Friday, February 17, 2012

Tunisian Tussle Game period 1

The battle for Tunisian is on. Both sides have made some interesting decisions on where to focus their efforts.

The Germans have decided that enough is enough Malta has been a thorn in there side for too long. Tasked to take Malta are the Elite of the Italian armed forces the Paratroopers of Folgore and Nembo will take part in this operation supported by the Regio Aeronautica.

The other Axis forces have moved around to reinforce Tunisia from Allied invasion. Leaving the Brandenburgers to attack supply lines throughout Libya.

The Allies have to embark on a conservative invasion of Tunisia hitting Sfax first with British and US Airborne troops to secure the landings for the armour of 8th Army to land and reinforce. They are met by Italian infantry formations

1st army and US troops have decided to land at Bougie and have met little resistance from the local French Garrison forces but have to contend with fresh German troops using the northern coastal roads to reinforce the Western approach to Tunis.

The Italian Armoured and Recce troops around Medenine have noticed the 8th Army have reduced their presence on the front lines and have taken this opportunity to exploit the perceived weakness.

Listed below are the missions for this two week period. Ideal matchups are just the recommended forces feel free to play with forces that you have available. Please email me the results from your games. You can play and submit multiple games over the period, I will average the results to work out the conclusion.

Main Battle 1:
Medenine Line:
Mission: FFA
Points: 1100pts +bonus platoons
Ideal forces: Italian Carri vs British Africa Infantry
Bonus platoons: Axis = Carri Platoon of 4 M14 tanks, Allied = British Rifle platoon (Full strength +Sticky bombs)

Main Battle 2:
Sfax
Mission: Surrounded (tanks must be in separate deployment areas to infantry)
Points: 1100pts +bonus platoons
Ideal forces: British Airborne/US Airborne vs Italian  Infantry
Bonus platoons: Axis =1x  Italian 90mm Heavy AA gun (rof 3), Allied = Platoon of Valentine III tanks

Main Battle 3:
Bougie
Mission: Pincer
Points: 1100pts +bonus platoon
Ideal forces: US/Tunisian British vs March company Germans
Bonus platoons: Due to the Large amount of Naval support both sides may call in gunfire. Treat this as a CT 105mm 4 gun battery without a staff team called in by the command command team (no +1 to range in).

Secondary Battle 1:
Malta
Mission: Death from above (use V2 mission briefing)
Points: 1100pts
Ideal forces: FJ vs CT British

Secondary Battle 2:
Supply lines
Mission: The Raid (Burning empires)
Points: 800pts
Ideal forces: Brandenburgers vs Sudan Rifle company

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Tunisian Tussle


We have decided to begin the year with a narrative campaign for Flames of War. This is a new thing which I hope works well.

Basic premise is to have two sides, Axis and Allied. Using emails they make Strategic decisions regarding issues surrounding supply, allocation of limited troops like Heavy tanks, when to conduct raids, troop training and what their attacks will focus on turn.

Once they have decided on their strategy I then create 3-4 scenarios for the players to play over the next two weeks. They must play 1 game in this period but can play more if they want. I then collect the results on how the players did and then use those results to base an update on how the overall campaign is doing. Then they decide on what their strategy is for the next turn. And we repeat the process till a get a conclusion to the campaign.

We have decided on Tunisia as our theme. It has a few interesting limitations on the forces involved. It saw the Torch landings by the Americans, Use of Churchill Infantry tanks and the inclusion of the British 1st army. It also saw the first use of Allied airborne troops although they were used more for elite infantry than airborne invasions of D-day and Market Garden.
The Germans also are in an interesting situation. They have been on the retreat out of Egypt but have stronger defensive lines. Shipping of fresh equipment and men played an important part of the campaign and the allies first saw how dangerous a Tiger tank could be.

General overall strategic situation 1942:

The Germans and Italians have been in retreat since their defeat at El Alamein. They have fallen back along their lines of supply and have resisted all attempts by the British and Commonwealth forces. They have been ordered to stay and fight as high command have not given up on North Africa.
The British and Commonwealth forces have been fighting in North Africa since 1940 and have had a huge surge in confidence since their victory at El Alamein. However victory has eluded them as the Axis refuse to commit to a battle. The Veterans of the 8th army are tiring but with fresh troops from 1st Army and the American forces eager to fight but their strategic use is unknown.

Map:




Sunday, February 5, 2012

Freedom rounds! Part 2

Finished painting the Priests for Day of Days. Just need to paint up the staff team, OP teams and the command teams. Oh and paint the unit markings on the Priests. Other than that i am finished for Day or Days, well except for the carriers I need to convert up and paint.

Well almost done.