4 replies to this topic

[Peter M. Skaar]

I hosted Mein Panzer at my local FLGS, Play or Draw, in Surprise, AZ.  This was another go of my "Stemming the Tide" scenario which I have run a number of times now.  The scenario takes place on the Russian Front in WWII right after Kursk as the Russians go over to the offensive.  During one attack, the Russians breach the German main line and are trying to get into the German rear area.  A scratch force of German panzers is sent to stop them and plug the gap.

I had 5 players for this game.  Of the 5, I had 2 veteran players that have played in a lot of my games, I had 2 returning players that have not played in a while, and 1 player new to the rules but familiar with miniatures wargaming.  Each of the 3 Russian players commanded a T-34 company of 10 tanks each with 1 of the veterans on that side plus the new guy.  The two German players each had a reduced company of 14 tanks with a mix of Panzer IIIs and IVs.

Their were 3 main geographical objectives including the village in the north, the hill in the center, and 3 bridges in the south for the Russians to take and the Germans to try to defend.

The Germans got a pre-move to get their forces on the board. After that, both sides rolled for initiative and the game was on.  

This game went 4 full turns before we called it as a Russian victory when one of the players had to leave.  The Russians had pretty much taken the village in the north and were putting great pressure on the hill in the center.  The Germans had lost almost 1 whole company while the second had lost most of the tanks defending the hill.

Everyone had a great time and the new player is interested in playing again.  I also talked with a couple of other guys that are into Flames of War and they indicated they are interested in playing in future games that I host.

I am taking this scenario to Mini Wars in Fullerton for this coming Sunday.  I will be making some minor tweaks to the terrain but overall the game is pretty well balanced with the Russians having better tanks overall but the Germans having better veteran troops. 
Here are a few pictures.

[Kenny Noe]

Great AAR as always Pete.   I am ACTUALLY running a MP game this weekend @ a friend's house.  Looking forward to posting my own AAR next week!!   Good luck at the convention this weekend.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Thanks very much, Kenny!  I hope there is a good turnout for my game on Sunday, October 11th.  I will try to get some more pictures and get an AAR on that one.  

[healey36]

Terrific table and game, Peter. I wish Arizona was a bit closer!

[Peter M. Skaar]

Last weekend, I attended Mini Wars at UC Fullerton in Fullerton, CA.  This was a 2 day convention starting on Saturday.

On Saturday, I played in 2 games.  The first in the morning was Hedgerow Hell put on by my friend, Richard Faber.  This game used to basic Squad Leader rules set with some modifications.  I will talk more on this one later.  I will say that it was a very fun and interesting game.  The second game, in the afternoon was Gaslands which is a racing game.  This one is sort of Mad Max meets Formula 1.  This is not my usual kind of game but the host was very nice and the other two players and me got up on the rules and started going around the track.  Like Mad Max, there are guns involved so that added a whole other element to the game.  I did have fun with this one even though it was not historical.

Sunday, I ran my "Stemming the Tide" scenario for Mein Panzer.  I had no one signed up for this but was able to get one new player recruited to play.  Rather than try to play the whole grand scenario which had 2 German tank companies vs. 3 Russian T-34 companies.  My new player, a 19 year old named Isaiah, had played on my American side in Hedgerow Hell.  He chose the German side as he wanted to play defense.as he had been the attacker in the last 2 or 3 games.

We each ran 1 company with Isaiah having a mixed Panzer III and IV company while I had 1 T-34 company.  Isaiah learned the rules quickly and his tactics of using overwatch were very good.
We played through 3 or 4 turns and in the end, he had knocked out 3 of my tanks while losing 2 of his own.  I also had 1 tank that was immobilized.

Isaiah enjoyed the game and the rules as well.  Hopefully we have a convert.  There were several other folks that did come by to check out the game and appreciate the minis and the terrain.

Here are a few pictures of the set-up.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures during the game as I was busy trying to move my own forces this time.  Oh well.

















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