Tanksgiving battle report

The November 30, 2013 Tanksgiving game at Dragon’s Lair- San Antonio had ten  players, evenly divided between Axis and allied:  Five German vs.  3 U.S., one Soviet, one British.  Four tables were joined, as shown in the pictures.

Allied players: David Beeson, Mike Gomez, Garrett Gatzenmeyer, Nathaniel Lisanti, Elliott Selle.
Axis players: Art Douglas, Wesley Knight, Alonso Perez-Martinez, Chris Lisanti, Justin Baeza.

The Germans got to be the ‘attackers’,  and the allies got choice of table side.  In pre-game huddles both sides decided to attack with their left and defend with their right.  However the Allies (players standing on the left in the first picture below) did not defend the right-flank objective.

Allied deployment from right to left:  US tank destroyers with 105mm battery support and an infantry platoon, Soviet heavy assault guns with heavy artillery support, British, and two U.S. Chaffee companies with tank destroyer support and two M7  105mm batteries with an AOP.

German deployment from their right:  Tiger company in defilade behind the crest of the hill, an assault gun-heavy company, and on the near end of the picture  three companies with a platoon of panthers, lots of PZIVs.  And a King Tiger on the plateau in the middle!  Adequate anti-aircraft but only three nebelwerfers for artillery.

The Germans swarmed forward on the left, so fast that one of the US tank destroyer platoons never deployed and the other deployed in that little patch of woods you see left of the centerline stripe, and was shot up at close range.
On the U.S left the massed Chaffees kept in rear of the hills and woods as long as possible, intending to sprint into the tiger company’s position and get flank shots at close range.

The Soviet 152mm howitzers in the center paid for themselves when they destroyed the King Tiger early in the game.  But from then on they were ineffective.  The center of the board became a long range duel with little movement and no more platoons lost there for a few turns, though there were several casualties.

When the Chaffees broke out of concealment they smoked the Tiger-Is, and were able to advance without taking effective fire.  It looked as though the Allied plan was working.

The three Stuarts approaching the Allied star objective in the right of this picture were destroyed by German assault gun fire before they could start the next turn and control that objective.

German airstrikes on the M7 105mm batteries were broken up by massed .50 fire.  The Germans decided they were coming out on the short side of this airstrike thing, and decided to stop rolling air dice.  Under the Tanksgiving rules this means the Allies got no air dice!

On the Allied left the Chaffees were slowed down by the difficult hill, and the Germans lost a couple of Tigers but the rest backed up so the Chaffees were still not on their flanks.

When the Chaffees crested the hill they were met with accurate and rapid fire from the surviving Tiger Is and also from assault guns that had been shifted to cover that flank.  The front rank of Chaffees was blown apart.

Meanwhile the German left closed on the Soviets and U.S. who were unable to stop that steady advance.  And the Germans had control of more objectives, so racked up an extra margin of victory points in turns 2,3, and 4.

At about 4:00 PM the Allies decided their plan was not going to work, the Germans had a healthy victory point advantage from destroying Allied platoons and occupying objectives, and the Allies conceded.

German platoons lost; King Tiger, and a Tiger-I platoon.  Allied platoons lost: Stuart platoon, ISU platoon, a British platoon, three tank destroyer platoons, and a couple of platoons of Chaffees.
A fun time was had by all.

--Ian Straus

MillenniumCon 16 - FoW Tournament results

MillenniumCon 16 was held in Round Rock, TX on November 8-10th.  This convention is the largest historical miniatures convention in Texas with 100+ sessions of historical gaming goodness! 

On of the events was a Flames of War Tournament.  It was a 1500 pt, No Holds Barred event. 

Here is the final results in order.  Congratulations to the winner Eric Warren!

1 Eric Warren 
2 Mark Bayne 
3 Colin McKenzie
4 Chris Kitchen 
5 Joe Pacquette 
6 Scott McKenzie 
7 Ethan Leas
8 Andrew Kennemer 
9 Mark Riney
10 Will Hanson
11 Mike McGrail
12 Clay Longino
13 Chris Colson
14 Jim Johnson
15 Jesse Seals
16 Jerald Springer
17 Kyle Peterson
18 Everett Chun 
19 Jacob Mayer
20 Bryan Koches
21 Grant Johnson 
22 Bob Putnam 
23 Warren Silliman
24 David Varget

Bane of War IV - January 18-19th, 2014

Hello All!

Mark Bayne has asked me to post information about his outstanding tournament, 'Bane of War!'.

For 'ALL' the details, please download his support document HERE. (PDF format)

The basic info is posted below.  He is expecting all 80 participants this year so pre-register as soon as you can!

BANE OF WAR tournament

January 18th – 19th

Website: www.baneofwar.com

Email: mark@baneofwar.com

This year we will be playing mid-war, at 1485 points, in North Africa and Italian Theaters (all lists in the North Africa book and applicable pdfs).

80 players max

Where: Texas Military Forces Museum, 2200 West 35th Street. Camp Mabry


BoW participants play in a WWII museum, surrounded by Shermans, halftracks and much more!

We will be moving many more of our tables out onto the floor this year.

What does this mean to you?

• First, pre-register. I am going to do it a bit different and only allow 40 allied and 40 axis armies, so sign up soon! 
• Armies should only be chosen from the North Africa Mid-War book, or PDF’s that are applicable to that theater. 
• Lists from Eastern front will be accepted, if you can prove that a mirror to that company was active in NA/IT, but is not available in the current book. If that is the case a history must be provided

The November 30th Tanksgiving game at Dragon's Lair is listed on Battlefront's web site.
I've been asked a couple of questions about it, so: 

1) It would be good if people would RSVP, so we know how many are playing on which side (Axis or allied) and how big a table to set up.

2) Each player can bring up to four 1500 point late war tank companies. These should be on the same side, either Allied or Axis. They should be listed (in whatever book you draw them from) as tank companies, not infantry or mechanized; and must have no more than one platoon of infantry. (That's not too much of a strain since only so much armor will fit into 1500 points). Don't buy air support, since there's a Tanksgiving game mechanic to provide the air.  

The Tanksgiving game special rules basically balance the sides by having each player on the more numerous side starting with one company, and the additional companies come as reinforcements.

 

Ian Straus

Flames of War Game Day - Oct 5th

I would like to invite everyone to a Flames of War Game Day at Dragon's Lair-San Antonio on Saturday October 5th starting at 11am.

The purpose of this group will be to create more opportunities for local players to play Flames of War and to promote the hobby. We will be meeting on a monthly basis except for months when a tournament or convention is already scheduled.

This initial meetup will consist of casual one-on-one games. Players will be matched up based on skill level and army lists. If you can, please bring two 1500 pt forces of different types. example: one Mid-War and one Late-War; or one Axis and one Allied. There is no requirement to bring two armies but it would help in setting matchups.

We'll be playing the basic Free-for-All scenario with 1500pts. Players will be paired up based on available forces. Allies vs. Axis and try to keep LW and MW armies together.

New players are welcome as well. We will discuss a schedule for future meetups as well as the possibility of doing a campaign.

Hope to see you there!

FoWSA 8 Results

FoWSA 8 results

Sept. 7, 2013 tournament

period	First name	Last name	City	Army	Score	Awards
Mid	Bryan	Koches	Austin	German Pioneer Kompanie (E. Front)	20	Best General
Mid	Clay	Longino	Austin	Brit. Motor co. (Afrika)	19	Best Mid War
Mid	Eric	Warren	Houston	Brit. Motor co. (Afrika)	15	Best MW Ally
Mid	Mike	Gomez	San Antonio	German Infantry co. (Africa)	15	Best MW Axis
Mid	Arthur	Douglas	San Antonio	Ger. Grenadier co, (Tunisia & Italy)	13
Mid	Joe	Shaffer	San Antonio	Ger. Grenadier co. (Eastern Front)	11
Mid	Michael	Lisanti	San Antonio	Soviet Tank Bn.	10
Late	Jacob	Mayer	Austin	US Inf co. (Devils Charge)	17	Best Late War
Late	Elliot	Selle	San Antonio	US Inf co. (Devils Charge)	17	Best LW Ally, Best Painted Army, Best sportsman
Late	Chris	Lisanti	San Antonio	US Nisei rifle co. (Cassino)	16
Late	Mark	Riney	D-FW	US Tank co (Blood, Guts & Glory)	15
Late	Justin	Baeza	San Antonio	US rifle co. (Overlord)	14	Best terrain table
Late	Nathaniel	Lisanti	San Antonio	Sturnmkompanie (Gray wolf)	10	Best LW Axis
Late	Mark	Reed	San Antonio	SS Wiking Panzergrenadier (Gray Wolf)	8
Late	Mark	Leroux	San Antonio	Soviet naval Bn. (PDF)	6

Thanks to Dragon's Lair for the venue and prize support; and thanks for set-up on Friday night and Saturday morning to  Joe Shaffer, David Beeson, Mark Leroux, Justin Baeza, and Wes Knight.

See you at next year's tournament -

Ian Straus

FOWSA Status - Good to Go!

Latest update from Ian:

I have been asked what the status of FoWSA is:

We have 16 players, so will have all the table space we need.
All lists are good at this point, I've resolved problems with any players who were pushing the edge.

Table terrain setup is Friday at 10PM. We may have to do some supplemental setup at 9AM because the store has some non-historical competitions going Friday night, but we'll know if we have to do a couple of tables at 9AM.

We have 16 players, evenly divided between mid and late war. Mid war is even axis-allied, but late war is heavy on allied.
Prize support from Dragon's Lair turned out to be generous.

Sign-in is Saturday at 9AM, when the store will open. Play will begin at 10AM.

Bring your $15. Remember lunch will be pizza, included in the fee.

Update Aug 30th

The deadline to get your lists in for FoWSA 8 is Saturday Aug. 31st

So far I have 23 people signed up
Which as I recall Biff's posts from prior years is fairly normal.

As of this morning (Friday Aug. 30th), FoWSA8 lists in are:
Mid war: 3 Axis, 2 allied
Late war: 1 Axis, 5 allied
Looks like we can stand some more late war Axis players-

Now don't drop the ball, guys. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Send lists to me at ian.straus@att.net

Now another update: Dragon's Lair won't get the expansion space finished out in time.
[In fact it sounds like they need a good contractor, refer them one if you know one.] But Karl says we can put up the necessary number of tables in the main store.
So we will play with lights and A/C after all.

--Ian Straus

Latest message from Ian

FoWSA 8, the eighth annual  San Antonio Flames of War tournament, is 20 days away!  And we are 13 days from the list date!

As you may know from earlier posts in various groups, I volunteered to take Biff Coon's place running FoWSA when he moved to Austin. All of the rules and policies Biff announced earlier this year remain in effect.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, Sept 7, 2013 at Dragons Lair Comics,  7959 Fredericksburg Rd # 129, San Antonio, Texas (Fredericksburg Rd and Medical Dr.)  On the day of the event, registration opens at 09:00 AM  and play begins at 10:00 AM.

The Tournament will cost $15.00 for all participants. Tournament fees will be payable on the day of event at the door. Lunch (pizza) is included in the entry fee.

There will be 4 rounds played this year. The first two rounds will use 750 point lists on 4' X 3' tables with each round lasting 1 hr 30 min. The third and  fourth rounds will be 1500 point battles lasting 2 hrs 30 min.

The Tournament will consist of both Mid and Late War Divisions using 1500 point  Armies built from the current Army books and official PDF lists that were available as  of 15 Aug 2013. When composing your list, please create a 750 point list to be used  in rounds 1 & 2. These lists must be subsets of your 1500 point list and must contain  at least a company HQ and 1 combat platoon. You may reduce or increase the number  of squads or vehicles within a platoon, up to the maximum or down to the minimum, or drop upgrades  in order to get as close as possible to 750 points,  but you may not use a platoon  not included in your 1500 point list.

So far I have 23 players signed up; but it is premature to speak about early/late and axis/allied balance yet.  More of you must declare your periods and armies for that.
Please don’t wait to send your list in until you hear what everyone else is playing.   Send me a list of what you want to play!

Please Email all lists to Ian Straus  ian.straus@att.net,  by 31 Aug 2013 for approval.

Prizes will be awarded to Best overall, best mid-war, best late war and best Axis, and best Allied players per division as well as prizes for sportsmanship and best-painted army.

Terrain will be appreciated, and I will give a prize for the best table.  (We provide the table, you provide everything on top of  it.)  We will set up terrain on Friday evening at about 10PM.  Please tell me if you intend to participate in the table contest.

I am told Dragon’s lair is leasing expansion space next door (where we played many of the games the  last couple of years) and finishing it out so we will have working air conditioning and ceiling lights.

Ian Straus

Pre-Tournament Practice Session

Just a reminder, the FoWSA (Flames of War) tournament is only 26 days away.

That's Saturday, September 7th.

Also, there will be a pre-tournament practice session on Saturday, August 24th at Dragon's Lair from 11am to 5pm.  This would be a good time to dust off armies, review the rules, learn about the game, or just simply play a game before the tournament.

For more information, please see the FoWSA facebook group or check our information page.

Ian Strauss replaces Biff as FOWSA coordinator

A message from the new coordinator and Grand Poobah of FOWSA 8, Mr. Ian Strauss

We are a month out from FoWSA 8.

As you know from earlier posts here, I volunteered to take Biff's place running FoWSA when he moved to Austin.

Please email your lists to ian.straus@att.net by August 31, 2013 for approval.

I appreciate the offers of help that I have gotten, and I'm taking all of you up on it. Table setup will be Friday Sept. 6th at or before 10PM. Note that I am giving a prize for best table, so tell me if you intend to participate in the table contest.

Speaking of tables, Karl at Dragon's Lair tells me they are taking over the space next door for added playing space, and will have air conditioning and lights in it by late August. So FoWSA 8 will be a little more comfortable.

Hooray for air conditioning!

Bloody Bocage

Garrett Gatzemeyer posted up some great photos of his latest "Bloody Bocage" battle in Normandy. This game was held at Dragon's Lair - San Antonio on 30 June.

Bloody Bocage Battle - 30 June 2013

SA-Area FoW Players Needed for Normandy Game!

Interested in fighting through the bloody bocage of Normandy? 1-3 additional players are needed to fight a fictional US offensive in support of Operation COBRA!

Game will be held on 30 June at 1300 at the San Antonio Dragon's Lair. Specific list-building rules, special rules, and restrictions will be published once the final player roster is established. Army lists will be between 1250-1500 points.

Participation is first-come, first-serve. If interested in participating, email your contact information and your army preference (US or German) to gatzemeyers@gmail.com.

Feel free to send any questions to that address as well.

Thank you!

-Garrett

FoWSA 2013 - Announcement

Announcing the eighth annual Flames of War San Antonio Tournament, otherwise known as FoWSA 8.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, Sept 7, 2013 at Dragons Lair Comics 7959 Fredericksburg Rd # 129 San Antonio, Texas (Fredericksburg Rd and Medical DR).

The Tournament will cost $15.00 for all participants. Tournament fees will be payable on the day of event at the door. Lunch is included in the entry fee. On the day of the event, registration opens at 09:00 AM and play begins at 10:00 AM.

There will be 4 rounds played this year. The first two rounds will use 750 point lists on 4' X 3' tables with each round lasting 1 hr 30 min. The third and fourth rounds will be 1500 point battles lasting 2 hrs 30 min.

The Tournament will consist of both Mid and Late War Divisions using 1500 point Armies built from the current Army books and official PDF lists available as of 15 Aug 2013. When composing your list, please create a 750 point list to be used in rounds 1 & 2. These lists must be subsets of your 1500 point list and must contain at least a company HQ and 1 combat platoon. You may reduce or increase the number of squads or vehicles within a platoon up to the maximum or down to the minimum in order to get as close as possible to 750 points, but you may not use a platoon not included in your 1500 point list.

Please Email all lists to Biff Coon at biffc@sbcglobal.net by 31 Aug 2013 for approval.

Prizes will be awarded to Best overall, best mid-war, best late war and best Axis, and best Allied players per division as well as prizes for sportsmanship and best-painted army.

Bane of War III

I would like to start adding the AAR's of other 'Flames of War' events to this blog. There is a large group of players who attend all the local tourneys. And, I'd like to help support them as best I can.

Here are the results from the Bane of War III tournament in Austin, TX, hosted by Mark Bayne.

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First off, thank you all for coming, and those out of towners that made such a commitment to make it. What an incredible time, the competition was crazy good. Jacob won the tournament with 4 perfect games and a 4-3 victory in the finale. From watching many of his games, they came down to a few rolls either way, were expertly played by him and his opponents and were well earned! Our painting competition was judged by 4 people, because the 3 of us could not agree on which was the best, they were that good!

Grand Champion - Jacob Mayer with an impressive 33 points!
Best General (2nd) - Bill Wilcox, periscoping after a dismal first round and a decent 2nd round to score a solid 29 points
3rd place - Mark Greenwald had an excellent tournament and a solid 5 rounds. 28 points
4th place - Chris Baker. Top minor nation, Chris easily had the toughest schedule. Facing 4 of the top 10 players and D. Vigor, including a glorious 5 -2 in the opening round vs. Wilcox! Also 28 points (.1 point difference in sportsmanship got him 4th)
Best Sportsman went to Chris Fretts, this was a VERY close race but Chris is such a pleasure to have at a tournament it was an easy win for him!
Toughest Ombre (allied player) went to Joe Paquette Also 25 points
For the Father Land went to Steve Tinsley 25 points with an excellent sports score
For the Mother land went to Ed Forbes, who braved the cynics and ran a very strong Russian Rotto force! 25 points
Stalwart Defender went to Mathew Lewis, who had a great attitude, played every game tough, and was our most consistent player throughout the tournament never giving up!

Best painted army went to Bill Wilcox and his gorgeous american tanks. This was extremely close, voted on by every opponent on a strict scale, then with 4 judges.
Best painted platoon went to Justin Baeza, a new comer to FoW and a fantastic painter!
Best objective went to STeve Kersten, with a ridiculously gorgeous objective marker
Best Team went to Biff Coon, again with a gorgeous armored vehicle.

Best Table went to Eric Warren
2nd best table, and a very close 2nd, went to Bryan Koches
3rd best table went to Joe Paquette, with a really cool home made foam topper.

There were SO many great tables, out of the 28 tables we had around 21 tables brought in by players, THANKS GUYS. That is a huge showing and great commitment, thank you so much for the gorgeous terrain! For those that brought theres and didnt get to setup, I will ensure you do next year!

Participant nationality
1 Jacob Mayer USA
2 Bill Wilcox USA
3 Mark Greenwald USA
4 Chris Baker Finn
5 Chris Fretts USA
6 Steve Tinsley german
7 Joe Paquette USA
8 Steve Kersten German
9 Ed forbes Russian
10. Scott Mckenzie german
11. Jose Thomas USA
12. Colin Mckenzie German
13. Bryan Koches USA
14. Eric Warren Brit
15. Mark Cole German
16. Gene Evens Hungarians
17. Wes Knight USA
18. Byron Sinor USA
19. Everette Chun USA
20. Mark Riney USA
21. Biff Coon british
22. Matt Kibbe
23. David Vigor German
24. Clay Longino German
25. Chris Jackson German
26. Jair Bobys USA
27. Warren Silliman German
28. Ian Baker German
29. Andy Blozinsky German
30. Jas Springer Russian
31. Joseph Burns USA
32. Dave Beeson USA
33. Steve Leopard Soviet AA
34. Michael Lewis USA
35. J.R. Armstrong german
36. Art Douglas German
37. Cory Waddingham USA
38. Hal Rudd German
39. Garry Herrman German
40. Adam Rios USA
41. Adam Davis German
42. Joesph Anderson German
43. Will Hanson German
44. Thomas Denney German
45. Jacob grossBauer German
46. Joe Shaffer Russian
47. Mike Gomez USA
48. Matthew Bartley Russian
49. John Denney German
50. Mark Reed Soviet
51. Justin Baeza German
52. David Coon German
53. Cory Smith USA
54. Jon Wolf german
55. Steven Smith German
56. Chris Arnold USA

Some of my favorite quotes of the tournament:
My daughter telling me, after a rather filthy word coming out of my mouth, "Daddy, you have been around these guys too long!"
Ian Baker letting fly with a "Oh Crap" when Eric Warren was called as his opponent
Getting to announce that a 12 year old beat 3/4 of the field with an excellent tournament, GREAT JOB COLLIN MCKENZIE!
When making an off comment that I probably went a little over the top with the awards, Matt Kibbe says,"there perfect Mark, your a bit over the top too!" lol

My favorite times, by far, are the after hours AAR's and and just funny stories, especially when you get Bill all lit up (pissed, buzzed, inebriated, etc..) and let him loose on the crowd. Some of the stories, oh boy...

Special thanks to Matt Kibbe (the brawn) and Chris Arnold (the brains) for stepping in and helping me with the tournament, playing games when they were needed, and keeping everything in check whilst I was running from my computer, to tables, to the microphone, back to the tables, then rinse, and repeat!

Also, thanks to everyone who helped with setup, and ESPECIALLY those that stayed to help with cleanup even though we were all exhausted!

This is also a heartfelt goodbye to a good friend Mr. Bill Wilcox, I will miss ya when you go to Europe (in 2 weeks!) and hope to see you next year bud! Glad you could make it for your last hoorah as a statesman!
And our sympathies out to Todd Wikel on a personal matter that kept him from being able to make it, our prayers are with you and yours.

Mark
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