derflinger
Posts: 17
Joined: 12/24/2004 Status: offline
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Hi, I'm Perry. I took my logon ID from my favorite German BC. Yes, I know I'm missing an 'f'. I was in a hurry. If the powers that be let me, I'll change it to the correct spelling. One of the things I like best about the Derfflinger - it originally mounted 8 88mm quick firing guns. Back in the 60's I discovered Avalon Hill's games. Africa Korps, Battle of the Bulge, Blitzkrieg, 1914, Jutland, and many more. I don't remember which one I got first, but I was hooked. Unfortunately, there were never enough opponents. Most of the AH games were pretty primitive. I think I was a charter member of Strategy and Tactics magazine. I bought my first $2000 wargame in 1981, an Apple II and Bismark. I could retire if I'd invested all the money I spent on SSI wargames...well, maybe not. I think the board game I remember most fondly was from Yakinto (spelling?) The Foreign Legion. Based on 50's and 60's Foreign Legion movies. Each unit was a single character, complete with personal history, all the false accusations, evil deeds, or spurned loves that resulted in banishment to the deserts of North Africa. I found SPWAW over a year ago, and I am as hooked now as I ever was as a kid. I am now involved in my first email game. 4000 points each, meeting engagement, I took the Yanks, my brother got the Germans. Yankee tanks no good! But P38s are tough. Both of mine are almost out of ammo. 3inch ATG is awesome. And I love Wolverines. I set up an ambush in a smokescreen around a set of Victory Hexes, and then I almost walked into it. A 3inch ATG, a Sherman, and a pair of Wolverines. My Ranger had spotted his Tiger (last one un-stuck I hope) and a 1943 model MkIV, so I set up with the hope he would continue on his present course. Well, as plans are wont to do, a SpecOps team of his stumbled onto a lonely crewman of mine, who they shot. Unfortunately, my 3inch fired a shot their way, causing little damage, but giving away our position. His Spec Ops unit suppressed my ATG. The Wolverines never saw them. But his tanks never showed, so I figure he must have seen them. And now they were lost in the smoke. On my turn, the Sherman and another Ranger unit flushed his Spec Ops unit. But where were his tanks? No clue, so I decided it was time to move out before his dang-gone 122mm captured howitizers were called in. As my M2 approached the 3in, (now recovered enough to be picked up) an MG42 opened up - the M2 couldn't see them. I clicked on a Wolverine and turned to the left slightly. Suddenly, looming in the clearing smoke was the MG and a Tiger two hexes behind it... I noticed that the Tiger and the half track could not see each other, so two shots quieted the MG. Wolverine 1, fired a shot with a 58% chance. It missed. The Tiger (thankfully) also missed. Wolverine 1 was now over 90%. But then I thought, so is the Tiger, and he won't miss a second time, so if I don't kill him, I'm dead. Wolverine 2 had the same 58% shot. I took it. The Tiger exploded. Two more shots took out the crew and MG. We scooted about 4 hexes south, just before the 122's landed squarely on our old position. On the other side of the map, I told one of my Ranger units to defend a building, but not to shoot at any range. A full (my assumption) SS squad ended it's turn adjacent to me. When my turn came, I saw the SS men were running at full speed, 9mph I think. My rangers took one shot. To the SS credit, all four weapons went off before they ran, or rather, before they dispursed. Then, another Sherman and a M3HT were waiting as part of a flanking manouver on one of his Tigers. A Mk IV came out of the smoke, immediately in front of me. We fired. We hit. Yankee tank shot bounced off the front of the MkIV. He fired once and the Sherman went up in flames. The next shot and the M3HT went up in flames. Man, what a game.
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