Net Epic Armageddon Tau Vs

Last time I went with the list above. I noticed that I had to select a Broadside as BTS and that one of them was riding in an Ocra. Bad news, hard choices. I had little in the way of protection for those Broadsides. Overwatch sure, but its one and done then your getting engaged.

Zero pictures. Completely forgot.

Continuing the training with Broadsides. I dropped an Orca for a set of Cudas, the AX-01 for Tiger Shark and Kroot, 1 set of suits + Recon for Fire Warriors and Path Finders and drones onto the tiger. Fire Warriors w/ Path Finders become the BTS, break 10.
I will got to 14 activation from 13. 6 off board to 5 form the original. The plus one activation coming from the drones on the Tiger. With only 8 on board activations, I will suffer first turn. I think I will miss the AX-01’s killy-ness.
I will try to castle up with the Broadsides, supporting each other with over lapping fields of fire. The Kroot will hang out as a screening force to punch the punchy. The drones and Stealth suits will create their normal side show silliness behind the lines. In this game, I will go for TSNP, DTF and grab BTS or Blitz if left out in the wind. If I get T&H it would be all luck!

Nothing like that happened. We played a mission, not the tourney set piece battle. 6 different valved objective counters spread out across the table. And NO GARRISONS. And I forgot about my tellie stealths! I never did plan to be mobile.

I got table! First turn 75% failed to activate. Second turn was not so bad but all the same. The skyray become magnets for destruction. I may have to try hiding them in units or drop them completely.
No more drones or Tiger Sharks. I had always played the Tigersharks made an attack run while dropping drones. Wrong. They can only drop drones, nothing else that turn. Don’t know how many people got cheated with that one?

I will play the same list again. One can’t tailor a list for a special mission or opponent. Next time pictures!

NetEA 3000 points Tau Vs Sisters

This time out I have shelved the giant 2DC suits. They are wonderful attention magnetics. Every player seems to dread those big bastards. They steal something from me every time out. I love the Tau for the risk Vs reward. With the 2DC suits your playing a bait and switch trick.

I need to get a handle on how best to work the Broadsides. The rest of the list will flux around getting the most out of them.

This learning event, the Fire Warrior are holding down the pine. I will field 3 detachments of suits and 2 Broadsides detachments. One of each will be rolling in an Ocra.

My list

Kal’s Sisters

We did not play the standard tourney scenario. The game was corners, half long edge & 18 inches up the short side.

Garrisons & Deployments

Sister’s right flank gets a Pentinent Engine

Sisters Garrison their left flank with 2 detachments of Pentinent Engine

Tau Garrison the left flank with Broadsides (non BTS) and Path Finders

Turn 2 action;
Sisters roll up my left flank. Tau swings the door shut on the right flank. A diagonal game turns length wise with Blitz objectives all the way across the table.

The Tau Telli Stealth onto the Sister’s Blitz & BTS. The Sister BTS breaks, breaking the Stealths in an engagement. The Tau Broadside BTS brushes off the Flak to land on the Blitz smoking the BTS.

Flying Nuns Telli onto the backside of the Boardsides Garrisoned. In a sexy Nun gang bang, the Broadsides & Pathfinders are mauled/broken.

Tau win 3-0. Blitz, BTS, T&H

Lessons Learned;

* Don’t place your BTS (Broadsides in an Ocra).

* Garrisoned Broadsides in terrain are as tough as ticks

* Garrisoned Broadsides in terrain need a supporting unit. Same as tanks need INF. Not as a screen but as a ML disrupt, shoot them up, overwatch. Once charged they are finished.

Thursday Night Gaming

Everyone showed up last night. Seven of the lads. Which was good and bad. We were going to play Force on Force, a snatch and grab mission. Most the lads just wanted to drink, knock about, and BS. We only got through 3 turns. The players were distracted with the non stop ball busting. My 2 year old was more interested in playing. The night turned into a giant refresher. Afterwards I was disappointed that the night didn’t work out. It was a late night and today am I tired, beat down.
This weekend I am home. There is little on the honey do list. I’m hoping to paint for most the time. Also my river from “foofighter” should show up today.

Cold Wars Day2

I only got in another 3 games in. Kind of pissed the earliest game started at 9am. When the games started at 7 and 8am, I could play in 4. I plan my games weeks in advance. Once the PEL is out I start first by highlight rules systems. Next I look at time periods and for friends hosting games. I start with the latest game and work backwards. I don’t get many games in during the rest of the year, so a binge.

I only got in another 3 games in. The 1^st game was Tom Bookwalter’s themed game “The Mobile Guerrilla Force, the Black Box, and Bo Gritz.” Tom used 20mm minis with FNG rule set to recreate the action. The GM went to extra lengths to represent the dense foliage.This game was a treat as, it was an actual engagement. We even had a real life Army special forces Colonel, who operated in theater, to lead the US forces. The terrain and napalm blast were showing of a gamers love.

Tom used hidden unit markers until the VC were in spotting range. They added a lot of tension to the game and I got a huge kick out just moving them around.

My 2nd game was at 4pm. I had time to eat and troll the flea market. Bad idea. I added 41 28mm to the mountain. The game was remember the Alamo. US forces trying to relieve a garrison with a Mexican army closing fast.

The rules were a total pain in the ass. One references his army list, performs a some math, looks at a chart, references another chart, and finally rolls against a different chart. Crazy right, I still have zero idea how one determines cannon fire power. Now with that said it did represent unit engagements really well.

I did have a lot of fun. The Daves, father and son, same name were my direct opponents. The son was very aggressive and the father was a tough player. Bad dice plagued us. I got nothing done and then they turned on big Dave. Once that happened, I roll his flank and my cavalry were in the rear causing units to collapse left and right.

The 3rd game was 15mm Regimental Fire and Fury AWI. Another 8pm game with extremely fun group of player. One guy had corn moonshine, another brought some grog and all shared. After the moonshine I was off the sauce and in search of water. A great time was had!

The British were trying to land in Maryland and trap the Colonial army. The Brits were against the clock as the tide was rising, cutting off the land bridge of the main army. The Brits had to secure a beach head, take and hold the bridge, and sweep and clear the town. The Colonials had to defend the road, hold the bridge, and keep the Brits out of the town.

The British closing in on the hasty works across the road.

The marines trying hard to establish a beach head.

The road put up a stiff resistance. Wave after wave of Regulars beat them off the breastworks. Once the Brits penetrated their line, it was a mad rush across the bridge and back to town The Colonials and British Marines were in a slug fest for the beach. But with the Colonial road guard in retreat, they would soon have British regulars charging their rear. In the end we were past midnight. The town was theirs with the beach and bridge in British hands.

Cold Wars Day1

My first game Friday morning was Phil Gibbons’ “Advance to Longueval” on 14JUL1916. 28mm WWI Highlanders trying to push the Germans back. Rules were quick to pick up. Phil used a deck of cards to activate units. The game moved fast with little to no sitting around.

Objectives:

German; Cross and hold the road. Hold the Ridge on their left flank.

· Highlanders; Take and Hold the cross roads. Sweep the ridge clear of enemy.

To help the Highlanders out as they marched into the German HMG positions, a cavalry squadron would come on in turn 4. Also the Piper could play once to remove all wound counters in 12”.

I lead the Highlander right flank. Early hot dice kept the HMGs focused on my side. My platoon was tabled by turn three. The center 2 platoons were able to clear, take, and hold the house and cross road. The Highlander left performed outstanding, rolling up the Germans and taking 2 guns.

The second Friday game was Shawn Reis’ WWII 28mm Force on Force. I had a blast. Force on Force is a tough game to teach in a convention setting. The game flow was slow. Shawn did not have any handouts for the players. So they had a hard time with turn sequence and of course reactions were rough. I was on the German side and Shawn on the US side. The others had zero experience with FoF. By the end the lights started to come on and the rounds of fire became quicker.

I didn’t get tabled, but got zero objectives.

My 3^rd one was at 8PM Friday. No one seemed to want to play. Only Phil had pulled a ticket. Which was great, we all grab what was left. Phil, Berry, James, and me played Brinkerhoff’s Ridge at Gettysburg. Berry and James took the CSA. We got the Union. Phil wanted the CAV, I took the INF.

Objectives:

· Union; Keep the CSA off the ridge. Stop any from leaving the table thru our deployment area.

· CSA; Take and hold the ridge. Exit the table down the road on the right flank.

Once again early hot dice completely stalled the Confederate advance. The MA marched on and James took a beating. Berry shot his way in and charged. That charge swept the ridge. The Union INF was shaken and being pushed back. NY cavalry came pouring onto the table, charged. Then everything went up in flames. We got mauled. They took the ridge and exited the table.

I just about got tabled again, but it was the best game of the day. There were beers and 4 friends laughing at each other’s misfortune.

Cold Wars

I missed Fall In, so depressing. Coming off of Drill Weekend always blows.but this time I spill into a short week.Oh yes it is finally here!

Completely stoked to be going. No wife, no kid, no body to ask me the same question 8 times, just war gaming craziness. I am leaving Tuesday night for Cold Wars in Lancaster, PA. An old friend is coming in early to do research in dad’s library. It will be great to hang and BS for a night.

List of games here;

http://www.coldwars.org/2013%20PDF/Cold%20Wars%202013%20PEL.pdf

List of seminars here;

http://www.coldwars.org/2013%20PDF/Cold%20Wars%202013%20Seminars%281%29.pdf

Thursday Night gaming

It was a good night. Jimmy and Fred popped by. Also Jack the Marine was passing through and could make it. This was Jack was dive into Force on Force. After the first turn Jack was up to speed.

After 8 turns. We delayed the US forces, but the contractors walked right through untouched. The contractors got off the board and US forces secured an blew the crash site on the last turn. We prevented Jimmy from gaining control of the pilots and wounded two full fire teams. Only one KIA

Jimmy and Fred = 15
Jack and Me = 11

We played a convention demo I ripped from the net. Sorry I don’t know the origin.

•UN Contractors:
–Two 6-man squads with leader and 5 M4 equipped troops
–Quality-D10, Morale D10
•Each US Squad:
–Alpha Team: SL, TL, M203 gunner, SAW gunner, Rifleman
–Bravo Tm: TL, M203, SAW gunner, Rifleman
–Charlie Tm: RTO, TL, M203, SAW gunner, Rifleman
–Quality D8, Morale D10
•Bad Guys: Multiple groups plus reinforcements throughout game
–Initial Quality D6, Morale D10
–Some SAW and RPGs throughout the force
–Multiple Leaders
–Technicals may arrive on battle field
•8x Civilian Mobs: Initially neutral

Hot Spots determined randomly by players. None can be placed within 3″ of the board edge or within 8″ of each other. Civilian Mobs are placed in the center of the board.

Any civilians injured in LOS to Al Jazera arms the civilians mobs and doubles the number of mobs. Civilians move away from gun fire. Civilians move every turn in direction of a spun beer bottle. If shot through they divide and run in opposite directions.

Victory Conditions
•UN Contractors: Get VIP to exit point; exfiltrate on foot. 5 points for each VIP
•US Squads: Move to crash site, secure and evacuate survivors 5 points , secure or destroy sensitive items 5 points
•Bad Guys: Do not allow UN VIP to exit board. 10 points Kill or capture. Use crash survivors as bait to ambush US troopers. 5 For each KIA or capture, 1 for each wounded.

Gaming night canceled

Bad week to have a job.

Tues Night Gaming

We’re back!

The holidays are over and game night returns. The lads have taken to Force on Force. Tonight we are running scenario “bridge at Al Muff.”

A Marine recon platoon must cross a bridge at Al Muwaffaquiya, and move through the town beyond it to set up a blocking position. This scenario is based on B Company, 1st Recon Battalion’s actions at Al Muwaffaquiya during the night of April 2/3, 2003. B Company actually put in 2 attacks that night, and this scenario uses the terrain and tactical situation of the 2nd attack, combined with the enemy forces of the 1st attack.

Table with hot spots

A: Regulars (1st platoon start point/2nd platoon entry point)
B: Regulars’ exit area.
1: Insurgents: 1x leader, 1x medium support weapon, 3x small arms
2. Insurgents: 1x medium support weapon, 3x small arms
3: Insurgents: 1x leader, 1x medium support weapon, 3x small arms
4. Insurgents: 1x medium support weapon, 3x small arms
5: Insurgents: 1x leader, 1x medium support weapon, 3x small arms
6. Insurgents: 1x medium support weapon, 3x small arms
7: Insurgents: 1x light support weapon, 2x small arms

REGULAR VICTORY CONDITIONS
* Each live (Non-KIA, -WIA) who exits the board between the 2 Points “B”: 1 pt.
* Each HUMVEE that exits the board between Points “B”: 5 pts.

INSURGENT VICTORY CONDITIONS
* Each regular that is KIA or WIA: 1 pt.
* Each regular that is captured: 5 pts.
* Each HUMVEE that is destroyed or immobilized: 10 pts.

We played it twice. Both time the USMC got hammered. The first run, shitty dice rolling and the marines were tabled. The second run through and it was down to Victory points but no marine left the table or even got close to point “B.”

Thursday Night Gaming

This time we were at Pat’s house for a game of Force on Force. George and Fred showed up. Both Jimmy and Larry had to cancel. We played the first demo off of page 112. With all of us playing the same game, I doubled the forces and the size of the table. Fred and George took the USMC fire teams. Pat and I were Hadji. We did screw up and Hadji was re-enforced after the first turn.
Quick game, we were done before 9. The USMC team kick the ever living crap out of Pat and myself. Even with Fred being trashed before the first turn ended.

The night’s greatest moment was when George’s dice throw completely missed everything, the tray and the table. The dice tray was against his belly!

We ate and drank more than we played. Which again leads to zero pictures.