A 'shock' game of 'Iron Cross' today...
Just as i am posting about being confounded by the younger players' interest in D&D, they wanted to start wargaming :)
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| Bwoooha...bwooohahahahhaha |
'Iron Cross' was very well received today. The game still unfinished, and i gave myself a rapid refresher on the rules via an excellent QR sheet available online: https://sites.google.com/site/borderreiverwargamessociety/files
A 500 point 'ish' encounter battle - Germans and British, with a twist...
A little victory point quandry, with the 'Abbey' worth 2 VPs, the 'Casino' worth 2 VPs, and other buildings worth 1VP each ...it got a bit competitive.
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| Both sides will drive toward the centre - Abbey on British left flank, Casino on right |
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| Early tactical positioning of average ATGs |
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| British infantry on the right flank |
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| The supported Firefly on the left... |
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| The 'Abbey' |
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| The 'Casino' where most of the dudes from the abbey hung out, before the war that is... |
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| (Counters liberally stolen from 'Axis and Allies') |
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| British take the Casino early on |
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| Good use of mortar fire on unmoving targets |
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| Brew up! |
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| Germans hold the Abbey... |
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| Panther moves late...but is unlucky |
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| Accurate flanking fire takes down the Panther... |
An excellent game overall - now, as the rules are not well explained and a little internally divisive (mostly fixed in '7 days to the river rhine' in terms of mechanics and explanation), these chaps have done all the work for you though...
https://sites.google.com/site/borderreiverwargamessociety/files
Part 2 to follow soon ...
Good looking game.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray. It's great to get all that old 20mm kit out for a bash again
DeleteIron Cross is a fun set although I am never sure I understand that ‘whoosh/kaboom/va va boom’ result :-)
ReplyDeleteYep - i hear ya. I had to explain it away by saying 'uhh the first shot is like, uhh a ranging shot, uhh and there are sometimes secondary hits?" ...i guess it works somehow. The big advantage is that initiative system.
DeleteGreat looking game. And I do like the one game I played of Iron Cross and those links are a great resource. I just haven't time and space to play with my 20mm WW2 stuff and these pictures make me really want speed up getting them out again!
ReplyDeleteHey many thanks. Just looking back, we did have some mega games of IC in the past. I must try this one again:
Deletehttps://warfareintheageofcynicsandamateurs.blogspot.com/2019/06/stoumont-1944-with-iron-cross.html
Awesome game, Darren. love how some players (myself included) get really into the bidding / reacting aspect of Iron Cross and it gets this feeling like every reaction or every attempt to activate a unit with morale markers is a gamble. The funny thing is it almost always has paid off for me. I once won an IC game in the last turn by sending a forlorn german squad to assault a KV-1 and got the die rolls I needed fir everything to perfectly come together including activating the squad and destroying the tank.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that saying? You must dare! Dare again! Always dare!" This game evokes that feeling perfectly. If only there was a Napoleonic variant !
HAA Thank you sir. I did mention some horse and musket stuff yesterday too, and got good responses. When i mentioned the 'momentum' rolls in Blucher, and how one player would hide the reactions number from their opponent, it went down very well for some reason - whilst older players seem to hate the 'intrigue' of it...
DeleteNow funnily enough, I have been considering Blucher for an AWI variant...and there already is an ACW variant ..hmmm
Germantown with Blucher might actually work , with a few hacks...
Nice way to play out 2023. Did you trick the younger players into thinking this was their idea 🙂
ReplyDeleteNooo, noo nooo not at all...
DeleteWell...yes then ;)
Now they are talking about giving up D&D altogether and becoming wargamers...
What have I done :O