We've made it to December! It's been quite a busy year, and while I've played so many games, I have yet to record many of them. Hoping to get another one or two in before the new year, so we'll see what I can log this month. We've got Twilight Imperium up on the docket next week and with the holiday coming up, I may break out a small game on one of my days off, but that one is still to be determined.
Today, I'm pleased to say I've taken my first dive into Diffraction Entertainment's Second World War Series. This is the monster game series known for producing Barbarossa, Mare Nostrum, and a host of other titles. I purchased Barbarossa and Hakkaa Päälle last year and also received my overdue copy of Operation Merkur with the two of them. I gave it a go last month and was pleasantly surprised at the pace and features of the game once I got the hang of it.
I'll plan on a longer feature of TSWW series in the future with a couple Crimea scenarios from Barbarossa, but I wanted to at least get my first few turns of the 5-day variant to Merkur here first. This was certainly a learning game, and I need to get a better understanding of the air combat rules since I likely butchered the execution in my first gameplay. Even so, this was a pleasure to break into, so I look forward to future posts here (in '24, '25, and '26 if I'm lucky ... my cardboard mountain only grows these days).
I played the five-day variant of the Crete invasion which uses different counters than the (standard?) game version. That was an interesting observation. While I love the use of battalion breakdown counters for the different regiments, it definitely ratcheted up the counter density on the board. Not at all a criticism, if anything, I love seeing a huge stack of counters on the board - especially when the counter quality supports stacks like that - and TSWW series counters are made for huge stacks.
Airdrops need to be planned a turn in advance so while I plotted drop zones, calculated transportation tonnage, etc., I sent all of my long-range bombers to Maleme to bomb the New Zealand and Greek defenders there.
Interdicting the transportation lines there and at Suda Bay, my bombers returned to mainland Greece mostly intact. Then I sent in the first wave of Ju-52s and gliders. (As a side note, the British naval forces per the set up instructions should be on the map, but for ease of learning the system I neglected to include the naval rules and counters in this test run).
With the port strike on Maleme and interdiction marker at Suda Bay in place, I sent my Sturm paras into place in the woods south of the two towns and other elements of the 7th Flieger into place east of Crete force to hold back any reinforcements. Poor landing coordination into enemy territory and rough terrain caused losses on the drop, but most of the battalions made it into place, if scattered.
Making use of their surprise attack and the successful interdiction of the Allied forces around Suda Bay, the Fallschirmjaegers attacked Crete force, successfully linking up both drop zones. Efforts to take Suda Bay were unsuccessful though.
The British response was swift. Mixed British forces in Heraklion stayed put in tactical reserve, but the British HQ dispatched Chappel Force and the 19th Australian Brigade Group to reinforce the New Zealanders and Greeks facing off against the first German wave.
In their counterattack, the British and Australian troops, supported by armor, forced the 3rd Fallschirmjaeger regiment to give up ground, relieving pressure on Crete Force.
No comments:
Post a Comment