KG Stachwitz

Yesterday, the Gametowne boys of San Diego got together at Gametowne to play out a battle from Unternehmen Zitadelle using Mein Panzer rules.  The Germans were outnumbered 2:1, which seemed to make it a fair fight, given the superiority of the Pz VI E's and the Pz V A's [should be the 'D' model], even with their teething problems.  There were a fair amount of Pz IV H's in the fight, as well.  All of these tanks were up against the redoubtable T-34/76, which should have been no match for the tough German tanks.  Well, superior maneuver by the Soviets undid much of that advantage, and the Germans lost when they only managed to trade one for one in tank losses.  I was somewhat at a loss to explain their defeat, but defeat it was, and rather too handily.  I identified some problems with the scenario, and also made the requisite number of refereeing errors.  These tended to wash out for both sides.  Will have to consider what happened the last time the scenario was played, when the Germans thoroughly beat up on the Soviets on their way to a victory.

Saturday, I played in an ongoing campaign with the Anaheim-based Saturday Night Irregulars, revolving around Buttdorf, a fictional battle somewhere on the German border.  We now are facing off against attacking German Pz IV's somewhere in the vicinity of 8-4/8-5 (see map to left).  So far, the Germans have mounted a totally successful attack on an unoccupied hill.  We will see how they do when they find out where the US forces are.

Our next gaming event will be a non-ODGW game, Formula D, a Euro-style Formula One racing game.  It has a nice balance of random elements and tactics that keep the game interesting, as well as numerous Grand Prix race courses from around the world.  Should be a good time, and a welcome change from strict wargaming death and destruction.

advertising

One of the best places to advertise, even better than taking out an ad in the convention program, is to have an event listed in the Historicon PEL.  It gets more scrutiny than any other description of the event.  So new editions and redesigns are well-positioned in games that make the deadline for the online PEL.

Iron-banging fun

Sometimes you just want to bang away with tanks in a WWII game.  There is no better place than Kursk, 1943, for this type of battle, and that is the scenario coming up this Sunday for the San Diego Gametowne group. Hammer and tongs, all the way.  No poor, bloody infantry to get in the way of the mayhem.  We will see how the vile Nazis fare against the despicable Bolsheviks.  No kudos to either side for winning.

New offering

ODGW is currently in negotiation for a new series that will further enhance its naval complement of games.  More will be revealed as soon as the negotiations are completed.

Happiness is...

...a new game.  Nothing buoys the spirits like a new game, or module, or book.  It means hours of pleasure tearing into the thing and trying it out.  To go along with this, I have started the process of divesting myself of games that are good, but that I will never play again.  It is time to admit it — there never will be enough time and, quite frankly, interest.  So up the games will go, on ebay, BoardgameGeek, and other places.  Just trying to get the most I can as I sell these items off.  No doubt it will hurt, but that is the way it should be.  Getting rid of the games will free up so much space — space I do not have.