Axis and Allied Miniatures

Wizards of the Coast

IN issue 3 I reviewed these new collectible minis and the game you can play with them. WEll I finally have had time to play a game. We played a 2 a side game. We chose 6 play sheets rather than 4. The objective was placed on a town in the middle of the board. On reflection  the terrain was too close and the game really came down to who rolled first initiative. Anyway to give you an idea of what forces you can field and what the game feels like here is a description.

The sides were allowed 200 pts each.

As allies we chose a fast US  force to belt up a road into the town. This comprised a Hellcat, 2 shermans and 4 jeeps with a Red devil captain, a bazooka guy, a marine flame thrower and a rifleman.
Then we also took a British force with 2 Churchill crocodiles, 3 6pdrs  and a rifleman.

The Germans bought 2 Tigers , 2 M13/40 Italian tanks and by mistake a renault that was in the wrong card pile (we called it a captured tank!) plus a HMG a rifleman and an Officer.

We will call the allied table edge south and the German one north.

Now what then happened was That the allies won the itinitaive. The Us jeep force shot up the road into the town and the Hellcat and Shermans took up positions in a forest SW of the town. The British 6pds advanced up a valley SE of the town. (AT guns cannot move in the move phase but may move rather than firing in the assault phase). The Churchills trundled up a road at the east map edge.

The Germans were able to move there armour west of the town and kill the Hellcat in the first turn. However The Tiger was hit by shermans and disrupted.

MOve 2 the Shermans were able to take advantage of the disrupted Tiger to move up to flanks and kill it - although in the process sacrifiicing them selves and being Koed in move 3 by the M13/40s. The M13/40s also fell to the Shermans.

The USinfantry in the centre was coming under fire from the other Tiger and German infantry. however in the end the Churchills rolled up finally and killed the last German tank apart from the one Tiger and started flaming the infantry. With only 1 tiger and little infantry the Tiger was now unable to move into town against the US infantry and British AT guns supported by Churchills and the Axis admitted defeat.

The game was fun, fast and easy to play and gave us all something to do and consider.

However one point that was raised was that at 35 pts the Churchills were only slightly less well armoured than the Tiger which was 63. The Tiger has better hitting ability and range and was faster however and I feel given a good open area it could be a very potent weapon. The Jury is still out on the game balalnce. I am going to try something like 6 Shermans vs 2 Tigers and see what occurs.
With a flat open terrain and the Tigers in cover I feel we might see a German victory.

Afriboria

from the Antwerp Fusiliers

http://www.tsoa.be/
This is a free set of wargames rules available on line from the Antwrp Fusiliers. These guys look like they have fun wargames. Their web site actually has several sets of rules including Afriboria. Colourful site with lost of campaign material - check it out.

The rules originate in the comercial games Memoir 44 and Battle cry but have been adapted to fit better the colonial period. They are designe dreally for 28mm scale individually based figures BUT could be used with most scales and multiple figures stuck on a base- although some admin on paper will be needed.

The battlefield is a hex cloth with6" hexes. However our group are going to experiment with hexes on card templates.

Units are 6 figures for A class European infantry, 8 for B and C class natives and lesser europeans. Cavalry are 5 figures. Artillery about 5 figures.

You can then organise 2 units in to a platoon in a single hex with a NCO. Further organistion yields companies of 4 units under an officer.

Now a central part of the game is that units must have a colour  designation. Units are either blue , green or red units. This may be achieved by having a small part of  a base with a colour on it. So a third of your army is red, third bluie and a third green. YOu may mix upto 2 colous in the same platoon or company. There is an elemnt of strataegy in how you elect to divide your force and whether to have all same colour companies or mixtures.

Why? Well that comes in with the action cards - the engine of the game. The action cards will specify how many and which colour units to move. EG it might say - move 4 blue units , or 1 of each colour. Units in a platoon or company may be moved as IF THEY WERE ONE unit of that colour. So say you have 1 blue and 3  reds in a company you could move the entire company but it only counts as being one blue unit against that MOVE 4 blu card you just played. However only units of the correct colour can battle/ shoot that turn.

The players/ teams each get a handful of cards and then replenish one a turn ( scenarios can change this off course). Action cards might also activate randomn event cards as well. Its very easy command and control and players grasp it very quickly.

The only chart in the game is one saying how far units can move and fire, move and not fight and also how many dice at a certain range they roll to fight.

The dice are special dice with different symbols on - a modern bullet symbol, a acw minnie bullet, a musket ball, cross swords , flag and shield. A class infantry will score hits if ther dice come up showing any bullet symbol, B class only on minnie balls and musket balls and C classon musket balls. The crossed swords applies to natives in hand to hand and gives them some reason to close to contact. Flags are like morale tests- you must reetreat that many hexes as there are flags. Finally shields are used for saving rolls.

The dice system is very easy to pick up and soon players know the numbers of dice and get on with it. The only point is that there are few / no modifiers for EG hit in flank or rear.  These rules are simple and quick and I recon are great fun but maybe a comeptition wargamer might not like them as much as we demo gamers who like simple easy mechanisms.

All is available on the web site- action cards, dice symbols and rules in attractive art work and pdf. Print off and laminate the cards. Print the dice symbols of on sticky back paper and slap on blank dice (spirit games have these).

I recommend this game.