Round 1:
- Black ops lets me win deployment by a mile. Joe and his squad of gunners enter on the right flank. I have learned my lesson from the last game and trust that Joe will swallow a few wounds for the unit, leaving my bazooka in play for longer.
- Luther enters the middle of the axis deployment zone.
- BBQ squad enters on my left flank using fast and racing for the hard cover offered by a nearby tank trap. The squad's flamethrower will sort out any axis troops that reach the TT before them.
- Laser grenadiers enter the board near the right flank's tank trap.
- Recon boys enter the opposite board end from the rest of the allied force and move into cover behind an ammo crate.
- Ludwig stomps onto the board from the rear of the axis deployment and annihilates the ammo crate shielding the recon boys, leaving them exposed.
- Hot Dog enters the board on my right flank in hopes of discouraging the deadly laser grenadiers from hiding behind the tank trap, thus threatening Joe and his squad with their infantry-eating weapons.
- The Battle Grenadiers enter the board on my right flank, near the Luther. They take up position behind impassable terrain, ready to tackle the recon boys next turn.
- Pounder enters near the recon boys and blows the axis Luther to scrap with a whopping 5 hits! Try self repairing that one ;)
- Sigrid enters with the Recon Grenadiers and opens up on the Recon boys and pounder. The squad's STG47s and MG48 miss with all 8 shots, but Sigrid scores a hit and another with her subsequent re-roll, leaving two dead rangers in the snow. The squad's panzerfausts fare much better. They fire all 3 at the walker, scoring 2 damage points and ending the first round.
Round 2:
- Scott wins the initiative and starts the round with a bang, (literally). The Battle Grenadiers fire a panzerfaust at the Pounder, destroying it. Their STG47s then kill the remaining 3 recon rangers outright.
- Hot Dog finally, (after 8 games of being blown up before getting the chance to cook something) gets to cook something. 4 laser grenadiers are turned into human candles by the deadly napalm thrower's sustained attack.
- The laser grenadiers' sole surviving laserwerfer retaliates with its own sustained attack, but fails to score a hit.
- Joe and the gunners move into cover behind the nearby tank trap.
- Sigrid and her recon grenadiers advance toward the action on their flank.
- The BBQ squad set their sights on Ludwig and take cover behind a tank trap in preparation of a fast advance toward the robot next turn.
- Ludwig quite sensibly moves 1 square away from them and shoots at Joe brown's gunners scoring 2 hits, resulting in a casualty.
Round 3:
- Things get back to some semblance of normality and black ops actually manages to win me the initiative this round(?!). The BBQ squad use 'fast' to engage Ludwig and blow him to kingdom come with 2 hits from their 5 demo charges, (giving 4 points of damage).
- The laserwerfer uses sustained attack on the assault rangers, seeking revenge for the fallen robot and scores 2 kills on the BBQ squad with its laser reroll.
- Joe and the gunners finish him off in their activation with what will now and forevermore be known as one of the least effective fire missions in the history of modern wargaming:
Sustained attack - 7 dice
Number of hits - 1
Re-rolls from sustained attacks, (for a laugh) - 6 dice
Number of hits - 0
Still, at least the laser squad is gone.
- Sigrid and her recon grenadiers advance toward the cover of an ammo crate.
- Hot Dog moves hungrily toward the battle grenadiers. He is the last robot standing on the board, so I feel little risk in advancing him.
- The battle grenadiers fall back in the face of Hot Dog's advance. They move near to Sigrid and her recon squad.
Round 4:
- I win the initiative again! Joe and the gunners leave cover and take the fight to Sigrid's squad. They roll a total of 9 dice, (3M1s, grenade launcher, 3 UGLs and a bazooka). They score a phenomenal 2 hits with no reroll. This desultory fire mission results in 2 dead recon grenadiers and a pissed off looking Sigrid.
- Sigrid and her boys return fire. 5 STG47s and 4 dice from the MG result in a total of 5 hits. I remove 3 troops and place 2 wounds on Joe. Sigrid rolls seperately, (to avoide laser reroll confusion!) and misses her shots. Sigrid and her squad use their second action to scoot into cover behind the ammo crate.
- The BBQ squad jump back into cover behind the tank trap, angling toward Sigrid and her recon grenadiers.
- The Battle Grenadiers fire at Joe with their STG47s, (the panzerschreck is out of range). They miss and then also scoot off into cover.
- Hot dog advances, planning to traverse the board next turn for more burnination related antics.
Round 5:
- I win initiative again, (good old Joe!). The BBQ squad use 'fast' once more to engage Sigrid and her recon grenadiers. The flamethrower scores 3 kills on the unit, (no cover save against flamethrowers) while the 2 shotguns score 3 wounds against Sigrid.
(At this point we encounter a rules problem. All my BBQ squad's attacks are allocated to the squad. I roll the weapon types seperately and Scott allocates the initial damage to his squad members, removing them all from play. This leaves Sigrid alone as an independent model. As such, she can no longer take cover saves, but as her squad were alive when the attacks started we're not sure if she should get one or not. We decide that this is bloody stupid and that it will be much more interesting to just get on with the game. No cover saves for Sigrid and she eats the 3 wounds!)
At this point, with their ranged weapons fired, the BBQ squad attack Sigrid in close combat. I roll 3 dice for Sigrid's 4, (nasty). She suffers a wound and leaves play, but not without taking down an assault ranger in response!
- The battle grenadiers leave the safety of their tenuous hiding place and kill the surviving 2 members of the BBQ squad outright with 2 hits from their STG47s.
The board is looking bare now. All the painted models have been removed from play :(
- Joe and Hot Dog move toward Scott's last squad of untouched battle grenadiers.
Round 6:
- Scott wins the initiative, (It's only fair, really) firing 2 panzerfausts at the Hot Dog and missing.
I still have 2 units to move and do so to the gentle accompaniment of Scott's complaints about a diet of beer, Lederhosen and fragrant sausage.
- Hot Dog engulfs the battle grenadiers in flame, killing 2.
- Joe then moves up near Hot Dog and kills another.
Round 7:
- Scott wins the initiative again, mocking my so called 'Black ops' special ability. His Battle Grenadiers run away to the sound of the Benny Hill theme tune, which Scott is now humming with gusto, (and mild mania).
- Hot Dog gives chase and lights them up with his 30 and 50.cal MGs. 6 dice, 4 hits, game over.
Final thoughts:
As usual, Scott is the perfect opponent; gracious in defeat, magnanimous in victory, (save for the sad incident of the sexy dance which never actually happened and was introduced solely for the purposes of slandering a superior adversary).
Hot Dog finally got to show his worth, although I tend to agree with Ron that he's a glass hammer in most cases.
The BBQ squad are awesomely fast, versatile and destructive against all unit types.
The Axis don't really have a standout unit for me yet. Laser grenadiers don't really equate with the BBQ squad, although if you roll them right they have the potential to be the most destructive anti-infantry/hero squad in the game!
Well, that's another report done. I hope that you've enjoyed my cheap, hackneyed diatribe and the fuzzy, low quality pictures accompanying it.
If you haven't, then fuck off and do your own blog!
Tom
4 comments:
For some insane reason I like reading your blog and reports :)
About your rules question, what you should have done is to resolve all the attacks at the unit first and then remove the models.
Dave
Yeah, had that one come up tonight and that's how we dealt with it mate.
To be fair to Dust Tactics, we haven't found too many rules problem come up during games and that says a lot for it.
Also, thanks for the sort-of backhanded compliment about my blog. You're the first person to say anything remotely positive about it, or - in fact - anything about it at all!
I was beginning to wonder if I wrote this bloody thing for anyone other than myself! Of course, if I wasn't writing it on here, I'd just be talking to myself around the flat, frightening the neighbours...
Thanks for reading and really glad that you like it!
Tom
I have done extensive analysis and statistically proved that Laser Grenadiers are crap and BBQ squads are excellent. Which one did I buy from Static the other day?
Yeah, Laser grenadiers obviously.
I've done extensive analysis and found that so long as you use sustained attack, then laser grenadiers have the potential to be fucking awesome!
Nothing in the game system so far beats the BBQ squad though. Between fast, flamethrower and demo charges they can do just about anything. I have two squads as well ;)
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