Well, CharleyCon I, held November 13, 1999, has passed into history, being more a local game than a grand affair, but including the first use of the printed and published new RECON AND RUSHES OF WORLD WAR II. Although only four players showed up, the good news was that they had all played the system before, and so the demands on the GM were few, and after so much preparation I was able to relax during the game, and got a clean apartment out of it in the bargain! A very modest gaming success after much promotion; but a nice mellow afternoon of gaming. Didn't sell any rules but gave out a couple of free copies to playtesters who will now set up their own games and spread the system to local sites. The Dutch commandoes had a hard time as usual, despite the intentional scenario depleting of the normal German engineer garrison, and didn't quite make the Kanal Werks control blockhouse. The US Recon force had a particularly hard time with the German frontline crust defense, and lost two halftracks full of infantry to an AT gun hidden in a forest bunker, before the armored cars were able to knock it out. The US armored cars then remained hidden behind the initial treeline, waiting for the British armor to appear. For the first time, Allied B-25s appeared in the game. The "heavy" bombers in this tactical game are a double or nothing proposition, compared to the lighter but more selective damage caused by fighter-bombers. The Luftwaffe AA gun shot the first one down as it approached the forest. An ill omen in this continuing Allied disaster! Back at the canal, the elite commandoes continued to attack, but were badly hit by the few German engineer defenders, as some had assault rifles! The commandoes exchanged shots with an MG in the blockhouse, and a group of Germans who appeared on the north flank, including a sniper with a scoped rifle. Then surprise! The Germans attacked with "Goliath" miniature robot tanks (the first time I've ever used them, or seen them used in a wargame - my attempt to advertise that my rules truly contain EVERYTHING from WWH). Since the player running the commandoes had never heard of them in real life, the shock was truly total! We paused the game to explain what had happened to him, since on the first turn of use you can't shoot at 'em anyway (they move too fast unless you are watching out for the little doodlebugs!). The initial two raced forward and blew up in the woods harboring the Commando reserves causing serious losses. After the initial shock, the assistant mortarman managed to blow up a third launched next turn with his rifle, but the damage was pretty well done. German reinforcements began to appear around the canal area, and an SP rumbled up: the first German AFV in the game. The brave commando bazookaman survived a run into an ambush position on the SP by the blockhouse MG, while the commando mortar took out some local Germans. The bazooka put a "stun" on the SP, keeping it out of action for turn. But then the MG got him. As they dropped prone and continued to crawl towards the blockhouse objective, it became clear that the commandoes, despite their bravery, were not going to make it, being unable even to stop German reinforcements from crossing their side of the Canal in rubber boats - which should have been easy targets for their men firing from the safety of the canal bank walls. As the British tanks finally appeared in front of the town, and as snack food, pizza and beer disappeared in large quantities, a second AT gun fired from the town's second building, and one Sherman was badly damaged. A German mortar fired from the same building, missing out on damaging an armored car. Then a second B-25 appeared, survived the ack-ack, and flattened the house, destroying the AT gun and the mortar, and further putting 50% casualties on the remaining German defenders, as well as forcing a rout (but yet another example of Monty flattening an Allied town to save it, I fear). A few Germans fled in the two jeeps remaining to them. But now the Allies were out of air support. The armored cars rushed forward, unfortunately blocking their own tanks from the few terrain gaps that beckoned, and the tanks became bogged down in a hopeless bottleneck on the famous single road (as in "A Bridge Too Far), as Canadian infantry dismounted from their own halftrack, planning to clean up the remaining house. The Allies learned too late the need for combined arms coordination, despite coaching from the game master and even the enemy! On the North side of town, a US halftrack moved forward, avoiding a grenade thrown from an upper window, and charged up to an LOS on the German AA gun hidden north of the woods behind the town. But the AA gun then opened up on the lightly armed vehicle and took it out. The game ended before the German reserves even appeared! The Allies had taken heavy casualties with all units engaged, and barely penetrated the German front. In a last bid for forward movement, an Allied armored car sneaking around to the south got too close to the woods without infantry support. It was then overrun by Germans after firing a futile MG burst, closing off that approach as well. It seemed that the Germans could not make a mistake. Having enjoyed the comraderie of gamers who had not seen each other for awhile or not met but had many common interests, the game got started a bit late (as they always do). I showed off some of the newer 54mm figures I'd painted or received recently such as Barzo, pirates, BMC Spanish American War from the new San Juan playset, Armies in Plastic WWI British and Scottish, as well as the new Conte Collectibles color mailing of their amazing new products, etc. We also reconned a new catalogue selling products from Russian, including a few military vehicles. Clearly the game was a German victory, and we decided to call it a day, after discussing rules and modifications, including an interesting discussion about suppression fire and recon by fire tactics! I made a few notes for the next draft of the rules, and was happy to notice that the few typos in this First Edition manuscript did not affect the intelligibility of the rules. With the Allies having a 2:1 superiority on attack but being less experienced players, it balanced out pretty well, and each side always had something else to try, even if frustrated in one place or another. This third version of the scenario brought surprises even to those who had seen it before. Finally the crew, joined by one wife (earlier on my only female playtester) retired to a local Mexican restaurant to consume many pitchers of San Gria and toast the first use of the printed rules; which read much easier than my old hand annotated drafts. Players seemed to be able to find rules occasionally needed without much help from me, and this was a major vindication of the rules themselves. Finally I can send copies out into the world, for others to try! The rules appear in a nice blue looseleaf binder, with basic charts on cardboard stock, for an attractive presentation. They are available by mail order from the TOY SOLDIER COMPANY (201792-6665); 1 only sell at cons. Their next planned appearance is in January at CRUSADES (Connecticut Wargamers Con). "And I heard him declare, as he turned oul the light, Good Gaming to All, and to All a good night! " Back to MWAN #104 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com