Monitor vs Merrimack

 Last night, Doug invited Arthur and me to play his What a Tanker variant for the famous ACW battle of the ironclads at Hampton Roads between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (aka Merrimack).  

To begin with, here are Doug's homemade models of the Monitor:

And the Merrimack:

The game uses the WaT system of command dice, with slightly different effects than in WaT - for example, there is no spotting but there are different dice for movement and steering.  Monitor gets 6 command dice, and Merrimack gets 6 normal dice plus an extra 6 that can only be used for the guns, to allow for Merrimack's full broadside versus Monitor's two guns in a rotating turret.

The ship profiles are a bit different from WaT again, with characteristics for steam (aka speed) and rudder setting.

Our ships started at opposite ends of the muddy-looking Hampton Roads.  Turn gauges are visible in the lower left corner, with different gauges depending on the rudder angle.

Monitor speeds ahead at full steam.

Merrimack uses the turn gauge to bring a broadside to bear on Monitor.

Doug created some creative critical hit effects, including effects such as additional damage points or more specific effects inspired by actual incidents in the battle such as when the Monitor's captain was injured by a hit on the pilot house.


In last night's game, Monitor managed to inflict some damage on Merrimack, but under Arthur's command, Merrimack battered Monitor.  Once I was down to 3 command dice, I decided it was time to exercise the better of valour and fled the battlefield, leaving the Confederate Navy in command of Hampton Roads.

Doug has done a great job with this WaT variant.  Hopefully he'll take my advice and get it into print!

WaT at Bonsor

On Friday, we put on a What a Tanker game at the monthly Trumpeter gaming night at Bonsor.  The setting was Tunisia in 1943, and featured a diverse mix of mid-war tanks, plus a couple of early war ones as well (a Somua S-35 with the Free French, and a Renault R-35 in Italian service).  Players included Craig (who helped out with rules interpretation as well), Arthur's friend Oliver and his dad Tyler, and Arnaud, a visitor to the club from France.  Arnaud took the Somua :).

The basic setup was a village, with loads of walls that added penalties for acquiring and shooting.

Oliver's Panzer IV using walls to cover his approach.

Lulubelle takes to the field.

Tiger brews up a Sherman while Bert the Churchill maneuvers into position.

Somua and Sherman Corvette flank the two assault guns.

Multiway standoff as the Stug flanks the Somua, then gets flanked by Sgt Gunn's M3 Lee Lulubelle. 

Ultimately we had to call the game without a conclusion as we ran out of time.  The game ended up with some crazy happenings, as getting the dice combinations were not cooperative, and when someone could shoot they ended up missing!  Arthur's Tiger was not able to get the dice he needed so he decided to ram into the Churchill, and ended up taking even more damage than he inflicted.  It was a fun intro to the club for Tyler and Oliver, and to WaT for Arnaud.

To the Rescue! What a Tanker at Trumpeter Salute

 On April 14th, I hosted a session of What A Tanker at the Trumpeter Society's annual convetion, Trumpeter Salute.  We had a fun game, 6 players (including Arthur), and with the excellent and greatly appreciated support from Craig as referee and rules expert!

The scenario was very loosely inspired by the Battle of Leonforte in Sicily in July 1943, specifically the rush by a troop of Sherman tanks of the Three Rivers Regiment to enter the town and relieve the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, who were at risk of being overrun by German forces.  And I mean VERY loosely inspired, as the layout of the town is wrong, and the action leaves out all the infantry, anti-tank guns, engineers and others involved!  Really, all in all this was just an excuse to push toy tanks around the tabletop :)

An overview of the table.  TRR Shermans came in from the left, and the Germans entered from the right.

The first Sherman III enters the table, Arthur's tank Cobault.

Panzer IV takes an indirect approach to the town square.

While Brian's Sherman moves to flank the Panzer IV!

Stug III and Sherman face off along the road.  When setting up the table, I tried to avoid long, straight avenues like this, but this one slipped through my planning!

Arthur's tank is pushed back from the plaza.  Despite being a target for every German tank, Arthur had amazing good fortune with his armour saves all through the game!

Thanks to Doug for this photo.  Brian's flank move allowed him to take out the Panzer IV!  Alas, his success was short lived as his tank was later taken out by the Germans.

Corvette and Cobault maneuver to the centre of town

But are caught between the Panzer III and the Stug.

This was where we called the game.  Two healthy German tanks left, against a battered Canadian Sherman.  Arthur's Sherman had been hit again and again, but was saved by a string of lucky armour saves that managed to match or beat all the attacks against him!

 Thanks to everyone who participated!

What a Tanker

Last weekend, Doug stopped by for a game of Chain of Command on my new table.  However, we spent so much time just talking, that we didn't have time for a full CoC game! As the table was set up, we decided to fit in a quick game of What A Tanker instead.

 

I took Harry the Valentine tank and Bert, the Churchill III.

Doug took a Panzer IV and a partially painted Panzer III.  One of these days I should look up German tank-naming conventions, so they can get appropriate names like the Allied tanks get!

Here is Bert, climbing a hill as that's what Churchills do!

And here's Harry.

Doug's Panzer III lines up a shot on Harry.

And BOOM!  Harry is down for the count!

 Panzer III decides to ford the creek...

And then play cat and mouse with Bert around the hill.  Bert took quite a few hits, but was able to shake them off thanks to his heavy armour!

 The Pz IV decided to cross the bridge, but it was a tight fit!

Bert and the Pz III in a face to face standoff, neither had enough firepower to knock out the other (also, neither of us could get the run of dice we needed to acquire, aim and shoot when we needed it!).

Eventually the Pz IV was able to come up behind Bert.

Bert maneuvered to face both German tanks, but then finally Pz IV got in a solid hit, and Bert failed all his armour saves.  Thanks Doug for a fun game!

T-26

Here's the latest addition to my Red Army for Operation Barbarossa.  The T-26 was arguably the most effective tank in the Spanish Civil War, but by summer of 1941, it had been superceded by more recent designs with more powerful guns and heavier armour.  However, it still can be quite useful - especially when my side has a tank (even if an older model) and my opponent does not!  And the Red Army certainly had plenty of them in 1941 - over 10,000 of them at the start of Operation Barbarossa.  

This particular is from Rubicon Models.  It's a pretty amazing kit, as it contains enough stuff in it to build any of 10 different variants, ranging from the original models used in the SCW, through flamethrower and command variants, to versions with two turrets.  As my focus is on Operation Barbarossa, I chose the M39 version with a 45 mm gun in the turret.  

The commander is removable, to show whether the tank is 'buttoned' or 'unbuttoned'.  I didn't allow for the hatch itself to be closed, so it will be assumed closed as long as the TC is not present!  TC is from Die Waffenkammer.  

In What A Tanker games, we've learnt not to underestimate these older, smaller tanks.  Even though they aren't packing the heaviest guns or armour, they still have enough power to take out (or at least hurt) the other tanks on the table.  It can be a nasty surprise for one's opponent, after focusing all his attention on the T-34 or the KV-1, to be knocked out by the little T-26!

AGNM Panzerkampfwagen 38(t)

And now here is the AGNM Panzerkampfwagen 38(t).  Once I decided that I was going to have WWII German tanks in my collection, I knew that the first one needed to be, well, not really German.  The (t) in the P38(t) stands for "tschechisch" (or Czech), as these tanks were designed and built at the ČKD factory in Prague, and fell under German control after the Nazi annexation of the Czech part of Czechoslovakia.  I'd consider this to be almost more of an interwar tank than a WWII tank, as it was designed before the war.  It was a pretty successful design, as it continued in front line service up to about 1942.  

It was a light tank, it's smaller than many other tanks of the early war, and definitely smaller than mid- or late-war tanks.  

Anyway, I don't have any more information to add, so here are the photos!

First, here are photos of the unpainted vehicle, in the raw resin as it were.  You can see the metal gun barrel and MGs, as well as the resin stowage.

And here is the tank with a basic panzer grey paint scheme.  The German balkenkreuz are decals, but I (obviously) hand painted the numbers.

Here are my two AGNM tanks side by side.

And here it is with a Valentine.