Three games at Golden Rhino Games in Ypsilanti Michigan. Each game got bigger and more intense as the day progressed. Starting off in a 500-point skirmish, then evolving into 800 and 1,100 points respectively. The spicy part? Theater Selectors are allowed, even at 500pts! See full tournament rules on the Facebook event page.

Game 1
Scouts vs Spencer (Italian Bersaglieri)

My Army – Soviet Union – 500pts
1942 Anti-Tank Artillery Battery Theater Selector out of Campaign: Stalingrad. All Regular. Lt team, two Heavy Autocannons, three six-man squads (all rifles), a Light Mortar, and a T-60 Light Tank. 8 Oder Dice.

Spencer’s Army
Spencer was running a Vet heavy list. A Lt with a friend, two six-man Bersaglieri squads with dual LMGs, a seven-man Reg. squad, and an Autoblinda. I had an eight to five Order Dice advantage over Spencer.

The Mission
Each player will select two non-vehicle units to be Scouts and deploy as Forward Deployers. One center objective. Half our force (rounding down) was First Wave, the remainder held in Reserve. 2VPs  for controlling the objective, 1 VP for each Scout unit destroyed. Must win by 2 VP. Surprisingly this was played on a full 6×4′ table, but at least in our game, it didn’t seem to matter too much. Spencer picked his two Bersaglieri squads with twin LMGs as his Scouts, while I picked both my Heavy Autocannons.

Game Highlights
Turn 1 – Right flank Heavy AC kills one Italian and put a Pin on the squad.
Turn 2 – Italian Lt and Autoblinda fail their Reserve rolls. Soviet Light Mortar loses its loader, holds on the Moral Check. Soviet Guards kill the NCO of the seven-man Bersaglieri squad. Heavy AC puts two Pins on the Italians in the middle but fails to wound any of them.
Turn 3 – Spencer’s Bersaglieri squad in the middle clears four of their six Pins on a Rally order, but by the end of the Turn they were back up to five Pins – oof.
Turn 4 – Autoblinda recce’s away from my T-60. Guards Squad on my right flank loses three, and failed its Morale Test twice! 1-0 kills to Spencer!
Turn 5 – Spencer’s forwardmost Bersaglieri squad gets Pinned out and flees the table.
Turn 6 – Soviets hold the center objective at the end of the Turn.

Spencer put up quite a fight. Those Double LMG squads really put the hurt on my poor Guards rifles. The table was interesting with real elevation changes and well-painted terrain. Unfortunately, this ended up not mattering as we both funneled into the center.

Result – Win (3-0, killed one Scout Squad and controlled one objective)

Game 2
Night Engagement vs Jeff (US Airborne)

My Army – Soviet Union – 800pts
1942 Anti-Tank Artillery Battery Theater Selector out of Campaign: Stalingrad. All Regular. Lt team, two Heavy Autocannons, two eight-man and two nine-man Guards squads (all rifles), two ATRs, and a T-60 and T-70 Light Tanks. 11 Oder Dice.

Jeff’s Army
Jeff had two Light Mortars, two MMG teams, Lt team, a Bazooka team, two Armor 7 HMG Jeeps, and three squads of Airborne.

The Mission
10” deployment zone across the entire long edge, half your force must be First Wave. This was straight-up kill points, with a bonus VPs for killing a unit in close combat. Interestingly you only had a 12” line of sight, and there was a flare die in the bag. Once the flare was pulled the Turn reverted to standard combat conditions with full line of sight.

Game Highlights
Turn 1 – No kills, no Pins, the flare dice was the second to last dice pulled.
Turn 2 – No kills, no Pins, each of us failed one Moral test. Flare dice was the fifth pulled.
Turn 3 – Flare was the first dice! US Airborne strikes first with two squads killing one Guards soldier from two different squads. Soviets strike back and put two Pins on the Airborne on the left but fail to kill any. Heavy Autocannon kills the NCO and two men from the center Airborne squad but only a single Pin. They pass their Moral Check.
Turn 4 – Guards riflemen open up the Turn with a kill on the Bazooka Team. Pathfinders in the middle FUBAR and retreat to the back edge! Jeff puts a Pin on the Guards on my left flank. Flare dice was the last pulled. 
Turn 5 – No kills… but each of us put two Pins on each other’s units.
Turn 6 – No kills again! The HMG on the Jeeps put a pin on the T-60.

Jeff and I engaged in a pillow fight for Game 2. We’ve squared off multiple times at tournaments in the past (at least four by my count, not including this game) and have always had a great time. Usually, we have an absolute bloodbath and we were both shocked at this result. It was a very fun game and the mission was surprisingly good. It really made for a cagey fight with all those darn Vets!

Result – Draw (1-0)

Game 3
Blitzkrieg vs B (Soviet Union)

My Army
1942 Anti-Tank Artillery Battery Theater Selector out of Campaign: Stalingrad. All Regular unless noted. Lt team, two Heavy ACs, three 11-man and one 8-man Guards squads (all rifles), free Inexperienced T-70, two ATR teams, medium mortar, ZiS-3 Divisional Gun, Artillery Tractor, T-60 Light Tank, T-34. 15 Order Dice.

B’s Army
Oh no! Red on Red? Comrade Stalin will have none of this. B was running the spectacular Tractor Factory platoon out of Campaign: Stalingrad. She had two People’s Militia squads, three NKVD squads, Lt, Frontnik Commissar, free 61-k Heavy AC, two Tractor Factory T-34s, a Medium Mortar Team, and a Truck with MMG.

The Mission
This is one of the most interesting and fun missions I’ve played. Six objectives were placed on the board per the diagram in the packet. You then had to “plan your advance” on a table, essentially picking what objective you would score and on what turn. If you and your opponent both go for the same objective, neither score as it would be contested. Finally, you got a bonus VP for killing the most expensive unit in your opponent’s army (High Priority Target). Each army had half (rounding down) of their army in the First Wave, the remainder as Reserve.

Game Highlights
Turn 1 – Both players cautiously advanced onto the board, a few shots were fired but no kills. Objectives scored 1-1.
Turn 2 – My Heavy AC kills the Truck and three men of the NKVD squad aboard. B’s people’s Militia’s Green roll converts them to Reg. Three of my Guards’ riflemen are killed by two different NKVD squads. My Guards burst out of the building and kill five of the People’s Militia, and they stay Inexperienced. Score tied at 2-2.
Turn 3 – Mortars flying high and thick, but ultimately all miss. My T-70 finally hits, but only kills one NKVD. My ZiS-3 blasts B’s Reg People’s Militia, killing five, but they hold. The score swings 3-2 to me.
Turn 4 – My mortar strikes first, killing B’s. My Heavy AC kills her High Priority Target T-34! B strikes back by killing the NCO and a friend out of the squad in the building contesting her Turn 3 objective. My second Heavy AC kills two and puts two Pins on an NKVD squad, upping it to 4 Pins total. Guards charge the Regular People’s Militia squad holding my Turn 4 objective, losing one in the charge, but I end up wiping them out. My Guards on the left are cut down by half! They hold. My ZiS-3 kills another five NKVD, but they pass their morale! Finally, my T-34 kills the remainder of that squad. The score moves 4-2 me.
Turn 5 – My T-34 kills the remaining Tractor Factory T-34. B’s Heavy AC kills my ATR Team in the central building. I charge the remnants of her purple-based squad and wipe them with two losses of my own.
Turn 6 – My Guards kill the remnants of the white-based squad, and my T-34 kills half of the 61-k AA gun, they fail the Morale Check flee.

Result – Win (7-2)

Final Thoughts

Going 2-0-1, and missing Best Allies by two unit kills is tough. But it was a great time with fun missions, fantastic tables, and overall great players. It was interesting to see what people took. AVREs, Stewart spams (this was a Tank Platoon that was missed by the TO unfortunately), US Airborne, waves of Inexperienced Militia, and a Vet German list with a Tiger! The only downside was the lack of Axis forces. Only two generals brought Axis to the table, which is sad.

Jax hosted a great event. It ran smoothly and in a timely manner (which sometimes is hard to find). The great selection of missions and well-executed handling of issues between players made it a great day. This is my third event run by Jax and he does it very well. I look forward to his next one!