World in Flames - FB 55

Just a reminder, this is lifted from the Facebook World in Flames group, where Mike's write-ups have been very well received and deserving of a wider audience which I hope posting them on my blog has done.

1945 M/A EOT actions

Partisan roll generates a Yugoslav 4.3 Partisan – Tito’s return is imminent, and the future of Yugoslavia is assured. Rebase, production and reinforcement. Mainland France is whole again as the Western Allies in formal ceremonies across the newly liberated territory return their captured hexes back to their 1939 ally. In Yugoslavia, in an act that will haunt them post war the CW hexes are handed over to the Russians. German production is marginal due to the saturation bombing of their factories and the loss of resources, rail lines and factories. Their spare pilots are retrained and the few MIL are drafted again to defend their cities.

1945 M/J – The Penultimate Turn and Germany calla up its Militias

Axis initiative roll is a 4 and is easily beaten by the Russian player’s 9, Germany desperate to go first demands a reroll (init goes to the +1 Allies – and now they win ties) but Germany rolls a definitive 10 which is well beyond Russia’s 6 of his second roll, the Axis go first. Weather roll is not what the Axis was wanting, rolling an 8 for fine everywhere, and only advancing by 1.

Germany takes a Land and Japan a Combined. Japan sails its remaining small and diminished fleets into the China Sea and Sea of Japan as they hope to use their shore bombardment against the US invaders still occupying Osaka. Two patrolling US CA’s in the Sea of Japan find on a handy Japanese split that damages the IJN BS Haruna and aborts another for the cost of the CA Augusta sunk, the Sea of Japan is cleared of US shipping. In the China Sea the Kido Butai fleet searches but the US having broken the Japanese Naval codes and surprise the Japanese three times in a row – they kept rolling 1’s and 2’s. The ensuing battles are harsh on the Japanese CV air groups that should have easily dealt with the two US long range Nav’s that had been escorting the patrolling CAs. The US roll 19 on the A2A combat shooting down the best Japanese CV 5 Ftr on the minus 4 table and abort the Japanese second CVP Ftr, in contrast both US Nav’s are cleared through on 10’s – ‘got to luv that A2A’ table. The US Nav’s constantly damage many of the Kido Butai Fleet’s BA/CV’s (Kirishima, Taiho, Nagato, Shokako and Hiei) significantly reducing the IJN shore bombardment. Finally on the 4th search, a favourable roll for the Japanese as they find and surprise the US - and everyone else. Japan selects the zero box to sink the US Conv and the escorting CA Minneapolis, the US defenders in Osaka are now OOS. With the US land based Ftrs based out of Osaka now OOS and unable to react the Japanese GS the City with multiple (3) land-based bombers but dismally fail to invert even a single US ground or air unit! Another Banzai charge to recapture Osaka is declared , the third by HQ Umezu, but this time the dice Gods favour Japan and a 15 is rolled on the +6 assault, for a 21 - the city is retaken. The US lose their 7 Marine, an INF Corps and a Div as there was no retreat path AND then both the Pacific Fleet and the TF58 are forced to rebase back to Manila as victorious Japanese troops flood Osaka’s major port. Some luck for the US as both their fleets sneak past the reduced IJN in the China Sea which fails to find the fleeing fleets. A win and morale boosting victory for the Japanese in these dark times for the Axis. The two US fleets arrive in Manilla inverted and will take no further action in this M/J turn and any chance of taking Tokyo is snuffed out in this single roll – well done Japan.

Germany’s land sees three units railed, to the Russian front, Prague is vacated and declared an open city as the few defenders withdraw behind the Danube River. In the North the SS 12-5 ARM and 10-6 ARM arrive in Berlin to defend the city and the Fuhrer’s bunker. The Western Front is abandoned, leaving only three INF units behind as a rear-guard; 4.3 in Rotterdam, 6.3 in Aachen and a 6.4 in Stuttgart. The rest of the German Army rush back to central Germany to establish a ring around Berlin. Rommel remains in Munich to defend the city as the rest of Austria is abandoned. In Italy, there is no movement as these units have remained inverted as they could not trace supply to Germany at the end of the M/A turn. Now OOS and isolated these units await their fate by the advancing US and CW forces in central Italy.

Allies first impulse sees multiple Super Combines from the US and CW, the CW declares a land Offensive led by the Canadian HQ Crerar – he wants to take Kiel. Russia takes an Air/Land and declares a land offensive. The US and CW massed fleets of TF 11, TF 17 and the Home Fleet together with 13 AMPHs and TPTs enter the North Sea, reinforcements arrive from the US on another 5 TPTs which are mostly unescorted and a small Allied fleet sails into the Baltic to deter German Naval interdiction. In the Med only 4 US and 2 CW BS and the reduced Force H fleet remain off the Coast of Italy to support land operations. A ‘housekeeping’ operation is mounted from the W Med to clean up Malta as a loaded AMPH and Marine Div are sent to finally liberate the Island.

The US Strat bombs Berlin, committing the game’s first war crime by dropping the first atomic bomb, possibly due to being intercepted by 10 and 9 factor Ftrs from Tempelhof the bombing is marginal with only a 4 rolled resulting in two Berlin factories forced to suspend operations. The US escorting Ftrs have a lucky day as they shoot down most of the hi-tech Ftrs including Germany’s first 10 factor jet – BV155. The following massed GS phase from all three major Allied nations, as well as the French, sees nearly every German unit/hex targeted, and with few interceptions many units are inverted. Importantly for the CW, the units defending the fortified city of Kiel are all inverted, a handy + 5. The CW launch their attack against Kiel at + 17, which was supported by Crerar’s O’Chit, massed shore bombardment and air – the city is taken an a TOTT roll and the German Nord fleet forced to rebase to Stettin. They are intercepted with a soft split and only lose a Finish coastal BS and a damaged CA for the loss of a British Sub. British marines and American Paras drop on the Dutch and German coasts taking the hexes against little opposition – inverted MIL. One German Stuka managed to slip through the CVP Ftr screen but made no impact on the subsequent result as the assaults were 9.5 Blitz using Marine ARM, shore bombardment and air support – both rolled TOTT, no loss and no inversions.

The combined US and CW land offensive overwhelms the three hapless defended cities in the West, as Rotterdam, Aachen and Stuttgart are taken for no loss and no inversions. There is now little between Berlin’s outer defences and the Western Allies. On the Russian front a similar tale is told as multiple attacks clean up individual units and several stacks of German ARM/MECH evaporate under the Russian O’Chit and massed Arm/Mech bonuses from Russian GBA and attacking Acft – the race for the prize, that is Berlin is on in earnest. Further South, the OOS German defenders in Northern Italy are overwhelmed as Milan and Turin are liberated. Units head towards the Brennan pass towards Munich to marry up with the US forces from West, Only Munich and Rommel guarding the pass and hinder this historic moment. Malta is liberated on a +12 invasion supported by Marines, air and shore bombardment. Further East, the CW forces led by Wavell assault and liberate both Italian Eritrea and Somaliland as the victors advance to their next and last objective, Addis Ababa for one last assault against Mussolini’s stronghold in the mountains.

In the Far East the Russian fail on their first attempt to invert the Seoul defenders and elects to try again next impulse, reinverting one acft. The US fleet searches for the remnants of the Japanese fleet in the China Sea, finding the last of the once proud IJN. These remnants are dealt with quickly and the sea area is cleared as the last of these ships are sunk, damaged or aborted.

Axis 2nd Impulse – ever hopeful roll bad weather a 1 or a 2, but alas fine again – no momentary reprieve for Germany as the skies remain clear and the ground firm. What few upright units head back to Berlin, the last act of Guderian, the last upright German HQ, is to reinvert 3 ARM and a 10 factor Ftr (FW 190 Dora). A few units in cites, mostly MIL defend the Cities of Dusseldorf and Dortmund on the approaches to Berlin. German is now clearly divided into an East and West advance as all three Allies Armies advance to the outer defensive ring of Berlin.

Allies’ 2nd Impulse – with clear weather the US, Russia and the CW take Air/Land actions, as they mount further strategic bombing runs against Berlin. The clear weather assists the bombing groups as they roll a 10 (5 ***) and destroy 3 factories, shut down 3 oil plants and burn 2 stored oil – Germany down to 2.2 oil. GS are launched at the few remaining defenders with moderate successes. The US launches assaults against several of the retreating German units that had not managed to withdraw to the Berlin pocket and cleared the cities of Frankfurt and Hanover. In the South Munich is taken on a +14.7 Assault and in the North the CW forces, fresh from the success of the Kiel capture Hamburg and expand their bridgehead into the North of Germany. Down in the South, Munich is captured and the last defenders in Italy surrender to the Western Allies – Italy is ‘liberated’. Russian forces assault Nuremberg, laying it to waste and clearing several hexes as they advance North and West towards the outskirts of Berlin. In Korea, the Russian GS against Seoul is rewarded with an inversion and the defending Japanese Inf is inverted and OOS, the Russians launch their assault, taking the city with ease - Korea falls.

Axis 3rd Impulse – first the weather roll 10 – definitively fine everywhere – no 1’s or 2’s for the Axis as Germany takes a land action, to shuffle his few remaining units to maximise the defence of Berlin and the last few hexes on the approaches to their capital. The other Axis pass hoping for an EOT roll, and at least prestige point for surviving until the last turn of the game. Alas, their hope is dashed as the 1 is not rolled and the Allies get another fine weather impulse and race for Berlin.

Allies 3rd Impulse US and Russia take an Air/Land and the CW and Russia take a Land. The US launches their final attacks from the South and S West with the CW forces clearing the Northern approaches to the city. Russia, still facing some hefty stacks in cities, albeit all inverted clears Dresden and advances another hex against Berlin. The US forces accept the surrender of Rommel at the Brennan Pass – the US Italian EXPED Army and the Western Europe Armies are now linked.

Axis/Allied 4th and last impulse – first the weather roll, a definitive 10, fine everywhere – in an attempted to end the turn the Axis nations all pass hoping for an EOT roll with their +2 to the roll. Again, no luck as they roll an 8 and the Allies get another fine weather impulse in M/J 45 and opportunity to assault Berlin. The Allies all take land actions. The Western Allies have three hexes against Berlin, the Russian two and the German one, the combined US/CW allies declare an assault on the city led by the HQ Devers and supported by ENG and massed air. The defenders 28 points are all inverted by GS, the Western Allies launch the assault on a +8.1 (could have gone either way) and roll a victorious 16 for a TOTT 24 – Berlin is captured by the US and Victory in Europe is declared.

ALLIED VICTORY

With Berlin taken the Allies accepted the Axis surrender – the Japanese had retained their Capital, Tokyo and managed to kick the US out of Osaka in M/A 45 – a surprise for everyone. Congratulations to all players, especially the Axis who ‘played on’ despite the impending loss. This allowed the Allies the opportunity to play the game out, to see where each of the Allied Nations would be by games end and most importantly re-enact albeit abstractly, the Second World War. Playing the long game also allowed the US and to a lesser extent the CW and Russian to build their force pools, enact the strategic bombing campaigns often not seen in the short game – too busy building tactical Acft – as well as the reflect the vast and overwhelming production that the Allies were able to generate in 1944/45. This game was always likely to be an Allied win, but with short turns, poor Allied rolls and bad weather in 43 and 44 there was still a chance, albeit small, that the Axis could have sneaked an historical victory of retaining 10+ Victory Cities.

I will summarise the victory points by nation, comment on critical points in the game and look at some of the Stats – weather, short v long turns, number of impulses and loss ratios and post later to this site.

AUSGAME22 will commence after a few weeks break.

Cheers and thanks for reading, the feedback and ‘likes’.

EUROPE

GERMANY

BERLIN

RUSSIAN AND US ARMIES MEET AT BERLIN

ITALY SURRENDERS

PACIFIC

FAR EAST

JAPAN - US still own one hex

Losses EOT M/J 1945 - as expected another huge loss in GERM BPs

Scenario Two - Napoleon's Battles

After all that General d'Armee I needed to get back to some Napoleonics that I knew.  I thought I had played this scenario fairly recently, but in checking my blog see it was back in July 2020.  Oh well, when you are getting on in years, probably a gap of eighteen months is still fairly recent.

[Edit: turns out I was right, I hosted this scenario 11 November last year]

This time I took the French and walked John through the Austrians.  Instead of random close up photos of the fighting, I took a single whole of table shot at the end of each turn.

Deployment

I advised John to keep his forces mobile, i.e. not deployed (into line)

The double bases for the Austrian artillery is just something I am trying out to be better able to show casualties, I really need to finish my research into the ground space a battery takes up.

We both started off pretty aggressively,

but with the French suffering multiple routs in the ensuing long range fire combat.

The Austrian Second Division advances menacingly against the struggling French left.

However on the French right the Austrians have been forced back.

A couple on inconclusive cavalry engagements had occurred as well.

The French Third Division has seized the BUA on the Austrian left.

The French artillery has also been successful in silencing the Austrian guns.

An Austrian counterattack failed against the right hand BUA

The brigades on the left of the French line have now deployed, 

but are still out of effective range.

With both flanks now secured on the BUAs,

the French are letting their artillery dominate the battlefield,

while cautiously advancing

Did I say cautious?

I should have said very cautiously

Previously routed units had been rallied, but with losses mounting,

the Austrians suffer their first dispersed unit.

With a second dispersed Austrian brigade and the French position strengthening and time getting on, 

we called it a draw.  

We had played 8 of the 15 turns allotted for this scenario.  

John hadn't experienced the delight of the Free Rerolls.

I was very happy with the infantry brigade casualty markers, on the French cavalry you can see the less aesthetic casualty counters in use.

General d'Armee in 15mm

This time my Austrians faced Chris' French.  Simon took command of one of the Austrian Brigades and John had one of the French brigades.  It was still very much a learning exercise with these rules.

I'm in command of the four battalions to the left of the wood.

We have to secure the town, even though it is on fire. 

Simon's command advancing on the right.

The critical turn.

The bottom most Austrian brigade has been bloodily repulsed before it even got into combat.

The fighting near the town, while starting to look promising,

ended in a draw.

Most importantly, we were starting to get a handle on the rules. 

World in Flames - FB 54

 AUSGAME2021

J/F 1945 (Cont) – A NEW YEAR AND THE RUSSIAN JUGGERNAUT WREAKS HAVOK

Breaking News – Mussolini has finally turned up with a few of his entourage and has declared that Addis Ababa in Ethiopia is the new Italian Capital. The territories of Ethiopia and Eretria celebrate in muffled tones as they had hoped to be forgotten in the conflux that is WWII, Mussolini’s arrival has probably put paid to that.

Allies’ 1st Impulse, knowing it will be a short turn, the US take a Super Combined – and as they have spare O-Points to burn, and many more being built, the CW take a Naval/Land and the Russian an Air/Land with China a Land and France, a Naval. France’s naval sees it transporting valuable US reinforcements to Europe and providing escorts to the valuable convoy links. The CW Naval move, likewise, focuses on shifting the weapons of war by shuttling transports and their valuable cargoes to and from the US. They also escort the Allied convs that are now delivering 15 US BPs to the UK from the factories of the East Coast of America. In the North Sea the Home fleet sails and escorts 6 Amphs/Tpts in the 3 and 4 boxes as they pick up DIVS and Corps off the coasts. In a similar manner, in the Med, Amphs/Tpts off the coast of Italy embark multiple Divs and Corps to land in Northern Italy so that they can follow up the retreating Axis forces. The last of the CW units from Egypt arrive to support the Italian Campaign. US TF17 sailed to support and escort the TPTs arriving in the Med and TF 11 sailed to the North Sea. Massed Allied naval forces, CVs, BS and CAs and loaded Tpts and Amphs all loaded with INF and MECH are now out at sea in both the North Sea and off the Coast of Italy. With snow in the temperate 8 Strategic Bombers take off to bomb the Axis factories – despite none being intercepted and also having a +1 (for not being intercepted) only one of the bombing runs succeeds (Munich) as the bombers all roll consistent 2’s or 3’s. It would appear that the snow has done an excellent job of camouflaging the targets.

The subsequent GS phase is similarly uneventful with only a few Axis units inverted, thanks again to the excellent AA gunnery in the West and poor GS rolling by the Allies in the East. Although yet again the Luftwaffe was roughly dealt with by the Russian air-force as three more German Ftrs were shot down. Importantly the German black print 7.3 defending Bucharest is inverted, guaranteeing the capture of the Rumanian Capital on a +22 Assault. The Russian press on with a +10.5 Assault against Belgrade and another against Cracow, taking both cities and eliminating their defenders. In the North the Russian Army advances and assault Lodz capturing the city and its red factory. Another Axis Infantry is eliminated, again for no loss or inversions – Stalin’s forces are on a roll – as high odds attacks and winterised bonuses help the attacks. Having taken an Air/Land the Russian air-force is rebased forward occupying forward airbases to support the next offensive.

In the West, the US forces attack the 6.3 SS anchoring the SW line in the mountains on a gutsy +4 assault, hoping not to roll the squiggly 14 (3/1 loss). Fortune favours the rash and they roll a 1/1 exchange losing their 6.4 Mtn Corps but importantly eliminating the 6.3 SS, the line is now turned. In a similar manner the CW launch a +10 Blitz attack against the coastal defenders at Calais. This attack is supported by Marines debarking in Dover and attacking across the channel, plus shore bombardment and aircraft. Rolling TOTT they destroy the two Axis MIL defenders (only 7 Points) and turn the NW line, flanking the city of Lille – finally there is movement on the Western Front. With storm in Italy there is little movement and there are no attacks by the US and CW forces. Massed Allied acft are rebased and reinverted by Allied HQs hoping for finer weather in the next impulse.

In the Far East, the Chinese attempt a strategic bombing of Japan, but their US built Liberator is shot down by the remnants of the once proud Japanese air-force. China launches an attack against the Siam 2.2 MIL defending Bangkok and take the capital at a cost of a Nationalist 1.1 – attack weakness – is always going to give you a lower odds attack. With the fall of Bangkok, another Axis minor capitulates and the impulse advances by another 3.

Axis 2nd impulse and the important weather roll favours the Russian again, it would appear that when you are down nothing goes well, as another double snow turn arrives with a 5 rolled, the Russian front has just become untenable. With rain in the Med the W Allies will not be left out of the action. German units are railed to the Russian front in a desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable, single units are now holding the front-line against the Russian horde, from Austria in the South to Germany in the North – there are more vacant hexes than units! The Western Front is slightly better, as at least the line is double stacked and short – and despite the Allied air superiority the German AA gunners have been doing sterling work driving off the majority ground attack acft – with few inverts the Western Allies are less inclined to assault the line. The German HQ Manstein reinverts 3 units, including the two Heavy AA guns and the FW190 - 10 factor ftr to assist against the next Allied assaults in the West.

Allies’ 2nd Impulse the CW, US and Russian take Land actions with the Chinese an Air and the French a Combined. The recently arrived US Super Fortresses bomb Berlin again and find their target with 3 factories production halted. Other bombers strike German factories and with much better results shut down 5 more German factory production. The US and CW forces in Italy assault the defending 3 factor (6 in the mountains) SS MIL in the rain, eliminating it for a ½ invert, clearing central Northern Italy, the US DIV on the Island of Quarnero advances into Pola capturing the resource and welcoming 2 x debarking Marine Corps to secure the port and threaten the major port city of Trieste. A successful GS in central Italy inverts an OOS black print 5 INF which is eliminated in the rain. With snow in France again and little success on the GS due to again superb AA five from the defending AA batteries, both Western Allies decline to attack. CW forces push North to outflank Lille, hoping to isolate its defenders However, the US forces cross into Germany as they advance against empty hexes towards Stuttgart and Munich – threatening the German heartland and its beer halls. The W Allies are conserving their forces for the fine weather and are happy tie down valuable German defenders whilst the Russian pursues their quarry in the snow. French partisans occupy Metz and set up bunting, trestle tables and red wine, as they sense that the Allies will be arriving soon.

On the Russian front, the rout continues, as successful GS sees the odd OOS German defender inverted and become another casualty as the ‘dead German pile’ gets bigger. The Russian Juggernaut trundles West. A +18-blitz attack against the last remaining Hungarian army unit, the 5.5 Mech that ‘got away’ last turn sees it eliminated with no inversions, a +29 attack against another cut off German Corps sees further advances westwards. The HQ Kesselring, caught by itself as its flanking units evaporate is eliminated on a +17 attack. The carnage continued as two +11 attacks, the first against an 8 factor in a mountain hex and the second against Zagreb see two 19’s rolled for massive TOTT rolls – no inversions, no losses! Yugoslavia will now fall in the conquest phase, as will Hungary – two more Axis allies will surrender. The Allies fail to end the turn, and the impulse marker advances by 3 – it can now end on a 5 if Italy and Japan both pass - and there is no reason for them not too.

Axis 3rd Impulse – weather roll a 7 +1 (, snow in the Temp bodes well for the Allies much to their delight. The Axis badly needed a storm or Blizzard. Germany demands their minor Allies pass and they do, Italy and Japan pass – Germany takes a land. Units are railed from Italy and Germany to bolster Vienna and the Russian Southern front which has become extremely vulnerable, if not indefensible. On the Western Front Lille is vacated to straighten the line leaving behind the inverted AA gunners and the last German units cross the border into Belgium and Germany in good order. In Northern Germany MIL attempt to block landing sites adjacent to Kiel as CW MAR arrive. Axis attempt to roll EOT needing 6 or less – hand on heart, but they roll an 8! The turn goes on as the impulse marker advances by 2. The Russian is wringing his hands with anticipation and savouring more dead German units with the onset of snow.

Allied 3rd Impulse - The Allies take land actions to keep the pressure on. The Russian front has mostly culminated as most of the acft have flown, attacks against lone units continue with an assault against Vienna’s defenders topping the table. Units in the South advance into the Austrian mountains with the aim of exploiting the lack of defenders. On the Western Front CW and US forces advance into Belgium and eliminate the inverted AA gun left behind in Lille, taking the city. US forces in the Southwest, led by Patton exploit towards Munich, the Brennen Pass and Stuttgart – the US forces have established a significant bridgehead in Germany. In Italy the combined US and CW forces cross the Po River as they para drop the empty hex with the intent of cutting off supply to the mostly inverted German units in Italy as they ZOC the mountain highway to the Brennen Pass, they are successful in their coupe du main breaching the river and cutting supply. Trieste is occupied forcing the remaining Italian ships to rebase – they are not found by the massed fleets off the Italian coast – not sure how that is possible? The Canadian HQ Crerar launches an attack from Denmark against Kiel as all the defenders were inverted in a lucky GS. The Assault at +6.5 which was speculative but worth the risk, even in snow – no reward for the Canadians as they roll very average for a 1.1 loss to each side, Kiel survives.

Allies roll EOT and Germany sighs, although he notes that the German units in Italy are now OOS and with no path to a German primary source will not reinvert at the end of this turn. Partisan roll – no partisans turn up despite several rolls, mainly against the Allies, which included India again. During the conquest phase, Siam capitulates as their last unit is removed off the board. Hungary and Yugoslavia likewise join the Soviet Bloc. Rebase and production, and M/A reinforcements. Germany spends its captured BPs from the collapse of Italy and again retrains a number of its pilots. The late war is often catastrophic for the Axis, and this game is no different. In three impulses the Germ has lost 22 Corps, 4 Divs and 8 Ftrs – and the only land units returning to the front line will be the turns-built MIL as there have been no units Blitzed back to the spiral and there are no reinforcements arriving for M/A 45.

Germany surrounded

Italy about to be 'liberated' of German units

Seoul the next on the Soviet hit list

The Russians are coming

Western Allies have liberated France and entered SW German

CW forces arrive in Italian E Africa and Eritrea

Enormous losses for the Axis in a winter turn - three snow impulses in a row will do that together with some hefty rolls.

The Siege - Two

At the February NWS Games Day Simon assembled his fortress and prepared to stand siege.

My post on our previous game using this fabulous terrain can be seen here: https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-siege.html

It's hard work, but someone has to do it.

The siege!

The terminology

View from the besiegers

View from the besieged

Inside the fortress

Engineer supervises the building of the saps.

The fortress front line defenders

The saps wriggle forward

Parallels and additional batteries are constructed

Getting close

The besiegers have plenty of ammunition and their guns are well crewed

The fortress has been trying to conserve its ammunition

Small arms fire now supplements the siege artillery

An assault is imminent,

but sadly we were out of time

The game was playing well, but a few modifications would help:

1. Units eliminated should be classed a Combat Ineffective (CI)

2. Risk of loss should always be on high rolls: 456 for gun crew, 6 for engineers, master gunners etc 

3. Delineate two/three areas for each side for placement of CI units, units removed during the turn and for returning units (i.e. those that were removed last turn).

4. Marking troops under fire.  Troops fired on during a turn are marked with a "smokey" this stays for the next turn to indicate they had been fired on.  Consider simplifying so if a unit is fired on at any time in a turn it gets marked.  All marks come off at the end of the turn.

5. Just role for initiative once per turn, not per fire segment.  So gaining initiative helps to immediately place enemy units under fire if that is what the phasing player wants to do.  

NEMISIS TWO

Zoe and I got in another game of this today.  Took around two hours and we were much quicker than before (it helped that I had now read the rules).  This game is a lot of fun, but very hard to win.  Zoe was the Scout and I was the Soldier.  I was a rotten shot!  Zoe got slimed and spent an inordinate amount of time looking for clean clothes!  Just as we were starting to make progress the aliens, eh intruders, started appearing.  Then fires broke out.  Then the alien queen took a liking to me - result I died.  Then the fires spread.  Result ship blows up.  As it was it was just about to go into hyperspace and none of use were safe.  Plus the destruct sequence was underway.  Engines unknown, but destination earth!

The game might not photograph so well,

but it certainly tells a story

NEMISIS ONE

My daughter told me she had played this game with her friends and really enjoyed.  Thanks to Tactics here in Perth I was able to source a copy super quick.  Then it was just a matter of finding some time to play.  Our first game was a bit of a challenge in not knowing the rules etc, but it played well, provided you remembered that you were in an alien (hint hint) infected space-hulk (hint hint).  Zoe's character was the maintenance and and was intent on collecting shiny things (didn't happen).  I was the commander and wanted to send off a signal and find peace in hibernation.

We fought off a few intruders, survived some wounds, got covered in slime (well one of us), both got infected and died, just as the game was coming to a close.  

Not a good image, but the blue ring was my character's resting place.

Now to play again.

Whoops, forgot to publish this.  Game took place around 20 January.