All posts by Peter Gregory

Flames of War, Uncategorized

FOW at Challenge 2016

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Decided to skip Britcon this year.

I can recommend the BHGS Challenge event. Easy to reach airy venue on the outskirts of Oxford.Good friendly atmosphere and competitive gaming. Flushed with near success at Britcon 2015 I decided to take panzer pioneers and mixed tankovy  to the mid war tournament ( the pioneers have never won a game but are cool – pity I got the list wrong). My delusions of competence soon evaporatee

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Pionier deployment game 1 Hiding from 3.7in AA guns

Game 1 Fighting withdrawal   New Zealand Infantry Lost 6-1

Forgot people bring big toys to tournaments 4 3.7 in AA guns in the ground role on a ridge Gulp Assaulted on foot rode my luck against 25 per bombardment. Killed one platoon defending objective before matildas in ambush got me and my infantry died in a hail of 1s and 2s under bombardment.

He looks happy He’s got 7 Panthers

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Game 2 Free for all Kursk Panthers  Lost 6-1

See above re big toys Needed a shturmovik  or artillery Got my heroic  T 70s on his objective before  my army broke in a hail of 75mm L70  fire

Game 3 Cauldron    American Paratroopers   Lost 4-3

That’s a lot of yanks

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Decided to cruise on in my half tracks  and got half bailed or ko’d by howitzers and big mortars. Girded my loins and went again on foot after reducing the enemy mortars and guns. Killed  a platoon of infantry defending the objective and 3 other platoons not bad against america’s finest dug in in a town Things were looking up

Day 2

Yes like a fool I came back for more

Game 4  Breakthrough German panzers   Lost 4-3

Hiding again this time from Tiger I don’t think it’s working

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I could have had this lot if they hadn’t bought a Tiger. Spent half the game hiding from the big cat Excellent shoot out between mark 4 s and 3 s on the left flanks which the matildas won  if we could have got one more mark 3 we would have been looking at a company test for the germans. In the end my last KV1 was on the enemy objective when his commander and 2 mark 3 s overran my gallant infantry in the churchyard

Game 5    Cauldron Russian Tankovy   Lost 6-1

Too many Russians to kill with my limited AT Got one company of T34 S with Hornisse and 88 fire . But my platoons had to scattered widely and the isolated depleted one got overrun by stuarts after a fierce dose of tanks fire Only one tank off maybe breaking the other t34 company so not all one way traffic

Excuses  , excuses,

The pioniers need more AT and more half tracks for the command elements and the tankovy need artillery or a shturmovik to play in competitions.

Great weekend All of my opponents were sporting friendly and fair – happy to allow rolls where phases were missed and knew the rules well I will be back next year with the pioniers.IMG_1104

Victory can do this to a man

WW2

Tom Hanks had it easy

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On June 4th  the club replayed the DDay landings  using the Memoir 44 expansions . Wayne and Lynette  provided all the maps some 14 feet long , laminated playing aids and explained all the chrome covering reinforcements, special artillery effects and specialist troops. Thanks for all their hard work

We had players for each beach and the airborne landings. it was a great day played in a friendly spirit.

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The landings.

Being a masochist I played Omaha and got a very warm receptions from the dug in Germans on the cliffs, further enhanced by them drawing 2 firefight cards which increased their shooting.  The survivors regrouped and combat engineers landed to clear the cliffs supported by barrage cards which suppressedthe most heavily defended positions and the 88mm nests.

The game was a narrow victory for the allies  and was the most enjoyable large game I have played in a long time.

Omaha

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Action shots

Squarebashing, WW1

Turkish Victory on the road to Kut

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On Tuesday played the clubs first middle eastern  square bashing affair. As the Turkish commander I surveyed the masses of reservists limited artillery and limited assets with some fear as a fairly elite Empire force descended on my line of hasty defences . The turks have five dice for point effect barrages and that is it for artillery options.

The turkish lynchpin
The turkish lynchpin

Luckily I  had rolled for two  options where defeat could be ignored with no retreats and no further casualties. These rebuffed the initial attacks and then a surprisingly accurate point effect barrage  sent the highlanders and sikhs running for the woods. The british forces regrouped and applied more pressure but in the end little was achieved and it was a crushing victory for the ottomans