tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3608348450420172562024-03-14T13:11:55.120-04:00Battle HonorsBattle reports and wargame designChris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-60036038241336792032017-04-08T23:14:00.000-04:002017-04-08T23:14:19.980-04:00GuiscardRyan, Dan S, Dan K and I had a game of Guiscard by Historic One, which is a 2013 update of the 1981 title Cry Havoc. This is a skirmish game, with each hex representing two meters and each counter one man or horse. A hex-and-counter skirmish game is unusual; generally skirmish is done with miniatures instead. Guiscard covers the Norman occupation of southern Italy (and is named for Robert "Guiscard" de Hauteville--Guiscard means something like "The Sneaky One"); other titles in the series cover Normans, Saxons and Danes in England, and the First Crusade.<br /><br />The scenario we played depicts a hypothetical situation from the AD1053 Battle of Civitate (where the outnumbered Normans beat an Italian/German alliance in southern Italy). Half a dozen Swabian heavy infantry are isolated on a knoll with some trees and brush for terrain; the Normans are trying to kill the Swabians before a Lombard force can rescue them. <div>
<br />The Normans set up one force in melee with the Swabians, and a second force of cavalry as a screen blocking the rescuers. The armored Swabians were pretty tough, and held out for a while despite being outnumbered and surrounded (and despite my initial placement of them, which probably could have been better); however, the Norman horse delayed the Lombards long enough that only one wounded Swabian escaped. The Lombards did manage to kill the Norman lord, though, and claim a moral victory.<br /><br />The rules are readable although somewhat ambiguous on several points. Two things I found odd: a) there are no morale rules; in our game, there were high casualties but no one retreated more than one space; b) each man is represented by two or three double sided counters, and you have to replace the original Mounted Intact counter with Mounted Wounded, Dismounted Intact, Dismounted Stunned, Dismounted Wounded, or Dead. The task is not made easier by the counters being thinner than I'm used to. There are a couple other quirks (Byzantines should be skutatoi, not hoplites) but nothing major.<br /><br />Given the game cost (~ $100) as compared to skirmish miniatures rules such as Pikemen's Lament or Lion Rampant, I don't think I'd buy a copy of Guiscard; however, I'd certainly play it again.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-82431437213240236472017-04-03T23:15:00.000-04:002017-04-08T23:15:14.310-04:00Power GridWith most of our Monday night gamers either sick or at work, Jesse and I decided to learn Power Grid, an economic game where you compete to provide power to the largest network of cities. We used the German board; the US grid is also an option in the basic game. You have to carefully balance how much you spend on power plants vs fuel vs expanding your network; in the early game, you may find that the fuel to provide power costs you more than you earn from providing that power. Jesse went for wind turbines, which have no fuel cost but only power a few cities; he was able to pull ahead in the short term but didn't upgrade frequently enough. I went with coal and oil and frequent upgrades, and managed to surge ahead on the last couple of turns. We both had a good time with it but we think it would be even better with a couple more players.Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-42780397040232008852017-02-20T23:16:00.000-05:002017-04-08T23:17:09.698-04:00Xia: Legends of a Drift SystemHad a good game of "Xia: Legends of a Drift System" with Darci, Kris, Jesse and Tom Paul. Kris took the lead by exploring and finding Fame Points, but Jesse pulled ahead by trading. My moment of glory was destroying Darci's ship (which was already heavily damaged) by ramming, thereby earning the Viking title.Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-13132093367720889642017-01-03T17:26:00.001-05:002017-01-03T17:26:18.973-05:00Pandemic: Reign of CthulhuPandemic: Reign of Cthulhu is based on the multiple-award-winning Pandemic game. In RoC you have Investigators instead of Scientists, cultists instead of diseases, and Elder Gods instead of outbreaks. The board shows four towns--Dunwich, Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport--each with half a dozen locations. If you get enough cards associated with a town, you can seal that town's Eldritch Gate; if you seal all four gates, you win. If you get overwhelmed by insanity, cultists, shoggoths, or Elder Gods, you lose.<br />In my first time through, playing solo, I drew the Hunter and the Driver as my investigators. The Hunter plowed along, wiping out cultists and shoggoths (atlhough she did go insane for a while); the Driver tagged along behind her until he collected enough town cards, then raced off to seal the next Gate. I won handily enough--but then I realized that I'd missed "if a site has three cultists, do not place a fourth; instead, an Awakening Ritual occurs."<div>
So I tried again. In the second game, using a Hunter and a Detective, I'd gotten two gates closed when my Hunter successfully fought a shoggoth--but the Sanity roll you take for fighting a shoggoth triggered another two cultists appearing, on a location which already had two, meant Dagon Awakened, which added one cultist to every Gate location, which triggered another Awakening, and thens plummted out of control and then Cthulhu.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-85288993596870001252016-12-29T22:05:00.000-05:002016-12-29T22:05:04.140-05:00Stonewall off FerrolPhil came down from Williamsburg to learn Ironclads, and took the formidable <i>CSS Stonewall</i> vs the slightly less formadiable <i>USS Niagara</i> and the rather fragile <i>USS Sacramento</i>. The scenario is one we've done several times before, with the Rebel ship attempting to get out of the harbor and cripple one of the Union vessels along the way.<br />
In the first game, Phil took the <i>Stonewall</i> and sailed pretty much straight for the board edge, I took <i>Niagara</i> in close, suffering several substatial hits along the way; however, while <i>Niagara</i> is light on armor, she has lots of hull points, so she chugged along resolutely. And then I got in close astern and gave him a rake with my full broadside--11" Dahlgrens and 150 pounders. That wrecked his steering gear, and from there it was just a matter of following his wake and giving him one broadside while the other one reloaded.<br />
In the second game, Phil took <i>Stonewall </i>again while Ryan and I swapped ships. This time Phil immediately cut right to go around the far end of the shoal, away from Niagara. I took <i>Sacramento</i> over to try to cut him off without actually getting in his way--<i>Stonewall</i> has a reinforced ram bow. I did nick him a little, but he outguessed me a couple of times and used me as cover to prevent <i>Niagara </i>from getting a shot. After punching huge holes in <i>Sacramento</i>'s armor and setting her afire, the Rebel swung around to get another close range shot, which was reasonable (because he needed to cripple one of the Union ships to win) but a probably a mistake (because it let <i>Niagara</i> catch up). The two heavy ships tangled at close range, culminating in a ram which left <i>Niagara</i> low in the water, but also meant <i>Stonewall</i> was a stationary target at point blank range. The heavy Union guns battered <i>Stonewall</i>'s hull enough to render her unable to make the oceanic crossing, costing her the win. A hard fought action all round.Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-286400797578971992016-08-21T00:54:00.000-04:002016-08-27T01:09:26.565-04:00Most Peaceful Wargame EverI just had the Most Peaceful Wargame I've ever had. <div>
The game was PanzerLeader, with a hypothetical Brits v Soviets scenario in May 1945. My Red Army forces rushed (because we're Russian) to the plateau in the center of the board, and took up Wellington-inspired defensive positions. The Brits had no line of sight to most of my units; if they wanted to attack, they would have to come up the slope and over the lip of the plateau, emerging into open ground at point blank range. I also left a few speedbump units to the south and at the crossroads behind me. </div>
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I figured he'd assault, and that would weaken him enough for me to counterattack. My opponent, however, decided that "frontal assault into T34/85s and SU152s" didn't sound wise, so he left enough force to pin me and sent a few units around behind me to try to pick off the crossroads. The flaw in his plan is that his forces were sneaking from tree to rock, to keep me from Opportunity Firing on them; in contrast, when I decided to send reinforcements, I just ran an armor company right down the road from the hilltop to the crossroads, and was generally able to get there without risk of getting shot on the road. (I did offer him an Opportunity Fire shot on a T34/85, but he decided his Daimler Ferret scout car would rather run away instead of chipping my paint as my T34/85 rolled toward him). Since I could reinforce faster than he could send attackers, he realized he couldn't take the crossroads; and it didn't weaken me quite enough to tempt him into assaulting the hill. This was turn 9, and the time limit was turn 10; there was not enough time for either of us to clear any more objective hexes even if we launched an all out assault, so we called it a draw without playing out the last turn.</div>
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Total shots fired: zero.<br /><br />In a similar scenario on the other side of the room, the Americans sacrificed a few scouts to locate the Russian forces, then used artillery and aggressive armor attacks to break the Russian center for a decisive win.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-60254888879757916022016-06-19T00:26:00.001-04:002016-06-19T00:26:47.060-04:00Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear SoloI've <a href="http://battlehonors.blogspot.com/2015/07/problems-with-conflict-of-heroes.html">previously</a> written on what I regard as some of the problems with the Conflict of Heroes series. Those haven't stoppped me from buying Awakening the Bear 2e and the Solo expansion, and I've just finished the first solo scenario. There's one change in the Solo version which I really like: you no longer activate one unit at a time and keep using it until it's out of Activation Points. Instead, you select any Fresh unit, take an action, and check whether the unit is Spent. If it isn't, you can take another action with it--or you can leave it alone for a few impulses while you use another unit, and then come back to the original one when you're ready. Higher AP cost actions (such as Rally, 5AP) are more likely to cause the unit to become Spent than low cost (Move in the open, 1AP) actions. However, you don't track Activation Point totals any more; as long as you're lucky with your Spent checks, that unit stays Fresh and can take action after action after action. Of course, you can also order a squad to scurry across the street into the building on the other side, only to have them become Spent after the first 1AP movement and get stuck in the middle of the street.<br />
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I did manage to win the first scenario, capturing the objective and polishing off two German squads while only losing one of my own. It was close, though, as the halftrack chased my SMG squad for a while, then got adjacent to one of my Rifle squads and put a hit on it. Fortunately the scenario timer ran out almost immediately afterward, and the Germans didn't get a chance to finish off my wounded squad. Final score, 2VP for the Russians.Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-14266855827803408742016-06-11T23:46:00.000-04:002016-06-11T23:46:09.087-04:00PanzerBlitzSix guys got together at Ryan's for a PanzerBlitz scenario based on the battle of Prokhorovka, which was part of the battle of Kursk.<br />
In the scenario, the battlefield is divided by a 18-meter high causeway running north-south; its slopes are impassable for vehicles and difficult for infantry. There is only one road from the eastern sector across the causeway to the center, which means that the Russians can transfer some forces from one sector to another but the Germans can't, There are numerous gullies and woods across the map, plus one wooded hill on the Russian side (perfect for putting an artillery spotter), and some towns, The Germans got four formations, including one late-arriving force on the eastern edge; as an example of one of those formations, my 2nd SS Panzer Division had 17 AFVs, 17 infantry, 5 artillery batteries, a couple of antitank towed guns and 7 halftracks. The Russians got five formations, including one that got two turns of movement before anyone else arrived; it raced across the map and took blocking positions almost at the German board edge.<br />
Our right pushed the Russians back; as the Russians just blocked the road across the causeway and wrote off their eastern sector, our success was encouraging but not actually helpful. On the left, we got into some of the forests and were able to push the Russians back to about the middle of the map, but there we got stuck. In my sector, the center, I took the first forest, but advancing farther was impossible; there were woods all across my frontage, with Russians in cover in every woods hex. In order to shoot at them, I had to have an adjacent spotter; and that meant I had to move a unit to a hex with no cover, at point blank range from the enemy, and have it survive through the full Russian turn (indirect fire, direct fire, movement-with-overruns, and close assaults after movement) so it could direct fire on my next turn (turn order being shoot first, then move). So instead of launching a doomed banzai charge, I took over all the German artillery, found a great place for my spotter, and proceeded to drop barrages on every Russian unit I could see. That racked up quite a few kills, but the main Russian defense line was in cover and, once again, I couldn't shoot at them unless I had an adjacent spotter. I gather that, in real life, the Germans couldn't break through to Prokhorovka, so the scenario was historically accurate, but it wasn't very good from a play-balance point of view.<br />
This was the first time most of us had played PanzerBlitz in over 20 years, so it was rather nostalgic. It was great, back then, because the game didn't cover just one battle, or even a limited set of scenarios; you had the pieces to make your own scenarioes. But that was back in 1974; playing it today was a reminder of how clunky the game was. Units out in the open were doomed, units in cover were invulnerable as long as they had enough pieces to block the enemy from getting into the same piece of cover. No morale, no opportunity fire, no command and control limits, no ability to ambush which means towed guns become largely useless, and so forth. I'd been thinking about getting a copy to replace the one I had back in high school; I'm glad I decided to hold off. Sometimes "everything was better, back in the old days" is because we don't remember the old days very well/Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-66466816158096078052016-05-19T23:55:00.000-04:002016-06-19T00:01:45.453-04:00RoboRallyRoboRally was on sale at Amazon and I've heard friends mention it a number of times, so I bought it. It's a race in which the players send robots trundling around a factory floor that has a few numbered flags scattered about; you're trying to be the first to touch each flag, in order. Except your robot is fairly stupid, with only a limited set of commands (such as Move 3, or Back Up, or Rotate Right) each turn. And the factory floor has conceyors, pits, lasers, and other hazards. And all the other robots <i>also</i> have lasers, and if they run into you they can shove you off course...<br />In my first game, SpinBot got off to a quick lead, charging across the floor while SquashBot lurched well behind...but Squash got a laser shot on Spin. The two bots jockeyed back and forth, trying to end their movement on the first flag. They managed that, and then Squash accidentally rammed Spin, knocking him into a laser. Each point of damage reduces your number of maneuver cards available, so Spin was only getting 7 cards vs SquashBot's 9; while you can only use 5 cards per turn, the reduction in cards to choose from can make a huge difference. <div>
Both bots sped for Flag 2, but had difficulty picking maneuvers to end on the flag; they overshot, drove around, spun in place, got carried away by a conveyor, and bashed into walls. Squash eventually managed to land on the 2nd flag, then headed for the final one. He caromed off a wall, made two loops, and arrived at Flag 3 just as the hapless SpinBot finally got a path that put him on Flag 2. <br />I'm not entirely thrilled with the physical components--the board and cards could be sturdier--but I got it at a steep discount. It's quick and easy to learn, and if you have the appropriate fatalistic attitude and can cope with your maneuver cards being <i>not helpful at all...again</i>....then it's a lot of fun.<br /><br />A few days later we had another game of RoboRally, this time with three players. None of us even made it to the first flag. We each drove into pits or off the board twice. Betina deliberately pushed me into a pit ("It was an accident!" she says, with a telltale note of glee) to wreck my bot for the third and final time, but Justice was quickly served. On the next turn, Rachel accidentally backed into Betina and shoved her into a pit, leaving Rachel as the survivor.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-63872989661627436442016-04-12T19:56:00.000-04:002016-04-15T21:09:34.288-04:00Ghost Stories and SuburbiaJosh and I had half a game of <i>Ghost Stories</i>, a Chinese themed game in which your Taoist monks attempt to defeat the ghost of Wu Feng and a variety of other ghosts. There are nine Village tiles arranged in a square, and you're trying to prevent them from becoming Haunted. If your monk is standing on a tile, he gets the option of using an ability associated with that tile: gaining more Chi, for example, or moving a ghost from one side of the village to another. On each side of the village is an entry board for ghosts, with three spaces corresponding to the three adjacent village tiles. Some ghosts advance and Haunt village tiles; others hamper your ability to fight. You must manage your resources (mostly Chi) and maneuver to make the best use of the Villagers while dispelling ghosts quickly enough that you don't get overrun.<div>
We did well at fighting most of the ghosts...but that was probably because we were misunderstanding or omitting some rules, which weren't quite as clearly written as I would have liked. According to Josh, the game's designer says that winning one game is twenty is doing well.<br /><br />We also got in a game of Suburbia, in which you build residential areas, heavy industry, government buildings and businesses in an effort to increase your burough's population and reputation. New offerings come onto the real estate market at a premium, getting cheaper as time goes on; you have to weigh wether you want to snatch them before your opponent does, or wait for the price to drop. Once you've bought a piece, you have to choose a good location in your burough--nobody wants to be next to a landfill, for instance, but you get synergy from having parks next to residential areas, or museums next to schools. As your town gets bigger, it becomes harder to keep up your reputation (you're losing that "small town feeling") and income (simulating increased infrastructure costs and diminishing returns); you want to grow, but not too quickly. And you'll have goals, both public and secret, for things like "have the least cash" or "have the most heavy industry".</div>
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The rules are only a couple of pages long but the game is more interesting than I had expected. You can see what's on the real estate market, so you Josh got an early lead in population and held onto it to the end, although I was closing in quickly. I ended up buying a copy for myself.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-77159222911547921552016-04-10T21:53:00.000-04:002016-04-15T22:21:36.864-04:00Fury of DraculaThis is game where one player--in this case, me--plays the Count, moving around Europe and evading the Hunters--in this case, Duncan, Chris, and Joshua. The Count wants to gain Influence in Europe, which he does by letting time pass or by disabling Hunters; the Hunters want to cooperate to track down and destroy the Count. <div>
As Vlad, I started in Spain and moved into France, but passed too close to Marseille; the hunters quickly found me before I'd laid many traps. I compounded my error by going into combat rather than breaking contact and evading the Hunters. I did managedto bite Mina, sending her to hospital in Madrid and gaining Influence for me. I scored another coup when Hunter in hot pursuit followed a false tip to Lisbon instead of my location in Paris. Unfortunately, the two remaining Hunters closed in on me and turned out to be better armed than I expected. Garlic and Holy Bullets did a lot of damage, and the Hunters mostly avoided my Fangs, which would have done damage to them and helped heal me. After taking 8 damage out of his 15 total hit points, I had the Count turn into bats and flee Paris for an undisclosed location to the east. </div>
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We called the game there due to time but I think the hunters were well ahead. I took the Count into combat too much, and didn't lay enough delaying traps.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-31157977433486071242016-03-25T22:31:00.000-04:002016-04-15T22:37:30.673-04:00Xia and BloodbowlGame Night at Josh and Gwen's. At our table, the first game was Xia: Legends of a Drift System, played to 10 points with five players. I did much better than my first two attempts, getting a good trade route, a tier 3 ship, and 9 fame points, with my 10th pretty much guaranteed on the next turn. Josh then cashed in money for his 9th point, sold all his equipment to get enough to fund his ship upgrade, and used his ship upgrade to claim his 10th point and slip past me for the win. All hands had a good time.<br /><br />Next up was Blood Bowl, in which each player manages a sports team. Cards are laid out to show the matches available and the rewards for each match; you decide which matches you want to play in, assuming you can claim your preferred spot before someone else does. You have to chose carefully between playing in more matches (for more rewards, some of which you get regardless of whether you win or lose) or putting more effort into winning fewer matches. I played the Humans for a couple of matches, just enough to get the concept and build up a respectable fan base, before I bowed out in favor of new management in the form of Tim, who took over and did quite well in the tournaments.Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-79443222239867007382016-02-07T12:44:00.002-05:002016-02-07T12:50:28.163-05:00Tidewater Area GamersTwo games yesterday at the monthly Tidewater Area Gamers Society meeting.<br />
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<i>Samurai</i> by Fantasy Flight Games. This represents daimyos struggling for the support of the priests, merchants and nobles of Japan. Each player gets a set of influence tokens, and your goal is to capture objectives--representing the support of the three castes--by surrounding them with more influence than your opponent. The board is a map of Japan, divided into hexes, and your objectives are scattered across the map, including Edo with markers for all three castes. Some of your influence tokens only apply to one caste, some apply to all of them, and a few let you relocate pieces or make extra moves. Once a caste piece is completely surrounded, if you have the majority of influence on it, you capture it. If you have the majority of the pieces for a caste, you gain that caste's support; if you control two of the three castes, you win. Be careful, though, because it's possible to win the game without wining the majority of the tokens--for instance, if one player has no support at all from the Priests but wins a slight majority of the Noble and Merchant castes, then two of three castes support him and he wins. Quick and easy to learn, but requiring careful thought on every turn to win. I've added this to my wish list.<br />
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<i>Churchill</i>, by GMT. This game showcases the US, UK and USSR struggling not only to win WW2, but to gain an advantageous position in the peace that follows. Each turn has two main phases: a Conference phase, where the Allies each maneuver to set an agenda and gain control over issues, and the Map phase, where they allocate their efforts against Germany and Japan, and develop influence in minor nations, In our game, I played FDR, Mike took Stalin, and Ron played Churchill. In the Conferences, the US and USSR mostly countered each other, leaving the UK to come out ahead. In the map phase, the European front went well, as the US/UK took Italy and punched through France, defeating Germany well before the Russians could arrive. Progress was slower in the Pacific; the Japanese navy sat out the war, but the US failed to take Okinawa or the Phillipines, the Brits didn't make it to Hong Kong, and the Red Army never saw Korea. Things were looking grim until the US managed a last-minute research success and developed the A bomb, which forced Japan to surrender. The final score was England 55, US 39, USSR 33....but the rules say that you want to win, but not by so much that you provoke the other two into joining against you. Ron's lead was a little too overwhelming (more than 15+1d6) so I, as the second place power, became the winner. We finished the tournament scenario in about three hours, including time for me to learn the rules.<br />
<br />Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-18602609654902263262016-01-18T22:30:00.000-05:002016-01-24T01:31:44.299-05:00Panzerblitz IIMarko and I had a game of Panzerblitz II, based on the original Avalon Hill title of ages gone by.<br /><br />We played "Situation HOD4:Take the Hill". The Germans are in position the rear slope of a hill; the Brits start at the foot of the hill. The map edges are just off the sides of the hill, so there's no room to circle around and attack a flank--the Brits have to launch a frontal assault and push the Germans off the objective.<div>
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British forces include: </div>
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<ul>
<li>21 mechanized infantry platoons with Bren carriers; </li>
<li>3 machine gun infantry platoons with Bren carriers; </li>
<li>6 Churchill VII platoons; </li>
<li>4 17lb AT platoons towed by halftracks; </li>
<li>2 Achilles platoons; </li>
<li>2 Crocodile platoons</li>
<li>offboard artillery</li>
</ul>
German forces: </div>
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<ul>
<li>12 Panzergrenadier platoons; </li>
<li>1 PzKw V G platoon</li>
<li>2 PzKw IV H platoons</li>
<li>3 75 Pak 40 platoons </li>
<li>3 Stug III G Platoons</li>
<li>3 Tiger platoons</li>
<li>9 improved positions</li>
<li>offboard rocket support.</li>
</ul>
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Playing as the Brits, I put a couple of 17 pounders into the trees on the far right--probably a little too far right, in retrospect--and sent a couple of tanks along the left map edge, while I massed my main assault. Then I ran everything onto the hill and debarked ny infantry, losing a few to German fire as I drove in. On the right, my lead units got pinned down by fire and overrun by panzers. On the left, the Germans tried to stay under cover, but my 17 pounders managed to kill a StuG and my infantry cleared one or two of the German positions. In the center, I ran a kamikaze Bren carrier over the crown of the hill; the Germans brewed it up but that used their Reaction Fire opportunity, and my infantry could safely take the crest. We were halfway through turn 4 (of 7) and the Germans were celebrating the arrival of a couple of Tiger platoons when we had to call time.</div>
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Commentary:</div>
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The way initiative works is that you put chits into a cup and pull them one at a time. The chits are specified by the scenario and include scores of 0, 1 and 2 for Brits and Germans. If the first chit you pull is a Brit 1, the Brits can place the chit on a hex and activate everything in that space or within 1 hex of it (as long as it hasn't already activated). If the next chit is a Brit 0, then the Brits can activate a single hex worth. It's entirely possible to get two or more activations in a row. You have to choose with care where you're going to place your chits, to activate as many units as possible and to move them quickly, before the other side can react. The weird part about this is that you're putting down radius 0, 1 or 2 circles and units that are outside that circle don't move--even if the rest of their company is moving right past them. I guess that's a case of "there's always someone who doesn't get the word."</div>
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The stacking limits are a bit odd. You can have three Bren carriers in one hex, or three rifle platoons, but you can't bring in two loaded Brens into one hex and have the infantry dismount there, because that puts you at 4 units in a hex, which is over the stacking limit. Consequently, my infantry was spread over the whole width of the front at one platoon per hex, wherever I could find a space for them. Given the way the initiative chits work, this was bad--I should have had each companys compressed into the least space possible, so I could activate them with one chit pull. I think the intent was that a player should move a Bren three spaces, unload, and move backwards one. Then you can run a second Bren in and repeat the process, which at least gives you two platoons in a hex instead of one. That part felt more like "traffic engineer" than "assault commander"--although I suppose some staff officer basically <i>is</i> a traffic engineer, so to the extent that you want to simulate "the staff officer experience", the game does that. It did drive home the dilemma of "how far dare I run in my transports?" The infantry are horribly vulnerable while they're mounted, and you don't want to give the enemy any more Reaction Fire shots at them than you have to--but you also have time limits and dismounted infantry is slow. I decided to run the Brens onto the hill and dismount as they finished their turn, so they only had to survive one session of Reaction Fire but still got fairly close to the enemy. </div>
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Speaking of Reaction Fire--each enemy unit gets to shoot at a single one of your units as they drive by. If you send a tank first, they can wait and hope something squishier comes along. Or if you send an unloaded Bren in first. the enemy can take the easy kill but miss the chance to shoot the infantry unit that came right after it. Perhaps it would make more sense for a unit doing Reaction Fire to have a chance to shoot more than once? Although that would slow the game down more.</div>
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The fire resolution process is a bit odd too. If you're shooting at a tank, what matters is the difference between your attack factor vs his armor factor. If you add another unit to your fire group, you merely get a +1 to that difference. However, if you're firing at infantry, what counts is not the difference between factors, but their ratio. Example: my firepower 12 tank fires at an enemy tank with a defense of 6, and I'm on the +6 table; if my tank fires on a defense 5 infantry unit, I roll on the 2:1 table. I assume that's because when you're firing at infantry, the more the merrier; but when you're firing at armor, it's the size of your biggest gun that determines whether you penetrate the armor, and adding an extra .30 machinegun doesn't really help you. </div>
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Overall I had fun, although part of that was due to the nostalgia factor--the original Panzerblitz was one of my first wargames. Speed of play is the main problem, Admittedly it was a learning game, but it took four hours to go through three and a half turns--not because it's all that complicated, but because activating everything takes a lot of time. I had nearly 70 counters, plus status markers. I have to wonder if that scenario could be done with a third of the counters, maneuvering companies instead of platoons. </div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-26305161670718239592016-01-06T20:21:00.003-05:002016-01-06T20:21:45.417-05:00Darkest NightJust finished my first game of Darkest Night from Victory Point Games, played solo with the Prince, Seer, Wizard and Druid randomly selected to defend the kingdom against the power of the Necromancer. The Necromancer spent the first few turns wandering blindly from Ruins to Village and back; meanwhile, the heroes searched for keys to unlock a Holy Relic. As the tide of darkness rose, the prince and wizard moved to the ruins to to dispel the blights there, while the seer and druid kept searching. The druid, in raven form, finally unearthed the Relic. The prince and wizard went to meet him, with the Necromancer in hot pursuit. The wizard was badly wounded but had his most powerful magic available; so the druid handed him the Relic, the prince used his ability to Inspire, and the wizard attacked with an overwhelming blaze of flame. The game finished with the Shadow level at 13; 3 blights in the vilage, 2 each in forest and ruins, and 1 each in the remaining spaces; the wizard had 1 Grace point left and the others each had 3.<br />The game rules were written well and unambiguously, and it played pretty quickly once I had internalized them. It had good pacing, with a definite sense of scrambling to fight off Impending Doom. However, the tactical options felt limited; during fights, each character had only only a few choices and usually one choice was clearly the best.<br /> Generally, for each character, one tactic is better. For example, in this game my seer could Fight with 1d6 or Evade with 3d6. For most monsters, you have to beat the same number to succeed whether you Fight or Evade, and a failure has the same consequences whether you Fight or Evade, so it's a no-brainer to choose the option where you have the bigger dice pool. Not always--one monster had different target numbers, so I had to decide whether to try for 1d6 needing 3+ or 3d6 needing 5+. Aside from that kind of situation, my Seer would always Evade, and my Prince would always Fight. Which is okay, to some extent, because it differentiates between them, but the tactical level is not as intriguing as it might have been. <div>
I think gameplay might be improved by adding a third resource--Mana, perhaps--and forcing the player to choose "do I spend it now, when I really need it, or do I hold on so I have it later, when I might really, REALLY need it?"<div>
There is also a strategic level, where you have to choose between strengthening/repairing your character, searching for the McGuffin you need to win, or destroying monsters to keep their numbers down to manageable levels. I found that level to be better, because you have time limits and can't do everything you want. In my case, with the cards I had, it was fairly simple--Prince and Wizard fight, Seer and Druid search--but the pressure was still there.</div>
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Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-16489043379749780292016-01-01T20:24:00.000-05:002016-01-06T20:24:13.879-05:00InventoryWargames: 1805 Sea of Glory, Afrika Korps, Close Action, Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel, Darkest Night, D Day, Fading Glory (Napoleonic 20), Field Commander:Napoleon, France 1940, Holy Roman Empire, Infidel, Ironclads, Lion of the North, Mage Knight, Manoeuvre, Mound Builders, Napoleon at Bay, Navajo Wars, OGRE/GEV, Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, Soldier Raj, Stalingrad, Under the Lily Banners, Waterloo, Wellington, With God & Glorious Arms, Won by the Sword<div>
<br />Euro: Dominion, Forbidden Island, Settlers of Catan, Tsuro<br /></div>
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RPGs: D&D4e and 5e, Champions/HERO System, Traveller, FATE, Savage Worlds, PDQ#, others<br /></div>
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Miniatures Rules: StarGrunt, Full Thrust, In Her Majesty’s Name, Dragon Rampant, Field of Glory Renaissance, On the Seven Seas, Of Gods and Mortals, Striker, and more</div>
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Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-77612154090636128762015-11-16T20:25:00.000-05:002016-01-07T16:46:49.515-05:00Close Action: Haddock vs AlliesThis was a hypothetical action in 1741, pitting 16 Royal Navy ships against 10 Spanish and 8 French. The Brits begin closehauled on the port tack at medium sail; the Spanish start parallel to leeward, at fighting sail; the French start broadreaching, in line with and facing the Spanish but far enough away that they can cut upwind to engage the Brits. That's what we expected to happen, in fact--the Spanish command conference decided the Brits would stay upwind, engage the French and ignore us. We would be too far away to shoot effectively and unable to close the range in any reasonable time.<br />
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The British, however, didn't know that. They immediately drove straight at us. Their plan, as it turned out, was to pass through our line and defeat us, and hope the French wouldn't be able to pass through our line to attack them.<br />
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Unfortunately, the 50 gun Brit who was trying to pass astern of me didn't quite judge it right, and rammed into my 108 gun Real Felipe. And he fouled, so I was stuck in place. And with an invitation like that, of course a Brit 74 sauntered over to park at my bow and rake me repeatedly. Fortunately Real Felipe is a monster and can withstand quite a bit of punishment. I fired half-broadside rakes at the 50 who had immobilized me, then...formed boarding parties! Both Brits hastily formed defensive boarding parties. I assaulted the 74, which barely repulsed me. The 50, knowing she couldn't withstand a boarding action, cut away the grappling lines and edged away.<br />
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Meanwhile, the French line had swept down on the British van and gotten embroiled in a furball there. The French admiral signaled me that he was going to keep his ships together at the van, which meant that my ship and the rest of the Spanish rear were not going to be rescued. That was probably the right decision overall, but that was cold comfort with my ship and her consort Brilliante fighting five Brits, and the rest of the Spanish rear equally outnumbered.<br />
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It was about this point that my consort exploded.<br />
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The Brits had sent four strong ships to attack the three weaker ships of the Spanish rear, but hadn't been effective as I would have expected--in fact, one of the three managed to escape, and another was battered but still attacking at game end. The third, however--Brillante--had been reduced to floating scrap wood when she caught fire and blew up. Surrounding her were a knot of five ships--my Real Felipe and four Brits. The burning debris from the wreck caught all five of us on fire, but Real Felipe managed to extinguish hers quickly. Not all the Brits were as fortunate. I finally managed to turn (having been immobile since game turn 3) and put enough shot into that 50 to finish her off.<br />
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The game was called at that point with an Allied victory; the Brits hadn't managed to defeat our rear fast enough to prevent our winning at the van. I think the Brit plan was clever but flawed--it relied on their being able to get through a hostile line, and the French not being able to get through a friendly line. I am thankful not to have been selected for British admiral, since I don't know what would have been a winning strategy--there were several comments, from all three sides, to the effect the Brits were doomed from the start as they were facing a strength point disparity of about 20% .<br />
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Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-87922992101063928012015-08-16T18:05:00.000-04:002016-02-03T18:05:37.205-05:00Xia: Legends of a Drift SystemJust finished a game of Xia with Joshua and Kelson. I took a ship with a good balance of offense, defense and movement; in retrospect, I should have been really good at one thing and then exploited that. I was firmly in last place when Josh blew up my ship for his last two points to win. It seems like an interesting game with several possible paths to win. Josh has it at the top of his "Must Buy" list.<br /><br /><div>
Then we had a game of Yardmaster--which we call Soviet Trains, because whatever you need is what <i>won't</i> be available. The usual turn's activity was "Draw a card and say Argh". Kelson finally threw down enough bonus actions to complete his train and win. Soviet Trains is best played with three or more, so you can spend more time laughing at other players' misfortune than suffering your own.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-65280020267138914452015-08-06T22:30:00.000-04:002016-02-03T18:08:57.720-05:00Battle of SmolenskWe played the Battle of Smolensk, from the <i>Napoleonic 20</i> series by Victory Point Games.<br /><br />My French defeated Joshua's Russians, but it was a close run thing.<div>
<br />At game start, the city is protected only by one regular infantry corps and one militia unit, with the rest of Russian forces trickling in from the north as Napoleon's troops march from the south. My French veterans quickly took the southern suburbs and assaulted the bastion; I confidently expected to break the defenders and pour across the bridges to meet Barclay de Tolly's main body north of the city. Little did I realize that the paltry militia unit was actually--judging by its performance--the First Guards Shock Militia Hero Division! Despite repeated heavy French assaults, they simply would... not... budge. (Our theory is that they thought the Dneiper was vodka and they wouldn't retreat until they'd drunk all of it--Josh said that sounded enough like a Russian fairy tale to be likely).</div>
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<br />By the time I finally destroyed them, Barclay de Tolly's troops were lining the northern bank. He forced a bridgehead, I pushed him back; I crossed the river, he pushed me back. The city burned and we were stalemated.</div>
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<br />Meanwhile, I sent Joachim Murat east across the pontoon bridge to take Lubino by coup de main. However, Cossacks swept in just in time, delaying the French long enough for Bagration to block the attack. There was a sharp cavalry battle, but it proved indecisive.</div>
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<br />For three days, the armies ground each other down. As dusk fell on the third day, Napoleon ordered a last attack, throwing the Imperial Guard against a Russian corps that had fought its way to the south bank. The Russians fled across the bridges, precipitating a collapse of the army's morale; Barclay withdrew during the night.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-14920881527046041272015-07-19T18:13:00.000-04:002015-07-19T18:13:00.885-04:00Problems with Conflict of HeroesJosh and I had a game of Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel, using the State Farm 158 scenario that <a href="http://battlehonors.blogspot.com/2015/01/conflict-of-heroes-pursuit-from-state.html">I played with Marco in January</a>. Josh took the Germans, and didn't lose any to the pre-battle attrition rolls; my Russians lost a couple of hilltop units.<br />
I tried the same ploy I did last time, of sending an SMG over the hilltop into the German mortars, using a Free Action card to make it out of the balka and up onto the hill; however, Josh had a flamethrower card, so things didn't work out well for me. I also made the mistake of moving into close combat; the unit I was attacking had spent all its action points, but Josh pulled out a Free Action card of his own in order to have his unit take a shot, and his panzergrenadiers trounced my rifle squad. As I recall, he needed an 11 to hit their flank, and he had 2d6 +5 for his firepower and +4 for close combat. Not hard to roll 11 or above when you have a +9 modifier. After that, I merely moved adjacent and fired from there, rather than get into close combat. And his artillery obliterated mine. I did get one turn of fire off, but between his direct fire and his 105mm mission, only one 81mm mortar survived to turn 2.<br />
But despite all this, the Russians won. Partly this was because I got 2VP for each of his units, and he only got 1 for mine. Partly it was because he moved adjacent to the balka instead of using smoke and recon-by-fire; I could send a few squads to adjacent positions and overwhelm one of his units. Partly it was just because I had more units than he did, and could afford to stall until he'd used all his actions, after which I could attack and he couldn't respond.<br />
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There are a few things that bug me about this series.<br />
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<li>No leaders. Leadership functions are abstracted into command points, and those command points don't have any specific location. You can apply those command points to a mortar in the rear, and an infantry squad on the far right, and an SMG squad on the far left, with none of those being in communication or having Line of Sight to each other.</li>
<li>Telepathic units. If your mortar squad is threatened in the rear, your troops on the right can turn, move, and take the threat under fire, with no communication and no time delay. They don't have a specific mission, or lane, or target they have to stick with, just instant response to whatever the commander's whim is.</li>
<li>No differentiation of unit quality. One a unit is Unnerved, for instance, it doesn't matter whether it's veteran troops or raw conscripts, they still have the same roll to rally. In some scenarios, a unit may not be affected by a particular damage result at all, which partly mitigates this problem; however, it would be straightforward to say "this veteran unit is +1 to rally, these militia are -2". There are also no differences in training and doctrine--for example, when ambushed, a conscript might stand bewildered, a trained soldier might dive for cover, and an elite might assault through the ambush. CoH doesn't distinguish.</li>
<li>Wound markers instantly make a unit a priority target, since a second wound will eliminate it. There may be times when you turn your attention to another, unwounded target because it's more of a threat, but in general, you want to finish off a wounded unit. That's how you reduce the enemy CAPs and you gain victory points.</li>
<li>If you have more units than the enemy, you may be able to stall until the enemy has no action points left, then you move when he can't respond. You can always send one unit at a time to recon; there's no time pressure. That one's easy to fix, though. You get, say, five activations and have to get all your moves done with that, using group activations as needed. </li>
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<br />Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-63412412568636166942015-07-19T17:11:00.001-04:002015-07-19T17:11:36.850-04:00New TitlesWell, new to me. One of the local gamers was cleaning out his shelves, so I picked up some Avalon Hill titles:<br />
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<li>D Day (1977 edition)</li>
<li>Afrika Korps</li>
<li>Stalingrad</li>
<li>France 1940</li>
<li>Waterloo</li>
<li>Napoleon at Bay (the 1814 campaign)</li>
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I also recently got the Lost Legion expansion for Mage Knight.</div>
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<br />Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-10689747974544499522015-07-13T14:13:00.000-04:002015-07-13T14:13:09.822-04:00MaloyaroslavetsJosh and I played the Maloyaroslavets scenario from the Russian expansion for Command and Colors: Napoleonics. Many of the scenarios in this expansion are more "historical" than "balanced", but this one seemed pretty balanced, according to the ratings at ccnapoleonics.net. <div>
The French have sixteen units and five leaders; they set up occupying the village of Maloyaroslavets, with their backs to the impassible Luzha River--in fact, the two Heavy Cavalry units start behind the river and have to cross a bridge to join the battle. The Russians have nineteen units and four leaders.Victory conditions are ten flags; possession of three of the five village hexes counts as two flags. Josh took the Russians, I took the French.</div>
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This was one of those cases where my maneuver cards had a totally different plan than I did. </div>
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The French right only has three units, and a defensible line; I wanted to move my infantry up the hill, ease my cavalry forward to support, and then leave that flank alone. I did get my troops up on a hill and managed to wipe out a Russian unit that trespassed too far. As the game progressed, though, I ended up with a hand that was purely "probe right, attack right, assault right", while I was desperate to shore up my center.</div>
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On the left, I advanced when I had cards. The cossacks occupied the woods on my far left; we drove them out with the bayonet, but didn't get any farther. The Russians occupied the woods and hills beyond the church, and I never got the cards to do anything about it.</div>
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In the center, I advanced a line unit forward to occupy the farthest town hex. In retrospect, that may not have been the best move, since Josh played "Every Russian From Here To St Petersburg Shoots At You", to the undoing of my infantry. That advance did vacate a town hex for my artillery to advance into, but the Russians had two batteries in position, and cards to fire them, and quickly reduced my battery to one gun and forced it to retreat. I brought up the Old Guard and a heavy cavalry unit and charged, whereupon Josh played BOTH First Strike cards and disrupted my attack; he followed with a Leadership card which wiped out three units and a leader from my center. The heavy cav on his left drove in and crushed my light cav for the last flag. Final score, ten to four, or 11:4 if you count the fact that the Russians had occupied the Church and I couldn't push them out.</div>
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I had just drawn my very first "attack center" card of the entire game. I'd had cards which me do things in the center--Grand Maneuver, Fire and Hold, Cavalry Charge--but never more than one at a time and never a specific "center" card.</div>
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Despite the way this ended in a debacle for the French, I think the scenario is probably pretty balanced. Josh is a bit better general in this game than I am, and the cards conspired against me and that did me in. </div>
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One annoying thing about the scenarios is that units are set up out of the way. The heavy cavalry, for instance, often starts as they did here, in the rear behind obstacles; you have to use several cards just to get them to the battlefield, much less into action. This scenario started with the Russian guns in good positions but only one of the three French batteries in line, Perhaps other people spend more time slowly developing their position and bringing pieces foward? As for us, we usually have a fight going on and something more pressing to do with our cards,</div>
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Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-44589104972155479582015-07-06T23:00:00.000-04:002016-02-03T18:13:18.316-05:00WaterlooIn honor of the bicentennial of the battle, Joshua and I played Waterloo, from Victory Point Games. It's a classic style wargame, with a low unit count and just a few pages of rules, and covers the crucial days of the campaign rather than just the last battle. <div>
<br />Josh's French broke the English at Quatre Bras and forced the Prussians out of Ligny. One British corps held the road to Waterloo but the French steamroller kept pressing it back. Meanwhile, Josh kept the Prussians from linking up with the British, and eventually the Imperial Guard took Wavre. Blucher was essentially out of the fight. The English situation was grim--but then Uxbridge's heavy cavalry entered. They charged the French artillery, countercharged the French horse, attacking left and right, and drove halfway to Ligny before finally being overwhelmed by the French tide.</div>
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The British managed to rally a few reinforcements, but by then the French had taken Hougoumont and La Haye. The British morale collapsed and the Corsican rode triumphantly into Waterloo.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-15788948283688840512015-06-20T19:40:00.000-04:002015-06-22T19:40:36.116-04:00IroncladsRyan, Dan K, Bob S and I got in two Ironclads scenarios. <br />
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First was Wassaw Sound, Georgia, 1863. CSS Atlanta and Savannah, casemate ironclads, are trying to fight their way past Union monitors Nahant and Weehawken. Atlanta hugged the left bank of the river and sound, while my Savannah started out on the right. We quickly realized that the casemate's guns have limited fields of fire, and have to fire on "nearest ship"; furthermore, the Confederate crews are inexperienced and the Union monitors are small targets. In short, our guns missed a lot. Dan solved that problem by getting in close; I solved it by rigging my spar torpedo and charging full speed ahead, which didn't cause any damage to the Union ships but did motivate them to get out of the way. I passed them and had an opening to run for open water, which was part of our victory conditions. I should have done that...except...just as I was considering it, Atlanta managed to ram Nahant. That damaged the Union ship and more importantly brought her to a dead stop. As Nahant backed away from the collision, I swooped in for a stern rake at point blank range, then turned and rammed her stern.<br />
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Nahant had already lost 8 of her 11 floatation points before this; the spar torpedo and ram did another 17. That rather thoroughly achieved the "cripple one Union vessel" part of our victory conditions; however, on our side, Atlanta was crippled and nearly dead in the water, so we couldn't manage the "get both ironclads upriver or out to sea" part of things. Consequently, it's marked as a tie; however, from my point of view, though, "successful spar torpedo ram" is made of Win.<br />
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Second scenario was a night battle in a river, the Battle of Plymouth (NC) in 1864. The ironclad CSS Albemarle came downriver, intending to get into position to bombard Plymouth. USS Southfield and Miami, wooden sidewheel gunboats, moved to intercept. Ryan acted as gamemaster, and ruled that the limit of vision was three hexes. Beyond that, you might see gun flashes but you wouldn't be sure exactly where your target was--or who! We each gave him our plots and went into another room, and then he would call us in, one at a time, to show us what limited amount we could see. And for damage resolution, we knew when we scored a critical on the enemy, but we weren't told what the effects were.<br />
Dan and I drew the Union gunboats, and Dan's Miami moved upriver quickly while my Southfield struggled against the current. Albemarle hove into sight and I could see a fire blazing behind her, which had to be Miami. I managed to dent Albemarle's pilothouse, while his return fire jammed my rudder and knocked out my engine. As I started drifting away, Miami limped back into view and engaged. Unbeknownst to us, Albemarle had also taken an engine hit, and couldn't maneuver well enough to isolate and finish either of us. At the end, I was nearly dead in the water, Miami was battered and burning, and we'd chewed through all Albemarle's Hull points. Usually an ironclad sinks because she loses Flotation points; Bob said this was the first time he could recall having an ironclad lose its entire Hull. Ryan was the only one who saw all the maneuvers; he said that we all played less boldly that we would have if we could see farther. I think all three players felt like they were losing, and the end was not so much a rousing "glorious victory!" as a bemused "well, look at that, he died first; I wasn't expecting that." A very interesting game and kudos to Ryan for running it.</div>
Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360834845042017256.post-67335826197880221042015-05-23T20:13:00.000-04:002015-06-15T23:52:42.694-04:00Close Action: l’Étenduère’s OpportunityThis was a scenario set in 1747, between a French convoy escort, commanded by the Marquis de l’Étenduère, and British attackers under Rear Admiral Edward Hawke. The British have nine ships, mostly 50s and 60s and one 70, with mostly B and C crews and the weather gauge; the French have seven ships, ranging from 64s to an 80, with C and D crews. There is limited searoom to the sides of the map, on the grounds that the Brits are trying to get past the French without going so far around that they can't attack the convoy. Josh was admiral for the Brits, Chris Williams commanded the French.<br />
The British ships were individually weaker than the French ships, so the plan was to concentrate our rear three on their rear two (a D 64 and D 68), and refuse our van. That plan lasted about one turn before the British captains threw it to the winds and followed their own fancies. Our rear three engaged their rear three, rather than two, which meant we gave the French the opportunity to add a C quality 74 into the mix; further, our ships got in each other's way, and didn't close aggressively. In the van, I swept down as a threat to cross their leader's bow, staying carefully out of the enemy gunnery arcs. Unfortunately, the rest of our van followed me, although the plan had been to turn away from the enemy and refuse action. Here, too, the Brits were clumsy, blocking each other's shots.<br />
Seeing that we were committed, I cut through the enemy's line in hopes of causing some collisions that might give us an advantage; however, the French deftly avoided me and I was isolated. Worse, they got off a critical hit that did waterline damage, and sending men to the pumps cost me another crew section. After that, my gunnery was essentially ineffective. Perhaps I should have continued parallel to the enemy, instead of cutting through--but that would have pitted my 60 against a French 74, which meant having a 21 gunnery factor + 27 hull +16 crew against 27 gunnery + 36 hull + 25 crew.<br />
In contrast with the British, the French stuck together reasonably well. Their rear three ships handled our three, and the rest joined the action at the van. I think the French admiral felt he made some mistakes, but I didn't notice anything glaring.<br />
The end result was that the British lost 23 sections (11 R, 5 H, 7 C) vs. 9 French (4 R, 3 H, 2 C); the British failed 5 morale checks vs. 2 for the French. Part of it can be ascribed to poor Brit tactics, but not all. The French started with a stronger force, at 532 vs 473; further, the British ships are individually more fragile, and easier to diable. Post game suggestions included adding a couple of British ships and spreading the French out more, so the Brits have a chance to attack before the French can tighten their line; lowering the French crew quality; and doing away with the hard map edges which limit maneuver opportunity.<br />
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<br />Chris DeBoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05418545417782942869noreply@blogger.com0