Red Hammer, Iron Cross

I played a WW2 game over the weekend and had quite a lot of fun doing it. The scenario was called Red hammer, iron cross. I tried to tell the guy it should be a yellow hammer on a red background but scousers have no sense of humour. Unless they are playing Arsenal. They are a damn fine bunch of lads, so I consider myself lucky to have found them. That said, let the jokes begin. 

I have done a bit of WW 2 20mm skirmishing in the past but never in 28mm so this was a little different. It was done using the Nuts rules which are the same rules that have been used for the Very British Civil Games I have played over the last year or so. So I had an idea how the rules would be played out. Unlike VBCW, the troops were actually skilled at combat and were likely to pass morale checks so they had a very real danger of actually killing each other.

Soviets advance

I got told I was in charge of the Russian. So after appointed a commissar, I got on with it. The plan was who ever gets the most troops off the opposite table edge, wins. So in true soviet style, I dispatched everybody else to charge the enemy, whilst  I moved up in cover. Everybody else did what I was expecting to do, which was reconnaissance by death and Irish landmine detection.

Right flank doing there bit

Dutifully the right flank found the enemy for me and got shot at. They were lucky that the reverse gear of the t34 did not seem to work properly.

Immediate left flank

As part of the glorious plan, one of my subordinates decides to attract the bullets whilst my men charge into cover. There leader is put on the ground half way through the first turn. Given there squad leader was a bit of an idiot, this proved to be no bad thing. Not wanting him to get an unfair advantage, I dispatched my medic and the leader was back on his feet in no time.

Disputing the superior qualities of the T34

The game would have moved on quite quickly if we had been able to roll decent dice for the tank crews. These two T34 were to spend most of the battle here, one of them hung up on a hedge. I supposed it stopped them from getting badly blown up by turn 3.My lousy dice roles I suppose.

The cunning part of the plan

Or maybe not so cunning and maybe more sort of desperate. I sent the SU around the back of the Tiger and hoped that the the nearby Panzer IV didn't get a chance to move before I got a chance to shoot.

The Tiger is getting closer but my subordinate is starting to get troops off the table

Well he has the flag. A definite advantage for Dave. He gets a nicely painted flag with morale bonus and a big sign announcing his presence whilst losing a rifle. It does mean that I now have to start the advance again just to keep up. Dave had a "dumbass" soldier, which in the game is a bit of a liability. You just can't get them moving so the normally get left behind.

The big push

At this stage I can hear the shooting but I still hadn't seen many Germans. I have got to the stage of enjoying the game and I am now thinking about what troops might be worth buying.

In position

No real advance but my troops are in a good position. Or to put it another way. Someone else is attracting the fire whilst my buys are in some sort of cover.

Springtime for Hitler?

The German's big push and very unsporting attempt at a flanking attack with just two guys.

The Big Push again

Now my subordinates start showing me up. They are about to launch a sneak attack on the Tiger I have been chasing for four turns. I am now less interested in the Tiger and more interested in the Panzer IV that has just woken up.

The Grand Finale

The Tiger attacks and blows up Ben's T34s. My T34, which by  this point is staring down the Tiger's barrel rolls a double six for spotting. In risk, this might of been a good thing. In Nuts, this means that I missed missed the extremely noisy tiger, driving in front of me and taking a shot at the tank next to me. Ben had two guys in building next to the Tiger, one of whom had a captured Panzerfaust. A good roll later, the Tiger is burning bright and the game is all but over.

A good game but there are simply not enough zombies.