WW2 weekend!

The usual suspects converged on Schloss Burnstone for a weekend of over-eating and battlegaming this past weekend. WW2 skirmishing is something that has been bubbling under in the group for some time but it is only recently that we picked a set of rules that we all liked, 'Rules of Engagement', by Great Escape Games. All the British and German figures in the photos were painted by the extremely talented Edward Jackman, and the US Airborne by the equally talented Patrick Quinlan. Scratch built buildings by Eddie too, and don't they look grand!

The pictures got rather jumbled when I uploaded them and so are in no kind of sequence, enjoy the eye candy! All pictures are clickable for enlargement!

The gamers, left to right, Edward Jackman, Andy Brown, Patrick Quinlan, James Yeo

We played 4 games over the course of the weekend, the first 2 being smallish introductory games as none of us had actually played a game using 'Rules of Engagement' before. The general consensus was that the rules were great fun and the games went as you would have imagined such fights should go. The results seemed realistic and yet the games ran pretty quickly which is always satisfying. Good tactics were rewarded with success. The small red arrows seen in some of the images are potential locations of hidden squads, they outnumbered actual squads by 50% injecting some real tension and surprise into the scenarios.












I modified two of Charles Grant's Table Top Teasers originally published in Battlegames Magazine and available as an excellent compilation book. The first of these scenarios was a variant of 'Turning the flank or losing two fords' that was fought as a British airborne night attack against a German occupied village. The result was in the Germans favour but it was looking very close towards the end, we diced to see when the game would end (between 14 and 18 turns) and unfortunately for the attackers it was turn 14. A few more turns and the result may have been quite different.

British Sappers prepare to blow the bridge at Kronstadt.

German reinforcements rush across the bridge at St Anton in our replay of 'Turning the Flank'

The second Teaser I adapted was 'The Bridge at Kronstadt' which was fought as a German attack. Again things were going very closely until unfortunately the game had to be abandoned due to time constraints. We all had a great time though, and I cannot recommend 'Table Top Teasers Vol. 1' enough. If you haven't got it do head over to the Battlegames site and get yourself a copy. Although written for Horse and Musket games primarily they are great scenarios for all periods and require just a little modification to achieve a fantastic game whatever forces are available.