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Fort Worth Gamers: gaming session 01/27/24
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Michael Ward
Jan 27, 2024, 7:49:04 PM1/27/24
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This was another of our regularly scheduled Saturday afternoon game sessions. We had two gamers on this rather cool afternoon.
Today’s game was my Memoir ‘44; well known to Jeff G and myself. Today we again delved into the Winter Wars expansion box. All of its scenarios are set during the Battle of the Bulge (December 16-30, 1944).
First up, scenario #2 “Clervaux - The Road to Bastogne.” We used the “snow covered” side of the game board as this battle took place in the dead of winter. And of course we used the snow covered tiles. This battle took place on December 16-17th. The map had many roads and frozen river hexes. Plus, a smattering of hills, woods, and small towns. There is a castle on the Americans back row, plus two small towns, that are all worth a VP each to the Germans.
Besides the usual way of achieving victory points (eliminating enemy units), the Germans can also gain VP’s by exiting units off the board edge/corners via two roads. Yet American armored units prowl near the exit hexes, making the German’s journey quite perilous.
The board has an extensive road network. The river Our runs laterally across 83% of the board, keeping the German armor from being able to move off their back row until they can throw a pontoon bridge or two across the frozen river. That can only be done if the Germans play an Attack card. When they do, that’s all they can do that turn (as its a major effort to build a bridge in freezing / snowing weather).
Unusual, this battle is to 8 medals (not the standard six). So its going to take a while longer than most battles.
As to units, there were some that were relatively new to us; tank destroyers, of which the Americans had one. They shot farther (out to four hexes), but rolled less dice (only two).
In our first battle, Jeff took the Allied (American) forces, while I commanded the German troops. And... it seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r for me to draw an Attack card. When I did I built a pontoon bridge across the frozen river on my left flank. Alas I spent the rest of the game trying in vain to draw another Attack card, so that my troops on my right could also cross the frozen river. So it took quite a while for my Germans to come to grips with the Americans in close combat. (That why this game took so long.)
Normally Jeff and I always play a scenario twice in one sitting, turning the board around after the first game. Not today! For just playing this scenario once took as long as playing two.
As to the flow of today’s battle, My Germans lost almost twice as many figurines as Jeff’s Americans. Why? Because for the most part all the American’s had to do was just sit in place (in woods,, towns, behind sandbags etc.) and wait for me to expose my troops to fire by moving out in the open. In the end I was surprised how man enemy units I did manage to destroy considering the uphill odds my Germans were up against.
Scores: Jeff G / Americans 8, Michael W / Germans 6. Duration: a whopping hour and 49 minutes! There were 38 discards, and six Combat Cards had been used. Figurine losses: Germans 20, Americans 35!
When next Jeff and I engage in battle we’ll be playing this scenario again. As there was not time enough today to turn the board around for another go.
See BoardgameGeek http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ for more information on the games mentioned above. And if you're in the area on Saturday afternoon feel free to join us for a game.
--
Michael Ward
Fort Worth Gamers
And check out our MeetUp page http://www.meetup.com/FortWorthGamers/ .
Today’s game was my Memoir ‘44; well known to Jeff G and myself. Today we again delved into the Winter Wars expansion box. All of its scenarios are set during the Battle of the Bulge (December 16-30, 1944).
First up, scenario #2 “Clervaux - The Road to Bastogne.” We used the “snow covered” side of the game board as this battle took place in the dead of winter. And of course we used the snow covered tiles. This battle took place on December 16-17th. The map had many roads and frozen river hexes. Plus, a smattering of hills, woods, and small towns. There is a castle on the Americans back row, plus two small towns, that are all worth a VP each to the Germans.
Besides the usual way of achieving victory points (eliminating enemy units), the Germans can also gain VP’s by exiting units off the board edge/corners via two roads. Yet American armored units prowl near the exit hexes, making the German’s journey quite perilous.
The board has an extensive road network. The river Our runs laterally across 83% of the board, keeping the German armor from being able to move off their back row until they can throw a pontoon bridge or two across the frozen river. That can only be done if the Germans play an Attack card. When they do, that’s all they can do that turn (as its a major effort to build a bridge in freezing / snowing weather).
Unusual, this battle is to 8 medals (not the standard six). So its going to take a while longer than most battles.
As to units, there were some that were relatively new to us; tank destroyers, of which the Americans had one. They shot farther (out to four hexes), but rolled less dice (only two).
In our first battle, Jeff took the Allied (American) forces, while I commanded the German troops. And... it seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r for me to draw an Attack card. When I did I built a pontoon bridge across the frozen river on my left flank. Alas I spent the rest of the game trying in vain to draw another Attack card, so that my troops on my right could also cross the frozen river. So it took quite a while for my Germans to come to grips with the Americans in close combat. (That why this game took so long.)
Normally Jeff and I always play a scenario twice in one sitting, turning the board around after the first game. Not today! For just playing this scenario once took as long as playing two.
As to the flow of today’s battle, My Germans lost almost twice as many figurines as Jeff’s Americans. Why? Because for the most part all the American’s had to do was just sit in place (in woods,, towns, behind sandbags etc.) and wait for me to expose my troops to fire by moving out in the open. In the end I was surprised how man enemy units I did manage to destroy considering the uphill odds my Germans were up against.
Scores: Jeff G / Americans 8, Michael W / Germans 6. Duration: a whopping hour and 49 minutes! There were 38 discards, and six Combat Cards had been used. Figurine losses: Germans 20, Americans 35!
When next Jeff and I engage in battle we’ll be playing this scenario again. As there was not time enough today to turn the board around for another go.
See BoardgameGeek http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ for more information on the games mentioned above. And if you're in the area on Saturday afternoon feel free to join us for a game.
--
Michael Ward
Fort Worth Gamers
And check out our MeetUp page http://www.meetup.com/FortWorthGamers/ .
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