possum
First Post
My game store is a hotbed of players of the WWII historical miniatures game "Flames of War." While in there waiting for my D&D and Pathfinder games to start, I watched them play and thought that it looked rather fun. So, with my $85 gift certificate that I got for Christmas, I bought the Starter set and a Sherman Firefly tank after asking some players what they'd recommend a complete beginner get.
It was a little after that when I was invited to a large mega-game being played yesterday and told that I could likely borrow a small army to participate. Other than a small game using the Lord of the Rings starter from Games Workshop that a friend had gotten for Christmas years ago, it was the first miniature wargame that I have ever played.
The scenario was thus: in the days of Operation Market Garden, an airborne unit has taken a key bridge and waits for the Allied strikeforce to break through the German lines to relieve them. I was given command of four platoons of Sherman & Firefly tanks and ordered to take and secure the left flank of the lands north of the northern most creek. (The battle was massive with the front four gaming tables taking up the majority of the battleground while a large imaginary bridge connected it with two more tables perpendicular to the main ground).
My first actions upon entering the battlefield (the organizer who was also playing Allies set my tanks up) was to open fire on two anti-aircraft guns, destroying them, as well as the two nearby Jagdpanthers (German tank-hunters), destroying one of them.
The next round, my squad took heavy casualties as the nearby forest (which a few of my tanks had entered into) erupted with rocket attacks. The surviving panthers in my sector also destroyed two of my tanks.
I retaliated by moving up the battlefield slightly onto my left, spraying a dug-in platoon of German infantry with my machine gun but not doing any damage. I also managed to force the crew on one of the panthers to bailout of their vehicle.
Unfortunately, my commander's tank was too close to the woods and a charging unit of infantry managed to overrun my tank and capture him. Without him and a surge of morale, the survivors fled the battle, mere minutes before the planned pincher attack on the right flank made it to the arena.
I sat and watched until my Pathfinder Society game got close to getting started. The game finished while I was playing Pathfinder, with the Germans eventually winning the battle.
I found it a very fun game, especially on such a large scale. I know that we were kind of holding up the others (due to it being six people playing 4 vs. 2 on that first table alone), but the watching the entire battle go by was just an awesome visual, especially when I had to consider a squad of German tanks beginning to creep closer to the creek from the south...
It was a little after that when I was invited to a large mega-game being played yesterday and told that I could likely borrow a small army to participate. Other than a small game using the Lord of the Rings starter from Games Workshop that a friend had gotten for Christmas years ago, it was the first miniature wargame that I have ever played.
The scenario was thus: in the days of Operation Market Garden, an airborne unit has taken a key bridge and waits for the Allied strikeforce to break through the German lines to relieve them. I was given command of four platoons of Sherman & Firefly tanks and ordered to take and secure the left flank of the lands north of the northern most creek. (The battle was massive with the front four gaming tables taking up the majority of the battleground while a large imaginary bridge connected it with two more tables perpendicular to the main ground).
My first actions upon entering the battlefield (the organizer who was also playing Allies set my tanks up) was to open fire on two anti-aircraft guns, destroying them, as well as the two nearby Jagdpanthers (German tank-hunters), destroying one of them.
The next round, my squad took heavy casualties as the nearby forest (which a few of my tanks had entered into) erupted with rocket attacks. The surviving panthers in my sector also destroyed two of my tanks.
I retaliated by moving up the battlefield slightly onto my left, spraying a dug-in platoon of German infantry with my machine gun but not doing any damage. I also managed to force the crew on one of the panthers to bailout of their vehicle.
Unfortunately, my commander's tank was too close to the woods and a charging unit of infantry managed to overrun my tank and capture him. Without him and a surge of morale, the survivors fled the battle, mere minutes before the planned pincher attack on the right flank made it to the arena.
I sat and watched until my Pathfinder Society game got close to getting started. The game finished while I was playing Pathfinder, with the Germans eventually winning the battle.
I found it a very fun game, especially on such a large scale. I know that we were kind of holding up the others (due to it being six people playing 4 vs. 2 on that first table alone), but the watching the entire battle go by was just an awesome visual, especially when I had to consider a squad of German tanks beginning to creep closer to the creek from the south...
