"Regina Rifles vs SS in Normandy - First BA Game" Topic

My friend just posted the battle report for the game we played last week with a few buddies.

link

The AAR is pretty comprehensive, so I won't cover that here, and I'll comment on game play instead.

We set the game up with 2 players per side, with my friend acting as GM and rules-flipper. It worked pretty well, as each die was drawn the relevant team decided what to use it for.

Overall, we had fun with it, but I think everybody agreed that there were some game design bits that seemed peculiar. For me, hand to hand seemed excessively "decisive" – no chance to rally anybody, even though the losing side only lost by one or two KIAs and had parity in remaining men… I imagine it's part of the whole "fast play" thing A. Cavatore is into, but it didn't sit well with me (full disclosure – I was playing on the Regina Rifles side and we lost all of the 3 close combats in the game – most frustrating ;) ). We're looking forward to seeing PSC's Overlord rules and 2FL's Chain of Command when they come out.

On the bright side BA gave us an incentive to paint some 1/72 WW2 forces and bash some terrain together!

BTW, gotta say, my buddy's telephone poles were great – scratch built from bamboo skewers, match sticks and the match heads for the insulators! I think they add a little je ne sait quoi to the scene.

Nice looking game!

Great AAR, figs and terrain!

We have been playing BA the last few weeks too (see my AARs on tMP) and at first I thought the H2H was a bit rough for the loser…but once you except the rules you learn and adapt it to your BA tactics.

When you are running only 2 squads you think twice before throwing one of them into an assualt?

Last week I had 9 SS PzGrens hit a 82d AB HQ team with 3SMGs pratroppers (SS= 10D6 to the USA 6D6) I only killed 1 paratrooper and he killed 2 SS soldiers. The SS lost and ran off the field. OUCH!

SFC Retired

wow…beautiful…thank you for sharing this

A well-written AAR with some great photos. Thanks for posting!
Cheers,
Paul.

hand to hand seemed excessively "decisive"

I've not run into many HTH engagements in our games. Personally, I would much rather shoot at PB range, get a casualty or two, cause a pin. There is less risk with this over HTH…especially if the enemy then fail their order test.

Given the choice between shooting and melee, I think real soldiers prefer shooting and that seems a better choice in Bolt Action as well.

Excellent looking game and report!

If you think Close Combat is rough now try playing against the Japanese! We ran several Pacific games and not only can the Japanese ignore any pins and not even have to roll in order to Banzai charge, but they don't all die if they lose-- they keep going until they are wiped out to a man. Gives a rather ahistorical (and highly successful) spin to the largely suicidal charges that they engaged in during the war.

I'm fairly sure I'll be sticking with other systems for my WWII skirmish games.

Thanks for the comments!

Chris certainly does a great job with the write-ups and pics. His paintwork on the SS is fantastic, too. It's easier to see in his previous blog post showcasing them, the pea-dot camo is really amazing in person!

I expect you're right about the HTH rules, accepting it, and adjusting to it. It's not the lethality that puts me off, BTW, it's that it's so featureless compared to other game engines I enjoy. Move to contact, roll mitt full of dice, remove one side to shoebox for ride home… no morale tests, no rallying, just… gone. Subjectively, and I know it's a matter of taste and there's no reason the morale and rallying can't be abstracted into a single die roll, it just doesn't feel satisfying to me.

This game was a learning experience all around, to kick the tires on the system, and my side certainly played more aggressively than was wise (LT. Horton, the mission was PATROL, not ASSAULT AND HOLD!). I'll certainly be more cautious about close combat in the future!

Ditto T.A.S., Lt. Horton did survive the action, barely, as the HQ team was on the receiving end of the friendly fire incident – at that point in the game it may or may not have been accidental. He may even have gotten a coffee afterward. It remains to be seen whether he'll be put in command of another platoon, though!