A return to the fast play action of 'Rapid Fire (Reloaded)' with the D&D guys; the tried and tested 'Relief of Vilnius' once more on the table.
I have played this scenario five times since it was first published in the early 90s in the now famous 'Russian Front' 3rd supplement.
Set after Bagration, with 6th Panzer and Grossdeutschland elements trying to rescue the remnants of the 'Valkyrie' regiment stuck in a Soviet pocket, the game always provides excitement, massive tank battles, highs and lows on both sides, and a tense nail-biting finish, as Panther regiments lead a spearhead to grab the survivors of the pocket; as trucks, full of fleeing troops, try to make it home; as German units cover, turn armour into scrap-metal, and become surrounded and eliminated in piecemeal fashion.
This is part one of what promises to be a multi-parter. I should also add, that the Germans have only ever won this outright on one occasion in my experience. Let's see what might happen this time.
A recent podcast by the Yarkshire Gamer, which has both RFR authors in it, re-kindled the enthusiasm for this superb game once more.
Tank Park - there's a lot of plastic in this scenario..steel, I mean steel.
'It's fine comradeski...the hated Germans never win this 'ere scenario...'
Looks like we got ourselves a convoy...
Cheeky German players lead with the Panzer III unit - seems like waste of the observer trait, though it works in the end as Partisan AT units are a bit crappy...
The village of Rukantai, German Para and Regular March battalions trapped inside...
'Partisans!'
A limited, and early, armoured advance with T34s on the Soviet left...it's only going to end one way, though the Russian crews give good account of themselves...in that they take a few turns to take first hits..
The Partisan AT gun finds its end
the base of the ridgeline, is as far as the Soviet attack is going to get...
German assaults on the village of Vievis are pushed back...initially.
Partisan units uncovered in nearby wooded areas, flushed out by infantry.
Panther in this scenario - not in short supply, for once
German units in the road convoy; armour guarding the softskins.
Repeated assaults on the Partisan positions in Vievis (and Vutthead?) are largely ineffective, and the Germans take considerable casualties. Having fund the local forces however, substantial use of tank HE shells convinces them to disperse en masse...
A T34 brews up - an advance on the German right doomed to failure...
View of the German advance: Panthers take the ridgeline; Soviet reinforcements have yet to arrive on the right and left flanks...
View from the Soviet left.
A great game and RFR never fails to impress. Part#2 in two weeks...
'it looks like we got ourselves a convoy ...Komradeski...!'
Hot on the heels of the previous post - we played a game of the free 'Ruthless' rules this morning.
This was truly 'cheap-ass' since:
Most of the buildings were paper prints - from an old 'Miniature Wargames' magazine package. My daughter kindly cut and made these from paper prints for me...for a monetary sum, which, under UK legal laws, shall remain largely undisclosed.
The 12 miniatures we used are old (reallllly old) TableTop Games vintage from 1980 (they may have been painted in 1982 - that's my excuse for the crap paintjob).
The ' Ruthless' rules and the character templates are free here at Mark's Game Room: http://www.fireballforward.com/ruthless.html
A superb set of free rules pretty much 99% there on 2 pages - and can be hacked for Star Wars et al, and I would suggest modern or even Napoleonic skirmish.
The rules use a poker hand to delineate initiative and special effects, and there are character traits. These can be explained in some of the pics re. the four groups of characters at play. D10s are in use to gauge shooting/ reaction etc, with special effects from the hand of cards, and rules for snapshots and overwatch.
With four players, we had four groups - Ranchers, Bounty Hunters, LawDogs and The Gamblers. The game took 4 hours - and the Gamblers were the only side with all three guys still alive at the end.
Wyatt Burp keeps an eye out
The main street of town - the fight would devolve into shootouts at either end, with special emphasis on the church belltower - just out of shot
Col. Mortimer starts to move
As Whiskey Walt staggers past the stables
Now sneaky ol' Stinky Pete is the first to move to the ole' church...cuz he can get to the belltower and use his shootin' bonus to act like a sniper
Clint Westwood moves in to stop him
Doc Springbreak (geddit?) advances onto the street with his shotgun
Only to be shot by Roscoe P. Coltrane
Stinky Pete reaches the belltower and starts shootin' at Sherrif Dan down the street
Col Mortimer and Wyatt Burp start shooting wildly - at one stage Burp fanfires all the chambers, and still misses
Sneakin' Flush Fred
'can't hit a goldurn elephant with this here shootin' iron'
The belltower will change hands 4 times!!! Blackhat kills Stinky Pete in a fistfight and throws him off the tower.
...then BlackHat loses a brawl to ...
...none other than Fat Pedro himself 'ehhhh Gringohhh'
...though the gambelrs are on the move, sniping at the outskirts
Col Mortimer shoots Wyatt Burp dead...
...as the belltower changes hands yet again - the Gamblers and the Bounty Hunters deciding that this was the single most important objective in play - nothing personal
Mortimer is on a roll, killing Sherriff Dan, and wounding Roscoe, before being shot at and missed by Whiskey Walt
But in the end, it was the gamblers who managed to survive with all three of their characters (relatively) intact - Col Mortimer's group rolling poorly and 'gittin' outta Dodge'
The LawDogs
The Ranchers - led by the infamous Col Mortimer
The Gamblers - the ultimate real winners
The Bounty Hunters
A great game - yeeeehaawww.
Never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think I would find a post that this song would fit!
