HAWKs Game Day 9.17.16

   A bunch of the HAWKs got together on Saturday to play in a couple games with the goal of testing out some new rules for some under-development rule writing projects.
   The first was a WWII game using "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" rules GM'd by Buck Surdu.  Even though this was a WWII game, the goal of playing it was to test out the concept of a cyber-phase for each turn, to be used in the upcoming "Look Sarge, No Charts; Sci-Fi/Near Future rulebook.
 

  I was in command of a battalion of French infantry tasked with taking a town and nearby bridge from a German force occupying it.   The game turned out to be a real nail-biter with the battle going down to the final turns.   In the end, when we had to stop due to the time, the Germans still barely held both objectives, but it would just have been a matter of a few turns more before we captured both targets.
   More importantly, we got a chance to see the cyber phase in action; and I think it worked really well.  While the first few turns were a relative stalemate cyber-wise, the French had some success late in the game in penetrating the German's computer network, causing some real headaches which prevented the Germans from getting reinforcements to the town.

     The second game was a War of 1812 scenario designed to test the new artillery rules for the upcoming Napoleonic supplement to "Combat Patrol", GM'd by Duncan Adams.  This game featured a small British held coastal town that was being raided by a force of Americans intent on gathering supplies for the approaching winter.

   Overlooking the water was a 6-pounder cannon, which could be swung around to shoot inland as well.  I was put in command of the gun and a small garrison force for the redoubt where the gun was located.  Part of the American objectives were to put the gun out of action so they could move some small boats up the waterway to haul off any supplies they liberated.
    At skirmish level, where canister range is almost the entire table, cannons are tricky things to incorporate.   Luckily the Americana's had lots of cover to hide behind.  I was able to get one shot off at a unit in the open, moving between patches of cover, with devastating results. A second shot went high, and a third shot did some hurt on a unit in a patch of woods.

    In the end I still had control of the cannon, but other sections of our perimeter had been badly chewed up, and the Americans were able to loot a large amount of supplies.  However, we still controlled the water, so they would have to haul their loot away the hard way by hand.
   There was a third game after this, which was Star Wars using modified "Combat Patrol"; but unfortunately I had to leave at this point.  It was really fun day and the rules tests were deemed a success.