No Playing, Just Reading

The game room is a bit of a bust at the moment...

Partly because of the physical aspects - the overhead light and fan don't work, and no one's come to fix them. I'm not sure the AC vents are even working. So a bit stuffy with the door shut, which given I use this room to keep my game-table-attracted cat out is obviously trouble. I am, however, getting some "zebra"-style blinds in a couple weeks for the windows, and I stuck up a handful of posters and book jackets on the walls for atmosphere.

Partly because I still haven't found quite everything that goes in there, even though I'm sure I packed it all. Things like the Bolt Action and Konflikt 47 starters which would make great blogpost series.

I've been trying to inspire myself by reading back through all my Charles S. Grant books. A ton of great scenarios, solo play and imagi-nations ideas in there. Have started putting ALL my 18th century Wofuns out on the table for review, like an expanded version of this old post.

But I'm reading a lot of other stuff, too.

Recommended by a friend at work. Lovely photography and background to the classic Ellis Peters mystery novels. I never got to see much of Wales on my two trips (thus far) to the UK, and this book would be a good guide to the border.

Recommended by a member of the Virtual Wargames Club. A conflict I know nothing about, but an excellent introduction to this war which is overshadowed by the Theresian wars that followed. 

I bogged down on this during my first attempt to read it. An excellent, if dated (1990) history of professional wargaming, rather dry in the second half but the sections on "classic" Kriegspiel and the US Naval War College are good reading. Would be interested to see an update with comments on modern videogame style; the latest discussed was my childhood favorite, Silent Service, which got me interested in submarine history. (It helped that my dad had recently caught and mounted a wahoo, for which was named one of the most famous US subs of the war). Clearly written for professionals and anyone else who wonders why the military goes in for gaming at all - games, exercises, maneuvers etc are all carefully defined and differentiated.

I picked this because it was quoted approvingly in The Art of Wargaming. The book version is expensive but the ebook turns out to be free on the Naval War College website. The US Navy interwar "fleet problems" are famous but this is the first comprehensive look at all of them and how they influenced US plans for the Pacific War. Also important, however, is that each one gives you a look at what the Navy considered "state of the art" at the specific time, whether that was 1923, 1928, 1933 or 1938, which would make it quite useful for anyone interested in gaming the interwar period. After I finish this one, I think I will look up the 1925 alt-history The Great Pacific War for comparison.

Recommended by a writer on Quora. Looks very interesting though I haven't started it yet.

Listening on Audible to this one, which coincidentally is about thirty hours long. Very comprehensive; the author deliberately focuses on more than the religious aspects and the first half of the war, as most previous authors gloss over much of the rest. Surprisingly absorbing.

It got me looking up some of Helion's Century of the Soldier series on Hoopla:

More organization than history, but an interesting overview that provides some context for what I'm listening to. Some lively quotations.

A readable, comprehensive account with lots of illustrations.

Hopefully will get back into the groove next week.

Somewhere near Carlisle...

Been a while. Mostly been reading - currently working on Instrument of War by Christopher Duffy, Clash of Empire in the Balkans (recommended by a member of Virtual Wargames Club), and The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy on audio. Thought I'd try another round of Kill Team and this time give my new Scottish Militia an airing. As their opponents are represented by 8th Army, I thought the battle of Kingmoor from the VBCW backstory would fit. This was a disastrous defeat for the Scottish Republic as it tried to support an Albertine landing from Canada. It was fought in industrial terrain, so the nice MDF ruins and board from the Kill Team starter sets works just fine.

The sides:

Six Royalist riflemen (8 hit points each, 4+ saves, 4+ on shooting rolls), and a Vickers machine-gun team (14HP, 3+ save, 3+ to shoot, gets to shoot twice in a turn).

Nine Scottish Republican militia (7 HP each, 5+ saves, 4+ to shoot), including one special weapon (a Bren gun).

This is even, at least in wound totals. The Royalists, being professionals, are better and more heavily armed, but there are fewer of them. Well, the Vickers team counts as one for purposes of play - the extra wounds are for the extra crew and the save, hmm, could be them hiding behind the gun?

Turn 1: The Scots militia gets the crap kicked out of it - one dead and three seriously wounded (one HP left!), plus the Bren gunner down to four wounds. The Royalists have taken minor wounds to two men. The severely injured Scotsmen conceal themselves in cover. That the Royalists were outnumbered meant a couple figures who had otherwise expended their move got to "react" between the last Scottish moves, which meant the Vickers team fired three times during the turn... 

Royalist side - a couple men wounded but still fighting at full strength.

Three guys near incapacitated and the Bren gunner wounded.

Turn 2: Things get worse. The Scots lost two more figures and all the survivors save one have 1HP left. (This is because the Royalist weapons do three damage on a hit, and with four shots they usually got two hits thru after cover saves.) Technically, this only reduces the Scottish moves by 2", but it also reduces their to-hits by one, which means they need 6s. Two of the severely wounded men I put on Conceal orders; while this kept them alive, it meant they couldn't shoot during the turn. I could keep going, but I think we're done here.

At least it matches the storyline! I also didn't strictly follow the solo instructions for the NPO's (non-player operatives), which might have given the Scots a better chance. It didn't help that the Royalists got initiative both turns, which allowed them to fire their machine gun and take Scots off the board right away. Perhaps more terrain next time... or the bespoke VBCW ruleset Went the Day Well?

See you next time. Might go to the club next Sunday and run either VBCW or Charge!

Close Wars!

Got a nice surprise a couple weeks ago, when my delayed order of a Cigar Box Battles "Germantown" mat turned up. This is a nice foresty-looking cloth with paths, streams, brush and even a couple areas that could be slopes.

Since before my move I received a few boxes of Armies in Plastic Rogers' Rangers and Eastern Indians, I thought I'd try an old classic.

I dressed up the table with my Bold Frontiers card trees. Sadly, I hadn't opened some of them since purchase, and these fell victim to moisture, or possibly mold. A hasty drop down the trash chute for those! I don't quite have enough trees left to cover the entire table, but this can be addressed by making it 4x4, or counting the brushy areas as difficult ground.

My plan is to try and run this at work at least once in the next couple months, probably during Chess club. While I'm using rangers and natives here, maybe inappropriate for kids, I will use red and blue AWI soldiers in public. For now, let's just see how Featherstone's rules hold up, 64 years on.

Table from the native side.

Everyone was set up in concealment (the "forest" painted onto the mat), except for four Rangers who started on a trail. I am counting everyone as Natives for purposes of movement, as the Rangers are using Native techniques.

By Turn Three, despite taking half moves (4.5") thru the brush then three inches to cross the stream...

Rangers had reached the table center and were beginning to exchange fire with the Natives.

I counted the dark crescent as a "slope," with the trail along its crest, so troops on opposite sides of the trail do not have line of sight to each other.

In Turns 4 and 5, the battle really got going, and (mostly because the Rangers were going first) the Natives got the worst of it. The Rangers got atop the hill first, fired with eight dice both up- and downslope and took out three of the Natives.

Deeper into the woods the Rangers swarmed through the trees, getting sniped but mostly surviving as they got close enough to assault. And as in 40K, close combat is deadlier than shooting.

Only in one fight did a Native get the better of his adversaries; three of them rolled ones and twos. Even though they had impetus, the +1 could not beat his roll of four, so he defeated all of them.

He was the last Native, of sixteen, left on the board. The Rangers had been hurt in return, with only seven of their sixteen left by the end of Turn Six. Since the "scenario" is either to wipe out the opponent or put half your force on their baseline, well, the Rangers were closest to winning here. 

Good test of the rules. One easy thing to forget is the restrictions on shooting - you always hit on a six unless you are in cover. Also, targets need to be in the open. 

I just realized I also forgot to throw saves for the casualties, which are typically 4+, 3+ in cover. Oops. That explains the deadliness of the game. Ah, well. It was fun anyway, though I broke it into two sessions separated overnight and the board had been set up for about a week beforehand! (Seven days straight of working, two of them starting at 5:30am and one of them an accidental split shift, suffering from a cold all the while, is not a happy time. I'm better now.)

First Game in New Home!

Well, not all the minis and terrain are unpacked, so it still looks a bit sparse, but I'm ready to try it!

(It's been a long week.)

The Ga Pa mission (please excuse the lack of Swedish accent) is the simplest in the book - two full sides at either edge of table, go at it, and start rolling for final turn once there are five or fewer units remaining. We have twelve, so this may take a while... Also, it's about four in the morning as I write this intro.

Roll for officer qualities. Von Blacke of Talabecland is to the manor, but not the manner, born and thus gives his men no leadership bonus, whilst his opponent Ensign Schotte of Middenheim is blessed with invulnerability to lucky blows. Curious to start with certain rules negated for them, but while I could just pick something more interesting I can already determine who's attacker and defender in this scenario!

The Talabec (Red and Yellow sides) are spread across their table edge, with each "regiment" of pike and shot near a piece of terrain, and their dragoons in the center to support whoever needs it.

The Middenheimers (Blue and White) have their infantry to the left, and dragoons to the right ready to sweep round the hill and try to hold up that flank while their infantry overwhelms the other.

I'm afraid the tiny Wofuns make the photos a little incomprehensible. My apologies, today's report is mostly for my own practice and comprehension and the closest this gets to eye candy will be like those teensy mini M&Ms in the cylinders.

Turn 1: "Eastern" flanks move forward. (Right for the Talabec, Left for Middenheim). Dragoons on both sides fail activations on rolls of 4.

Turn 2: No one except the red Talabec pike manage to activate, moving to the edge of the forest.

Turns 3-4: The Talabec shot make it into the forest and their left flank makes it into the village, while one dragoon unit ranges ahead to spoil the Middenheimers, who have advanced into and past their own forest on one flank and round the hill on the other.

Turn 5: The Middenheimers are in range to shoot at the isolated dragoons with shot and their own dragoons. The dragoons take four casualties but their survivors pass two morale tests, then hold off the enemy pike. After this the other Middenheim dragoons roll a double one to activate and end up charging across the table towards the town.

Surviving dragoons in peril.

Both sides needed three sixes to cause a casualty.

Dragoons careen towards uncertain doom.

Turn 6: The Middenlander infantry emerge from the fallen trees, and the fleeing Talabec dragoon (singular) fails a rally check and is thus eliminated.

Turn 7: The Middenheim dragoons continue to retreat, but the rest of the blue-and-whites move to the center of the board. The Talabec cement their hold on the village and their own forest.

Turn 8: The Talabec turn aggressive, closing in on the Middenheim flanks as they in turn move towards the Talabec center. Three blue musketeers are killed by a first volley from the trees.

As the western sun streams thru the window and warms the photographer...

Turn 9: A fierce but inconclusive pike fight between Yellow and White.

Turns 10-11: Blue shot and Red pike are eliminated.

Yellow officer desperately duels his opposing number...

To no avail (the side with more 5+'s wins).

Turn 12: Yellow pike (containing the officer) is forced to retreat after shooting casualties, but cannot do so since it's blocked by shot of its own side. This means it rolls a morale check (4+) and if it fails (with a three in this case) loses that number of figures (worst case scenario!).

Turn 13: Sensing victory, the blues and whites push on. Though the officer-led pikes rally, and the shot move out of their way, their next casualties force them not to retreat but to disintegrate altogether. Everyone on the Talabec side checks morale, though only one unit retreats a quarter of its distance. In response, the Talabec dragoons return the favor against the Middenheim officer, forcing him back into his own shot.

In Turn 14, the Middenheim officer unit fails to rally and loses another three figures...!

We still have six units left, so the game isn't over! (you roll for last turn only once there are five units remaining on the board.)

In Turn 15, the Middenheim unit breaks, eliminating their officer, but the Talabec dragoons get shot up some more, down to one man. The Talabec shot in the village roll a double 1 for their activation and retreat six inches towards the board edge.

In Turns 16-18, two units (one from each side) are taken off the board, but the game still goes on. At this point the two Talabec shot units are being pushed closer to the edge by the Middenheim shot and dragoons.

Dragoons trying to sneak up on shot under cover of a wall.

Turn 19: Final turn! Unfortunately, the dragoons fail their roll to charge, and then the opposing shot in the far corner fail their rally check.

"We're done here!"

They're not quite off the board, but while it's a tie (and both officers routed from the board), I think the Middenheimers got the better of the exchange. Had this been a campaign, I'd have ended it in Turn 13 with a Middenheim victory but more survivors on both sides.

Von Blacke rolls an 8 for his fate (Wounded but Rescued), while his opponent Schotte rolls a 9 (captured honourably). 

This was a long report - longer than it looks since it took me most of the day to play (lots of breaks). Notes of interest:

• Automatic end of turn on a failed activation isn't actually all that bad because it makes the turns go by faster. There are few enough units in an army that you work through them quickly, and if I hadn't been writing a report, the game would have been over in a couple hours, tops. With more familiarity with the rules, this can be a fast game.
• The more casualties, the more difficult it is to rally. Once a 12-strong unit has fewer figures than its morale score, it can't pass since it has to subtract its casualties from the roll.
• The 6/12 combat dice allows even an understrength unit to have an effect on the game.
• Pikes and dragoons generally stand off against each other, because pikes are better when charged, and dragoons can avoid combat with Evade and Skirmish activations.
• But it's always possible to brick a roll and thus lose that "good" move.
• I have good dice - I rolled a lot of sixes today!

Thanks for your patience with this post; hope it wasn't too confusing! Back to the grindstone...