FoW: Rules Puzzler: The Disappearing Tiger
So I love a good riddle. One of our Flames of War readers sent in this puzzler that came up in a recent game, and I liked it so much I had to share. The mystery of the disappearing Tiger:
Here is the setup:
“My mid-war North Africa US parachute rifle company has found itself parachuted into a snowy battlefield and ordered to Hold the Line against a German Tiger heavy tank company. My dedicated anti-tank platoon consists of four 37mm guns, ok for the lighter stuff but completely unable to harm a Tiger in mid-war FoW.
So, the Germans ran a Tiger and an infantry platoon in five halftracks down their left flank, and I figured ambushing them with my 37mm “popguns” may slow them a little and disrupt the assault. Well, a couple turns later and all the Germans were dead – that’s a platoon of infantry who all failed their saves, their five transports, and a Tiger! I lost one gun team.
My challenge to your readers is this: The 37mm gun is completely unable to harm a Tiger in shooting or assault – how did it die?”
~I’ll drop the answer into the comments and the post later tonight. Its a good one! Also, I really like the rules puzzler concept, so if you guys have anything seemingly crazy or mysterious show up in one of your games, snap a shot and send in your puzzler and answer. We’ll see if the BoLS readers can figure it out.
Answer: The answer: the Tiger assaulted my gun teams, and failed its bogged down roll. It has wide tracks, allowing it to reroll, and failed again. As it was the only team assaulting, the assault failed. My troops counter-assaulted, and since every bogged down or bailed out vehicle within 4″ is captured and destroyed, the Tiger was taken out by the gunners. Ditching himself was the only way he could have lost this tank, he’ll never live this down.
