Michael Eckenfels takes a look at two of Lock’n’Load’s key expansions to the World at War universe
Lock ‘N Load’s World at War series is a huge compendium of NATO vs. Warsaw Pack wargaming goodness, with several titles detailing that hypothetical conflict. In this First Impressions article, we’re taking a look at both Blood and Bridges and Operation Garbo as they are unboxed.
Click images to enlarge. A lot.
Blood and Bridges has what I’d think of as a ‘standard’ size wargame box, with Garbo being a bit smaller in both height and width. That’s a little annoying to someone as anal as I am when it comes to storing and displaying games (as well as books, actually), but that’s about the only bad thing I can say (and it’s not even THAT bad). The artwork, done by veteran artist Marc von Martial, is his usual high standard of excellence.
When we left Part 4 I was sensing the tide of the battle had shifted. The Soviet offensive was stalled and I decided to start pushing forward and take advantage of their degrading communications and battered offensive forces. Make no mistake – the Soviets can still pack a punch. They have plenty of armor and massive amounts of artillery that can quickly reduce my small force to nothing if I’m not careful. But if I do this right I can capture some objectives, score some points and crush the Soviets.
Turn 11 – 26 minutes elapsed
The game is now four hours and twenty-six minutes into the fight. The scenario can run another five and a half hours, but I think the Soviets are in trouble. What I’m not feeling good about is the lack of damage I’ve taken. Aside for the beating my engineers took up north, I’m in good shape. Usually the Soviets beat me more badly. That tells me there’s some tough fighting yet to be done. Hopefully we can keep on the move and stay out of their artillery umbrella.
My luck is holding. Because my troops are on the move several barrages of Soviet artillery fall on empty fields in the south. Keep moving, men!
The mines I drop on a VP take out a couple of units. They’re hidden from me, but I hear the reports of their explosions. Fighting in the south heats up with heavy exchanges between all visible units. A suspected Soviet recce platoon is spotted near my HQ area and my mechanized units moving north to the central objective spot it and take it under fire. More Soviet artillery misses and we continue to push forward.
The turn comes to a close. Lots of Soviet artillery has fallen and none of it has found its mark. I intend to keep that streak going by making some unpredictable changes to the line of movement of some of my units.
Around the middle objective I can see more units now, including a stack of about nine tanks. Tempting as that may be for my MLRS I’m going to use my regular artillery to fire at it.
Turn 12 – 27 minutes elapsed
This round goes badly for me. The Soviet ground forces aren’t much of a threat, but their artillery seems to be everywhere and on target. Entire units go from full strength to zero and it hurts. Normally this kind of response is only drawn when I’m in proximity to an important HQ unit. The suspected air defense unit to the far east of the southern approach is probably more than it appears. The VPs around Dudenhofer to the south are clearly must-haves for the Soviets as they appear to be throwing everything they have at them to retake the VPs I have captured.
Soviet Armor pushes south toward Dudenhofer.
Turn 13 – 21 minutes elapsed
Note my decision cycle has decreased to 21 minutes while the Soviets have an estimated 37. I’m moving at almost twice their speed. Their success with artillery is probably due to the fact that it’s in LOS of mine and giving direct support to critical HQ units. Let’s see if we can break that pattern now.
There is now a significant cluster of units south of Weiskirchen and it’s time to bust out the MLRS.
MLRS FTW.
I also order artillery to take out the suspect HQ unit to the far east of the southern objective, while my other artillery battery targets the nine tanks north of Jugesheim. Continue reading →
GrogHeads has partnered with On Target Simulations and Matrix Games to bring a fantastic year-end shootout, with a chance to win some excellent prizes from Matrix Games and the GrogHeads prize vault.
Here’s how it works:
1. You have to play a game. We know, right?! Let us say that again: You have to play a game. See, you’re loving this contest already.
1c. This is a custom-modified self-contained game and scenario for Flashpoint Campaigns. This scenario is not available as a part of the standard install, so even if you already have the game (and OTS loves you if you do!) then you still need to download and install this package to play.
2. When you complete the game, you save your final score report, and upload it to the GrogHeads forum in the designated thread.
2a. Entries that are emailed, faxed, posted, sent by courier, carrier pigeon, or paper airplane won’t count. You have to upload the entry in our forums, in the proper thread for your entry to be a part of the contest.
2b. The highest score (percent) will be the grand prize winner. In the event of a tie, the first tiebreaker is VP locations held, then enemy units killed (see image for scoring order).
You need to capture and post the Staff Summary Report from the end of your game. If your screen doesn’t look like this, you posted the wrong screen.
3. But wait! Some chucklehead scored 98% of day 2 of the contest! It’s hopeless! How can I ever win? Fear not, fellow Grogs! Every entry into the contest gets one virtual ticket thrown into the digital raffle hat for a consolation prize. That’s right, every separate score screen you upload after playing the game gets you another chance to win. So you might never score out of the 30s – who cares!? Score in the 30s eighteen different times, and you get 18 different chances to win in the consolation drawings.
3a. You can also earn an entry to the consolation drawing by “liking” the contest post on Facebook, and another by “sharing” the contest post on Facebook. 2 clicks for 2 entries! w00t!
4. You keep talking about “prizes”. Yes, yes we do. Because we’re just building the suspense.
4a. How are we doing?
4b. Still in suspense?
4c. Can’t wait to find out what you’re playing for?
5. All entries must be posted in the forums, with a forums time-stamp no later than Midnight Eastern (US) Standard Time, Sunday 5 January 2014. That’s midnight when Saturday rolls into Sunday. Entries posted or received after that time will not be counted for the grand prize, or consolation drawings.
4d. How’s that ‘suspense’ thing working out for us?
6. Legalese: At the bottom of this article is the full set of legal terms and conditions. You participation in this contest is your acceptance of those conditions. Remember that our in-house counsel is an excellent shot and owns a LOT of firearms.
4e. You’re just waiting to find out what you can win, right?
7. Forum membership is required for submitting your entries. You must be a registered member of the GrogHeads forums to enter. But hey, registration is free! What a deal!
7c. Don’t mix them up. If you post an entry in the discussion thread, it won’t count. If you post a discussion question in the entry thread, you will be mercilessly mocked.
4f. Prizes? Oh yeah! Prizes! Here’s what you’re playing for:
GRAND PRIZE: $65 credit at the Matrix Games store – enough to cover a boxed copy of Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm, or any number of excellent titles from the largest publisher of digital strategy games.
CONSOLATION PRIZES: Four total. Two winners will get $20 credit to the Matrix Games store. Two other winners will get random prize grab-bags pulled from the GrogHeads prize vault, with a retail value of at least $20. Consolation prize winners do not get to pick which prize we send you. They come out in the order they come out.
Winners will be notified by message through the forums, and the winners will be announced publicly on 6 January 2014.
At the end of Part 3 I had successfully managed to hold off the initial advance of the Soviets and I was considering advancing the hard core of my defense, a company of Abrams tanks, to catch either the Soviet HQ undefended or a southern thrust on its flank. Let’s see how that plan survives contact with the AI…
Turn 8 – 28 minutes elapsed
Now I get busy with orders. First I call in some mines to be dropped in front of the tanks in the north that are heading south. If I’m lucky the tanks will walk into the hex before I drop the mines – a favorite tactic.
Next I order a barrage on the suspected recce/HQ unit in the woods near my own recce unit. They didn’t seem inclined to move much so I’m hoping to catch them even if I can’t see them. Then I order my mechanized units in the south to start moving around. All are ordered east, in a push to recapture lost VPs. The 1000 point VP east of Rodgau is a favorite hide of a Soviet HQ unit. In the past they’ve protected that guy with some serious artillery which directly supports it, so when those units start moving (it’ll probably be a turn or two) I’ll want to hit it with artillery as soon as I’m able.
Mechanized units in the south start to move east.
The last piece of the puzzle is the MLRS. I have several targets to choose from. Finally I decide to use saturation fire on the units to the northeast of Dudenhofen. It’s just a hunch but they look like they’re moving and my sense is I can do some serious harm right here and now.
I hit start to watch the action unfold.
The recce units’ luck runs out. Several Soviet artillery barrages catch them and blast them something good. It hurts.
Soviet Artillery rain on my engineers to the north but fortunately it does no lasting harm.
Then my MLRS arrives and multiple blasts across multiple hexes confirms that I made a good decision.
When we left off at the end of Turn 4 (and Part 2 for those of you keeping track) the Soviets were just beginning to show up in force. I decided to take a chance and drop some saturation fire on a suspected stack of Soviet units and the results were satisfying, if not spectacular. There were some sharp exchanges between my units and the lead Soviet units but I know that in this scenario we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. As Turn 5 unfolds the action is about to get even hotter…
Turn 5 – 25 minutes elapsed
Once again the action gets crazy. All kinds of shooting opens up around the center and the south. My feisty recce team spots some mechanized units moving north and takes them under fire, then scoots away.
My recce units fire on some Soviets advancing to the north.
What’s important to note now is that so far the Soviets have barely fired back. They’ve done zero damage to me so far. But that’s about to change. Their artillery will be arriving soon and we’re going to see things get messy.
