ok.

Now for a start please dont take this the wrong way. Lets have some fun..Because It has indeed been quiet some time since I manned up to the challenge of a Card Driven Tactical WWII game.

You know.. the “I have 5 confusion cards and can’t do shit” type of game?

The “I have 4 fire cards and arty request at the start of the game” type of game?

The “why the hell is that dude shooting at me when I know he only has a 17% chance of breaking me “type game.

Yep Combat Commander.

I’m in the Advance After Combat CC tournament. You may not have heard of it, as it is a fairly elitist bunch of hard drinking, harder talking wargamers who believe talking smack is better than winning, and a game without beer is just an existential crisis of the soul. I dont think folks who count cards, measure percentage chance of X happening are invited (but hey you might be lurking so welcome anyway) this is more your manly mans CC.

This guy not so much, he wont make the grade:

This guy possibly..yes..What? Yes, part of the charming nature of wargamers is our seemingly inclusive attitude. Why just look at the chat boards on Consimworld and BoardGameGeek.com ..oh never mind:

The AAC however is different it is known to have the odd hipster lurking, but his preferences for retro refined footwear, manscaping and sundries is usually trumped by some seriously cool gaming skills. So the AAC engage these manly lumberjacks in war with dice just as happily as they do with you or I!

Manly Combat Commander eschews card counting, embraces do overs and corrections as well as free advice given in a friendly manner. It means this:

Its a tough job.. but someone had to do it. This game has it all. MG’s in melee, satchel charges, smoke, hails or lead, death and many a exit for VPS. But enough about the culture of the game and how it is played by real people. On with the game.

We were tasked with a Recon mission. Both sides would advance and engage. double points for kills, double points for exits [ yeah that thing where the fellas run an edge and go do something manly off map. While a similar set of chaps turn up a little while later to replace the chaps advancing to somewhere…] The force mix balanced Morale capabilities against Leadership and German satchel charges. More on the satchel charge at a later point.

After an hour of game play the situation was evolving in the Russian players favor to a certain extent as the Soviets score a quick kill on units in a building with their MG.

As the game expanded and continued into the 11pm hour central time its seemed that something was missing!

Yes dear readers Iced water for the Harpers. How can I be expected to play under these conditions? Bad enough that screen could barely be seen  for empty glasses , now I was bereft of something to weaken this heady batch so I could concentrate on eradicating the Wermacht from the board. Why am I woosie…?

I need to lie down. More soon.