AIW AAR - Israeli Infantry Company vs UAR Tank - Hold The Line

Hello All and welcome to our first AIW AAR. A picture from the first game. As you know we have been collecting armies for a tale of four gamers challenge after which we wanted to do three AARs with the armies. This is the first game and sees my Israelis vs Adam's UAR, well not quite. We did start a first game which was fighting withdrawal but Adam's plane killed both of my Sho'ts in two turns and my Jeeps got MG'd shortly afterwards. So we rolled for another mission and got Hold The Line. I decided against trying to Night Attack and tried to defend the village.

Israeli Infantry Company HQ Full Infantry (without transports) + Blindside Full Infantry (without transports) + Blindside Recce Jeeps 4 AT Jeeps 2 Sho'ts 4 Heavy Mortars

UAR Tank Battalion HQ T-55 7 T-55 + Stabilzers 7 T-55 + Stabilzers 6 PT-76 + 4 BTR-50PK 2 ZSU-57-2

AAR 3RTR vs FJ - No Retreat - Firestorm in the City

Myself and Winner got together for some FoW for Cameron's Firestorm Caen Campaign. We agreed that we wanted something a little more interesting than British Para's vs FJ's, so I bust out the 3RTR from overlord.

We each put together a 1500 point list and rolled to see which Beach I'd be hitting - we got Gold beach - I opted for the actual firestorm troops, where as Winner opted for the extra Points.

After Action Review - One Day Late War Tournament at IBuyWargaming

On Saturday 31 October I braved the suburban wilderness of Woking to take part in a one day Late War tournament at their local gaming store, IBuyWargames

The tournament was organised by our very own Fez and was a 1675pts open affair with no restrictions.

The venue was very nice and very welcoming and the action took place in the store itself, with a couple of games taking place upstairs in their dedicated gaming area.  This had the advantage of putting the action on display for all the customers on the day to see and ask questions about, something which I am always in favour of.

Early War AAR - French Escadron de reconnaissance vs Hungarian KÖNNYÜHARCKOCSIZÓ SZÁZAD - Cauldron

Hi all another ahistorical AAR this time it's EW and my French have some Hungarians to deal with!
Dave P was bringing his Hungarian tanks to the table for the second time, he rolled up cauldron.

Late War AAR - SAS Squadrons vs Panzer Grenadier Kompanie (25. Division) - Hasty Attack

Having just completed my SAS list I was itching to try it out.  So I got in touch with one of my regular sparring partners Dave M and set up a game.

We both agreed that this would be a fun, friendly game rather than a tournament practice game so we bought bought lists we’d like to try out that we never normally get the chance to play.  I turned up with my SAS Squadron, all fast moving recce jeeps and Comets, and Dave took a Panzer Grenadier company from the Nuts book.

This was shaping up to be a good historically themed bash.  The desperate Germans holding off the ever more confident Allies in the final push into the German heartland.  Unfortunately Dave didn't have a Jdgtiger to hand so the trusty old King Tiger had to stand if for him.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 39 - On The Road to Art of War Too

Hi all

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes Episode 39, on todays episode we join Ben, Adam and Fez over the Art of War Weekend.

In Act one the guys talk about their armies and expectations for the weekend.

In Act two we have an interview with Dave the owner of Skytrex, Tim and Steve who run Art of War and Finally Nobby who runs the excellent Conflict, Corrivalry and Adolf Don't Surf tournaments.

In Act three the guys round out the show with a full AAR of the event. 

Overlord Brit v FI 4. Fallschirmjägerdivision 1750 AAR - Pincer

Hello

It's been an age since I did an AAR.  There have been a number of abortive attempts, but hopefully this candidate will make it to production.

To set the scene, Ben was coming over to get some practice for Art of War Too.  He'd had some recent success against Tankovy so the FJs were back on the table to give him some practice facing veteran infantry.

Now I've had a desire to do the whole, infantry backed by a single super heavy tank for a while now.  I don't think it's particularly competitive, but you do see it alot.  My only offering for this is an Elefant so I used the EasyArmy unit finder thingy and remembered that you can take them in Fortress Italy.  In fact I found a list I'd been experimenting with hand written tucked inside my book.

There were a few tweaks I really needed to make, like squeezing in an extra Shrek, and downsizing the mortars.  This is a terrible list btw, but I didn't have time to write a new one.

That Which Does Not Kill You… - ETC 2015

Today we have a guest post from Bill Wilcox. He was part of Team U.S.A. for last weekends ETC in Prague. Bill brings us very in depth AAR of the tournament.  

Now that I’m back home, and slightly better rested (only just), I thought that I should do write up for the weekend.  For those that aren’t familiar with the event, this year’s ETC (European Team Championships) was held August 5-9 in Prague and is currently comprised of three gaming systems – 40K, WHFB, and, FoW.  For FoW, there are two events over 4 days, attended by players from all over the world.  This is truly a world championship event.  The singles tournament on Thursday was 68 players over 3 rounds.  The team event from Friday through Sunday was the largest FoW event ever held, with 180 players on 30 teams from 4 continents.  We had 28 national teams with two UN teams comprised of multinational players.

Late War AAR - 21st Panzer Grenadiers vs 51st Highlanders - Fighting Withdrawal

Hello All, Welcome to the second AAR from my weekend at Matt's. Matt was once again using 21st Panzer Grens but this time the list was a little different having Tigers instead of Panzer IV's and the FlaK 8.8's.  I was trying out a 51st Highlanders list I quite liked the look of. I'm not sure about playing with reluctant troops as I like to use my British Infantry aggressively but it a lot of tournament players have been using them as I figured I'd give them a go.  We rolled up Fighting Withdrawal, one of my favourite missions. I chose to night attack (stop me if you have heard me say that before), I wasn't sure if that was the best idea as I would be relying on Defrocked Priests and Reluctant troops to get the job done, but I love to attack and you need to try these things out.

21st Panzer Grenadiers (Confident Veteran) HQ + 1 Panzerfaust + Von Luck Full Grenadiers + Faust Full Grenadiers + Faust 3 7.5cm (Sf) 39H 2 Tigers - In Ambush 4 10.5cm (Sf) 39H 3 Pak40's 3 Nebs + Pak38

51st Highlanders (Reluctant Veterans) HQ + Bagpipes Full 51st Highlander Infantry + Defrocked Priests Full 51st Highlander Infantry + Defrocked Priests 4 6pdrs 3 Carriers 3 Wasps 4 M10's (Confident Trained) 2 Mk VI Chruchills + 1 Mk III Churchill + Applique Armour (Confident Trained) 4 25pdrs 4 5.5s (Confident Trained) AOP

Late War AAR - 21st Panzer Grenadiers vs Sherwood Armoured Brigade - Counter Attack

Hello All The other weekend I travelled up to Matt's place with the family, while the wife's and kids were out we got in two Normandy themed games.  Game one saw me running a CV Sherman company against Matt's 21st Panzer Grenadiers. We rolled up Counter Attack which is a mission I always enjoy playing. As I was a tank force I was the attacker. We decided to keep the terrain quite light for the first game as most of the British fighting in Normandy was away from the bocage that dominated the American sector of of the fighting.

21st Panzer Grenadiers (Confident Veteran) HQ + 2 Panzerfaust Full Grenadiers + Faust Full Grenadiers + Faust 3 7.5cm (Sf) 39H 4 Panzer IV's 4 10.5cm (Sf) 39H 3 Pak40's 3 Nebs 2 Luftwaffe 8.8cm FlaK36 (Reluctant Trained)

Sherwood Armoured Brigade (Confident Veteran) 2 HQ Shermans 3 Shermans 3 Shermans 3 Fireflies 3 Stuarts Full 51st Highlander Infantry + Defrocked Priests 4 51st Highlander 25pdrs AOP

Great War AAR - British Rifle Company Vs Germans Infanteriekompanie - The Big Push

Hello All  So after 11 months of no Great War games myself and Winner Dave got are second game within a week! As I talked about in the last game, this time I would defend in the Big Push against Winners British. Winner decided to change his list into a Veteran version of his old list. If I'm honest I had been thinking of doing something similar so I'd be interested to see how this works out for him. We decided to play at Entoyment, partly as it's halfway between are houses and partly to try and drive up some interest in Great War as a period. When I rocked up Winner had already set up the terrain so we got stuck in!

British Rifle Company (Veteran) HQ Full Infantry Platoon Full Infantry Platoon 4 HMG's  1 Mark IV Male 2 OQF 18pdr (Artillery Detachment)

German Infanteriekompanie (Trained) HQ + 2 Flame Throwers + 1 Granatenwerfer Full Infantry Platoon Full Infantry Platoon 4 HMG's (Turned into HMG Nests) 2 A7V's 2 Trench Guns

Great War AAR - Germans Infanteriekompanie Vs British Rifle Company - The Big Push

Hello All  It might have taken 11 months but myself and Winner Dave have finally got around to playing a game of FoW Great War together! We decided to play each of the core missions twice, once as the attacker and once as the defender. I won the first dice off and was the attacker in The Big Push, your classic assault on the trenches. For the first game we kept it to the forces in the army deals we got summer last year, we will propably change the armies a little over the next few games, I for one want to try out a Stoss Platoon or two! So here is are first battle report, that has been 11 months in the making. Note:- We got a couple of rules wrong (not surprise it being the first game) mainly trench reserves (Winner didn't roll for it) and shooting at damaged tanks.  Also I ended up having to write this post twice as Blogger went odd and deleted my post and my memory wasn't great the second time around. I think I got it right but I may have made a few mistakes. Sorry.

British Rifle Company (Trained) HQ + Sniper Full Infantry Platoon Full Infantry Platoon 4 HMG's (Turned into 4 HMG Nests) 1 Mark IV Male 1 Mark IV Female 1 Whippet 2 OQF 18pdr (Artillery Detachment)

German Infanteriekompanie (Trained) HQ + 2 Flame Throwers + 1 Granatenwerfer Full Infantry Platoon Full Infantry Platoon 4 HMG's  2 A7V's 2 Trench Guns

Welsh Open 2015 AAR

Hello All

Last weekend was the Welsh Open, if you have listened to the podcast you will know this is one of our favourite events of the year. This year was 1675pts LW. I was using the 7th Armored with Patton (yes I saw that roll of the eyes!).

 I was planning on doing a detailed run down of my games but I got the podcast edited surprisingly quickly and so I didn't see the point of going into too much detail here.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 33 - On The Road To The Welsh Open

Hello All

In Act One we join Ben, Winner Dave and Adam in Winner Dave's car as they drive up to the Welsh Open LW tournament. The guys chat about what they have been up to, their army lists and a few other bits and pieces.

In Act Two we have a few interviews, starting with Adam chatting to Steve Charlton about Art of War Too and then Rob a New Zealand wargamer who is on a around the world trip going on battlefield tours and FoW tournaments. Finally Ben chats with Andy the events manager at Firestorm Games and the South Wales Gaming Center about the venue and their plans.

In Act Three the guys have a full breakdown of the tournament, the guys highs and lows.

Late War AAR - 29th Infantry vs 9th Panzergrenadiers - No Retreat

Hello All  I have had a hankering to play some themed games and so I asked Andy if he'd be up for a Normandy Bocage game with his German vs my US. He was really up for it so rocked up at his house with a bucket load of Boccage terrain and we set out to play.  We decided on 1675pts, Andy was using the 9th Panzer Division in the form of Grenadiers as thats basically the only list he could make from what he had. I was using the 29th Infantry as I had just painted up some Crocs and I wanted to use them. We rolled up No Retreat and as I was auto attack thanks to the Crocs I was the attcker.

US 29th Infantry HQ + 2 Bazookas Full Infantry Platoon + Pioneer Upgrade + Flame Thrower Full Infantry Platoon + Pioneer Upgrade + Flame Thrower 4 81mm Mortars 4 M10's Cav Recon 4 105mm Artillery 4 155mm Artillery 3 Churchill Crocodiles - Allied Platoon AOP

9th Panzergrenadierkompanie HQ + Panzerschreck Full Grenadier Platoon + Faust Full Grenadier Platoon + Faust Full Grenadier Platoon + Faust 4 12cm Mortars 3 Pak 40's 5 Panzer IV's 4 10.5cm Artillery

Firestorm Caen Campaign Weekend - AAR

Hello All

Last weekend Adam ran a Firestrom Caen campaign weekend at Entoyment, set over the Friday night and Saturday. This was Adam's first ever event to fulfill one of his New Years Resolutions. 

The event had one round of games on the Friday night and three games on the Saturday, this left it one round short so the first round (the beach landings) where rolled for using the Generals Wargame. The Friday was optional and I was unable to attend, so I will pick up the story from Saturday morning and round three Operation Espon.

Beyond The Foxholes Episode 30 - On The Road To Solent Wargamers Armageddon

Hi all

Welcome to Beyond the Foxholes Episode 30 On The Road To Solent Wargamers Armageddon, in this episode we join Adam, Ben and Paul in Ben's car as they chat about the Solent Wargamers Armageddon tournament. - This is only a short one guys.

In Act One the guys chat about the tournament, their army lists and what they hope to get out of the day.

In Act Two the guys give a full AAR of the event, some thoughts about their army lists and plans for the Welsh Open.

Campaign Team Tournament 2015 - AAR

Hello All

A few weeks ago myself, Cid and Alex represented Breakthrough Assault at the annual Campaign FoW National league. For those of you who don't know the National League is a yearly event with a round-robin league that has promotion and relegation between three divisions. Division One has some of the best players in the country and is always hotly contested. Our 2013 performance (we wasn't able to attend in 2014) meant that we were now in Division Two. Our aim was to get a spot in Division One for 2016...

Within the team you all play a different period and then play the opposing player of the other team who is also playing the same period. I was playing Early War and took my trusted Japanese Infantry, Cid was playing Mid War with his Romanian infantry horde and finally Alex was playing Late War with Motorstrelkovy from Desperate Measures.

Early War AAR - Japanese Infantry Vs Soviet Heavy Tankovy Batalon - Free For All

Hello All This weekend is Campaign, the yearly flames of war team league. Each team of three players are split between the 3 different periods and play all the other players in the same period. There is promotion and relegation and this year myself, Alex and Cid are representing Team Breakthrough Assault A Team (the B team is Marc, Matt and Steve). I'm playing Early War with my Japanese and as the format is 1500 points for EW I needed to change my list up from the one I took to the Art of War. I was struggling to find time to practice when I got an email from Army Dave asking if I was free to play a game at Entoyment. So off I went to try out the list, I turned up expecting to face Army's infamous Confident Conscript Soviet Infantry but instead I was facing 8 T-35's (gamesmanship Army?) which I knew I was going to struggle against with my great AT of 5... Still he would struggle to dig me out.  We rolled up Free For All and we would have tried out our changes as talked about on episode 29 of Beyond the Foxholes if this wasn't a tournament practice game. I won the dice off to attack and so I choose to make it a night fight so I could manoeuvre without getting shot at in the first few turns.  Quick note guys, this game starts off slow but gets bloody fast towards the end.

Japanese Hohei Chutai (7th) - Fearless Veterans HQ + Regimental Banner Full Infantry Platoon + Banners Full Infantry Platoon + Banners 2 Type 41 75mm 2 Type 97 Chi-Ha (Fearless Trained) 4 Type 89 Chi-Ro (Fearless Trained) 4 Type 89 Chi-Ro (Fearless Trained)

Heavy Tankovy Batalon HQ T-35 5 T-35 2 T-35 9 KhT-26 Full Unarmed Sappers Sportadic I-153 Chaika

Banzai! - Road to the Art of War Part Four - Tournament AAR and Photo Dump

Hello All

As you have probably seen I have been collecting a Japanese army for the Art of War Early War Tournament (click on the links to see parts one, two and three). The event was just over a week ago and I thought to round off the series I would post up an AAR of the event.

After a stop over at Alex's place in Northampton (and a few too many beers) we rocked up nice and early at the Sanctuary Gaming Centre. The day started with a bit of a shock as the Scottish team for the ETC (including Adam and Alex from Breakthrough Assault) turned up in full Scottish dress (not what I wanted to see at 8am!).