AAR and Rules Questions

Had a great game last night at The Last Square with Joe (Keamma).  I tried the 11th Armoured PDF list from Battlefront and Joe played SS Fallschirmjaeger from either HH or ABtF.  So it was a good historical matchup.  The interesting part of the 11th PDF is that you get CT and not RV.

1750 LW

My list of Armoured Recce

Command HQ - 2 Cromwells
HQ Support - Cromwell CS

Combat Platoons:
2 Armoured Recce Platoons - 3 Cromwells and 1 Challenger

Support Platoons:
1 Full Platoon of US Paras
2 Guns Sections (8 guns) of Priests, one with base AA MG guns, the other section with .50cal.

4 platoons.  Pretty small, but I am attacker.  Unless we roll Encounter, I am on the table.

Mission:

Encounter.  Of course it is.

I don't know everything Joe had as it all did not make the table.  But this is what I think he had:

3 platoons FJ
1 platoon Jagpanzer (4)
Some "hero" that allows people to rise from the dead.  Say what?!?!?!  Are they Necrons?!?!?
2 platoon of mortars
1 platoon of recoiless rifle or something
One more platoon that I don't remember, but he had 8 platoons total.

Table had good terrain.  He rolled as "attacker" and chose the table side that was most beneficial to him to "defend".

He placed 3 FJ platoons and the Jagpanzers.

I placed the Paras and one Recce Cromwell platoon.

Game recap:

I rolled to go first.  I tried to digin my paras to defend both objectives.  Failed.  I was timid with the croms, moving around some woods and put a crom to take a long shot at the Jagpanzer.  Miss.

On his trun, Joe tried to digin one FJ platoon on the objective.  Fail.  He moved the other 2 platoons forward towards my defensive zone in the cover to trees.  Jagpnazers shuffled a little, took a shot with no results on the croms.

My next turn, I moved my HQ with the "leaderless platoon of the CS" in double time to quickly bypass the FJ and get to the rear.  Rules questions - see my post on the flames of war forum in the rules section.  While Joe and I agreed that I could do what I did, I am looking for verification.  Took a few shots from the croms and I brewed one.

The next few turns bleed together in my mind.  The net result is that I kill 2 of the Jagpanzers and he kills 2 croms.  My HQ makes it to the objective and Joe has to move the Jagpanzers over to defend.  His FJ moves towards my now dugin and gone to ground paras.

Turn 4:

With his FJ ready to pounce, I roll for reserves and get one platoon.  I then roll for scattered and I get the table edge.  8 Priests, plus 2 observer tanks arrive just in time to machine gun the snot out of the FJs.  I gut one of the platoons.  The other loses just one stand.  The warrior guy gets another stand back from the dead.  Whatever.

On his turn he unpins everyone and assaults.  The gutted platoon actually pulls back to woods, leaving the other FJ platoon to do the dirty work.  They asault the paras.  After about 4 rounds of assaults, my paras are wiped and he has (I think) 4 stands left.  Joe has not received reserves yet.

Turn 5:

Crom HQ and CS contesting and focus fire on one of the two remaining jagpanzers in the woods.  Nothing.  I get my last reserves on the table.  I machine gun the remaining FJ platoons and end up destroying one platoon and the CiC.  I force a morale check on the other and Joe fails the platoon morale - rolled a 2.  His warrior gets to reroll and all he needs is a 2+.  He rolls a 1.  Both FJ platoons are gone.  The third leaves the objective and assaults one of the crom platoons.  He passes tank terror, saves all his infantry saves from defensive fire and proceeds to do nothing on the assault.  I break off.  His 2 Jagpanzers don't do anything against the Croms.

Game ends on time.

Result:

Draw 3-2 me.  He wiped my paras and I killed and ran off 2 FJs.

Thoughts:

I like the CT option for the company.  Protected ammo and Confident are really nice on unbailing tanks.  I am becoming a fan of the 11th Armoured PDF.

I still need to pick up the pace of play.

I still need to be a bit more agressive on the whole.  I was really aggressive with the HQ, but I should have rushed the Jagpanzers with the other armoured recce platoon.

I never fired the arty, but rather they became MG platforms.  It worked really, really nice.

I love semi indirect fire.  That is how I killed 2 of the Jagpazers.

I just had to "go" there!

I couldn't help myself.  After listening to the WWPD podcast and then wading in on the discussion regarding rules, I just popped.

I am getting pretty frustrated with rules and interpretations.  I am THE FIRST to admit that I am by no means a rules expert.  Quite the opposite.  If you want proof, read my earlier posts!!

But I have an issue with the fact that MALFTF is longer than the rulebook.  I repectfully disagree with another poster that says that is not the case.  Yes, MALFTF has to repeat the questions.  But the rulebook has all those pretty pictures and boxes!!  And they are very good pictures!!

But here is my post (reprinted with my own permission):

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Consider this an open letter to Battlefront.

I just posted on the topic regarding aircraft concealment and I used an analogy that is really troubling me.

The rules of golf are fairly short and are published as a pamphlet / book in the USA (USGA). The page size is smaller than the soft cover FoW rulebook and my copy is bound together by staples (granted it is a little old).

But the clarification to the rules look like the Encyclopedia Brittanica. The test to be a rules official is very difficult because of the rules exceptions and clarifications.

The FoW rulebook is a good size. But MALFTF is bigger!! You must remember that the rules have extra "content" at the end. So we have rules, then clarification to the rules that are even longer.

Now do not get me wrong - I think Phil has done a really, really good job with rules that make the game fun to play. And I am not looking to make more rules or complicated rules. I do need a reminder periodically that FoW is a game. However, I would like concise and clear rules.

But a game that has 103 pages of rules clarifications, followed by 42 pages of rules clarifications of the add-on books just seems to be a little "off." The last thing I want to do in a tournament is pull out the rulebook, then pull out MALFTF, then pull out emails from Phil to either prove or disprove a point. Imagine the lively discussion over concealment from aircraft during an actual tournament.

And what is puzzling even further is that great players and posters here are split on many of the rule interpretations. I trust my fellow players more than I trust my own interpretation of the rules. So when I see trusted players on two different sides, I start to scratch my head and think the issue is not the players, but rather the actual rules.

Just my (frustrated) opinion.

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Ahhh.  I feel better now.

Etiquette Question

I was stealing, err reading a post on "The Dads" about etiquette and how you play a friendly game.  This really got me thinking because of a few situations that happened during the most recent tournament.

Question #1:

How do you treat a rules mistake after the game is completely over?

Situation - In my first game, I moved my Stewies At The Double to get them within 4" of an objective in the 2nd Turn.  When my 3rd Turn started, I "held" the objective and ended the game.  After posting my AAR on the flames of war site, someone pointed out that this is not legal.  The rules state that a platoon that moved At The Double cannot contest an objective the next turn.  I totally forgot / did not know and neither did my opponent.  So what do you do?  Since the game is over, is that it?  I will state that I believe I would have still won the game, but you never know how the fickle dice will roll.


Question #2:

Do you remind an opponent of a rule, even when it is absolutely NOT in your favor to do so?

Situation - In my second game, I had closed in on the objective and wiped out my opponent's KVs.  The only thing he had left was infantry that he had to use in an assault.  I have 3 Shermans and 4 Stewies crowded in the area.  There was area terrain (woods) that his infantry were hiding out in.  As I was positioning my Stewies, my opponent (Dave) reminded me that if I have a vehicle within 4" of the woods, he would be able to assault and I would not get defensive fire.  While I knew that (kind of - wink, wink), it jostled my memory and I made sure I was just beyond 4".  Now, he absolutely did NOT need to do that and it was completely NOT in his favor.  Would you have done this?  That is why I think he was the best sport in the tournament.  Now, I still think he loses the game, but maybe not as bad, had he assaulted and I did not have Defensive Fire.

Situation - In my third game, I was channeling the spirit of "stupid placements of platoon leaders" and left my Stewie's platton leader out on the end.  Bye bye.  Now one of the problems fielding Americans is that when the platoon leader goes, they can't move.  But there is a rule where the CiC or the 2iC can move within command distance and appoint another leader.  I admit that I DID NOT KNOW this rule.  I also admit that knowing the rules is my responsibility.  Got it.  But my opponent knew (or thought it might be) and did not say anything.  He only mentioned it after the game and even then, he said the he was not too sure.  That is the benefit of playing Germans!  If you were my opponent and you knew the rule, what would you have done?

I have decided that if I know a rule and even if it is not to my benefit, I will remind my opponent.  And I will do so before it is too late for them to do anything.  That is a little different than the answer I posted on "The Dads" site.  But as I reflect, I think that the spirit of the game - even in competition - should weigh more.