IS-2s - All bark and no bite

IS-2s made a rare appearance in this late war WWII Flames of War game (they are generally considered too expensive in points to bother with). Let’s just say that they didn’t fail to disappoint! The lumbering monsters advanced to try to clear away some well dug-in and expertly commanded AT guns, but they failed to hit once in two turns of firing. The German AT guns were ruthlessly effective, knocking out three of them. The remaining IS-2 then failed its morale check and ran away.

In FoW, the IS-2 has a worse rate of fire than German equivalents and counts as ‘slow firing’. Furthermore, its gun has a shorter range. Despite the heavy armour, the tank is destined to underperform, as it seems to have done historically. The lovely models (Model Soldier Company) will probably go back into their box until such time as the point values are reduced by the gate keepers at Battlefront.

Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

Some Flames of War Action. Late War Germans v Soviets. The Soviets, spearheaded by twelve T34/85s found it hard work to tackle a Panzergrenadier army, with lots of AT guns, supported by three SS Tiger Is. The Russians were on the verge of defeat, when an objective was left open by the Germans, only for the two remaining T34s to use their faster speed to race through to take the objective marker, snatching victory form the jaws of defeat.

ECW - A Cavalier Attitude

Tonight we ran an English Civil War game. ECW is always popular – it looks great on tabletop, there is usually an exciting push of pike or clash of horse to keep the punters entertained and, for us, there are always battlefields and/or siege locations nearby to visit. It’s as if it only happened just yesterday…..

In this game the Royalists saw off the less experienced Roundheads with aggressive use of their more confident and cavalier Cavaliers!

Battle of Germantown, 1777, and other Monday Club Games

In this refight of Germantown, from the Philadelphia Campaign, the American rebels defeated the British quite convincingly. The mutinous colonists assaulted the Crown Forces' right flank with vigour, and sent the red coats running for their lives to the rear.

Actually, the British elite Light Infantry failed an early morale role and routed on a 'double one' die role, setting the tone for a the rest of the game. This culminated with an, albeit depleted, unit of Grenadiers failing their morale on a role of a 3 on 2d6, leaving traitorous units of Continentals to maraud through Germantown!

Meanwhile on the British right flank, the Hessians took ages to dress their lines and to move to to engage with the American militia. By the time they had, the battle was essentially over.

Keeping with the North American theme - a French Indian Wars game:

Some Napoleonics on display as well this evening, with the French storming Spanish lines:

Battle of Wagram (Part), 1809

This was a refight of a portion of the meat-grinding Battle of Wagram, 1809. In this game, the French onslaught was halted by a staunch Austrian defence. The rule set used are a homemade set of very fast play rules, to enable completion of large games in a 2-2.5 hour window.