Every year we have a Beer and Battles day at my house, basically chums having a few drinks and some nibbles whilst playing games. Into fourth year now and usually play several different games and using loads of systems but decided this year to do one big game.
Thanks to all who could come and those that loaned terrain.
Location – Stalingrad, well my garage mock up anyway
Forces – Soviet vs Germany
Size – 4 players per side with 750 points each only one vehicle per player and no VMFT
Scenario – Maximum Attrition
Table size – A T shape made from two 7 x 4 boards
Special rules – Board consists of heavy and soft cover but doesn’t restrict infantry movement or we wouldn’t get to each other. First wave can enter up to 12” on from each of the long edges of the 7 x 4 table and up to 30” from each short edge of the cross of the T.
Sewers in use, reserves can come on from the sewers roll a D6, 1 Enemy chose which sewer you come out of, 2-3 and it is one of the six randomly chosen sewers get a 5-6 and you chose a sewer. No assault from a sewer.
Random event table in use, two event dice go into bag each turn and when one is picked out a random chart of 12 events is chosen from. Two suits of cards Hearts for Soviets and Spades for Germans decide what the event is going to be and which side it will happen to.
Players
Soviets – Me, Mark, James and Big Paul
Germans Dale, jimmy, Mark and Simon
Group Pic, me behind the lens. For those who haven't seen me this is certainly my most photogenic angle.
Soviets had a mix of inexperienced platoons with support weapons including two T34 and a bunch of Pauls VBCW guys on a tour from Barnsley who were conscripted into a people’s militia platoon, one squad being fully painted and based overnight.
Germans had regular forces and veterans including Marks great winter themed force.
Dale’s poor guys who got on a ship expecting to go to Africa were shocked to turn up in the East, my DAK force used by Dale as he brought his Japs as we were going to do a free for all later in the day.
Jimmy also brought a captured T34 straight from the paint shop, literally as I witnessed him buy it on the afternoon before the battle.
Turn 1 and German and Soviet forces arrive making best use of cover.
Germans brought two PIII and a captured T34, Soviets replied with two T34 and a Stuart and a shed load of ATR and a pack of bomb dogs.
Snipers took on their opposite numbers and several observers were forced to duck as bullets whizzed by.
Forces arriving on the table.
Germans targeted by a FAO who by a pure stroke of luck actually managed to bring it in on the correct point for once and the artillery blast managed to take out a unit, pin three others and also put a couple of pins on a PIII
Soviets bring on their artillery
Turn 2 started well for the Soviets dice 1 and a FT managed to roll well and come on behind a PIII that had already been pinned by the FAO, hit it and forced a leadership test which was failed so down to two enemy tanks. Dice 2 and a pack of bomb dogs came on behind the second PIII and also took it out so just the captured T34 left. Dice three and another Soviet FT came on where he wanted and torched a mortar team. How could we lose now?
German T34 survived three turns of fire from five ATR and a Stuart without so much as a pin.
More sewer mayhem next turn. German forces also used the sewers but nearly every one randomly arrived at the same sewer.
Soviet forces had to be directed to assist and even some Soviet forces randomly arrived at the same sewer. We imagined unit after unit calmly waiting for their turn to come up as in the great escape.
So much for creating a massive city to fight over, half our forces were fighting in a foot square.
An SS Fanatic who as sole survivor of a unit decided to try to create some mischief disappeared into a sewer to return next turn randomly at the same sewer he went down.
A squad of Germans popped up from a sewer to face an ambushing MMG, a 2Lt and his assistant and a full squad of SMG troops who had just arrived not a good place to come in on. Even the artillery observer popped over to take a pot shot with his pistol.
On the T section Big Pauls Barnsley tourists were giving a bloody nose to the enemy who had brought no AT other than the torched PIII, sadly no images exist of these forces as my phone did not take em correctly. I had had a few by then of course. They managed to wipe em out and started to come on to the long length of table as well.
Commissar Cain died yet another heroic death, or so it seemed as Cain regenerates more often than Doctor Who and will be back from the grave I am sure. For an abject cowered who ran away from his first VBCW outing he does seem to be in the thick of it every game he plays.
German Air Observer takes out a T34, it didn’t come on for two turns and when it did the brave tankers had driven into the German lines to spare the Soviets pins.
A quick count of the two dead dice piles showed the Germans to be in the lead, a recount was called for as it was found one of the German players had a pile of his own dead dice as well. Things were still not looking good for the Soviets though, one lone German survived close combat with three SMG troops and then getting shot at by a full LMG squad.
Big Paul was recalled by high command, his er indoors so his troops were replaced with corresponding Soviet figs taken from the piles of dead troops the Germans had provided us with. Great idea to bring on small specialist teams behind enemy lines until they subsequently get shot at and assaulted.
We were five turns and about five hours in by now so things were drawing to a close, random events cards were fortifying the little men with bread and Vodka rations giving bonuses to command rolls and making some into fanatics. Hotdogs and Beer were fed to the players so the war went on but all hope of the second game went out of the window which is a shame as 3K of Japanese fighting across the table would have been great.
This is either a pile of spare pin markers or the most pinned squad ever.
Turn six started with two random events, fair to say all game good events had happened to the Reds and bad events to the blacks.
First one was traitor and allowed Soviets to move one enemy squad with a run order, great idea we moved a squad of Germans into range close range of the MMG on the Stuart. Not so great plan as Germans got next dice and had been handily moved into range so they could assault a squad of inexperienced Soviets. Thank Stalin for the special Fanatics rule the Reds triumphed.
Second one was a strafing fighter, Johnny Red turned up blown dangerously off course from the Arctic convoy he was escorting and we chose Simons command team who were cowering behind a wall surviving artillery and massed volleys of small arms. One dead command team later and Simon had no troops so was free to annoy my neighbours with his increasingly cider fuelled loudness, fortunately they had been warned and it was still pre watershed.
Rest of turn and James pretty much swung the game himself. One squad of SMG troops winning three combats in the same turn as German Mark fed in squad after squad to the meat grinder.
Result was a draw, we didn’t count dice but it was so close and had been so good a draw was justified. An seven turn game though and the Red tide would have swept the enemy from the table as long as we could take out our own captured T34.
The report and the pics really don’t do it justice as it was a fab day.
See you for Beer & Battles 2015
