Disposable Heroes - experimental 2.0

I figure I'd better get this down before my memory fades and the Advent/Christmas season lessens my chance for rational thought.

Rational thought... wargames... oxymoron? Never mind.

On Saturday (yesterday), the usual suspects played a game of Disposable Heroes at the Hamilton Road Games Group. Andy and I took the British and Martin and Bear too the Germans in an early war, Battle of France scenario. We also tried an experiment  and used the Advanced Squad Leader sequence of play with the Disposable Heroes mechanics. Originally I thought we might use Martin's French, but his schedule as a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Western Ontario proved too packed to allow him to finish some of the painting he deemed necessary. We did use one of his vehicles, though.

The German objective was to take a church building on the British side of the table. Both sides had about a full platoon with some support units (mortars, HMGs, Anti-tank rifles, sniper team, armour.)
The sequence of play when something like this:

• Preparatory fire by side A
• Defencive fire by side B
• Movement and moving fire by side A (movement beyond "sneaking" cuts your range and rate of fire in half)
• close combat

Martin and Bear advanced with the armour (a short gun Pz. IV and a 38t) coming up the road and two squads of infantry on either side of the road. The mortar stayed in the back but the HMG moved up with Bear's troops,

The German armour moves up.

The British armour hung back a bit to stay out of the initial line of fire -
Martin's Matilda -- quite a nice model

Andy's first squads LMG team at the wall with the Boys AT rifle in the church bell tower.
The stone walls and the church were heavy cover.

Bear's one squad clusters around the back of a hill before advancing.

My squadies - all of 3rd squad with the Bren gun of 4th squad in the foreground.
The wooded areas were medium cover.

Bear's right-hand squad supports the tanks from the hedge line. (Light cover)

Martin had more cover on his side of the road so Bear got shot up rather more quickly. However, he gave better than he got and his Wehrmacht boys cut my troops up. The HMG was rather effective, if I remember correctly. Martin's troops took fewer casualties, but they dealt less damage to Andy's squads since they were prevented from firing by the forest area that protected them.

Andy's 3-inch mortar and the command section behind the church.

Bear sets out some of his troops.

Here you can see Bear's rather sparse terrain. The hill blocked line of sight, but the hedges were just light cover
and things to shoot over.

Andy's squadies come up to the line.

My 4th squad's Bren gunner after the rest of his section "disappeared."
All the figures used were Andy's.

What do you think of Andy's new measuring device? It also doubles as a phone in some situations.
Or even an "OK" sign in Hawaii. ("Ain't no big t'ing, Bro'der!")

As the game went on, my squads were cut to pieces by Bear's very accurate LMG and rifle fire. He took damage - make no mistake - but I took more. The Matilda and the 38t exchanged some fire but both were less than effective. I got a few penetrating hits on the Czech titan, but I couldn't do any serious damage. And the 38t's cannon barely scratched the paint on the Matilda's hull. It wasn't a good day to be me, I suppose.

Martin's force spend a good bit of time sliding throughthe forest which allowed them to get closer to
Andy's position but kept them from firing and suppressing the British squads on that side of the road.

The titans square off - the 38t takes aim at the Matilda

Bear's HMG team with an LMG team in front.
The red bingo chip denotes that the team is pinned or suppressed.

Martin's on rifle section uses the Pz. IV for cover as they advance.

The boys in Feldgrau take a moment to form up while still in cover.

The experiment of using Advanced Squad Leader's sequence of play with DH's mechanics went OK. In my case, the jury is still out. I'm not one to monkey with rules for the most part. (Oh, I've done enough monkeying with rules but not too often.) Andy and Bear, both veterans, both agreed that the experiment felt right and allowed them to remember their infantry small unit tactics more that the usual DH unit-by-unit-activation-ping-pong. Not being a veteran, I have to leave it to them to do those things. I'd have to play the adjusted hybrid game again, but I'd also play the game "as written."

We'll have to see. I am glad that we didn't burden the table with multiple platoons and lots of support weapons. That would've bogged the game down 'way too much. A while back we discoverd that you can "break" the game by having too many units/activations.

Late in the game (third or fourth turn!), Martin ran his tanks up to the wall at the church.
Andy and I dropped mortar bombs on it and thought we had destroyed it, but...

Andy's one Bren section hunkers down with mortar smoke in front of their position.

We thought we had destroyed the Pz. IV, but two closer readings of the rules proved us wrong.

Next week is the Group's Christmas party with the Wings of War extravaganza including Die Rotte Baron and Snoopy. If you can't make it to London, ON., here are some cookies for you to taste... with your minds!

Beth, Katie, and I kept up our pre-Christmas tradition of helping an older member of my congregation with her Christmas baking. She makes Lebkuchen dough and we shape, bake, and decorate it. She often has lots of her extended family in at the holiday, but her health isn't what it used to be. So we help and get a healthy cut of the procedes.

Good stuff!

Muskets & Tomahawks... again.

You can probably tell that I'll sold on this game. Because of the lateness of my writing, you can probably also tell that I've been busy. I also had a short bout with some odd illness... which doesn't come into this story.

Anyway... A few weeks ago, we played Muskets & Tomahawks for the second time. I am finding more to recommend this game. I've been enjoying playing it. This game was played across a large clearing where every other part of the table was considered woods. Andy took the French and Derek and I took the British, since I wanted to use my freshly painted Highlanders, just received from RAFM Miniatures in Cambridge, ON.

American Provincials advancing

Highland officer... who later took on a vendetta, risking life, limb, fortune, and reputation.

French regulars.

French light infantry who count as "irregulars" for game purposes.

The British over-all commander

An irregular unit advances through the woods with some Native warrior auxiliaries to their right.

The Huron advance toward the American Rangers.

These French regulars have come out of the woods.

The Huron warriors fire on the rangers and Provincials while the Highlanders take a guess at the range.
(Measuring is permitted at any time in the game.)

More firing.

Meanwhile on the other flank, the Iroquois are delayed for some reason.
To designate that, we added a turtle to their ranks. The turtle wandered off in a turn.
An "Event" card was turned and the warriors speed was halved.

A lessened number of Highlanders return fire.
The white piece of felt in front of the troops was a hidden swamp they just discovered.

The colonial militia gives fire.

From Andy's viewpoint... Highlanders advancing

... and Rangers advancing.

The Highlanders (RAFM and Old Glory) have taken losses.

The French light infantry face the Iroquois,

Lots of musketry. The flow of the game is controlled by the cards.

The major oversees the fire of the rangers and the Provincials.

The signal success of th game for me: Andy's light infantry on his left flank was thrown back a few time
by my native warriors.

At a point about mid-way through the game, my one officer was charged (by a random event card) with the task of fulfilling a vendetta against Andy's native sachem or leader. They were both required to move toward each other and duel. Well, MacTavish lost the duel to Kicking Deer, but he died gloriously, if there is such a thing. The game ended with my troops withdrawing, covered by Derek's provincials. Only the provincials and the native warriors on my side had any sort of success. Maybe I left the woods too early. Well, we'll see how it all turns out the next time we play.

Down for the count!

From another viewpoint

A final view of His Majesty's Woodland Native Allies... plus their turtle.

Grimsby Games Day

 This event took place two weekends ago, but it's been quite busy in the meantime and I didn't get to blog anything. So please excuse the delay and enjoy the narrative of the day.

Andy and I had been invited to take part in the second games day at the Grimsby, ON Public Library and Art Gallery. We (and a few others) went down last year for a War of 1812 themed day. This year was more open gaming. We decided to keep it simple and put on our "Tiger Hunt" table top game. In this game, we use the armour rules from Iron Ivan's Disposable Heroes and Coffin for Seven Brothers. Each player begins the game with a Tiger I tank.{Panzerkampfwagen VI H (Sd.Kfz. 182) for them was is picky.} You then play the game "straight" with spotting and penetration rules in full effect. If your tank is put out of action, you get another. Originally, your second tank would be a Panther.(Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Sd.Kfz. 171) If that one brews up, you get a Mark IV. At the games group, we've used Russian, American, and British tanks and tank destroyers as well, just to liven things up. For a display game like this one, we keep it simple.

(Photos courtesy of Andy or myself.)

My wounded Tiger awaits the recovery vehicle. The half-track could fix a blown track in one turn. That's all it could repair, however if another player "called" it, you had to wait until you could call it again.

Martin (of J&M Miniatures) had to watch his tank "brew up."

Another Tiger lies in ambush.

The town in the middle of the table... with a knocked-out Mk. IV as cover.

Yes, Martin brewed up TWO Tigers and in just about the same place.
He laughed all the way to the end of the game.

There were three other games going on as well. One was a well laid-out game of the Gallipoli landings in World War I. I had to admire the board and how it was textured and done up.

The Anzacs dig in to await the assault by the Turkish troops.

They didn't have to wait long.

Martin put out a very tasty table for an American Civil War game using Black Powder. Sad to say, no one took up the invitation/challenge to play this. The table was a delight to see, however.

Confederate/Rebel/Southern infantry have taken up defencive positions at a stone wall.
It should serve them well.

Union/Federal/Yankee/Northern/Blue Coat troops on the attack, determined to drive off the Gray Coats.

Confederate artillery holding the centre of the line.

Union artillery supporting the attack.

Confederate cavalry upholding the traditions of the South.

This view deserves a larger photo!
Federal infantry, including zouaves, prepare to advance.

In a side room, used for art classes, storage, and coat racks, a vast Napoleonic game was held using Arty Conliffe's Shako II in 25mm. This is my preferred rule set and I was quite interested in the game, which was set in the Iberian Peninsula. (Did I say "interested"? I should say "drooling.") There seemed to be seven or eight players there, with British, Spanish, and Portuguese troops opposing French and Rheinbund battalions. It... was... GLORIOUS!

I asked a few time, but no one would/could tell me who was in the coach.
There was some mumbling about mistresses...

The British hold the hill while the French assault, all in the "same old fashion."

The Spanish are holding a walled estate or monastery as the British advance to support them.

Portuguese troops come forward to flank the French.

A good view of the "Thin Red Line" with skirmishers out.

British horse artillery about to bring the pain.

How here's a rarity: Spanish Cuirassiers!

The British must be doing well; they're leaving the hill!

Shako II is an "old school" wargame, using artillery sticks.

Looks like the French and Allies are about to be flanked.

The Grimsby venue is a good one, although a small one. It may never reach the threshold of a "convention" but it's a good time. They're thinking about a theme approach for next year, possibly something for WWI since we're in the anniversary time for that one,

I hope you enjoyed this little "travelogue."