Fun Elements

My sometime Flames of War opponent Jose made a very nice little piece for his friendly foes at the tournament on March 17th at the Whiz. I have been meaning to blog about it but held off  as I had a bunch of projects to work on and post.

 I originally intended photograph and include it with my own building but decided it needed its own space.

 The work is laser cut wood.  Jose did a great job with the texture of the brick and the window and doors on the front and back are quite nice. These are intended to stand side by side so the side walls are blank.

 I plan to paint these and may see if Jose will supply me with some more for my hobby table.

Thanks again Jose for this very unexpected and appreciated gift. Jose has a blog of his own FunElemnts.com so drop in and see some of his other laser items.

Bussy Weekend of Gaming 5 The Whiz Tournament Game 3

For may last battle I was the attacker in a No Retreat scenario facing Phil(the eventual winner of the tournament) and his Glider Infantry. I should have had the foresight to get a shot of the full table so you could see exactly what I was dealing with, A tough opponent and a table that was not giving me any edge.

With two hedges needed to cross the center of the table I just had to risk the bog check mostly I was OK.  I tried to move a head as fast as I could but it was hard sledding.  My goal was to get the objective on the right while forcing Phil to cover the left and hope his reserve rolls were bad. 

Oh look my plan "worked" here are the tank destroyers...

Death follow on Swift wings but....

With two Hornies, 2cm AA guns, 3 Stugs and an observer I hope I can overwelm them.. 

Not the first time around sadly but on my second turn of firing I make them pay...

Sadly they get their hits as well and my assault on the right hand objective is driven back with the loss of a StuG.

You can see I did a number on Phil (killing 4 of his 9 platoons in total) but he wins this one 5-3. This is as good as I can do loose the game.  Phil was a great opponent who really knows his army.  The US TDs hurt me but died quickly once I found the range I still don't get what all the fuss I hear about is about. Unlike my other games the dice were fairly even this time around and I don't think either of us made any significant tactical screw ups. It was a most enjoyable day of gaming.  I was the highest scoring player on the Axis side, both our winners had allied armies on US the other Russian.

Bussy Weekend of Gaming 4 The Whiz Tournament Game 2

My Next battle was with Jose and his 7th Armored list, lots and lots of good US tanks and Tank Destroyers,With Abrams. The mission was dust up, a tricky mission since one has to play a bit of offense and defense at the same time, its hard to pick the right force mix and hard to strike the right balance.  I put down my infantry in rough L pattern to cover both objectives covered the back with my Artillery and also put down a Platoon of StuGs to give me a mobile strike force.

Jose put down his two tank platoons each with a jumbo an two 76 Sherman tanks.  He also had Abrams with him. I good bit of excellent US Armor.

Jose made good use of cover though out the game it slowed his advance a bit but not much.  I was mostly stuck with "sniper" shots at long range by one or two StuGs I was lucky with these.

This looks almost a little silly but both of us are trying to avoid offering too many targets. I only have three StuGs if I show them to a number of US Tanks it will get ugly fast.

Jose looses another tank to sniping. Then he makes little mistake but an important one he bunches up 3 tanks.

My artillery makes its one big contribution to the battle Killing two tanks and bailing another.

Then Jose gets his only little surprise for me Tank Destroyers he swings and misses but...

So do I on my turn as both my StuGs and Artillery forget how to shoot. Jose has pushed me I have armor to my front and rear and though I have bled him he is pushing me back and has killed my CO.  Only my PanzerFaust armed infantry and his bad luck with the dice is keeping him from going for the kill. But he as also made a mistake uncovering his rear objective.

I race my reserves who arrive as a clump to the position. Jose Tries to counter double timing but his force is decimated by my fire and I secure the objective. This give me a 7-1 win my second of the day but Jose plays well and again the dice have been kind to me.

Bussy Weekend of Gaming 3 The Whiz Tournament Game 1

Game One had me facing off against Nick and his US Armored infantry Company. I have a variation of my StuG battery the scenario is hold the line. I am the attacker (though since he had Patton with him Nick should have been but he forgot this)

Nick has lots of air support this was his first and most successful attack killing one of my StuGs.

I have good observation form a house and start whacking nicks infantry on my left I get a few lucky kills.  These include some of his bazookas and that will be critical.

Nick got six hits with this attack but I made all the saves... Nick had bad luck this game.

Nick advances his men on the right  he got my observer but didn't start early enoght and his Air attacks didn't do enough harm to my guns.

I took two turns of assulting but I broke this infantry platoon... just in time for Nicks Priests to show up and contest the objective.

I managed to win that gun battle just as time ran out giving me a 7 to 1 win. I had really good luck here Nick had really bad luck, his tactics were good and he did not get what he needed out of his Air support.

A Bussy Weekemd of Gaming 2 Pictures from the Whiz

My favorite teddy bear fur table at the Whiz

 Just to whet your apatite here are some shots from the Whiz "just because tournament" held on Sunday. There pictures are those that to not apear in my battle reports.

Ben did these and I love the detail of the duck board under the guns

Heavy Traffic expected heading into town

Hooray for the Irish Guards on St. Patrick's Day

Gerry and Nick facing off.

Nick's Planes redeem them selves

 Thanks to Chris for hosting, Rob for organizing and Gerry for helping him out.

The Victors. Phil our fist place winner and Alex who came in second by a point.