The quarterly all day meet up of what probably should be classed as "Grognards" took place on an initially bright, cold, clear day, which turned to howling wind and rain by the end of it. We haven't played "For Whom the Dice Rolls" for AGES, and I know that Richard from Shed West likes it, so that was to be the main game for the day. Due to prior commitments there were only four of us, Richard, Phil, Chris K and me.
In scrabbling around for inspiration I was fortunate that Rich Baber of "Baber on Wargames" had posted a semi-historical scenario based on the fighting around Trijueque in March 1937. As there would be three players with me umpiring an attack/defence game was what I needed. The original scenario was at too low a level of resolution for me, being a a strengthened battalion of Republicans attacking a couple of companies of Italians, both sides with armour support. I upgraded the Republicans to a full Mixed Brigade plus armour, and increased the Italians to a full battalion plus armour and some guns.
Here's the board, pre-players. The village of Trijueque is this end of the table. The Republicans will be attacking from the other end. The railway crossing the road is on a slight embankment on the left hand side.
Army Lists
The Republicans can deploy on the line connecting the hills and the far olive grove. The Italians can deploy on the line of the front of the village, plus in the cemetery (the walled compound outside the village). The Italians deploy first.
Activation suits:
Objective:
The Republicans must capture the village, and exit the table behind the village with a battalion (regardless of damage) and one armour base. They may go through their command deck twice before night falls and the game ends.
Optional Rules:
I didn't have any air units in this game. If you want to have them in, then give the Republicans two Jokers, that give them the 5 Ground Attack Fighters OTA card. These Jokers are perpetual - i.e. they are shuffled back into the deck once it has run out. the Italians can have one more Joker and get the 4 Ground Attack Aircraft OTA card. Like the Joker for the tankettes this is discarded after play and is not reshuffled.
Richard and Phil were the Republicans, and Chris the Italians. Chris has played FWTDR less than the others, so at this end of the table I could keep an eye on him and nudge him in the right direction if required. Phil struggles with cards since his stroke immobilised his left arm, so partnered with Richard would mean there was someone who has actually read the rules at that end of the table, and can also shuffle cards.
I seem to have had a problem with my camera phone and lost a load of pictures so you'll have to do with a written description of the opening moves.
Richard and Phil pushed their artillery up the central road along with a Popular Army battalion in trucks. Between the two woods they stopped and debussed. The turn flipped to Chris and he opened up with his artillery on the column coming up the road. His gunners sprayed it about a bit, managing to hit the infantry first before zeroing in on the limbered guns. Not exactly utter carnage, but this Pinned the artillery and infantry gumming up the Republican centre badly. Their FOO got killed in the barrage, which was inconvenient for them.
To deal with the issue Richard sneaked his Anarchist militia up to the embankment, out of sight, to launch a surprise attack on the Italian guns. Hopefully.
With initiative next turn he sent half the battalion on a loop round the hill where the Italian guns were sighted. He lost one truck to an Italian infantry gun, but the other half of the column were able to drive up, dismount and then storm the gun position.
The gamble paid off, and Richard won the melee by 1, forcing the artillery to retire off the board. Mind you, he took some damage, and now had a unit standing on the crest of the hill silhouetted against the sky.
Chris found his Joker, and rolled the armoured might of the Italian Army on to the table.
With Italian guns gone, the artillery barrage lifted in the centre, freeing up the Republicans to advance. Phil hurried his T-26s forward.
The Republicans now had an effective start line along the railway, with tanks in the centre, Popular army to their right and Asaltos in the wood.
The Italian MGs in the village gave the Anarchist militia a pasting.
They dropped behind the crest line and reorganised.
The Asalto Bilbao A/car pushed into the village, to be faced by the Italian's Lancia. They stopped and started to blaze away at each other.
Phil pushed the armour forward to screen the attack on the village, but he just couldn't get the cards and turn sequence correct to do a combined assault.
He therefore sent the Asaltos in without the armour. They forced the Italians back in disorder, but couldn't get them out of the village.
Chris brought up his armour to clear the Asaltos. That flamethrower tankette is normally very nasty, but he was ineffective this time. What's more he takes a lot of well directed fire from the Republican field guns.
The Popular Army attack on the other half of the village came unstuck. Richard also lost the dice roll for the hand to hand, and having taken hits coming in didn't have the 2:1 advantage he needed to win the combat. He was thrown back with a lot of casualties.
Meanwhile the T-26s had taken some serious damage from the Italian infantry gun in the village. With incredibly accurate shooting he brewed up two vehicles in quick succession.
The Anarchists came down off their lofty peak, and advanced towards the village.
Richard got it together for a combined assault with armour. Alas his pre-attack bombardment missed the target. This, combined with poor die rolling meant he was driven off again.
By this point the attackers were exhausted, and we called the end of the game. A stirring defence by the Italians, who could withdraw under cover of night.
The scenario gave us four hours of entertainment, including lunch break, and wasn't played at break neck speed. I reckon it would take about three hours if played in an evening where all the players knew the rules. I can't say if it is balanced or not, only having run it through once but then unbalanced games can often be as much fun, can't threy?
Comments
Post a Comment