Weekend Update

 The ridiculously hot and humid weather here in SE PA has made life miserable, especially since my civvy job is normally at -20 degrees F. Anything that involves me being outside for any length time literally sucks the energy out of me. 

Fortunately, I have chores inside for most of the day and an early completion of most of them (running low on coffee, so that's one trip that MUST be done) means I can take stock of this past week. 

Work has been quite busy, but I've managed to get in one game last weekend with the crew up in NE PA and get some work done on hills for my El Guettar game at Historicon. 

First up, on the 29th of June I was able to get to Kingston, PA and run my most recent test drive of El Guettar to fine tune some things for Historicon. 

John the OFM (left) and Roger B. (right)

Mike S. was our host (who provided very tasty and very LARGE sandwiches for our mid-game break) and we had John the OFM, Roger, Jim K. and Mike play the dastardly Germans of the 10th Panzer Division. For the Yankee Doodle Dandies, it was Darrell, JIM B., and Mark C defending the avenue of approach to the oasis and village at El Guettar. 

The objective of the Germans was to get off the road on the other side of the board. The Americans had to stop them. I gave each side four tanks. If you look closely, the tanks are highly accurate reproductions as per the movie "Patton", upon which this game is based. 

We used What A Tanker for the rules, but I opted not to use the infantry (with the rules mods) for this game to keep things simpler for the players. Which in the end was a Good Idea. 

Turn 2 and Mark went BOOM! 

As it went, the German struggled to hit anything after Mark's first tank went up in flames. And the Americans struggled to move. Darrell, in fact, rolled double ones on his first turn when trying to move, causing his to stall out and lose the rest of his turn. And he continued to roll about that same level for the rest of the game. 

The Immobile Farce...looking very...statuesque.

Jim the Paint Scratcher, make American Motor Sergeants mad with all the dings and dents

The game went 12 turns over three hours, not including a half-time break for supper. Eventually, the Germans were able to maneuver their tanks around the immobile Americans, who could shoot, but just couldn't get any Move dice. Ultimately the Germans managed to get two tanks off the board, with one damaged and one destroyed. The Yanks had one tank in flames, one badly damaged, one whose crew bailed out and were cowering somewhere waiting to be slapped by Georgie Boy Patton, and Darrell's lumbering tank that maybe moved 12 inches all night. 

Overall, things went well for what I needed to see in the game. I have a couple of more adjustments to make, but it's ready for Prime Time. 

And of course, it wouldn't be a PAWM club game without...

The flaming wreck of the tank commanded by Herr Oberst Johann von OFM (not shot in the back by his own side, but from the front by Darrell in his lumbering tank)