I was German defender against Russian attacker.
We failed to finish but Russians were pressing hard on Fascist lines and my off-board Panthers were due to enter fray (Ivans had 2 JSII about to appear)
One of my favourite WW2 sets as nice balance of complexity and playability with good period flavour and eminently suited to 15mm kit..
Stephen maybe not so enamoured (ala most DB sets).
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Just started a new Vassal PBEM game and we are trying Storm Over Arnhem the old Avalon Hill classic with Mike as Germans.
The Vassal module is one of older types so lacking the finesse of later modules but seems functional overall.
Hopefully with the alternating Area Activation/Action system this should play well with only a couple of issues relating to Advantage Marker to address (Likely we will just ignore the re-roll aspect)
One of the more eye catching boards from AH era nicely recreated
Finished (in super quick time) the last C&C scenario Cirta with Mike the final scenario in our basic game campaign.
Roman victory in short order (5 turns) with only my left flank units being used and those being enough to takeout the Numidians facing them.
And so ends a hugely enjoyable series of games using Vassal.
C&C Napoleonics (as well suited to Pbem) a real contender for next game we try but maybe something else ?
Finished off our Spearhead game today with Stephen with my British being totally crushed with two of my three Battalions routed from field !!
On restart things looked reasonable for Brits despite one Battalion having suffered 7 casualties as they occupied 3 of the 4 central objectives.
But in one turn Huns inflicted 4 further casualties on this Bttn forcing a Morale Check which I duly failed
One German stonk by 3 x 105mm artillery took out an entire British Company in one fell swoop (3 x 6 rolled) and so it continued with so many sixes or double suppressions annihilating the Brits in short order as Dice Demon was in full flow today
In reply I could only manage a few suppressions which the Huns managed to Rally every damn time.
And so soon another Bttn reached its first Morale Check and of course failed forcing me to yield.
Rather one-sided in the end but was great to get Spearhead and my 6mm kit into action again.
Some rather poor pics for some reason ?
This was first British Bttn to succumb on my right
Just finished Iliturgi scenario with Mike on Vassal and Romans thoroughly thumped with Elephants stomping a unit of Legionaries and killing attached General to secure victory for Carthage.
So now its on to the last scenario of our Punic Wars campaign with Cirta 203BC
A couple more pics from Spearhead game (which is still in situ) just cause.
Have had bulk of these 6mm from late 1970s/early 1980s with core of tanks being GHQ (certainly for Germans) with several CinC Micro Armor, Heroics & Ros, Davco, a smattering of Scotia (mainly Ivans) and even a few venerable old Leicester Micro Models scattered throughout OOBs.
Infantry were once all H&R but main portion now Adler but with H&R chaps still on bases with APCs or Command stands and suchlike.
Not sure how many of these are still in production or under new management ? GHQ were always more expensive but are now into costing an arm or leg territory in UK !!
All were originally done for WRG (tanks were unbased and infantry on those mega fiddly tiny 4 figure bases - how many of those did I lose !?) then redone for Command Decision (1" or 1/2" squares) and finally for Spearhead (on 30mm squares).
Think this is from Keith McNallys SH site and essentially a scenario based around his excellent Scenario Generation System (for SH and Modern SH).
Anyhow this sees a British Infantry Brigade (sans RASC trucks) with a Churchill Tank Regiment and a 25pdr Artillery Battalion (3 x Batteries of 2 Gun Troops) and a couple of randomly appearing rocket armed Typhoons facing a German PzGrenadier Regiment (1 Bttn in Sd251 the other in trucks) supported by a PzIV Bttn with assets in form of 2 x 105mm Artillery (3 x Gun Batteries each), 2 x Tiger1, 3 x JgPzIVf and 2 x Sd234/1 as Recce. The Hun assets can be split up or formed into an adhoc Bttn (max of 9 stands).
The Brits have weight of numbers but Germans have better attack factors and more Panzers.
Scenario is essentially an encounter type battle with both sides trying to capture the 2 towns and couple of nearby ridges with both having additional objectives to gain a major victory (PzIVs exiting and Brits taking a bridge and adjacent hill).
Stephen chose the Huns (and parceled out the Divisional assets) I had Brits (cross attaching the Churchill Companies to each Inf Bttn) so 3 Bttn formations per side and off we went.
All Bttns on attack orders in order to enter battlefield (no flank moves allowed in this scenario) with Brits coming on on West and Southern edges (not quite up to half way on each) and Huns from Eastern edge.
Jabos appeared early and targeted 6 Tanks over the 2 sorties managing to kill a PzIV but otherwise ineffective.
Once formations came into spotting ranges (SH cleverly uses spotting to allow flexibility or change of orders but constrained by firing ranges) formations began to deploy with my 3 Bttn formations gaining their initial objectives (2 Hills and northern town) whilst Huns grabbed the other town.
It soon became apparent that the German Panzers have a significant advantage over the Churchills being able engage at 18" compared to Churchills 12" so can stand off and ping enemy with impunity.
8 of my 12 Churchills are VII types so good armour but one Squadron is Mark IVs so lesser armour and poorer gun (6pdr AT factor is 1 less than 75mm which is maybe a bit off) and 2 of the MkIVs brewed quickly.
I also took casualties to my infantry from German indirect and PzGr fire whilst inflicting only a couple of suppressions in return.
The Armoured PzGr in Sd251 are tough to deal with as Inf cant target them beyond 3" (Inf AT range) but the APCs fire out to 9" (those damn MG42s).
We failed to finish the game (played 5 out of 14 turns) mainly as we got a bit confused as to how continuing artillery stonks/adjustments work (both a tad stale on rules knowledge as last played December 2023) so left in situ to complete next week.
British have invested ridge and town objectives but being picked off from range by Hun armour. (Yellow puffs are Suppression the other colours are artillery targets)
And yes that is actually sunlight visible in N.Ireland almost first this year !!!!!!
