What was the last rules set you played 2020

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder II with the Glory Hallelujah supplement.
2) What armies were confronted? - Union v Confederate ACW, fictional scenario
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - Two
6) What went well? - The scenario worked a treat and it was a real ding dong battle that could have gone either way.
7) What could have been improved? - Our knowledge of some rules which we'd never had to use before. Rather than exhaustively look things up (the game was rather involved at this point), we went with what seemed reasonable.

AAR to follow once I've recovered from the game .

[paulr]

Sounds a good'un

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder II with the Glory Hallelujah supplement.
2) What armies were confronted? - Union v Confederate ACW, fictional scenario
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - Two
6) What went well? - The scenario worked a treat and could have been a close battle, except the Union shooting and save rolls were excellent
7) What could have been improved? - The Confederate shooting rolls which were pretty poor and the Union cavalry that moved once all game.

[FierceKitty]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? IACTA ALEA EST
2) What armies were confronted? - Athenians vs Spartans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - Two
6) What went well? - Wild Thracian mercenary horse stripped away the Pelopennesian horse in short order.
7) What could have been improved? - Everything else. We had communication problems which delayed our peltasts (and a bit of ethnic tension with similar results), the victorious light cavalry wasted the rest of the battle chasing Greek peltasts in the hills. and the Spartan hoplites lived up to their reputation.

[Last Hussar]

Hells highway, a board wargame from 1982, hexes, card counters etc. Its Operation Market Garden, 1 hex is 1300m, counters are battalions!
Not yet finished, we are on turn 6 of 26. Number 1 Son and I have booked days off work to get it done between Wednesday and Sunday.
Box says 25 hours for full scenario.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2077/hells-highway
Its quite complex, as these things often are, and we layer a short scenario a few weeks ago to learn it- I got it 2nd hand over 20 years ago, and this year is the first time its been played by me.
It doesn't have the traditional CRT based on odds, instead you roll d6, and add modifier depending on terrain, and cross ref that against firers strength. All units have 6movement points, and the terrain costs vary by unit type, so you have to constantly double check.
Turns are AM, PM or Night, and start with PM 17th.
The confusion with terrain meant I didnt bring on a couple of German units when I could, so Arnhem was easier for Paras to occupy - Not sure if I would have got there anyway.
XXX are in a traffic jam, 101st can't quite clear a Panzer bn in in Eindhoven, and I've blown many bridges (not allowed to blow the main ones on the route). However the terrain problems in the south are the same for the SS in the north, woods mean I can't get the tigers in at 1st Airborne, who are tightly packed in most of Arnhem. Add to this the weather stayed clear, allowing airborne reinforcements, to arrive, including all of the Poles, who now hold the South side of Arnhem bridge.

Many photos taken, another 2-3 days to be played tomorrow.

[paulr]

Sounds interesting 

[Steve J]

Agreed, sounds interesting and would love to see some pics.

[Scorpio_Rocks]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? Pike & Shotte
2) What armies were confronted? - French Vs Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - Three
6) What went well? - First time out for newly painted units - expected them to underperform but they didnt! French Guard excelled
7) What could have been improved? - We had a couple of head scratching moments and rule book searching with fighting in a built-up area - We are currently writing some clarifications/house rules for this

[Last Hussar]

Hell's Highway' 5 turns - 7 to  11 (PM 19th Sept to Night 20th Sept)

Frustrating couple of days for both armies. 1 Para firmly ensconsed  in Arnhem, SS unable to get enough troops against any one point. Brits not attacking, but allowing the Germans to come at them, and hoping defensive fire will disrupt the attacks.

Meanwhile lone German armoured units cling to the north sides of the crossings at Eindhoven and Nijmegen. though XXX corps pass through Eindhoven in a corridor shielded by the 101st, panzer and A/T units will cut supplies if they are not kept in a state of disruption, the panzers finally dissolving due to being surrounded, though the Stugs are still there.
north of the Waal a lone SS armoured recce bn defends the bridge despite XXX corps artillery throwing everything at it in coordination with tanks trying to force the bridge while Polish paras attack from the north. XXX corps wait along the road in travel mode, waiting for the germans to be pushed back.

Frustrated at being unable to bring reinforcements to bear - entering from east and west off road in combat mode means too slow or even impassible terrain, while using Travel mode on road makes them vulnerable if they arrive anywhere near the enemy - the germans start placing units in the empty area where they can deny the road between Eindhoven and Grave to the logistics and supply.

Though polyglot and ad hoc formations from XXX and 101 try to push them back, the road is closed to lorries in 2 - 3 places.

then the logistics officer (visit from #2 son) spots a circuitous route to the East on minor Roads.

Watching the supply move north, a couple of panzer units drive along the route and sit astride the road at Valkenswaard! XXX move to counter, units rushing back south to try to aid those still coming up from Belgium. Morning will bring more delays, but also typhoons.

The Autumn night is lit up by the allies desperately trying to push the germans off the road, while the SS give up on a direct drive into Arnhem from the north and east, and instead stat planning to see if the ragged western edge offers a chance.

And still along the road south of Nijmegen, XXXc wait in convoy, just 20km from the Bridge Too Far.

[paulr]

Hell's Highway' 5 turns - 7 to  11 (PM 19th Sept to Night 20th Sept)

Frustrating couple of days for both armies...

The Autumn night is lit up by the allies desperately trying to push the germans off the road, while the SS give up on a direct drive into Arnhem from the north and east, and instead stat planning to see if the ragged western edge offers a chance.

And still along the road south of Nijmegen, XXXc wait in convoy, just 20km from the Bridge Too Far.

Sounds pretty accurate then

[Last Hussar]

Hell's Highway,
Turns 12 to 17 (21st to 22nd Sept)
"Horrocks said he'd be here in 3 days"
"You did say you could hold for 5."

The biggest problem is the rules. They were written in 82, and we really have learned a lot in 40 years! The lay out of rules in the left column and examples, clarifications and exceptions in the right seems a good idea, but sometimes they appear to clash- I'm still not certain what the rules for XXXc in "travel mode" if cut of are. Also some of the rules have important little extra bits tacked on a few paragraphs later,such as if you fired your artillery in your turn, you can't use it defensively in the opponents, and vice versa. Also the supply bypass XXXc ran yesterday missed the rule Allies can't use a bridge if the Germans haven't had a chance to blow it, which is triggered when a Allied unit moves next to it.

Dawn on the 21st rose, with various German units clinging to parts of the Dutch countryside that meant they were either sitting astride the titular Hells Highway, or close enough to shoot any logistics trucks, putting most of XXX out of supply.  2 pz bn sat at the Valkenswaard bridge, south of Eindhoven,  PaK guns in Eindhoven fired across the river, while various infantry units covered the road to Zon. Worse for the operation, the Armoured Recce of 9SS was in a town on the north end of the Nijmegen bridge, doing its best to be a bloody nuisance (I believe this is the unit we see in the film that rushes across the Arnhem bridge, only to be completed knackered - history definitely wasn't repeating its self).

Between lack of supplies,and the recalcitrant Recce, the road was becoming the prototype for the M25 on a Friday, with tanks and halftracks  parked along it from south Nijmegen almost to Eindhoven - 50km of armour going nowhere.

The Germans had their own problems. They were rapidly running out of units south of the Waal , the SS couldn't pierce the para perimeter, and there is no way for them to drive round to attack further south.

To start with the British ran a couple of units along the minor eastern roads, causing one bridge to blow, but the other 3 stayed intact, thus establishing a roundabout route at Eindhoven.

The remaining panzers at the Valkenswaard bridge suffered repeated air attacks when ever the weather was clear enough, and a XXXc HQ could be brought in to act as FAC (due to an error in orders both the HQs for the Guards and 43rd had ended up in Nijmegen, rather than one staying back for such a need). Infantry crossed the stream/minor river, to join with units that had been sent back, and finally the surrounded tanks, with no supply line, surrendered.

Nijmegen proved to be much harder, much of it to do with #1 having inherited my die rolling ability. In the end, on the afternoon of the 22nd, having suffered 48 hours of attacks by two bn of Polish paras marching from the Neder Rjin, the Corps artillery of XXX, and finally a bn of the 82nd charging across from the south, the Aufklärung disintegrated. However, they had given enough time for arriving SS units to withdraw and cross the Rjin further west, marching round, allowing some units to reach the highway and take position on the final stretch of road . by this time XXXc armour-park reached all the way to Belgium!

With the main road cut, the tank column wound its way through the back roads, not ideal, and they have had spread out to give room.

The allies didn't have it all their own way, with a couple of German bns sitting on the supply point and HQ for the 82 for much of the 22nd- the yanks better be careful with their rate of fire.

In Arnhem, after 2 days of probing attacks at a salient, the SS launch an all out attack along the whole para front. Despite using ever GU. They could and concentration on the east with every artillery piece, it makes no headway.

The attack was prompted by the Sherman's of 1/Coldstream rolling over the bridge. It appears to be no longer a case of if the British will make breakthrough, but when...


General Urquhart smiled at the  young Major sitting in the Sherman he had clambered up. "Remind me never to make a foolish promise like that again. Now, can your bloody radio get General Adair, because I'm buggered if ours can."

[paulr]

 

[Last Hussar]

Paul, you'll note I've added to it - I posted just to stop losing it all!

[pierre the shy]

Panzers near Arnhem? what Panzers? Don't be silly man 

Sounds like XXX Corps needs some their own.....

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Sounds ace