Playtest 3 for "Some Corner of a Foreign Field"

All,

Here's the other game I got in today.  I couldn't spend a bunch of time,  but I had some to spare, so I simply flipped the board around a bit, reset the forces, and went at it again.

The Brit squad is scattered across the top.  They're clearly expecting trouble as they've already assumed skirmish line, and they're moving right into the teeth of the German defenses, which is an MG-42 set up in the building at bottom center, with two pickets thrown out on the south side of the road on both the left and right sides.

The German left (the violet beads mean they are not spotted yet).

The German center.

The German right.

The game begins I'd imagine so many real fights started in WWII: a Brit, Soviet, or US patrol is moving forward when an MG-42 opens up.  No one is hit, but the Bren Group Corporal, the Bren gunner, and the 2" mortar all receive some combat stress.

The Bren (second from right, behind shrubbery with red dice next to him) takes his morale test and drops prone, screaming for his momma, while the left-hand German rifleman opens up and puts down the far left Brit rifleman.  He then turns his attention to the 2" mortar (2nd from left) and the Corporal (3rd from left), missing both but adding to their stress (5 for the mortar and 3 for the Cpl).  The right-hand German rifleman opens up, putting two more stress on the Cpl and one more on the Bren gunner.

The only guy in the Bren Group still combat ready is the Bren assistant, and he springs into action, rushing forward into a thicket of trees, firing twice at the right-hand German rifleman and missing both times.  This very minor victory, such that it is, is short-lived as the Bren Group Corporal tests morale and remembered he left some clothes in the laundry last night and needs to check on them, and the 2" mortar decides he should check on his skivvies too!

For those keeping score, the Bren Group has its rifleman down, its leader and mortar (attachment) have left the field of battle as cowards), its Bren gun is pinned down, and so the Bren assistant is the only one that's even gotten into the fight so far.

The German Corporal (bottom center, in building), spots some Brits north of the orchard and opens up, getting some stress on the far right rifleman and putting down his buddy (2nd from right), out of the fight.  The MG loader fires three times at the Brit Sergeant, three misses but three stresses!

The Rifle Group Sten gunner sprints up to the wall, hops over, and creeps forward, unspotted.  He's quickly followed by the Engineer (attachment) and a rifleman, though the German SMG gunner (bottom center, right-hand man) spots the Engineer and fires at him, missing.

The German rifleman on their far left flank (bottom left) lines up a shot on the remaining Brit rifleman in the field (top left).  First shot misses, second shot puts him out of the fight!  

The German rifleman then sprints across the road into the bushes at bottom left.

Meanwhile, the Sergeant and a rifleman from the Rifle Group are still lying in the field under the sights of the German machine gun.  The rifleman tests and decides he'll hand out and see how far below ground he can get the buttons of his shirt, while the Sergeant says hell with it and runs (you can see him at top right, right before he bolted)!  If you're wondering, yes, I'm pretty pissed at this point...  It's the end of the turn and I've got three men down (out of the fight) and three have ran, while I've also accrued quite a bit of stress on my Bren gunner and Engineer, while the Germans haven't really had to sweat about anything.

In real life I would have hoped that the remaining ranking Brit would have popped smoke in front of the German MG, rounded up the wounded and stragglers, and led them out of there, but this is a game, so let's get it on!

The Sten gunner hops the wall and runs up to the hedge opposite the German SMG gunner, then unloads into him, giving him a serious wound.

The German MG continues to play its role as a destroyer of morale: one burst at the Engineer (center left in orchard), one burst at the rifleman in the field (top center), and one burst at the Bren gunner on the hill (top right).  Every burst missed, but each added +2 to each guy's stress, and morale tests were not my friend this game.

Sorry for the crap picture...  The Bren assistant (top right) activates: he pops a round at the right hand guy, missing, but adding a fifth stress to him.  Hell, might as well fire at the other (bottom left); first shot misses, second puts him out of the fight!  Maybe things are looking up as one German rifleman is down and there's no way that other guy is gonna pass his morale test, right?

But immediately the Krauts get back in the game: the German rifleman on the far left flank moves up to the wall, spots the Brit rifleman standing there, then shoots him (serious wound, red bead).

The German Corporal sprints left out of the building (bottom right), fires at the Sten gunner (center, in the street), putting him out of action.  Then the German Corporal turns and fires on the Engineer, hitting him too!  It's only a light wound, but now the Engineer is carrying 12 stress!

The rifleman in the field finally passes a morale test, moves up to the wall, and hops over it (top right).

The German MG assistant (off camera to bottom) fires at the Brit Bren assistant (center): three misses, but three stress, so when he takes his morale test he fails and goes prone...  And then the remaining German rifleman on their right flank (bottom right) manages to pass his morale test.  His first shot puts a serious wound on the Bren assistant, and he fires twice more at the Bren gunner (top left), missing twice but running up more stress.

The Engineer tests, fails, and drops prone (center), while the rifleman (just above him) drags his seriously wounded ass towards the orchard gate.  The German SMG gunner (bottom left) drags himself away from the fight also.

The Engineer passes his next morale test, runs over to the SW corner and takes a shot at the German rifleman.  The shot misses, but the German fails his morale test and runs for the hills (rolled a 1)!

The Brit rifleman moves up (center, with Engineer at bottom right) and takes a shot at the German Corporal (bottom right), hitting him but only managing a light wound.  The Brit fires again but misses, and the German Corporal fails his test and drops prone while a seriously wounded Brit crawls out of the orchard (top center) and the German SMG gunner gets off the table to safety.

The MG-42 (bottom left) open up on the Bren gunner (top right) with all three activations, missing but adding six stress (for a total of eight).  I was pretty surprised when the Bren gunner only dropped prone, rather than running off table...

The Bren gunner has just passed a morale test, removing all stress, but then the German MG assistant and rifleman on the right open up on him.  They miss him six times, but each rifle shot adds a stress.  So all that's left of the Bren Group is the assistant (right), who's seriously wounded and can only drag himself to the rear, and the Bren gunner who is either going to get killed or run off due to the volume of fire being directed his way.

The Engineer (far left) fires at the German Corporal (bottom right), but misses twice.  It takes a couple tries, but the German MG (off camera to bottom right) finally spots the Brit rifleman at the wall (center right) and opens up, missing but adding stress.  The Brit tests and fails, drops prone.  YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!  (the test wasn't that tough, but he rolled a 2).  Then the German Corporal passes his morale test with a 20, then throws a grenade and gets a 20.  The Brit has already acted and can't do anything but watch it (let's say the German cooked it a bit); in any case, it lands right on top of the Brit and goes off, making him one seriously wounded individual...

The German rifleman on the right rushes forward to capture the Bren gunner and his seriously wounded assistant (top right, his red bead is obscured by the tree).

The game was fun, despite getting my ass severely kicked.  But let's be honest, it's been awhile since I've gotten a real ass-kickin.'  I'll be okay.  The game worked fine: the Germans (MG in particular, but the rifles did their part, too) kept up a goodly amount of fire on the Brits to force lots of morale tests, and lots of Brits decided to head for the hills.  If I was playing a campaign I'd have withdrawn the force rather than hang around and lose the whole damned squad, but hey, it was fun.

Hope you enjoyed it.

V/R,
Jack

Playtest 2 for "Some Corner of a Foreign Field"

All,

I got another couple games in, here's the first.  Unfortunately my individually-based forces aren't very diverse; all the completed ones are terrorists vs. very highly trained special operations types, or they aren't finished...  I need to get some more finished, but right now I'm over my painting and basing kick, I want to play!  So, because I don't have more 'standardized' modern forces, I figured it would be best to go with some WWII figures I have ready.  The games were entertaining, I hope the batreps are too.

Here's an overview of the board, somewhere in the British sector, Normandy, July 1944, north is 'up.'  A Brit reinforced squad is conducting a combat patrol to locate and destroy the German machine-gun position at top right.  The Germans have a couple pickets just east of the crossroads, and a couple more southeast of the crossroads.

The German MG position atop Hill 35.

The German pickets.

The Brit squad, reinforced with a 2" mortar and a combat engineer.  The Bren Group is at top, with a Corporal (with Sten), the Bren, the Bren assistant, a rifleman, and the 2" mortar.  The Rifle Group is at bottom, with the Sergeant, a SMG gunner, four riflemen, and the engineer (also carrying a rifle).

Brit start positions, with Bren group at top left and Rifle Group on the road moving east.

The German rifle at the crossroads (right center) spots the Brit pointman on the road, fires twice at him, missing both times but causing him some 'combat stress,' which causes him to drop everything and head for the hills (a severely failed morale test).

Sten gunner (center left), hopped the wall into the orchard to get out of the street, rushed to the east, and spotted the German SMG gunner (top center).  The German SMG gunner returns the favor, fires, misses, then goes on overwatch (real quick: red=serious wound, yellow=light wound, green=prone, violet=unspotted, pink=fired, purple=ran, white=overwatch, black=acted).  One of the SE German riflemen (bottom right) moves up to the crossroads, fires, and puts a serious wound on the Sten gunner.  He then went on overwatch.

The next Brit rifleman in the street activates, but he's spotted and the German that just shot the Sten gunner in the orchard (center left) opens up using his overwatch action, and hits him (bottom left), giving him a light wound and some stress.  For the record, that German rolled two 20's in a row.  The Brit goes prone and spots his assailant, while the next Brit rifleman in the street (center bottom) runs up and hops the wall, moving towards the house.  The German SMG uses his OW action to fire, but misses.

Meanwhile, the farthest south German rifleman actually sprints forward and gets into the building directly in front of the Brit Rifle Group.  The Brit Sgt (bottom left) moves right and spots the German in the building, taking a shot but missing.

The Engineer sprints over to the Sgt and fires, dropping the German in the building.  The Engineer then hops the wall (center left), while the last rifle sprints right, hops wall, and runs into building (center).

Meanwhile, the Bren Group Corporal (on right) moves up,, hops wall, and scootches up to the wall to get a peak at the suspected German MG position.  The Brit Bren gunner (center) also come up, and the German Corporal and Assistant Gunner at the MG position are activating to spot then going on overwatch to spot the Brits as they come forward.  Lastly, the Bren assistant (left) comes up, at which point the German MG-42 gunner opens up.  The Bren is meat, dropping immediately and out of the fight.  The Assistant was not hit, but the Corporal received a light wound (the red dice show stress).  The MG fires again, missing, but adding +2 stress to the Corporal and Assistant.  The MG goes on overwatch.  I also removed its unspotted marker as it's pretty much where the Brits thought it would be and has let off two long bursts.

At bottom left, the 2" mortarman creeps forward to get a look at the German MG position; the German Cpl uses his OW action to spot, then the MG opens up, but misses.  The 2" fires smoke twice, missing slightly right the first time then dropping on target the second.

The remaining Bren group riflemen (bottom left) utilizes the cover of the smoke to sprint clear across the field to the left and up towards the German MG position.  At center right are two German pickets.

A Brit rifleman moves into the building (bottom center) and takes a shot at the German SMG gunner (top center), getting a serious wound.  The Brit takes aim at the German's partner at the crossroads, but misses.  The German takes two tries but spots the Brit in the building, then fires and misses.

The German MP-40 (top right) crawls back, trying to get away, which was an error on my part...  I should have waited to activate him, he could have crawled anytime.  I was trying to delay activating the Germans still in the fight to get the Brits up closer where the Germans could react better, but really it just let the Brits put more stress on the Germans that hadn't activated yet...  In any case, the Engineer sprinted to the building and took a couple shots at the German rifle at the crossroads.  This forces him to test before he can activate, and he doesn't do well, and has to drop prone without acting for the remainder of the turn...  The Brit rifle (bottom left) that had taken MP-40 fire while hopping the wall to get out of the road also tests and has to go prone, while the seriously wounded Sten gunner drags himself back through the orchard.

The Brit rifle (left center) that had been lightly wounded in the street tests and acts normally, firing twice at the German rifleman on the SE corner (top right) of the crossroads, missing twice.

While the Sergeant moves into the building with the Engineer and a rifleman.  The Sgt fires at the German at the NE side of the crossroads (top center) and gets a light wound.

The Bren assistant tests and has to drop prone.  So does the Corporal...

The German Corporal (top right) moves right to get a peek at the Brit rifleman moving up the left side (top left).  The German Corporal successfully spots him, and then the German MG ripped him to pieces...

The 2" mortar (bottom left) passes his morale test and activates normally!  He hops the wall and sprints all the way up to the wall near the crossroads.  This is the last time he'll do anything useful...  You can see the German rifle at the crossroads with a light wound, and the MP-40 gunner dragging his carcass away at center.

The Engineer (bottom left)  sprints ahead out of the building and fires at the German rifle (center right), getting a light wound.  The Engineer fires again, missing, but adding to the German's stress.

The German MG opens up, missing the Bren assistant, the Bren Corporal (top left), then shifting fire to the his left and missing the Brit Sergeant (in building, bottom center).  The German rifle on the north side of the crossroads tests and fails, decides he's seen enough action today and leaves town.  The Brit rifle in the building similarly fails his test, so he sprints back to the wall, hops it, then falls prone, crying like a baby (bottom left).

The Brit rifle inside the wall at the building hops up, sprints into the intersection, then flops back down (center), while the German on the SE side of the crossroads fails his morale test and flops prone too.

The German Assistant Gunner uses two tries to spot the 2" mortar (bottom left), then fires and misses him, while the wounded Brit rifleman in the street stands up and hops wall (off camera to left) and the German SMG gunner crawls right (center right).

The Brit Sergeant (center left) passes his morale test, moves up, and shoots the German rifleman SE of the crossroads (body at center), then sprints right.

Brit Sergeant is at bottom right.  The Brit 2" mortar fails his test and drops prone (off camera to left).

The Bren assistant passes his test, so he grabs the Bren gun, stands up, and fires at the German MG, missing.  This was the first and only time the Bren gun got into action today...  The Corporal tests and decides he likes it just fine counting flowers at the base of the wall...

And here's where I made another mistake.  I looked at the German Corporal, who didn't have a black bead next to him, and I thought, "Holy Crap, I forgot to activate him!"  Well, he opens up on the Bren gun and quickly dispatches him with his first shot.  He puts two more bursts from his SMG at the Bren Corporal, not hitting him, but putting more stress on him.

The Brit Sergeant, in field at right, sprints across road and at the German MG nest...

Then he darts up the road into the patch of trees just south of the MG nest.  He fishes a grenade out of his fatigue jacket, pulls the pin, 'cooks' it off for a second, then lobs it at the Germans...  Who are dumbfounded when it rolls all the way down the hill and explodes harmlessly...  The German A-gunner spots the Brit Sgt and fires, missing him twice.

The Brit rifleman at the crossroads (bottom center) prepares loop sling and calmly takes up a nice prone firing position.  He targets the German MG gunner three times, hitting him... not once.

The German Corporal moves back to the MG position (top left) and fires at the Brit Sgt (top right), missing.  Then the German Cpl turns his fire on the Brit 2" mortar (off camera to bottom) missing him also.  The German MG gunner, who just racked up some stress from the rifleman at the crossroads, fails his test and falls prone.

The Brit Engineer, bottom right, sprints right and up to the road, then lines up on the German A-gunner.  His first shot goes wide, but the second drops him!  The German SMG gunner (center right) continues crawling towards the German baseline.

The Brit rifle that was in the house but ran and hid behind the wall last turn finally found his testicles, hopped back over the wall, and charged forward (bottom right).  At top left there are two guys behind the wall: the 2" mortar tests and remains prone, while the wounded rifleman pulls himself up and fires the German MG, missing.  The Sten gunner, hit earlier, crawls into the street (bottom left) on his way back to the aid station.

The Bren Corporal passes his morale test, so he stands up and lays down covering fire on the MG while the Bren assistand crawls south towards the gate.

The German Corporal moves up (in the MG position) and fires at the Brit Sgt, giving him a light wound, then goes on overwatch.  The plucky Brit rifleman at the crossroads can't hit a damned thing, but he continues to add combat stress to the German MG gunner every time he activates.  The MG tests to activate, but he doesn't do well and spends the rest of the turn in the fetal position.

Oh, and I lied: the 2" mortar actually does finally pass a morale test, and with that he opens up on the German MG gunner, putting him out of action.  The German Corporal  returns fire, to no effect, then sprints away down the hill (by choice, not morale)!

The last act is for the Engineer to move up and capture the German SMG gunner (far right).  The Brits have accomplished their objective by knocking the German MG out.  Here's how it broke out:

Germans  - Their NCO and one of their rifles ran away, while their SMG gunner was captured and four men went down.

Brits - One rifleman ran away, a rifleman and the Bren gunner went down, the Bren assistant and the Sten gunner received serious injuries, and the Sergeant, Bren Group Corporal, and one of the Rifle Group riflemen received light wounds.

A fun, interesting fight  that took a good 2 and 1/2 hours to complete.  But stay tuned, I had more time.

V/R,
Jack