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...

Prepping for Pikeman's Lament

So, finished my move.

Kfira is still unhappy, spending most of her time under the couch. The other two are curious, if wary.

As a Facebook friend put it, "WTF, Mom?!"

Many of the books are still packed; the walls feel a bit bare with not enough shelves. Most of the minis are too, or at any rate I haven't found them all yet.

Here's the new game room:

Left of door.

Forward of door.

Rest of room.

The lights and fan don't work, so I brought my own.

Now that I can shut the door and thus keep Lex and Kiki off the table, and have plenty of room despite boxes up against the walls, I'm ready for my first proper game in my new home. 

Or am I?

Let's try Pikeman's Lament again. What with a normal-sized table and a little terrain of the right scale, I considered running a small game with the Pike and Shotte ECW. Can't find them though.

So I'll use the 18mm Wofuns. I could only find three of my boxes, though at least they had full-size forces, if limited ones.

Middenheim force:

• Blue Pike
• Blue Shot
• Blue Dragoons
• White Pike
• White Shot
• White Dragoons

Talabec force:

• Red Pike
• Red Shot
• Red Dragoons
• Yellow Pike
• Yellow Shot
• Yellow Dragoons

I tossed the 18mm paper terrain. Hmm.

Also don't have officers, or at any rate only one color (yellow) of distinctive officer types. I could leave them out for this test, but I'm undecided. They seem to bring a lot of character to the game.

But here's the cool thing about having a separate room.

I can leave the table set up overnight, or even longer! Plenty of time to scrounge some terrain and hunt down the rest of the figures.

In the meantime, I go back to work this week. It's early-voting time, so the schedule will be weird on a  few days, and almost no programming to worry about. Except chess club. I've thought about running Featherstone's classic Close Wars or a Featherstone-style skirmish wargame for the kids using 54mm Armies in Plastic Revolutionary-era figures and the distinctive Bold Frontiers trees. The latter, with written orders for individual figures, would be more DnD-ish. And of course, this is appropriate for America 250. Unfortunately, chess club will be a bit cramped for now as we are doing it in the public space rather than the auditorium until the primaries are over. We'll see.

Wish me luck, and thanks for following me thru all the latest challenges. Hope your gaming goes as well!

Too Busy to Finish a Game

 ... yeah, this is a partial battle report.

As I slowly but steadily pack away my minis and terrain, I've left a few out to experiment with. I just finished reading Osprey's Auldearn 1645 and Steel Lobsters, so have been itching to try The Pikeman's Lament. A handful of the Wofun 30-Years-War pack on my 2x2 DBA mat seemed in order.

My hairy DBA mat. This is why I need a second bedroom.

I had a fun time selecting units from what figures came easiest to hand; one side got lots of firepower, with units of pike, shot, commanded shot and two of dragoons. The other got no firepower at all - two Aggressive Gallopers and some Scots mercenaries - one unit of pike and one of Fierce Forlorn Hope. A hill, a paper house, a tiny wall and a bit of disposable wooded terrain completed the table.

I ran through a few turns. Only the units on the left got anywhere, but I did get to try a number of mechanisms, from Shoot, Move and Attack to the Duel and Skirmish rules.

Gallopers advance.

After a little fire, preparing to charge.

The fighting and movement was all between the horse on one side and the pike, commanded shot and dragoons on the other. I attempted to charge the Dragoons and Shot, but their ability to skirmish (meaning they could respond with a half-move and shoot) kept this in check. So I charged the Pike instead. Despite their forming up, making them a little tougher, the cav won the fight two casualties to one but still had to retreat afterward.

I also tried a duel between Officers. It was inconclusive.

Cramped and distracted, I stopped at this point without going through the whole battle. I did enough to get a feel for the rhythm of the game, though, and was less frustrated than with the time I tried to run The Men Who Would Be Kings.

I tossed the paper scenery and put away the minis. I get the keys to my new apartment tomorrow, and the move is Monday. After which I'll have a gameroom I can leave a table setup in. Wish me luck...