Battle at Sainte Dan Grievsey

[has.been]

game is set for tomorrow. Hopefully there will be eight of us!
Pictures & AAR to follow.

[has.been]

We played! In the end we got 2 games in.
First was WAT. Both games were Fall of France, Germans V French.
576 = The 8 excited, eager & happy War-Gamers, well at least there
          were 8 of us. 2 out of shot (left & right) & me taking the picture.
          Germans were:- David, Dave, Bob & Chris,
          French were:- Garry, James & JC.
577 = The French in the town square. They were tasked with stopping
          the Blitzkrieg.
578 = Typical shabby Nazi trick, hiding!!!!
579 = Gallic Bravery! Well from Lt. James in his Souma. He charges
          to the bridge to deny it to the enemy.


         

[has.been]

By the way, eight wargamers is a record for this house.

580 = More 'Les Boche' reach the river.
581 = View from above the church, looking down on the town square.
582 = Lt Garry pulls his mighty Char Bis...back into the shadows.
583 = Lt James' Death Ride! In which he single handed tried to take
          on the entire German force.
          C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre!

[has.been]

It was at this point that the Battle Bus for Coventry had to leave,
ably piloted by Flat Pack. So we moved onto a little dice off.
3xD6   +4 (if still alive at the end of the game) - Pts value of your tank.
Extra dice were on offer through-out the game for 'Entering into the
spirit of the game' James was the only one to get such a bonus.
It took him up to level points with Chris, which James won. Box of
Maltesers to that fellow!

After a short respite (cups of teas etc) the remainder played over
the same terrain, but with them all being Germans while I plumpired
the French. This time the rules were Hell on Wheels. Each player
had to give their crew orders, & it was my horrible task to
mis-interpret where ever possible. As with most Wargamers giving
actual clear, concise orders proved to be very difficult.
'Driver turn the tank 90 degrees & head down the road'
(Didn't say turn left or right = go down wrong road)
'Building to my left might have enemy artillery observer'
(Sorry, who are you, & more important, where the hell are you?)

The players ended up doing so much damage to the town (see pictures)
that I was seriously thinking of playing 'I've been working on the
railroad' (see the pictures, i.e. Kelly's Heroes)

585 = They fire on everything, even the church!  Heathens.
586 = Chris ends up heading back onto the bridge (Turn left/right?)
587 = Pz III advances past a burning Pissoir. I know I said they
          fired at everything, but is just taking the p*## !!!!
588 = Breakthrough!  Greenfields beyond!!  Have I the heart to
          point out they are probably very short on ammo now.
589 = & that is what they used all of those shells on.

'What of the French?' I hear you ask. Despite leaving all the French
 tanks out from the first game, there wasn't a single one on the table.
There was ONE artillery observer, in the spire of the church. Although
the Boche did fire at the church, I kept telling them they did not have
the elevation to hit the spire. The sporadic artillery shelling did seem
to totally obsess the players though.

I hope the players (both games) had a good time & maybe they might
have a few ideas based on the games.

[Digits]

Yup, thanks for hosting fella.  Great fun had by all me thinks.

Great looking set up, with great looking tanks….what’s not to like?


Also thanks for nibbles, xmas present and box of smoke!

[flatpack]

Pete
Thanks for the game yesterday. Great fun had by all.
Here are a few snaps I took.

German forces encountering the French initially.


My Pz3 trying to destroy James’ French tank that dared to enter the German part of town.


German tanks “ganging up” on James’ French tank.


French reinforcements “resting” on their side of the river.


Thanks again for a cracking mornings gaming.

[vodkafan]

Good picccies from the German side Bob!
I have a few to add from the first game.
The French tanks holding the South side of the town


The Germans have quickly raced through the North side of the town but haven't yet crossed the canal bridge


We expected great things from the Char B


But it's huge green bulk attracted lots of  Jerry fire and it's commander contented himself with buttoning down and staying put, eventually reversing.
The tiny Hotchkiss tank found a fire position behind some rubble and caused some damage to a German tank on the opposite bank causing it to back off. (no pic)

Throwing danger to the winds I raced my trusty Somua over the bridge to meet the enemy


 Into the lion's den!


Once across the bridge, by keeping moving every turn to spoil their aim and using my tank as a battering ram backwards and forwards I managed to stay alive to the end of the game although it was declared a German victory.

The second game (with different rules none of us were familiar with) was a very different experience. At first none of knew what was going on. We each had to give concise turn by turn orders to our "crew"as if we were individual tank commanders with only limited view around us and none at all of the enemy.
At first it was very difficult to come down from the "God's eye" omniscient view of a wargamer and we gave lots of bad orders!
Eventually once we got the hang of it we blew the town to pieces trying to find a hidden enemy artillery spotter. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. But it was a fun different sort of game.

[Cybergaz]

Hi Pete I. Had not logged in, game 2 sounded like a lot of fubar going on 

[has.been]

game 2 sounded like a lot of fubar going on 

Yup. 

[vodkafan]

Since this game I have been reading my copy of the Hell on Wheels rules the second game was based off.

In that set the player is intended to be the commander of a whole tank troop  but Peter obviously (thankfully) modded it.
We could each hardly control our own single tanks! We careered this way and that through the town like half blind demented Daleks trying to blow up very building 

[has.been]

We careered this way and that through the town like half blind demented Daleks trying to blow up very building 

I did think I heard a, 'Exterminate all buildings!!!' during the game.