Introduction
This
is game 28 in replaying the scenarios from the Briton
Publishers Operation Jupiter skirmish scenario book.
Links to previous games are on this blog page.
Rules used
I
am using my WW2 rules that I had for a 3x4 grid that I then made a gridless
version for 2’x2’ games. These games are
larger forces on a bigger table (half a table tennis table or 4x5’x5’) so I
have modified them a little so now added a few things from my older rules -
unit card activation and now each figures is not suppressed but a section can
be if fired on by enough dice. They are
very similar to rule I used 10 years ago.
Scenario
This is a tank Vs tank game. Each side must knockout every opposing tank
to win, or force the other side to leave. There is no turn limit.
Troops
British
 |
| Brits |
1xFirefly (veteran crew)
4xShermans
Germans
 |
| Germans |
1xStugIIIG
2xPanzerIV
1xPanther
1xMarderIII
Note the
MarderIII is substituting for a sdkfz251/22 as I don’t have a model for the
latter.
Deployment
 |
| Battlefield |
I am activating using one card per vehicle.
My money is
on the Germans as they have the better guns.
I did think this would not be too exciting
- my rules for tanks are fairly simple: 1d6 to hit with a few modifiers
and 1d6 to penetrate (using attacker gun and defender armour modifiers). Miss or damage (2xdamage=KO) or KO. But it was quite a tense game after all,
mainly as there was terrain to navigate around.
Game
The first
few turns were spent getting the vehicles on the board. The Firefly hanging
back as it has an excellent gun for long range fire.
The lead PzIV gets to the hedge corner, spots the Firefly and fires. And misses. Firefly fires back and also misses.
 |
| Overview |
More moving. The Shermans and Stug in the orchard fail to spot each other (visibility limited to 18” if not firing and need a 5+ at that range).
A suppressed PanzerIV manages to damage the Firefly. Not good news for the British.
 |
| Damaged Firefly |
Even though damaged, the Firefly gets a shot off at the Panzer IV and destroys it. The first KO in the game.
 |
| PanzerIV destroyed |
More movement and some firing at the Firefly. A Sherman damages the Marder.
 |
| Tanks in the orchard |
The Firefly damages the Panther. The Panther returns fire but for no effect. The nearby PanzerIV also fires for no effect.
 |
| Damaged Panther |
The Marder is then destroyed.
 |
| Marder KO |
Finally, the Stug damages a Sherman.
 |
| The Stug damages a Sherman |
The Firefly fires at the Panther again and the Panther is destroyed. The Germans are 3 vehicles down and decide to retire.
Verdict
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I think vehicles stalking each other can be quite exciting. Tactical armoured combat is very unforgiving!
ReplyDeleteIn 45 years of playing ww2 games, I realised I have never played a straight tank Vs tank game (with no infantry at all - I have played some tank heavy games though). I also never thought they could be that interesting, but obvously I was wrong :-)
DeleteI suspected the success of the Brits would largely be dependent on the performance of the Firefly (having a veteran crew helped). A victory for the British 👏👏
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Geoff
The Firefly was in a simialr position as the Panther on the other side - great gun with a long range. Defintely having the Firefly in a good position and rolling good dice gave the British their first victory in a while.
DeleteAnother good looking game Shaun and plenty of tense action!
ReplyDeleteI was amazed that the forces were so equal. Have they done some serious balancing for the scenarios, or does this have some historical verisimilitude?
Regards, James
Thanks James. The scenarios are scaled down from actions decribed in the book Hill 112: Battles of the Odon – 1944 by Tim Saunders. I assume there is some equalising goiing on and also they seemed to have played the scenarios a few times for balance (the table set up for each scenario are actual photos of a table with terrain).
DeleteI've been meaning to play some tank-versus-tank games for quite sometime now Shaun, so maybe this will be the incentive/motivation I need?
ReplyDeleteHello Steve, It was much more excitng that I thought - you should give it a go! Happy to be blamed for the motivation :-)
DeleteVery interesting. I don't think I have done many pure armour vs armour games either. What was the effect of 'damaged' in the game?
ReplyDeleteIt was quite interesting to play and I am surprised it was my first pure armour game.
DeleteA damaged tank is immobilised and is also +1 (easier) to be hit. If damaged again it is destroyed. I took this form Take Cover!! (a Rapid Fire clone from 25 years ago)
Great game and battle report!!
ReplyDeleteI've never done a pure Armour game before, but got tempted to try it.
Thanks Roger! I think the trick to the pure armour games is, as Martin mention earlier, some terrain to stalk in/around.
DeleteEnjoyable write-up and love seeing that you've gotten into a comfortable groove with your WW2 gaming.
ReplyDeleteI just pulled your 1 Dice Sci-Fi rules out to re-read and I'm planning to give them a run for their money this month.
Hope all is well with you and yours!
Thanks Shawn. All is well around here.
DeleteI see you are also doing some narrative role playing. I did pause with the 1d6 rules and currently in the early throes of a 5 Parsecs campaign. I have wild ideas about combining the 1d6 SF rules with parts of the 5 Parsecs framework but base it on Classic Traveller. Resisting (so far) until I finish the current 5 Parsecs campaign.
I remember you mentioning this... with either the 1st or 2nd edition 5P rules, right? I have those sitting somewhere around my file system but it has been ages since I used them. I quite like the new shiny edition but I don't know what's changed from edition to edition to say enough about it.
DeleteI should say that I did just mash-up the combat system from Across a Thousand Dead Worlds with Unbelievably Simple Role-playing (USR) 3 and it came out very nicely. (Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is very hex-wargamey, with a fully automated system for generating terrain and opposition in solitaire play. Don't really care for the setting but it was easy enough just to use the combat components for what I wanted to do. There's a campaign system in the game too but it is tied to the setting as one would expect.)
DeleteI will send you an email, but I too kickstartered Across a Thousand Dead Worlds but just have not got around to reading it :-(
Delete