Dust Tactics League Play! 07-01-2012

PDX Dust League returned to Red Castle Games to play Scenario 10 from the Operation Blue Thunder Campaign Book v2.0. It was a short and sweet day of league play. A few other gamers were in the store taking a look at the miniatures and inquiring about the game and differences between Tactics v. Warfare. They weren’t interested in playing any Demo’s, since their event was about to start, but hopefully we have a few new players on the line that will be interested and join us for a few games in the future!

Scenario 10: The Grand Slam

This scenario is played on a 3 x 4 tile map with 4 Objectives, players deploy on opposite corners, 2 Ammo Crates and 2 Tank Traps for cover, and a limit of 8 rounds. There are 300 points available for each army to build their forces. Full unit kills are scored normally, and each player adds 20 victory points for each Objective held at the end of round 8. We decided to play through all the rounds, even if one army was eliminated, to obtain Objectives and maximize points. Objective Squares were marked with small red dice.

Justin v. Nicholas

• Attacker:
  Justin – Allies: 299 points
  Bazooka Joe – OZZ-177 – Rhino – The Priest – 13 Foxtrot – 13 Foxtrot – Grim Reapers – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Hell Boys – Recon Boys – Steel Rain – Rattler
• Defender:
  Nicholas – Axis: 297 points
  Grenadier X – Lara – Markus – Stefan – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Beobacther – Beobacther – Beobacther – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Sturmpioniere – Lothar

Turn 2 started off the action when The Allies took the initiative and 13 Foxtrot moved into position to call down an Artillery Strike on the Axis Lothar with all 4 of the Steel Rain’s 4.2” rockets. The 12 dice managed 4 hits to destroy the Axis Artillery Unit! (23.84% chance to roll exactly 4 hits, 60.69% chance of rolling 4 or more hits). Turns 3 and 4 saw the Allies lose The Priest, a unit of Hell Boys, and Rhino; while the Axis lost Stefan and his Sturmpioniere’s. Turn 5 saw most of the devastation. In the wake of OZZ’s slightly successful Heroic Attack with his Grim Reapers, the Axis undead unit and Lara with her Heavy Recon Grenadiers were able to eliminate OZZ and his unit, along with Joe, the second unit of Hell Boys and both units of 13 Foxtrot. However, the Allies were still able to eliminate Grenadier X and his Axis Zombies. The action wrapped up in Turns 6 and 7 when the Rattler was able to eventually eliminate the Axis Gorillas and Markus at the cost of the remaining Grim Reapers to Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers and a damaged Steel Rain to Totenmeister and her Zombies. Turn 8 saw the Rattler trying to finish off at least one more unit, but to no avail. At the end of the round Justin had his Recon Boys in 1 Objective while Nicholas had his Beobachters in 1 Objective and Lara and her remaining Heavy Recon Grenadier in a 2nd Objective. 20 bonus points for Justin and 40 bonus points for Nicholas.

Victor: Nicholas – Axis

Victory Points:

• Justin – Attacker: 210 points
• Nicholas – Defender: 290 points

John v. Justin

• Attacker:
  John – Allies: 299 points
  Bazooka Joe – Rhino – The Priest – BBQ Squad – Death Dealers – Grim Reapers – Recon Boys – Red Devils – The Gunners
• Defender:
  Justin – Allies: 299 points
  Bazooka Joe – OZZ-177 – Rhino – The Priest – 13 Foxtrot – 13 Foxtrot – Grim Reapers – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Hell Boys – Recon Boys – Steel Rain – Rattler

Turn 2 started off the action when Justin’s Allies took the initiative and 13 Foxtrot moved into position to call down an Artillery Strike on John’s custom Pounder with all 4 of the Steel Rain’s 4.2” rockets. The 12 dice managed 4 hits to destroy the Allied vehicle! (23.84% chance to roll exactly 4 hits, 60.69% chance of rolling 4 or more hits. Yes, that happened in each game.). John’s Allied Hero The Priest, and a few members of his BBQ Squad, fell to Reactive Fire from Justin’s unit combination of Bazooka Joe and Hell Boys. The remainder of John’s BBQ Squad was picked off before the end of the round, along with John’s Bazooka Joe and Gunner Rangers. Turn 3 saw John get a bit of revenge when his Wildfire was able to score enough hits to eliminate Justin’s Hero, The Priest. The sweet taste of revenge was short lived since Justin was able to capitalize on a failed Reactive Fire attempt from John’s combination of Rhino and Grim Reapers to get a few units in position to eliminate John’s Mickey, Recon Boys, Death Dealers, Wildfire, and Rhino himself. Turn 4 saw Justin take the initiative, and put an end to John’s remaining Grim Reapers and Red Devils. The game was played out till the end of Turn 8, and Justin’s Allies were able to capture all 4 Objectives for 80 bonus points!

Victor: Justin – Allies

Victory Points:

• John – Attacker: 18 points
• Justin – Defender: 379 points

Nicholas v. John

• Attacker:
  Nicholas – Axis: 297 points
  Grenadier X – Lara – Markus – Stefan – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Beobacther – Beobacther – Beobacther – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Sturmpioniere – Lothar
• Defender:
  John – Allies: 299 points
  Bazooka Joe – Rhino – The Priest – BBQ Squad – Death Dealers – Grim Reapers – Recon Boys – Red Devils – The Gunners

An epic clash between Allied and Axis forces began in the second Turn. Stefan and his Sturmpioniere’s made an attempt to Assault Move and Attack, but met a quick end before they were able to finish their activation due to the successful Allied Reactive Fire! Bold moves from the Allies also saw The Priest, Rhino, and the Grim Reapers perish this round. The Pounder was able to get into position and, with a single attack of 6 dice, rolled the 4 hits necessary to eliminate the Axis Artillery Unit!! (8.23% chance to roll exactly 4 hits, 10.01% chance of rolling 4 or more hits) The Allies dominated Turn 3 and were able to eliminate Axis Gorillas, Grenadier X, Axis Zombies, and Markus! This was a devastating loss to the Axis army. Turn 4 saw the Axis give a last ditch effort to score some necessary kills and succeeded when they eliminated the BBQ Squad, Bazooka Joe, Gunner Rangers, and Death Dealers with brutal attacks from Lara with her Heavy Recon Grenadiers, and Totenmeister with her Axis Zombies. The undead unit fell to the fire of the Allied Walkers before the end of the Turn. By Turn 6 the Axis had no units left that could harm the Mickey, Wildfire, or Pounder. The Allies lost the Red Devils, and the Axis lost Lara with her Heavy Recon Grenadiers, and a Beobacther unit. Turn 7 saw the Allied Wildfire eliminate another unit of Beobacthers holding an Objective Space. The Pounder concentrated fire on a Tank Trap located in an Objective Space in order to capture a third objective by the end of Turn 8. The success of the Pounder left the Allies holding 3 Objectives, while the Axis only held 1 Objective, at the end of Turn 8. 60 bonus points for the Allies, and 20 bonus points for the Axis.

Victor: John

Victory Points:

• Nicholas – Attacker: 205 points
• John – Defender: 352 points

The day ended with each member of the league scoring a victory! The most intriguing part is that we each won as the Defender and lost as the Attacker. The map is very symmetrical with very little difference in deployment aside from the size of the 2 buildings, so it’s interesting that the Defender took each game. Now only Scenario 11 remains! 3 games left and the Operation Blue Thunder v2.0 League comes to an end! We will be back at Red Castle Games to finish out the league. Stay tuned for a second SSU Battle Report that will be posted soon. We will also be doing a Battle Report for First Wave SSU v. Allies, and will try to keep an equal balance in battle reports between the 3 factions to support as much diversity as possible, while giving newer players and intrigued onlookers a good idea of the game play and functionality of each army. Good Gaming!!

First Wave SSU Battle Report

The scenario used for this game was from the Operation Zverograd Dust Tactics Campaign Expansion, Mission #3 – The Hidden Lab. Axis are Attacking, and SSU are Defending. The Attacker must occupy 2 of the 3 objectives on the board at the end of Turn 8. Objective Tiles were marked with small red dice.

The battle report mainly highlights Attack actions and other significant actions. General movement actions, hits on units, and eliminated units are documented in the pictures.

• Justin’s 197 point SSU Army:
  Grand’ma - Koshka - The Medvedi (SSU Command Squad) - Fakyeli (SSU Close Combat Squad) – Frontoviki (SSU Battle Squad) - Chinese Volunteers (SSU Auxiliary Attack Squad) – SSU Airborne Transport (MIL MI-45)
• Christian’s 201 point Axis Army:
  Lara - Axis Zombies - Heavy Flak Grenadiers - Battle Grenadiers - Recon Grenadiers - Luther - Heinrich - Heinrich

Turn 1:
Initiative: Axis - Concedes first activation to SSU

• Grand’ma Places and Attacks a Heinrich.
• “VK-916” Howitzer rolls 2 Hits on the Heinrich.
• SSU Airborne Transport uses Advanced Deployment.
• Command Squad Places and Reactivates the SSU Airborne Transport.
• SSU Airborne Transport targets the Axis Zombies and uses the Hover Skill to perform a Sustained Attack.
• Quad DahK 12.7 mm rolls 6 Hits on the Axis Zombies. Damage Resilience fails to reduce any hits and the Axis Zombies are eliminated.

Turn 2:
Initiative: Axis

• A Heinrich Moves and Attacks the SSU Airborne Transport.
• 2 cm FlakVierling rolls 3 Hits on the SSU Airborne Transport.

• SSU Airborne Transport Moves and Attacks the Recon Grenadiers.
• Quad DahK 12.7 mm rolls 2 Hits on the Recon Grenadiers.

• Chinese Volunteers Moves and Attacks the Recon Grenadiers.
• The five PPSh-48’s rolls 7 hits to eliminate the Recon Grenadiers.

• Luther targets the SSU Airborne Transport for a Sustained Attack.
• The 5 cm FlaK 43 and MG 44 manage 3 hits to eliminate the SSU Airborne Transport.

• The Medvedi Reactivate Grand’ma
• Grand’ma targets the injured Heinrich for a Sustained Attack
• “VK-916” Howitzer rolls 2 Hits on the Heinrich to eliminate the Light Panzer Walker.

Turn 3:
Initiative: Axis

• Frontoviki Moves out of the structure and Attacks the Battle Grenadiers.
• The two DPM MG’s roll 3 hits against the Battle Grenadiers.

• Luther targets the Chinese Volunteers for a Sustained Attack.
• 5 cm FlaK 43 rolls 3 Hits on the Chinese Volunteers. Hard Cover from the structure prevents 1 hit from getting through.

• Grand’ma performs two Move Actions, and takes advantage of the Assault ability to close the distance on the Axis units.
• Heinrich targets the Frontoviki for a Sustained Attack.
• 2 cm FlakVierling rolls 6 Hits and eliminate the exposed Frontoviki.

• Battle Grenadiers Move and Attack Grand’ma.
• Panzerschrek nails Grand’ma for 3 hits!
• Both Panzersfaust’s miss their target.

• The Medvedi Reactivates Koshka and the Fakyeli.
• Koshka and her Fakyeli muster up their Fighting Spirit and Assault Moves out of the structure to Attack the Heinrich and Battle Grenadiers.
• All five Molotov Cocktails roll all misses, but the effect of the Fighting Spirit Skill reverses the misses so that they hit their target, incinerating the Heinrich with 10 Hits!
• The Sulfur Thrower and Koshka’s Grenade Pistol roll 3 misses, which are once again reversed to hits thanks to the Fighting Spirit Skill, and eliminate the remaining Battle Grenadiers.

Turn 4:
Initiative: Axis

• Lara and the Heavy Flak Grenadiers Attack Koshka and her Fakyeli
• Lara’s two MG 44 zwei’s roll 6 hits.
• The three Fliegerfaust’s Burst Weapon came into effect since Koshka and the Fakyeli haven’t moved this turn. 5 hits are rolled.
• Koshka and her Fakyeli fall to the 11 hits.
• Lara and the Heavy Flak Grenadiers Move towards the Luther with their Second Action.

• Luther Attacks the Chinese Volunteers.
• The 5 cm FlaK 43 and MG 44 score 5 hits on the Chinese Volunteers. Hard Cover from the structure save 2 of the hits, and the leftover hits are enough to eliminate the injured Chinese Volunteers.
• Luther Moves with its remaining Action.

• The Medvedi Moves and successfully revives the Fakyeli with the Come On Guys; We’re Going Back Out There skill.

Turn 5:
Initiative: Axis

• Luther targets Grand’ma for a Sustained Attack.
• 5 cm FlaK 43 misses!!

• Grand’ma targets Lara and the Heavy Flak Grenadiers for a Sustained Attack.
• “VK-916” Howitzer rolls 1 hit, but Damage Resilience saves Lara and the Heavy Flak Grenadiers form any damage.

• Fakyeli use their Assault Skill to Move and Attack Lara and her Heavy Flak Grenadiers
• Sulfur Thrower manages 1 hit.
• The four Shotguns miss their targets!
• The five Molotov Cocktails only score 1 hit.
• Damage Resilience provides no effect and Lara suffers both hits.
• The Knife & Grenade and Combat Knives each manage 2 hits on their respective targets. 2 of the Fakyeli fall and Damage Resilience save against one hit and Lara suffers the remaining hit.

• The Medvedi Fails to reactivate the Fakyeli.

Turn 6:
Initiative: SSU

• Fakyeli targets Lara and the Heavy Flak Grenadiers for a Sustained Attack
• Sulfur Thrower rolls 3 hits.
• The four Shotguns only manage 1 hit.
• Damage Resilience saves against 1 hit and the remaining 3 hits eliminate the Heavy Flak Grenadiers.

• Lara Attacks the Fakyeli.
• Both MG 44 zweis roll 4 hits and eliminate the Fakyeli.
• Lara Moves for her remaining Action.

• Luther targets Grand’ma for a Sustained Attack.
• 5 cm FlaK 43 manages a single hit against Grand’ma.
• Luther Moves for its second Action.

At the end of Turn 6 the Axis did not have enough Infantry units remaining on the board to achieve their objective. The SSU are Victorious!!


Victory Points:

• Christian - Axis: 145 Points
• Justin - SSU: 130 Points

The first wave release of SSU units performed much better than I had anticipated. The only limitations the Axis player was faced with were the available miniatures on hand (No Zombie Heroes, or Heavy Recon Grenadiers, etc…). The Axis should have brought more infantry to the battle. 3 Vehicles were a bit much, but they definitely did their job and brought down the Helicopter early in the game.

One thing that I am noticing is the complete and utter lack of speed that the SSU were promoted to possess. Grand’ma and the Close Combat Squad (Fakyeli) are the only units with Assault in the first wave. The Helicopter provides a lot of options for the SSU, but can also be a giant target on the battlefield. It can be a little challenging to keep an aircraft alive since nothing blocks line of sight to and from aircraft and especially when there are upwards of 4 different anti-air units in your opponent’s army, three of which can start shooting at a range of 6. 40 points seems to be a bit much for the SSU Airborne Transport, but it has great anti-infantry capabilities, and the options a Carry Capacity of 8 brings to the table will help this unit shine in the future when the Commissars, SSU Heroes, and armor 3 infantry are released.

The Chinese Volunteers are a great inexpensive unit. They don’t look like much, but they’ll prove their worth when they throw 10 dice against armor 2 infantry and use their Agility skill to skillfully maneuver through the battlefield. 12 points is all that is needed for this small powerhouse.

The Battle Squad (Frontoviki) possesses a great amount of potential, but was a little disappointing. There are no extra skills or weapons associated with the unit (Assault, Fast, U.G.L., etc…). However, they are a great armor 1 and 2 anti-infantry unit at a range of 2. 19 points is too expensive for this unit with no usable vehicle killing power and minimal firepower against Aircraft… The Recon Boys are 4 points less yet have 2 U.G.L.’s (Ignore Cover) and better range (7 dice at a range of 4 versus 6 dice). The Recon Grenadiers are 3 points less and have a more powerful machine gun, roll more dice against armor 3 infantry (6 dice versus 5 dice), better range (8 dice at a range of 4 versus 6 dice), and have 3 Panzerfausts (Vehicle killing power). I feel that the cost of this unit should be 16 points, maybe 17 points at the most.

The Close Combat Squad (Fakyeli) was very impressive. While this unit emulates the Allied BBQ Squad, it has a couple significant differences.  First, the Fast Skill has been replaced with the one-time use Assault Skill (even the Axis equivalent has the Fast Skill). Second, the Molotov Cocktails can damage infantry and vehicles, but they are weaker against armor 5 thru 7 vehicles, where the BBQ Squads Demo Charges can only damage vechilces. An impressive unit made even more so when teamed up with a hero like Koshka. The Fighting Spirit Skill has great potential and aided the unit with some significant kills, such as reversing the Molotov Cocktail rolls against the Heinrich which turned 5 misses into 5 hits! The Badass Commissar would be great to use with this squad, since it will add another wound, PPSh-48 (range 2), the Badass skill (unlimited ammo as long as the Commissar is present in the unit), and possibly more. 28 points can make this squad seem a little too expensive for a Close Combat unit with no Fast Skill and it’s hard to find an opposing argument.

The Command Squad (The Medvedi) functions just the same as any other command squad. The main difference lies in the weaponry. Four range 2 PPSh-48’s, One range 4 DPM MG, and a Power Tool that allows the unit to damage any armor vehicle it comes across in battle. 44 points definitely accounts for the change in weaponry and I would say that the unit is unique and well balanced when compared to its counterparts in the Allies and Axis armies.

Koshka and Grand’ma were never paired up in this game. Koshka, like most Heroes, is very unimpressive on her own. Pairing her with a squad didn’t grant much survivability this time around, but she brought forth some devastation when her Fighting Spirit came to light. I can only imagine her Piloting Grand’ma and taking advantage of her Fighting Spirit with the Sulfur Thrower and VK enhanced Howitzer. Both of Grand’ma’s weapons ignore cover, giving her a great edge when targeting infantry (especially when used with the die reversal that the single use Fighting Spirit Skill adds when Piloted by Koshka). 18 points for Koshka is pretty much on par for the cost of Heroes. 36 points for Grand’ma is a good deal for a vehicle with limited range, 5 Health, and a single use Assault Skill.

The SSU are definitely made for close contact light infantry engagements (light meaning infantry armor 1 and 2). Effective kill ranges seem to be either 2 or 4, depending on the unit. The biggest challenge at the moment is that the SSU are a brand new faction. The First Wave is very akin to the original core set armies, so anybody expecting them to hold up well against heavier units is going to be disappointed. The SSU isn’t going to be up to speed with the other factions for at least another year. At the moment the SSU has a difficult time surviving against armor 3 infantry, massive amounts of anti-aircraft firepower, and the large variety of walkers available to the Axis and Allies. I would say to anyone discouraged towards playing the SSU to wait until the entire set of upcoming units drop before coming to any conclusions. Commissars are a huge unknown and will potentially add a great amount of diversity. I will say that the lack of Limited Ammo Weapons among the standard units kind of make the Badass Commissar inflexible since the Commissar can pretty much only be paired with the Fakyeli to make any use of his skill since they are the only unit with limited ammunition weapons other than The Drakoni themselves. However a player may have a full squad of Drakoni, and then add a single Commissar to double up on any one skill or special weapon, such as 2 Badass Skills, or 2 Assault Skills, or 2 Bazookas, or 2 Machine Guns, etc… A Fakyeli unit with unlimited Molotov Cocktails or a second Assault Skill to use (in a separate activation) is something to be feared, and will greatly improve their usefulness against Vehicles. Yakov will also add a great advantage to the SSU, since the unit he’s joined to, and each adjacent unit, get their cover value upgraded 1 step. Koshka and Red Yana both have the Fighting Spirit ability, and Grenade Weapons that will help blast through to enemies in hiding behind cover (this will be very useful in Dust Warfare and change the dynamic of the SSU completely). Nikolai will be able to move from walker to walker using his Take Aim Skill to reverse die rolls and cause even more devastation.

So many options await this faction. Helicopters will force the enemy to bring anti air units which then create an immediate vulnerability in their army. The SSU are limited but still a very fun faction to play, which held its own against some very effective Axis units. I look forward to the KV-47’s and the potential that they bring, though I fear the short weapon ranges will be more of a hindrance than a help when facing opposing walkers. The SSU Walker Transport and associated Air Lift KV’s will help to bring the Vehicle support that the SSU needs, though I feel the standard KV’s should have Assault over the Airlift KV’s. Perhaps there will be more Heroes in the future that will pilot vehicles and add abilities to increase their effectiveness, such as Self Repair, Assault, All In One, Berserk, etc... Another battle report with the SSU Specialists, Rifle Squad, and the first KV expansion will be finished shortly, so stay tuned for a future update! Good Gaming!!

Dust Tactics League Play! 06-24-2012

Red Castle Games saw the return of our league after a two week hiatus. A few games of Dust Warfare were played in between league nights, as well as a few games with the SSU for battle reports that will be featured in the DUST Fanzine! Today we continued our Operation Blue Thunder v2.0 League and finished up Scenarios 8 and 9. In addition we had a new player attend our league play, Jeffrey Durkauff! Nicholas played 2 small games with Jeffrey, one Axis v. Axis, the other SSU v. Axis. Jeffrey won the Axis v. Axis game, and Nicholas won the SSU v. Axis game (Nicholas played as the SSU in the second game). We will be returning to Red Castle next week to continue the league, which only has 6 games remaining before it’s finished!

Scenario 8: Evacuation

This is the last scenario of the original Operation Blue Thunder campaign book. The Attacker is trying to escape the installation and must have a single miniature in the Defenders deployment zone at the end of Turn 8 to gain a victory. Both armies start on opposite ends of the map, which is 3 tiles by 3 tiles.

John v. Justin

• Attacker:
  John – Allies: 248 points
  Bazooka Joe – Rhino – 13 Foxtrot – BBQ Squad – Death Dealers – Grim Reapers – Recon Boys – Tank Busters – The Gunners – Mickey – Wildfire
• Defender:
  Justin – Allies: 250 points
  Bazooka Joe – OZZ-177 – The Priest – BBQ Squad – Corps Officers – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Recon Boys – Recon Boys – Mickey

The action started in Turn 2 when John’s Allies took advantage of an opening and quickly eliminated a squad of Recon Boys. Justin’s Allies were able to get some revenge by eliminating the Death Dealers and Tank Busters. Ozz and his Grim Reapers tried to flank John’s army, but his Mickey made short work of the Hero and his squad at the end of the Turn. John’s Allies felt some more punishment in Turn 3 when Rhino and his Grim Reapers fell early in the round followed by Bazooka Joe and his BBQ Squad. Turn 4 saw the battle turn in favor of John’s Allied Army. Justin’s Bazooka Joe, BBQ Squad, and second group of Recon Boys fell in the Turn. More fire was exchanged in Turn 5 with Justin’s Allies losing the Corps Officers, The Priest, and Hell Boys. John lost the advantage of his Mickey, 13 Foxtrot, and his Gunner Rangers by the end of Turn 6. Turn 8 came down to Justin’s Mickey versus John’s Wildfire and Recon Boys. John positioned his units so that the Mickey had no chance of targeting both units, and could only focus fire on John’s Wildfire. The end of Turn 8 saw the destruction of John’s Wildfire, but his Recon Boys were alive and well in the objective space and the Victory went to John’s Allied army.

Victor: John – Allies

Victory Points:

• John – Attacker: 215 points 
• Justin – Defender: 233 points

Nicholas v. John

• Attacker:
  Nicholas – Axis: 249 points
  Grenadier X – Lara – Manfred – Markus – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers 
• Defender:
  John – Allies: 248 points
  Bazooka Joe – Rhino – 13 Foxtrot – BBQ Squad – Death Dealers – Grim Reapers – Recon Boys – Tank Busters – The Gunners – Mickey – Wildfire

The carnage started in Turn 3 when the Axis and Allied forces clashed in the center of the map. The Axis lost Totenmeister, her Axis Zombies, and a squad of Recon Grenadiers while the Allies lost their Recon Boys, BBQ Squad, and Death Dealers. Turn 4 saw an immediate continuation of the bloody engagement when Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers laid waste to the Grim Reapers and Bazooka Joe. Markus and his Gorillas did an effective job of closing distance on the Wildfire and Mickey, making short work of both walkers. The Allies did their fair share of damage by finishing off Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers immediately after they wrought their devastation, and made great use of Reactive Fire by eliminating Grenadier X and his Axis Zombies in the middle of their activation before they had a chance to further hurt the Allied forces! By the end of Turn 6 the Axis lost Manfred and his Recon Grenadiers, while the Allies lost Rhino and his Tank Busters along with the Gunner Rangers. The beginning of turn 7 saw only 1 unit for each force remaining. The Allies had their 13 Foxtrot guarding the objective zone, while the Axis had an injured Markus and his remaining Axis Gorilla (Markus was down to a single wound). The Allies won the initiative of Turn 8 and 13 Foxtrot was able to score 2 hits on the Gorillas, but 1 hit was saved by corner cover, allowing Markus to survive the engagement and continue the fight! 13 Foxtrot was defenseless against the gravely injured Markus, who made short work of the unit and moved into the objective square to gain a victory for the Axis.

Victor: Nicholas – Axis

Victory Points:

• Nicholas – Attacker: 248 points 
• John – Defender: 229 points

Scenario 9: The Race To Victory

This is the first of 3 extra scenarios from the Operation Blue Thunder Campaign book that is a part of the Terrain Tile Set. The Attacker deploys on a bridge and must get to the objective squares, which are mixed in with the Defenders deployment zone at the opposite end of the map. The trick here is that the Defender also has 4 deployment zones along the edges in the middle of the map, which allow the Defender the option of surrounding the attacking force as they deploy off the bridge. Each unit that the Attacker successfully escapes off the map is worth double points for the Attacker’s VP total. Full unit kills are scored as normal for each player. The player with the most Victory Points at the end of Turn 8 is the winner of the scenario. A very difficult scenario for any Attacker to win, since the map tiles are 3 wide by 4 deep with little cover and terrain to block line of sight for the approaching force. Quite possibly the new “Kobayashi Maru” scenario (The “old” Kobayashi Maru was Scenario 4 from the original Operation Blue Thunder Campaign Book, which was nearly impossible for any attacker to win before the release of Operation Seelöwe and the associated Heavy Infantry Units and Light Walkers).

Justin v. John

• Attacker:
  Justin – Allies: 300 points
  Bazooka Joe – Johnny One-Eye – OZZ-177 – Rhino – Crack Shots – Grim Reapers – Grim Reapers – The Gunners – The Gunners – Mickey – Mickey – Wildfire – Wildfire
• Defender:
  John – Allies: 296 points
  Bazooka Joe – Rhino – BBQ Squad – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Tank Busters – The Boss – The Hammers – Mickey – Mickey

Once again the action began in Turn 2 between the two Allied forces. John deployed his Tank Busters near the Allied deployment zone and finished off the Wildfire at the beginning of the turn, while Ozz and his Grim Reapers made a dash for the objective, only to fall to the BBQ Rangers just short of their goal. Turn 3 saw Justin’s Rhino and Grim Reapers fall to fire from John’s Mickey. Justin also lost his Gunner Rangers to fire from John’s Grim Reapers, but Justin’s remaining Wildfire made short work of the heavy infantry unit. Turn 4 saw Johnny and his Gunner Rangers take a bold chance in an attempt to destroy a damaged Mickey, but missed entirely, and then fell to the Sustained Fire retaliation from the target Mickey. John’s second Mickey made short work of the remaining Wildfire. The 3 final turns were pretty much a lock for John’s Allied forces. John lost his damaged Mickey in Turn 6, but took both of Justin’s Mickey’s in Turns 7 and 8. One was lost to a revived Tank Buster squad, and the other fell to Rhino and the Hammers’ powerful Rocket Punches. In a final act of desperation Justin’s remaining unit (Bazooka Joe) was able to make a Sustained Attack to eliminate John’s severely hurt Bazooka Joe and Hell Boys. Justin’s Bazooka Joe then fell to the remaining Mickey and victory was secured for John’s Allied forces. In Turn 7 the Crack Shots were able to make use of their Agility and escape the map while avoiding reactive fire from Bazooka Joe and his BBQ Rangers.

Victor: John – Allies

Victory Points:

• Justin – Attacker: 193 points
• John – Defender: 290 points

John v. Nick

• Attacker:
  John – Allies: 296 points
  Bazooka Joe – Rhino – BBQ Squad – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Tank Busters – The Boss – The Hammers – Mickey – Mickey
• Defender:
  Nicholas – Axis: 299 points
  Grenadier X – Lara – Manfred – Markus – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Beobachter – Heavy Kommandotrupp – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers – Sniper Grenadiers

This engagement was quick and brutal. Turn 1 saw the Allied Mickey fall to a flanking attack by Grenadier X and his Zombies, while Markus and his Gorillas made a similar maneuver to eliminate the Tank Busters. Rhino and his Hammers fell early in Turn 2, while Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers focused their attack on The Boss Squad to eliminate the Command Unit. By the end of Turn 2 the Allies also lost Bazooka Joe, Hell Boys, Grim Reapers, and the second Mickey. The only Axis troops to not be involved in the battle at this point were both squads of Recon Grenadiers, Manfred, and Beobachters who were holding the objective line. All the Allies had left for turn 3 was the BBQ Squad, but the undead units made short work of the Assault Rangers for an Axis victory!

Victor: Nicholas – Axis

Victory Points:

• John – Attacker: 0 points
• Nicholas – Defender: 296 points

A quick write up from Nicholas on the game he played with Jeffrey:

Jeffery - Axis:

Sigrid

Laser Grenadiers

Heavy Recon Grenadiers

Lothar

Nicholas - Axis:

Sturmpioneers

Stefan

Angela

Sniper Grenadiers

Heinrich

This was Jeffrey’s first game with the group. We played on a 9 x 9 tile map. It was a king of the hill scenario with the objective inside a one story building. Nicholas’ Axis quickly captured the objective with his Sturmpioneers lead by Stefan. Jeffrey moved his Heavy Recon into the building but line of sight to the defending Sturmpioneers was blocked by an interior wall. Nicholas moved the Sniper Grenadiers lead by Angela outside of the building to strike Jeffrey’s Lothar with her powerful 20 mm sniper rifle. As the Lothar and Angela exchanged fire, Jeffrey moved his Laser Grenadiers lead by Sigrid flanking the Sturmpioneers. Jeffery’s win on turn 3 allowed the Laser Grendadiers to move and fire using Sigrid’s Berserk ability wiping out the Stumpioneers. The same turn also saw the Lothar move past the Sniper Grenadiers cover, wiping out Angela and the two man squad. The Heavy recon moved forward taking the objective square. During the next turn the Heinrich moved forward as the Laser Grenadiers found a firing position at one of the building doors. On turn 5 the Heinrich won the initiative causing the Laser Grenadiers to take a loss and damage Sigrid. The Laser Grenadiers and Sigrid returned fire taking down the Heinrich.

Winner:

• Jeffrey 108 points 
• Nicholas 0 points