1st PanzerKompanie, 21st PanzerGrenadier regiment prepares to jump off at the Line of Departure (LOD). 

The Soviet HMG platoon 

Soviet initial setup on the right flank.  

First turn firing from combined StuG IIIs and Panzer IIIs kill three Shermans and bail a fourth. 

Four 7.5cm infantry guns won't do a lot of damage to the German armor, but they will move forward to threaten the right flank, covered by the Soviet HMG platoon. 

Facing the PanzerKompanie Commander - four 57mm anti-tank guns and nearly 10 Shermans... 

The PanzerGrenadiers line up behind the command tank.  

The PanzerGrenadiers take fire and decide to move at the double away from the massed firepower of the Sovs, towards the left flank 

The two surviving Panzer II 'L' "Luchs" (Lynx) fire on the naval infantry guarding the left flank objective. 

After two turns, the StuGs and Panzer IV manage to knock out all the Soviet Lend Lease armor. The Shermans were no match for the StuGs. 

As the command tank burns, the PanzerGrenadier platoon races for the far objective. 

The lone survivor, a Panzer IV stands it's ground on the Soviet objective on the right flank. 

The company command tank, behind the far house, burns. Along with it, in the same turn, his 2ICs tank burns. The previous turn saw two other Panzer IIIs killed. 

Getting close to the end here. Three out of five StuGs are burning, all the Panzer IIIs are burning. 

PanzerGrenadier platoon takes some hits. Two KfZ 70 Krupps trucks are burning, one section of first squad survived. At this point, only a "Hail Mary" will win the game for the PanzerKompanie. 

The last surviving StuGs are bailed. In a moment they will be fired on, fail their leadership, and the game is over.  

Tin Soldiers: Julius Caesar

This is yet another article on a computer game, but, like "Tin Soldiers: Alexander the Great" (see my previous article from July 2005), this one is unique in that it tries to present the look and feel of a table top miniatures game. I ordered this game from http://www.strategypage.com(it is a bit cheaper there) even though I had only just started the first game in the series which is based on the career of Alexander. I had heard that the Julius Caesar game ushered in some improvements to the game system so I wanted to try it right away. Now that I have started playing the Julius Caesar game I am "hooked" on it and I need to play it all the way through before going back to Alexander. So, what is different about it? The biggest change is that you can select between three different difficulty levels. The main criticism of the Alexander game is that it is just too hard. Another change is that you can now select and play any of the battle scenarios as "one of" battles instead of playing through the whole campaign in sequence. In my opinion it is better to play the game as a campaign. It gives you the challenge of managing your forces over an extended period of time. Best of all, the campaign system is not strictly linear. In the first phase you can pick which battles against the barbarians you want to fight. The idea is to build up sufficient prestige points to force the Siege of Alesia scenario to come up. Getting past the Alesia scenario will take you into the second phase of the campaign which is the Roman Civil War. This idea of picking which battles you want to fight during the campaign is a real plus. That means that when I start a new campaign I won't necessarily be playing the same scenarios all over again! Another improvement that I really like is that the "figures" appear to be sharper and more detailed. I like the fact that they collected and painted armies of 25mm Wargames Foundry figures as an inspiration for the computer code writers. Now, about the difficulty level. While it is true that it is not too hard to be successful playing on the "Easy" setting, you will discover that you still have to employ good, and clever, tactics in order to succeed. Let me give you an example. One of the battles I selected was "Ariovistus," which is where you get to try to push the Germans back across the Rhine River. In my first attempt I spread my cohorts out across the width of the "table" and advanced. I quickly found out that I was vastly outnumbered everywhere, and even on the "Easy" setting I was in a hopeless situation. At any point in a battle you can hit a "Restart" button and start over, which is what I had to do here. This time I massed as many units as I could, and also my best units, on the left flank. When the battle started I attacked aggresively on the left while refusing the right. This worked perfectly, by the time the warbands on the German left had finished marching across the "table" to engage my right flank, my left flank had crushed the German right. This brought the numerical parity down to about one-to-one, which meant that the remaining German units where doomed. It was very gratifying to say the least! Right now I have made it to the Siege of Alesia, which is a real rollercoaster ride. It seems hopeless, but so far I am holding out. Let me close by saying that I highly recommend this game for any computer gamer or tabletop gamer; both will enjoy it. If you are trying to choose between this one, or the Alexander game, get this one first. I'm having a great time with it and I will probably write more on it later. In the meantime, if you want to see more "eye candy" go here.
Good Hunting!
"Bwana Bill"

A Tribute to Larry Brom

For a while now you have heard me speak of the rule set called “The Sword and the Flame (TSATF).” If you go to any gaming convention and walk around the tables where people are running scenarios from the Victorian Era colonial period, you will invariably see the TSATF rules in use, especially if the scale is 25/28mm. In other words, it is the standard, and has been for quite a long time. Therefore I thought it was about time that I wrote about Larry (The Brommer) Brom, the legendary author of those rules. Like a lot of other gamers from the old days Larry “cut his teeth” on Napoleonics. He first got into it back around 1953 after serving as a Marine rifle squad leader in Korea.

In the mid-70’s he got interested in Zulu War gaming and tried out a couple different sets of rules from the UK. Larry thought that they were all lacking in play balance even though they might be accurate in their portrayal of British firepower. As Larry says “it might be good history, but if it is not good game-play then what is the point in playing?” Larry’s philosophy is that “fun comes first.” He therefore wrote the first version of TSATF in 1979 and it has been the standard ever since. Larry came up with a simple system that feels realistic and gives the natives a fair chance. He was the first to use playing cards as a system for regulating movement turns and, breaking with tradition, he has you roll dice to see how far each unit moves. These ideas really add a lot of drama to every game! If you would like to read more about Larry’s rule design philosophy, go here.

Larry’s TSATF system is so successful that it has been adapted into may different forms both by Larry and many others. I have seen variations covering the French Foreign Legion, Caesar in Gaul, the Boxer Rebellion, the American Civil War, to name but a few. I have even heard that Larry is now working on a fantasy battles version of TSATF, the Warhammer guys should be nervous! Larry is a prolific game designer who recently published a squad level skirmish set of rules that covers WWII in the Pacific. I have not tried it yet, but from what I understand it is not a TSATF variant, it is a whole new system. If you would like to peruse Larry’s line of products follow this link and click on the "Amazon Z-shops" link at the bottom, after that click on the link that says: "See all And That's The Way It Was listings." And “no,” this is not an advertisement, just a recommendation!

The gaming community knows and appreciates Larry’s contributions to the hobby. When I attended Cold Wars this year, I had the unexpected honor of playing alongside Larry in a Sudan scenario. We were defeated, but it was glorious nevertheless! All of us old timers appreciated the fact that they were playing with a gaming legend and we made sure that the young “whippersnappers” in the game appreciated it too! I have also learned that HMGS South is planning to honor Larry as their Guest of Honor at their upcoming "Hurricon" convention. Also, when I was at Historicon a large group of gamers gathered together to call Larry at his new home in New Orleans to wish him a happy 75th birthday. Here’s to many more Larry!
Good Gaming!
"Bwana Bill"

"Bwana Bill (center) and Larry Brom (right)leading the British to glory in the Sudan" 

"Larry in the guise of a British general (photocredit to HMGS South)"