Game: Austerlitz French: Clair Conzelman Russo-Austrians: Vernon Robinson French victory: The Allies used a right wing tactic, using Doctorov and the Guards against Lannes on the Olmutz highway. Vernon used a horse artillery "charge" to pin and attrit Lannes's line, so the French delaying tactics were ineffective. Lannes's corps was destroyed, and the Guard exploited past the Santon. Napoleon reacted by moving Soult, Murat, Oudinot, and the Guard up the valley into the Russian advance's left flank, splitting the two Allied wings, and then crushing the Allied right wing. The allied left wing was impotent, making piecemeal attacks which were easily "consumed" in turn. Key events: Constantine led two brigades of Imperial Guard cavalry in a rear attack vs. the Old Guard with Bessiers. Rolling a 66 to form square, the Old Guard was destroyed to the last man in two successive cavalry waves. In the final Russian cavalry follow-on charge, Constantine led the Life Guard Hussars into Napoleon's hex with his personal Guard cavalry. Napoleon killed Constantine with a 55 and routed the Russian Guards. Skirmishers exploited Soult's breakthrough in the Russian center next to Alexander's hex and killed the Czar! Game: Barren Victory Confederates: Max Workman, Tim Gritten, John Reed Union: Carl Evans. Scott Johnstone, Jim Ferguson The Confederates began the game with non-historical pre-set orders. The Union rushed 14 and Res Corps towards Reed and Alexander Bridges only to meet Buckner's and Polk's corps in a swirling slugfest in the center of the map. 14 Corps' two divisions survived, beating off five Confederate divisions, killing Forrest, and wrecking his command, as well as taking the Mill Bridge. The Union lost all of Reynolds's division but was able to hold out until 20 Corps arrived. 21 Corps and Sheridan then attacked Hood and Cleburne and were heavily engaged when we had to quit. The Union was ahead on casualties but the Rebs still were not out of it. Game: DAK (Campaign) Axis: Peter Corrigan Commonwealth: Casey Krakowski, Ken Thurston Peter reports: The Commonwealth resigned March 15th, 1941, with the Axis still holding Tobruk and able to trace supply through arriving elements of the Afrika Korps. The initial Italian invasion never threatened Mersa Matruh; the Italians took Sidi el Barrani and retreated to the Sollum/Bardia area as soon as possible. About one half of the Tripoli forces entered onto the map to help with the defense of Tobruk. The Commonwealth failure to cut off the port of Tobruk or the road into it allowed the Axis to build a large (16-17 SP) dump. The most effective Commonwealth move was to barrage Tobruk and render it useless as a supply source, using the 2T/no-trace rules. The Axis destroyed the LRDG and a number of 5-AR units in the Tobruk assault. We spent about 27 hours to play through mid-March, 1941. I wish we had played longer so the Axis could have taken Cairo! Game: DAK, Crusader short scenario Axis: Dave Demko Commonwealth: Ken Thurston, Bill Quoss The Allies overran my supply entry point (ouch) and my main air base (yikes). Late in the game Bill cleared my positions around Halfaya Pass. But I (finally) quit doing little face-slap armor raids, held the Tobruk perimeter, and lost only two panzer battalions. The Allies had the advantage of more supply and partial air superiority, but I met the scenario victory conditions. To be fair, Rommel was no closer to reducing Tobruk. The lesson: even if the other guy reams you, and even if you deserve it, don't give up. Game: DAK Axis: John Leggat Commonwealth: Roland LeBlanc John's report covers two playings of scenario 7.2, the Italian Offensive. Game 1: The Italians made good progress through September, forcing the Commonwealth to withdraw to Mersa Matruh. There, the Italians ran into a brick wall, ran out of supply, ran out of energy, and fell back into a defensive posture to contain the Commonwealth who, after recapturing Sidi el Barrani and frightening the Italians nearly to death, were destroyed and, themselves, fell back to the safety of Mersa Matruh. Outcome: draw. Nifty deal: an easy scenario to play, but it seems tough for either side to win. Most outcomes will result in a draw. The scenario can be played to a conclusion in one long day (about eight hours). Good for two players, but not more. Game 2: After an impetuous Italian start that immediately cost two armor and two mech battalions, they settled down and, once again, marched across the map and, by early October, were within four hexes of Mersa Matruh and out of supply. By November 1st the Allies had lost several units and the Axis closed to within two hexes of Mersa Matruh and, at that point, it was projected that the Italians would take that city before the end of December. Outcome: Axis victory. Very tough: may be impossible for the Commonwealth to win. Game: Gaines Mill, Scenario 6.1 John Leggat vs. Ned Nichols Very tough on the Union! By 6:00 pm, AP Hill and DH Hill were finished and declared an emergency retreat, only to be pursued and harassed by a ruthless Morell. The Rebs reached the swamp and tried to dislodge the Union, but were driven back. Outcome: Union victory. Unit Confed Losses Union Losses KIA Stragglers KIA Stragglers Wrecked Bde McCall . 2,500 1,600 2 Morell . 1,000 600 -- AP Hill 4,000 3,300 . 4 (division wrecked) DH Hill 3,500 2,000 . 2 Totals 7,500 5,300 3,500 2,200 . Game: Gaines Mill, Scenario 6.5 Union: John Leggat, Roland LeBlanc, Steve Campbell Confederates: Casey Krakowski, Ned Nichols DH Hill tried to turn the Union right but got too aggressive. Longstreet, on the other hand, quit the battle after two hours of maneuvering. AP Hill didn't know what to do, and Jackson didn't have a clue. Game: Black Wednesday Axis: Will Volny Soviets: Jim Daniels An excellent contest! Will is one of the finest Human Beings I have known. Additionally, he is an outstanding Wargamer and a master of the many nuances of TCS. His well-prepared Defenses were Ably manned by the Valiant Spaniards of the Blue Division. This contest was without doubt the most Rewarding wargaming experience of my life. Game: Black Wednesday Soviets: Jim Daniels Axis: Will Volny Without a doubt I found the match with Jim the most Difficult I have ever played. I struggled to defend my trenches against purely Superior Play. At each turn, my Opponent gently suggested ways in which I could improve my play, and I'm sure my skills have improved through His instruction. I am glad that Jim acted like a Gentleman as well. His well-mannered playing style gives the hobby a Great Name. Game: Crusader Axis: Art Brochet Commonwealth: Jeff Worley I was playing the Commonwealth forces in the full campaign of Crusader. After having played The Gamers' products for several years, I thought I had learned (the hard way) every way to lose. Art showed me that there is at least one more way! It's called forgetting to garrison your HQs in those (not as distant as you thought!) rear areas. Outcome: Axis victory. On another note: As all of us have come to expect over the years, the three S's were just awesome! They help make HomerCon such a great event. [Ed. note: That's Sara, Shirley, and Sandi, as if you didn't know.] Game: A Raging Storm Axis: Perry Andrus, Max Workman Allies: Larry Brien, Bill Schoenborn Perry reports: This is a big game with lots of tanks. Max and I were the Axis. We looked at the victory conditions and saw a large number of VPs (38) in the south-center of the map. Max lead the main force from the east and captured the Factory and most of the Dung Factory. My force from the west got trashed by Larry's fast-fire 25-pounders. Bill's dice were awesome--at least compared with mine. In one extreme sequence of area fire, Bill rolled a 65 for 2 dice x 1/2 and a 66 for 3 dice x 1/2. I managed to get on the 51+ column at night against dug-in defenders and rolled a 16! My battalion morale broke. Game: Semper Fi! Chinese: Perry Andrus US Marines: Larry Brien Perry says: Larry's troops did hang on during the initial Chinese assaults in the East Hill scenario. Then down came US artillery and the Chinese lost steam. The snow cleared and the tanks went into action. The US was able to easily hang onto the top of East Hill. Larry says: This topic was not one of great interest to me until I sat down and played several scenarios with Perry. Great game! Can't wait to get my copy. Excellent starter for new TCS players. Game: Summer Storm Union: Rick Barber Confederates: Ed Wimble Spent Friday evening teaching Ed the game by means of a short pick-up scenario (I and XI Corps vs. AP Hill). Very bloody, with the XI Corps almost wiped out. Ed could roll no wrong. Saturday we set up the July 1st game and almost got through till night. I Corps hung tough on Seminary ridge, with Robinson and Wadsworth's divisions finally getting crushed on the flanks. XI Corps held as well, with Schurz's division getting roughed up a bit after the general got wounded. XII Corps arrived in time to act as reserve and shore up the line. Heth got his division slaughtered while crushing Wadsworth. Pender was trying to force in the left flank, but Robinson's determined stand held him back just long enough. Great con (my first) once we woke up from the car lag of the 14-hour drive. We got in a good playtest. Hope to be back next year. Game: Tunisia Stephen Campbell vs. Ned Nichols Stephen reports: Over Thursday and Friday we played from November 15th to March 5th (turns 33-58). 8th Army and Montgomery arrived on March 5th. If the game had been played until the end, the result would most likely have been a draw. This is probably the best game for a new player to learn the OCS system. It has a manageable number of counters, and with the mountain passes a new player is less likely to get into trouble. We had a lot of fun, and Ned got to see the game in its full glory, since he had never played beyond January. HomerCon '97 Attendees (in sign-up order) Dave Demko Chip Pharr Rick Robinson Casey Krakowski Vernon Robinson Scott Johnstone Robert Thorne Barry Maynard Gordon Dainty Jeff King Jim Daniels John Leggat Ken Thurston Stephen Campbell Peter Corrigan Bill Schoenborn Dave Powell Larry Brien Joseph Vanden Borre Matthew Fenlon Carl Evans Bill Quoss Clair Conzelman John Mehrholz Max Workman Chris Volny Will Volny Jeff Worley Perry Andrus Dave Friedrichs Dan Cicero Roland LeBlanc Gerry Palmer Art Brochet Zack Waltz Mark Owens Rick Noetzel Ned Nichols Boyd Schorzman Bob Stettler Alan Conrad Miles Kehrer Rick Barber Ed Wimble Dave Murray Winston Forrest Jim Ferguson Ben Volmert John Reed Keith Fortner Mike Duffy Kevin Zucker Tim Gritten Mr. Whup-Ass Back to Table of Contents -- Operations #27 Back to Operations List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1997 by The Gamers. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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