Right chaps, we will be updating this thread throughout the day as we work our way through the Phases and Turns. Feel free to add comments and ask questions.
Prelims
We began the Patrol Phase yesterday with a roll to see our Force Morale and, with this particular scenario, who went first. Rich won that and as a result he gets the first Phase of play in the game itself. As it happens both sides threw 6 for their morale so begin the game brimming with confidence with matching Force Moral levels of 11.
Phase 1. German. The Command Dice are 44431. Not a great combination for me as the Hun. I have only my Platoon commander who can be activates on a 4 and I want him back commanding his O Group off table for now. So only a 3 and 1 to be used. Mindful of my plan to find good dominating positions for my armour I bring on the Puma and, being a wheeled vehicle I get to move that immediately. It advances to the T junction. No 6’s rolled means that the next Phase is British.
Phase 2. British. My Command Dice are 64331. The single 6 means that Rich will get the next Phase. I am keen to push on my armour with infantry ahead of them to protect them from the damned bosche bazooka men. I deploy one section to the T junction just beyond the village and bring on Sherman 1 on the road in the village itself. As it is a tank it just deploys, it doesn’t move in this Phase.
Phase 3. German. Command Dice 66544. Ah, two 6’s means I get the next Phase, the 5 means I add one to my Chain of Command total. But otherwise it is a poxy roll. I am not bringing my platoon commander on for the reasons I have already mentioned. So, I just roll again for my next Phase.
Phase 4. German. Command Dice 54432. That’s better but still too many damned 4’s. My Chain of Command Dice total increased to 2. With the 3 I move my Puma up to the junction by the church and open fire on the British further down the road with my turret MG. Its ineffective but that should be enough to make Skinner think twice about moving them. With the 2 I deploy a squad of infantry into the church. The British infantry are close enough to know they are in there, but the British tank is unaware of their presence.
Phase 5. British. Command Dice 54443. Looks like this 4 thing is catching! I move my Sherman up through the village to support the infantry. I could bring on my Sherman Troop Leader, my Platoon Sergeant or my Lieutenant (I have better command assets available due to a larger force and the fact that all of my officers are not dead in Russia’s cold ground) , but I am wary of showing my hand too early. I am keen for the Germans to commit themselves before I do any more.
Phase 6. German. Command Dice 66411. Two 6’s means the next Phase is mine. I could bring on my Panzerschreck on a 1 but I am keen to keep that up my sleeve for an ambush when my Chain of Command Dice allows. I decide just to roll again.
Phase 7. German. Command Dice. 65321. My Chain of Command total increases to 3. I turn the Puma to present its frontal armour and put it on overwatch. If the British Sherman advances up the road I will get the first shot. My infantry in the church assume a Tactical stance, i.e. taking the bets cover possible. I am confident that the solid Normandy stone makes this a great place to be. I have one panzerfaust with the squad and the church is large enough for me to fire that from without toasting the firer.
Phase 8. British. 66311. I get the next Phase. I bring on my Sherman Troop commander and the 2” mortar which deploys in a small garden in the village.
Phase 9. British 65443. My Troop commander advances his tank rapidly and also activates Sherman 1 to get it to advance cautiously forward. I am concerned about his overwatch. To be honest I am not sure how much of a punch the Pak 38 gun in the Puma has, but I suspect it will be enough to hurt the Sherman. At this stage I am keen to get my tanks on and able to act in concert rather than throwing them away in penny packets, but the close terrain is not helping me.
Phase 10. German. Command Dice 53222. My Chain of Command total increases by 1. I bring on my StuG III. The three 2’s mean that I could activate my infantry squad in the church and deploy the other two squads to the jump-off points. But in doing so I would give the British a huge advantage in knowing exactly where I am, as opposed to simply knowing where I was when their patrols bumped into me before the battle was joined. With the small amount of armour I have I am sure I will be reliant on my infantry panzerfausts to take some of the tank killing duties on, so keeping them hidden and ready for an ambush when the enemy get too close is a better plan. I do nothing else.
Phase 11. British. 66642. The three 6’s mean that this is the last phase in this turn and that I will get the first phase in the next turn. This is good because all tactical and overwatch markers are removed on the turn end. It represents a break in the action. That is great because Rich’s Puma is no longer going to get the drop on me if I head up the road. I do nothing in this Phase.
Turn Two
Phase 1. British. 64431. Sherman 1 advances and fires at the Puma. The shot hits the turret but achieves only partial penetration, wounding the commander and shocking the crew. The Sherman Troop Commander in Sherman 2 crossed the hedge to join the infantry on the junction. From here he will get a shot at the Puma in his next activation. I am getting the firepower superiority that I want. That Puma is toast next time!
I bring on my Firefly in the village and, aware that the Germans in the church have at least one panzerfaust I use my 2” mortar to put down smoke to blind them. The round misses and annoyingly lands on the road, blocking my tanks’ line of sight to the Puma.
With a Leader wounded the Germans dice for their Force Morale which drops to 10. It’s a start. At this point I am feeling confident. The Puma being masked by smoke was an unfortunate result, but it will allow me to move my armour up to form a base of fire. My plan now is to do just that and advance with my infantry, blasting out anything which pops up to threaten them.
Phase 2. German. Command Dice 43111. The Puma is recovering from the commander being wounded and is inactive. I move my StuG forward. That’s all for me this time. The Puma has had a lucky escape, but I must admit to being somewhat awed by the amount of British armour. If I lose the StuG I am in big trouble.
Phase 3. British. 43321. The bloody 2” mortar fires smoke again and simply adds to the screen on the road (take that man’s name Sergeant!). Sherman 1 turns right down the lane in an attempt to make space for the other tanks to move up. A couple of decent Phases and I should have a wall of steel facing the Jerry. My Troop commander puts his own tank on overwatch covering up the road, and the Firefly moves up from the village and Sherman 3 arrives in the village.
I am feeling confident and want to put pressure on the Germans at this stage. I deploy Number 2 section into the outskirts of the village. The Bren team is on overwatch in one of the gardens covering the graveyard where I know the Jerries were bumped into by our patrols (the Jump-off point situated there tells me this has been identified as a dangerous area). The rifle team I am advancing tactically through the field. What I want to do is give the Germans too many points of threat for them to be able to react to them all.
Phase 4. German. Command Dice 55542. This is one of those interesting rolls. Points on your Chain of Command tally are normally something you bank for use subsequently rather than get to use immediately. However this roll gives me a Chain of Command total of 6, so that’s a Chain of Command dice I can use. And I do. One option with a Chain of Command dice is to launch an ambush from any position within 12” of a friendly jump-off point which is not within 4” of the enemy infantry. My Panzershreck team immediately deploys into the field and puts a round into Sherman One’s flank armour.
It doesn’t have a prayer. What is more it explodes as the ammunition cooks off, this in turn kills one man in the British section by the road junction and causing a significant amount of Shock on the whole section. As the Phase ends the ambush team slip away ready to be deployed again. This has, of course, reduced my Chain of Command total back to zero, but it was well worth it. How I laughed!
British Force Morale drops to 9.
Phase 5. British. 65421. That has rather upset my initial plan, but I feel that I can still carry on. I move my Troop Commander’s Sherman off to the right.
I want the Firefly on the road and Sherman 3 to take the left flank. I am going to push things along and run the rifle team from Number 2 section across the field. My Bren team is still on overwatch. My hope is that I can get the rifle team up and shut down the German jump-off point in the churchyard. If I can do that then my schwerpunkt will be on that left hand side, I still have Number 3 section available to go that way if the route is opened.
Phase 6. German. Command Dice. 43211. Oooh, Nice. Possibly one of the best rolls one could get in a tough situation. I can really activate just about anything I want with those. I can see the tears on Nicks chubby little cheeks already!
I deploy my second Squad of infantry into the church yard and show the Tommies why running across fields is a poor idea. Three men die in a hail of lead. The Bren team which was on overwatch fires back killing one of my MG team.
I roll my STuG up and fire on the Firefly but MISS. Oh dear.
Now Nick’s tears are tears of joy as he eyes up his massive 17 pounder. Oh, no, that’s his packed lunch! My Shreck team deploys into the church yard. It’s a sitter. Almost impossible to miss. And they miss.
That was a Phase with so much potential but it ends in disaster. I can only pray that Fatty rolls some big bad dice.
Phase 7. British. 66443. The next phase is mine, which is a great result. I fire at the StuG with my Firefly and hit. It glances off the low sloped armour but the German driver is Shocked so they can’t move to get away. Sherman 2, my Troop Commander, moves into the lane on my right.
Phase 8. British. 53331. Not a bad roll. The Firelfy fires but misses the StuG. Sherman 3 moves up rapidly to support the infantry and is at the entrance to the field. The infantry stuck in the open are in a desperate situation. There is almost no good option open. I consider going tactical and just trying to make the most of what folds in the ground there are, but in the end I hurl a couple of grenades towards the churchyard wall. They fall short.
Phase 9. German. Command Dice 66533. The StuG misses again. However, my second squad in the graveyard rout the British infantry in the field with some well placed fire. The good news is that I get the next Phase.
Phase 10. German. Command Dice 55321. Doing what they should have done a couple of Phases ago the Shreck team take out the Firefly (whose lack of hull MG saved them from an ignominious fate).
It explodes and shocks Sherman 3 who was just attempting to get past it into the field. No actual damage but the crew are badly rattled. On the road the Puma commander has been rallying his crew. In the graveyard the MG42 team fires on the British Bren team to no effect while the rifle team move up to support the Panzerschreck. Their Panzerfaust is looking like a good Ace to play in a short while.
The British Force Morale has now dropped to 6.
Phase 11. British. 53222. Sherman 3 reverses away and rallies its Shock. Sherman 2, the Troops commander struggles to cross the hedgerow whilst section 3 is sent forward, deploying into the field from where I plan for Sherman 2 to support its advance. I feel like I am playing some high risk strategies here, but with my force morale tumbling I need to do some damage to the Germans.
Phase 12. German. Command Dice. 65331. The Puma engages Sherman 2. It fails to penetrate but the Sherman driver is sufficiently shocked to reverse back behind the hedge. In the churchyard my MG42 pins down the Bren team on the outskirts of the village. With British morale falling as it has been I am looking to push forward and keep the momentum. I push forward my rifle team from my second Squad into the field on my right. I also withdraw my Panzerschreck team towards a jump-off point as they are out of ammunition and need to resupply.
Phase 13. British. 65442. Sherman 2 misses the Puma. My Number 3 section in the field advance tactically. I deploy my Platoon Sergeant to the junction where he rallies Number 1 section. I am very worried about the Germans infiltrating into the village and denting my force morale further.
Phase 14. German. Command Dice 55442. The MG in the church fires and kills one man on the Bren team which then routs. The British left flank is wide open apart from the 2” mortar team in the garden. I rush forward my rifle team and then end the turn by using a Chain of Command dice. This is key as the British on their left (in the village) now rout from the table taking their NCO with them.
They were already broken by had not been rallied sufficiently to get them back into some (albeit poor) order. The British Force Morale now drops to 5 which is the last point at which they have 5 Command Dice.
TURN 3
Phase 1. British. 65422. My Troop Commander gets his eye in and hits the Puma. The round fails to penetrate but it shocks the commander. On my left my Platoon Sergeant leads forward the Bren team to the signpost at the junction while the rifle team are ordered to move to the village with their Corporal Sherman 3 moves up cautiously to support them.
Phase 2. German. Command Dice 44433. Number Two squad fires its panzerfaust while the rest of the rifles run for the village. The round hits the turret but fails to penetrate, although it damages the gun sighting optics. A bad roll for me. The Puma commander tries to recover from his shock.
Phase 3. British. 55421. My Troop Commander knocks out the Puma, although it doesn’t explode the crew can be seen bailing out. At the junction the Platoon Sergeant shoots down the panzerfaust man in the field. Across the road British Number 3 section rushes forwards to shut down the German jump-off point on the road. My hope now is that I can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on this flank.
Phase 4. German. 54311. The rifle team from my second squad move into the outskirts of the village and capture the British jump-off marker there. The MG team in the churchyard fire at the Bren team at the junction killing one man and adding some serious shock. In the church the German Corporal controls his MG fire and wounds the British corporal in their Number 3 section and kills two of his men. However British force morale holds up, fortunately for them and much to my annoyance.
I now end Turn 3 with a Chain of Command dice. That removes the British jump-off point I have captured and represents a real loss of their original position. I haven’t just rushed in and grabbed it, I have secured the area. This demands a Force Morale test but the British play a Chain of Command dice to avoid taking this test. Very wise, but the pressure I am putting on them is keeping them on the back foot. I keep thinking the buggers will break a any moment, but they are hanging on like grim death. There is always the risk that taking chances like this will leave me over extended.
TURN 4
Phase 1. British. 54311. My Troop Commander crosses the hedge and moves up to support Number 3 section. They go Tactical. After my risky throwing of grenades earlier I decide that hugging a ditch and waiting for the tanks to come up is a better option. The Bren team at the junction shoots down a crew member from the MG42 in the churchyard leaving just one man there. My 2” mortar slips away from the village.
Phase 2. German. Command Dice 53222. I send the StuG towards the Puma. I am very keen to prop up this flank. The Germans in the church fire and despite the British Number 3 section being tactical they kill the corporal and two men. I immediately follow that up by deploying my third squad into an assault on the depleted British section. They kill one of my men but I wipe them out totally thanks to their poor dice rolling rather than any great stuff from me. British Force Morale plummets to 3 meaning they now only have three Command Dice. If they come back from here it’ll be a bigger story than Lazarus!
Phase 3. British. 653. I now have just three Command Dice. Sherman 3 advances and wipes out the German MG team in the churchyard. If nothing else these nasty Nazis won’t be troubling us again! German Force Morale Drops to 7.
Phase 4. German. Command Dice 54432. My StuG pushes the remains of the Puma aside. Desperate to finish off the British I send my third squad down the road to assault the Bren team at the junction. The British fight bravely with their platoon sergeant’s Sten adding to their firepower and their stickability. I lose four men and my squad leader is wounded but the British are wiped out. The loss of their platoon sergeant and the Bren team is enough. British morale drops to zero and they withdraw from the table.
That’s Endex It’s schnapps all round for the Germans and a week of peeling spuds for the British. Let us now dwell on the game over a few pints and then come back to you with a full debrief somewhat later.
Nick’s Post Battle Thoughts.
To fail to plan is to plan to fail. To be fair I found the close terrain a problem for my tanks. Were I to do it all again I’d have put my platoon sergeant with the 2” mortar and put down a decent smoke screen to form up behind and then focussed my energies on my left where I could have overwhelmed the StuG and then the German infantry with firepower. This was my first game with more than one tank under my control. The rules really do highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the different models. The Firefly is a real sledgehammer when it comes to killing tanks, but the lack of hull MG leaves it very weak against things like Shreck teams. On the other hand the Sherman 75 is a beast against infantry, but against armour it is a nightmare. I never got into a position where I could just stand and whallop the enemy with my MGs and HE rounds. The German infantry are really tough nuts due to their AT capability. You really do need to work your infantry and tanks in a mutually supporting fashion. The two tanks I lost were both taken out by the Shreck and the panzerfaust drove off my third Sherman for long enough to swing the game in the German favour. In desperation I took too many risks with my infantry and I paid the price. Great fun though. One really feels the importance of keeping your force motivated.
Rich’s Post Battle Thoughts
I must admit that the very sight of a whole Troop of Shermans was a frightening experience. You find yourself in a situation where you have troops ready to deploy, but to do so leaves them exposed to potentially withering fire. In a game like this the only tack to take is the approach learnt on the Eastern Front and hit the low hanging fruit hard in the hope that the whole attack then becomes non-viable. In this case the low hanging fruit were the enemy infantry. I was very confident at the outset that my armour could deal with the British, but at the end of the day it was the panzerschreck team that really did the job. From a technical rule writing point of view that was very rewarding. The rules allowed the Panzerschreck to behave in an historically plausible manner, despite the need to abstract this via the Chain on Command Dice. Indeed I would suggest it worked BECAUSE of the Chain of Command dice.
We hope that everyone enjoyed this rather interesting diversion. I shall await feedback to see how we did. If people liked it and enjoyed it then as a preview of a game it could be fun to do again. Please do leave your feedback.
The Fight for Amen Corner
Captain “Hardcore” Bouldermeir jabbed at the map with his cigar. “That’s it youse guys, the Quatre Bras it says here, but you’ll know it better as Amen Corner” he leered as he took a long drag on his cigar. They knew it alright, and he knew they knew it. The crossroads with the roadside shrine
80 thoughts on “Chain of Command. A Day of Action”
I note you say that the British infantry section knows of the presence of the German gruppe in the church but the British Sherman does not. Does that mean that units must spot to detect the enemy?
No, it means that they can’t fire on the church until the infantry in there fire out or until they are told by the infantry.
Very nice update, will follow with interst during the day !
best regards Michael
Gotcha, thanks. A bit worried the Germans might be lacking in anti-tank weapons given they’re facing a whole troop of Shermans! Gripping stuff…
Table looks great chaps!!!
Who makes the church or was it a scratch build??
Cheers
Gerry
It is a really old one from Gallia, or maybe Hovels. It was in the cupboard at the club for twenty five years painted in monotone gloss grey. I dragged it out and repainted it. It has come out rather well.
That’s an interesting stipulation. How do you keep track of little things like this ??
I use an extremely small brain.
What are the advantages of keeping the platoon commander off board? Are you waiting to deploy the rest of the platoon first than that?
Your Platoon commander has his “O Group” off table. From there he can deploy his men forward quickly and efficiently. Once they are all deployed he can come on and do his stuff leading them to victory. He CAN come on earlier and then send runners to call them up to join the fray, but that is 50% ineffective.
Have the german infantry brought any other stuff to blow up the shermans with?
Best regards Michael
One panzerfaust per squad. One panzerschreck team. These are Panzerfaust 30s as well, so a very limited range. Scary stuff against four Shermans commanded by an ugly bloke!
Where are the implicit spotting rules? DId I miss those in the most recent version?
You may not have had them yet!
I lied. You DO have them.
Do the Jerries have a Panzerfaust per section?
Troops that are off-board will only deploy 50% of the time if they don’t have a senior leader aloso off-board to tell them what to do.
Troops will only deploy on to the table 50% of the time if they don’t have a senior leader with them off-board.
Meant to ask, how do you work out how many dice each side has? Is it to do with the quality of the troops?
Yes. although 5 is very much the norm. You get other troop quality factors in the rules, such as how far from jump-off points they can deploy and how hard they are to hit (fieldcraft). Some truly abysmal forces do begin with 4 Command Dice, some outstanding forces with 6, but these are really few and far between.
Can you explain the thinking behind the double 6 giving you both the next phase and the foresight to know that the enemy being able to respond. Or have I got this wrong can they interrupt your double phase if an opportunity arises?
For example, let’s say you are running across open ground but know you’ve got the double phase so your guys stand a reasonable chance, depending on their movement dice, of making cover without being subjected to fire as they dash over the open space? Can the enemy open fire as soon as you break cover? Is this what ‘Over-watch’ covers?
Thanks – enjoying this format.
Timmo. By definition if you get two or more 6’s you are actually being short changes in the current phase, i.e. you will only have a maximum of three dice to use for actions. What is more, you don’t know what you will roll in the next phase. In addition to that your opponent does have the ability to interrupt if he has sufficient Chain of Command points which represent a build up of tactical appreciation across the battle. In addition, as you say, you do have overwatch and tactical options which last through numerous phases. So, getting the next phase represents you spotting a fleeting opportuning and then deciding whether you take a risk and go for it.
Imagine your men in a house in a burning village. You want to cross the road to the house over there. When you get that double six is the moment when smoke has blown across the road. Do you go for it? How far will you get, as you know one can never be absolutely certain due to the movement being dice based. So, it all about making decisions and sometimes riding your luck.
Sorry
should have written ”foresight to know that the enemy won’t be able to respond”
Surely you’re not drinking this early in the day! ;^D
I love the ambush mechanic you’ve described there. That really emphasises the importance of infantry/tank cooperation – if only Nick had an infantry section on that flank of the Sherman where the panzershreck team appeared…….
Spot on Mark. It is designed to reward good cooperation between infantry and tanks. Tanks are not dragons, they are deaf and with poor visibility. Without infantry they are easy prey to nasty men with cheap disposable AT weapons. It also means that well handled the AT team is not a one shot weapons, which it so often is in wargames as it becomes a bullet magnet as soon as it exposes itself.
I think that Ambush just sold me on purchasing CoC (even though I did plan on waiting for the WWI or Sci-Fi variant).
Marvellous !!
Very nice conducted ambush 🙂
Best regards Michael
Can you give us a quick rundown of what’s not yet deployed, if anything?
Nick has just deployed his third section, so all he has left is the Lieutenant and PIAT team. I still have my third squad off table as I am keeping that as an ace up my sleeve. However, now Nick has deployed just about everything I am free to use my spare squad where I think it will tip the balance. Evil laugh.
Oh, so weapons teams have limited ammunition too?
‘faust are one shot..
Cheers, i wasnt very clear there Mike. 🙂
I was thinking more about the shreks, piats, and mortars
Gerry, Shrecks, PIATS, Bazookas have three shots with the team, but can resupply in game from any jump-off point. Mortars vary from nation to nation but largely have no ammunition restrictions due to the short duration of the game. British 2″ mortars have 2 HE rounds but unlimited smoke.
Will this game scale up to larger actions – like company sized?
No, too big. IABSM is a better fit for Company size games.
Rich
Hmm… wonder if the deployment stuff would bolt on – I really, really like the way you’ve handled deployment and think it would be great for other games.
Are the tanks able to hose down hedgerows etc with their MGs, to suppress any infantry or ‘Faust teams that may be lurking there, even though they can’t see them? From accounts that I’ve read this was a fairly common tactic.
You can indeed put down fire on areas which are ostensibly unoccupied. It won’t kill but it will put them off their aim quite significantly.
And this is awesome – all battle reports should be like this – with live updates. Love it. Absolutely love it. I’m a newcomer to Lard Island, but fast discovering I really like it here.
Glad you’re enjoying it Justin. Stick around for the finale. I can sense the tension building up here.
Love the look of your game !!! Great AAR !!!
Just one thing, might be a bit to much markes on the board for my taste, do the rules play easy without them? Suppouse I can camouflag them to look like the terrain if they are absolutly needed…
Best regards Michael
we rarely use markers at lard island- i guess the lads are using them here for clarification in the photos.
I know I asked in the other thread if it can be played solo and got a resounding “yes”. Am just wondering how that would work? Trying to get my head round how the deployment would work – am guessing I’d have to work out a Non-Player programme and sketch out general tactics.
So if I roll *no* 6’s, the next phase goes to my opponent. If I roll *one* 6, play also goes to my opponent. So I’m being penalized for rolling *one* 6 vs *no* 6’s because I have one less action dice.
If true, I’d rather hope to roll *no* 6’s.
True. Life is never fair Chuck.
justin, rich will probably shout at me for my heresy, but if playing solo i’d be tempted to try a variant on the alternate placing of markers during deployment. it would be interesting to dice for which side places/moves a marker. it would give more variation during the setup – just a thought to add more flexibility to start off points.
I like that idea nod!
I have played numerous solo games in the playtesting process and just played it out of the box. No need for all that. However it would be easy enough to bolt on an idea like Noddy’s.
Love it even more solo out the box. Bit hard to find opponents on Malta stuck as we are on a little tiny island.
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
Estaminet Fin du Cloche! Brilliant!
Great game – can’t wait for the published version.
This was great fun to watch develop. I have never experienced a game this way as an observer. I am wondering if a remote play game could be done this way. Possibilities….
The comments as the game progressed were also very good and gave some insight into the rules and the action. Well done Rich.
Well done to you both. Was a great game, enjoyable to watch and lots of fun. Gave good insight in to the game too.
Chris – I reckon it would go with a remote game – maybe with Roll20.
Really looking forward to the game’s release.
Darn you, I was on the fence about getting into this. But the game looked like a lot of fun and now I really want to play. So that’s now CoC, Sharp Practice and Dux Brittaniarum which are tempting me.
I really enjoyed the experience. I was ‘fortunate’ enough to be off work sick today laid up in bed so I was able to follow events as they unfolded, which added to the tension.
Perhaps you could consider roping in somebody to handle the writing up and computer wizardry maybe presented in the style of an embedded war correspondent, that would take some of the workload off the players. Just a thought.
When all is said and done it was a really good show! Hopefully we will see some more of this kind of thing?!
Cheers
Mark
I really enjoyed the playthrough and would enjoy seeing more. The only downside is not being able to buy the rules yet. I suppose it’s too late to get in on the playtest 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed that chaps. Very informative. Really looking forward to you doing another one soon. Cheers!!
This was a very useful and enjoyable bit for me and potentially profitable for you. I think you’ve sold me on the game and I’ll bet the same can be said for others. What a great way to get introduced to a new game. Well done. I’d love to see more like it, or even the other videos you have that just explain your games. One complaint, I have a hard time finding things on your blog. Maybe a menu for videos?
Jim
At least Nick showed what happens if a combined arms approach fails, something sadly that the Brits learnt all too quickly in Normandy. But a very enjoyable day keeping track of how things went.
One thing I would like to see is a similar battle but one fought out on a table with less terrain, say the Russian Steppe or Western Desert, to see how may or may not affect the game.
I certainly would love to see more, and agree that other terrains than Western Europe would be a very interesting test at these ranges.
Tom
Ok. I’m puzzled. Where did Rich magic up a CoC dice at the end of turn 3? As far as I can see he only rolled one 5 in Turn 3, having rolled 6 of them in Turn 1/2 and then used the CoC dice to fire off the ‘Shreck, and 6 more in Turn 2 and then used the CoC dice in phase 14 to end the turn?
Hi,
is it possible to downsize the whole game on 15mm scale? Around 30 miniatures in 28mm scale would looks great, but the cost and time to paint them up would be equally great.
Another question, is there a “ruleset” of the two lards that only packs around a squad or one and a half of a squad?
Although CoC is not my preferred scale, I will certainly give it a try. At least, the needed table space for 15mm CoC will be more manageable than 15mm IABSM.
A great intro to the game. The Puma seemed a little too tough 3 or 4 shots to take out a jumped up armoured car – 75mm Shermans weren’t *that* bad. That may just be luck of the die though. As mentioned above a more open board will give a better feel for armour interaction.
I only read one phase where the Brits shot up infantry with a tank. I expected a lot more support of the infantry by the armour. I was a bit surprised the infantry didn’t go knock on the tank and ask for a couple of HE into the church. To be fair though, I would not have done any better.
On the whole a great battle report giving a very good feel for how these rules play out. I can’t wait for the release.
Great looking game, and looking forward to getting the rules, I shall be doing tis in 54mm as I already have the infantry, tanks and the buildings, which are huge just for a small dutch type terrace house.
Well done guys and probably a first type of presentation in the industry, perhaps you should have this as a powerpoint presentation as well
A great report on what it looks like will be a great set of rules. Definitely going to get back into miniatures gaming. Looks and gives the feel of reality. You have to take your chances when they appear and need to adopt realistic tactics-don’t put tanks in close terrain without infantry-unlike numerous buckets o tanks and dice (but little infantry) rules!! Any idea on a planned release date chaps?
Rich has mentioned sometime in August for a release date, probably towards the back end IIRC.
I certainly enjoyed the report and would love to see more. Eagerly (i.e. impatiently) awaiting the release of the rules!
A great report.
If you could have added some overview pictures or drawings of the terrain and the setup, and once in a while posted an overview of the positions of each units, that would have been excellent.
Please do another soon 🙂
Howdy Lardies. Will these here rule play with 15mm figures? You Limeys sure like your big toys!
Work just fine with 15mm toys. Better than 28mm in my opinion. The groundscale is 1:120 so 15mm figures are just about the same.
Looks like a really innovative system I like almost all of what I see.
My 2 qualms are.
Infantry rolling the dreaded “1” on a d6 move die, what has happened? did they trip? I’d like something less prone to the vagaries of a d6. . .
What is happening at the end of a “Turn” that shuts off overwatch. The Puma is sitting in the middle of the road waiting for the Brits to roll into sight so they can pound them. And then the turn is over and the German crew forgets what it is doing?
What is the rationale for this?
Despite these two things I really enjoy the system ideas and look forward to giving them a try when they are released.
Matt
Did they trip? Maybe they didn’t get up at all!
The whole premise is as follows: We know that Usian Bolt covers 200m in 19.73 seconds at his very best. On a bad day he may come in at 20.25, but generally you’ll know he is somewhere between one extreme and the other. However, nobody is shooting at Usain Bolt. Brave man as I am sure he is, in a combat situation you simply cannot predict that Usain will cover the 200m in anything like that time. Indeed when you say “Usain, run towards that MG nest and chuck a No.36 Mills Bomb in there” he may just decide that (in the ten second window that Phase represents) he does not do that. My response to your question would be that to expect any “standard” or “normal” distance to be covered is an absurdity. With the D6 system you, as the player, know what the maximum and minimum distances covered could be, you also can work out statistically what the probabilities are. But ultimately you cannot KNOW what distance your men will cover when responding to your orders. I can see why some gamers may not like that as a game mechanism, but when it comes to the reality of men in combat there can, surely, be no question that this is a better representation than a standard 6″ move.
Rich
Overwatch. Sorry, I had to reply to the first bit of your question before I could review the whole of your message.
Essentially this is about the same thing. If we accept that the end of the turn represents a significant break in the action then surely we can accept that the men you told to keep an eye on that field and shoot anyone going through it can simply lose concentration.
Again, our rules are largely based on two things – the importance of command and the fragility and ultimate unreliability of man. Were man not to be so unreliable and fragile one would not need officers, men would always do what was right and the results would flow from that. However any reading of period accounts tells us that men do not do what is right. They fall asleep on stag, they get drunk, they wander off and steal eggs, they brew tea or simply engage in banter with their mates.
And that is what the end of turn represents. Again, the gamer who loves absolute control may not like the fact that his toy soldiers have gone off to brew tea/find eggs/chase girls/listen to the BBC news, but can anyone really truthfully suggest that squaddies don’t do that?
Cheers
Rich
I won’t argue that soldiers do get caught up in making tea (if you’re British!) or chasing skirts, but I will argue that guys in a firefight with don’t get sidetracked by these issues all that often.
Please don’t take my questioning as disdain for your system, I really do like it
I do enjoy random movement distances in games, I like the fact that you can’t be guaranteed that you will make it to your destination like you planned, especially in the heat of battle. As a gamer I know that I will be staring at the “Cyclops Eye” (a big fat “1”) far too often and I really hate that
Matt
I think the randomness built into the movement aspect of the system perfectly illustrates the uncertainty of how soldiers react under stressful situations (i.e combat).
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s book “On killing: The Psychological Cost of learning to kill in war and society” is well worth a read in this regard and highlights, for me at least, why the Lardies rules are a far more realistic interpretation of conflict than many other games on the market.
regards
Roger
What an amazing report! Truly one of the best I’ve read and viewed from the snapshots of action. I am chomping at the bit to get my miniatures finished and some scenery assembled to play this game! My Tommies are nearly finished and the Germans are now undercoated. I currently even have a scalpel incision on my left index finger for the trouble!
Thanks again!