Tank BBQ: A Tank War Game!

   

     Being nearly summer, it is time for all of the BBQ gathering in the area for the hot days. Since my wife and I were invited to such an event this meant we had little time to play anything. So we opted for a Tank War. My wife, Kalissa, loves tanks and tank warfare. I  did find it very unusual for her to picks such light forces for her British. Playing Bolt Action Tank Wars, she chose two Sherman Fireflies, two Cromwells, Three M-10 Achilles, and one evil, evil, evil Daimler armored car. This was what she had against my five Panther A Tanks.
    Now, over the years, I have begun to understand how Gargamel  and Azrael  felt when dealing with the Smurfs. They are small and you cannot catch them! This is how I feel about my wife's armored cars. I have had years of experience being killed by my wife's armored cars. And they usually kill the craziest unlikely things. Other people in our gaming community have also discovered this. And I won't bring up the Stuart Tanks. But for some reason, I thought this game would be different! No, the Daimler is not threating to me. HAHAHA!
    We played the table lengthwise just to use the range full range of the tanks. Why not? The first turn saw the loss of a Firefly at a long ranged luck shot. There might have been more deaths, but a large line woods blocked light of sight. This gave a perfect opportunity for the Daimler to run up to the building. The second turn saw a Panther in flames. Then, the third turn, the Daimler moved in at point blank shots into the side of a Panther. The Panthers shot three rounds at point blank, but did nothing. Another Panther dies from than M-10 shot. Also, the annoying Daimler kills another Panther tank.
    However, things are not so perfect for the British. Two of the Fireflies go down as well as two M-10's. Another Panther tank is disabled, then taken out. The final Panther is also taken out, but with the roll for a final turn, the Daimler gets it in the face! I am left with one Pillbox instead of a mobile tank! Smurfy!

AAR: Bolt Action, Saturday Sponse Fight!

    One of the great things about being married to someone who also wargames is that you always can have someone for game tests. July is fast coming into our sites for Historicon 2016. And though, I have most everything complete for our four games of Bolt Action, I have not tested some units that would be involved on the table. The main one is the German Nebelwerfer.  I have two of these, but I had yet to test them out despite being finished for eight months. In fact, I bought them at last year's Historicon! The other unit was the American Mortar halftrack. This, too me, works just like other mortars. However, it would be nice to play it in a game before being used by other people.
    So like typical games with my wife, Kalissa, our games have to be bloody and violent to rival some horror slasher films. As a friend of ours put it, our casualties say enough. To make things more interesting, we bought out our craters as well. I made these not too long ago. Some people in the game room thought they looked like cookies when they were not being used. I am sure some unlucky kid is going to have quite the surprise when they taste paint and kitty litter!
    In a usual fashion, the Americans came out in force through the hedgerows creating a nice firing line. I had a PaK40 and Stug III to try to keep the Sherman tanks in check. If all else, failed, I had my infantry armed with some Panzerfaust buddies. The surprise was the Nebelwerfer. First shot, did not hit the intended target, but still hit another infantry squad that took 12 hits as a heavy mortar. One out of 11 men survived. It must have been raining Chuck Norris! The same happened again, 12 hits to a different target, a three man command team with no survivors. The last hit came on the final guy from the first squad: 10 hits, no survivors. I must say! Wow! The first time out for the mortar half track, never hit a soul, but lived through the whole game. Anyway, here were some photos of the game.