Last night, our group did a WW2 skirmish type game. It was Poles vs Germans in the fall of 1939. I had only played these set of rules once before, so I had a little adjusting to do. They are called Broadsword. The rules, however, don't have anything for the Poles, so the guy running the game did some modifications.
The background for the scenario was the Poles were attempting a breakout after being encircled. They had to get as many units off the table as they could. The Germans has alot of infantry, a couple IeG 75's as well as a couple mortars and ATG's. Their mission was to prevent the breakout. The Germans also had a relief column to aid the Germans on board, however, wouldn't arrive until turn 4. This column consisted of 2 Pz 35t's, 1 Pz 4 short 75 and 1 Pz 3. They also has 3 trucks with infantry. A Stuka could also be called upon.
The Poles started a good portion onto the table. The had 3 Tanket's and a couple other tanks. Their type escapes me at this point. They had some cavalry, plenty of infantry and a couple artillery guns. Later in the game, a couple of Polish trucks arrived w/atg's attached.
The game started out a little rough when the German IeG's opened up on the mass of humanity approaching them. However, a flaw was noticed after so many Poles were killed. The burst circle was to large. It should have been a 2" diameter blast area as opposed to a 2" radius. This was adjusted and the game continued.
To make a long story short, several problems were observed regarding the rules and this caused some time on our part's to try and decipher them. This slowed the game down alot. Plus we had a late start to begin with. The game did continue with the Germans actually taking a few losses to their artillery guns. The Poles made a huge push on the one side of the table. With the Germans split up defending the entire board, it gave the Poles quite an advantage. The Stuka did make an appearance. It was used for 3 turns before heading back to base. It did some damage to the infantry, but not as much if it was equipped with bombs! Mg's were OK but...
By the time my relief column was on board, it was almost useless. We had to roll to see where we came on. Of course, Murphy's Law played a roll in our game as we ended up coming in at the furthest point of the attack!
The Poles quickly began to make their way to the opposite board edge as described in their briefing. The game was called as the Poles brought up their 2 atg's and had a couple of the larger tanks take up a position to hinder the relief column from assisting.
In the end, I figured it would be a Polish victory just based upon their victory conditions. They would have plenty of time to get their troops off board before we could intercede.
For me, it wasn't a very enjoyable game. Mostly because a few things in the rules seemed to bother me. One thing was that a buttoned up tank could see better than a tank moving, with the commander unbuttoned. The spotting rules for the game seemed to slow it down, plus the Poles weren't rated as good as they should have been. Not to mention that the time spent to decipher the rules was a problem. Not everything was clear cut as it could have been. The charts were'nt as organized as they could have been.
My friend bought the rules based upon a couple games he played at a few conventions. The convention games went so much faster as opposed to the few we played at home. Maybe in time, they could be figured out to make them flow. But until then, I am not a fan of Broadsword.
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