Well, Vancouver Island has snow. I had seen the first cherry blossoms already, and there was much laughter at the rest of the frozen north when this happened:
Yup. Snow. On Vancouver Island.
The picture above is before we got an additional 25cm. All in all, we got a proper winter storm. 90km+ winds, big trees blocking roads, cars in ditches (and a firetruck), people driving like 4 wheel drive means 4 wheel stop. It was a winter wonderland! I even saw a man skiing behind a pick-up truck while using a towline. Magical.
So the city had a conniption and pretty much shut down and we all got to enjoy being like the rest of Canada for a little bit. The snow is still there, but it is starting to melt and is apparently going to be gone by the end of the week. We shall see.
Also on the home front, you’ve probably noticed a drop in the frequency of posts. I was injured at sea several years ago, and I’m about to go in for yet another surgery (I hear the 4th time is free)! So the last bit of time has been about getting everything in the house ready for me being an invalid. Again. I find that I’m becoming quite the expert at it (to my wife’s chagrin).
In order to be properly set up for healing, I put together a table for What a Tanker! I figured that I can play with one hand and having the table set up would make it a simple matter of choosing tanks and rolling some dice. So here is the village:
Little town, such a quiet village…
I proudly showed CinCHomeFlt and she commented on how it was a nice little town for my little people. We then started to spontaneously sing “Little Town” from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and I came up with some alternate words:
Little town, such a quiet village, Every day, just like the one before! Little town, full of little tankers, Waking up to say… <<Kapow!>>
There goes the Tiger, wide treads as always, The same old 88mm shell! Every battle just the same, since the battle that we came To this poor provincial town!
I could probably go on, but I shall spare you all. I will also blame any and all strangeness on medication, snow craziness, or simply being weird. Take your pick.
So, that’s all for now. I’ve got some Ready for Battle posts ready to go, and I’ll be pushing “Publish” on those as we go forward into recovery. I’m hoping to get a post out every few days, and maybe even a play report if things are going well. Until then, have fun!
Well, despite the business of work, Lucius and I managed to get two quick battles using our modified What a Tanker! rules (house rules here).
My Soviets watched in envy as we chose to have Brits vs Germans. I played the Allies, fielding 2 Sherman Fireflies and 1 Sherman, while Lucius fielded a Panther Ausf A and a Tiger 1. I didn’t have anything with good armour, but the extra vehicle I thought would help.
The table in late afternoon Sun.
We played angles – going from one corner to another. My tanks seem to have problems getting into gear as they barely moved.
My tanks circled in blue with their initiative dice nearby. The Germans start on the other corner A turn later and they haven’t moved much
Meanwhile, the big cats ranged fast across the table. The Tiger took up position by the manor house, as the Panther started to get into position to push up the long exposed flank.
My tanks moved up. My plan was to keep my Fireflies together and take out the Panther. The tank in the middle could also try for the Tiger if it moved forward too far. My little Sherman was going to hold down my right and take pot shots.
Firefly passing some transport
The problem was that the Panther was a fast tank, and my Fireflies weren’t fast enough.
Panther with the woods it would drive around in the background
My little Sherman faced down the Tiger down the road and got a shot off at it. It bounced off (2 hits vs 6 armour saves) and my Sherman jockeyed out of the beast’s line of sight.
The Panther roared around the woods and got behind my left flank.
Not what I had envisioned
I brought my Sherman back into the road to distract the Tiger, and Lucius seemed content to move his Panther. He won the initiative as well. Not good.
He raced to get around the farmhouse but ran out of movement. One of my Fireflies followed it around and the other took it out in one shot.
The other Firefly moved up to help out with the Tiger while the Sherman finally realised it wasn’t helping firing at the glacis of a heavy tank with a pop gun so raced up the road on the right.
The Firefly in position fired but didn’t damage the Tiger and the big German tank replied, brewing up the Firefly.
The game is a little less certain now
My remaining Firefly was a bit more wary and worked to get around the Tiger. The little Sherman on the road raced up as the Tiger backed up to make it harder for me to get a rear shot and hit the Firefly, damaging my optics with a poorly rolled strike. My tank did what it needed to though and at close range ended the Tiger.
Game over
Lessons learned from that fight:
Lighter tanks can help hold down a flank, but they are far more useful if they can help to force a heavier tank to maneouver. I should have moved my little Sherman up far sooner as it was pretty much useless firing at the front of a Tiger.
Keeping a solid line of fire and getting around the flanks can work, but it can also leave you isolated. The Tiger would have been a far bigger threat if it had advanced with the Panther.
The second battle was fast and deadly (to me). We switched up the corners and charged in. The Tiger found a great place to control a large swath of terrain as the fast Panther once again raced up the flank. I wanted to hold a defensive with 1 Firefly as the other 2 tanks worked around the side. The lone Firefly with 9 strike rating would give me far more than a Sherman with 6. The Sherman initially was going to head up to support on the left but changed to race ahead on the right.
Firefly and Sherman head up the middle before the Tiger claimed a great position making the ground on the far side of the brown barn a kill zone. Why that Firefly is in the woods I just don’t know.
Meanwhile, my Sherman forgot that the Tiger could move a little and shoot it. So it got destroyed
Tiger and Panther have claimed the centre of the table. My Sherman is pretty exposed as it races up but runs out of movement. View from the other side. My Sherman is now burning and that Panther is ready to hunt
The Panther raced through some walls and got to the side of my Firefly before I could do much.
Wait! Tanks can do that! I foolishly forgot how mobile these machines are.
It proceeded into the farm yard and took aim at my Firefly on that flank. I rolled my activation poorly and with only 1 action I turned to face the Panther. No matter, a 9 strike gun vs an armour of 6 and that tank was gone.
In the final turn my remaining Firefly had jockeyed out to hit the Tiger, but didn’t do much and withdrew. The Tiger followed and then it was game over.
Overall, two good, fun and quick games. It was nice to get back into the rules again, and our house rules held up. We’re both slowly getting some early war tanks ready for the Germans, Brits, and Soviets so we can run a little campaign in the Spring or Summer. In the meantime, we’ll still throw some armour on the table to have some fun shooting things up!
Following the Napoleonic theme, here are the next batch of soldiers that are being readied for a future Sharp Practice fight. Colours guide will be up here soon – I’ll update the post when it’s done!
It’s been a hectic week and a bit, so fewer posts. As you probably saw, I’ve managed to clean up and post one of the last of the RPG play reports for the Old-School game I ran earlier. I’m really looking forward to being finished those. They’ve accomplished their goal of reconnecting me with running games, and I’m more than a little tempted to just stop where I am as the story line drags and becomes hard to follow. It is also a fair bit of editing work to get it out as a post. Mind you, I do like finishing tasks, so I may yet continue.
The weather here has been warmer than normal – and that is saying something. Here on Vancouver Island we’re blessed with very moderate winters and this winter has been warmer than most. Evidence is below:
Snowdrops seen on a hike near my house
So can’t really complain about that when I have family in Ottawa dealing with being colder than Mars.
I’m still slowly working at getting terrain sorted for the Arnhem campaign we’re looking to start next month. I’ve managed to get some fencing done, along with the first bit of work done on the Timeline Outbuilding. There needs to be some flocking added and some weathering and touch-ups, but the 4Ground fence was a quick and easy build and I’m going to turn my attention to some larger structures next. The good thing about doing this prep is that it will make it much easier for me to run games as my collection of terrain is growing nicely.
Fence needs to be flocked, farm yard needs texture, some weathering needed on the building but things are moving in the right direction!
I did managed to get a game in of “A Test of Honour” last week, which was great. I really enjoy the game and it’s probably my favourite skirmish wargame to date.
Nate brought over some lovely terrain and his terrain mat from Euro mats:
The terrain was made in Europe for Infinity (a sci-fi skirmish game) but it lends itself very well to what we want to use it for.
The battle was a simple seize the objectives fight, with a turn limit and reinforcements for the defender. I defended and tried to concentrate my forces, while Nate threw his samurai up one side, hoping to knock my samurai out and take the centre of the table. It ended up being a lopsided victory as my samurai was able to defeat Nate’s 2 samurai and my spears threw his ashigaru back. Not so much of a victory based on superior planning, but I remember someone talking of lucky generals before so I will not complain that the dice greatly favoured me. No good pictures sadly, except of these lovely buildings. They come pre-painted and the doors are removable.
So overall, things are looking like I’ll be able to get some more gaming done soon. For the next Test of Honour fight I’m hoping to do a proper AAR as the game certainly warrants the attention. More terrain to come, and hopefully a game of What a Tanker later this week!
