Eylau: The Morning, redux

Josh and I played this scenario a couple of months ago, and decided to revisit it; I took the French again, hoping to do better than last time.

Josh commented "Clearly the cards know what they want me to do, and they don't care in the slightest what I want to do." I was in the same boat, with plenty of "Attack Left" and "Attack Right", but nothing for the center. In fact, we played for two hours before I even got a "Scout Center" card. But once they started coming....[cue ominous, foreshadowing music].

In the beginning of the game, though, I was stuck with Left and Right. On the left, I moved the Lights into the windmill hex and discouraged anyone from getting too close. The Russian artillery eventually whittled the Lights down to half strength, whereupon it withdrew. I kept the pressure up (and burned some of my plethora of Attack Left cards) by pushing a Line regiment over the hill and into the woods, where it broke the Russian's right Cossacks and generally tried to look menacing. Meanwhile my artillery took long range shots when it could. All told, nothing much happened on the left.

I didn't really want to do much on the French right, but when you have three Attack Right and an Assault Right in your hand, well, there you are. I reluctantly advanced, and then decided that I might as well see if I could take that pesky artillery battery on the hill. Unfortunately, Josh had First Strike, and my assaulting battalion was decimated. He then threw his cavalry at me, and my Lights and mangled Line formed square. This wasn't as bad as it usually is because the cards he picked were Attack Left and Attack Right, and it's not like I didn't have plenty; however, it did lock those two units in place. Over a turn or two, the cuirassiers, guns and an infantry unit destroyed my Line regiment.

The situation at this point was the left was stalemated, the right was ineffective, and the center was immobile. I was down 4:1 in victory banners. And then the cards smiled....I drew Forced March, Bayonet Charge, and Assault Center.

Masses of French infantry surged forward with Forced March. With Bayonet Charge, the Old Guard charged up the slope, shattering a Russian regiment and taking the hill. On the center-right, a brigade pushed forward, less dramatic than the Guard but still effective; another Russian unit was destroyed. The Russians attempted to counterattack. The Guard took heavy casualties, and an ordinary regiment would have fled (from two Flag results)--but the Guard never retreats, and the battle-backs took a toll on the Russians! I played Assault Center and decided to polish off wounded Infantry units instead of destroying the Artillery, trusting to the French skill with the bayonet ("French OP", Josh muttered) and the gamble paid off. All three attacks destroyed their targets. And the Old Guard had started their turn on the Russian ridge, which brought me to seven Victory Banners.

My lesson is that I should stop trying to take a couple of regiments against artillery on a hilltop; Josh invariably has First Strike, and it never goes well.  I'd like to claim credit for the win, but I have to say that my main merit was persevering until I finally got the hand I needed. The rest of it was all the cards.

Chamber of Eyes

This is the story of Kephalades muKhao, a warrior of the Runehorn kindred of the Bone Stele clan, and his passage through the Maze of Years.

In accordance with the word of the seer, I journeyed west, seeking the son of Bahamut whom the seer promised. At Thunderspire Mountain I came to the Halfmoon Inn, wherein I took council of those there, who bade me to the Seven Pillared Hall. And thus did I, and awaited to take whatever adventure Kord should send. Scarce had I entered when a half elf came crying for aid, saying that his friends were captured of slavers, they being a half orc, a human healer, and a dragonborn, and him being verily a champion of the Golden Dragon. So I offered my blade in service, as did two of the lesser folk there.

The four of us went into the Chamber of Eyes, which seemed an evil temple with heavy chains set across the floor, and some great carven Frog god at the altar. We fought there two hobgoblins, one an archer, the other a warcaster. Once the blood cooled, we heard sounds of struggle, and followed a hall to to cells, wherein the dragonborn and the others, though naked and unarmed, fought their jailers, who were dwarves of a type I had not seen before. They had power over fire. We slew them, in a fight that was harder than it should have been, for the narrow hall did not give room to maneuver, and, more importantly, the rescuers and rescuees had no experience in how to fight together. I will need to teach them.

I found two doors, which a hobgoblin would have thought hidden. One lead from a priest's chamber to the altar; the other was a trap door, on the other side of the altar. From the sound, its ladder led to a barracks kitchen, with hoblins below.

Kephalades muKhao

Once Josh and Gwen moved away and things settled down a bit, I started looking for another RPG campaign. That mostly meant a choice of DnD, or DnD, or DnD. But at least some of them were 4th Edition instead of 3.5, so I contacted a DM and set up a character. My very first roll of the campaign was a Natural 20, which I thought boded well.

And so we have Kephalades muKhao:

Minotaur Warlord
Warlord Option: Combat Leader
Commanding Presence Option: Tactical Presence
Geography (Mountain) background, Dungeoneering skill
Theme: Guardian

 STR 21, CON 18, DEX 14, INT 19, WIS 13, CHA 16

AC: 19 Fort: 17 Ref: 15 Will: 15  HP: 40 Surges: 12 Surge Value: 10

TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +10, Dungeoneering +7, Endurance +8, History +10

 UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +2, Arcana +5, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Heal +3, Insight +3, Intimidate +4, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +5, Stealth +2, Streetwise +4, Thievery +2

POWERS
Guardian Attack: Guardian's Counter
Minotaur Racial Power: Goring Charge
Warlord Feature: Inspiring Word
Warlord Attack 1: Commander's Strike
Warlord Attack 1: Intuitive Strike
Warlord Attack 1: Warlord's Favor
Warlord Attack 1: Lead the Attack
Warlord Utility 2: Adaptive Stratagem
Warlord Attack 3: Devastating Offensive

FEATS
Tactical Assault
Level 2: Heavy Blade Expertise

Eylau: Murat's Charge

Having played the first scenario of the Battle of Eylau  a couple of times, we were ready to move on to the second part, Murat's Cavalry Charge. Historically, the Russians under Bennigsen were pushing back the French under Napoleon, when Joachim Murat, "First Horseman of Europe", led 13,000 cavalry in a charge which broke through the Russian lines and disrupted their advance. Napoleon was able to hold a draw until nightfall, when the Russians withdrew, leaving the French holding the field.

In this battle, the French have seven infantry (including a unit of Old Guard), three artillery, and seven cavalry (including a Guards Heavy Cavalry); almost all the infantry is on the flanks, with the cavalry in the center. Opposing them, the Russians have eleven infantry, three artillery and five cavalry, although two of those cavalry are Lights and two more are Cossack.  Josh took the French.

The Russians got first move and immediately sent two battalions to attack the one Ligne infantry in the center; the Russian grenadiers broke them with the bayonet on the first charge. After that I concentrated on wiping out the two forward artillery batteries, which the grenadiers accomplished with heavy casualties. I sent my one unit of cuirassiers to tie down the French infantry on my left, but their concentrated musketry quickly destroyed the squadron. My Cossacks spotted a gap and drove through. "Grigory, those other fools are riding around the French to loot their camp. We shall ride straight through them, and get there first!" Slashing left and right, laughing and chugging vodka, they rode across the front of the French heavy cavalry (who stood amazed) to charge into the mouths of the French Horse Artillery battery in the rear.   Yes, a single, unsupported Cossack squadron broke through the center of 13,000 cavalry...almost. Except for the actual "breaking through" part. A little matter of the French artillery getting to fire back. Ah, well.

The French horse continued to stand still, then stand still a little more, followed by doing nothing much. Meanwhile, on my left, their infantry pushed back my two remaining units (one light cavalry, one light infantry); and on the right, Napoleon himself sent the Old Guard ahead, and followed them with a line battalion. They captured the windmill on my far right and advanced against the ridge line I was holding, trying to turn my right flank. They assaulted, but my grenadiers and guns struck first, and drove back the Old Guard unit. "La Garde recule!" Okay, technically they took one flag hit and elected to use it instead of ignoring it, but they still retreated.

By the end of the game, I had no units on my flanks; everything was pulled in to defend my three gun batteries and the ridge line they held. And finally the French cavalry stirred itself and charged. The Guards Heavies and Cuirassiers swept past Eylau and threw themselves at the right flank of the ridge, wiping out the artillery battery I had anchoring that end and one poor depleted infantry battalion. That was enough to gather the final two victory banners the French needed. Final score, French 9, Russians 5...although the Russians claimed "Most Glorious Charge" for their insouciant Cossacks, and also counted "driving back the Old Guard" as a moral victory.

Josh revealed that he'd had two Cavalry Charge cards in his hand the whole game, but only at the end did he get cards for the center section that would allow him to marshal his squadrons before the charge. He also pointed out that "you played the Russians in French style"--daring attacks, bayonet charges and so forth--while he'd played the French in a stolid, plodding, inexorable Russian style. A fun game.

Battle of Sybota

Ryan hosted a Trireme game for us, with Kevin, Dan, Brian, John, Bob, Joe and I attending (Josh had to work, but cheered by phone).

Starting positions

The scenario was the Battle of Sybota, which in this scenario pits fifteen Corinthian triremes against an allied force of eight vessels from Corcyra (Corfu) and ten Athenian biremes. The average quality Corinthians and green quality Corcyraeans have the same type of ships, with a cruising speed 3, maximum speed 5, and two armored marine squads per ship; the Athenians are expert quality but their biremes are smaller and overloaded with two light marine squads, so they only move at speed 2.  Corcyraeans start in line abreast with their left flank at the middle of the south edge; the Athenians are behind their right flank, in three columns at the eastern edge; the Corinthians start in two ragged lines form the northwest. The Athenians are just arriving and cannot have a command conference with their allies, and there are no fleet signals. The scenario as written also has a rule that the Athenians can't attack until either they are attacked or two of their allies' ships are destroyed; we didn't use that rule, although things worked out as if we had.

Athenians try to flank

We the Corinthians divided our fleet into left, center and right squadrons, each squadron having three ships in the first line and two following. Our theory was that the front line ships could ram (or be rammed by) and immobilize an enemy, and the second line could then follow up with another ram. Kevin and John took the center and right, with their 10 ships tasked to engage the 8 lower-quality Corcyraeans; my five ships of the left wing were to hold off the ten Athenians. The Athenians, in turn, counted on their allies to hold firm while they got around my flank.

They just didn't get around my flank far enough away from me. I brought my wing into an echelon line, then wheeled left, driving home rams with four triremes against two biremes and causing others to collide with their suddenly-stopped friends. Meanwhile, Kevin and John were methodically ramming and boarding the Corcyraeans, and generally winning, although there were several tense moments pulled out by Kevin's luck with the dice. The resemblance of the Corinthian ships to bacon was noted.

The Corinthian left wing rams

The Athenians swarmed one of Kevin's ships which drove into the fray, and destroyed one of mine as well, but at a cost; they lost a couple, several more were dead in the water (which is one good ram from being "dead, period") and the rest of the Corinthian fleet was heading their way. We called it at Turn 10.

Just before the end

At the end of the battle. 3 of 15 Corinthians had been destroyed, versus 7 of 8 Corcyraeans and 2 of 10 Athenians. Post-game discussion focused on the Athenians' being heavily laden with consequent slow speed; perhaps the Athenians should be allowed to bring fewer marines and thereby gain some speed? They'd be toast in a boarding battle but the extra maneuverability, and ramming ability, might make it worth it.

Battle of Eylau, Take 2

We traded sides and played again. This was the Mirror Game, as the Russians generally played about the same card, in the same sector, as the French had just played.

Josh, as the French, opened the game by playing Bayonet Charge, which took two blocks off each of two Artillery, and killed a Russian regiment in the center; the Russian Bayonet Charge in reply destroyed a French regiment. We spent three more turns pushing back and forth in the center, rendering most of the infantry on the front line. Score is now 2:2.

On turn 5, the focus shifted to the flanks. The French took the windmill on their left; Russian cuirassiers charged past them and up the hill to saber the gunners. Score was 3:3. At this point, things started coming unstuck for the Russians; there wasn't enough infantry on the flanks to hold back the French, and there weren't any cards for the center section to let the regiments there transfer to the flanks. My gunners managed to bombard the windmill and destroy the regiment there, but the French finished off damaged regiments and won with a 7:5 victory. A much harder-fought game than our previous play of this scenario.

Eylau: the Morning

Josh and I played a Command and Colours game from the Russian expansion, the Eylau scenario for the morning of 8 February 1807.

Historically, the forces were facing each other on two parallel ridges, with the French holding the town of Eylau, which they had taken the preceding night. The day started with an artillery duel, which the French were considered to have won; then the French attacked the Russian center and left, but the Russian grand battery decimated Augereau's corps in the center and Soult was unable to make headway on the right.

In this scenario the French have two each of Light Cavalry, Artillery, and Light Infantry, plus nine Line Infantry, one unit of Old Guard, and four generals. The Russians bring two each Light Cavalry, Cossacks, and Light Infantry, one each Heavy Cavalry and Cuirassiers, four Artillery, three Grenadiers, six Line Infantry and three generals. The French under Napoleon get six cards, the Russians under Bennigsen get five, and the victory requirement is seven banners.

Turn 1: an artillery duel, with the French killing one gun, the Russians killing two.
Turn 2: the French pull back the damaged battery and bring infantry forward; the Russian guns keep up their fire.
Turn 3: both sides advance their flanks.
Turn 4: the Old Guard advances into Eylau; the Russian guns continue to bombard.
Turn 5: the French assault on the right with three regiments, but only kill two blocks of a Russian line infantry. The Russians launch a cavalry charge, forcing back Davout and his light infantry at the cost of a Cossack unit; a French line unit in square repulses the Russian cuirassiers.
Turn 6: Pressing the attack on the right, the French regiment with St Hilaire charges the left-most Russian battery, but a Russian First Strike forces them to retreat. The enemy Light Cavalry units engage each other on the far right. The Russians reply with Short Supplies, forcing St Hillaire and his regiment back the the baseline.
Turn 7: The French continue to try on the right; the combined Light Infantry and Light Cavalry are unable to finish off the Russian light cavalry, but bayonets destroy the last block of the Russian regiment they'd attacked in Turn 5. The Russians reply by wiping out a Line regiment and the Light Cavalry with their guns and heavy cavalry.
Turn 8: The two surviving units on the French right pull back to cover and attempt to look inconspicuous. The Russian batteries fire on the French infantry in the center, reducing them by 50%.
Turn 9: Having just lost half their strength, the French get the Bayonet Charge card, and mutter darkly about the rotten timing. Three units in the center and one on the left charge, but the dice are unkind and they do essentially no damage. The Russians reply with Cold Steel, destroying two regiments.

At this point the score is Russians 5, French 2, and the French right and center are broken; the French concede. This is pretty much the same as the historical outcome; Murat's charge and Ney's appearance late in the day allowed Napoleon to achieve a draw, and hold the field when Bennigsen decided to withdraw. That'll be the next scenario.

Josh said we can attribute this one to Russian luck, or more accurately, to karma catching up to me for all those lucky shots I got in the last MegaMek game. If I'd gotten the Bayonet Charge even one turn earlier, things would have been very different.