Quite a lot has been happening in the real world lately, all good I may add. As a consequence my time to prepare material for the blog has reduced considerably. I am however, getting the opportunity to game regularly (never a bad thing) and am trying out lots of new rules systems.
The latest game played was a 15mm WWII game using the Battlegroup rules. I took command of the American forces and my opponent was German; we were very fortunate to have an umpire which kept the game flowing as we were both new to the system.
A disclaimer here: I'm not really a WWII gamer, and as a result my lack of tactical nouse and knowledge of the period was brutally exposed in the early rounds. However, I do have to say in my defence I managed to adapt to the challenges faced, although a little too late to be able to secure the objective; the game eventually ended up quite a close run thing, with a Germans victory.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and once I managed to grasp the nuances of placing units on reserve move, ambush etc, and coordinate my armour, artillery and infantry I actually started to see positive outcomes on the battlefield. Quite in contrast to the earlier rounds where I was taught a harsh lesson by a Tiger tank. I didn't quite managed to knock out the Tiger, though due to the fortuitous drawing of a breakdown token it was immobilised for the later stages of the game, and if it wasn't for some terrible dice throwing I might even have tamed the beast!
Due to my lack of WWII experience I don't feel able to comment on the historical accuracy of the game, however, from a WWII novice looking on from a purely gaming perspective I found the system fun and easy to grasp, and with my limited knowledge of the period rewarded historical play. Looking forward to more games of Battlegroup, and might even be tempted to get some Russians at some point in the future.
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