Tonight I ran a WWII skirmish game at the HAWKs night. Don Hogge brought the figures and set up the terrain for a scenario he has previously run with Battleground. I was curious to compare the outcome from a Battleground game to the outcome with these rules.
The scenario involved two American squads with a Sherman tank and two German squads and a Pz. IV H vying for control of a farmhouse.
I had revised the Action cards to reflect the new morale rules. I also let players use grenades pretty freely to make sure that was working okay. Finally, this was the first time I allowed for any vehicle vs. vehicle action.
The game began with a bang as the Pz. IV scored a hit on the Sherman, resulting in a track hit.
The Germans got to the house first and put half a squad on the second floor with a couple of folks remaining on the ground floor. At the same time, the German tank moved around the house and ran over a couple of Americans taking cover next to the wall. Many of the Americans got over the wall and assaulted the German-held building.
The Sherman fired at the German tank as it was smashing the American squad. The first hit bounced off the front. The second hit struck the front glacis, penetrated, and caused the ammunition to explode. The immobile Sherman then turned its attention to pumping 75mm HE into the upper-story windows. (I’ve never liked WWII games in which tanks were placed hub to hub across the table. In this picture, it looks like one of those games. This is because a non-penetrating hit on the Pz. IV by the Sherman caused the driver to flinch and lurch forward. That’s when the Sherman knocked it out.)
I was generally happy with the infantry combat, but I need to work on the vehicle combat a bit. We had a couple of new guys tonight who had never played this game before, but they caught on very quickly, which was good. We have to work out a few fiddly things, but it mostly worked.
