Lessons Learned - A Bridge Too Near?

Well, the project I have been working my tail off on has finally been playtested, and there's a lot to learn from this. I think overall, the scenario works, but as this is my first river crossing game, I did make some rookie mistakes, or at least, I think I did....anyhow, 6 of us met at the Games Tavern in Chantilly, which I have spoken about before on "500 Miles...", and the staff went OUT of their way to accommodate us. Thanks so much, Doshu! I wish more game stores were like this. Well done to Games Tavern indeed.

The Good:

• Was for the most part, pretty well organized, though I need to do better organizing the troops into units, I think I am going to color code bases to make that easier. Shouldn't be TOO odious a project.
• I did a decent job of keeping the game moving once we got started, and we played to a conclusion, even if that conclusion was a bit of a British curbstomp of the Germans.
• My alternate plan for the British worked...after a fashion, but I really need to potentially give the British another alternative, perhaps a transport with some rubber rafts?
• We got done in 10 turns (granted, the German BR went from 75 to 29 and showed no sign of slowing down), but yes, this was a rough one for the Germans. 

The Bad:

• I forgot the damn Churchills. I did a packing list, on my phone...which I don't think works as well as paper (the wife pointed that out and boy, is she right).
• I still cannot seem to get the artillery in BG right, or is it my confidence levels in getting it right, I still cannot tell?
• I should have split up the experienced players, but their both being British did keep the game moving.
• I should have had the Volksgrenadier be the starting force, and the Volkssturm be the reinforcement option. I think I need to have set forces, and take this out of the hands of the players.
• River Crossing games make for some of the most complicated wargaming I have ever done, and yeah, I need to get some opinions from the internet brain trust (the wife said, "ask Piers", Piers, if that isn't a damned endorsement, I do not know what is?)
• 7 turns was too long for the Germans to expect to hold on without reinforcements.
• Should have moved the river closer to the middle, give the Brits less travel time, and the Germans more depth.
• The German OOB may need some work.
• Learn to take a breath and not get overwhelmed. It's a game and as long as people have fun, let it be.

All in all, it went well for a playtest, learned a lot, and I think it will be better next time. Now that said, I will be color coding my figure bases and finishing up the flocking. I think once that is achieved, setup will go faster, much faster.

Some players also suggested allowing the Germans a rear guard on the British side of the river, but I wonder if that is counter-intuitive to speeding up the game a hair?

Anyhow, here are the pictures!

The British objective was simple, get units off the British edge (the Germans had to pull one chit for every British squad or vehicle that got off their edge). The Germans had to simply hold on and prevent this, and collapse the British morale, somehow....

The game itself started off with the British making an approach march along the road to the bridge, and there being some desultory fire from both sides. The Germans blew the bridge in the face of the British, and a British tank was pinned as a result. Later fire from a German Hetzer took out the only British tank lost, as the British scrambled to shift the Churchill down from their right to replace the bridge at the center. This took three turns whereby the German Mk IIIN and the Marder II were both knocked out by British fire. A Typhoon strike took out the Flak 88 and caused more mayhem. This was in conjunction with the British recon elements and their FO calling in very accurate artillery fire (2 25lbr batteries and a 4.5in battery). 

After the bridge was deployed, the British rushed across, deploying their motor battalion and combat engineers to overrun the weak German defenses in a series of brutal close combats (and yet another lesson in why Flamethrowers in BG might be a bit overpowered, one took out an entire VS squad in a building without a second thought).

The British then ran the entire truck mounted British airborne platoon off the table, and inflicted more losses, which even the late arriving reinforcements (which the German player could begin to dice for on turn 7, that's going to change), could not stop. With the German BR sinking to 29 out of 75 and showing no sign of ceasing to drop, the game was called and a British victory was awarded.

PS: I just realized, this is Post #20 here at Festungplatz..well, on to September!!!

And here are the vehicles!

Well, I have done it..60 plus figures and 7 vehicles in two weeks! Good lord I have not been this productive in a long while. I can tell you I learned some things (any good painter always learns things from any project), and good lord, this was no exception.

First off, pictures:

I learned that a) I am not totally ecstatic about the Ammo Wargames colors, while the Dunklegelb '44 shades are right on, the Rottbraun seems a bit...too red-orange, it's simply not deep enough. I also learned I probably should have used a three-color method on the green. That said. I am very happy with how everything turned out, especially the British vehicles and the Marder.

For the Marder, I primed it black, then hit it with a PSC coat of German Armor Yellow, this was then heavily drybrushed over with a coat of Ammo Dunkelgelb Aus '44 III. It took a couple of coats to get it right, but it worked out. I then applied the basics of the camo pattern, taken (loosely) from the AK book "1945". After a blackwash with the Magik Mudd Wash, and use of the Ammo Dunkelgelb Highlights, I painted all the exposed metallic parts P3 Pig Iron, which I have come to like for weapons parts as it is dark, matte, with a bit of an oily sheen, like any well cared for weapon should have. I then painted the tools and treads ala the FoW book "Colors of War" which while the rules may be rubbish, they do have some good painting advice. (For the tracks I started with BF Red Oxide, then followed up with a heavy drybrush of Ammo NATO Brown, then BF Manstein Shade, and finished with BF Rocket Steel). As for the tools, I used Ammo NATO Brown for the handles and BF Rocket Steel for the metallic parts. I then hit the tow cables with BF Manstein Shade to give it a bit of an oily finish.

After that, I applied the decals, and painted the crew, they got a paintjob of Vallejo German Feldgrau, their seats being BF Worn Rubber, and I did some the binoculars and boots as well as the officer's visor being Ammo Matt Black. The rear exhaust was a concoction of BF Red Oxide, followed up by a stippling of Citadel Ryza Rust, and then hit with a bit of BF Manstein Shade.

After all that, as if it wasn't exhaustive enough, I applied decals (Alcaran numbers and Balkankruz) and hit them with both Microsol and Micro Set. After that, I dusted the entire vehicle with a flayed brush with Secret Weapon's Light Sand Color, and did a light chipping with of all things, Vallejo's Game Color's Smoky Ink and a bit of a sponge taken from a figure pack. It did a great stand-in for the lousy bottle of AK Chipping Color I got.

All in all, a lot of work, but it came out looking pretty glorious, especially so for the Mark III which I thought was an unmitigated disaster at first.

The British were similar. I hit them with the PSC British Armor Spray, then painted the tarp Vallejo English Uniform, then a Magik Mudd Wash, wish I then carefully cleaned up with more Vallejo English Uniform and Russian Uniform in the appropriate places, after that, did some edging with some Russian Uniform with about 20% White, and then painted the tires a base of Ammo Matt Black, then highlighted with BF Worn Rubber. I then applied decals, or in some cases, painted details on (this was especially true on the Churchill AVRE I painted up), and then weathered them just like the Germans, it was especially fun to go a bit nuts with the chipping on the bridge.

So, all in all, I had a very productive two weeks, and I cannot wait to see how this game runs. I will take pictures and let you all know with a proper AAR of course.