Flames-of-War and Wings-of-Glory combined event - SAT FEB 17

[barca]

"Stuka Hunting" - A combined Wings-of-Glory and Flames-of-War Event
When Sat, February 17, 11am – 4pm

Where: Guardian Games
GMs: Jeffrey, barca
Reservation date: SAT, 02/17/2018
Start time: 11 AM
End time: 4 PM

Casual Friendly Game. No Fee. No prizes.

The Portland Couch Pilots will try to intercept German Stukas in the skies over Tunisia.

The Stukas that make it past the fighter cover will fly bombing missions on the Flames of War table.
Rose City Dukes and Duchesses will fight a Flames of War tank battle, where the Stukas might make their bombing dives on the Allies.
Come and see the aerial dogfight and tanks charging across the blazing sands!
or Come and Play: Wings-of-Glory, or Flames-of-War

How many participants? 6+
Looking for more players? Yes
General Area at Guardian Games
two tables, ea 4'x8'. One elevated, one at standard height

Detailed schedule (as of 15 FEB):

• 11:00 AM - Setup and mission briefings
• 12:00 PM (or earlier, if ready) - Start both games
• 3:30 PM - End games and begin Tear-down
• 4:00 PM - return tables back to GG

We want to have a combined event, bringing together the Portland Couch Pilots and the RCDD Flames of War gamers.

We also want to recruit new players to either game system.

Veteran pilots should bring their own planes:

• Hawker Hurricane Mk.I
• P-40F Warhawk (and British variants: Kittyhawk, Tomahawks)
• Spitfire
• Hurricane IID
• Junkers Ju.87 B–2
• Messerschmitt Bf.109
• Italian Re-2001 Falco
• Fiat CR.42 Falco ?

Veteran generals should bring their own armies:

• FoW v4 German Africa Korps
• US Fighting First
• British Desert Rats.

New pilots/generals just show up and we will loan you models and coach you.

 

ADDITIONAL DETAILS (as of 15 FEB):

• How many points? Depends on number of FoW generals. Recommended sizes are 78 (ENFILADE list + 2 airplanes), 85 and 100.
• How many FoW planes can be on the FoW table: Max 2 Stukas per Flames of War turn. If more Stukas get through the Wings-of-Glory fighter cover, then the stuka flights will be staggered over several turns, so that no more than 2 Stukas are on the FoW table in any turn.
• What happens to the stukas if some are shot down by AA fire on the FoW table? This reduces the pool of stukas that can fly second and third sorties.
• After leaving the FoW table, will the Stukas fly back across the Wings-of-Glory table? No. They will take a different route back to the Axis airbase.
• What happens when all the Stukas are shot down? If both WoG and Fow battles are still going, we will cycle through another 1 or 2 stukas at a time until one or both games end.
• When is this event done?

1. We run out of time (packup starting at 3:30 PM)
2. All axis planes are driven from the Wings-of-Glory table
3. The most recent FoW battle is over and another FoW game will not be started.
4. Both GM's decide that the pool of Stukas has been destroyed.

Sign-up by replying below:

PILOTS, ALLIES (minimum of 1):

1.  
2.  
3.  
4.  

 

PILOTS, AXIS ((minimum of 1):

1.  
2.  
3.  
4.  

GENERALS, ALLIES (minimum of 1)

1.  
2.  

 GENERALS, AXIS (minimum of 1)

1.  
2.  

 

 

 

[barca]

I have 2 Stukas for the WoG table and 2 Battelfront Stukas for the FoW table.

[barca]

bumping this up in the stack.

On Sunday, FEB 11, the Portland Couch Pilots flew a WWII scenario kinda like the one we are planning for this combined event. We did not have Flames of War on Sunday, but we did have a sampling of the Wings-of-Glory planes in the scenario.

We had four pilots and "flew" 7 planes at Katie O'Brien's.

Several of fighter planes went down, the Stukas were 50% successful on their bombing runs, and both Stukas made it back to base.

[barca]

Added details on how the event will be run, and more specific schedule.

Portland Couch pilots are sending out an email to their group.

We have a meetup notice here: https://www.meetup.com/Rose-City-Dukes-and-Duchesses-Tabletop-Wargaming-Group/events/247779206/

[barca]

We had an enjoyable event.

• We had two squadrons commanders: one Axis and one Allied. The Allied commander had only played WWII WoG once before.
• We had a new commander of British forces. He quickly learned and applied the basics of the rules, and pressed the British attack.
• We had a returning commander who quickly converted his v3 FoW rules experience to version 4 rules. He put up a successful German defense.

Summary of the Flames of War action:

• Five stukas made it to the Flames of War table.
• Three of them made bombing runs on the attacking British armor, which was clustered for an assault on the German defensive line in the southern Tunisian town of Bir Soltane.
• Great timing for the Germans.
• The third stuka sortie got to chase down the remnants of the retreating Desert Rats force.
• The ground battle had been decided between sorties 2 & 3. By then, the Stukas, counterattacking infantry and anti-tank guns had beaten off both British assaults.
• The bold attempt by the British 8th Armored Brigade to take Bir Soltane in a surprise attack failed, with the loss all the Stuart and Crusader tanks and at least one Grant platoon.
• The German losses were two squads of infantry.
• Still awaiting an After Action Report on the Wings of Glory action.

Lessons Learned:

• The two forces were exact opposites, so lessons learned here might not apply to all match-ups.  British force was all armor - a mix of Stuarts, Crusaders and Grants.  The German force contained artillery, 2 rifle platoons, 2 tank hunter platoons, an armored car platoon (really a section of 2 x sdfkfz 231) and a Marder platoon, and a flight of 2 Stukas.
• British tanks with the No HE rule are good machine gun platforms, but their main guns will do little against dug in infantry and guns.
• The British should either bring infantry for their assaults, or concentrate the Grants in one strong assault.
• With their numbers, a good tactic might be for the light tanks to use their machine guns to pin, the Grants concentrate in two platoons to assault (or one platoon plus a strong Grant HQ). The light tanks follow-up the assault by herding or gunning down the defending infantry after the assault is over.
• Alternatively, use some of the British light tanks in a deep strike.
• Pairing a DAK rifle platoon with an antitank gun platoon works well in defense.
• Paying the points for a DAK command card for panzerknackers would have been helpful at several points in this battle.
• The Stukas did not accomplish a lot, but the psychological effect of limiting the British maneuvers might have been worth the 7 points that the Stuka flight costs.
• Marking your foxholes is very helpful and will reduce arguments and uncertainty when infantry re-occupy their foxholes.
• Intermingling your assaulting platoons makes the assaults very complicated, and the results on one assault might interfere with the next assault.
• In Flames of War, even when the infantry counterattack is unlikely to kill or bail the assaulting tanks, forcing the assaulting armor to roll for counterattack might still get them to break off the assault.

 

[lazarus]

As a reminder in  V4 rules no he dose not mean the gun can not shoot at unarmored teams it only adds a plus 1 to the to hit roll now.

 

Sorry i missed this really wanted to go to it but the tooth thing hit hard.

[barca]

Y. Thx. We remembered. the unit card for crusaders and Honey Stuarts explains the No HE rule.

Trouble is rolling 7's to hit.

• DAK infantry hit on 4+
• Concealed +1 = 5
• GTG (Gone to Ground) while concealed +1 = 6
• No HE +1 (vs Guns & Inf) = 7
• Rolling a "7" (a 6 followed by 5+) is 2.8% chance, per die rolled.

Without the No HE effect, rolling 6's to hit is 17% probability, per die rolled. So, if you have Main guns with No HE rule, and your target is Guns or Infantry, then use MachineGuns. At least then you only need 6's instead of sevens.

Tactics for British Stuarts and Crusader tanks:

1. move tactical and shoot at armor, or
2. dash to get within MG range of infantry or guns.
3. Or dash to get within 16" of the enemy's artillery, since it probably won't be GTG. Arty should be 4+ or 5+ to hit.
4. Go really deep with some of your fast tanks, come in behind the AT guns, while a 2nd tank platoon drives toward the front of the AT guns. Anyone say "Light cav" / "Chasseurs" / "Hussars"?
5. British tanks in North Africa start to feel like Russian BT tanks, or German Panzer I's & II's

 

[barca]

3 hours ago, lazarus said:

but the tooth thing hit hard.

Yeah, that really sux.

Then there is the dentist (a.k.a Doctor EVIL).

[taran.shannara]

I had a great time playing the Germans. Getting the stukas from the other board was always appreciated and nice surprise. Thanks for organizing the event.

[barca]

Thx 4 the pic