Last weekend, I ran an event at
Huzzah Hobbies where the players just showed up with dice and a tape measure, and played pre-set armies on pre-set tables with pre-set scenarios. The goal of the event was fun - get people playing with armies and toys that they don't get to play with very often, and hopefully do something new.
To facilitate expanding up to 16 players (after last year's 12), I enlisted the help of three invaluable "Bringers", who provided a pair of armies. My sincere thanks goes out to Jon Baber (with the help of Wally Johns), Tim Grimmett, and Bob Evans who stepped up to that role.
First up we have Dirty Jon's 29th Infantry attacking a German security force in a town in Hold the Line. Jon was not able to attend the event, but Wally Johns was nice enough to bring Jon's armies up from Richmond. In this scenario, the Germans won all three games. It was later determined that the village the Germans defended, in addition to taking three strands of wire, made for a very tough attack for the trained Americans, although two of the American players were overheard saying "If I had only done XXX...."
The 29th had the support of a pair of 105 Shermans as well.
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| Most players opted for three barbed wire from the PSV, but one took the minefield option. |
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| The Americans were thoroughly afraid of the Jadgpanthers |
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| Americans advancing cautiously after some Shermans take heavy fire. |
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| Germans hiding out in the buildings. |
The Early War Soviet Cossacks attacked the Polish 10th Motor "Black Brigade" in Hasty Attack. This table yielded three victories for the Polish, although most were very close fights.
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| Only in Soviet Russia does the boss man ride on horse directing the vehicle traffic. |
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| Cossacks forward! |
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| T28's top armor two is strong, but conscript 5+ swings are weak. |
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| Probably the TKS's best opportunity in a game of FoW....ever. |
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| Hub to hub...blasphemous. |
Bob Evans provided a Ranger list attacking Panzergrenadiers in Counterattack. The Rangers pulled two victories to the Germans one.
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| Rangers taking advantage of double timing to terrain. |
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| Scouts checkin' up on things |
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| A firefire emerges! |
Tim Grimmett provided a Kursk style Panzer vs Tankovy battle in a modified version of Blind Domination. The Soviets claimed two victories, and the table was only used in two rounds due to a scheduling conflict.
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| For some reason I didn't get a lot of photos of this matchup...probably due to the table being in the corner. Anyway, those poor, poor armored cars.... |
Flames of War Great War made an appearance with the elite British Rifles attacking a reserve German company in The Big Push. The British pulled out two victorious assaults.
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| British pushing one flank hard |
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| All out battle in the trenches |
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| British removing some barbed wire |
Soviet Rota attacked a Hungarian Rifle company in Fighting Withdrawal. It was an uphill battle for the Soviets, who only managed to secure one victory, with two Hungarian victories.
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| Typical Soviet battle line |
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| The Zrinis proved invaluable for the two Hungarian victories |
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| Eventually you hit a point playing Soviets that you just don't try to spread out anymore... |
The Polish Home Army rose up against an elite German SS force in Dust Up. The scenario was really a test of forcing people to play with things they've never used (and most likely, never seen) before, in addition to an extreme battle of conscripts vs veterans. I was expecting more Sturmtiger building flattening, but they tended to die early. The Polish Home Army secured two solid victories, only being supressed once. Noteably, no games timed out, which I feared.
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| In the first round, the Sturmtigers got blown up before I could even get around to take pictures! |
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| I feel like this isn't the safest place.... |
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| Yet the Polish keep hunkering down on railroad lines! |
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| More flaming German wrecks. |
Brit Paras enveloped Italian Bersaglieri in Surrounded, simulated an air drop on both sides of the Italian line. In a complete 180 from last year, the Brits won all three of their games.
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| Brit paras on the advance |
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| Italians holded up in their village. |
In recap, there were some armies that achieved three victories in their three games. Perhaps one side was just better than the other, perhaps the combination of terrain and scenario pushed them over the edge, and perhaps skilled players just created the outcomes. For the most part though, we saw a lot of 4-3 wins and close fights, and I think most attendees had a blast. Hopefully they got to play with some new toys and left with some new ideas in their minds.
As far as final standings, Scott McLemore took first with 17 pts, Chris Gobel second with 15 pts, Chris Hect in third, and Alex Perez in forth. Congrats to the winners!
