Mechanised Aces Turn One, Week Four and Turn Two Week One

Field Reporter Is A Muppet, Sources Confirm

 No pictures once again, and one of the reports seem to have gotten damaged. So, here is Week Four:

Stubborn Defence Finally Crumbles

 A determined defence by Gordon's Panzergrenadiers finally crumbled under the constant assault of Norm's Cavalry Troop. The low of the game coming when an assault when awry from Gordon's Ace, five hits resulting in five failed saves.
 Pride was salvaged when one of the Recce Platoons was taken out, but it was too little too late as the Germans folded.

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Week One, Turn Two Is a Blowout

 With no-one turning up for the advertised Week One of Turn Two, the game was called a bogey.

That's all for now. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful New Year!

 

Mechanised Aces; Turn One, Week Three

Field Reporter Doesn't Learn Lesson, Has To Improvise!

 Yes, despite last week's failing to remember my camera, I did exactly the same thing this week. Thankfully, Gordon had his phone out. Pictures supplied by Gordon during his game.

 Annoyingly, I returned home to find my camera exactly where I'd left it so I wouldn't forget it...

Speedy Puma Snatches Victory!

The 'Clown Car' Half Tracks stand ready to unload their many passengers

 On table one this week, we have Murray's Armoured Rifle Company facing off against Iain's Panzerspah. The Pumas spending the first part of the game wedged into a corner and a couple of them knocked out by an exchange of fire from the 37mm guns.

 The last turn of the game however, victory was sealed as a sneaky Puma used the road to zip a mighty 24'', firing off a parting shot at some infantry before Stormtrooper-ing onto the Objective. Unfortunately for Murray, nothing was near enough to contest, never mind push the plucky Puma from taking the win.

A victory for the Axis in Game 1

Second Chance Not Taken As Cuthbert's Airlanding Wins Again!

The Panzergrenadiers get that sinking feeling as they face down a mass of Tetrarchs

 In the middle table Gordon's Panzergrenadiers took on David's Tetrarchs in a rematch of last week's encounters. A few lessons had been learned, but alas not enough, as Gordon's PaK38's were left high and dry on a flank while his Panzergrenadiers abandoned a secure position to try to lure David's tanks into a trap, a move which ultimately led to the game being taken by David again.

 The Hoff's cousin is off to an inauspicious start, but I'm sure that once he gets a few more toys on his side of the field, the games will be a bit closer than these recent ones have shown.

A victory for the Allies in Game 2

Newcomer Dalbeck Overruns Hungarian Defence Line

And in my own game I faced off against new player Phil. The game was mainly a training exercise to show the various mechanics and workings of the game, but that doesn't excuse the poor showing my Hungarians produced, with Szazados Termichen facing a very serious court marshal.

 Phil's force (Sadly unpictured at this moment in time), is a Cavalry Recon Company from the 2nd Division. The platoons are composed of a pair of M8 Greyhounds, a .50cal Recce Jeep and a very annoying Mortar-wielding Recce Jeep. It was the combination of the Recce saves, and the better Firepower of the mortars that led to my force being chipped away at until finally it succumbed, despite some decent return fire from a pair of badly placed PaK40s and the infantry.

A victory for the Allies in Game 3

Note: Usually G3 closes for the two weeks over New Year and Christmas, but this year, we've been allowed to hold our nights. So, we're still running on the 23rd and the 30th. It may not be as busy, but I'll be in the field as usual, reporting the results.

Late War Tournament at Common Ground Games (December Edition)

The scene grows, little by little

As per the last tournament over in Stirling, it was another early start this Saturday gone (13th December), This time we're getting more players along, and it was my hope that we'd have ten players (including myself), but alas we had a last minute call-off, and that made us nine. I wasn't too fussed though, as it meant I could concentrate on arranging the games and the other eight guys could get playing.

 One of the comments made after the last tournament was the slight lack of 15mm terrain, but this was sorted between Steve of Common Ground and Battlefront, and we were greeted with some lovely additions to the existing terrain.

The forces, and some advancement in painting!

 It's always good to see fully painted armies on the fields, but it's also heartening to see progress with people's forces from the last time, and this time round Alistair Grant's Tankovy had colour and his supporting infantry were almost done.

The more colourful T-34s following up the ISU-152's

Next on the Allied side is Greg's very pretty Tankovy Batalon, but this time he's gone for hordes of T-34/76's, which may or may not be a sensible choice, given the armour that the Axis players have at their disposal, but it makes for a very pretty sight on the table.

Greg's Batalon, with the objective marker which always fools people into thinking he has air support

 Third player on the Allied side was tournament veteran David Cuthbert, who has featured in the US masters in previous years, and has had armies featured in Wargames Illustrated (Which came as a surprise to him). He fielded an airlanding company, with all the red berets and 6-pdrs.

The mark of an experienced player; a very useful carry box

And finally on the Allied side is Common Ground's home player Chris, Taking a British Rifle company from Road to Rome, with RAM Kangaroos, supporting American M10's. It made for a very interesting force, especially with the American Tank-Hunter Doctrine rule coming into effect.

Some improvised Kangaroos, using the plastic Shermans

And now onto the Axis players; starting with tournament veteran Laurence fielding Otto Carius in his Jadgtiger, accompanied by a mixed force of Volksturm and artillery-firing PaK40s.

Carius and his Jadtiger buddies, very nicely painted by Laurence

To add an interesting force to the mix, Norman swaps sides and fields an Axis Tancuri Medii with T-4s and R-35's. The uncertain Skill and Motivation for a Romanian army making this an unpredictable list to use.

Hoping for high rolls when determining rating on his Tancuri

 Robert makes his return with his Grenadiers, using a very similar force from last month. Though his force is unchanged, Robert learned a lot from his last outing, and is hoping to put into practice the lessons he learned, such as; 'Always field the Tigers'. In addition, a 4-gun battery of 15cm make it to the table in a bold move.

We didn't notice until after the picture was taken that the lead Tiger was backwards

And finally, rounding out the Axis team is Callum. This is his first attempt at a tournament and has only had gaming experience against Greg, so with that in mind, he fields a basic German Grenadier Kompanie with Tiger support.

Tigers, StuGs and a Stuka supplement Callum's Grenadiers

And so, with everyone's armies assembled and prepared, we head into Round One, with murmurs of 'No Dust Up'...

Round One,  Breakthrough

The last mission of the previous tournament makes a return for the first of this one. 

• Alistair's Tankovy face off against Robert's Geenadiers
• David's Paras choose the mad option and assault Norm's Tancuri at night
• Greg gets to break Callum in gently
• Chris faces Laurence to round off the matches

The T-34 tank-park gets ready to roll out on the field

 My memory of most of the games is sketchy at best, but Greg's T-34s rolled their way over Callum's Grenadiers (So much for gently, eh?),

 David's night-attack against Norman's T-4's doesn't quite go as planned as it stalls short of the objective.

The Paras begin to advance under darkness, and a blurry camera

 Alistair's T-34's don't get the same fiery reception they got last month as they take the game without a platoon loss.

 And finally Chris finds it hard to over-come Laurence who holds on for the win.

The 88s try ranging in on the SU-100s, but eventually succumb

Results from Round One:

• Alistair 6 - 1 Robert
• David 2 - 5 Norman
• Greg  6 - 1 Callum
• Chris 2 - 5 Laurence
• Allies 16 - 12 Axis

We break for lunch!

 The difference between this tournament and last, is that we forewent the prize pool for the winner and have instead included lunch in the entry fee. This means that new players don't feel like they're paying money just to lose, and instead are getting a fully-rounded day out of it.
 I have to say that the pulled-pork wrap I had was especially tasty.

Round Two, Hold the Line (aka: Delayed Reserves annoy us all)

 As we decided to go for the Swiss tournament rules, but still go for a Red on Blue split, it was very easy to make up the next round of matches. And they were as follows:

• Greg's Tankovy in a grudge match against Norm's Romanians
• Laurence's Jadgtigers take on Alistair's Cat-Killers
• Chris' Brits face-down Robert
• Experienced Veteran David faces Newcomer Callum

The intimidating line of Laurence's force (Putting artillery in as PaK40s)

 The delayed reserves rule always makes people a little uneasy, given how easily their forces can be over-run by the assaulting army, It doesn't always go badly, as a little bit of reinforcements at the right time can be just what you need.

 Regardless, the games went thusly:

Greg's tank-park Tankovy manage to hold onto their seats and not lose a platoon to squeeze a 6-1 win against Norman's T-4's, despite some very heavy shots from the Romanians.

 Laurence manages to get the win against Alistair, leaving his SU-100s burning on the hill. It's worth mentioning too, that Alistair managed to forget his infantry, thanks to the bocage.

Nine t-34's behind a church, turns out there were a lot more after ambush

Robert managed to inflict a good few casualties on Chris, with his last turn reinforcements bagging him one more platoon. 

Callum got a lesson from David, but it was more of a learning experience for the German player as notes were taken about deployment, fire-arcs, and sometimes doing nothing is better than wasting shots.

The advancing Paras don't make it any easier for the German forces

Round Two Results:

• Greg 6 - 1 Norman
• Alistair 3 - 4 Laurence
• Chris 4 - 3 Robert
• David 6 - 1 Callum
• Allies 19 - 9 Axis  
• Allies 35 - 21 Axis

Round Three, Surrounded

 Rounding off the day is the old favourite; Surrounded. Interestingly enough, one of the match ups (Greg and Laurence) was pivotal to the overall winner. 

• Greg plays Laurence for the title of winner
• Chris plays one of the shortest games in history against Callum
• David takes on Robert 
• Alistair's T-34s bring another grudge match to Norman's Romanians

An impressive amount of Norman's army spent the last game Trained (except the Veteran R-35s)

 Chris' game against Callum was a very short lived affair, and was over by turn two. His Kangaroos rolled up to the hedge, next turn his infantry dismounted, crossed the hedge, pinned the defenders on the objective and then swept them aside in a to-and-fro assault. Unfortunately for Callum, none of his force was anywhere near to even force a contest for the objective. A few lessons were learned, especially the positioning of his Tigers nowhere near an objective. But, we all started somewhere and no doubt once Callum plays a little more, he'll have more luck in the future.

The British Rifles, shortly before vaulting the hedge and assaulting

Norman's Tancuri held off Alistair's Tankovy well, with only the 10.5cm artillery being unearthed by some Breakthrough guns, and I believe one platoon of T-4's risking themselves to keep one of Alistair's platoons in place to be taken out the turn after.

Norman's Pioneers watch the T-34s seconds before they slowly begin to explode one by one

 David's Paras fend off Robert's Grenadiers, with some very well placed 75mm counter-battery fire putting paid to Robert's 15cm guns behind a hill. The Tigers didn't last too long either, and were soon left smoking in the middle of a field.

Despite the good position, the 88s were starved for hittable targets

And finally, the important game was Greg and Laurence, with a 4-3 loss the only thing that would leave Greg above Laurence in the standings. I stood and watched the game for a little while at the end, with buckets of dice being poured down on Laurence's dug-in Volksturm and PaK40s. Whether it be unfortunate luck on Greg's side, or just some Divine being intervening, he just couldn't dig up the Reluctant Conscripts from their holes.

 And unfortunately, I seem to have not got a picture from that game, my apologies. But in the end, Laurence's forces held on for the win, and one that lead to a draw overall. So, without much ado, here are the final results:

Scores on the doors, or paper, or whatever

• Greg 2 - 5 Laurence
• Chris 6 - 1 Callum
• David 6 - 1 Robert
• Alistair 2 - 5 Norman
• Allies 16 - 12 Axis    
• Allies 51 - 33 Axis    

 A resounding victory for the Allied forces, but what of the over-all standings? Well, here they are too,

1. David Cuthbert - British Airlanding - 14*
2. Laurence Kettle - Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie - 14˟
3. Greg Fyfe - Soviet Tankovy - 14˟
4. Chris Walsh - British Rifle Company - 12
5. Norman MacLean - Romanian Tancuri Medii - 11
6. Alistair Grant - Soviet Tankovy - 11
7. Robert McLennan - German Grenadiers - 5
8. Callum McIntosh - German Pionerkompanie - 3

* - David wins due to least number of points conceded

˟- Laurence finishes ahead of Greg by virtue of winning their head-to-head

And that, as they say, is all she wrote. But, I will add in a comment here that Steve was kind enough to donate a token set to both Robert and Callum as a welcome into Flames of War, and to get them encouraged to keep playing and keep improving.

Stay tuned for in the New Year we have; Early Year, Early War!

Mechanised Aces; Turn One, Week Two

Breaking News: Field Reporter Forgets Camera, Readers Left in Dark!

 Yes, that's right, I forgot to pack my camera for week two, so no pretty pictures of the games that went on. So instead a brief write up of the action on a night when the winds howled a gale, the rain flooded the streets and  we anticipated the return of 'Hurricane Bawbag'.

 Hoff's Cousin Hung Out To Dry By Cunning Tetrarchs

 On table one Gordon's Panzergrenadiers faced off against a veritable horde of David's Fearless Veteran Tetrarchs. The nippy Para tanks taking advantage of a railway embankment to cover their advance onto the objectives.

 A reversal of deployment would have suited Gordon as he left a pair of 251/9 'Stummels' to cover the objective as the Panzergrenadiers advanced. Lessons were learned as the Allies took the win.

A victory for the Allies in Game 1

MacLean's Stuarts Not Given An Easy Time

 Table three hosted Norman and Robert, with the American Cavalry put up against another Panzergrenadierkompanie. The Stuarts and M8s found it not an easy task against Robert's Halftracks in between the Italian hedgerows. Eventually though the plucky mounted grenadiers capitulated and the battle went the way of the Allies.

A Victory for the Allies in Game 2

Dug In Hungarians Repel Anderson's Half Track Assault

 And finally, on table two, I made my Mechanised Aces début against Murray and his Confident Trained American Armoured Rifle Company. The sheer amount of man-power that came out of those dozen or so half tracks was terrifying, but the Trained rating made up for that.

 A crazy advance in trucks from myself gave the Americans an opening to take a few shots, knocking out two trucks and bailing the platoon out.
 The advance from the Americans was like a wave of green, but as per usual the dug-in Veterans made a name for themselves, surviving a hail of .50cal and .30cal fire to emerge unscathed.

 Aside from a failed assault from the Yanks, driven off by massed firepower, the only other thing of note would be Murray's CO surviving having his jeep blown out from under him, only to be picked off by a rifle moments later.

A victory for the Axis in Game 3

Current Tally - Allies: Three wins, one draw, two losses | Axis: Two wins, one draw, three losses 

Mechanised Aces; Turn One, Week One

The Halftracks roll up

 It's chilly December up here in Glasgow, and to try to warm us up, we're starting the engines on half-tracks and armoured cars galore as we launch into a Mechanised Aces campaign. 

 The Mechanised Aces is the only campaign pack not to be entirely supported by Battlefront with accompanying products such as mats and badges, but we will make do with what we have, and the excellently written rule-set by Andrew Haught over in the US. Originally written for Wargames Illustrated (Issue 318), available as a download from flamesofwar.com.

 The Aces campaigns at the club have always been well received, and this one is looking to be no different with eight players showing up on the first night and three games being played. Games will probably become quicker once players are more comfortable with the mechanised rules, many of us only play infantry or tanks based lists, so the rulebook was on hand to keep us right.

Cuthbert's Airlanding Pushes Cameron's Pumas Back

A line of Tetrarchs spring the attack on some unwary 222's

 It was a victory for the Airlanding Armoured Recce Squadron of David and his Tetrarchs. He came up against Iain's Panzerspah Kompanie, The battle was swift and free-flowing, with Tetrarchs and 250s zipping around the little village set up as the focal point of the battle.



 Alas for Iain the end of the game had many Pumas and 250s smouldering as wreckages while only a few Tetrarchs had bitten the bullet.

 A victory for the Allies in Game 1

Byrne's Armoured Spearhead Blunted By Stiff German Opposition

 Michael, our newest FoW player at the club faced off against Gordon, whom I wouldn't call a veteran, but has been an active part of every Aces Campaign and a regular player.

That lelG18 is a PaK38, honest!

 The advance started well for Michael's Armoured Rifles as they peppered an unlucky platoon of PaK 38's with withering fire, enough to clear them from the field. The bright start though couldn't be capitalised upon, even when one of Gordon's 251/9's refused to unbog within a forest, and soon the Americans found their half-tracks picked off by well-placed shooting from the Germans,

 The game was decided after an eleventh hour assault by Michael was put down by amazing defensive fire from some 251's. The Americans almost being wiped out by the stubborn defence.

A victory for the Axis in Game 2

No Score Draw In The Fields Of Italy

 Old rivals Brian and Robert rounded off the games, both fielding respective Armoured Infantry Companies.

 This game was fought to a stalemate, and sadly I didn't manage to get a picture of the action. But, I will for next time.

A draw in Game 3

Late War Tournament at Common Ground Games

A new home for Flames of War tournaments in Scotland

Another early morning this week, but this time we're not going as far as last time. We're off to the fantastic venue of Common Ground Games in Stirling. Readers who have been for a little while will remember the couple of prior visits we've had to CGG. We've always been made to feel the most welcome you can be, and never had a bad experience.

 The owner and proprietor, Steve Fettes,  was kind enough to offer the Flames of War tournament scene a home after it was announced that Worlds at War, our previous home for many a year, was closing and would not be hosting the tournaments any more.

Out with the old in with the old?

 For our first tournament we decided the old mantra of; 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' was suitably apt. We decided the usual 1750pts, Late War Era was a good jumping off point with the scope to try other eras and points value in the future.

 A ten a.m. start time seemed to suit most, and the 15th of November, the week after Targe was chosen to be the day. And of course, at ten in the morning yesterday, we got going with our first Flames of War tournament at our new home.

Forces, Lists and the like

Six brave players signed up to the tournament, and what follows is their list choices and a couple of pictures of some of their forces. Some declined for the reason of unfinished painting. First up, the Allies:

What's better than Chaffees? Reluctant Chaffees!

First up is Norman MacLean, and his Reluctant Veteran Light Tank Company from Bridge at Remagen. A dozen little Chaffees, and some Sherman support.

Motostrelkovy, a more pronounceable Soviet force for once

Next up is Greg Fyfe's Motostrelkovy from Desperate Measures. Combining SU-100s, IS-2s and a smattering of T-34s as an armoured arm of some Confident Trained Soviet infantry.

Lastly for the allies is Alistair Grant, who was fielding a Tankovy Batalon from Desperate Measures. A lot of tanks in the form of 76's, 85's, ISU-152s and a trio of SU-85Ms. Due to not being painted, Alistair declined a force photo.

And now for the Axis. Theee German forcesof varying composition and skill.

Many, many Panzers, and a very nicely painted force

 First for the Axis forces is Chris Walsh, a regular at Common Ground Games, fielding a Hermann Goering Panzerkompanie from Fortress Italy, with StuH 42's in support, and the only player to field an aircraft. Almost everyone else fielded AA.

Second player for the Axis was Laurence Kettle, fielding Feldherrnhalle Reluctant Trained Panthers   from the Blood, Guts & Glory book. I didn't manage to snap his force fully, but a few pictures later on should showcase his lovely Cats.

And lastly, Robert McLennan, a first-time tournament player coming along to be broken into the scene. He fielded a standard Grenadierkompanie from the V3 forces book, but given the simplicity of his force, he did rather well as you will soon see.

Round One, No Retreat

 Since we had a perfect balance of Axis to Allied players, we also set a Red vs Blue competition in addition to the usual overall winner.

 First mission rolled was No Retreat, and the match-ups made. 

• Norman's Light Tanks faced Chris' Panzerkompanie on Table 1
• Greg's Motostrelkovy was to be Robert's first tournament opponent on Table 2
• Alistair's Tankovy would be assaulting Laurence's Reluctant Panthers

The players set up for Round One

 Unfortunately for newcomer Robert, Greg was unforgiving, rolling over his defences in the first few turns. Robert's set up lacking Anti-tank support, which against a force containing IS-2s and T-34s was a bad move. Which, more disappointingly for Robert would have been a bit more wary of advancing if he'd started his Tigers on the table. So a very quick victory for the Allies there.

 Norman and Chris had a closer game, with Chris' air support managing to knock out two of his Sherman 76s in the first turn. But, he was unable to capitalise, as Norman's reinforcements brought on an entire platoon of the up-gunned tanks, and soon the Panzer-wave was brought to a halt, short of the objectives.

One by one the Panzers and the StuH's burst into flames, unable to push the little Chaffees off the objective

With the allies two games up, it fell to Laurence to salvage some pride for the Axis in the first round. Alistair's tank rush and encirclement tactic didn't quite pay off, and soon the table was covered in smouldering wrecks of burnt-out T-34s. But not before Alistair knocked off a few platoons,

Results from Round One:

• Norman 5 - 2 Chris
• Greg 6 - 1 Robert
• Alistair 3 - 4 Laurence
• Allies 14 - 7 Axis

Lunchtime!

 We broke for lunch after the first game, and many of us opted for the 'famous' Double-pig toastie from Common Ground's kitchen. Bacon, Cheese and Ham. A filling meal that hit the spot as we all chatted about the nonsense that went down in the first turn. The 'what-ifs' and 'should-haves' out the way, we rolled up the next mission.

Round Two, Dust Up (groans ensue)

 There was a bit of an audible groan as Dust Up was rolled to be the second mission. It's not that people dislike the mission, it just tends to go either really well, or really badly for those involved, and that was the case as you will soon see.

• Greg was drawn against Laurence
• Alistair faced Chris
• Norman took on newcomer Robert

Greg measures out deployment facing down Laurence's beautiful Panthers

 The thing about Dust Up, is the delayed reserves can very quickly put you in a very bad position. All it takes is for a few turns of not getting any and your opponent can roll right over you. Which is what Alistair discovered as his game with Chris was finished before reserves were rolled for. The Panzers rolling into the best positions over the burning husks of T-34s.

On table three, Norman and Robert were squaring off, the Tigers this time starting on the table, and giving the little Chaffees something to think about. across the middle line, Robert had set his PaK 40s too, meaning Norman's reinforcements would have to scoot as fast as they could right across the German lines to safety. Thankfully, the powerful engine of the Chaffees allowed this, but had they been anything else, a nasty surprise in the form of a 7.5cm shell would have followed. Eventually, the players decided that neither could take an opposing objective, and the game ended a draw, with Robert destroying more platooons to take the game 3-2.

The M4A3's find themselves in a bad spot as the Tigers range in

Greg and Laurence were still at it when time was called. However, with Greg having gone first, it was down to Laurence to grab an objective and force the win. Which was done in expert style. Greg's tank hunters were picked off by Panthers, and his dug in infantry in a forest pinned and assaulted, clearing his force off both objectives in a single turn, and leaving him far beyond even contesting one of them to prolong the game. The most galling part, was that he didn't even manage to take a platoon.

 A resounding round for the Axis, with the Allies taking a beating on all three tables.

Greg's IS feels the wrath of a Panther barrage in the little town

Results from Round One:

• Greg 1 - 6 Laurence
• Alistair 1 - 6 Chris
• Norman 2 - 3 Robert
• Allies 4 - 15 Axis

Current Red / Blue standing: Allies: 18 - 22 Axis

Round Three, Breakthrough

 Less moans about this one being rolled, but still a bit of trepidation with the defended spread thinly across the diagonal of the table and the attacker coming right at them. I don't know how we managed it, but every player played on each table once. And so, the final games came down to;

• Norman's Light Tanks faced the hulks of Laurence's Panthers
• Alistair took on Robert for the battle of last place
• Greg was against Chris, T-34 on Panzer IV

Norman's Chaffees decide that surviving is better than a blaze of glory

The games were a lot closer in the last round, with no-one really being soundly beaten as in previous rounds. First game to finish up was Greg and Chris, with Greg's dice-luck costing him the game. A few bad early losses from his T-34s and his infantry giving him a bit of a challenge mid-game. Finally though, it came down to not being able to knock out a Panzer with an SU-100 shot. The firepower test coming up short, meaning that the game ended a 5-2 instead of a 3-4.

Robert and Alistair finished up next, with the first move of the game on Alistair's turn being an incredibly bad one. Trying to assault two 88's, with additional crew, without pinning them down first led to his assault faltering, and the follow up from the 88's spelling the end of the T-34 85 company. The game flowed back and forth for a while, with Robert's Tigers picking at the Assault Guns in the village, before finally getting the better of them. But alas, it wasn't enough as an objective was left open for the Soviets to roll onto to steal the game after a last ditch assault from the Grenadiers on some T-34s failed.

Who won this face-off? The Tigers, eventually

Finally, it was down to Laurence and Norman on the middle table. The Panthers had been picked apart slowly by fire from the 76s and the Easy Eights. It came down to the last turn. Laurence was on an objective, which would have gone live at the start of his next turn, winning him the game. However, the choice of Reluctant and Trained proved to be the deciding factor in the battle, as in Norman's turn, platoon after platoon was picked off, but only just, and finally a Company morale check was forced, with the 2iC not being able to hold the company together, the Germans quit the field, leaving the Objectives.

The Panthers advance on the Chaffees hiding in 'Not-La-Haye-Sainte'

And so the last round ended thus:

• Norman 6 - 1 Laurence
• Alistair 4 - 3 Robert
• Greg 2 - 5 Chris
• Allies 12 - 9 Axis

The end, the results

 So, after three thrilling rounds of games,we had our final standings and of course our result for the Red / Blue face-offs.

1. Norman Maclean - 13pts*
2. Chris Walsh - 13pts*
3. Laurence Kettle - 11pts
4. Greg Fyfe - 9pts
5. Alistair Grant - 8pts
6. Robert McLennan - 7pts

* - Norman wins by virtue of beating Chris in their head-to-head game

And of course the final result for Allies vs Axis

Allies - 30pts
Axis - 31pts

The Axis tip it by a point overall, mainly due to their round two results. 

Common Ground Games

I'd like to thank all the players for coming out and making this first tournament a success. But, I would like to offer special thanks to Steve at Common Ground for giving us a new home when we needed one, and for his wonderful hospitality. We will definitely be back for more tournaments in the not-to-distant future.

 I can only say good things about Common Ground, they are a fantastic gaming venue, supporting a variety of systems, and with good transport links from anywhere in Scotland and the North of England, they're well worth checking out.

Find Common Ground Games on Facebook!

That's all for now guys, but stay tuned because in December, we have Mechanised Aces coming up, and I hear tell of another of the Hoff's relatives will be taking charge of a certain German army.

I'll leave you with some of the other images from the day:

Targe 2014, Kirriemuir Wargames Society

 Off to Kirriemuir in Angus

 At quarter to six on a dreary Scottish Saturday morning, I pulled myself out of bed and dressed to meet up with my good friend Gordon. We were off to run a participation table at Targe. Targe is the Wargames Show for the Kirriemuir Wargames Society on the East Coast of Scotland, near the town of Forfar. It was a two hour drive, but thankfully as we set out from our rendezvous point, the weather cleared and the journey up was rather quite pleasant.

Two hours of lovely Scottish countryside between us and our destination

Two hours later, and we were there at Webster's High School in Kirriemuir, the venue for the day. It was already bustling with other clubs and traders ready to start their day.

 Of course the day couldn't start without a bacon roll and a cup of coffee.

Flames of Tanks

 Flames of Tanks is becoming one of my favourite little mini-games to play using the Flames of War rules and Battlefront miniatures. Quick, easy and so much fun to play, it's based off the highly successful free-to-play online game 'World of Tanks'. The difference is that the rules have been simplified, everyone starts with the same statistics block and the only difference is the class of tank you have. Light tanks are faster, but can't carry as many upgrades, while the Heavy tanks are slowest, but can be upgraded the most. And of course, the middle ground is the medium tanks that go the usual 12" a turn, and can carry the middling amount of upgrades.

 The rules for the game can be found on the Flames of War website, via the link below.

Flames of Tanks (right-click and select 'save as')

Flames of Tanks can be played with as few as one tank a side, or as many as ten players!

Grudge Matches abound!

 Throughout the day, we had just over a dozen participants in our games of Flames of Tanks. Table size limiting the amount of players we could have at the same time. The majority of matches were brother against brother, or father against son, and a few friend versus friend. Making the games a little more personal add to the excitement as you try to outwit your closest friends, or take great pride in seeing your brother's tank go up in flames.

 Our first game of the day was two friend facing off against each other, with another player and Gordon taking a side to even the numbers up.

The table was set up simply, with a central focal point, and plenty of scenery for tanks to hide behind

The picture above shows them in action, with the Axis side electing to take a Panzer IV and a Toldi II light tank. On the other side you can see the plastic T-34 and the Sherman V from the Open Fire set being put to good use by the Allies. The Toldi commander was brave, reckless but had the luck of the Gods on his side as he drove his little tank around, firing off shots at the larger, more intimidating opponents. With each kill, players receive upgrades to their tanks; these can be +AT, + Armour, +Range or an augmentation to give them a special ability such as Stormtroopers or the equivalent of Indirect Fire, called Advanced Optics.

After much to-ing and fro-ing, the Axis came out on top, and the Ace badge awarded to the Toldi commander for managing to knock out both enemy tanks in the last turn of the game. The 'extra man' was Andy, who had been looking at the Open Fire set, but undecided on it, and by the praise he was giving the game at the end, I'm sure he's now going to go invest in a set, and that'll be the first step into Flames of War for him.

Shh, I know it's not the Tank Aces badge, but players were grateful to be awarded it any way

 

Daniel's tank served him well, winning him the match and an Ace badge

 One of the most fun games we had all day was a grudge match between two brothers; Matthew and Daniel. The latter had just bought a toy tank from one of the stalls in the hall and wanted to use it. And who was I to stop him?
 Overseen by their father, the two took to the game with great enthusiasm, with friendly taunting from both sides, drama, emotion and the dice doing what dice do (i.e. not rolling the numbers you want them to), the two fought a very close battle over the middle of the table, with kills being exchanged and the objective changing hands a few times until finally Daniel emerged the winner by holding the objective for a count of six.

Daniel (in the GAP hoody) taking his victory with poise and grace... of course not. And a rare picture of yours truly.

The final match of note for the day was between the two brothers Angus and Sam, who have always visited on G3's games whenever we tour the shows, much like Daniel and Matthew in the previous match. The two went through by far the most brutal slog of the day, with neither really managing to get ground on the objective until Sam's dice luck started to fail him. Below is a picture of the main objective after a couple of turns, just to show you how devastating the fire was in the first few exchanges.

In the middle of the wreckage, a tiny FT-17, that almost knocked out the mighty Panther

 With the middle of the table filled with burning tanks, and both players running low on replacements, it came down to ticking up points on the objective. And with Angus sneaking it by  6-5, he secured himself the victory and an Ace badge.

A final few words and pictures

 Flames of Tanks is a fun little game that can be set up and played in half an hour, if you're burnt out from full games, or if you're just wanting a little something to fill some time, and I can think of nothing better.
 In the run-up to this event, I've added some strange tanks to my collection, with some from Armies I don't even collect, but it has given me a chance to try out some painting techniques and have a go at some camouflage schemes that are a little different (The odd green, tan and brown of the French?).

 Stay tuned because next month, I'm starting up another Aces campaign to continue on from the popular Tank and Infantry ones run in the past. This time it's Mechanised Aces, and the players are getting their half-tacks all spruced up in preparation. What will I take? I'm actually looking at armoured cars, just for a little variety.
 Thank you very much for reading, and I'll leave you with a few choice pictures from the day.