Flames of War Game Day - 24 May 2014

We had a great turnout for the Memorial Day Weekend FoW Game Day. We had six players show up including two from out of town, Cliff and Alex. We also had some longtime FoW players arrive to who haven't been to a game day for a while; Wes and Mark Cole. We managed to get everyone a 775 pt force to use. We split up into two separate tables. Cliff(Americans) and Alex(Brits) teamed up against Wes and Mark C.(both Germans) in a doubles match playing the Free-For-All mission. While Ian and I used a half-sized table with my Soviet Naval Infantry vs Ian's Panzergrenadiers playing the Encounter Mission.

On the small board, Ian placed a single Fearless-Veteran infantry platoon on the board while put out a huge Fearless-Trained infantry company with attached Kommisar and HMG team. We both pushed our infantry towards the center of the map and meet each other in a farmer's field. The massed SMGs from the Germans managed 11 hits on the Soviet company and pinned it. Then, Ian followed up with an assault. The Komissar attempted to coerce the troops but had no effect. The following turn. I attempted my own assault and was repulsed. The Komissar reminded the troops of their patriotic duty and enabled the company to retreat behind some buildings. On the third turn, The Germans got their first reserve platoon, a pair of Hetzers. They appeared right next to the Russians and laid down a punishing attack with MGs. The Komissar rallied the troops once more, preventing them from routing but were unable to get the troops unpinned. The remaining German infantry jumped onto the undisputed objective. We were finished in less than an hour.

At the doubles table, there was a much more entertaining battle. The two sides were very evenly matched. They sized each other up and almost fell into a stalemate early in the game. Neither side could not find an advantage over the other and most of the troops found concealed positions and dug in. We determined that the Brits and Americans could observe for each others artillery, the Brits started to change the tactical situation. The two sides started making aggressive moves. Each turn, one side would lose a platoon. The following turn the other side would loose a platoon. Each team came within 4 in of their objective only to be pushed off. In the end, German Panther tanks had pushed across the board, and met the British artillery in the corner. The Allied team fell below 50% with both company commanders lost and lost the moral check. The game finished after about four hours and it was an exciting chess match the entire time.

FYI, the next event will be Early War FoWSA tournament on July 19th at Dragon's Lair. More info on this event at http://fowsa.blogspot.com/2014/03/early-fowsa-announcement-normal-0-false.html