What the last rules set you played in 2021

[mmcv]

Excellent

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Lovely

[Last Hussar]

Blood Sweat and Tears - the invasion of Sicily continues.

D+3

The company is still carrying the losses from the actions on D-Day, and the platoons have been reorganised slightly to account for these.

The C/O of Baker Company has a new task from battalion- Secure the crossroads at indicated grid ref.

Sunjester decides to use 2 and 3 platoons in a 'leap frog'  tactic, with 1 Platoon held back to be committed as needed.

2 platoon assaults a farm, which as expected, contains Italian troops. 

Upon reflection the following day, I realised it was a boring 'tabletop scenario'. However I'm not sure Sj realised at the time. Basically he  has a map. He has given orders to the platoons, and we fight what is generated.  He guessed that obviously there would be enemy in the farm. It came down to putting in enough fire into the left hand building so it could be assaulted.  Once that was captured he could get troops behind the right hand building. The Italian sergeant realising he was now surrounded chose to surrender.

This has caused the brave lads from the Duke of Buckingham's own 2 problems.
1) I've said Sj needs to lose a base (3 men), over and above casualties, to guard/escort prisoners..
2) He has rather alerted the Italians to his presence.

I moved the Italians from their map positions to what I felt was a reasonable reaction in the time scale, and then moved 3 Platoon as per it's orders, which leads us to tonight's game.

The first surprise (though this one, not that surprising) was that Sj's map didn't show ALL the terrain features. Notably the tomato groves. Commercial Italian tomato groves grow 3-4 meters high and are pretty dense. There were Tomato groves on the table. Sj has learned that the enemy can get closer than you may want using these. For visualisation, imagine a clock face. the road starts at '4', runs to the centre then runs to '9'. Another road runs from the centre to 12. South is a wood, right is an orchard, but between that and the '12' road is a tomato grove. Also to the left of the 12 road is a tomato grove.

The game is card driven, but I say at the start of the game the scouts can move until either they are shot at, or the attacker wishes to call on a section; at this point the cards are then used.

The scouts duly advanced, until the Italian Breda 37 opened fire...

It was at this point that I informed Sj about a rule he didn't know about.  BTW - NOT CHEATING, it's a rule I 'know' about, but haven't written (at least in his set of rules).
HMG sustained fire. HMGs don't just activate on their turn, but can lay down sustained fire. They nominate a target Range Band, and any activation in that range band, or at any point in between, attracts fire, even without the HMG activating - think of it as random bursts at nothing in particular, just to keep the opposition on their toes.

When the Italian Tenente activated, he set in motion the other rule - this one was new.

The platoon advanced, using the woods as cover. He needed to neutralise the mounted MG. Hide in the woods to cover the advance.

It was at that point the 45mm mortar rounds started to fall...

Luckily for the British there had been a slight delay, and 2 sections were beyond the preregistered area (Pre-registered - no deviation rolls...) A section did get caught, as did the 2" mortar. The Mortar men had already upset Sj... by placing smoke EXACTLY where they had been told to. Unfortunately between the order and the first shell, the situation had changed. He REALLY needed the smoke to be to the right - a feat achieved with alarming regularity in the previous battle.  Obviously the Platoon Sergeant had had a word in the last two days, and 3 Plt mortar team dropped smoke EXACTLY where they had been told to... oops.

The British tried to cross the road ( the '4' o'clock' one) using smoke as cover. Unfortunately the HMG (at the clock centre), and the Tenente, had worked out if there is smoke on the road, there is a reason, and started firing down the road. This somewhat upset the Tommies, who ended suppressed on the road. They now had a choice - lay on the road, up against the walls flanking it finding what cover they could, or stand up in MG fire so they could get across the wall. It wasn't pretty.  The Italian infantry moved from their position on the 9 o'clock arm to along the '12' road, now they knew where the enemy was.

Sj had a real problem now. He had a HMG firing on unprotected troops down the road, and his 'Drainpipe' was under fire from mortars, so hiding. This meant no smoke.

Luckily for the British they managed to get a section into firing position opposite the MG, which distracted them long enough the supressed men on the road could start to rally for movement. Sj was helped by a lucky card run with some short turns - not many cards came out before 'End of Turn'; indeed one turn nothing happened as the 'End of Turn' was first in the deck*. This allowed him to get men rallied, and in a position to get off the road.

The ability to start moving through the cover allowed the sergeant to lead in an attack on the HMG, which while not text-book (he went with what he had) caused the crew to run.

The Italian Tenente, finding himself facing enemy to the south as well as west, decided to fall back on supports.

The HMG was the only Italian loss, 2 British sections, and the mortar team took casualties.

3 Platoon are where the C/O wanted them. Runners have been sent back to CHQ, and there are mutterings that maybe 1 Platoon might want to join in and do something. The Company is about 150m short of the objective.  I await Sunjester's new orders with baited breath.

*I reckon on a turn (the time between the reshuffle card coming out) as being about 30-60 seconds. If a section's card doesn't come out, it doesn't mean they did nothing for a minute - it's just they weren't particularly effective at doing whatever it was they were doing. Also if a unit spends a turn without being fired at it can try to rally/discard half fire points, thus coming out first can really help under-fire units. The End of Turn card coming out first can be a big relief for a side that is under the cosh. Think of it as a lull where everybody pauses and tries to work out what the hell is going on.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

The first hame sounds like a typical wargame. Game 2 however sounded brilliant. Frustrating for SJ initially, but actually successful and will be the one you both remember.
Can't wait to join in!

[sunjester]

***STOP PRESS***
PLUCKY BRITISH OUTWIT EYETIES
A daring raid by our brave commandos has secured the entire Italian battle plan for the defence of Sicily.

(The umpire left his map at my place last night. I haven't peeked, honest!)

[Last Hussar]

As I found out when I got home.

You can work on the assumption the troop positions, and even some terrain, is no longer as marked.

[Last Hussar]

Also, why isn't this thread on the BatReps board?

[Steve J]

) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Rebels & Patriots
2) What armies were confronted? - Ruthenian vs Moravia
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? - Solo.
6) What went well? - For the Attackers a pretty easy win to be honest. I probably would have stopped earlier but as it's part of a campaign, I kept going on for another Turn or two.
7) What could have been improved? - The scenario really was too one-sided to be fun, but at least it adds to the campaign narrative.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Talisman (2nd Ed)
2) What armies were confronted? - Dwarf (eldest) vs Sorceress (youngest) vs Monk (me)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - yes for Rach, not for us two.
5) How many players were in the game? - 3
6) What went well? - Imi and Rach got to the inner area
7) What could have been improved? - My monk never managing to off the outer layer!

Imi won!

[Techno II]

I loved Talisman...

Fantasy snakes & ladders.

Still got all the first edition 'parts' of the game (boxed)....of the figures I sold...I still wished I hadn't got rid of the original metal figures.

The other ones I really wish I'd still got are the original Bloodbowl Chaos  Allstars.
Those were MINE.

I know who's got all of those....But they'd never sell them back to me.

Cheers - A Sad Git.

[OldenBUA]

It just so happens that I've been playing the digital edition lately. Fun game, and I got it when there was a special offer on GOG. It's still not very expensive. Playing the boardgame back in the day was fun too.

https://www.gog.com/game/talisman_digital_edition

[Ithoriel]

My memories of Talisman are mainly of 1st edition games played with Trish and Ally Morrison (as they were then) and Paul and Lynn Henni ,which were functionally endless as anyone who got even remotely ahead was nuked to oblivion by the other players. Great evenings at Casa Morrison, great fun had but it was rthe company not the game that had me hooked.

[Techno II]

,which were functionally endless as anyone who got even remotely ahead was nuked to oblivion by the other players.

THAT sounds familiar ! 

Cheers - Phil.

[Leman]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Prussia and Austria
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, I've been playing them since they were published.
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - An exciting game in my current campaign was produced. Things went well for the Austrians.
7) What could have been improved? - The Prussians were tasked with assaulting an emplaced siege battery on a ridge which had additional infantry support both on the ridge and on the lower ground to its left. A difficult task compounded by some apalling dice rolling from the Prussians - are the blue dice jinxed.



End of the game showing Prussians in retreat, outflanked and disordered.

[mmcv]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - To The Strongest
2) What armies were confronted? - Aztec and Tarascan
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Nope
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - barely had to check the rule book. Aztec plans went exactly as they wanted.
7) What could have been improved? The Tarascans had some poor activations, particularly on the flanks.

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,20781.msg324744.html#msg324744

[pbeccas]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Fistful of Lead
2) What armies were confronted? - Finn patrol v Soviet patrol
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? - 2
6) What went well? - the game flowed well, six figures per side, no issues
7) What could have been improved- nothing.  Very satisfying

[fred.]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Fistful of Lead
2) What armies were confronted? - Finn patrol v Soviet patrol
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? - 2
6) What went well? - the game flowed well, six figures per side, no issues
7) What could have been improved- nothing.  Very satisfying

This sounds intriguing- we have used FFoL for cowboys, but have been thinking about other eras, and WWII could certainly be one of them

[FierceKitty]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? -IACTA ALEA EST!
2) What armies were confronted? - Macedonians and Scythians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - not a bit of it
5) How many players were in the game? - 2
6) What went well? - My Argyraspids caught a unit of undeployed HC in the rear; my Companion cavalry got nutcrackered but fought them off.
7) What could have been improved? - Just about everything else. An almost featureless battlefield, perfect for LC; an ill-judged Massagetae charge that broke a line of hoplites; a stray arrow that killed Alexander. Lee's gloating. Especially Lee's gloating.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

The standard result then !

[FierceKitty]

I won the previous game!