Victory Decision: the Crossroads

We had a fun game of Victory Decision last night. The scene was a strategic crossroads. The Germans already had a recon team there, and the Americans a rifle squad. Each turn a new until would enter the board of the players' choosing.

Off the bat, the Germans got hammered. They couldn't get in position without being forced back. In VicDec you take suppression for just being fired at, plus one for every casualty. As soon as a unit has as many suppressions as miniatures, it is shaken and forced to retreat. A Shaken unit may only move or Regroup until its unshaken.

The tanks from both sides came on the board soon. A Panzer IV quickly dispatched a Sherman, but was in turn taken out by another carrying a 76mm.
The Krauts spent most of the time on their heals, never quite able to counterattack. It was still fun and worth more playing.
The mins and very cool paper terrain and more picks by John.
I have played ALOT of WW2 games. This has been the only one I've liked. It abstracts what needs to be but keeps the feeling of small unit actions. The only I haven't liked is the activation phase. It works with 2 players on a small scale, but bogs down with lots of players and unit. Agis has posted that on the upcoming SciFi version he has a new, better activation sequence. Can't wait to try it.

Battle thru the Boccage pt2 (Victory Decision)

New guy John brought over his fine collection of WW2 stuff for another round of Victory Decision. The Yanks would be battling their way through Normandy again against those pesky Huns. I sat this one out do to a nasty bug and just helped run it. Everyone got a squad and either a support weapon or a tank.
The aforementioned boccage acted (as it did in real life) as line of Sight blocker and heavy cover. This made maneuver important. Battle in VicDec is simple and deadly. Anyone out in teh open was dead or running away fairly quickly. Although the German Panzerschect team took a direct shot from a Sherman and miraculously survived (good rolls, Councilman).
This game really opened my eyes to use of Command units and their importance. Activating important teams and regrouping makes a huge differece. The Germans were able to take a quickly collapsing flank and through proper use of regroups and activations, rally and hold the line.
I really can't say enough good things about the ruleset. I HATED most WW2 rules. I sold most of my stuff. This may actually get me back. But, I'd have to do some obscure Front or army.

The Germans out in the open!

This commander seems to think everything is "Faaabulous!"

Airborne advance with the tanks.

I can't wait to try VicDec for Back of Beyond or RCW or near Future.
Next week: Some Victorian SciFi espionage!

Victory Decision pt2

We learned alot since our last game, and tactics are evolving. Also, going form 4 players to 8 was different. The mechanics with that many people didn't slow it down, just having 8 players slowed it down, which I think is positive. Any questions we had, were easy to find (unlike a few games we've played lately, cough, cough, Black Powder, cough, cough, Hail Caesar). Still shaping up to be a great game.
Bolt Action by Warlord is coming out soon and from some interwebs reading sounds like the two rules are similar. Although, I don't think Warlord is going to be as responsive as Agis has been to questions, most of which are in the book if you take the time.

Next go around, we're trying some more open terrain, and fewer squads per person. Still giving these rules a big thumbs up.

A little bit of bocage

I've always had a love-hate relationship with World War 2 skirmish rules. I really like the genre, but have always hated most rules. You end up with rules that spend way too much time with the minute details ( I don't need to know the guy was wounded in the big toe) or abstracting too much, and it feels like the rules could be used for any period.

The camera shakes before the mortar round hits

Always on the hunt fro that sweet pot in between. I think I found it with Victory Decision.
We gave the rules a whirl with post Normandy invasion bocage country. We didn't have a ton of said terrain, thus the title of the post. We had 4 players, a small number for our group, but it was the right size for a play test. Each side had roughly 3 squads, mortar and MG support with a couple of tanks. The Germans started with a squad of our choice already placed. We chose to put the MG42 in the highest point on the board. The rest would enter from the base lines.

A shot of how most of the German rolls went

VD has an interesting turn initiative mechanic. Both sides nominate a squad or group and roll off adding that unit's Leadership value. The high score gets to activate their selected squad. Then you go again. Notice how I didn't say "then the other player activates his squad"? Cause they don't. You could theoretically (but highly unlikely) lose every roll, and not get to activate until the other side has completely gone. But, proper use of Command units can alleviate this.
The Germans spent most of the game rolling abyssmally. The Americans almost always went first except for the first round where that MG ripped a US squad to pieces before getting destroyed by a mortar round.
Shooting is really straight forward. Count up number of minis shooting from a unit, times the number dice for firepower. Roll and dig out hits. Most of the time the target will get a save for cover or morale and that's it. Owner picks out the dead.
Suppression is a big factor and is handled seamlessly. Tank vs tank was just as simple with good results. No looking at 5 different charts, rolling to hit, rolling to penetrate, rolling to save. Just really nice.

In the 2 1/2 hours we played, we got a definite result and it was easy to pick up, and most importantly fun. We will be playing again very soon. Too bad I sold off most my WW2 stuff. All these great minis and terrain were provided by one of "the new guys" John. Great stuff
As another bonus, the rules are very affordable and available as a download. Agis Neugebauer the author is a nice guy and always available to answer question on the Victory Decision part of Lead Adventure Forum. I asked him about early war French forces last week, and he got right on it.
Big thumbs up!