7TV Director

I have joined the 7TV Directors initiative promoted by Crooked Dice. In exchange for promoting the rules I had the option to buy a set of rules and 2 starter packs, or 4 starter packs for half price. Don't mind if I do. I mentioned it to my club mates who were interested but having not played this type of game before I had no takers in joining me in this offer so I plumped for 4 starter packs. Now the beauty of being a Director is that for each monthly AAR I send Crooked Dice they will generously give my £5 until I have paid off my £30 investment. After that the following month after sending in an AAR I and hopefully by now my converted club mates will get 20% off for that month.

This deal was well timed as I am busy planning my first introductory game of second edition 7TV. I will not have time to paint my beautiful new coppers (to bolster my existing forces of law), army (destined to represent UNIT), minions (minions ... resisted getting heads to make them Robomen, but I foresee an appearance in a Blakes 7 game), and Action cast (Blakes 7 again, and spyfi).

The intro game in production will be episode 3 of my Christmas series. This time Santa (my version of) is coming out to play!

2016-10-30 Conwy Wargames Club Dust Warfare game

Chris hosted a Dust Warfare game with lots of amendments of his own making. The aim of the game was to try out the rules and see if they played well and provided proper fog of war experience.

Scenario

The Germans are retreating and need to hold the junction to allow their forces to get away. They therefore lay an ambush to slow the Americans down for 6 turns.

Objectives
 Americans - take the junction
Germans - stop them

Forces

Now I'm not a Dust expert so don't get upset about the descriptions

Germans
Tiger 1
37mm AT gun
PAK 40 AT gun
Squad of Heavy Grenadiers
Squad of  Grenadiers
Advanced panzerfaust x 2 (like a recoiless rifle 75mm)
AA gun on a truck
Sniper
Observer team
Stuka zu Fuss
1 x Wunder fraulein - not deployed because Chris forgot to tell us about her
2 mines (operated by the observers)

Americans
2 x Light Scout walkers
1 x Medium Scout Walker
2 x 75mm tank walkers
1 x Howitzer walker
1 x Large AA walker with 4 HMG and dual big guns
1 x squad of bazooka infantry
1 x squad infantry
1 x flame thrower squad
1 x Hera - I think he was called Big Joe


The Game

The Germans started the game hidden. Snacks courteous of Tony.

Dave and I hid a Tiger and the 37mm AT gun in these building at the head of the vital road junction.

The US scout walkers appear commanded by Ian. The overall commander was birthday boy Gaz. Tony commanded the infantry

Lovely models from Chris's collection. Shocking photography by me. I knocked a button on the camera for low res piccies

The US advance and Dave opens fire with his super panzerfaust ... and misses

Luckily the US were just as good shooting.

Dave reveals his Heavy Grenadiers after his super panzerfaust destroys the light walker. Most of our shooting was done as reaction actions in the US move.

The Heavy Grenadiers destroy the medium scout walker. In the background US infantry rush towards the German held woods

The US left flank keeps moving trying to flush out any ambushers

The US right flank

The only troops left on the US right flank 

US troops in the centre

The big walker arrives. Wonderful model full of menace flanked by the tank walkers

It promptly walks on to a mine and is put out of action with all crew killed - never fired a shot!

The US howitzer tank walker on the right just millimetres from the 2nd mine 

On the right the US begin to clear the German held right hand wood. My super panzerfaust took out the last scout walker but my grenadiers failed to stop the infantry 

The German AA vehicle takes out the US infantry in the woods while suffering from a hail of rockets from the howitzer tank

On the right the barrel of my PAK40 juts out of the woods. It was forced to reveal itself as the US infantry had come too close. It failed to hit anything! The Stuka Zu Fuss arrived and blasted a large area twice but failed to kill anything before it was put out of action. You can see it burning bottom right.

US infantry destroy the PAK40

The furthest advance of the US 75mm tank walkers

The Tiger announces it's presence

No Germans were now left on the right flank

Hidden in the hedge row were the observer team and the sniper. By now the AA truck had been destroyed. The sniper knocked down the US hero and forced him to retire to the rear for safety.

The game ended with the US advance stalled. Neither side knew what forces the other had so we weren't sure if there were more US units to arrive. We guest not as our opponents kept asking if we still had anything left  once the Tiger was destroyed by the 75mm.

Scenario wise the Germans had won even though we only had a 37mm left which couldn't hurt the US walkers, the observer team, the sniper and our heroine. The US had 2 walker tanks and 2 squads of infantry and the hero.

I enjoyed the game, especially the fog of war element. The rules were OK, and the models wonderful. I found them very similar to other WW2 rules so they were easy to pick up, and very brutal. The lack of rules for side and rear armour meant you weren't encouraged to manoeuvre to take out the enemy but Chris's scenario more than made up for this.

I'd definitely play this again.

One of my helpers has moved on

It's not enough that I have 9 draft posts to finish but yesterday evening Mrs Grigork and I had to say goodbye to one of my wargaming helpers. Jess gave us great joy over her 12.5 years with us and over the course of half a day the minor complaint we thought we were having checked out at the vets turned in to something terminal. She didn't suffer and lived her live to the full as only a cat can.

I'll miss her sharping her claws on fields, biting bayonets, tapping figures on to the floor, biting trees, putting her nose into everything left uncovered, making the space cloth hairy and last but not least the famous flock/litter tray debacle, quickly followed by the basing sand tray disaster (all trays were on shelves high up on a book case).

Jess checking the Soviet approach 

The sniper is here. My opponent hadn't noticed until the team was pointed out.

Fields my favourite

Jess not approving of Full Thrust

I still haven't finished these