitting power. It was turn three when some serious damage was done, sort of. Iain C's HMGs tearing into the Weapons Section near the house and picking off a couple of bases. It was at this point where Iain C could have done some serious damage by assaulting into the Weapons section, risking the fire of the HMG in the house, and the few shots from the pinned platoon. Even the mortars would have been ineffectual, being too close to provide defensive fire. Instead, Iain C elected to Stormtrooper move his Grenadiers back into the cover of the forest to get another turn of shooting in at the Weapons Section.

Iain C's impressively painted Grenadiers move through the forest

 In Ian M's turn, it seemed he would sweep some of his GIs into the HQ mortars dug in beside the river. This was the plan, but you know what they say about best laid plans. The assault was initiated, and the few SMG shots from the command stands in range managing to pick of an assaulting team. This seemed a fair trade for the mortars. Or so it seemed, as the Americans forgot to pull pins, fix bayonets or perhaps tried to resort to harsh words, since not one base hit. This was replied to by the Mortars wreaking havoc and wiping out the remaining teams, much to the shock of both players.

 This was only made worse in the following turn by Iain C's Grenadiers sweeping the Weapons Section from their foxholes and into the open, while the HMG teams had to bail out of the house and fall back to the river, where they established a strong defensive line. But, in that assault, the mortars and the 2iC himself perished to German bayonets.

 The elation was short-lived however, as the Americans had another crack at the mortars, and this time made sure to deal the damage. Not that Iain C minded, as their ranging attempts the entire game had been sub-par. Misery was heaped on as the Weapons Section poured fire on the closest Grenadiers, decimating the platoon and forcing the remaining teams to fall back. 

Early game it looked to be all going right for Iain C

 The game was declared a win for the Allies, given that the HMG section could still fire upon the remaining Americans, but to little effect, and with the other Grenadier platoon under half-strength, any further casualties would prompt motivation tests.

Result: Allied Win. 

Location scored: The Barracks

XP: Iain Cameron: 0 (Has already played two scoring games this month)
       Ian Morton: 4

The dug in Americans make the advance for the objectives a daunting task; So, the game ends

Final scores

 Elsewhere, the games had finished as follows:

Grace got bragging rights over Murray after chasing his Paratroopers from the board. The two newer players seem to be having a ball with the game, and are setting themselves up for next turn and new toys.

The safety of the monastery means nothing as the Paratroopers are soon dislodged

Result: Axis Win. 
Location Scored: The Rapido
XP: Murray: 0 (Has already played two scoring games this month)
        Grace: 0 (Has already played two scoring games this month)

 Leon and Colonel T's game was a very close run thing, with the Fallshirmjager forces down to a few teams and the same on the Soviet side. Both players were facing down in a forest, but with the stalemate in place, the Axis pushed this one.

The Machine-gun artillery seems like a good plan, until I make you attack

Result: Axis Win. 
Location Scored: The Rapido
XP: Colonel T: TBC
        Leon: TBC

 So, with this month gone and past the scores were on the board and the result was as follows:

The Rapido
Axis Wins: 2 (Axis win this area due to the draw rule)
Allied Wins: 2

Castle Hill
Axis Wins: 1
Allied Wins: 3 (Allies win this area)

The Barracks
Axis Wins: 1
Allied Wins: 2 (Allies win this area)

Turn 2: On to Cassino and across the Rapido!

 So, the rules for turn two are in a similar vein to turn one, with a few additions:

1. Players may now take up to 700pts
2. The Force List used must be the same from turn one, but may be completely restructured*
3. Support Options may be taken with exceptions
4. Tank teams are still disallowed
5. Reconnaissance teams may be taken, if their armour does not exceed 1 on the front face
6. Air support may not be taken

*This may be changed if players agree that the list being used is unsuitable.

TURN TWO: OCTOBER 1st!



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Remember Hoffel Roffel III I mentioned away back when? Here's a proper picture of the happy chappie!

Turn One, Week Three- Ten's a crowd!

Week 3

 Firstly, apologies to all for the late write up of the week's action from 17/09/2013, this was due to a few factors: I am in the middle of moving house, so time is at a premium, and of course I had to get organised for the opening of Knightly Gaming, which you can read about below.

 Secondly; Facebook is a wonderful tool. Once you get past the drama, the passive-aggressive posts and pictures of people's children. The most useful thing is the event planning; make an event, invite people and then you know who exactly is coming, so you can plan ahead. So, I went ahead and made an event for that week's Infantry Aces night. And my word, was it successful. A promise of ten players out of twelve turning up, this was not to be sniffed at.

All five games in full swing. Note, I'm absent from my chair fourth on the left being behind the camera and all...

 The match ups

 The guest list did not lie, we did in fact get ten players on the night, and with an even Axis-Allied split, this meant a good night of Blue on Red gaming. Being able to get down to the club earlier, and having an idea of how many people were likely to show up meant that tables could be grabbed for use, with an additional small table at the end to use as my 'Office'.

 With almost all the players present, this gives me an opportunity to give the full list of participants and the forces they're using;

Allies

• Murray Anderson- American Paratroopers (V3 Forces Book)
• Norman MacLean- American Rifle Company (-)
• Brian Walker- American Rifle Company (-)
• Colonel T.- Pulyemyetno-Artillyeriyskiy (Red Bear)
• Ian Morton- American Rifle Company (Dogs & Devils)
• Myself- Welsh Guards Lorried Rifle Company (Market Garden)

Axis

• Gordon Hamilton- German Grenadier Company (Grey Wolf)
• Iain Cameron- German Grenadier Company (Grey Wolf)
• Grace Bommer- German Grenadier Company (V3 Forces Book)
• Leon Berge- Fallschirmjagerkompanie (Cassino Book)
• Robert McLennan- German Grenadier Company (-)

 I'll have to ask specifically which books some players are taking their lists from, but when I know for sure, I'll edit the above to reflect the facts.

 The games were thus:

• Murray and Gordon
• Norman and Leon
• Robert and Brian
• Colonel T and Iain
• Grace and myself

Silly hats and silly games

 The mission for this evening was 'Pincer', with the usual reworking to have 'Delayed Reserves' become 'Reserves', so that the defender is not swamped too early on, and to give the attacker something to think about.

 With ten players, I found myself needing to play for once (admittedly, I really should play at least once a month). I opted to play against Grace, to allow me to mentor her a little. With the roll off in Grace's favour, she set her army to attack my dug in Brits.

 But what of the silly hats mentioned above? Well, during the planning for the evening, Grace got all excited about the Halloween decorations already being out in the shops, so I offered that if you wear a silly hat during the game, you would get a Tactical Edge Token (Something I completely forgot to do).

Grace forgot her hat, but luckily, I had a spare

 The table was set up in such a way that both players could benefit from the hill in the middle to shield their mortar teams, should they have any. Grace made use of this, setting up her mortars behind, backed up by her Ace "Oofty Oosh Bommer' (I don't know... don't ask me). With the support of two HMGs in the forest on her right flank and two advancing Grenadier Platoons to try to seize the objective.

The table, with one platoon of British Rifles in reserve, the other in ambush... somewhere

Grace, as attacker, got first turn, and advanced her Grenadiers up and around the hill. First lesson to learn: 'Don't bunch up your troops when your opponent has artillery'

Hard to see, but there's a Grenadier platoon under there

Luckily for her, though, the mortars ranged in, but did little damage to the Grenadiers. Her rolls for saves being far above par. The ambush appears within the vineyard (Because really, where else would you put it?), and poses a problem for the Grenadiers. Dug-in Veteran infantry contesting an objective are hard enough to shift, but when they are British Guards, they're almost impossible to get rid of.

 To make matters worse for Grace, my reinforcements arrived on turn two, just in time to flank the Grenadiers as they advanced down the hill to attempt to take out the dug in riflemen. The HMGs in the forest did little to nothing, unfortunately, as they were picked off by passing shots from the newly arrived guards.

The very blurry guards advance towards the HMGs, who are supported by a tasty soft drink

Grace's mortars were less than effective, especially when her spotters were wiped out. This almost took them out of the game completely, leaving her Grenadiers at the mercy of the Guards. To try to spur her on a little, I launched an assault with one of the platoons, hoping that maybe her shooting, and subsequent turn would make the game a slightly more close-run thing. Alas, it was not to be, with the shooting from the Grenadiers awful and the resulting combat wiping them from the board.

The game, sadly, was over. I am hopeful that Grace has learned a few things from it; not bunching up platoons against mortars, being wary of ambushes and reinforcement surprises.

The scores on the boards

The other games led to mixed fortunes for both sides;

Iain contemplates the meaning of pain as he tries to advance on the machine-guns

Brian and his US Rifles successfully taking Castle Hill against Robert's Grenadiers
Leon's Fallschirmjager proving tough to defend against in the Barracks with Norm's US Rifles
Iain's Grenadiers unable to dislodge Colonel T's Machine-gun artillery from Castle Hill
Gordon's Grenadiers successfully scaling Castle Hill against Murray's US Rifles

Castle Hill didn't have a town at the top, surely?

So, with the games over, the Allies looked to be taking all three locations in a clean sweep. It would take a minor miracle from the Axis next week to steal some of them away.

The hat is what won Gordon this game, it inspired his dice

 That's it for week three, with the campaign roaring back into life from what seemed to be a lull last week. As I'm writing this the day after the final week of Turn One, I already know the outcomes. But I won't ruin it for you. I'll do a write-up of the final games in a few days and then it'll be on to Turn Two and 700pts. So for now, over and out.

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But, where's your silly hat? You need to wear a silly hat! Fine... fine...

I wear the silliest of hats!

Opening Day at Knightly Gaming

A new shop for Lanarkshire

  Knightly Gaming announced a few weeks ago, they'd be opening their doors on Saturday 21st September. My colleague, Jason, set up a demo day for Flames of War; and being the Glasgow-based Ranger, I agreed to come down and run some demo games for them. Thankfully, my good friend Iain is a Spartan Vanguard and was also invited down to demo Dystopian Wars, one of their systems.

Knightly Gaming, 5 Saint Vincent Place, Lanark, South Lanarkshire ML11 7LA, UK

 An early start and a squished badger... we think

 The town of Lanark is well served by public transport; the rail station and bus station across the road from the shop. Driving from where we set from was a different thing altogether. Weaving country roads through the hilly fields and forested valley of Lanarkshire. The roads were the sort that allows you to appreciate the scenery and the wildlife. Alas, the majority of that wildlife ends up a little flat on the roads as careless drivers speed round the narrow routes.
 This proved to be all too true as we rounded a bend and caught something under-tyre. It was already deceased, but the feeling of unease remained as we passed over the furry mass.

 Putting that unsettling encounter behind us, we pulled into historic Lanark and looked around for the shop. It took two passes before noticing the gaming-related paraphernalia in the window of the shop. We arrived in good time and set ourselves up to await the opening.

The currently signless shop, but it is coming

 Doors opened at 10 sharp and the first few lucky customers traipsed in to be given a gift-bag of goodies. Jason and myself stood aside to allow the manager, Brett Knight, to meet, greet and serve his first customers. The very nice people at the 'Nearly Enough Dice' Podcast came down to record the opening of the new shop, and what jolly nice people they were too. I highly recommend giving their podcast a listen.

N.E.D. presenters Liz and Mike by far gave us the most entertaining of games, with Liz providing an enthusiastic playing style (Complete with evil laughing and taunts)

Demo-ing and the like

 With the initial excitement of purchases out of the way, the clientèle settled into browsing and enquiring into the set-up demo tables. A few familiar faces came round to greet us as we launched into our first game. 

The pretty demo table, ready for the players

  With the usual high quality Gale Force Nine: Battlefield in a Box terrain making the table look clean, crisp and professional. The demo was run in the usual shortened fashion: The Axis players getting two StuG IV's, a platoon of Grenadiers and a single PaK40, while the Allied player receives command of a platoon of American Paratroopers, with both support weapons and the platoon of Shermans with their Firefly.

The field close to the objective is 4.5'' away, meaning a platoon cannot take it from cover 

 The V1 flying bomb accessory was put in the middle of the table, and the very simple objective of having a platoon within 4'' of the centre of it while at the same time doing as much damage to your opponent as possible.
  An important lesson I've learned from the year's worth of demoing I've done is to not put any advantageous terrain pieces within range of the objective. This leads to players having to either go for it and seize the win or sit back in the safety of their positions and risk their opponent stealing the win. The picture above shows this, though in later games the fences were swapped to the other field to make it certain.

 It can go either way

 This statement is as true as any. While there, we managed to get in five games, and out of those five, three were in favour of the Allies, two were in favour of the Axis. It wasn't always by the same cause either. The Axis always won by capturing the objective or wiping out the Allies completely. (The allies cannot lose to Company Morale, as they only have two platoons) While the Allies either won by capturing the objective or forcing a company morale check on the Axis. One thing that never happened was the destruction of the PaK40 in the forest. The gun shield on it meant that the few shots that were sent it's way did little to no damage, even with failed saves.

Jason showing our happy chappies the ropes in his shiny new uniform

 Another thing I made sure of before the start of each game: The PaK40 has to be out of range of the Shermans and neither the Shermans nor the StuG's can see each other before the game starts. This once again makes it a little more balanced in the way that whoever gets first turn has to move to draw fire on their opponent, and also means that it's very unlikely that the player who goes second will be lacking one of their units. This proved true in the majority of cases, but sometimes a lucky shot could pick one off.

A rare sight as a StuG burns on turn 1

 Unfortunately, due to travel limitations, I was only able to stay until 4pm, while Knightly Gaming's opening hours will be until 8pm weekdays and 6pm on Weekends. Jason though took command for the remaining few hours, and I'm sure he continued the high quality demoing we conducted throughout the day.

The shop itself

 I have only positive things to say about Knightly Gaming itself. The shop is well positioned, as mentioned above, on good public transport routes and has the advantage of being supported by the Lanarkshire Gaming Group, based out of nearby Motherwell. The interior of the shop is nice and bright, with the location facing North-East, meaning no glare from the sun but all of the light.

The lovely large windows make for pleasant, light and airy gaming

 What about stock levels for the shop? Well, they're only just open so for most systems it's a matter of testing the water. The Flames of War section has only the essentials at the moment, but with scope to expand with books and other box sets promised.

The small selection, but with room to grow!

 So, that's it for now. Thanks to Brett and his lovely family for looking after myself and Jason during the demo day. Great company and I'm eager to see how this local shop grows.

A well-earned cup of tea to end the day (Upside down bowl to act as a coaster)

All fun and games on the day (And to prove I do exist beyond the camera)