Sunday 13 January 2013

A Hard Spearhead Night

Good afternoon,

Last night, Robin invited Andrew, Stan and me around for a lets-through-down-some-figures-and-have-fun Spearhead game. And a good time was indeed had by all.

I took my Germans, Stan Robin's Russians (so many T-34s...), with Andrew 'helping' me, and Robin assisting Stan.

My original plan was to concentrate my forces of the left of the table, essentially ignoring the right...





...my plan being to plan on my new Samsung Smart PC Tablet, using it's own camera...



Andy thought that my plan would take too long to implement, so had the bright idea of striking out to the right, where Stan would not be expecting it.


I had to admit, I liked the idea of doing something unexpected, and the valley did protect my flank up to the bridge, so, not thinking too much more about it I figured...why not?

So, away we went.





Nasty nasty T-34s lying in wait. Or reserve, as it happened. Why didn't I think to do that?!

And yet more were guarding the valley across from the bridge.


Robing taking photos for his own report of the evening's events!


Andy quickly took our first objective, the town nearest our base line...


...while I carried on up the valley towards the aforementioned bridge on my right...



...and Stan prepared to stop me.


Unfortunately...you remember that horde of T-34s that were in reserve in the centre? Well, Stan unleashed them, popping them up to the crest of the hill to fire across the valley...right into the flank of my poor Pz IVs.



They, and the a-fore mentioned other T-34s supported by an anti tank gun...





Stink!




Double stink! (That's the new [Windows 8] tablet in the background, playing the most bellicose music I could find - Star Wars soundtracks!)

Meanwhile, on the other flank...



...not a lot happened. Robin slowly advanced his battalion, while Andy's sat tight.

Right, time for some payback, thought I. I unleashed the might 88 from the Tigers.


Really?


Oh, come on!

To add insult to injury, the remaining Pz IV (one fighting stand, plus unit commander) fail their moral test (fair enough!), and run for the hills!



Both Tigers survive flank shots and finally get over the bridge. One more turn, and I could turn them to face their opponents front on. In the meantime, lets have another crack at them.


Oh, come on!


Well, he won't be doing that again!

And then the other one gets suppressed.


Really?

Next turn, with the suppression lifted, I turn and prepare to fire again...


...but Stan's stationary vehicles get to shoot first.



Stink!

At this point I change my plan...



...look over the field of battle...



...and concede the game.


Well played Stan, well played!

Nick

10 comments:

  1. Just goes to show you Nick, even the best laid plans mate.

    Good looking game all the same with some great eye candy present.

    Well done all.

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    1. Ahh, but that's kinda the point. They weren't the best laid of plans! Had I actually thought about it I would have deployed the Tiger/Infantry battalion on the right, perhaps with the Pz IVs right of centre actually facing the town top right of the table.

      Instead I meandered across the face of Stan's waiting tank reserve. He couldn't believe his luck!

      Still, the mission was accomplished - we pushed some cool toys around and had a good time!

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  2. The question is, what would you have done differently, or was it all down to some dismal dice rolls?
    I hope you get some victories soon bro :)
    Great to see your WW2 stuff get another outing too.

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    1. It's never a good idea to wonder across the face of waiting T-34s!

      Should the same situation present itself again, I would either stick with Plan A (refuse one flank and try to turn the other), or as I mentioned to Paul above - approach the other flanks objective face on, not side on!

      But all in all, another fun game - this WW2 stuff is rather more-ish!

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  3. Man, that's a lot of one's on the dice! I like the commentary on the photos about "pop smoke, change of underwear" and "BOOM." Looks like it was a fun game!

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    1. Thanks Bard, yeah it was a fun game!

      To be fair, the bulk of my ones were from the Tigers!

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  4. Nick

    Nice report... these games are fun.. possibly as much in the post match dissection??? LOL

    Robin

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    1. Thanks Robin. I really like the way you turned your report into a story. Well done that man!

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  5. great game, cool pictures and write-up Nick

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    1. Thanks Al. Yeah, it was a fun evening.

      You're shooting through soon aren't you? All the best over the ditch. Are you going to teach over there or try your hand elsewize?

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