Dead by Lead- Jailbreak!

Following on from a very enjoyable game with McZ, a few of the other Regimenters were keen to try out Dead by Lead too.

So, over the weekend we tried out Scenario 2: Trials and Tribulations. There were three of us, so we changed the scenario up to have one crew coming from one side, the other from the other size, and the defenders in the middle!

Conveniently the 4ground Sherriff's Office has two jail cells, perfect for this game!

A view of the table before the crews were placed and the game began!

On to the game....

"Look Sherriff, I already told your deputy all I know. I was just minding my own business yesterday, when this whole thing went down.

Now now, no need to pull your Iron. I'll tell it you, just.... just keep that in that there holster...

Whisper Creek was quiet, nobody was renting a room at Rogan's, even the saloon was empty. There was a train coming tomorrow, but nobody wanted to be out in town after yesterday.

A couple of the locals had come to blows over who's brand was on a particular set of cattle, which resulted in some words being thrown, and then some bottles, and then a couple of bullets. Now, all of that was normal fare in Whisper Creek, 'cept there turned out to be a troop of Cavalry who were in town, and they decided to make a whole thing out of it.

And so it was, that the two leaders ended up in the cells, waiting for the train to come with the new Sherriff, as well as the car to take the cattle away to Bloodstone to sell.

4ground make SUCH GOOD TERRAIN

Now, the Cavalry didn't reckon on the trouble they had gotten themselves into. Their Sergeant was there, taunting the folks in the cell, unawares that around the town, a whole bunch of trouble was getting all set up ready to start.

Trouble.

When one of the Cav, Jebediah his name was came out of the General Store (after taking more than a few things off the store owner's hands), he was quickly met by a hail of bullets from one of the locals, heading to free their boss. He ducked quickly behind a mule, which saved him, but the mule didn't have the same luck....

RIP Francis the mule

Now, that particular local hadn't reckoned on Butch coming out of the Sheriff's office, with both barrels of the shotgun primed and ready to rock. With an almighty bang, that local was a goner.

Shotgun at close range.

Now, this whole thing had kicked off right royally by this point. From the other side of town, the other group of locals (Ma's Boys) were moving up to the Sherriff's office, intent on getting Ma out.

From the top story, Butch emerged, holding his Winchester Repeater. He took aim at a local hidin' in an unfinished building. He stood up there, paused, and a crack rang out, followed by a hard thump as the feller fell from his hiding spot.

Butch coming out of the Sherriff's office

Butch might be regarded as a pretty good shot, but he was never regarded as a smart man. So while he was there, aiming carefully down the road, making that great shot, what he wasn't doing was looking around him, and seeing the person standing right at the bottom of the stairs, pistol raised in his direction.

The six shooter rang out, six bullets fired faster than a fly beats it's wings.

And that was the end of Butch.

Splat.

While all of this was going on, at the same time the locals had gotten their way into the Sherriff's Office, where one hell of a scuffle was occurin'. The Sergeant was hard pressed, trying to fight off one of the locals, the two tuslin' over a Bowie knife.

Brawl!

Jebediah, hearing that his boss was in trouble came runnin', only to end up on the wrong end of a tomahawk...

More Brawl!

Fightin' in the Office was bloody and brutal. More and more of the locals piled in, first fighting the Cavalry, and then fightin' each other. The Sergeant was overwhelmed, and during all of that, both Ma and the Chief were able to get free.

I don't know whether anyone got out of it, because pretty soon all that was left in that office was a whole bunch of dead and wounded folks, and not a whole lot of anything else.

A ridiculous amount of Brawl

And that's all I know Sherriff, honest. Now can I go...?"

Another brilliant game of Dead by Lead, it remains a ridiculously cinematic and enjoyable game. The rules play quickly and simply, with plenty of opportunities for cinematic elements, and great moments where things did, or didn't work out!

We will for sure be playing more....

Pooch

 

Of tree trolls and bears- a Silver Bayonet Narrative #3

 More narrative Silver Bayonet? Don't mind if I do....

'Did you know I fought a werebear once?'

The children had been nagging him all day for another story. It seemed that rather than having the desired effect of scaring them so much that they never wanted to talk to him again, it only made them more curious, more inquisitive and if anything, more irritating.

And so it was that he was once again entertaining the children, their parents uninterested in the level of disruption the children's intrusion and incessant questions were having on his wellbeing.

'And it was bigger than that one too' he added, pointing to the leering bear's head trophy, mounted to the wall. 'Stop bouncing on the chair, sit down, and I'll tell you about it....

With the White Lady's return, we had once again become a part of the great war against the Harvestman.

At the insistence of the Lady, we were out in the trackless Polish forests, searching for a shrine of ancient power that held some form of key to defeating our enemies. 

Days had passed since us entering the forests, and the men were growing restless. It was then that we found the first Russian- I recognised what remained of his blood soaked uniform from the soldiers I had fought beside at the Leipzig. His torso had been crushed, and by all counts his body had started to be reclaimed by the tree he slumped against. After an examination, Doctor Landa could offer no keener insight than Gunter, who simply offered "Must have been big".

We pressed on, deeper into the woods. It wasn't more than an hour before we found the second corpse, just as maimed as the first, and also seeming to be being dragged into a nearby tree. This seemed to brook no response from the White Lady, beyond an excited tone in her voice as she announced "we are getting close"...

Suddenly, the woods thinned out to reveal an old cobbled road and buildings, long given over to the forest. 

It was Jager Mott who spotted the Russians first, the light of their burning torches giving their positions away. 

"Quickly, the fools mean to destroy the shrine. They cannot be allowed to succeed, not before I learn what there is to be learned from it, Move now Captain, get there first"

I quickly relayed the White Lady's words to the men, and they spread out, taking cover behind the trees. I head the steady crack of Mott's rifle, followed by a howl of pain from ahead of us. 

As I advanced, I got the first clear view of the shrine. A tall, gnarled tree with an altar next to it, stained red with blood. Around it at regular intervals were tall trees, their trunks rising high into the sky. 

The shrine and altar

Gunter was the first to reach the shrine, grabbing a piece of paper to take down a rubbing of the symbols etched into the bark of the tree.

He yelled in suprise as the earth next to the tree rose up, revealing a hulking brute that pushed Gunter away from the shrine.

"Tree troll" Gunter said with a grunt, and set to laying about it with his axe. All thoughts of the shrine lost in the swirling melee as troll and pioneer fought to lay the other low.

Tree troll vs Pioneer!

The bout didn't last long, with an expert swing of his axe, Gunter neatly decapitated the troll, it's head dropping at his feet, it's body still standing, before falling what felt like an eternity later. 

It had seemed like time had slowed as I watched Gunter fight the tree troll, and once it fell I was acutely aware of the musket fire from my men being returned by the Russians ahead of us. The White Lady had by this time also reached the shrine, taking her own notes of the symbols carved into the wood.

Advancing upon the shrine

A burly Russian carrying a flaming torch was running towards the shrine, his arsonist intent clear. Soldat Duval stepped forth to intercept him, running him through with his bayonet before the torch could touch the shrine. 

Duval's victory was short lived, he stepped back in alarm as the earth moved beneath him, stirred into life by the fallen torch. A great arm rose up from the earth to grab Duval, and as the rest of the Tree Troll appeared it tossed him some twenty feet to crash into a far away tree.

Poor Soldat Duval never even knew what hit him....

As we fought the second Tree Troll, the Russians had taken this opportunity to advance on our position, firing indiscriminately on us and the troll.

It was then that I saw a most hideous sight. I spotted a man, shaggy and unkept, with a great beard and fire red eyes. His mouth moved as he pronounced an incantation, and I watched as his skin moved, shifted and grew. A howl of pain reverberated from his throat, morphing into a roar of sheer rage as the man grew to a giant bear some ten foot tall.

The roar of the Werebear! 

The Werebear locked eyes with me. The red eyes bore no resemblance to the human in who's shape it had once been. With a roar, the bear loped forward, directly towards me, heedless of the musketry unleashed upon it. Soldat Oberhauser was the first in it's path, the Werebear raked it's claws across him as it barged past, knocking him aside and breaking his arm in the process.

I fired both of my pistols, one after the other, hoping that the silver shot that the White Lady had given me would prove as effective against a Werebear as they had against a werewolf in my youth.

"Wait, a werewolf? You haven't told us about a werewolf" the eldest of the children interrupted.

What do you mean what werewolf? Haven't I told you that one already? Hmmm, another time perhaps, be thankful you are getting this story before asking for another"

The Werebear rose above me, it's claws still dripping with Oberhauser's blood. My pistols spent, I drew my rapier, hoping that my superior speed might be enough.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh"- Werebear

I know it doesn't look it right now children, but your uncle was once a faster man and my sword was once a weapon feared by all those who opposed me.

The bear lunged, it's claws raking my side. I still carry the scars of it's fury to this day, despite the ministrations of Doctor Landa and the magicks of the White Lady.

But in lunging as it did, the bear left itself open and vulnerable to a counter thrust deep into it's heart. And so quick as a flash, I drove the blade deep into the giant praying that I struck something vital, enough to stall the beast's rage. 

Our combat was interrupted by yet another Tree Troll emerging from the ground next to us- the Werebear reared onto it's hind legs, me and my little sword forgotten compared to a much bigger and better challenger.

Now children, many foolish and brave men will tell you that there is dishonour in running away from such a bout. But let me tell you this, as soon as the White Lady said that she had collected all she needed, I was the first to yell for the retreat.

Dishonour holds no place when fighting beasts such as these, your only hope is to honour the living for whom you protect by defeating them. And on that day, learning what we could from the shrine was a great step forward towards the ultimate defeat of the Harvestmen....

Notes

This mission was the scenario found in Wargames Soldiers in Strategy, with the Tree Troll representing the Guardian Beast. It's an immensely fun scenario, especially when the Guardian Beast kept popping up in exactly the right tree to be a complete and utter nuisance for me! It was also the debut of Tank's Russians, including the fearsome Werebear, a foe Captain Leichhardt is sure to come up against once again.....

Pooch

Conflict on Thracium VII (Narrative 40k games day 1)

 Our series of club 40k games, with a loose narrative around them kicked off last weekend. This is how the Sisters got on in their two games....

Landfall on Tharacium VII

Repentia Sister Superior Emelda walked at the fore of her penitent sisters as she entered the ruined apse of the once great cathedral. The hymnals sung by the Repentia echoed from the silent stones as they lay scattered around them, the songs enough to drown out the muttering engines of their eviscerators.

Beside Emelda and her charges, sisters of the Sacred Rose walked. Their very presence shone through the gloom that surrounded them. The bright white of their armour matched in it's brilliance only by the strength of their faith in the God Emperor. 

A group of citizens were walking towards the sisters, their shuffling gait reminded Emelda of a hospitallier ward she had once visited, home to those who bore terrible wounds, who had no hope of restitution or a life beyond their suffering.

Weapons appeared in the hands of the citizens, a banner was held aloft, bearing blasphemous promises of support from a god other than the holy God Emperor. All of this was clear to Emelda through her helm's lenses, and was clear to the sisters nearby.

Holy bolters sang their song of punishment, and the heretics fell.

Seraphim swooped to the earth, their retribution unstinting on the unfaithful, through flame, bolter and plasma they cut through more mutated heretics, each weapon fired accompanied by the hymns of hatred and vengeance, disgust at the weakness of those who had fallen from the Emperor's light.

As ever, the Repentia were charging even before I was able to strike them with the neural whip, it was expected of them, and they expected the whip to strike them none the less. A sentinel, commandeered from some militarum depot spat a red lascannon beam at the white armoured sisters. Sister Verity fell, her armour not proof against such a weapon.

The sentinel took only one further stride forward, and then the Repentia were upon it. The song of their eviscerators now joined the songs of their hymnals, the tortured metal, the screaming voices merely added to the devotion within the song, it was these moments that the Repentia truly were able to begin to atone for their sins.....

Death of the Eternally Faithful

Interrogator Chaplain Dael materialised within the Ecclesiarchy warship, the powerful teleport technology aboard the Sword of Caliban more than capable of delivering him, and his Deathwing cohort aboard.

Klaxons sounded, a call to arms, a call to repel boarders. Clearly the Deathwing had materialised aboard closer to their objectives than he had. No matter, there was nothing aboard the Eternally Faithful that could stand against a cohort of Deathwing terminators appearing in their midst, and his objective was not far.

Movement ahead was met with a stream of fire from his storm bolter, the heavy rounds punching through the unarmoured serfs, pilgrims and penitents who fled from his advance. Dael had fought the philosophical debates with other chaplains about the righteousness of killing such as this, killing those who believed they served the Emperor as he did. Those debates felt long ago, and so much less relevant now.

Dael emerged in a large open area, designed perhaps to welcome shuttle craft. But it's purpose had been given over to that of storing the single stasis chamber at it's centre. Dael was not the first of his cohort to arrive, two terminator squads were present, weapon discharges marked the position of Barisan's squad, identifiers marked the position of Antochlus. His sensors quickly identified the enemy within the room as Sororitas.

Before he could react, the life signs of Dael's squad blinked out, the sounds of chainblades revving and tearing through ceramite echoed around the chamber as they did. 

It was now that he saw Antochlus. Terminator armour was able to move at incredible speed, far surpassing expectations of how quickly the layer upon layer of plating should move. His moves to combine with Antochlus was stalled by a stream of flame and bolter fire from above, enemy jump pack troopers dropping from the catwalk above. His armour was proof against such attacks, while it threw his storm bolter from his hand and dented, scraped and battered his armour plates, he remained whole. 

His crozius crackled with energy as he swung it at the nearest enemy. He connected with a thunderclap, and the woman in white armour was thrown across the room, followed by another. Another fusillade from the sisters rained down on him from their pistols, more flame licked at his armour, more bolts sought passage into his flesh.

He swung again, but they had become wise, the three remaining fired their jump packs again, returning to the relative safety of the catwalks above. 

As he looked up at the sisters above him, bolter fire crashed into his armour from the gunsmoke haze around him. A meltagun blast connected with his right pauldron, annihilating it entirely. Purple plasma fire burst through, lancing through the haze to clear a path to white armoured soldiers, marching in lock step, weapons raised and spitting fire.

Dael was only now aware that Antochus' squad markers had blinked to black too.

Crozius raised, he bellowed at the warriors advancing on him, his suit's amplifiers more than capable of being heard above the rattle of bolter fire.

I am the agent of the Emperor's Will.

I am crafted by the Emperor himself and you are interfering with matters you do not understand.

Move aside. This ..... thing you have trapped aboard your vessel.... is not yours to keep, nor yours to interrogate.

The bolter fire continued, a second blast from the meltagun struck Dael straight in the torso, reducing most of his internal anatomy to gas in an instant. The damage was too much even for his physiology to cope with. 

Instead of the next firey statement, a gasp escaped his lips, the last vestiges of his lungs attempting to source what little air they could get, as he dropped to his knees.

Standing over him was a white armoured sister, her head framed by a steel grey halo and holding a plasma pistol, trigger held down to amplify the charge. Her voice was calm, but edged with disdain.

You have boarded our vessel, slain those devoted to the service of the Emperor's will.

I pronounce you Heretic.

And your punishment shall be death.

The pistol fired, and Dael ceased to be.

And as both hearts stopped, the secondary explosives which had been placed by the other terminator squads that had teleported aboard the Eternally Faithful triggered. 

All those on the surface saw the bright flash streak across the sky as the Eternally Faithful entered the atmosphere, breaking up as it fell gracelessly through the atmosphere.

Postcript

None of the mortals answered the riddles I had set them. Some came close, and those few who did had to be distracted, and yet some had to have their threads cut. It wasn't the time for them to find out the answer, not yet.

So said my master, and so it was.

The starship streaking to earth, devestating the land as it died was too as my master willed it, for what was aboard that vessel needed to be on Thracium VII, and the explosions that scoured the earth were needed to uncover what lay underneath.

And so as my master willed it, so it was done.

And so, I wait for my master to direct me to wear the face of another. Perhaps one of the Eldar? I do so enjoy the arrogance of being one of them. Perhaps a Space Marine? So strong, so blind to the world around them as they . Perhaps one of the Sororitas? To feel such righteous anger in service of such hypocrisy is one of the true pleasures in existence. Or perhaps, just perhaps, I shall wear the face of one of the Grandfather's children. To wear the bloated skin and occupy the closed mind of one of his own disciples would be a great joy....

But that will only come when my master wills it, when the time is right.

Aid Unlooked For

+++ RUMOR INQUISITIO +++

+++ Transmitted: GURIJA HIVE ASTROPATHIC CHOIR +++
+++ Received:  MALLEUS CONCLAVE CICATRIX MALEDICTUM +++
+++ Via: ORDO XENOS, DEATHWATCH FORT PYKMAN +++

+++ Transmitted: M41.999 +++

+++ Inquisitor: ALDO, GNAEUS LEPIDUS +++
+++ Subject: HOJJA JOROGALNA INVASION +++

+++ Security Level: SCARLET +++

+++ START +++

Gurija Hive remains under siege. Imperial Forces are retreating on multiple fronts. The Ancient Enemy presses on all sides and the Xenos continue to take advantage of our weakness. The Hive has lost many resources but defensive buildings still hold. 

On this day, I have led soldiers of the Cadian 33rd into battle against the foul, inhuman Necron and defeated him. In an effort to acquire intelligence about our enemy's plans I commandeered Delta Platoon of II Company, Cadian 33rd. We attacked the Necron in the urban areas in front of the Imperial Cathedral. 

The Cadians Attack

The Cadians advanced across a wide frontage and poured accurate fire into the Necron. The Imperial Guard's anti-infantry weapons were largely ineffective, except against the heavy weapon wielding Necrons who fell with suspicious ease. I note that, despite excellent shooting from their anti-armour weapons, the Xenos flyer's shielding appeared impervious to our most powerful weapons, ignoring direct hits from even lascannons! 

The Legion of the Damned Arrive!

We were unexpectedly aided by the appearance of the Adeptus Astartes known as Legionem Damnatorum. They emerged from the dark on our left flank and attacked the Xenos. They slew many Necrons and extensively damaged the Necron flyer. The Necron attempted to stall the Astartes with explosive insectoid robots but they were summarily demolished. My attempts to contact the Space Marines went unanswered. They seemed content to attack the Necron and I was content to leave them. 

Facing down the Annihilation Barge

The Cadian infantry on my right flank were assailed and nearly wiped out by insectoid swarms and would have been destroyed if not for the timely and heroic intervention of Commissar Eckhardt and an autonomous Ambot bought into combat by the Cadian captain. Their possession of non-standard issue tech has been noted and will be reported.  Our Sentinels and permitted abhuman snipers turned the enemy flank as the Necron redeployed to fight the Astartes.

Gnaeus Aldo leads from the front! 

I successfully led the Cadians and their command squad into the heart of the Necron infantry and slew many, although despite our efforts they continued to rise from the dead. They retreated and we continued to charge, taking intensive fire as we assaulted.  Many Cadians were lost and I myself was wounded by their alien weaponry, even my Tactical Dreadnought armour was inadequate protection from their foul technologies. 

The Cadians bayonet some Necrons!

The Necron attempted to dislodge the mysterious Astartes even sending in their leader to destroy the mysterious Marines. Despite my inability to contact them, they withdrew from the Necron, bolters firing, and a crack shot from one of the Guard Sentinels felled the Necron leader. 

The Legionem Damnatorum secured the intelligence while the Cadian soldiers finished off the Xenos horde. The Cadians have performed adequately. I have personally commended Signifer Welham for his recovery of the Cadian standard, despite serious wounds and I have suggested to Lieutenant Arctura that he reprimand the platoon's mortar crew for their poor fire rates. 

I expect reinforcements from the remnants of Epsilon and Zeta Platoons to hold my position before we assault the Cathedral. I have set what cogitators I can access to decoding the intelligence and will report it's contents provided we can maintain an Astropathic link. 

The Imperial Guard reports our victories are few in this hive. I have sufficient resources to face the Ancient Enemy should he appear. I have heard that our own Chamber Militant has entered the fray against the Ork but we are ill equipped to face further engagements with the WAAAGH or the Necron. My report is also enclosed to ORDO XENOS and to the nearby Fort Pykman of the Deathwatch for their information should they be able to intervene. 

+++ IGNORANCE IS THE SHIELD OF THE WEAK +++
+++ TUETUR PRINCIPEM +++
+++ END +++

Next Time

That was fun! Again! Anyway, I've got three vehicles and a squad of dudes to paint before a 40K comp in late October so I'm focussing on those but Pelarel and I are plotting a game of Zone Raiders with the full rules in a couple of weeks so I might need to do some work for that. Also, I need to get stuck into my last pile of M60s for a big game of TY coming up but oh! the IDF Sand. 

What should you take from that? Painting post next week. Battle report the week after. 

Flames Con 2018

FlamesCon 2018, or how I travelled to Auckland and back in one weekend, by McBeth.

So, a while back we all traveled up to our regular mid year event, Panzershreck. As always its a great trip, filled with Korean BBQ, Burger Fuel, beers, scotch, hilarity and somewhere in the middle, a series of doubles Flames of War games. The regular attendees were there from all over, including the usual pack of reprobates from Auckland, the TCOW (That Club Out West) guys. This year was different as we all got to play against them, with Pelarel and I conspiring to beat 'King' Dan Linder and Bob Pearce, and Tank and McZermof heading up against Aussie Greg and Damien 'Mad as a cut snake' Reid.

It got me thinking, that is was great to catch up with these guys. The other thought I had was that we, as Wellington based wargamers, don't often travel for other people's tournaments and this is doubly true since Nick passed a couple of years ago. These thoughts coincided with the TCOW guys announcing that they were hosting Flames Con again at the end of October. Well, says I, it would be awesome if I could go and represent the Wellington fellers in the big smoke.

Permission was asked and granted from my lovely wife, and preparations began in earnest.

As we know, Flames has taken a bit of a back seat for the Regiment over the last couple of years, but Panzershreck reinvigorated me for V4. The half of the list I ran at that event included a trio of Mr Churchill's patented German Barbecuing tank (The Churchill VII 'Crocodile'). They were surprising good and well worth their points. Many opponents were unable to deal with them and the 15 shots of flamethrower each turn meant when we picked a target, it did not stick around for long!  I wanted to do more with the Churchill, and when I found out Flames Con was a Late War event at 1500 points, I started planning on lists that included some Churchills.

To my mind, the Churchill was not a very effective tank in Late War prior to V4. Too slow, too weak a gun, three tank troops, Front Armour 9 not being quite high enough and to top it off, being Trained meant that they were mince meat for average antitank options. Even artillery would over power the Top Armour 2. Under V4, however, the Churchill has the option of moving faster with the movement orders and are quite a bit more impervious to Top Armour attacks now artillery and aircraft have been 'nerfed'. With the 'Cross Here' order, they are an auto pass for cross checks.

The list I settled on was a Nachtjager 51st Highland (British) Rifle Company:

CHQ
Rifle Platoon w RAM Kangaroos
Rifle Platoon w RAM Kangaroos
4x 6pdrs
4x 4.2" mortars
3x Universal Carriers
3x WASPs
Tank Platoon (2x Churchill VI, Churchill IV)
2x M10c Achillies

Quite happy with this. Visions of WASPs flaming Jerries while Night Attacking with platoons of Jocks driving up in their RAM Kangaroos. Luvvly! The Core and Weapons platoons (CHQ, 2x Rifle Platoons, AT guns, mortars and 2 carrier patrols) meant that I would not have to worry about my force breaking before I win the game but would all contribute effectively to the game plan. The first problem arose though; I did not have the Churchills, WASPs, RAM Kangaroos or M10c's painted (I was missing an Achillies as well!). I was going to have to slot these into my already full painting schedule (check us out on Facebook - Staghound Garden).

After having a play around with other lists, and thinking back to my musing on how much better the Churchill was in Late War, I had a crack at making a proper Tank Squadron. Veterans were out, simply because the points would not allow them to make a decent list, the Guards were likewise - although I was to rue the lack of the Guards reroll for morale during the competition - so I put together a list for the 2nd Tank Army from the Overlord book.

CHQ: Churchill VII, 2x Churchill V CS
Troop: Churchill VII, Churchill IV, Churchill VI
Troop: Churchill VII, Churchill IV, Churchill VI
2x Churchill VII Crocodiles
2x M10c Achillies
51st HD Rifle Platoon
51st HD Carrier patrol (w 3x .50cal)

The two IV/VI tanks in each troop were up-armoured to FA9 and the entire force was Confident Trained, except the two 51st HD units who were Reluctant Veterans. Now, while I was obviously struggling to paint the extras in the first list, I was completely unprepared for this list. No worries because my fairy tank mother, Mr Russell Briant, came to my aid. I recalled he had tried a similar list a few years ago (unsuccessfully?) at Call to Arms. A quick email confirmed that he had, and did, and yes, I could borrow them! Righty-oh, list was sent in, no practice games organised and plane flights were booked. Another great feller, Mr John Hutton, also lived roughly 10 minutes walk from the venue (the Onehunga RSA) and another quick call confirmed that I could avail myself of his and his wifes spare room for the weekend.

 Arriving at the hall early I got in and met up with the people I knew and had not seen in ages and the new people from the local group.

Shot of the hall. The comp had two competitions; Flames of War with 20 players and Team Yankee with 8 players

Holy shit. A bar AND a fan (there were four fans around the hall and two bars!). The fans came in handy later in the day as it got real fargin' hot.

Warning: I think it's fair to say that when I play in a competition, I can be quite intensely concentrating on the game, so while I had the best of intentions of taking a heap of photos, I did not.

Game 1: No Retreat, attacking versus Nigel (Mishmash panzergrenadiers)

We were using the More Missions document so selected out postures. This was Nigel's very first game of Flames of War and he had traveled up from Christchurch to attend. That made it somewhat awkward for me as I was here to play, and play to win. I'm not a dick, so while I ruthlessly crushed him, I was also running through the game so he understood how he was being beaten.

It sounds mean, but I think I was fair! Nigel opted to defend to make it a bit easier in learning the rules (he had a good base understanding from watching FoW games on YouTube, but they were mostly V3 games), so he placed two minefields either side of a wood in front of the lead objective I placed, while he placed his objective near the rear (in the photo above, his reserves arrive from the right and the two small bits of paper are the objectives - we both did not have any!). My assault concentrated on the rear one. Nigel deployed a panzergrenadier platoon on the lead objective, a grenadier platoon in the buildings on the left and the panzer HQ of two PzIV covering them, wait, whut? Yep, about two turns in I realised his list was illegal. We decided to play on as we were moving quite slowly due to the learning curve. 

Anyway my plan worked out as, well, planned. A strong assault by the Scots supported by the Crocs cleared the grenadiers out and the M10s and a troop of Churchills killed the Panzer HQ and the first reserve on the table, four more PzIVs. That left the objective unguarded and the rest was history, 

An 8-1 win, with the lost of two rifle teams. 

Not many photos taken due to the time constraints. Afterwards I help Gavin redesign Nigels list into an Armoured Panzergrenadier list with MkIV supports.

Game 2: Dust Up, attacking versus Rob Sadler (Brit Para recon squadron)

Rob and I have had a few games over the years, with a pretty even score between us. In this mission he had already given up a bit seeing I outnumbered him 11 Churchills to 3! The photo above shows my two troops of Churchills picking off Robs two Archers (!) and pinning down his 6 pounders (all of which had deployed Spearhead with one recon troop). With my Infantry guarding the objective and the Churchills reasonably untouchable by 90% of his force, he did not make any headway to capture them.

The game came down to the race between my reserve and his Churchills getting back to cover his objectives. My recce won the race, shooting up his contesting HQ unit of White Scout cars with their .50cals.

Another 8-1 win, this time with no losses at all! 

Game 3: Dust Up, attacking versus John Lee (Soviet Tank Destroyers)

John is a great guy and got my sporting vote for the weekend, even though he was one of about five players fielding Russians AND SU100s! These bastard tanks are FA9, AT16 and 100cm range. 

I was on a hiding to nothing in this game. The table was very flat and had little cover so the SU100s dominated the table. My only chance was to split his fire and hope my reserves (Crocs, HQ troop and Carriers) could sneak in through the woods near the objectives. I managed to get one troop to join  them, while the other swung wide around the other side. There they ran unto John's reserves, SU85Ms. These aren't the usual AT12, FA5 jobbies, these little bastards have FA9! My poor troop was stuck between them and the SU100s and were ventilated in rapid succession.

On the other flank, the reserves showed up late, but managed to kill John's Command T34/85 and whittle down, then force back the infantry on the objective. By that time my M10s were dead (one bailed, did not remount and promptly ran away), and 9x T34/76 were sitting on an objective. One turn earlier and things may have been different...

A 1-8 loss to a well prepared opponent. Many losses this time :(

  

Thanks Greg, you knob.

So Day 1 over and I was sitting in third equal with Rob and a very surprised Nigel! John was quite rightly on top with 22 points, followed by Mike 'Surfboard' Haycock.

Flames of War:

John Lee	22
Mike Haycock	19
Rob Sadler	17
Simon McBeth	17
Nigel Wootton	17
Lee Reygate	14
Steve Eyles	13
Robert Murray	13
Jon Carryer	11
Kit Goldsbury	11
Pat Gribble	11
Julian Harkness	11
Andrew Williams	11
Brent Young	10
Craig Ross	9
Daryl Painter	9
Phil Petry	8
Ray O'Connor	6
Ryan Bailey	6
Damian Reid	3

Team Yankee:

Leigh Watson	13
Andrew Duncan	13
Gavin vR	13
Sofia Chambers	10
Alastair Jeffery	9
Chris Townley	9
Greg Lockton	8
Wayne Turner	8

That night back at the Huttons, John and I played a game of Avalon Hill's Hannibal, Rome versus Carthage. Simply the best two player game I've ever played. Just like the average 90's AH game, it has a mapboard and many counters, but the level of complex options are handled very easily by a card and dice system. Balance the political and military option of either Rome or Carthage. I, as Hannibal, smashed the Roman republic under Scipio Africanus.

Game 4: Bridgehead, attacking versus Lee Reygate (Soviet Tankovy)

Language! (its late now typing this)

Another list with SU100s. Lee also had 10x Stuarts, 20x T34s, SU76s and some heavy mortars. In an effort to not face these head on, I elected to use manouvre as my mission option. I ended up as the attacker in Bridgehead.

This was the same table as I played John on in round three. Lee elected to defend the ruins on the left with the Stuarts, Mortars, SU76s and the SU-muthafargin-100s in ambush. Things started well. One troop and the Crocs flanked with the Recce (top left corner of the photo) and began to semi indirect on the Stuarts killing a few. The other troop drove balls-to-the-wall down the main road with the infantry platoon in an effort to force back the ambush as far as possible. The HQ troop moved in from the left  in an effort to do the same. 

The 3" guns on the Churchill Vs manage to pin the Russian mortars and kept them that way for the entire game. They also handily bailed out and killed some SU76s. The Stuarts charged out in an effort to get to my M10s covering the central troop on the road, but were gunned down by the M10s and the Churchills.

Things went south from here. The SU100s opened up on the flanking troop with their 100cm range, killing the IV and VI instantly. In the same volley, the VII took a hit and with FA13, 14 at range versus AT16, anything but a .... oh fuck. Dead VII and wiped out troop. Next to feel the pain was troop two on Lees next turn. Three hits again. Again the VI died, but the IV was bailed out. The VII took the last hit, and again anything but a ... GODDAMIT! Another dead VII.

Things looked ominous. By this time the infantry had weathered 20 hits of MG fire from a reserve T34 platoon, unpinned (! Reluctant, remember!) and had advanced with the carriers to contest an objective. On my turn the sole remaining IV on the road remounted and passed his Last Stand test. "Bugger it" I thought, "it's now or never". The infantry moved forward and the carriers and 3" guns shot up the defenders, pinning and causing casualties. The IV passed one cross test to rock through the ruins in front of it, then in the assault step passing another cross test to contact the defending mortars. One hit in the assault killed the closest team. Lee rolled the die for a counter attack but rolled a 1! The Soviets fell back and I held the objective! That last Churchill IV was the game winner.

An 8-1 win to start day two. having only lost the one Churchill troop it did not count against my losses.

Final shot of the last ditch assault (Lee had already cleaned up his troops by the time I remembered to take the snaps)

The view from the flanking force, plenty of burning Churchills.

Game 5: Breakthrough, attacking versus Mike Haycock (German Pumas)

Surfboard is a good player. A very good player. We've played a few times over the years, but not for some time. The last time we met, I beat him in the Masters when he was running a similar force. Breakthrough has changed in V4, now the defender has reserves as a normal mission. Mike was left to ponder what they would be as I only had to have one platoon in delayed reserves.

I set the objectives up so one was in the far corner for my reserves and one was right slap bang in the middle of the table. That's the other thing about his new version, the attackers objective can be right up against the centre of the table! Mike deployed a three gun platoon of PaK40s on the objective, a trio of RoF2 88mm guns protecting his flank, another platoon of four PaK40s in ambush and a Fail Tiger (the breakdown Tiger II - fail a skill test when moving and it becomes Reluctant and cant move again) and his CO Puma near the lead objective.

Here is where things got interesting. We talked it through and realised that I did not have to deploy anything and could have my entire force in reserve! Sure it would be delayed, but the look on Mike's face was enough to convince me to do it. While I left the carrier and the infantry on table to make him deploy something to protect that objective, everything else went into reserves. Three turns flew by. Mike got his infantry on quickly and ran them to the rear objective. He also deployed his Paks from ambush on that side and pushed them forwards. The Fail Tiger passed a couple of skill tests and moved back to cover the guns and infantry, while the CO puma moved up to the original AT guns to lend them a hand. 

The Crocs arrived from reserve and started to flame up the defending infantry - ineffectually as it turned out. At this point I decided to push the lead objective with the carriers and infantry. Mike had been plinking away with the guns and the CO Puma to try and whittle down my infantry to no avail. The carriers whipped out and with 9x .50cal dice scored 5 hits on the guns, pinning them! The infantry took their chance and assaulted the guns and Puma, braving the inadequate defensive fire. They only scored one hit in assault however and with the CO's help the guns and he counter attacked. Three swings and two misses. Now the reluctant infantry had to counterattack back, a 4! Not enough under V3 rules, but the new British Bulldog gives a +1 to the counter attack roll so they went back in! another dead gun and the CO Puma bailed out. The last gun broke off then in the start of Mikes turn failed the last stand test, leaving me on the objective at the end of turn 5.  

The finale. The 88s and Nebelwerfers look in impotently as the Scots hold the objective 

 On the other flank, the not-so-Fail Tiger slotted a Croc and the other was overrun by panzerfaust-wielding maniacs. Mikes reserve Pumas showed up and with the recently arrived Nebs and the 88s failed to shoot the Scots off the objective.

Another 8-1 win. Again I only lost one platoon saving me from a points loss.

The decoy Crocs burn. The crews made damn sure that Jerry would not capture them alive or the tanks intact. Brave boys.

Game 6: Counterattack, Defending versus Jon Carryer (German Jagdpanthers)

 By this stage we knew that two players were on 33 points (me and John Lee) and one player was on 26 points (Rob Sadler). The competition would come down to who could get the most points between us. With how John was playing and the list I was up against, I had calmly prepared for second place (knowing that John had beaten me, but I had beaten Rob). Jon is a Palmy player up for the weekend. He had partnered up with Sofia at Panzershreck this year but this was the first time I had played him.

Jon chose to attack and I to manouvre. Unfortunately, this worked against me in that I ended up having reserves and Jon had his full force (HQ 2x jagdpanther, 1x jagdpanther, 3x StuG, 3x Wirbelwind, 6x 8cm mortars, panzergrenadier platoon). On table I had the two Churchill troops, the M10s (ambush) and the infantry. The table was unfortunately nicely dense, meaning Jon had plenty of cover to move and I had nowhere to ambush.

I tried though. The M10s popped out, moved and fired two long range shots into the rear of the single Jagdpanther, penetrating it automatically. Result of firepower test? a 2. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck. It gets back in. The German infantry assault the M10s bailing one. The other M10 counter attacked and killed a stand and the Germans fell back on a failed morale test. The other two Jagdpanthers shot the living bejesus out of one Churchill troop killing them all. While my reserves turned up (the Crocs) and started plinking away at the StuGs, the M10s failed to remount and promptly failed their Last Stand test. Double Fuck.

Things were bad. I managed to kill all the StuGs and the CO Jagdpanther, but as he had two in the HQ platoon, he transferred over to the other tank. The Jagdpanthers then hunted my other troop down. They had hit the VII earlier in the game and the bastard failed three consecutive remount tests on a 3! The only morale test I passed all game was the counter attack of the sole M10 to try and save his companion.

1-8 and strangely calm about choking at the last hurdle.

 Rando shots of Team Yankee and other games and armies

 Oh yes, how did it all finish? Well....

I went over to see how John was doing against Lee. The look on his face said "not very well at all". Lee's extra tanks facefucked John and John went down in a screaming heap 1-8. Same points still. How did Rob go? He had to face off against Kit Goldsbury, another excellent player. Rob was attacking in an uphill battle against Kits grenadiers led by Uhtoff and containing Marders, MkIVs, PaKs, 88s and artillery behind minefields. Blow me down if Rob and hit light recon force did not win! Counting up the dead though showed that he lost three platoons doing it. A 5-2 win, leaving John and I tied on 34 and Rob on 31. Congratulations to John were in order and I heartily gave them.

Here comes the twist in the tale!

About 10 minutes later, Gavin (the TO) had done the count back to split John and I. Neither of us realised it (as we did not bother to read the player's pack) but the count back process was quite clear:

Tie breakers will be decided by (in order): List received on time with no amendments needed, Best opponents (opponents total VP and/or most wins), Top Dog (you beat other players who tied with you), Best Wins (most 6’s, 5’s etc...), Sports votes. If time and funds allow, we’ll also look at handing out spot prizes.

John had handed his list in two days late. Two days. I won. It is the most hollow tourny win I have ever had. I went up to argue the case with Gav, but he was firm. The rules are there, and they were published in advance. I don't blame anyone for this and after a cold beer with John after the pack up ended he was at peace with the result. He has never placed at a Flames comp before so second was very good. Still, I left feeling not so much a winner, but maybe just a little bit.

The TCOW guys ran a great event and I got to meet a bunch of new gamers and have some great chats with them. A win is a win but I think I am most chuffed about the fact that I used a list that was, in my opinion, rubbish in V3 and won a tournament with it.

Thanks to Richard Steer and Russell Briant for the list advice and the loaner, thanks to TCOW Gav and Greg, and thanks to you, dear reader, for reading a very very long post.

Jaffas. But good jaffas. Aussie Greg (l) and Gavin (r)