So
today my mate Ben and I had our first game of Fistful of TOWS 3; we only used
the basic rules for this game as it was our first foray into the field, so our
ruleset was relatively simple. Nonetheless,
the game was very enjoyable and we managed to get two games in with increasing
complexity.
Although
I did win both battles, I would say that it was simply the luck of the dice in
the end! I believe that the first battle
was a little lopsided though; the NATO tanks were surprisingly resilient against
the Warsaw Pact gunfire, and up to the end still provided a considerable
threat. I feel that maybe another two or
three stands would have equalled out the first battle easily.
The
second battle I feel may have done with an extra stand or two; however I think
that a slightly more aggressive approach would have won out, Ben was a bit
cautious of the Abrams tanks on overwatch; perhaps a little moreso than
needed. Conversely I probably would have
lost more units in a faster turn of events by rushing forward if I were at the
helm!
All
in all, we both came away from it feeling that the battles were VERY close
calls either way; and we are already planning for our next battles to come!
So without further ado; here is the stories of the battles today!
GAME 1: Armoured skirmish.
Forces:
Ben - Musorian tank section (using Warsaw Pact tank rules in FFOT III basic rules)
Nathan - Australian tank sectio (using NATO tank rules in FFOT III basic rules)
Turn 1:
"Command had mentioned that there were potentially up to six enemy armoured vehicles that had breached the DMZ. The crisis along the borderline had escalated rapidly in the last few weeks, with the Musorian coup a few months back, the Musorian military had become more blase' in their aggression, so much so that it was almost as if they were actually looking for a war.
Moving forward, the first Abrams suddenly halted, spun in position
and let loose with its main gun against a threat outside of the view of
the command team. Moments later the Musorians responded in kind; and a
shell struck the vehicle square in the turret ring, delivering a killing
blow to the Abrams as the crew abandoned the vehicle and leapt into the
relative safety of the nearby canefield.
Musorian armoured forces roll into the AO.
First blood to the Musorians!
Fighting from there on was fierce, the Musorians, led by the Brave Comrade Ben, pushed forward rapidly against the NATO tanks. Unfortunately for them, the terrain suited the defender in this case and they funnelled directly through a small causeway into open terrain.
Firing against a foe with better skill and concealed, the outcome should have been a whitewash...
The enemy armour had chosen their position wisely, despite the fact that two of the Capitalists were now burning, there were even more of his own tanks from his unit with their own funeral pyres ablaze...
"Do not stop! Keep moving! Keep firing! If we stop we will die like the others!" he yelled to his driver, the gunner, one of the better ones from the unit, quietly praised the fact that the stabiliser on this tank worked as the vehicle careened off the road and across a recently plowed field. Lining up the capitalist tank in his sights he depressed the trigger; a loud BOOM filled his ears and acrid smoke from the shell filled his lungs, but he still managed a yelp of excitement when the round struck and seemed to disappear into the tank before them! He'd done it! He had destroyed another Capitalist ta-
He never felt the response from the final tank in the formation as the shot was returned in kind and detonated the ammunition store in the bottom of the tank...
Instead, it turned into a absolute last second knifefight! Enough tanks survived the run across the field to give me a scare, but through sheer good luck, my last tank pulled through and took out both remaining enemy vehicles!
The final tank wound down its engines and the commander of the vehicle opened his hatch. The last two enemy vehicles had essentially been engaged within a few metres. Their shells had missed in the flurry of the moment, and it was as much luck as it was skill that the rounds from their cannon had connected and struck true.
The scene before him was a hellscape, the ambush point; a small break in the fields with a service road, was littered with wrecked enemy tanks, as was the field before him. Besides him he saw the remaining crew tending to the injured from their vehicles. Medivac was on the way already; but this was a victory that was hollow in every sense.
