AAR: Iron Cross: Purple D10's are Evil!

A Cromwell explodes making a 27 ton roadblock.

     It was another lovely round of weekly wargaming with my friend, Danny that I meet up with one Tuesdays. And for this game, we chose to play Iron Cross. Danny has really gotten into this game to the point of buying the rules. That is an accomplishment in itself! Part of the new found interests is probably heavily fueled by the fact he has won all of the games we've played using these rules. But I also believe that it is a game that is brutal, quick, and fair. I have just realized he has and was using a purple D10. As anyone who knows me or may have read throughout this blog, purple dice and me have a history. And this game was no exception!
   Both sides went to 780 points per side. I had five Panthers, four Panzer IV H's, and one Stug III G. Danny had 9 Cromwells, three Sherman Fireflies, and three M-10 tank destroyers. So I was out numbered as to be expected against the Allied forces. But with Danny's purple D10, it was like round house kicks from Chuck Norris. Most all of my force was killed by reaction fire! The numbers of the day we saw from his D10 were 8 and 10 for about 85% of the game. It went down hill after all, but two of my tanks were dead! But by that point, there was not much to do about it.
   Besides the uncanny die rounding, I found that was actually disappointed in the game. After the game, we talked about how people could get upset in the game by experiencing what I went through. Because, the game is about pins and morale first, taking big cat like Panthers could be considered wasteful. Danny had mentioned reading about how a guy was upset about losing a King Tiger II to a M5 Stuart tank. Guess what? We looked that up to see if it was possible. A King Tiger II has a 19 Front, and side of 15. A M5 Stuart tank has a weapon rating of 6. So on a D10, a M5 Stuart tank can penetrate and kill a King Tiger II on the side by rolling a 10, and then, rolling a 4+ on a D6 to kill. That could be upsetting! And apparently, it was his commander.
    After losing all of the Panther tanks in the first two rounds, it was apparent to me that points would have been better spent on other tanks. For five Panthers, you can get 9 Panzer IV's. I don't quite have those, unless we play this in 15 mm where I could pull it off. But then, my wargaming mind remembers that this was just a game that was rolled well against me. We will have a rematch, again. Maybe, by then, we will be using infantry as well.  Below is the shots of the game.

The Board. Allied side.

The board. German Side.

Town center.

Water crossings.

A Panther dies from reaction fire. And a Panzer IV burns after being hit after bogging down on some trees.

Another Panther dies to reaction fire!

A slight German revenge against a Cromwell tank.

The British try to cross the bridge.

More German armor rolls in. 

A burning Cromwell blocks the bridge after being stopped by a Stug III.

The burning tank becomes useful cover.

A Cromwell fires reaction fire from the rear towards the Stug III.

All of the Panther tanks are gone by turn two.

Cromwell reaction fire takes out the Stug III.

Two Panzer IV's left at turn 3, because none of the British can see them to shoot at them.

Two Sherman Fireflies ford the stream to hunt for German Panzers.

The rest are knocked out at turn four. Guess this would not make it to turn seven!