Unternehmen Stachel: Operation Sting After Action Report

Guten tag!

Well, as some of you know, this past weekend was Operation Sting... the biggest and best Bolt Action tournament in the greater Chicagoland area outside of Adepticon. This year saw the player field increase to 24 players, some from as far as North Dakota don't ya know. As you'd expect, the army painting, display boards, and tables were all really excellent. The whole thing is a Swiss style grand tournament, three games on Saturday and two on Sunday. Each is a slightly modified version of the scenarios in the main rulebook, and each player has six special missions to choose from to pick up a few extra battle points. Armies are restricted to a single reinforced infantry platoon, no vehicle flamethrowers, no units from the campaign books.

I went in with my early war Fallschirmjager list, a light infantry platoon: 1st Lt. and friend with SMG's; forward air observer calling in a Ju87; 2 x 9 Fallschirmjager w/ SMG, LMG, anti-tank grenades; 9 engineers w/ SMG x 2, flamethrower, anti-tank grenades; MG 34 MMG team; Anti-tank Rifle team; Medium mortar team w/ spotter; Sniper team; LG40/1 team... all veteran. My plan was to stick to cover and, if faced with tanks, just ignore them until I could close and use anti-tank grenades. No assault rifles, no panzerfausts, no vehicles of my own... just airborne and glider-borne FJ's with their tenacity and determination!



My first game was against newcomer Chris. Chris automatically won my respect for rolling out an early war Polish platoon... yeah, lancers are pretty awesome and he did take a heavy howitzer, but he took an equal number of infantry squads, medic, MMG, marksmen, mortar team, and MMG tank, and an ATR tankette. Nothing too overpowered, and all well themed so all good in my book. The DOWNSIDE of this was that I was facing him on a Captain America/Hydra-themed airfield. That was a nice 18" of open space on either side of the center line and there was the objective, bang in the middle. If I didn't lose every single unit in my army I'd be happy. Chris was a great guy, played a clean game, and well deserved his win. My airstrike landed on my own troops, which didn't do me any favors, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. My secret mission for the game was called "Tora! Tora! Tora!" which gives you up to five points for destroying the most expensive unit in your opponent's army, especially with an airstrike. This would have been his heavy howitzer, but the poor sod had no tow for it... chose to be the attacker... and could only deploy infantry in the first wave. His howitzer (thankfully) never made it. So, as I figured, my guys got chewed up by the lancers (though they made a good account of themselves, those Lancers limped home) and I couldn't get my special mission objective so five points of a possible 30. Ouch. As a side note, Chris is a combat veteran of the 82nd Airborne, so much respect for that as well. I'd play him again any day.






Game two was versus fellow newcomer and Chris' mate, Matt. The mission was to capture as many of the objective markers as possible (one in the center of each table quarter plus one dead center) on the table. Matt was rocking a late-war Waffen SS platoon (based on the 9th SS Pz. Div). Matt got credit by not taking an excessive amount of assault rifles, taking an MMG, an LeIG, and a StuG versus a StuH 42. We were playing on a North Africa airfield with a decent amount of cover. My special mission was "Currahee!" which gives points for controlling the largest piece of terrain on the table. The game went really good, and Matt was a great opponent too. It weas really give-and-take, and my one unit of FJ's going for the center objective made it to 8 pins!! They still made their tests until nearly the end... gotta love that! My airstrike came in excatly when and where I needed it, wiping out a unit of assault-rifle armed soldaten running up the flank and going for an objective. Another highlight was my LG40/1 hitting a quonset hut with another squad of soldaten and bringing it down on them with 12 hits! I could not, for the life of me, mitigate his StuG.. and I began to question my anti-tank solution. In the end, Matt had more objectives and I didn't get my special mission so the game was a loss for me. Well fought, though... good, clean match. I'd also play against Matt again any time.





Game three was against my good friend and frequent opponent, Duane "Kibitz" Zoldak. Duane was rolling with his Norway-themed French Foreign Legion, models by Gorgon and expertly painted by Mr. Zoldak. This mission would be "Demolition" on a decent table with a good amount of cover. Having played Duane's list before I knew what to expect. Duane's also just THAT much better than I am, so I figured it'd be his win but I usually give him a good run for his money. As always, the game was exceptional and some really awesome Hollywood moments. Turn one, die one my sniper pops off Duane's medium howitzer spotter. My anti-tank rifle spent several turns plinking rounds off his H35, but in the end it was one of my infantry squads charging the tank and blasting the hooey out of it that did the trick. My mission for this game was called "Fury" and so I got points for destroying an enemy armored vehicle. Towards the end, Duane ran three full squads of FFL from cover and rained rifle, LMG, VB launcher, and SMG fire on my units guarding my bunker. My engineers charged over the hill and laid waste to one squad with flamethrower and rifle/SMG fire... and then next turn charged another squad, wiping out all but three before losing the back-and-forth close combat. Those three survivors would, unfortunately, charge my bunker and destroy it. The game was intense, and both of us were relying on our dice coming out of the bag first. Awesome game. My anti-tank grenades showed they were somewhat viable, if risky. My airstrike never showed up. Duane, too, is a combat veteran (10th Mountain Division) so massive respect for that as well.



Game four, first on day two, was against John (of Plastic Legions). Now, I took a THRASHING at the hand of John's Arnhem-themed British platoon last year so was looking for a bit of revenge. The fact that John's a top-notch painter and a fantastic opponent to play against makes a loss to him all good. This year, John was rocking the opposite side of his Arnhem force... the 9th SS Panzer division. John was running something of an expirement this year... He had two infantry squads, LMG's and a few assault rifles, sniper, SdKfz 7, flakvierling, and Panther. Yes. Panther. In 1,000 points. That's 7 order dice total. Our mission was to capture two pieces of intelligence on the table and then do a roll at the end to see if the intel was actually good. John's a canny opponent, and covered one objective with the menacing profile of the flakvierling. I covered the other with a sniper, MG 34, and ATR. The table was a sort of Normandy feel, with TONS of walls, hedges, craters, and ruins. I was thrilled for this table, though a little worried by the Panther and flakvierling. I am sad to say, the dice gods were absolutley against John this game and he just could not get a break. My airstrike went off perfectly and pinned one of his two infantry squads out for all but the 5th turn... my mortar team was ACE, destroying his sniper, SdKfz 7, and all but one of his Flakvierling crew, and then he couldn't get morale checks to save his life. Like I said, John's a great guy so despite this he remained cool, and never gave up. I'd play John again any day, though I don't see him playing this exact list again any time soon. I captured one objective, only to be flat-footed in open ground the one turn he got his flakvierling to fire... poof! one squad obliterated. I couldn't get anything else close to get it again due to a lot of close range firefighting. One squad did, after three turns trying, manage to blow up the Panther with anti-tank grenades. Never thought that'd happen, but it was awesome. I thought I had the game in the bag, controlling one objective on the other side, till fellow attendee Jeff stopped by and asked if either of us had read the rules because we were doing the objectives wrong. Well, that set up a last-minute scramble but in the end neither of us got an objective. We both managed our secret mission, ironically both choosing the mission where your goal is to capture/kill the opposing commander in close combat. So... a draw. I really felt bad about John's luck though. Never a good feeling when a decent dude is undone by something outside his control.



The last game was everyone's favorite... Maximum Attrition. My opponent was Dan, who discovered only four days prior that an opening had become available and he was able to participate. He brought a late-war Panzergrenadier platoon.. well researched, thematic, and expertly painted. He had two infantry squads with a good mix of weaponry, an SMG/FT engineer team, sniper, medium mortar, panzershrek, medic, and StuH 42.... most of which were regulars. Many, many, many kudos to Dan for his force selection. We played on a table reminiscent of a French town with buildings everywhere. I'd been itching to play on this table since last year and I finally got my change. OH. MY. What a difference it makes, having buildings. Fully half our models weren't actually on the table due to them being in buildings, running from one to the next. Lots of crazy shots, some super-sixes actually hitting. Dan made a suggestion about my ATR shooting at his StuH 42 that dealt ONE pin. Dan failed his next four orders checks and the tank rolled all the way back to his table edge. Some of the highlights were my airstrike coming in and levelling a building on top of one of his units, some close-quarters fighting, cinematic ambush fire as units ran around corners... another excellent game, and another where both of us were anxious for our dice coming out of the bag. It was a real nail-biter but in the end I had a win solely on my special mission. I'd chosen "Saving Private Ryan" which gives points for chosing a single model and making sure it's alive at the end of the game. Dan had chosen "Blitzkrieg" which gives extra points for getting units into your oppenent's deployment zone. It was really close. Again, a really awesome game, and I would definitely play Dan again.







All in all I think my force was pretty solid. I came close in almost all games, and really put losses/draws down to dice rolls more than anything tactical or force selection. The anti-tank rifle, while thematic, was not really worth the points so I think I may scrap it in the future plus reduce the size of the squads a bit so I can get a fourth squad in. The anti-tank grenades were well worth the points. The only times I failed to get tanks was when I simply couldn't get my infantry close enough. I will certainly stick with them for more games and see how they do. The MMG was not as good as it has been in most of my previous games. While a bit disappointed, a German MMG is so quintessential that there's no way I could remove it. Also, I have two. The LG40/1 was great, well worth the points. The mortar team, as usual, was so-so. It didn't hit often but when it did great things happened. I'm hoping to get more friendly games in with this style of force because I am just really fond of the light infantry concept. Also, since there weren't very many Axis players this year (and none of us did very well) I won't be switching sides any time soon... after all, three of my five games were against German players and I think there were only six or eight of us. Given the popularity of Gorgon's figures (they were on-site Sunday) I suspect we'll be seeing some Gebirgsjager next year plus more FFL and if rumors be true, some Norwegians! I don't know about you, but I love that people are delving more into these forces rather than the more common ones.
The stats aren't out yet, but I'm pretty sure I didn't even break the top half of the table what with 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 losses... but I played five of the absolute best games of Bolt Action since the game first came out, and it was great to see the old faces from last year as well as make new friends. The guys that run Operation Sting run a top-notch show and all of us were already talking about next year. There was some AMAZING prize support, too, from a number of vendors and the guys make sure EVERY SINGLE PLAYER gets a decent walkaway prize. Warlord supplied a bunch, an online retailer supplied a starter army, platoon, and box... Crescent Root sent two sets of exquisite ready made terrain (see my game 5 table), plus a bunch of others too numerous to name. For me, I'm really particular about what I want when it comes to Bolt Action and I tend to run slightly off the norm.. but Gorgon Studios contributed a couple packs of their EXCELLENT Gebirgsjager infantry, which was still there when my name was called. I started into them that night and I'm well into a platoon now.

I can't say enough good about this Tournament. It was a truly excellent experience, and I'm really looking forward to next year. Thanks to Brent and Chris for putting on the whole thing, and thanks to all of the players who came out and played some good games. As much hullabaloo as there is about power gamers, there wasn't very much of that here and I think that's a beautiful thing. The guys that do this are also doing the Doubles, National Grand Tournament, and Tank Wars at Adepticon so if you're reading this and not sure you want to go, know that these folks will put on something good.

John, man, I hope you rectify things with Lady Fate brother. You need some luck in those dice again.

It's been.... HOW long?

Wow. I haven't posted anything since December. I really need to rectify that.

Since December, I have not been idle on the modeling front. Quite the opposite, in fact. You've seen my earlier posts with my British and my Perry Germans. At the time I'd been content with the results, not happy mind you, but content. Then I went to Operation Sting last October and my modeling world was turned upside down. I was actually tremendously embarassed at the level of skill on my troops, especially when compared to other forces that were there. John's Airborne, Jeremy's Italians, those were top notch. Several others had armies that were excellent too, and I just looked at mine with disdain. After the weekend was over I decided it was time to make a better showing... and then I signed up for Adepticon and I knew I had to do SOMETHING.

My Germans were on eBay in no time... and I had some cash to start a new army.

About this same time I also sold my Brits because they were not up to the standard I felt I could do. The fellow that bought them also comissioned me to finish the unpainted units. I do not like painting to a timeline and don't think I'll do that ever again. It was nice to have 'finished' the army though, and I had a little more cash to play with.

In my games at home, I usually played against Robert and his veteran US Airborne. One thing I learned in all of those games was a hatred of veteran units in Bolt Action. Having some disposable income from the Brits sale, I thought I'd do up a squad of assault-rifle armed Waffen-SS soldiers. First, I'd bring them on as a flanking unit that would punish whatever they attacked... give him a dose of his own medicine, if you will. Second, I had always been intimidated by German camouflage patterns. I'd been defeated by Splittermuster earlier in the year but was inspired by a member of the forum. After all... if I could paint Waffen SS camo patterns, I should be able to paint anything. So, I purchased five models to test my ability. I was also using this to bide my time until Warlord's plastic Late War Panzergrenadiers came out.. a box set for which I'd been yearning since starting Bolt Action.

The five Waffen SS models turned out brilliantly, so I set out to get a couple more and fill out a squad.

... and then i realized I now had almost 20 Waffen SS soldiers with assault rifles. Wait a minute. This... this was practically the start of a new army. Was this a viable option? I did some studying because, let's be honest, there is a bit of a stigma attached to fielding Waffen SS soldiers given the infamy of their real-life counterparts. In reasearching, I found the 9th SS Panzer Division. They were formed later in the war and did not have the laundry list of war crimes attached to their name. Just one, in fact, and that was a medic firing from an ambulance. I can deal with that. The 9th also fought in France after D-Day, with great tenacity... this is also a plus. They fought in and around Arnhem, so I could face Robert's Airborne. They fought on the Eastern Front, so I could face Tyler's Soviets. Perfect!

Then I realized that I only had two months before Adepticon, and I'd committed to Germans. I'd sold my regular Germans, and my late-war Fallschirmjager were no where near ready. But these Waffen SS dudes, with assault rifles and the 'Fanatics' rule, ate up a lot of points. I could paint this force in time for Adepticon, in theory.

Well that didn't work out as well as I'd have liked and there were a few late night cram sessions trying to get the painting done. The night before Adepticon I was up till 4am painting, and then woke up at 6am to get basing done. It'd dry before game 1 at 9am right?

One thing I realized in my games at Adepticon is that I'd become that which I so loathed... the jerk that brought Veterans... with assault rifles... and the Fanatics rule. They were great fun to play, and their resilience let me try tactics I'd never try with regular infantry. I did set out to paint up more rifle-armed soldiers so that I wouldn't feel AS bad. I got to use these guys at a local tournament a few months later and they were awesome. I actually won the tournament, and learned even more about how to use veterans in Bolt Action.

I now had just over 1500 points of painted Waffen SS infantry... quite a stretch past the one squad I'd planned. They looked great too. I was really happy with the level I had achieved, and set that as my standard moving forward. Then came the big game.

I played a big game where three German players with 1000 points each squared off against a US player with 3000 points. We played long-ways on an eight foot table. I'd dreamed of this game for a while. I was the only one with a dedicated infantry platoon on the Germans side, and the American side was all Vets with vet tanks in support. Multiple air observers, a Long Tom artillery piece... basically, everything the Americans do excellently times three. My infantry was largely useless in the game as it was primarily an armored battle and I didn't have transports to clear five feet of table quickly. The game had left me with a bitter taste. It was like I'd abandoned everything I stood for in Bolt Action. My buddy had been painting early-war French Foreign Legion based on the Norway campaign of 1940.. and that got me to thinking.

So now, having 1500 points of Waffen SS painted, and another 200-300 points started (all just infantry, no tanks) I put them aside and started on my Fallschirmjager. At long last I was getting to the army I'd started when I first pre-ordered Bolt Action three years earlier. Since Duane was doing early war, I decided to do the same. After all, the exploits of the Fallschirmjager... in Norway... at Eben Emael and the Albert Canal in Belgium... at the Corinth Canal in Greece and on Crete... at Stalingrad as the situation worsened.. these were the stuff of legend.

My early-war Fallschirmjager are coming along smashingly. I hope to have them done for Operation Sting in October. I have had one game against Duane's FFL and it was a blast. There was none of the sheer brutality of late war games. Tyler's looking at early war lists for his Soviets, too. Things are going in the right direction. Hopefully we'll demonstrate how cool the early war stuff is to others as well.

So that's what I've been up to since I last posted. I painted a British Commando army and a tank, then sold all my Brits. I painted 1000 points of US Rangers. I painted 1500 points of Waffen SS infantry. I sold off my cursed IJA army. I picked up Saga, though have not purchased any models. I picked up Skirmish Sangin and painted a few figs for that, US Marines in Afghanistan. I finally started on a Fallschirmjager army and have just finished my second squad for that.

Thus, I have not been idle in the interim. I endeavor, of course, to share pictures of all this with you.

If you've read through all that, you must be bored. Here are a few teaser pics for you. As I mentioned, you shall be seeing posts specific to these armies with more pics.









Cheers!

Operation Sting, My First Tournament

Well, loyal readers, this weekend was my first Bolt Action tournament. I have to say it was an absolute blast!

It was a grand tournament, 1,000 points in a single platoon. There were three games on Saturday plus two on Sunday. Each game was based on one of the scenarios from the book with a little alteration to fit the campaign. To make things exciting, there were also secret missions to choose from which earned additional victory points.

My first game was versus a platoon of regular British infantry in the 'Take and Hold' scenario. My secret mission for the game was called Tora! Tora! Tora! The objective for this was to destroy my opponent's highest point value unit. Looking at his models at the side, I quickly put my money on the Sherman... The objective for the game was a section of road, dead center, that we felt was important because it controlled the road junction.



I decided, having won the roll-off, that I'd REALLY like to be the attacker and chose to place all four of my infantry sections along his table edge and place them in ambush. Sure enough, my opponent brought on his units right in front of me. The firefights were very short, and very bloody. My opponent learned that units in ambush are dangerous... especially when they're packing a Panzerfaust. This was the first time I've taken them and the first time I fired it I very handily took out the Sherman. Unfortunately, the brutal firefights along his table edge had pinned down my units and he had a good number of scoring units surrounding the objective. My turn six was one of the more brutal turns I've had in a Bolt Action game. My sniper killed his forward observer. My Nebelwerfer, medium mortar, and two MMG's hit. My one infantry squad in good order got off some long-ranged shots, and my StuH 42 decimated an entire section of Brits. In the end, neither of us controlled the objective (now clearly surrounded by piles of dead infantrymen). I did get my secret mission and denied his so the victory was mine by a narrow margin. First victory (ever) for me in Bolt Action. Phew!

Game two was on a lovely table with commanding heights at the corners (cleverly blocked by tree stands which completely blocked line of sight). There were some idyllic fields of grain, and an impressive windmill. Looking at this lovely windmill, with its three floors, I chose the secret mission entitled Currahee! This mission required you to control the largest piece of scenery on the table. Unfortunately, my opponent (playing an all veteran US Airborne force) won the roll off and placed HIS sniper unit in the building. Hmmmm... I wonder what secret mission he chose? The scenario was 'Take the Field' and there was one objective marker in each of the four table quadrants. All I had to do was capture one more than my opponent. Easy enough, right? Well, the game was a good one. I learned to hate US Halftracks and their HMG's. My medium mortar was an absolute ACE and landed shots four of the five turns it was able to fire. Two of those shots dropped into the halftracks and blew them to bits. One of them had his air observer, so I count myself lucky that I was able to kill him before he got off his second air strike. His first one, which took three turns to finally do anything, killed my Nebelwerfer.. but that was okay because it was mainly sitting in the corner, rueing the tree stands for blocking any shots. My opponent was very canny in his movement in this regard. Once again this game, my StuH 42 was more than worth its points, and basically carried the battle for me. We did have a very cinematic sniper duel between his on the third floor of the windmill and mine in a nearby wood. His halftracks made an abbattior of German casualties right outside the door to the windmill so I was never able to enter and contest or capture it. In the end, I had forgotten I needed to be within THREE inches of the objectives, not six. I lost quite miserably because of this error, and I was not happy about. Great opponent, plenty of witty banter... all around a great guy to lose to.



Game three, the final for Saturday, was good old 'Demolition.' For my secret mission I chose one called Saving Private Ryan, wherein I nominated one model in my army and had to make sure he didn't die during the game. I nominated my Leutnant. The table was a North African German Airfield, complete with runway, quonset huts, and German aircraft on the tarmac. Very scenic. My opponent was fielding a combined British Airborne and Commando army... with several small squads of infantry, a Stuart tank, and a Humber armored car. My StuH again ran riot and obliterated one squad on its own. My Nebelwerfer missed every time it fired, and quickly became a target for his mortar. The game was going my way, what with my two MMG's mowing down his infantry and my sniper taking out his commander. We had a long distance machine gun duel and that was fun. His Stuart managed to imobilize my StuH, and it then sat taking PIAT rounds from a team I just couldn't seem to kill. Bloody veterans. So, turn five I have my infantry swarming towards his base and braving the blistering fire from his MMG and Humber. Then... he brought a flamethrower team on from reserve. WHOOSH! There went my sniper team. Oh yeah.. and then there was that 10 man Commando section that had outflanked. There they were suddenly, gunning down one of my MMG's in a point blank hail of SMG fire. I brought on my last infantry squad from reserve, intending to blast the Commandos that were frighteningly within distance of my command bunker. Only, I neglected to fire. Somehow, I forgot they were there and focussed my attention elsewhere on the table. Well. The Commandos charged my infantry section and in one brutal round of combat, eliminated my infantry section. They made a good show of it though and left only one Commando left. This was, of course, just enough for him to capture the objective in turn 7. One failed command roll on the other side and I missed out on capturing my objective. So. Then. Five points for keeping my Leutnant alive, and my second loss of the day. My opponent was really cool, and had one of the best looking and characterful armies of the weekend.

Thus, I packed up my army and headed home. I steeled myself for the final two matches on the next day and hoped beyond hope that I wouldn't have to face one of the Soviet armies or the one guy that brought Japs. On the plus side I had played more games in one day that I had the previous four months.

Day two dawned with me running late and having to consider the posted speed limit somewhat of a recommendation... I barely made it in time.

My first battle for Sunday was against a regular US Infantry in the Top Secret scenario. For this game I chose the 'Blitzkreig'secret mission which gives you bonus points for getting your infantry and vehicles into your opponent's deployment zone. Having recently played this mission in a home game (and losing) I knew what I needed to do.

The table had a lovely road running lengthwise, with the objective smack in the middle... so I decided my StuH would outflank. With everything else I used bomb craters (heavy cover) and woods to cover my troops until his infantry broke into the open. One they did, though, I started firing. I lucked out in his rolling a 1 for his airstrike... and thus murtalizing his three units surrounding the objective. That, coupled with the withering fire of four infantry squads, two MMG's, the StuH, the Nebelwefer, and the mortar meant that I wiped out a large percentage of his army in the space of 1 turn. I then surrounded the objective with three infantry squads and the StuH. In the following turn I ran like mad with the objective. I didn't get my secret mission but neither did he. I did hold the objective and thus chalked up my SECOND Bolt Action win. EVER.



Game five, the final game... was Maximum Attrition. My opponent... was Soviets. I shuddered, two or three times. My secret mission for this was POW, which awards points for engaging an enemy HQ unit in close combat and thus capturing them. As my opponent was describing his units, I nearly fainted at the unit of SMG and panzerfaust armed veterans in a truck. Then, they didn't seem so bad compared to the SMG and Panzerfaust armed combat engineers with body armor, flamethrower, and mounted in a truck. Shudder.

The orders dice worked out in my favor and I got to place my units in a side-to-side wall of firepower. My Nebelwerfer fired, but of the three units I shot at, the only one I HIT was his commander... so that was nine HE hits for two guys. At least I got a point for my secret mission? The game was very much not in my opponent's favor. Early pins and no commander meant some of his units did not do much of anything for the whole game except absorb fire. I felt bad for the guy because he kept failing orders tests and spending the whole game facing my firepower. In the end it was a pretty crushing victory. He'd chosen the Blitzkrieg special mission so he picked up some points from that. I have to say I was supremely impressed with his candor. Too many times have I played someone that rapidly becomes a poor sport when the game does not go their way, but Ryan muscled through and was a very admirable foe. I'd face him and his list again any day.

The main benefit of the event was learning that there are four Bolt Action players within 30 minutes of my home so I was thrilled to learn that. I also chalked up victory in three of five battles, and surpassed my yearly quota of games in two days. Lots, lots, lots of fun. I also won an "Italy and the Axis" book in a raffle so an African Campaign Italian army is almost a foregone conclusion for me now. How do I tell my wife? Many apologies for not taking more pictures... but in my defense I was like a kid in a candy shop!

My StuH 42 was the star of the weekend for me, and if the conversations were any indicator Warlord should see several orders for StuH's soon. My medium mortar had one REALLY GOOOD game, one GOOD game, and three 'meh' games. I'd totally take it again, though. The Nebelwefer was better for the terror it caused in my opponents, because it didn't really do much else. The two MMG's were ace as well. Most opponents shied away from their threat, and those that did brave the two teams suffered pretty horrendous casualties. I will definitely take them again. The Panzerfausts, at 5 points, are a no-brainer for me. It gave my infantry and anti-tank threat while not resorting to a fixed position artillery piece or expensive team. They'll be a standard for me now too.

The event was well organized, managed, and supremely enjoyable. I'm already making plans for next year, and I have to say that for my first tournament experience I had an absolute blast. Thanks again to the fellows that organized it (at the expense of being able to play themselves), and all the players that loaned their terrain for the enjoyment of all. I also want to thank those on the forum and freinds that gave me invaluable advice going into the tournament. It was a big help.

Operation Sting was a complete success. Job well done, men. Job well done.