Thursday, February 27, 2014

Iron Tigers - Computer Moderated WWII Rules

Gents,
 
Clinton the Computer Strategies rules bloke came around on Saturday and I put on a fairly simple 15mm Western Desert game. First time I’ve used the WWII stuff for a while.

Basing not quite finished but all good enough for a game. Did my bit for wargames by rescuing 70% of the Flames of War figures from eBay. A few touch ups* and some rebasing and they can forget their previous shameful use. Used my very special (read: cheap n’easy) felt mat from Spotlight…
 
The photos more or less show that the game is a very neat one. Perhaps the tidiest WWII game I’ve ever played. Next time I will use smoke  markers and dead figures to show that units are getting hit, gotta have some fun for the 12 year old in me.

1mm=1 metre so you can work out how many stands per unit you want. Each infantry unit was a company and each armoured unit was a squadron. Each infantry stand was a half platoon.
You could get away with 1 stand/model per unit if you wanted.

Basic scenario was that during the lull after the first phase of El Alamein the 8th Army started stripping the front line of units to create a reserve for the next push. The local DAK commander saw an opportunity to counter-attack with a strong little force. The British commander had learned through patrolling and prisoners that an attack was imminent. So the British commander put alerts for both divisional artillery and local armoured units to offer support if requested. They entered the table in staggered turns over the game.
 
The DAK commander never got a chance to use their good stuff and the game never really got going. Saying that, the rules themselves were excellent. Very suited for WWII and makes a potentially complicated period quite straight forward. I will definitely use them again.
 
I sent him a small list of suggestions that I think would be improvements to the functionality of the rules but haven’t heard back. He might have filed them in the round filing cabinet.
 
*Tip of the week – I use something called MIG Washes. Paint the tank or figure, put on the decals, then slap on the wash. After 10-15 mins wipe it off the raised surfaces with paper towel and cotton buds and then estapol/dullcoat when dry. Quick and easy for WW2.

Mick

Turn 1 movement. DAK attack begins.
Dug in 8th army infantry and AT guns in position. More special felt as soft sand.
Recon group enters the escarpment road.
Will they be seen again?
A couple of nice little Marder models. Perhaps crucial in that they were left off the Army list and had to be removed…!
Motorised infantry transports lead the way with the armour close behind.
What the shooting screen looks like. Select the firing unit and the target, range in metres, add any factors and number of elements firing. The order of the firing unit is decided by the programme by Order of Initiative. The initiative takes into account all sort of things like morale, training and casualties.
Infantry dismounting just before the soft sand
2pdr portee unit starts popping off a few rounds
Panzers move into a column and go for the centre. Infantry slog ahead on foot taking hits from off-table artillery and HMGs
Mobile reserve carrier-borne infantry scoot around in support
Brits looking comfortable in their defensive position (annoyed this pic is blurry)
Armoured reserve squadrons arrive and race into positions – causing some serious hits on the panzers
Lined up for some nasty flank shots
Carriers bristling with brens and ATRs shore up the British left flank
Stuka strike on the British armour – caused damage but not enough to change momentum
Engineers never got a chance to get in and blow stuff up
Confident Brits on the right…
…And the left
DAK infantry taking hits over open ground and about to fall back – along with the 2nd panzer column
Victorious British hold the line in generally good shape


2 comments:

  1. I have played a Napoleonic game with Clinton and it was the cleanest table I have ever played on. The one thing I found hard to get use to was not rolling dice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agree with the dice thing and clean table.
    Look at my earlier report on the Iron Duke rules and I had similar thoughts.

    ReplyDelete