Sherman Leader: Board Wargame Playthrough AAR - Episode 5 (Second Battle-2) - Dan Verssen Games DVG

[@vaele723]

Whew! What a pair of turns. Those AP units closing in was nerve-wracking (especially with that one hit), but fortunately the infantry prevailed and likely saved Sgt. Myers' life. Luckily also, Sgt. Harte did bounce back! Which is great for the infantry, as those mortar units might've proven to be a nuisance. And also great for me, because without infantry support, it becomes trivial to overrun the Jumbo, which just shows you how important combined arms is. Let's hope luck will still be with us on the next turn(s). Thanks for another great video! I've been enjoying this immensely, and hope you'll do another Leader game eventually. DVG gets a lot of flack for rushed development, but their games (if in stable state) tells amazing narratives. They're definitely not simulations as you said previously (Sherman Leader is no Fields of Fire, that's for sure), but nonetheless that's not the design goal.

[@ZillaBlitz]

I thought for sure Myers' Jumbo was going to take heavy damage if not get wiped out. Six shots on it and not a scratch. And then our infantry did a great job neutralizing the AT threat too. Turn 4 was huge for us. The game can shift on just one dice roll though, so fingers crossed we can finish the job. :) ~ I think the Leader series does a great job for what they are trying to do with it, and I've picked up Tiger Leader, Zero Leader, and U-Boat Leader for future series. (Although I want to do one or two other things before coming back to a Leader game.) I love the stories the games tell and there is enough strategy and variation to make things interesting. For sure, if you're looking for a simulation, these aren't the games to get, but like you say, that's not the design goal. Thanks for stopping in, as always, and thanks for the kind words. It's been a blast making these and the feedback has been motivating. :)

[@tonycutty598]

@@ZillaBlitz Good choices on your new games - Tiger is a blast, Zero is fantastic and U-Boat is dark and therefore realistic and a lot of fun. There's a real visceral feeling when two of your torpedoes crash home into that fat oil tanker...

[@Joaquim.Oliveira]

Instead of deciding , I’d say the die roll would be more fair . Maybe a d10 and 1-7 move to most advantaged place for the AI , 8-10 to the hex that gives you some advantage.

[@ZillaBlitz]

That's a nice alternative, yes! Good idea!

[@thecustardprophet8434]

Really solid couple of turns. It seemed to be quite effective with my boys sitting out of the battle, not taking damage and then smashing everyone from distance!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yeah, you got a lot more action than I thought you might. Having the Germans get that aggressive roll on Turn 3 helped give you more targets, which was really good for you. And your shooting has been SPOT ON! :)

[@67icebowl]

When I play a 2 player game solitaire I always try to make the best moves for both sides. I think doing the same here would make for the best gaming experience. Just my opinion.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Robert! Yes, I can definitely see this side to things, for sure. With that said, I think ultimately a solitaire game should provide a system that allows you to play as hard as you can to win against the system, and shouldn't ask the player to make decisions as if he or she were playing a two-player game to the best of the opponent's ability. That's kind of the assumption I had when starting out at this, that the designer would expect you to make the decision in your best interest. But I think in this case, it's more of a gap in the ruleset that allows for this play. At some point in this series, I switch to playing the way you suggest, and I think with an easy house rule, the AI rules can be appended to make this a rule rather than a decision the player has to make. :)

[@tonycutty598]

Crumbs, you've done well there. Interesting, exciting and entertaining, helped greatly by your very 'involved' presentation style - you really get into the game and draw your watchers in along with you. The Jumbo did well on that turn where we were convinced it was going to die. In Tiger Leader, I've had similar situations where I have lost my 'sacrificial' PzII and then a Jagdpanther and Panther all in the same turn, due to really bad chit draws. Ah well, c'est la vie, aussi c'est la mort ;)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks, Tony! I think we got really lucky in Turn 4. I shudder to think what would have happened if that luck were reversed. But like you mention, things can change in just a couple of attacks. That sounds painful what happened in your Tiger Leader game. In the Japanese campaign I did with Sherman Leader, I lost a Sherman in the first battle early on, and the Japanese campaigns have much smaller force sizes, so it was nearly impossible to come back from that. :)

[@WWBoardgamer]

Whew. Ok this was intense. Having all those units in one hex seem to create a nice turkey shoot for ya in the end. I can see how this game has a story to it as you invest in your leaders over the campaign.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yes, you can get really attached to certain leaders and units, and then when they die you can actually feel it. The game definitely has a Hollywood feel to the play, but it can be crazy fun when you're outnumbered and frantically trying to take out enemy units before one of them gets a lucky shot and knocks you out.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

Keep Calm and Dice On!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks!

[@tonycutty598]

When an enemy Battalion is reduced to half-strength, the enemy's aggressiveness undergoes a marked transformation. That -2 on the move die-roll, especially if they're rolling a d6, has them retreating and routing all over the place. With a d10, their movement becomes unpredictable and haphazard, like they can't decide what they want to do. It's just as if their morale has broken - which I suppose it has - and they've had enough. I love it when that happens. Shame the tanks and armoured cars don't retreat off the map, though. But it's still remarkable to see, almost as if the AI makes them come alive.

[@ZillaBlitz]

In this campaign, half-strength battalions only have their movement reduced by -1 than if they were at -2, so they'll be a bit more aggressive on the whole. But as you mention, with a d10 at -1, they could do everything from full out retreat to full out attack. We'll see how things turn out. At this point, I think them moving back would be the better result for us. We can pull the up the Jumbo and mortars, and hit them as they retreat.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

I'd like to see you play a U-Boat Leader or a Gato Leader campaign (or both!)

[@ZillaBlitz]

I have U-Boat Leader but haven't gotten it to the table yet. It's definitely on the list of submarine games to play though, and eventually I'd like to bring it to the channel. The list is long, though. Do you have like those two? I've heard good things about the 2nd edition of U-Boat Leader, but don't know much about Gato Leader.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

@@ZillaBlitz I have both games and they are both a lot of fun! Gato Leader is like Uboat Leader except its American sub campaigns vs the Japanese

[@ZillaBlitz]

@@farpointgamingdirect Oh, that makes sense. Good to hear! I think I will play some U-Boat Leader to see if I like it, then expand out to Gato Leader afterwards. Thanks!

[@mathewkelly9968]

Lol how many saves by both sides , I'd have changed dice after all those German saves

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yeah, it was like no one could take out anything for a turn and a half, then boom, we started getting through. Turn 4 was a huge help. Just have to finish the job in the next episode. :)

[@Eurodance_Groove]

Your Jumbo Sherman resisted alot cause wasn't that one, the Jumbo version I mean, the version of the Sherman with added frontal armor and/or with improved speed or better suspensions?!? I read and seen documentaries and articles about the various sherman versions, such as the "Tiger Killer" Sherman Firefly... With elongated gun barrels... Or the Jumbo versions themselves and the "Easy 8" versions (all of which are shown or depicted in the Heroes of Normandie games range; if you wanna try and play that wargame too, here on your channel)...

[@ZillaBlitz]

Sherman Leader is much more a game of armored combat than it is a simulation of armored combat. In any battle in this game, you're going to be outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1 and yet you can still win the battle, and you can take out tanks with mortars. :) I've seen Heroes of Normandy on Steam. It's pretty good?

[@Eurodance_Groove]

@@ZillaBlitz I own almost each item of that range of games, already published, and it rocks... Today they are publishing things linked to the eastern theater in Stalingrad and Russia, such as the characters of the movie "Enemy at the Gates", or Otto Carius, the really lived Tiger panzer ace, whose gun operator was so able to be the first and only gunner able to shot down a plane using the 88 gun upon its tank!!! (Usually 88 flaks where 1st world war naval AA guns, and in the second conflict they started to use them as antitank pieces in North Africa and finally, put them upon a tank prior to Kursk gradient battle, giving life to the famous Tiger I model. In Normandie they used the experience gained in Russia and Africa to give life to the Tiger II "King Tiger" or the StugTiger I... The self propelled gun version of it. And many of the infos come from my passion for history and the Military History Visualized, here on youtube that I suggest warmly to see and visit, just to see how a crew of a german hanomag halftrack operated or such).

[@Eurodance_Groove]

@@ZillaBlitz The game is a midway term from a fully fledge wargame able to simulate and recreate almost everyrhing and an entry level / card and dice driven game. Good for veteran wargamers as well as newbie ones. It is based on a " bluff to me that I bluff to you" system or order tokens that you assign to your troops, and cards, usually 4 in hands of each gamer. You alternate to move or fire or both, adding penalties or such. And the game' s a plentyful of really happened missions recreated or fan made scenarios, and there are even really lived "heroes"/"anti-heroes" such as Otto Skorzeny, Vassily Zaytsev (the most famous soviet sniper, Ukrainian by origins, sadly curious thing), Michael Wittmann or the british Lovat's commandoes or the desert rats squads... The Skorzeny expansions has even the Duce as a token, to be used in the given Gran Sasso raid scenario or to be used in own made scenarios, which you can easily create by following the rules given in the core box). The System has also lovecraftesques expansions, where you face ghoulish nazis or ancient gods' cultists as the famous writer imagined. There are also Jack-o-lanter troops for US to be used there, and troops similar to the XMen and wolverine to be used for germans or allied factions!!! There is also a plentyful of FFI partisans and french or polish troops, commandoes and paratroopers to be used in the allied army. Unfortunately there are no Italians or Australians or Japanese troops and such, but many NCOs have the face of famous actors like Telly Savalas in the Kelly's Heroes movie related expansion, for example. There is also a Heroes of Black Reach set of products, actually out of stock but likely to be soon reprinted (I hope and wish), which is basically Warhammer 40k played using the Heroes System rules. They just released a SOLO player core set of rules but it complicates too much the rules and the game itself. And it is already playable as a solitaire game, I would add, since it just permits to play already, by moving and acting alternatively, like you had to interpret two gamers at the table, facing each other and doing each time the best moves/attacks possible. Usually each scenario gives you all the troops lists to use but the veterans of the Heroes of Normandie System games like me, prefer to create their own armies using the "army points" method given by the rules. Most similar to games like the already mentioned Warhammer system or the Heroclix games system... If you know them. Give it a try. I think you will pleased alot... Since the game is really satisfying indeed expecially if you setup your own scenarios or try to recreate battles happened historically, or play / create scenarios "that could have been" but have not taken place in real life, such as the germans that finally have tue nuke bomb and your aim for the scenario is to use or destroy its vector missile prior that it is launched and obliterates London or Moskow!!! Maybe using the xmen like-ish troops above mentioned!!!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Not ignoring these, but will read them and reply this weekend, there is a lot to digest here. :)

[@Stumptonian1]

"Mentioned in dispatches" ( well in a video anyway). A lot of lucky die rolls there - looking forward to the next turn. Your AAR is making me want to get back to this, although I might jump to Tiger Leader as I haven't tried it yet. Imagine we'd have a much different game if the Germans got to pull chits as well.

[@ZillaBlitz]

That Turn 4 was incredibly lucky. I take no credit for that, that was all the favor of the Dice Roll Gods. Before this I played a Japanese campaign that was the opposite of this episode. We just couldn't hit anything, and got drilled with every Japanese attack. ~ I think every battle we'll be outnumbered at least 2-1, so yeah, if we had to pull chits for German damage it'd be a whole different story. It's an interesting design mechanic, the way they've put this together. I really want to try Tiger Leader next as well. I have the base game and the upgrade kit, so maybe a few games down the line. :) Thanks for stopping in, Peter!

[@Stumptonian1]

@@ZillaBlitz I did a Japanese campaign as well - it was definitely a tough fight.

[@ZillaBlitz]

I think the smaller force sizes in the Japanese campaigns mean that one or two unlucky dice rolls can really mess things up. In German campaigns the forces are bigger, so one lost Sherman is less catastrophic.

[@DazBotTube]

Man vs Dice Gods :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Dice certainly play a large role in the game, but there are a number of ways to stack the rolls more in your favor. To be fair, though, yes, especially in the campaigns where you have a smaller force pool, losing a key tank early can really make things hard.

[@Eurodance_Groove]

An idea for your next videos about the game, Zilla... Feel free to follow the suggestions or not... I mean... Why don' t you leave only one destroyed unit in each hexagon into which there are more than 1 destroyed enemy unit?!? It will cleanup a bit each of them, allowing us to better follow your missions and evolving events of your missions... I also want or would you like to put each destroyed token upon the already destroyed ones, for the same reason... In the case you would not like to leave only one destroyed enemy token instead of keeping them all upon the board... As I suggested above.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Good idea, thanks! I think I was thinking that by leaving them all out, there is the sense for "here is where the big fighting happened", but I can see how it could get visually distracting to have so many out at once. Thanks!

[@Hakucho64]

@@ZillaBlitz I was wondering why they need to be on the board at all, as they don't seem to be used for anything. But they actually do do something, which is use up the counter mix. So if all the Rifle squads are on the board, dead, then there might not be other ones that can spawn during the scenario (because in most parts of the rulebook, they state that the counter mix IS limiting).

[@Hakucho64]

Gah, at 11:12 you should have rolled three attack dice, but after rolling and resolving your first two, you moved on to another unit! My tip for avoiding this is to roll all three of the attack dice first, and only then roll for the hit negation. Hope it all turns out OK, I'm rooting for your Yanks, even if they're over here and overpaid!

[@Hakucho64]

Ah, never mind, you remembered 108 seconds later at 13:00, phew!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yes, sometimes I save myself. :)

[@jakenavarski6272]

Where did you find those tweezers?

[@ZillaBlitz]

Happy to help, here you go: Bent Tip Lighted Tweezers: amzn.to/3CqYmAU (affiliate link)

[@tawandamhishi1407]

Yoo zilla its your fav🙆☺🙆 how are u there

[@ZillaBlitz]

Hey Tawanda! :) Doing well, thanks for stopping in. I hope all is well with you!

[@tawandamhishi1407]

@@ZillaBlitz everything is great here bro nice vid

[@ZillaBlitz]

Good to hear it, thanks! :)

[@Hakucho64]

You remind me of the kzbin.info guy - do you get that a lot?

[@ZillaBlitz]

Interesting! I'll take that as a compliment, given that he has a few more subscribers than I have. :) I've seen some of his videos before and can see what you mean. You are the first person to mention this though! I tend to get (the late) Robin Williams quite a bit. :)

[@Eurodance_Groove]

About this game I dislike the rear sides of the infantrymen tokens... Depicting the smoke like they were tanks or trucks instead... Why they opted for such bad or dumb/silly graphic option? They should have put a "Dead" simbol or wording upon instead... Or a dead soldier 's silhouette or similar, in my opinion... They went cheaply with the graphics and the token/pieces overall quality... Am I wrong or not? What' s your mind about that?

[@ZillaBlitz]

Ha! Good point! I confess I didn't really think about it, but it makes sense. :)

[@SunSailandSand]

Sorry just can not watch any further the way you play the enemy and ALWAYS choose to place them in areas that are overwhelmingly in your favor just annoys me to no end. You already have every freaking advanyage considering they are 1 hit and dead and you are 100000000000000000 hits and still alive, add in your gamey choices (although allowed ny rules) and it is game over for me. Unsubbing sorry you are just not my type of gamer I like to watch, EXTREME Easy Mode is not my thing. Goodluck, stay safe.

[@ZillaBlitz]

No worries, mate, thanks for the feedback, best of luck going forward. We ended up having a good discussion on this very thing as the series unfolded, and I changed the later missions to make the decision "make the move that is in the Germans' best interest." So the later missions are played differently, which as you mention, harder. I reached out to the developer too, to see which way they had intended the game to be played, as my initial thought was that as a player the game was designed that you make the choice to your advantage. (The developer replied that "either was fine and that it didn't seem to make much difference." I tend to disagree with their reply, and agree with you, that controlling the German moves to the player's advantage is a pretty significant advantage we gave ourselves in these earlier missions. I bring this topic up in the review video too, which has more details on it. Ultimately, I think a solitaire rules set shouldn't leave AI decisions like this to the player, it should make them for the player.