“Shtuka” Hobby Festival

“Shtuka” Hobby Festival
with Ilya Semionov

“Shtuka” Hobby Festival gathered a great bunch of geeks of all sorts at the Central House of Artists in Moscow on the 2nd and 3rd of September, 2017.

Among many others, “Voevoda” club participated in the event, playing two Team Yankee Total War games at 165 points and three players per side, as well as two Flames of War Total War games for Early War, 3000 points and 2 players per side.

The Flames of War games were interesting for both historical and gaming reasons: one of the games recreated an early Eastern Front battle, summer 1941. We applied the proposed rule changes which were published just 2 days before the event and adjusted our lists accordingly. The T-26 tanks lost their Hen and Chicks and were rolling over the table hitting and killing stuff!

After the Soviet artillery destroyed the 8.8 FlaK 36 there was no way to stop KV-1 from capturing an objective and destroying any German panzers bold enough to approach it. The German infantry was the only part of the army to survive the beating, but the day was lost for the aggressors from the very beginning.

The second Flames of War game recreated the battle of Arras in France 1940. Stuka Schwerpunkt had some chances against the French Somuas, but the Matildas were just invulnerable to the AT 3 bombs, giving the Germans no chance to hold against the steel beasts, as the Matildas were lucky enough to kill the 8.8 FlaK 36 with MG fire.

The games favoured thick armoured tanks, but the main goal was achieved – a lot of people came and asked questions, took pictures and participated in Boot Camp games organized by the Geek Wars store volunteers.

The epic Team Yankee table though was the part that attracted the majority of looks. Geek Wars store provided us with a whole load of perfect Battlefront pre-painted terrain, and we managed to build a West German city with new panel blocks of flats as well as more traditional brick houses, a workers' settlement and an industrial district, and even two fast-food restaurants to fight for!

On the first day we decided the NATO forces with all three nations available included would defend the shiny city from the Soviets and East Germans starting in the industrial area, and for the second day we changed the roles and the sides: the Soviets defended the city (in a very Soviet way, of course), and NATO deployed on the factory side.

Both games were quite balanced and really spectacular, but the Soviets inevitably secured more objectives, taking advantage of their numbers and aggressive playstyle. We saw many units in action that we never used before, as T-64 for the Soviets, the Tornado planes and Leo-1 panzers for West Germans and 30 T-55AM2 panzers for their counterparts from the other side of the Iron Curtain. The Total War scenario gave more depth to the game, AA units and artillery couldn't cover the whole table which made air attacks more viable.

Shtuka Hobby Festival made an ideal start for the new gaming year, and we look forward for a dense gaming schedule! This Sunday we join the Red Thunder campaign together with our friends from Saint Petersburg, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Odessa! We also plan to host a big international Flames of War ETC format tournament in Moscow in March 2018.

Stay tuned, comrades!

~Ilya

Check out even more images from the event by clicking here...


Last Updated On Thursday, September 14, 2017