Ok lads, brace yourselves!!! This game broke... no, SHATTERED all sorts of records here at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures!!! I hesitate to describe what happened since I truly doubt anyone out there would believe it. Even now, a week lately, my poor brain has difficulty giving credence to what I know actually happened. The photo above not only shows the moment of crisis in the battle, it also shows a German army Across The Center Line Of The Table!!!!! Now I know what you're thinking: it has to be a staged/photoshopped pic, since everyone knows no German player ever breaks cover or moves forward. It simply never happens! Well, I'm here to tell you YES, in this game it actually happened! Those of you not shouting "RUBBISH" at the top of your lungs might want all the details.....
Here we have the south half of the table, showing two of the four players' forces. On the right are the Huns, an all tank force, about 14 assorted Pzkw 3's, facing Brits with Lees and some American infantry. Wonder of wonders, the Germans are already advancing by this time. We play our battles on a ping pong table with tape to show all the standard table sizes. For this battle we used the full length (about 9 feet) by four feet.
Here we have the north half of the Allied troops, being attacked by Nazi air support. Yes, we know it's a Russian IL-2. The Hun planes were damaged when they came out of the box. Anyway, this American force were some mech infantry, light tanks, Shermans, and M7 Priests arty. Under the template are some Brit Deacon ATG trucks. This turn was the best turn for the Huns, blowing all sorts of stuff to bits. Never again would they be so lucky.
The Germans edge across the center line, shooting Lees as fast as they can. Two blow up, a few more dismount. US infantry try to sneak up for some flank shots from the forest. The two crashed planes you see are objective markers. The Germans have almost reached one....
The Americans surge forward on the north side, bringing all the hate mail they can down on the Germans defending the northern objective. Looks like StuG's behind the far hill, and German infantry in the ruins of the village on the left. The Stuarts are about to sweep around the far right and gun down the arty crews.
South edge, the tide is turning. The Lees hold fast and start giving some back! The surviving Deacons start shooting at them also. In another few turns it looks like the first picture, all sorts of burning Hun tanks.
The north side, USA troops swarm all over the Hun positions including an objective. Stuarts, Shermans, halftracks; it's machineguns-a-go-go! The Germans fail their company morale check and flee the table.
This was one of the first battles we've had using 3rd ed rules. The biggest difference (in my humble opinion) is the Rate Of Fire changes for movement. In prior eds, everyone's ROF dropped to one. In 3rd ed, it drops by 50%. That might not seem like much, but now even HMG's can shoot 3 on the move. I think that the change is huge. Before we had certain players (who will remain nameless) who never ever under any conditions moved, preferring the advantages of digging in under cover and letting the enemy do all the heavy lifting. The new ROF rules reduce the disadvantage of movement. Also, smoke is not as effective as prior eds. It reduces vision to 16", and only lasts one turn. There are other movement changes as well in some special rules; Russian Hen and Chicks and French One Man Turrets are both not as hellish as they were previously. I think these changes are a good thing, as they reduce the previous disadvantages of movement to a certain degree. And anything that gets my opponents to move can't be all bad. Or at least makes my crossing the table easier to bear.
And another thing; I had it easy in this game, didn't have to bring any troops! Wooohooooo!
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