Posts made by Audacity

Excellent!  Are you able to post pictures of these battles like you have done on some of your other epics.  I especially liked the pics from Kursk.

I certainly am not disagreeing with you on the historical concept and especially with the War at Sea where you can play with ships that actually represent ships that were in the fleet on a particular day.  There are however many books out there, written by dreamers and histoirians alike, that attempt to paint the “what if” scenarios just like we do with these games when we try to start within a historical context and then see how things turn out.

Therefore, if one wants to explore the idea of the Battle of the Atlantic with a German air carrier capability one will have to borrow a ship from some other nation to represent the concept that Admiral Raeder was successful in his fleet developments during the 1930s.

Like all games, the scenarios are endless.  i think I’ll make my next War at Sea a very littoral adventure with nothing larger than a destroyer ducking through the islands.  the battleships are fun but they couldn’t be everywhere.

Herr AJGundam (Shazam)

Thanks for the link to learn more about German Naval development.  The key to learning is asking questions!

Maybe for gaming purposes the Americans can do a form of Lend Lease of carriers and aircraft to the Germans.

Now we’re all curious about the results.  What is the enemy coming to the field with and how does it all turn out…

I’ve never heard of the Germans having Carrier capability.  Have I missed something in the Naval history books?

I’m willing to try.  I’ve just got my computer back from the paramedics and it is running much better.  I’ll try to load the instructions from before or you can send me any updated things I need to do top play this way.

Well I’ve now got my War at Sea and have opportunity to play through four games.  I am pretty pleased.  The most dissapointing part is that the boosters only hold 5 models each.  Its mighty hard to collect at that rate.  Now I had ordered a starter set and a case of the boosters meaning that of the 64 possible models I have at least one each of 49 different ones.  Some of course you can use multiples of like the destroyers and U510.  My set includes two Japanese aircraft carriers and two small US carriers.  I was thrilled to get a Bismark but the Hood would have also been great.

I like the play system and as I get to know the special abilities I’ll get better at using them to advantage.

I played through a Sink the Bismark scenario twice now with a 120 point fleets.  the objective for the Germans was to get from one end of the bay on the playing chart to the other while the British fleet had to sink the Bismark.  The Germans had two Battleships, Bismark and Scarnhorst along with two Uboats and a supply ship.  The Brits had a carrier, two swordfish flights, two cruisers, two destroyers and two subs.

First iteration the Germans plowed right through the Brits and got out to sea.  The second time a Sword Fish flight was lucky in getting through the air defence.  From there the Brits pounded the ship (can you say historical?) and won.

I look forward to some big fleet games to try and reduce the effect of chance.

Ahhh, Kelly’s Heros, now there is a movie I should dig out again.

The scenario.  An infantry soldier is in a town hex and a vehicle crosses the open ground and enters the same hex.  The soldier is entitled to defensive fire.

The rule states the defensive fire effects (ie which hex it occurs)  is determined by the defender.  In this case that means the defender says if the effect take place in the open ground hex or if it happens in the town hex.

Question.  If the defender awaits until the vehicle has entered the town hex, can he use his abilities to attack vehicles in his own hex with the far superior dice rolls or is Defensive fire only about direct fire

Ref your map layout, I like wider maps over longer maps.  First it shortens the distance that the infantry must travel and second, it gives more flexibility for flanking moves by high speeders.

I think that every game I’ve seen with German 88’s played that they play a crucial role.  The extended range and their great abilities against tanks, infantry and aircraft make their 19 points an easy purchase.

the only thing I don’t like about them is the scale they were modeled at.

I’d trade in some more armour for soldier anti tank capabilities though I guess the 30 unit limit is a concern. The Oberleutnant is good for this.  Did I see 88mm on the list?  I find them an extremely worthwhile purchase for their multi target capability.

6 maps together,  Again are your infantry going to be sprinting for a mile before contact?

Just as in real, mortars are designed to fire in groups and I find one almost a waste of time.  Buying a spotter to support a platoon (4 mortars sitting in cover) is cost effective.

Let us know how its playing out.

Audacity

Having poked around in this site and its extensions a little more I have found that DL had a similar system to troop employment.

Either way, this set up here has let me play two Russian / German games and an early war Japanese / Canadian-British game.  The second match up was something I would have never got around to and I can also say I’m not thrilled with the Russians.

I tend to prefer fewer high quality troops to masses of conscripts.

What is the basic consensus on this?

I know from several big games that I’ve played, you need to think about infantry transport.  I’ve employed fleets of cheap vehicles just shuttling the troops forward.

The lure of a sea battle is great.  I only hope the WoC distribution gets sorted quickly and that I get my pieces soon.

How long did this engagement take to play out?  Interesting that I just picked up a used video of Readers Digest on WWII Naval battles.  In it were the stories of the Battle of the Atlantic, Coral Sea, Midway, Leyte Gulf and Okinnowa.  A neat piece of this game seems to be the ability to use ships named exactly for real ships in the war.

thanks for the battle report.

DL,

I guess this game is on going now.  Did you find the number of players you need?  Where in Ontario are you?

Have a great game!

My local store only received three booster packs instead of the three cases of War at Sea that they had ordered.  One case was for me.  Now they’re waiting for the proper shipment.

How are people finding the new game?

I’m a huge fan of the European theatre of WWII and only have a passing interest and knowledge in the rest of it.  Therefore my Japanese Minis Army is yet unbloodied.  In an effort to change this I have developed the following simple system to get me using them all and to employ the historical aspect by years.  Let me know what you think.

It involves two die rolls with a six sider.  The first die determines the year of the war that you’ll play and the second picks the armies that you’ll use.  The armies part will have a Primary selection that you should use up all available pieces from first when building a 15 unit 100 point army for a standard game.  In brackets are alternate armies that can contribute if required.  However if you have many pieces mix and match as you wish.  Flip a coin or roll another die to see who gets the allied or axis units.

Die 1.  Results as follows…

1 - 1939/1940
2 - 1941
3 - 1942
4 - 1943
5 - 1944
6 - 1945

Die 2. Results as follows…

If you roll 1939/1940, roll a second die to determine which armies to use.

1 - 1939  Germans verses Polish (British)
2 - 1940  Japanese verses Chinese (British)
3 - 1940  Germans verses French (British)
4 - 1940  Germans verses British (French)
5 - 1940  Germans verses British (French Partisans)
6 - Japanese verses Canadians (Chinese, British)

If you roll 1941, roll a second die to determine which armies to use.

1/2 - Germans verses Russia
3/4 - Romanian/Hungarian (German) verses Russia
5/6 - Germans verses British (try to make an armoured heavy battle)

If you roll 1942, roll a second die to determine which armies to use.

1 - Germans verses British
2 - Germans verses Americans
3 - Americans verses Japanese
4 - Germans verses Russians
5 - Germans verses Canadians (Australia just because I use them as Cannucks, British)
6 - Romanian, Hungarian (Germans) verses Russians (US tanks representing lend lease program)

If you roll 1943, roll a second die to determine which armies to use.

1 - Canadians (British) verses Italians (Germans)
2 - Japan verses Americans
3 - British verses Germany
4 - Canadians (British) verses Germany
5 - Germans verses Russians
6 - American verses Germans

If you roll 1944, roll a second die to determine which armies to use.

1 - Russians verses Germans
2 - Japanese verses Americans
3 - Canadians (French Partisans, British)) verses Germans
4 - America verses Germany
5 - Polish (British) verses Germany
6 - Romanian, Hungarian (Germany) verses Russia

If you roll 1945, roll a second die to determine which armies to use.

1 - Russians verses Germans
2 - Japanese verses Americans (Australians)
3 - Canada (Aussies, British) verses Germans
4 - Americans verses Germans
5 - British verses Germans
6 - Americans verses Russians (the battle that might have happened)

I’m excited.  I’ve a starter and a whole case set aside for me.  Just got to pick it up now.  Too bad Chicago is 12 hours away.  I’ll be looking for people around Peterborough Ontario.