Mikes Game Log

[mikeh]

First day of Winter Thunder in the Bulge is completed. The Germans get a good breakthrough. Turn 1 the Germans get to play all their chits first then the US draws theirs, they only have 3 HQ available 2 of which are Corps HQ's and can conduct combat and place road blocks. The 3rd HQ is an Army HQ's and supplies the Corp units.

Turn 2 gets back to chit draws and the Americans get reinforcements, plus another Corps and Army HQ units. Weather is misty so US gets 2 of its 4 air factors to use.

[Whiterook]

Nov 5, 2023 0:19:31 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe on the table this evening.

…a game I always meant to pick up! I probably will one day.

Dec 10, 2023 2:12:17 GMT -5 mikeh said:

First day of Winter Thunder in the Bulge is completed. The Germans get a good breakthrough. Turn 1 the Germans get to play all their chits first then the US draws theirs, they only have 3 HQ available 2 of which are Corps HQ's and can conduct combat and place road blocks. The 3rd HQ is an Army HQ's and supplies the Corp units.

Turn 2 gets back to chit draws and the Americans get reinforcements, plus another Corps and Army HQ units. Weather is misty so US gets 2 of its 4 air factors to use.

I can feel the cold of the snow!!! 

[mikeh]

Going to set up my 28's as they are at hand yet and set up a yet to be determined scenario.

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[mikeh]

The Soviets beging their offensive on Berlin. Game is Seelow & Kustrin 1945 by Six Angles Magazine.

[mikeh]

Sitting at the dining room table enjoying a cup of coffee and playing Minden's Gotterdammerung Berlin, 1945. This being scenario 4, SS Counter-attack.

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[mikeh]

The U-Boat, U543 a type IX boat was just off the coast of England, it was night time when the second watch saw a massive shadow approaching. Calling out "Alarm" the men bailed down the hatch and U543 slid beneath the waves and leveled out at periscope depth. What would happen over the next 8 hours would make the boats commander, KaLeu Wagner an instant Knights Cross owner and the talk of the Propaganda Ministry.

For you see the U543 had stumbled upon the HMS Duke of York. Which was heading this night to the invasion front to support ground operations in Normandy. The Admiralty thought to slip into the area at night to avoid detection. Oh well, best laid plans and all that.

U543 stays submerged even though it is night as the boat is actually between the DoY and the moon which is almost full the clear night. Wagner brings his boat to within medium range of the 35.000 tonnes behemoth and fires all 4 bow tubes and then heads deep to get ahead of the escorts when they come to hunt him and his boat and crew down.

The first torpedo hits followed by three more explosions! The Old Man has hit with all four torpedoes! They hear Duke of York begin to break up, at least one torpedo has hit a vital blow. Sonar man calls out "many high speed screws approaching." Then "Depth Charges!"

The boat is rattled by what will turn out to be 8 depth charge attacks but will finally manage to get away. But not without cost, damage to hull, dive planes, radio, flak, number 1 diesel and torpedo doors along with minor flooding. Most the chief gets fixed again but the radio is out for good the most serious is the dive planes are out and the Chief says that doesn't matter much because the hull is in such bad shape they probably could not dive very deep anyway without collapse.

But U543 is a lucky boat and manages to get back to Lorient and safety. With the boats radio being out and not being able to make or receive any contact with BdU the assumption was the boat had been lost. Needless to say there was one hell of a celebration that evening with the grand Admiral himself coming down to personally award Wagner his Knights Cross along with other decorations for the rest of the crew.

Post script. If you have managed to read this to this point you may want to know that U543 and crew were in refit for 5 months and it is now Feb 1945. U543 has orders for the Indian Ocean which means this boat and crew just might see out the end of the war. But if they do they will be far, far from home.

[Whiterook]

Yes, I read that far   As noted and it was a marvelous writeup!!! Really set the tone for the game. I couldn’t help but wonder what Lorient looks like today and how much was preserved of the base ops area. Anyway, cool sounding game… how’s the map (if there is one).

[mikeh]

There is a map of sorts but I hardly ever use it as the boats position is better kept on the U-Boats play mat. I usually almost always forget to move the marker along the map. You actually get 2 maps, one for the Atlantic and one for the Indian Ocean.

After my write up on sinking Duke of York the boat was sent to the Indian Ocean where it sunk an unescorted freighter of 3400 tonnes. And ended up surviving the war.

[mikeh]

Greetings from 3rd Belorussian Front. Game is Konigsberg by Revolution Games.

[Whiterook]

…that’s one that’s been on deck for a very long time, but has been waiting like a bridesmaid who caught the flowers! I’ll get to it, and I know I’ll love it!!!

[mikeh]

Set up and ready to invade mainland Italy. Salerno 43 by GMT Games.

[Whiterook]

Sexy!!!! I love the offshore setup… gives you that sense of invasion! Such a gorgeous looking game. I just read a review that was glowing and a High recommend, so that was encouraging, What do you think of the maps’ choice of artwork… any of it feel too dark to you?

[mikeh]

Naaaah, color in this instance is alright with me. I look at the map with this rugged, hilly, and mountainous terrain and think "This is the best landing beach they could find?"
The Italian boot, tough rugged country to fight through. That's what the color on this map make me think of. Now if this was a map of Normandy, or anywhere else in Western
Europe then I would say "Whoa! Where did they come up with these colors!"

[Whiterook]

That makes sense, on the terrain… I have to admit that I’ve not played a lot of Italian combat, nor really ever focused on the front in literature or screen so, I’m pretty unfamiliar with the terrain and fighting conditions. In my mind, I guess the closest I can come to is the movie on The Devil’s Brigade, where the conclusion of the movie has them in rough mountain terrain and it looked positively brutal.

[mikeh]

Devils Brigade is pretty good movie, another one, and present at Salerno is Darby's Rangers and as luck would have it is on TCM this weekend.