Project Panzer Lehr Part 3: The Tournament Day One

There is nothing quite like being greeted by Al's face at your door at 6am. But to get to the tournament on time we needed to get on the road early. Al had already driven up from Bristol that morning, so had been up since 4am! The true D-Day experience so to speak! After grabbing the tradition pastry based breakfast at the local Co-op, we headed to the venue.

Walking round the halls you couldn't help but notice effort that had already been put into the event, the boards were brilliant. Loads of Normandy themed boards - many of them full bocage tables! Each one named after a real place in Normandy.







The event would work like this, all Axis vs Allied games with attacker and defender for each game based on which side had won overall in the previous round. the first round would start with the Allies attacking - we were fighting the Overlord campaign after all!

Most of the time you would be playing a mission from the rule book determined for the round, however the bocage tables would be restricted to missions suitable for those tables and a couple of other tables would be playing the domination missions of I-95 fame. Domination is a lot of fun and well worth the download if you haven't tried them for yourself already: http://www.wwpd.net/p/downloads.html

The pre-painted 15mm version of Pegasus Bridge as produced by 4ground. There was plenty of their buildings on various tables and I can't recommend them highly enough. It is expensive, but you get what you pay for with them!


So to kick off properly, below is the map at "H Hour" on D-day.....

And here is my glorious Panzer Lehr force ready to go! One massive tip for tournament play, buy a tray! Packing and unpacking armies between games during the day is a lot of hassle and can damage your miniatures - the wonders of the dinner tray gets rid of all that hassle. (Al - Your welcome.)

It is tradition that to warm up properly in a tournament I get absolutely trounced in the first round and true to form I got beaten well and truly in my first game. Not an auspicious start.

I opted to field my defensive list and put all three Lehr platoons on the table, as I was defending I thought this made sense, have the Panthers come on from reserve and save the day, all that jazz....

I set up in an orchard and in and around the small hamlet in the top corner of the map. He deployed opposite with spotters for his Naval gunfire support with a commanding position up on the hill.

Turn one. Error one. I forgot that the mission was a meeting engagement meaning my guys were effectively out in the open. Damn.

His M8 Scotts raced up, .50 cals blazing and his Shermans moved along the road. His spotters ranged in on one of my platoons but the Navy's gunfire was ineffective.

The .50 cals took a terrible toll on their target platoon leaving me with little option but to fall back during my turn one. Both platoons dug in and I started to feed one objective with unlucky volunteers to keep my in the game.

The half-track mounted platoon moved up from the hamlet towards the orchard. None of my weapons in range were in range, so my shooting phase was brief, though in the assault phase the mounted platoon dismounted onto the road and sent their half-track to the rear out of danger.

His turn two saw the M8s continue to blaze away with their .50cals and the Shermans advance to the cross roads. His tank destroyers came up from reserve and spying my platoon out in the open opened up with their...you guessed it, .50 cals.

My turn two saw all platoons unable to unpin or dig in.

Turn three saw the platoon in the orchard finally whittled away, the platoon on the road were assaulted by the Shermans, managed to destroy one and kill off his 2ic, so at least I managed to kill something! However come his turn four I had nothing contesting the objective in the orchard, so a win to him.

Ours was the first game to end, I think we were done in under an hour!

So picture on the left, see that little Allied star on that map there, oh yes, I did that!

Meanwhile Al's Tyne and Tees Allied list didn't quit manage to shift his opponent's force of their objectives.


So end of round one and the Allies were breaking through deep into Normandy. The invasion was going better than anyone expect and was exceeding their historical counterparts. So the Germans would be defending again in round 2.

So who did I draw? Well who else..... Al. I picked my defensive orientated list and set up my defenses. the missions was Cauldron, so random deployment for Al with my guys surrounded and my reserves coming in from the opposite table edge from my starting force. The 88s deployed from immediate ambush in the middle, once I had some idea of where Al's armour would be turning up, the two unmounted Lehr platoons dug in around an objective each.

My guys sat tight until turn to where everyone in range opened up, luckily for me bad reserves rolling from Al gave me much needed breathing space. I managed to really start to whittle down his infantry force by the top of turn three with the help of the arrival of my Panthers.

Al's bad luck with reserves rolls was not to last with his M10Cs and a Churchill tank platoon rolling onto the board on turn four.

Al had managed to started pushing my left hand Lehr platoon off their objective, but in doing so his own infantry platoon was dangerous close to breaking point with my guys still contesting.

Alas two of my Panthers were taken out in sort order by the arriving M10Cs.

My turn four saw the arrival of the mounted Lehr platoon. I opted to head toward his right hand 25 pounder artillery battery hoping to be able to take them out on my way to helping secure my objectives.

Al's contesting infantry platoon was eventually destroyed by 88 fire from the hill across from them, however by now his churchills were closing in on the objective. The Panther continued it's duel with the M10Cs and my mounted Lehr platoon assaulted and destroyed their target 25 pounder battery.

The last of Al's reserves show up, wasp carriers and a 6 pounder AT gun platoon. the wasps were taken out in short order by the 88s.

The last couple of turns saw my CiC charge his remaining infantry in the wood, but bogging on the way in and being destroyed in the process, death of glory! With that the way was clear for his Churchills, down to one platoon now to try for the objective and end the game.

My surviving Panther lost it's duel with the M10Cs and wit my mounted Lehr platoon out of range to contest, the game came down to shot from my 88s a his Churchills. If I could destroy or rout them, Al had very little left to try to take either objective with, if not Al would win. The 88s fired, took out one Churchill, bailed another, but didn't force a motivation check, Al won the game! Very close and a lot of fun, we turned in our result for round two.

Oh dear, it wasn't looking good for the Germans, with the Allies controlling most of the board and only pockets of Axis resistance left in their seemingly unstoppable wake.

Game three was a fair fight game, the first none defensive battle for me, this time against a Royal Marine Cammandos list being run my a genuine ex- Royal Marine.

More bocage, lets see if I could do any better this time....

I picked my defensive list, thinking more infantry would be better bet on such a dense board. The unmounted Lehr platoons deployed on each flank with half track mounted platoon poised to rush down the central road to the junction in the middle of the board. The 88 platoon and Panthers remained in reserve along with the 2ic's small platoon of two half tracks and a couple of panzerschrek teams.

My plan was to advance the mounted half track platoon into the middle to open up on the advancing marines and the fall back into a defensive line and counter attack once the enemy had sustained losses to make my assault tenable.

The marines got the first turn and advanced their whole force towards my lines, his typhoon air support strafed the infantry on my left flank but did no damage. My first turn saw the half tracks race down the road to the junction, both infantry platoons advanced on the flanks to take up better firing positions. None of my guys could see the enemy so no shooting this round.

Marine turn two saw his infantry advance further towards my lines on a board front (one marine infantry unit on each side, with attached paratroopers in the middle), his air support arrived and opened up on two of the half tracks that had made it into the junction.

The planes ranged in, self defense AA whiffed and the two half tracks and their passengers all perished. Dang.

My second turn, decision to make, I didn't think the mounted platoon now had enough strength to really inflict many losses on the advancing Marines. I decided to start pulling the platoon back and use them as reserve to help strengthen my lines as needed. The infantry platoons on each flank dug in.

Marine turn three. His planes showed up again and blew another half track away along with its passengers. His infantry continued their slog across the board.

My turn three saw the last surviving half track guys dismount and head for the cover of the ruined building in an attempt not to lose the platoon outright, their half track sent to the rear (off the board).




Marine turn four saw his infantry continue their long walk, Bocage rules make advances take double the time they usually do. They had however made it into engagement range.

My turn four. Reinforcements have arrived! The Panthers rolled on down the road and opened up on the marine infantry platoon infront of them.

The lehr platoon opened up on the right, causing a few casualties and pinning the target platoon.

My infantry on the left moved to counter attack the paras in the centre.

 

The paras defensive fire failed to stop the assault or to do any damage, the Lehr platoon left them with only three stands left and they broke off, I opted to consolidate back into my original defensive positions.

Turn four saw his assault falter still further on his turn, his infantry unable to unpin. He did however receive reinforcements in the form of a Sherman tank platoon arriving down the road opposite my Panthers. His air support came round for another pass and took out one of the Panthers in short order.

It is at this point that I remember that he had Naval gunfire support and have forgotten to mention it or the Air Observation Post directing it until now. The naval gunfire so far ad only claimed a few stands of infantry if I remember rightly, with the AOP buzzing around directing the heavy cruisers artillery fire.

My turn four saw my infantry on the left starting to advance towards his objective, the 88mm gun platoon arrived and start to take up firing positions on the remaining  marines on the right flank. In addition the 2ic and two panzerschrek teams in their own little two half track platoon also arrived and moved down the left flank also looking to move in on the enemy objective. One Panther moved along to the left flank and the other opened fire on the Shermans moving down the road towards them. Both shots missed.

Turn five saw his platoon of six pounder AT guns arrive and immediately make a move towards his objective. The remains of the para platoon fell back further into a ruined house near his objective as well. His Typhoons decided to make another pass and destroyed the Panther that was engaging the Shermans. The remaining Panther failed his moral check and fled the field.

My turn five saw one of the 88s take a pot shot at the AOP directing the naval gunfire resulting in the image you see to the right.... One shot one kill! Boom! (Also a bonus point for downing an Allied aircraft.) More MG fire poured into the Marines pinned down on the right and found their mark on more than one occasion.

Turns 6 to 8 went like this, more trading of fire, with losses on both sides. I attempted an assault on the right but was thrown back with both platoons on either side on that flank now too weak to try closing on each other. Both then sat down to trade fire with no real affect. On the left the 2ic's platoon took up firing positions opposite the enemy objective.

We then played on until turn 16, it was getting late and neither force now had the strength to be able to take either objective. It had now dissolved into a dice rolling contest as both sides tried for the company break by shooting each other out of their entrenched positions. We decided to called it a well deserved draw.

So this is what the campaign map looked like at the end of day one. The Allies had driven deep into Normandy, leaving only pockets of German territory left. It had been an excellent days gaming.... now if only day two would bring me a couple of wins!

Project Panzer Lehr Part Two

So with the lists decided for Sturm uber Normandie, I set about building and painting. Two months very quickly became one month in the countdown to the tournament and not much was progressing due to a combination of a busy time at work and rediscovering Wargame Airland Battle.... Focus damn it! I had submitted my lists to the tournament organisers, so I was committed to fielding an army mostly built and painted specially for it!

With six weeks to go how was I doing? Well the three infantry platoons were all cleaned up and blue-tac'd to wooden garden plant labels, which as an aside, is the easiest way to paint up Flames of War scale infantry by a long way! Not sure why I didn't start doing it ages ago as it allows for fast and accurate painting. What else, well two Grille H's I decided I wasn't fielding were ready to go, there was my focus wandering again... I had built all the half tracks I needed though! The HQ platoon has three, four for each mounted infantry platoon and three for the mortar platoon. In addition I had a kfz 15 field car and three sd kfz 11 half track artillery tractors for the nebelwerfer or 88cm gun platoons. Ok, ok, I hear you, I know the 88s should be towed by sd kfz 7 tractors, however I was acutely aware of time and after reading around found that the Germans did end up using the 11s for towing just about everything as the war progressed and losses mounted, so i could justify it!

On to painting then, with one month to go.

Previous work meant that I only had to finish up painting one panther and an 88 gun for those units, the required kubelwagons for the nebs and mortar platoons were also good to go as were the command and spotting teams for each.The AA gun platoon was also good to go. So only 31 stands of Lehr infantry, 14 half tracks a field car and three artillery tractors to left!

For the infantry I base coated in a light grey and used two layers of black wash to create a quick and easy well contrasted paint scheme I was happy with.The Panzer Lehr had a mix of plain dark grey helmets and some with camouflaged covers, for the covers I base coated in dunklegelb and added stippled brown and green patches. 
 Now on to the half tracks! As the summer was officially upon us I set up the car port for some alfresco painting. This has the practical benefit of being able to use my airbrush without worrying about setting up and extractor and the added benefit of painting in bright natural light.

I started off with a base coat of dunklegelb than after a bit of practicing on a spare "test half track", (poor test half track, poor, poor test half tack) I got into the mind set of a bored young German Panzergrenadier given a spray gun and paint as I set about camo'in up my half tracks! I opted for the soft edged lines of colour so typical of German vehicles in Normandy. I used Vallejo chocolate brown and olive green as once airbrushed on they took shades I was after.

Overall I'm very happy with how the half tracks turned out and am looking forward to trying out more intricate schemes in the future.

To finish off the half tracks and other vehicles I painted in various details, baggage and weapons and brought out the lovely details of these miniatures (from the Plastic Soldier Company), with a pin wash of wash for German vehicles from the new-ish Ammo by Mig range. It is brilliant stuff and fairly easy to use, giving a lovely and effective finish without too much trouble. Pin washing is another new technique for me and I know I'll be using it from now on.

 With one day left to go I based up the infantry and added number decals to the panthers and half tracks using more new products, namely decal softer and decal fixative by army painter. Again these were easy to use and gave a great finish!  A final coat of matte varnish and I was done with time to spare to finish up a couple of M10 tank destroyers Al had requested to borrow for his Allied list. Thus was project Panzer Lehr completed just in time!

Coming up next - Sturm uber Normandie!

Project Panzer Lehr Part One

"Fancy going along to Sturm uber Normandie", says Al.
"What's that?", says I.
"Well it'll be a D-Day theme tournament celebrating the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord", says Al.
"Oh cool!", says I.
"What you going to run?" Asks Al.

Hmmm..... What am I going to run? The title of this post gives you the final answer I came up with, but this leaves out a lot of list construction, head scratching and digging through my pile of lead. My first thought was this, what would be fun? If my first early war tournament taught me anything it is that any list I run has to be fun! I'd be fielding a German force (balancing out Al fielding Allies) which left me with options ranging from static infantry regiments to Tiger based heavy tank companies. The Tigers were very tempting, as was a Panzer IV company, however I had fielded all tanks in early war and fancied a change. So how about the other end of the spectrum, Grenadiers or a static infantry list? Well no, they were too far the other way and I've played them many times before. So how about the elite Fallschirmjager? Well tempting, but they are already very popular lists in late war tournaments and would no doubt be well represented by other players. Hmmm.... perhaps my pile of lead would show the way! After all I had two months until the tournament, plenty of time! I looked through my pile of lead and plastic and found a load of half built 251 C & D half tracks.... Which I immediately put aside in favour of two Grille H self propelled infantry guns! Well who wouldn'?!  It is a armoured box on tracks with a large calibre gun sticking out of it! I immediately starting assembling them!

And then I started looking for a list in which i could field them. Not many for a D-Day themed tournament (Overlord and Atlantik Wall army books only). Well the SS has them - no too rascist. Panzer Lehr has them too. Panzer what? Panzer Lehr? Elite armour infantry and tanks from one of the best trained and equipped formations in the entire German army? Lots of cool looking half tracks that I just so happen to also have lurking in my pile of lead? Yes Please!

So Panzer Lehr it was, a decision based entirely on a tiny support platoon they happen to have access too and the fact I turned out to have everything I needed for them all ready to be built and painted. On to list construction proper!

List construction is a minor hobby in it's own right, it is a fine art that I regularly butcher in quests to be able to squeeze such war winning units such as German armoured trains, or perhaps create a formation made up entirely of one type of Italian tank with biplane support thrown in for good measure. This time it would be different though! This time I'd be sensible! This time i could.... fit Grille Hs, a unreliable King Tiger and 3 88mm AT guns in he same list! No bad!

Right, a sensible and fun list! First to consider what are the Allied players going to be fielding. Well Al reckoned and was proven right by predicting Churchill heavy tanks as being a popular choice. So how could my Panzer Lehr deal with these heavily armoured, decently armed but slow tanks? The answer while looking over the list was obvious 88mm AT guns, Tigers and Panthers. Well the 88mm AT gun battery were a sound choice. Add extra crew and this unit of 3 guns can throw and awful lot of heavy AT fire down range and even prove useful against infantry and possibly even allied aircraft at a push. So the 88s were in. Now we need to mobile firepower. Panther or Tiger? Well the choice was fairly easy in the end, although the iconic Tiger will always have that certain boxy appeal, the Panther tank can do everything the Tiger can, but for less points per tank, with a slightly better AT gun and slightly thicker front armour giving it the edge. Yes the Tigers have their Tiger ace skills, but you seem to pay a lot of points for what is in reality a randomized dice roll on a chart and lets be honest, you never roll the skill you really want or need to make them worth it. So 88s and Panthers in, Tigers out.

But what of the core platoons I hear you cry! Well they were easy choices. What is not to like about confident / veteran rated infantry mounted in half tracks?! I'll take two full platoons please! Now it is at this point I really started to consider one of the cool tournament features of Sturm uber Normandie, the 570 point swap out. Before each game, after knowing whether you would be attack or defending and knowing the unit that your opponent is fielding, you can choose between two different army lists with a difference of 570 points total. So naturally I decided on this, one list for attacking with and one list designed to defend.

With the attacking list I opted for the basic HQ platoon of the Oic and 2ic in half tracks, two platoons of infantry mounted in half tracks, 4 panthers for tank support, the half track mounted mortar platoon to put out smoke screens or to pinned down enemy infantry, a couple of nebelwerfers for the same job (i anticipated needed a lot of smoke to cover my advance) and a half track recon platoon.

For the defense list i opted for the HQ platoon in half tracks with added AT section of two panzerschreck teams in their own half track, two platoons of dismounted Lehr infantry, one platoon of mount Lehr infantry, 3 88mm AT guns and 3 Panthers. On the defense the AT guns and dismounted infantry would be deployed on table with the Oic with the job of holding until the mobile mounted Lehr infantry, Panther tanks and a mini platoon of the 2ic and panzerschreck teams arrived.

But what of the awesome Grille H SPGs I hear you cry! You know that unit that put you on the fieldin this army? Have you no sense of loyalty?! Well no. I will one day be running these awesome little guys, but unfortunately Panzer Lehr units are expensive and I simply couldn't fit them in either of my lists. Next time!

Next up: Project Panzer Lehr Part Two.

Sturm über Dunkirchen - The Tournament

 So here is Al all happy and smiling at the very start of the tournament. We'd been drawn together in the first round, which suited us both just fine as: 1) We had never actually played an early war game before; & 2) It was a nice gentle start to the weekend against a relatively friendly opponent.

Al had decided to field a British Armoured Regiment list from "Hell fire and Back!" for the weekend. His list was basically a ton of tanks, like mine. This saw two armies that actually met historically, from the same army list book, so this game would be interesting to see how the two tank forces would do slugging it out against each other. The battlefield we were allocated was Russian based, with one side dominated by a ruined factory complex with roads running through and a small village set among wheat fields. We rolled off to see who would attack and who would defend and Al end  up attacking.

 Al set up his force opposite mine on the left hand side of the board. Concentrating his force and counting on my reinforcements not arriving soon enough to push him back of the objective.

 I set up my force defending the objective in the village. Another objective can be seen on the furthest road from view. My set up split my force to cover both objectives, with one carri platoon within striking distance of each. My commander deployed on the right flank.

 Here is first platoon deployed just ahead of a wheat field that would give them good cover. I bit of an early morning gaming mistake here from me. the tanks ended up reversing back into the field in my turn one.

 Al's first turn saw a head long advance towards the village and a few speculative shots. Al's tank enjoy good AT guns that can fire at full rate of fire on the move. Useful for attacking! (As Al would point out this comes at the cost of anti infantry high explosive rounds, making him rely on machine gun festooned light tanks and howitzer armed CS tanks to deal with infantry.) 

 Al lines up his shots.

 By biplanes turn up for the first of many strafing runs over the weekend. Far more in fact than they statistically had any right too as it would turn out!

 Al's tanks get into shooting range.

 My commander takes on half the British force alone in the village.

 My second airstrike is chased off my Al's hurricane fighter interception.

 Reinforcements arrive on the left flank. Just where i don't need them.

 Al goes in for the charge World of Tanks style, and gives my Italians a good kicking. We reenacted the cover art from the "Hellfire and Back!" book much to our delight!
The was game over. Al had stormed the objective for very few losses winning 6-1. All in 20 minutes! (Game rounds have a hour and a half to be completed in.) With that we opted to play another game just for the hell of it, much to the amusement of the other tournament players!

 This is my only photo from my game two, against a German infantry list. I only lost two tanks during the entire game, assaulting his positions quickly and taking the game 6-1, much as Al had to me the game before! In fairness to my opponent I had never seen a combination of my dice rolling being so good and his being so poor. Again the biplanes came in every time i called and wrecked terrible havoc in the German back field. 

 Game three, against the dreaded French! (More on that later.) I ended up defending with his force attacking from both sides of the table. He was running a bunch of Somua S35 medium tanks which did an excellent job taking apart my scattered defense. My tanks were outclassed and having to cover two objective far apart in deployment meant he could use concentration of force to great effect.

 Game four, Sunday morning. I was drawn to play a guy who had in fact gone down ill over night, so one of the organisers, Mr Mick Rood stepped in to take his place. Mick had brought his light panzer company with him. I ended up defending with his attack coming from two opposite ends of the board. I deployed to cover one objective on the right with the intention of using my great number of tanks to drive the Germans from the field on that flank in an aggressive defense.

 I counted on doing this fast enough to be able to transfer units to defend the object on my left.

This strategy largely paid off. I think Mick's list struggled against the sheer number of medium tanks that my army was entirely made up of.

 My biplanes came through for me again and bagged a few more kills, rapidly over taking my other units on the regimental score board and proving themselves to be the most effective unit in my army despite the odds against them even turning up during games.

 my reinforcements arrive behind his attack force on the left flank and begin to roll up his force on this side. Another platoon joined this one and rolled forward to secure their objective suffering several losses, but making the German pay dearly for each kill.

 The German on the right flank falling back in he face of my aggressive Italian flavoured counter attack.

 More World of Tanks style close combat in the village.

 Overview of my left flank towards the end of the game. A platoon holding the objective having redeployed from my attack on the right, with reinforcements arriving behind the Germans.

 My biplanes come through yet again to bag some German recon armoured cars!

 A pause for lunch on Sunday saw armies picked by the organisers as best painted on show and put to the popular vote to win "Best Allied" and "Best Axis" painted armies of the tournament. One guy brought a lovely painted LRDG desert raiding force which not only won best painted allied army, but went on to win the tournament overall. I voted for him! Pink trucks man! Pink trucks!

 Here is my last game against a very similar list to Mick's, more German light panzers.

I opted to deploy in a napoleonic French style "column d'attack"! I admit it, it was silly, but i wanted to press one objective to the max and was fairly confident in my tanks abilities against the German ones.  

 It was a blood bath for both sides. Both armies air support took a heavy toll on the enemy, with my biplanes even chasing off his Stuka dive bombers in one turn, much to both players amuzement. Speaking of which this was by far the most fun game I played all weekend against a very affable and fun opponent. A Welshman whose name escapes me at the moment, but whom i will always remember for introducing my to the wonderful sport of trackor pulling!

 My biplanes coming through for me yet again, bagging a few panzer IIs in the process.

When the game was over, I'd manage to lose every since tank. I'd taken a heavy toll on the German defenders, but eventually the sheer weight of fire from the panzer IIs found their mark time and again. What a game!






So all in all i'd won twice and lost three times. Most importantly I'd beaten Al in the points table, by one point! Alas I believe this was mostly down to Al's unfortunate drawing of French tank lists in three out of his five games over the weekend.

Now there was a lot of talk at the tournament's end about how the British Armoured Regiment wasn't a competitive list and i can see why Al might have decided on this after a weekend of having seemingly unstoppable French heavy tanks beating him over and over. However i think this a little unfair as the BAR is not supposed to play against the French (blue on blue games can happen in Flames of War, but the game is written from a mostly historical premise of Axis vs Allied lists meeting each other). I'd also point out that his tanks tore through my tanks quickly and would probably have done the same to many of the other lists present that weekend. Al's conclusion was he'd probably drop the BAR in favor of another list in future early war tournaments, mostly likely a British armoured car recon list or a Jock Column infantry list, both of which would no doubt be interesting to play as and against! However I think this might be to miss the overall issue with this early war tournament and, according to the players we talked to over the weekend, early war tournaments in the UK at the moment. This is that not enough players are fielding Axis lists to avoid blue on blue games as a matter of course. Which is why I reckon Al should field his Das Afrika Korps at the next early war tournament we go too! (Or better yet join team Italia!)

As for me? Well I'll be taking my Italian tanks again. They were just too much fun both during and between games. A true highlight of the weekend for me was all the fun of being part of the tournaments "Team Italy". Myself and the other players fielding Italian army lists banded together between games and at lunch, meeting up to see how everyone was doing and if our games finished early (which all of mine did), going to cheer on the other guys in their games. We were even made honorary Italians for the weekend by the one of us that really was from Italy. Avanti! Avanti! Avanti!

The weekend was great fun, i met some great players and learnt a lot from them. I'd like to thank Al for buying me the ticket and accompanying me on another "gay gaming weekend" (as his girlfriend Sarah put it!), the organisers for running such a great event, my opponents for being such great sports and the rest of "Team Italia"! Here is to the next one!

Speaking of which, me and Al will be heading to their next tournament, a D-Day themed weekend in June. Come join us why don't you?! (http://www.reluctantconscripts.co.uk/)