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.

N█████ ████ ██ ████ C████

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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