First off, let me be absolutely clear.
Bit of a slow start as we looked up a bunch of stuff and figuring out how we have always adapted to playing TY on 8 x 6 tables (this is the correct size table for TY at this size and you cannot change my mind) and remembering how night rules work, finding out that Thermals are better than IR (and that the Brits don't have any) and remembering how ranging in with the same spotter happens!
The British ran an armoured spearhead straight up the guts toward the front objective lead by the Challenger Is:
The defending US shelled a bunch of the British AA out of the game (except the Rapiers....) and ambushing Cobras went after the British Abbots. The Abbots survived and a second Rapier volley deleted the Cobras. This is where we learned read Hunter Killer in more detail. Lesson learned.
As we rolled rapidly into the final phase of the game, the horde of British armour arrived on the front objective and we finally managed to start really shooting at each other. A few Chieftains and Brads went down to incoming fire before the shove:
The ROMOR covered Challenger Is bowled into the Mech Platoon and pushed it and it's associated Bradleys off the objective which was taken by a Warrior platoon.
Over the final couple of turns, a whole hail of ATGM fire rained down on the Chieftains and ended a solid most of them and then the M1A1s coming in from reserve finally reached the battleline - one platoon outflanked the ROMOR Challenger Is and managed to destroy a single tank - reminding me why I hate Team Yankee as Tank and I rolled a ridiculous number of very untimely ones. Cross checks, firepower checks, everything.
In the end, the other platoon of M1A1s rolled into the flank of the defending British infantry and in a succession of consistent 4+ rolls, Tank came alarmingly close to wiping out the whole platoon of British infantry - he got them down to a couple of teams before the M1A1s retreated from combat. We were dangerously close to pulling off a Hail Mary on this one. We were definitely a turn late on the counterattack mostly off the back off late reserves.
It was a good game and lot of remembering how TY works and how it's different from Flames. Both the lists are solid and once we get a bit slicker with the armies, we'll be fine for doubles. It also got me to get a bunch of TY work done. I've finished up my last Bradleys:
It's definitely better than it was. I still need to work out a way to get the chocolate chip details onto them but I'm happy enough that these can go on the table like this. I've still got another 8 bases to repaint to get a full Marine platoon back on the park but that won't take long.
Early War!
With the announcement that Early War will be coming out for Flames of War later this year, I'm going to be repainting all my classic EW German Panzer Is and Panzer IIs and I'm going to add some half tracks to my very old (but some of the best BF scuplts) German Pioneer infantry so on a whim, I built the first one:
It's rather cool and I'm looking forward to getting them out and running at some point! Thanks to Che over at Potbelly for the excellent prints of the pioneer bridges!
Plans?
Finally, in a surprise discovery, I had a Weetbix Warhammer game of ADLG with McBeth so we could both try out some "bad idea or worse idea" armies - him with Medieval Scots and me with Hussite. We both deployed badly, made some shocking tactical choices and then threw appalling combat dice when it mattered.
I think the end of the game conclusion is the Medieval Scots have legs but that Hussite might just be too niche if you want to actually have a fun game. If you want to make Fort Hussite then it's probably fine but it's not the right army to try and play aggressively.
Next Time
It's time for my annual games of Magic the Gathering....
