This Monday night game was not in Shedquarters, but over in Chris K's conservatory. Chris runs WW2 Operational Games under a constantly evolving system called "Not Quite Mechanised". We have spent many, many, many, years fighting the Eastern Front, but every so often we have a sojourn in the desert. This week we were at 2nd Alamein.
After much badgering by me and Phil Chris has finally accepted that NQM would benefit from moving to squares and accepting the discipline this would impose.
I missed the first half of the game a week or so ago so I took the Italian defenders. They were dug in behind minefields and stuff, so it looked like a good choice.
The British did have a lot of chaps, and a lot of artillery to boot. It was quite intense.
They also had a lot of armour.
I got a bit overrun.
When we finished I had held on by the skin of my teeth, although I can't claim any credit for that. The game was really a play test of the squares and the challenges that the deep minefield warfare gives the designer. We reset and replayed several phases and turns to see what different results we would get.
I think Phil and I gave Chris a lot of good value feedback, and we are working towards a large, square based game some time over the summer, hopefully, when my SCW Italians will reappear in the desert. Chris' take on the evening is over here.
Hanging on by the skin of your teeth is a superlative achievement with WWII Italians!
ReplyDeleteI've often tried and only managed it very rarely, well done!
Some would have said that I just sat on my a*se and hoped for the best. Which would mostly be true.
DeleteIt helps having lots of minefields and being deployed in depth.
Having secured flanks also helps, a situation that has almost never happened with my Italians particularly on the eastern front!
ReplyDeleteYes. The flank issue came up in discussion. Those squares, by the way, represent about 3km, so these are big units moving about.
Deletegoes along with another basic table top unreality of war gaming and personal pet peeve of mine, that is fortifications on the table are far more effective then they ever were in reality because you can't really out flank them. Oh well...)
ReplyDeleteYeah I like NQM (and Megablitz ) for that very grand tactical feel while still being manageable.
i think that your comment is generally correct, but for a historic re-fight like this it was correct. The large sale, - that frontage is 15 miles wide and Chris said he wanted the defences to be a "tar pit". Apparently Monty used Great War style tactics with heavy artillery preparation followed by frontal infantry assaults supported by armour. I don't know enough to argue that one way or the other.
DeleteInteresting discussion. As ever, I'm late to the party because I don't follow my emails closely enough. I'm still (post Alamein and pre-GPS) working on a credible way of getting lost on a tabletop without dicing for it.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Chris