I have played a few solo tests of The Two Fat Lardies Troops, Weapons & Tactics rules and last night rolled it out for our Monday Night game. These rules have been superseded by Chain of Command but after reading both I had a leaning towards TW&T especially because of the way Leaders/Big Men are treated. The other reason it appealed to me is many of its processes parallel the I ain't Been Shot Mum rule set which I like too!
Everyone seemed to be happy with how the game played but it was a tad slow as we were all learning the rules as we went. I umpired and we had single German player defending against two attacking British players. I made a few blinder mistakes while umpiring/training, not adding a German squad's card to the action deck when it entered play was he biggest (this meant it spent a few 'rounds' taking punishment idly sipping on ersatz coffee), also I missed some end of turn units reserved actions, I didn't have a reinforcement section available for the attackers when that random event occured (crikey a 1 in 36 chance!) and lastly not going through the pinning fire process...if the other guys want another game set up I'll definitely organise one, as it is I'll continue to play it solitaire in the hope of mastering the rules.
The scenario was kept simple no vehicles and a minimum of complicating rules i.e. only integral squad/section snipers were used etc:
Operation Wuzburg, Belgium August 1944
Late August 1944 the British 11th Armoured Division
pushed toward Antwerp against stiffening German resistance from the 15th Army.
The 1st Battalion, Herefordshire Regiment from the Divisions infantry support
Brigade was assigned the mission to clear their left flank.
A coastal Wuzburg radar station that had survived an air
raid was in the Herefordshire Regiments area of operations. Divisional
Intelligence reported the radar base was lightly held by troops from the 712nd
Fusilier Battalion, 712nd Grenadier Division LXXXIX Corps. A reinforced Platoon
was detached to take the radar station...
The British
A Reinforced Platoon
1 x Platoon Leader
4 x Infantry 'Good' Sections (each with a leader)
1 x Light Mortar
Germans
2 x under strength 'Good' infantry squads (each with a leader)
Variable reinforcements - deployed at the discretion of the Umpire
1 x Platoon Leader
1 x under strength 'Good' infantry squad (with a leader)
1 HMG
Victory Conditions
The British must occupy the Wuzburg radar station or break the German forces.
1 x Platoon Leader
4 x Infantry 'Good' Sections (each with a leader)
1 x Light Mortar
Germans
2 x under strength 'Good' infantry squads (each with a leader)
Variable reinforcements - deployed at the discretion of the Umpire
1 x Platoon Leader
1 x under strength 'Good' infantry squad (with a leader)
1 HMG
Victory Conditions
The British must occupy the Wuzburg radar station or break the German forces.
Some pictures, I took very few as running the game kept me busy!
The battle field, the road runs east west with the west
edge of the gaming area closest in the picture, the radar station defences are
aligned against an attack from the north i.e. the coast...but the British will
be entering from the west!
The first phase of the of the battle the 'Blinds ' manoeurve the British seek out the Germans true positions while the Germans 'lay low'...
The first Jerries are spotted an LMG team!
Overall view of the game with all the British and most of the Germans on the table,
Germans left flank unit cunningly using a hedge for protection...
View of the battlefield from the Wuzburg Radar station, the centrally placed German LMG have been knocked out and in the background the Poms are just visible...
In the game the British held back and preferred to wear the Germans down with fire rather than rashly rush into an attack on the radar station, it slowed things down but with no time limits on their attack made sense, I added two German HMGs onto the field to liven things up a bit but time beat us and the game wasn't concluded, mind you it was just a rules run through so I wasn't fussed.
