Well, what a great day at Salute yesterday. Blitzkrieg Commander IV was a great success, very playable for anyone used to BKC II, but readily understood by players new to the game. We spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes running through an American activation and German response to a group of Belgian players who had bought the new rules as an impulse buy but were impressed enough to go back to Pendraken and buy a variety of starter armies!!
The roads arrived to finish off the table early on Saturday morning, so we set them up and were ready for the off.
First official move with the new rules, an M8 Greyhound from Andy T's battlegroup races forward to scout out where the German stop line is.
Second activation saw Mark F's Greyhound do a similar recce move.
First shooting saw me suppress Andy T's Greyhound with a mortar team - nice use of a special rule saw the "exposed" crew of the Greyhound especially vulnerable to the plunging fire from the mortars, which gained an extra shot and hit as normal in the open against the vulnerable vehicle.
First blunder of the game saw Andy T's infantry retreat a half move.
BKC emphasises combined arms techniques, so when Marks Shermans, supported by an M10 advanced too far, ambush fire from a PAK 38 and a pair of Panthers saw the lead Shermans suppressed and falling back in the following German activation. Successful command roles then meant the Panthers could concentrate on the M10, which brewed up.
Another of the specials is "unreliable" which applied to the Panthers - they role a d6 each turn and are immobilised on a 1 (red marker) - they then get three turns to roll a 4+ or have to be abandoned (counted as lost).
Andy T's AT guns on a driving tour of France.
German company level battlegroup holding a wood.
View from ground level.
US infantry being whittled down by German fire from the tree line. Two stands have already been KO'd.
On the other flank, US infantry, a 57mm gun and a Sherman managed to get enough hits on a Panther to KO it, causing much satisfaction amongst the US players.
Another German company sized battlegroup deployed in the village astride the road leading off table to the right that was the US objective for the game.
The German CO occupying a farm more or less half way between the two infantry battlegroups.
The game ended more or less even by the time the show closed, but the main objectives of the day were to explore the new rules, demo the game to interested visitors and have as much fun as possible - oh and buy some kit in between. All in all a great day out - I enjoyed the show immensely, although definitely not a fan of London prices, but worth putting up with them for a grand day out. Thanks to Pendraken for organising the table and providing the forces and to Richard P, Mark J and Andy T for such a fun days gaming. Thanks to Richard P for driving me down - sadly, no thanks to Cheshire West road repairs or Google Maps for closing the A51-A49 junction overnight with no updates on the mobile phone, which provided me with a 20+ mile detour at 10pm last night. It was, despite that, great to see so many people and catch up - now where to start with all the new figures and reading material.
As ever, thanks for looking.
