Dogs of War 2015

Over 2 days the Dogs of War competition was held in Launceston. This was a Flames of War competition, but with a difference. Tables were laid out with fixed scenarios, and players rotated through them. There were 5 tables set up.

Maleme

This was an airborne assault, with Germans landing in gliders onto the airfield.  It was taken from the scenario in Burning Empires. 

This was a bloody battle.  With no where to hide and severe time pressures, the Germans had to assault the defending British.  Best British player on this table was Nick Bowler, who won mainly because the Germans took too many casualties while landing.  Best German was a 3 way tie between Nick Ridge, Rob Holloway, and Dennis Kosta.  Dennis's win was particularly notable -- with only 4 teams left in his force!


Ia Drang

A Vietnam mission.  Using the Hot LZ scenario, with Americans airlanding into the middle of a horde of Vietnamese.

This was an interesting scenario, with each player trying radically different strategies.  Best American was Miles Griggs, who pummelled the Vietnamese.  However, one game was a draw, and the Vietnamese won two other games.  Best Vietnamese were Rob Holloway and Nick Ridge.


Foy

A WW II battle.  If you have watched Band of Brothers, you will be familiar with this.  The US paratroops must take a town defended by some pretty tough Germans.  One of the keys to this scenario was that one platoon of US Paratroops was pinned down, and wouldn't move until Lt Spiers was moved across the table to get them moving.  Best Americans were Nick Ridge and Matt de Cure.  Best Germans were Nick Bowler and Miles Griggs.  Notable was the importance of Spiers.  Nick Bowler managed to kill him with a sniper.  Miles Griggs managed to kill him with an artillery bombardment.  And Nick Ridge played it safe, hiding him in a platoon that marched across the table -- but even then he was lucky, with an artillery bombardment hitting every stand in the platoon other than Spiers!


Nomohan

A small Japanese force defending against a massive horde of Russians.  The Russians had massive T-35s, a horde of T-26 tanks, and a massive amount of infantry.  The first 3 games were easy 6-1 wins to the Russians, and it was widely believed that this table was unbalanced, and impossible for the Japanese.  But then Patrick Oxborough tried a radically different tactic for the Japanese, (no ambush, no AT guns or tanks on the table, digging the infantry in up front from the very start) and managed to score a dramatic win for the Japanese.  Best Russians were Nick Ridge, Matt de Cure, and Daniel Kosta.

WW I

Who knew WW I could be so interesting.  Several people stated they were going to get WW I armies after playing this.  This was a tense battle that went down to the wire (pun intended) each time.  The tanks took a little bit to get used to -- slow, but hard to kill.  However, the rest of the battle was a straightforward infantry fight.  Best German was Rob Holloway, and best British was Patrick Oxborough.


Final Score

In the end, the competition was won convincingly by Nick Ridge, who managed to tie for best on two tables, and came in second on other tables -- consistency really was they key.  2nd was Rob Holloway, and there was a 3 way tie for 3rd -- Miles Griggs, Daniel and Dennis Kosta, and Patrick Oxborough.