Jim's Germans v. Mark's British
Mark flexed the afternoon off for a game of Bolt Action. We made up our own scenario. Either side winning by either taking the village or destroying more than half the enemy's units. The Brits came in within 24" of the far corner, the Germans within 14" of the near corner.
The Germans got to the church first, putting 2 sections of infantry, HQ and their Panzerschreck in there. There Stuh moved down the road to the crossroad, but declined to take part in a shootout with the Cromwell plus a 6pdr. It's behind the church shooting up tommies advancing on the village.
The Brits have taken the house by the bridge.
On turn 3 the British artillery barrage landed on the church. It took out the Panzerschrek team & the Stug & pinned down 2 infantry sections & HQ. That pretty well stuffed the Germans. While the Tommies in the house by the bridge were blasted out by mortar fire & the infantry section working around their right of the village was destroyed by fire from the church the British attack on their left destroyed the Germans behind the ploughed field and concentrated fire destroyed one of the infantry sections in the church. This caused the Germans to fail morale.
Bolt action is east to play and good fun. My main criticism is that too often one lucky artillery barrage can decide a game. Usually artillery is pretty ineffective, but this time the British artillery crippled me. And I also lost the last time I played against Mark because of the British artillery - and I was British that time!
2 comments:
I don't know if "random" is the right word, though I get what you mean. Things like artillery and air (or on-table bombardments) generally involve a calculated risk; I can sit in this comfy defensive position, mostly immune to small arms and assault, but I know that I'm setting myself up as a juicy target for a barrage. Without that calculable, but not controllable, risk, I think the game would stagnate.
The random aspect is an essential part of all wargames, and as you say, making yourself vulnerable can be a price you pay. But in this aspect I think the range of effects in BA is too extreme - from nothing to virtually game over (either way) in a few dice.
Post a Comment