WWPD Wounded Warriors Tournament Report or Confessions of a US Arty Party Partier

 I had a great time at the WWPD Flames of War tournament yesterday at the Games Vault in Fredericksburg, VA.  It was a Battle of the Bulge themed event and all of the proceeds went to support Wounded Warriors.  It was a bit of a "silly" tournament as a player could buy up to 25 "re-rolls" for $1.00 each.  I bought 25 but only used 10 as I forgot about them most of the time!

You can still donate by going to the link.

My first game was against Ken who was running a german infantry list that was backed by 2 king tigers and panther and three Panzer IV's.  The focal point of the game was the objective in the center of the picture and we fought back and forth for it.  I had Ken one platoon away from a break but my remaining infantry platoon failed its tank terror test to assault his remaining King Tiger that was sitting on the objective.  A well deserved 4-3 win to Ken.

 My second game was against KJ who also ran a german infantry list that was backed by 2 Jagd Panthers and 3 Stugs.  We rolled the fair fight scenario.  This was the only game I took the offensive by sending one infantry platoon, the recon and M-10's down the right side of the table.  KJ sent an infantry platoon to try and attack my artillery park down my left flank and it was touch and go and all game but I manage to seize the right side objective and win the game 4-3.  This was one of the best games I played of FOW in a tournament.  We also only used about 3-4 re-rolls each as KJ did;'t have a lot remaining and I only wanted to match his number to keep it "fair"

 My last game was against my friend Jon Baber, who I've played many board games with but never met across a FOW tabletop.  Jon ran a Confident/Trained German Panzer list with Jagd Panzer iv/70's and Hetzers.  He was a most gracious opponent and kept his disdain for my legal but rather gamey "arty party" list in check.  We rolled "Counter-Attack"and the game really focused on my right edge of the table and the objective in the center right of the picture.  Jon sent his Panzers on a sweep around to my ride side and then down to the objective,  The heroes of the game were my Priest artillery unit which entered as reinforcements in the upper right of the pictures and managed to survive the game and tie down Jon's Panzers until my artillery could chew through them.  I won the game 6-1 but more due to the dice gods frowning on Jon's dice rolling and the overly positive US artillery rules than anything else.

I went 2-1 for the day and placed solidly in the middle of the pack so I was very pleased with the results.  This is my fourth FOW tournament and the second one with a winning record.  Through four tournaments I'm 6-5-1 and having a lot of fun.

I do think this is the last event I'll run a US list that has more than one artillery unit.  While they're legal and completely within the rules, I don't think they're very fun to play against and they provide an incentive to the player (me!) to just turtle up and let your opponent come to you while the artillery pounds him to dust.  It's an effective strategy, but just doesn't seem fun for my opponents.  I can prevent that situation in the future.

Here's the list I ran yesterday:

Airborne Engineer Combat Company(Glider)

Infantry Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Airborne Engineer Combat Company HQ (Glider) - p.21	2	Cmd Carbine team	15
Combat Platoons
Airborne Engineer Combat Platoon (Glider) - p.21	1 1 2 4 2	Cmd Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer Pioneer Bazooka team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer M1919 LMG team	235
Airborne Engineer Combat Platoon (Glider) - p.21	1 1 2 4 2	Cmd Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer Pioneer Bazooka team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer M1919 LMG team	235
Support Platoons
Tank Destroyer Platoon (Veteran) - p.27	1 2 4	.50 cal Recon Jeep M20 Scout Car M18 Hellcat GMC	410
Parachute Machine-gun Platoon - p.18 Fearless Veteran	1 4	Cmd Carbine team M1919 LMG team	100
Cavalry Recon Platoon (Trained) - p.28 Confident Trained	1 1 1	M8 armored car Mortar Jeep Recon Jeep	70
Armored Field Artillery Battery (Veteran) - p.30	1 1 1 1 1 3	Cmd Carbine team M2 half-track with AA MG Staff team M2 half-track with .50 cal AA MG M4 Sherman OP M7 Priest HMC	230
Glider Field Artillery Battery - p.25	1 1 1 3	Cmd Carbine team Staff team Observer Carbine team M3 105mm light howitzer	115
Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (Trained) - p.30 Confident Trained	1 1 2 1 1 4 4	Cmd Carbine team Staff team 3/4-ton truck Observer Carbine team Jeep M1 155mm howitzer M5 high-speed tractor with .50 cal AA MG	235
Company Points:			1645

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Nuts Book