"What's the worst WWII scenario you have played?" Topic

Well??

Mine was 5 Shermans attacking a Bridge with little infantry support, no air cover, no artillery worth squat, no recce versus 3 Tigers 3 75mm AT guns and SS fanatics.

Do you mean as played in a poorly thought out pick-up game, or a formal event?

I haven't had any 'worst' formal events, just some humorous developments that hadn't been planned for. Great games, nonetheless.

The worst scenarios in pick-up games have been when my opponent hastily changes his list after seeing what I'm bringing to the table. I patiently play along, but it's definitely annoying.

- Bob

We played a game that we thought was reasonable. It was an attack by two british infantry companies and an armour company on a german position in Italy.

The Germans had a couple of 88s and some smaller AT guns. They also had some MKIVs and 1 Tiger as well as an infantry company.

there wasn't anything the Brits could do in that game for some reason. It wasn't like they had bad luck either, nor were they really doing anything totally stupid. They used cover, advanced with cover fire, but every time they tried to move ahead with infantry or tanks they just got blowed up.

I think the terrain was perfectly, and accidentally, set up to totally advantage the attacker.

About half way through the game we decided that the Brits would call for artillery and air support but it was too little too late. We were sort of baffled that they were so soundly defeated.

Tiger II's and V 1's at D-day. It wasn't billed as a hypothetical. Turned me off of WWII for a few years.

This I think was instrumental in my dislike of WWII games with the super tanks in them. I'll take a T34 vs PzIII or Sherman vs PzIV any day or even better Infantry vs Infantry.

I think is was the one I ran last week.

You are trying to start a fight?

If I responded truthfully to this, all hell would break loose. Suffice to say, the infamous games are well membered and in some cases still cause problems with those that will defend their position to the death (rational or justification for the game).

mjc

Pictors Studio: Sounds like a realistic simulation of the Italian campaign to me. Especially the frustration.

I'm sure it was. It just wasn't very fun. For either side actually.

A France 1940 scenario run years ago with a computer generated combat resolution system. The gamemaster also neglected to explain that *any* portion of a model visible meant that the model was effectively *entirely* visible.

We lost two S35s in the first round because of this little neglected detail (the ref apologized for the oversight, and insisted we carry on without them!). Insult was added to injury when a 3.7 cm round managed to kill a Char B1bis with a shot through the main gun mantle(!!!), and a 75mm AP shot that registered a direct hit on an opposing Stug III's driver's visor produced *no effect* whatsoever per the computerized combat resolution system (it told you *if* your shot hit, *where* it hit down to the last detail, and whether or not it penetrated and produced any sort of effect on the target vehicle.

I won't even go in to what happened to our hapless BEF allies, other than to say that they had an entire apartment building collapse on them in the first round of fire according to the computer…

To sum up, Lady Luck that day turned out to be a homicidal transvestite, with a computer-assisted German accent, as the combined efforts of the BEF and the French 1st Army couldn't hit the broad side of a Panzer with a base fiddle.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Isn't this just a rerun of your Tiger/Panther thread under another name? Man get over it! :-)

Yeah, Fred, I think the "boogie" part of his name refers to Tigers…. I think the scenario he describes would suck though. What kind of silly person (Boogie's GM) sets up an attack defence scenario with the attackers numerically (by gun tube) inferior? Good grief.

I suggest we take this poor fellow in for some serious counselling. Cats are OK, really, it's all right…. (Sorry BgBoogie, I'm poking a bit of fun at your expense…)
--
Tim

Any FoW 'Death From Above' scenario.

Any time you have to do a break through scenario with a rules set that does not let you move and fire. (you have to go from point A to point B in X turns oh and by the way you cant move your tanks or IFV and fire their guns on the same turn , so you have to win without firing your heaviest weapons the whole game.)

You must exit side B, but refuel at X while being Stuka'ed.

LOL

The sea one with Bismark and the Prinz Eugen? I can't remember… there was nothing wrong with the scenario…it was just an infernal naval-minis game where you are expected to be able to eyeball the distance on the floor AND THEN measure the distance…first time I played the game. Against a professional carpenter…I spend the entire game making wild maneauvers to escape deadly accurate ladders of shells while the Deutscher Kriegsmarine easily made their escape. I think I was more relieved than them.

That would be the first one I played in where the two sides were SS vs Guards. Need I say more.

Any tournament game. Wahaay too competitive.

I don't know about playing in one but I remember vividly running one – Operation Market Garden at Bayou Wars in New Orleans back in the '90s.

It was actually a two-man project and in my own defense I will say that I did my part and most of the other guy's (I hope you're reading this, you detestable little twerp) but in the end the game was so embarrassingly bad (hint: you shouldn't sign up to run a convention game if you don't know the rules, you moron – or can't read the gaming schedule for that matter) that I felt it necessary to apologize to the players afterwards.

LT

I played a Check Your Six game for the first time at a con. It was Falcon of the Duce. British biplanes vs. Italian biplanes. We were a bunch of beginners learning the rules, except one older fellow who knew the rules (and also was an ex-Vietnam era combat pilot). In addition, he was an "ace" in the game in a Falcon (a slightly faster plane than the British biplane, I believe).

It got ugly. He shot us down one by one, because of his ace status he moved last and could adjust his move after seeing our futile moves. He crowed when he shot me down, like it was soooo difficult. Not.

Oh well. I still like CY6, but if I ran the game – ex-fighter pilots would have to get green pilot status to level the playing field a bit vs. brand newbees (to give us a little chance).

Played a scenario at a con with home rules. Rules were worse than beer and pretzels rules, if you can believe it. It was '42 North Africa. Germans had dug in 88s and a trench full of infantry, as well as defending a town. Probably had some other stuff, but don't remember anything but panzerfausts (yes, they gave the Germans panzerfausts in '42 NA – kept talking about all their research, etc., in developing the game). They might have even given the Brits PIATs – can't remember now. Brits had infantry to assault the trench and clear the town, and a handful of tanks. I do remember the Bren wasn't allowed to fire on the move!

They said our Brits did better than anyone else they had had playing the game, and that was probably saying a lot because by their charts, the 88s were untouchable and you basically had to be in the trench to kill anything in there. We had fun playing simply because it was my entire game group playing, but the game itself was a disaster.

Never mind.

"What kind of silly person (Boogie's GM) sets up an attack defence scenario with the attackers numerically (by gun tube) inferior?"

Umm, like Kursk you mean;-)

Like James Kirk, I dn't believe in no-win situations, but obviously if you set up a given force ratio, then set an unattainable objective within that setting, it isn't going to be fun game. Cross the table in five turns when the table is 4' across and max move is 6"….

Anyway, the absolute worst most stinkingly awful WW2 scenario (barring computer generated ones in games, or those produced by tabletop or boardgame scenario generators):

The Russian partisan mini-scenario in the Wargamers Guide to Panzerblitz. It is phsyically impossible to win it, even with the most favourable die rolls. I must have played it a dozen times as an exercise in frustration (which shows that maybe it wasn't such a bad scenario ater all!). It was just badly designed.

I've played loads or what might regarded as utterly awful scenarios, particulalry when I was a kid (wall-wall King Tigers, 155mm guns used for DF etc), but we had fun playing them, and fun is what it is all about for me.

I have some games ruined by cheating and gamesmanship, but that isn't the fault of the scenario.

Wow I take it all back, I was asked to play an even worse one last night….

PS Fred I love the Tiger model, but no its not a rerun I just wondered what the worst was others had had to play.

This secanrio sucked a whopper, 3 French btlns napoleonic had to advance over very open ground against his 5 btlns of British 2 btys, one on my flank and then he wondered why I didn't bother but went for his one btln instead.

All I ask for in a game is fairness, unless its a reenactment and your asked to do your best and you have a victory conditon that even if you lose you have done well.

A couple of years ago I challenged one of my mates to a 1500 point RF2 game using RF1 points values. Russian Front, Early. It was an encounter scenario to be played at the club over three hours. I, liking the unusual, turned up with a Slovak Fast Corps unit (OaVz30 armoured car, some trucks, light A/T and artillery, battalion of infantry). Their German allies had another battalion of infantry, some light armour (38t)the most powerful weapons they fielded were one x 88mm Flak and a Pzjr1 with 47mm A/T and I think I fielded a Stuka. My mate turned up with an independant tank brigade consisting of KV1s mostly, a few T34s, acouple of Bt7s and that was about all. After losing pretty much all our Slovak and German armour and A/T capability in the first three turns, that was pretty much it!!!!! An incredibly frustrating game, the only redeeming factor was that my Slovak infantry managed to penetrate the outskirts of the village and take some shelter in the buildings. last time I take an underdog on a challenge game that's for sure.

This secanrio sucked a whopper, 3 French btlns napoleonic had to advance over very open ground against his 5 btlns of British 2 btys, one on my flank and then he wondered why I didn't bother but went for his one btln instead.

You need to change the people you play with! :-) Either that or you take over designing the scenarios.
I can't remember the last time I played in a really badly designed scenario. I play a lot of RFCM rules which feature a pregame sequence which decides attacker/defender and alters the on table force sometimes by quite a lot. I've started a few games with what looked like a hopeless situation, but you have off table reserves you can dice for so you always hope you can turn it around. Sometimes you can't and it remains hopeless and sometimes you can. Some of those games have been amongst the most exciting I've played as you mount a desperate regard action hoping to get reinforcements on to turn the tide.

I've managed to design a couple of stinkers. I tried to translate one of Chas Grants 'Tabletop Teasers' into an SCW game. Used the same force ratios etc as the scenario, but subbed tanks and armoured cars for cavalry.

What I hadn't banked on was the much longer ranges of twentieth century firearms, so what looked like a great scenario for blokes with muskets, turned into a bloody massacre for the poor souls trying to (in this case), take the bridge. Oh well. That is why I prefer historical scenarios.

"I've started a few games with what looked like a hopeless situation, but you have off table reserves you can dice for so you always hope you can turn it around."

Oh yes, how many games of AK47 have turned on a bad morale roll or a lucky reinforcement throw. How many times have my professionals, never, ever turned up or run away after throwing 1 three times in a row. Great stuff.

I saw a participation game at a UK show last year where the player had a few (three maybe four) shermans against a Jagdpanther and a Panther with minimal scenery on the table.

I felt sorry for the US player as he didn't really stand a chance. Didn't see the rules being used but the brewed up Sherman on the Allied side of the table gave me the impression that it was a bit of a one-sided game. He couldn't out manoeuvre the Germans as they just hogged the back of the table so flanking was out, and smoke didn't seem to be an option.

I believe it may have been at Bovington did anyone else see it?

>"The Russian partisan mini-scenario in the Wargamers Guide to Panzerblitz. It is phsyically impossible to win it, even with the most favourable die rolls. I must have played it a dozen times as an exercise in frustration (which shows that maybe it wasn't such a bad scenario ater all!). It was just badly designed."<

Why didn't you try playing the other side?

My first FoW game last week. Took me out by the second turn with Russian battery and a huge template. But, it looked nice.

"Why didn't you try playing the other side?"

I wanted to see if it was possible for the Russians to win, it wasn't. Like I said, the fact that I played it so much shows it was an interesting scenario, the victory conditions just hadn't been thought out very well. It was one which sprang to mind when asked the question, I'm sure I've played some terrible WW2 scenarios, I just can't remember any which stand out as unspeakable. I like playing games, win or lose.

The worst for me was at Coldwars a few years back. I played in a WW2 skirmish game in 25mm. The scenario was the Kiwi's attacking German paratroopers dug in in an Italian village. The terrain was beautiful. I'm moving my 2 squads up to position. My support weapons (mortar teams) are well hidden behind shelled out buildings. Actually they were 3 buildings away from the Germans. The Germans had at the top of the street an immobilized PZ-IV in the shelled out lobby of a hotel. Now here's the kicker, the tank had a clear 360 degree field of fire! Buildings didn't factor in line of sight. My mortar teams were annihilated. I asked the Games master about this and he said that the terrain was there for esthetics. What??!! Well I quickly advanced and was quickly wiped out. I walked away….

"1500 points, everybody line up your troops on opposite sides of the table, fight."

The first few times it was fun – but at this point a little variety would really help.

Command Decision

I place a company of Stug3G on a ridge line with a commanding view of the game table and place them on overwatch. One of the American players enters with a Stuart MK3 battalion (he is grinning from ear to ear and smirking at me) I take some long range shots to little effect. He fires back with a BUCKET of dice and my Stug company is virtually destroyed with no Stuart loss. What is left is pinned and useless. The Stuart battalion proceeded to steam roll across the table killing everything and it was just the recon element for a larger force.

Skirmish Game

The objectives assigned to each side insured both would claim victory and fail to come to grips with each other.