Battle for Cuzco Well

Today at Das Krieg Haus we played more Tactical Combat, this time a Spanish-American War game. This was an 1898 USMC assault on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to seize a water supply that just happens to be next to a blockhouse. I was on the Spanish side.

Just the lower story - you'll see why in a bit.

Between them, Mark's versatile rules, Jim's enthusiasm for DBA, and Oriskany Jim's spectacles have revitalized the club. There are games almost weekly now, and the club is pivoting towards a more generalist set up, with "bring-your-own" battles on multiple tables. For example, in between turns Jim was demoing DBA:

Lots of armies, each with its own ready-to-go sheet and background.

That same Alexandrian-Indian matchup I still can't get the hang of.

Also: DBA on a hex board!

But the main attraction was over what is now "Gitmo."

View from the West, with a beach on the southern edge.

Three platoons of Spanish troops (15-20 strong), one of loyal Cubans, two machine guns, five snipers and five sentries hold the well, blockhouse and environs. Four platoons of US Marines, a squad of Cuban insurgents, two machine guns and a command element were out to take them. The HQ also had wig-wag signallers who could call in gunfire from a US Navy ship.

Specifically, this guy.

As usual, I had analysis paralysis and wasn't too sure when my team nominated me for command. We ended up putting one platoon into the church in the southeast, one into the blockhouse, one into the farm complex in the northwest, and one (hidden) in the farm complex to the west - this last to slow up the largest concentration of Americans. The snipers were scattered, mostly in trees. The Americans came in from the north and west:

Most of the game was spent rolling firing dice. I controlled the "stopgap" platoon on the western flank, where they were outnumbered 2-1, and held off the onslaught for about four turns.

Some of my poor bastards enfiladed
by a Colt machine gun.

The Spanish got the worst of it, but were winning on points for most of the game owing to holding the objectives - as long as we kept the well and blockhouse (worth 15 points) we could take up to 14 more casualties than the Americans but still be on top.

The problem was the damn signaller.

He could successfully signal his ship, once a turn, on a 5 or less on a D20.

Once signalled, the ship could hit its target again, on a 5 or less on a D20.

So, a 1/16 chance of a direct hit. Scatter would be at least 10cm, far enough to miss the block house.

He hit that blockhouse three times in six turns.

On turn four, I started targeting the signallers with our one remaining sniper (hit on 8 or less). It took three turns to wipe out the team, but by that time, the blockhouse was on fire and empty, save for an unmanned Maxim. (See first photo.)

At this point, we could only hope to keep the Marines from just walking on to the objective, and what remained of the blockhouse largely blocked LOS to what remained of our force. By turn 10, it was clear that no matter what we did, he could put men on the objectives by turn 12, end of game. We conceded.

The end result - some seventy casualties on each side. Since the game did technically come down to the last turn, this was still a pretty balanced scenario. Tactical Combat is a lethal game, and another aspect that kept us going was that there are no morale rules (had there been, the game might have been over a LOT quicker).

A few more pictures:

Mark will run another game tomorrow, this one Napoleonic. I hope to be there. Until next time,

Minceheim in the Mountains

I haven't had much leisure for play lately - more interested in reading, and it also feels like a drag to pull terrain and minis out and set them up for a larger game. Having put together a Charge! Pocketmod, I was thinking of trying Blasthof Bridge. Then I spotted my copy of Minceheim, and realized I could do that even quicker.

Scenario: A dwarf mining team is in its base when goblins supported by monsters turn up. Can they hold out?

All the dwarves have light armor, two have shields, the foreman has a mining tool that is +2 to wound but can misfire like a gun.

The goblins have bows, one "prodder" with a spear, a Troll (Goliath) and a Giant Spider (Horror).

Lex wanted to play so badly, I felt guilty
shooing her off the table every couple minutes.
Amazingly, we managed to avoid disruption.

The trained miners head for the high ground, whilst their apprentices hold the camp. Their opponents also climb - the spider races over the crags, but one of the archers falls and is stunned for a turn.

The spider charges the one miner who's gotten up. He can only save, since he's effectively stunned (no move this turn) by the climb, and is wounded and killed. The others immediately return to the ruined building, and one is hastily exchanged for a handgunner (read: he found a gun in the team's baggage).

The bad guys have rested from their climb, and the one who fell recovers. They advance or climb as appropriate.

The spider charges again, clambering over the broken-down walls of the camp as the handgunner aims, not wanting to hit his mate.

Both miner and spider roll a 1 and recoil. The handgunner blasts the spider and wounds it, then the other dwarves charge from the ruin with earsplitting battle cries. The foreman causes another wound to the freakish monster.

As the Goblin climbers recover their breath, one archer reaches position to fire whilst the troll clambers down, ready for its turn. The spider wounds the foreman, whose armor saves him. He strikes back, but neither he nor his plucky fellow manage to wound the beast. The handgunner hurries to get into LOS of the troll.

At last the dwarves win initiative - the gobbos have been going first all this time. The handgunner settles his aim on the troll.

The spider parries an attack from the junior miner and retreats an inch, towards the troll. The foreman follows up, but fails to hit him. Uh-oh...

On the bad guys' turn, the troll can't reach anything because the spider is in its way. A tie causes both spider and foreman to back up - but the only way for the spider to go is over the troll. I decide this means they will fight each other on the gobbos' next turn! The handgunner switches his aim to the goblin archer and knocks him back an inch.

The dwarves win init again and clamber back into their nice, safe ruins. The spider stuns the troll - the dwarves have a breather!

The gobbos decide to fall back out of sight of the handgunner and wait for the titanic battle to resolve itself. So do the tired dwarves. 

The troll is bitten again by the spider, but its tough hide protects it. It rises again to its full towering height and on the next turn crushes the spider with its massive rock. Before it can celebrate its victory, a dwarven slug smashes into it. The foreman follows up with another charge, and would have wounded the beast but for its tough hide. The troll returns the blow, driving the foreman back, at which point a feathered goblin shaft strikes him and knocks him down. Back to danger!

The Troll furiously drives down upon the fallen foreman, and only his heavy dwarven armor saves him. The handgunner, finding his LOS blocked by the troll's bulk, fires into it, but its 6+ hide saves it again (for at least the third time this game!

Two of the dwarves hasten to save their master, exposing themselves but still too far to reach. The goblin archer takes his opportunity, but his arrow snaps on the dwarf's stout armor. The goblin spearman leaps from the heights to confront the junior dwarves. Since he has to recover from his jump, he cannot avoid a hammer-blow that knocks him off his feet.

The troll aims another fearsome blow at the winded foreman, whose armor protects him. Then he and the other dwarves have their own go. One dispatches the fallen goblin spearman, but the others are driven back by the wildly swinging troll.

The hammer dwarf clambers up the stone face to confront the goblin archer, who shoots and stuns him. The dwarves on the ground are more successful (for once!). They charge the troll and stun it twice.

Next turn, the troll cannot parry, only roll a 6 to save against more dwarf blows in his flesh. He makes both saves! The third dwarf survives a blow from the goblin archer. The handgunner risks a shot into the archer, but his gun jams... the other goblin archer chances a shot into the melee below but hits the troll instead - and wounds!

(Hits are automatic, but I randomized the target 1-4 dwarves, 5-6 troll and rolled a 5.)

The frustrated dwarf handgunner tosses his gun aside and scrambles to help his equally frustrated comrades. It is his blow that at last slays the frustrated troll.

The goblin archer dispatches the brave but foolhardy dwarf on the heights. Staring daggers at his abashed companion, the surviving gobbos fade back into the hills. The dwarves have defeated two monsters, but at grave cost - there will be a new grudge inscribed into the annals.

More Hobby Weariness

 Over the last couple months, I've entered a wargaming rut. Been reading some, but not much wargaming or military history, though I did obtain Charles Grant's Ancient War Game thru interlibrary loan. I enjoyed it, but it's not on a par with his original War Game. For one thing, it doesn't have much in the way of rules - it's not a ruleset along with an introduction, the way The War Game and Charge! are. Mostly battle reports, photos, a little information about historical cultures and armies, and comments on the Society of Ancients and their rules.

I think that might be it, actually - The Wargames Research Group, at least at the time, was the exception to the rule that there are no universal rules. It was so popular that, like Warhammer today, it was pretty much the only option for many people. Perhaps that's because it resembles Warhammer in that Ancients covers a huge variety of time, space, and culture, giving it something for everybody. Having discovered DBA (which our club is, unusually for them, still playing regularly), I'm a bit impressed at their scope.

So while I liked the book, it's not the sort I'll refer to or reread regularly like others.

I started setting up a Programmed Scenario for Charge! before deciding it took too much effort to throw down a ton of books to make hills. Then I considered the smaller Sawmill Village and realized I don't really have enough 18mm scale buildings and trees for it either. That put paid to trying it, especially after a cat jumped up and knocked everything down. Another problem with my terrain is that I haven't used heavy paper or good card bases, which means the buildings and trees fall over in a mild breeze from the air conditioner. I will try to do something soon though, even on a sparse table. If not tonight, though, it will likely be a week at best, as I will be working seven days straight from tomorrow.

My attempt at Sawmill Village. Perhaps I can get some
more solid buildings and a good-sized crop field
at the next convention.

What else have I been reading? Right now, I'm working through some Mercedes Lackey. Heralds of Valdemar has dozens of volumes, what TVTropes calls "archive panic," so I paused after the first trilogy and am partway through the second of four Bardic Voices novels. Both series have hints of science fiction "after the end" to them, Bardic Voices more direct about it, despite the fantasy trappings and magic. Also on to the final volume of Lone Wolf and Cub.

The South Florida Gamers, after around fifty years, are organizing. We now have bylaws, officers, dues on a less "as you feel like it" basis, and are working on a proper website and maybe Facebook group. Speaking of reading, I have to catch up on the catalog for the club library.

That said, a request from Jeff (SgtGuinness) during our latest meeting brought back to mind the assorted Fistful of Lead rules I bought and promised to run for my Picacho Pass scenario, oh, a year and a half ago! I must look into them and get them down ... and of course, that'll mean more distraction and less concentration.

Speaking of conventions, I am vaguely planning to go to the next, in the last week of September. I have not serious time off since last summer, and my work weariness is also creeping up on me. Elections at work don't help. I work Sunday (as a warm body to open the branch for early voting), so will have some time to think more about programming. I have two weeks at this point to get my upcoming Paperboys "terrain-building" class ready and - given experience, audience, and time available - will do as much "pre-construction" as possible.

Here's my "back to school" display as it was yesterday.
This photo will go on the flyer (unless I can find a better)
and the flyer will go into the display.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this, since all summer I've observed kids drooling over the last paper display. I even put out instructions for the origami whale that was in there. Another project that could reinforce the building program is a paper ship program for Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19). And the fact that it was popularized right here in Miami, by columnist Dave Barry, might be an excuse to run it, and maybe play a game with the ships afterward.

I have been reading wargame and RPG rules as part of my leisure, too, and finally made both Charge! and Bundok and Bayonet into Pocketmod booklets. I'm also working on Went the Day Well. Perhaps it's time to hunt down my Fistful of Lead books too? See you next time.

Yet More Reading

I've been steadily working my way through the stone-cold classic comic series Lone Wolf and Cub. I started it around twenty years back and only read about a quarter - now I've found the volumes at work and on Hoopla.

There are no pitched battles in the series (as usually it is one, the anti-hero Ogami Itto, versus hordes of ninja or mercenaries), but there is plenty of inspiration for small skirmishes. Yakuza gang fights and peasant revolts are hinted at, but even for very small games there are many interesting settings as the author and artist seek exciting setpieces. Dueling from small boats, in river crossings, in snow-bound passes and at guarded road-gates, assaults on caravans and more. It's never just one-on-one (and one-sided) duels. There are some uncolored Samurai Paperboys out there... and rabbit samurai minis, too.

The other is The Bronze Lie by Myke Cole, a curious critical review of the vaunted Spartan reputation. I'm not well-versed in ancient warfare, and may pick up his other nonfiction volume, Legion vs. Phalanx, which promises to go deeper into tactics and organization. He really picks on Thermopylae and 300, with a useful thesis basically opposite that of Hanlon's Razor - "don't assume professional commanders were incompetent." IE, the Persians would have done proper reconnaissance at Thermopylae (and if they hadn't, then they had Greek allies who would have told them there was a back way around the pass). Which means that Thermopylae would not have been an exercise in Spartan valor, but a Spartan mistake.

He's also hard on the concept that the Spartans were heroes for modern society to look up to - not just because they were far less "pro-freedom" than they're often made out to be, but because they actually lost the majority of their battles, and rarely lived up to their own codes of honor. Their record of defeating other Greek states largely lies in the fact that they were the only professional force while everyone else raised armies only as needed, but they didn't need to be a good professional force - a "one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind" sort of thing. And that professional force was raised to hold down the helot slaves, not really to conquer or defend other free Greeks.

There is unfortunately a lot of speculation (understandable given the paucity of sources that weren't centuries out of date). But there's still plenty of food for thought in this one.

I've also bought a second 2x4 table, enabling me to play larger battles without my unwieldy piece of plywood. The VBCW ruleset Went the Day Well has fairly short ranges and may work alright on a 4x4 table, as should Bundock and Bayonet. Maybe a game for Sunday?