Ft. Meigs "World at War" AQMF 2-parter

The HMGS-GL club, the "Colby St. Irregulars" host their fall "World at War" game day at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg on 11/4.  I took my All Quiet on the Martian Front game as it is usually a crowd pleaser.  My personal life has been a bit chaotic as of late, so I was planning on running some old scenarios...but I woke up at 6am the morning of the event with a scenario idea!!

And I think it worked well.....

It was a two part game; First, 3 Martian Assault and 3 Scout Tripods would start on the far  board edge and race across the board exiting what they could to get set for the attack on a US Army camp (scenario two).  

A small US Armored patrol; Command Tank, two Mk. II and one Mk. III tank units and a 'Rough Riders" unit would enter at the 3 foot mark of a side edge and would engage.  

The Martians were given their objective, the US Players no details, they were on a patrol hunting whatever they came across.......

To start I had just 4 players; the Kevin and Matthew Father / Son team took the Martians (Matthew being the infamous Martian Overlord in the The Night the Ground Exploded game from a few years ago.

http://pzgeneral08.blogspot.com/2015/08/aqmf-night-ground-exploded.html

The Human players were John and Bryan.

The Martians didn't start out so well, Kevin and Matthew splitting their forces, and with Kevin being closest to the Human entry point he took the brunt of the fighting.  His son Matthew took the instructions of "get off the far board edge" to heart and just took off running, not fighting and letting his Dad get beat on. It wasn't until the second to the last turn that he realized he could move and face, shoot at something, then move toward the objective edge....

End of turn one, Martians and Humans on the board.  One the Human first turn they ran the Rough Riders out and immobilized a Scout Tripod.......

Kevin got in trouble.  The immobilized Scout was destroyed, and Assault Tripod scored a hit but was then knocked out.  His 'Black Dust' Tripod was also lassoed by the motorcycles, but was able to break free and took out 2 stand of Rough Riders and two tanks with Black Dust.  He bought time for Matthew to run for the board edge before eventually getting blasted.....

When Matthew exited the board I reset some of the terrain, adding a small trench line and some additional Human units.  I did a quick measurement of the remaining Human units from Game one and decided the survivors would enter behind the Martians (i.e. were in pursuit) on turn 4. 

To the Martians I gave Kevin a Scout back (I felt bad for him) and removed all of the damage Matthew's Tripods had received.  The plan was to add additional Martian units coming onto the board in a flanking maneuver.  Another player, Todd, showed up so Kevin and Matthew allowed him to the Turn two reinforcements, the 'Red Martian' and a Slaver Tripod with 6 Drones.  They came in about the 3 foot mark of a side edge on turn 2.

By turn two Matthew's usual tactic of running head long into the teeth of the Human guns paid off it's usual dividend: a burning Tripod.  Kevin looks like he's sleeping, but he's moved his Scout into a position on the road to blast away at the Human armor.  Human infantry stalking about in the woods gives the Red Martian no cause for alarm......

 

Matthew scored some hits on the Michigan 'Iron Brigade'; two dead and one routed.  His Scout moved off camera to the left behind the trenches, causing the Humans to pull some armor back to try and deal with it (upper left in the photo)

 

Then it happened.  As the US Infantry held off the Red Martian and Slaver / Drones, a Clamper tank shot out and latched onto Kevin's Scouts leg.  It was now immobilized for the rest of the game.....but at least it's Heat Ray was pointed in the right direction!!

Kevin's Scout was eventually destroyed, Catastrophically one might add!!  Unfortunately for the Martians only the abandoned Clamper tank was also destroyed in the blast....With the US Infantry destroyed the Slaver and Drones closed in.

The Red Martian and Slaver / Drones began clean up operations.  About this time the pursuing US Armor arrived and put a serious smack down on the Slaver.  They pounded it and caused 8 out of a possible 10 armor hits!!  YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!!!!

With session time running out the '10:05' rule was put into effect (last turn, kill it all).  The Human Armor moved into the middle of the remaining Martians trying to overwhelm them with dice thrown.  They eventually did destroy the Slaver, shutting down all the Drones.  The Martians ran an Assault Tripod into their midst hoping to sweep a Heat Ray and then go up in a blaze of Catastrophic damage...but it was only destroyed......

The game did end with me declaring a marginal Human victory.  Only the Red Martian survived for the invaders and 4 or 5 Human units survived...but all were missing stands / vehicles........

And with much hoot'n and hollar'n......a good time was had by all......

Team Yankee - First Contact

     This was the first go at Battlefront's Team Yankee rules with my usual gaming friends.  Since it was our first attempt with the rule set we used only vehicles and helicopters.

     The situation was this:  A small detachment of Americans were protecting the approaches of a German village.  The Soviets were to come tearing tracks down the road  and use speed and firepower to overwhelm the defenders and take their objective.

     The American OOB:     1- M1 Abrams, Co. HQ
                                        2- M1 Abrams, 2nd Plt.
                                        2- M1 Abrams, 3rd Plt.
                                        2- M901 ITVs, Anti-Tank Plt.
                                        2- AH-1 Cobra Gunships, reinforcements 
                           Total    50 points

     The Soviet OOB:           1- T-72, Bn. HQ
                                         3- T-72s, 1st Plt.
                                         3- T-72s, 2nd Plt.
                                         3- T-72s, 3rd Plt.
                                         3- BMP-2, Recon Plt.
                                         2- BMP-2, Recon Plt.   
                            Total    52 points

     So as you can see, this is more of a meeting engagement that a full blown Soviet assault.  

ON TO THE FIGHT!!

The Soviets advance, the Recon Platoons using their Spearhead ability, the Soviet armor trying to keep pace.  Plt. Leader, Lt. Rutherford looking over his paperwork, "What is this Laser Range thingy for again?"

The Soviet attack has captured the Fuel Station outside town.  Petrol for the tanks, Slim Jim's and Coke for the men.

The Americans move to defend.  The Co. HQ places the vineyard between himself and the attackers.  2nd Platoon positions itself on the left flank.  3rd Platoon moves cautiously through the town to the right.  The AT Platoon takes up positions in some woods.  Gone to Ground and Concealed is the place to be!  Cobras hover somewhere off board......

 

"Captain, I think I know what the Soviet's are after!"  "Rodger that!"  "Gunner, BMPs, 2 o'clock.  HEAT round."  "Up!"  "Fire!"  "On the way!"

 

First blood to the Americans.  With the explosion of the AFV the Soviets began to scatter and look for something to shoot at.......

The Americans move to counter the Soviets.  '55' (the Co HQ) moves to cover the road, 3rd Plt. swings between the buildings.....the vibrations putting a good size crack in one......

The Soviet Tank Company on the right discovers the US 2nd Plt.  An amazing shoot out ensued.  For the next 2-3 turns, Kevin and I exchanged rolls of 1's on the dice like we were slap fighting!!  SHOOT!....  MISS!....SHOOT BACK!....BOUNCE!....SHOOT!....BOUNCE!.....SHOOT BACK!....MISS!

On the Soviet left though it was a different story.  The fire from the Abrams and M901s had the enemy AFVs popping like popcorn!

View from the Soviet Bn. Command tank.  "Ugh..too much Vodka last night...."

Since on this flank neither the Americans or the Soviets wanted to hurt each other, the Cobra gunships thought they would get into the fight.......when they got there....

The M901s continued to blast away at the advancing Rooskies!  I told ya, Gone to Ground and Concealed is the place to be!

Unfortunately for the Americans the tide rapidly turned.  First 55 tank got hit twice, the second penetrating......The ITVs abandoned their position.

Then after killing 2 of 3 T-72s in the right flank Company, an Abrams from 2nd Platoon got hit in the flank and was destroyed, causing it's Platoon mate to fall back.......

Leaving a slew of destroyed armor on the battlefield, the swarm of T-72s finally overwhelmed 3rd Platoon.

At this point the American AH-1s finally arrived (really bad reinforcement rolling by Mike).  But all they could do was keep the Soviet forces worried while the survivor of 2nd Platoon and the M-901s withdrew.  The victory went to the Soviets.

      
     We all had a good time, it was fun to sorta flashback to our former years of playing MBT in 6mm.  We enjoyed the Team Yankee system, I think it is an improvement of the v3 FoW rules.  At least for the casual gamer.


Looking forward to the next encounter and trying v4 Flames of War.......thanks for reading........ 

Travel Battle from Perry Miniatures

I've been working on painting up the boxed set Travel Battle from Perry Miniatures.  It is a self contained 8mm Napoleonic game.

I finished painting half of the British and French units in the game.

When I found out that a good friend of mine was coming to town I decided to paint up the game board so that we could give the rules a go.  So, what started out as this:

I turned into this:

 

The tops of the woods actually remove so that if Infantry enter them you can place the miniatures inside....

And here are some minis added to give you an idea of what game play will look like:

The battle commences next week.......