Hey gamers! Last weekend I had a great game of Disposable Heroes Point Blank with my gaming buddy Vic. The scenario was played outon a 3x3.5 table. The objective was for the Germans to get as many figures off table as possible, while the US objective was to eliminate as many Germans as possible.
Table Pic:
The US Forces consisted of a full Rifle Squad with a Bazooka in support. They were rated Normal(Regular) with a +0 for Trained
The Germans also had a full Rifle Squad, rated Veteran with a +1 and a 222 + HMG in support
Playing the Americans, Vic opted to spread his troops out across the whole table in an L shape, which had it's own pros and cons. Many of his troops fell out of command radius, and were difficult to activate, but on the other hand it would be hard for the Germans to move with so much opportunity (Snap Fire) coming their way.
Turn 1 sees the US with initiative and the US Sergeant promptly guns down two Germans caught on the open road, triggering the ambush. I should mention it is hard to outright kill in Point Blank because the game is focused on suppression and maneuver, but Vic made his daily sacrifice to the Dice Gods and they smiled favorably on him.
Now that the Sergeant has died, his responsibilities pass to the Corporal, who does his best to keep his men moving. My Corporal was located with my LMG section, which proved invaluable to me because I was using the LMG as the nucleus of my remaining men, passing out suppression so they could move down the road. DHPB uses a genius Command and Control system which gives a player tokens to spend on activation. The farther away a unit is from his leader, the more points he costs to activate. Anyway, the remainder of turn 1 saw the Germans make about 1/3 of road before becoming heavily suppressed by the US troops all around them. In an effort to alleviate the problem, I sent my Recon Car down the road a bit and fired off some rounds, suppressing the US and giving me a chance to rally.
Unfortunately, though I bought my men some time, the sneaky US Bazooka Team gave my 222 a whacking with that stove pipe and destroyed it.
Things do look up for the Germans though. My HMG team finally gets in on the action and mows down the US Sergeant, which moves command over to the US Corporal, who happens to be on the other end of the board!
The units previously suppressing the Germans now cost more to activate, so they put out much less fire. We chalked this up to the men not knowing what to do in absence of their leader. The Germans end the turn around 1/2 down the road.
The US forces, under Vic's leadership, wisely tighten the noose around the desperate German patrol. US Riflemen form a half circle around the remaining Germans, and their fire is effective. We spent this whole turn trading shots back and forth, but there was little German movement. In the picture below you can see all the pins on the Germans, huddling around the rocks and trying not to die.
Turn 4 sees the last bit of German luck come and go. One lucky firing puts out massive hurt on the US, killing their Corporal and momentarily silencing their BAR team.
Seizing the opportunity, a brave Grenadier rushes forward and kills two of the three Americans guarding the road edge with a very lucky grenade roll. With victory in my grasp I start hustling my men forward as I attempt to lay down suppressing fire with my HMG.
Unfortunately for the Germans, the US manage to shake their pins and lay down the hurt as the Germans enter the final open stretch. Two more Germans fall, and the HMG is so pinned it simply surrenders (We decided to call it a surrender, it had 5 pins and it couldn't fall back in any direction to shake those pins)
Four Germans remain but the BAR team is still passing out pins. One German charges them in an attempt to buy his friends time to escape. He kills one before being killed in hand to hand combat.
The last three Germans manage to slip off the board.
All in all the game ended with a victory for the Americans. Although three Germans escaped, they were thoroughly defeated. We counted up the Victory Points to see what the rules said for victory, and the US did indeed win. The Germans got 3 points for the 3 escapees and 5 points for killing 5 US Soldiers. The US killed 9 German soldiers and got 9 points. We couldn't decide if the Recon Car was worth 1 or 2 points but either way it wouldn't have changed the outcome.
All in all it was a spectacular game, we had a blast. We went 4 turns and managed to play it in under 2 hours. I cannot speak highly enough of the rules, both Platoon Level and Squad Level Disposable Heroes. They are my favorite rules for a reason. If you have questions about the scenario or the rules feel free to ask either here or on TMP. Thanks for tuning in and happy Gaming!
Oh, also, I will be posting several terrain tutorials over the next few weeks as I build up for a huge Company Level Disposable Heroes game so stay tuned!
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