Saturday, 19 October 2019

20mm Action at Steve's - Cintheaux '44

Some more 20mm action at Steve's with his fantastic terrain.
Battle was Cintheaux 1944 during the Normandy camapign with Canadians, and Wittman's Tigers.

Rules were Battlegroup Panzergrenadier.

 Canuck infantry in flanking action.


 88 on the high ground.


Shermans using cover

Fantastic buildings

View from the German end, including Tigers to the left. 








Some action in the BUA.




Long range shots at Shermans, but they would use the cover well.


Downtown Cintheaux

Hotly contested street fighting.















Knocked out Panzer - the first of many.










 Damned 88 again.
















 Firefly vs Tiger...



Tigers came off worst, and Germans would ultimately be ejected from BUA.
Classic terrain and 20mm excellence from Steve.

20 comments:

  1. Table looks brilliant! I don't often see WWII gaming in 20mm anymore. One of my buddies still plays occasionally in this scale. In the mid-70s, I bet 20mm may have been the dominate scale for WWII. I certainly built a lot of armor in this scale when I was a kid. Loved the Hasegawa models.

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    1. All my WWII is 20mm, and I never felt compelled to chnage to 15mm with the FoW push. Glad i held on to mine.

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    2. Good for you! WWII miniatures' gaming has been a side show for me. When a lad, I always enjoyed getting my hands on the latest Wargamer's Digest magazine. That was in the mid-70s. Almost always an article or two focused on WWII gaming in 20mm. I still have all of those old magazines, though!

      I have only a few models in 15mm for larger actions and 28mm for skirmish. The work you all have been presenting of late has me itching to move it up into the queue.

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    3. Thank you sir.
      I had purchased so much 20mm over the years, I just coudn;t change. i think Steve in similar circumstance, though he has some 1/300 and 1/200 in wwii, like most of us do in addition.

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  2. Amazing scenery! Great looking game Duc, compliments to your host.

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  3. Looking good sir! I for one cannot get enough of the WWII action! and a real treat in 20mm!

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    1. 20mm is God's own true scale sir!
      More action (eastern front of course) over the next couple of days (as we know :) ).

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    2. God's own scale indeed sir! Looking forward to heading back out east :)

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  4. Some great pics (see you do have A talent).
    20mm very nice on an appropriately large table.
    Cant believe you sold these rules !!

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    1. Yeah, didn't see myself using them to be honest.
      I think there are too many systems at work in terms of action, reaction, activation, command points additions etc. Boil most of that down and there are systems competing for attention which don't need to be there. I find that in most rules by that same author.

      FoB, if it morphed up to that scale of company/battalion level action, would give a more exciting game...for instance. These rules put me to sleep...quite literally today.

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    2. Actually i think they are not dissimilar to FOB overall in that you activate (turn a card) enemy can react (opp fire) and both sides roll dice one to hit/effect and other to assess damage/reaction (opposed rolls in FOB). The activations/reactions tie into the C&C system of HQ Impetus (better/worse decks in FOB) Of course being at lower scale than FOB its needs more process as such to flesh out game, FOB needs less as relies on more abstraction to assist fast play and big numbers of units. I think PzGr has nice balance of playability combined with period flavour for scale it designed for (1-2 Inf Coys plus support) and playable within reasonable time frame. But to each their own. I mean your vision of a war film with tanks and mine are distinctly different :-)

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  5. Just out of interest which systems do you think compete in rules ? And what would you replace them by ?
    Re scaling FOB to fit this scale it doesnt really work (i have tried) as you need more meat on the bones in terms of support weapons (FOB assests) such as MGs/Mortars. Once you start rewriting to that degree its no longer FOB and one is better playing something else such as.....oh i dont know......maybe.......PzGr :-)

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    1. The beauty of FoB is the deck vs deck dictation of skills, and the rapidity and elegance of the dice mechanism.
      The difference here is that it's constant 2d6 +/- mechanism, which essentially creates the need for saving throws (2d6), and a manner in which activation can be added to via a separate command 'number' (2d6+ x).
      The dichotomy is that FoB is advancing game design for me, while BPG is pretty much the same thing as old school, but in a shinier book

      In my WWII movie, unpredictable sh!t happens - absolutely all the time - even if that doesn't always happen, this is a game version, while in BPG, I can always roll another 2d6.

      I appreciate that FoB perhaps isn't the vehicle but I have been using 'Road to Berlin' from the Nations in Arms blog - and though not finished, appears to work.

      Again, with a card draw mechanic and skill based deck, the mechanisms you add on top don't matter as much, as the better commander holds initiative - so whatever the game mechanics, your core is the card or chaos mechansism - it's what you do with the chaos. 2d6 is great, but essentially predictable. Both sides could have essentially mapped out the moves in yesterday's battle before it started.

      Granted ...we could have rolled less 4s or 2s yesterday, but big deal. I'd remember when a 4 on a d4 beat a 1 on a d12 more readily, and both players have the tension of rolling against each other.

      I could have been (and was you'll recall) rolling 2d6 for anything yesterday...doesn't mean it's bad at all, just not exciting.

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  6. beautiful looking game there sir. And nice to see some 'larger' scale armour on the go. The buildings in particular look great.

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    1. 20mm is God's own true scale mate. Oh wait...except for 10mm, yes 10mm is God's own true scale too ...wait, that doesn't work...

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    2. This sounds like the beginning of a Monty Python sketch.

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    3. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition...

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  7. Incredible scenery, and great report. Not my period but who knows ? I particularly like the german anti-tank battery.

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    1. Thanks Phil. Now, if you start doing WW2 plastics, they will be magnifique!!!

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