Mincepie Pass

Two birds with one stone here - trying the Minceheim "mass battle" rules and finally getting round to the third scenario from Grant's programmed wargames. We'll be following up on my last Minceheim game, in which a dwarf mining team had a bad time with goblins. So the dwarves are going to go after the gobbos in force - which means they have to clear a pass.

Appropriately, the figures I'm using are from the old Warhammer Battle for Skull Pass box!

Three warrior units, two handgunner units, two miner units.
(one miner unit not shown)

Three goblin spear units, one archer unit, one spidercav unit.

The field of battle.

Gobbo light troops are up front, while the spearmen
won't appear until the dwarves reach the second third of the table.

Turn 1: The dwarves, limited to 2" movement due to heavy armor, shuffle forward on the center and left. (The miners on the flank are limited to 1" thru the trees.) The handgunners and archers exchange fire; the requirement for the gunners to reload a turn is balanced by +2 to wound.

Turn 2: The handgunners deliver another volley to the goblin archers - the survivor fails morale and runs.The spider-riders, however, line up for an attack on the forward miner unit, which faces left towards them.

Turn 3: The front handgunner unit turns to face the spiders, though at this point they don't really have line of sight with a melee about to start. The other forms column to get by them. The spider riders charge the miners, but in their heavy armor only kill one. However, only one goblin dies in return. Neither unit is under half strength.

Turn 4: The melee goes on, though the spiders now have dwarves approaching on both flanks. They take a casualty each. The surviving archer rallies and returns to the edge of the trees on the ridge for free sniping (the dwarves won't be able to shoot him in cover).

It occurs to me at this late stage that the dwarves shouldn't have been able to shoot the other archers either. Hm. Fortunes of war?

Turn 5: The miners eliminate the spider riders and the whole army lurches forward another two inches. Just 36" to go!

At this point we're close enough for the goblin back line to deploy - on the heights. I'm undecided whether to reinforce with another squad of archers; under the circumstances - right now the defenders are outnumbered two-to-one - it seems fair. The dwarves advance on a broad front; the goblins' programmed response is to "attempt to draw the enemy into the pass and envelop them." Well, it can do that with the warriors, but probably not the handgunners or miners.

Four turns later, the dwarven march is starting to straggle, while a clash looks ready to start on the goblin right and center. The handgunners will have to get thru the trees before they can assist, and by that time they might have to fire into melee to be of any help.

Turn 10: More maneuvering. The goblins are out of position to fight the handgunners now at the edge of the treeline, but at least they're on a lower level so can't be shot at yet. I draw the front-line dwarves up to avoid a goblin charge next turn; both sides are trying to gain positions where two units can gang up on one.

Turn 11: The first charge goes in. Let's see how this goes - the goblins get double attacks for their polearms. Two (!) of the attacks pass their armor saves, and eight of the fourteen resultant hits are kills (5+). The first dwarf unit is eliminated. Oh, and the lone surviving archer has been killed off.

Turn 12: A nice little scrum:

The dwarves are overwhelmed and broken, with three figures remaining.

I've just realized I'm not sure I'm doing melee correctly. In many games, both sides fight in a turn of melee - I've been doing it only on the side's turn, so that when a unit is broken, it loses its chance to fight. This has the effect of encouraging aggression.

Turn 13: And again:

Six more dwarf casualties.

Turn 14: The dwarves hold their own, as the forward dwarf regiment marches stolidly towards the goblin back line. Goblins assault, their spears proving key with all the extra attacks. One regiment of handgunners breaks, a warrior regiment holds its ground with but two dwarves remaining.

Turn 15-16: The handgunners are run down, but the second line fires a volley into the goblins and breaks them. Two survivors flee. One of the spear-gobbo regiments on the far side of the valley sees off its opponents, but the survivor meets up with the dwarf rear guard.

From victorious to sitting ducks.

Back-and-forth fighting but the dwarf reserves are hastening to the rescue.

"Where are we going, chief?"
"Away, young dwarf. Away."

Turn 17-20: More internecine warfare. I did not determine an army breakpoint for the game, but there are now three decimated dwarf units remaining, and one goblin one (in a position to be shot at in another turn). The dwarves have carried the pass, but at grievous cost.

End game.

The rules are very simple, more so than the skirmish game - though I may have missed some subtleties. I did give handguns a bonus to wound, for example, but didn't do so for the dwarf axes. The table size and fighting down the length made it seem longer than it really was. Perhaps the army break point can be the same as for individual units - at half strength, roll a 5+ or retreat.

I also played turns "turn and turn about," rather than with an initiative roll. The fewer steps to recall, the better, and it would have made for a swingier, messier game anyway. I didn't play either side very well; one thing I've noticed with the Grant Programmed Rules is that the AI instructions must of necessity be vague. I ended up being more aggressive with the goblins than their instructions called for - though with their spears this actually didn't go too badly!

The "campaign," such as it is, is in stalemate, and I'd either have to have a truly massive battle (maybe not a good idea with this little experience at the rules) or start a skirmish campaign as the sides try to find a lateral path to victory. I look forward to trying it. "Please let's not go through Mincepie Pass again, milord."

A good game, but definitely something smaller next time. I did enjoy the speed with which it could be played, even if I overlooked a few steps. Til next time.

Programmed Wargames Scenarios: Broken Ground

Been a while since I've played with my 18th-Century Wofuns or CS Grant's solo mechanisms. I'd like to work my way through all of them eventually, so it's the turn of Scenario 2: Broken Ground. I found playing the Blue defender rather boring last time, so this time I'll play Red. I start by randomly selecting the table layout:

Hills before the green cloth drops. You can see lots of 
fantasy roleplaying stuff here.

Then I select my army from the available options. It might not be best for moving quickly across the board, but I'm going with overwhelming force: seven infantry regiments, one light infantry, four cavalry and two guns.

Next I roll to see if my recon troops did their job, and they did. This means I can determine and deploy the Blue defenders before deploying my own army. I'll select randomly, and the Blues have five line infantry, two light, three cavalry, and a gun. Both sides also have a general.

15% of the Blues are a reserve in the center. That's a job for the cavalry. The rest, randomly, are arranged 20-60-20 on flank, center and flank, and all must be in forests or on heights. Well, I've a gun and eight regiments aside from the light infantry (concealed in the woods. So the three cavalry regiments are reserve, three infantry units in center with the gun, and one infantry unit on each flank.

I am using here the D3 Horse and Musket rules from Grid-Based Wargaming But Not Always. There is an activation mechanic that is more difficult as a unit loses hit points, but it won't be a problem until taking two hits (you roll higher than the hits on 2d6).

It's just occurred to me that, given I significantly outnumber the enemy, there should maybe be a time limit. In the Grant scenarios, objectives are quite vague - in this case, the winner simply holds the heights. Probably has something to do with them being rules-agnostic. I've noticed in the past scenarios like this (get to the other side of the table) being one and a half or twice as many turns as it would normally take a unit to cross. In line, infantry would cross the table in eight turns, so perhaps a 12-turn game? But then there are quite a lot of cavalry, who move twice as fast, and infantry can also move faster in column. Movement is not reduced by terrain in these rules - you just can't enter certain categories.

Another option is a casualty limit, of, say, half the units on one side eliminated. Might not be fair to the French here, but could work.

I welcome suggestions!

Here's the deployment. I'm concentrating on the flanks in hope of splitting the opponent - not knowing the programmed defender orders yet, I'm interested to see how they react to my intentions.

Rear: One French unit to right flank, three and gun center,
one to left. Three horse regiments center, rear line, but able to
come out in either direction to provide quick assistance.
Front: My infantry is on my left and center, guns moving up on
a hill, four horse regiments to my far right hoping to sweep around.

Once I have committed to my attack, I examine the Blue instructions. "Committing" is tricky, as I haven't any written orders, but my intent is to attack Blue's flanks. Blue's orders, given its central position position, is to hold the center of the feature, without giving up any ground or counter-attacking with the units on it (!). The flanks may be given up if necessary, while the reserve and flank units may counter-attack. "You should use cavalry and light troops boldly on the flanks to harass the enemy."

As for Blue's response, I roll on a chart according to Red's (my) plan. "Red attack against weak Blue flank" seems to be it, though I'm actually aiming for both flanks. The Blue response is "Negative," meaning no overally change of plan and a lack of initiative.

Under the circumstances, I feel I am constrained to stick with my initial plan, rather than, say, racing my cavalry to the left and joining the attack on the flank there. I must attempt a double envelopment.

Now to the battle. I've just moved onto the table, so it's Blue's turn. Given a lack of initiative, their reserve will not move until needed, and their gun is the only thing in range. They hit one of my grenadier units for two wounds (of nine).

Turn 1: My grenadiers (left) march onto the left hill to tackle the one
French regiment there, one unit losing three more HP as it comes up.
At center, my infantry spreads out while my guns find their position
and unlimber. My cavalry sweeps forward to hit the French right.

Guns may not move after unlimbering, and with a 45-degree field of fire will not be firing on the plucky French to their left. I expect my grenadiers can handle it. Though the two-page rules don't say, I assume I must deploy my own infantry to fire, so no shooting at all from me yet.

Turn 2:

The battered grenadiers fail to activate. That's OK since only two
can get into position to fire, though the right one takes casualties.

The light infantry head for the central forest, screening the infantry
columns. My guns fire, but I must remember that the green paper
(representing forest) would block their view of the central hill.
They instead target the French left, to ease the job of my cavalry.

Cavalry cannot enter woods, so the French are safe as my Horse
sweep some more. They take musket fire, though.

Turn 3: 

The French outpost is driven off, as the British infantry form into
line and some of the French cavalry arrives to hold them off.

Concentrated fire destroys one of my cavalry regiments.
Since I can't enter the forest, it's safe, if isolated.

Turn 4: Just some back and forth charges. The French left flank is isolated but safe, sniping at the cavalry, and the infantry on the British right is "closing up," ready to close the door if the French outposts can't hold them off.

Turn 5: Since there is no move-and-shoot, I hold my infantry still to blast the French right flanks. Two of my cavalry fail their activation rolls and stall, but the third makes a charge into the back of an infantry regiment. Light infantry aren't doing much at all, and casualties are starting to make activation more difficult. I do manage to eliminate a French cavalry with fire, meaning that there are no French at all in front of my left flank. In exchange, I lose an infantry regiment to a charge, and a cav regiment is down to its last hit.

The cavalry unit at top center, front line, is French. It just charged
The British one at front. It did the max damage, but not enough
to kill, so fell back to its present position; which means it's about to
be charged in the side and back by my units to rear and left.

Turn 6: The beleaguered French cavalry survived when both my advantaged units failed their activations. Instead it charged and retreated. The French left flank is in good hands now, with only two reduced Brit cavalry units to menace it. The French right, on the other hand, is just gone, and the only reason I haven't poured over the hill and pounced on the center is that I can't shoot and move in the same turn.

Turn 7: Except for the gun and those units "sheltering in place" in the forested zones, the French are gone. I'll stop here.

Most units are intact, as I tend to concentrate on damaged units until they're dead. And once a unit has taken enough hits, its survival in the next turn is deterministic, because hits are automatic. There is nothing to stop cavalry from spinning on its axis and charging, for example, and it WILL score at least two hits, or one if going up a hill, or four if charging from the side or rear. If the charged unit has that many left, it just gets deleted. The forests where the last of the French infantry are sheltering are like that too - no one can get IN, because cavalry can't go in and infantry can't enter melee. It would take too much time to focus fire on them, so I've been ignoring them. By the end of this turn, there's nothing else left, and it's obvious there's nowhere for my side to go but over the broken ground and off the table.

An okay game, but maybe not best for the purposes of these scenarios - which do seem to rely especially on terrain and unit maneuverabilty, neither of which is really part of the D3 rules. I like the simplicity, but at the same time I understand the frustration of people who don't like simplicity. Something more middling, like some versions of Charge!, may work better. We'll see in future. Thanks for reading.

Hill Line Defence

Finally playing a solo game of conventional scale! Drawn from Charles S. Grant's classic Programmed Wargames Scenarios. Let's see how it goes, shall we?

The rules are Stephen Simpson's from Wargames Illustrated #75. They are forerunners, I believe, of Beneath the Lily Banners, and I quite like them - short and simple. This is the first time I've had a table large enough to field units of the correct size (four bases) and to move them correctly (5-15").

One issue with the rules I'm using is that there are no rules for light infantry, unless you count Highlanders and Indians - which in these rules are more for assault than reconnaissance. There also aren't rules for different types of cavalry. I suppose I could use the rules for elite or green units (basically + or -1 to all rolls), but I'll leave that out for now. Given that light infantry, under programmed deployment, are often spread out across the deployment zone, that's probably fine, since usually you only get one or two regiments anyway.

That means the British defenders have six infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment and two guns. I formed them evenly, with the guns in the center, half the infantry to either side, and the cavalry forward on the left flank.

I rolled randomly for the opponent from seven choices, and the French get seven infantry, three cavalry and a gun. I roll for their deployment, and get "centre-right" - from left to right, a 2-4-4 distribution. That works for the regiments; I'll put the cavalry to the right, as part of the attack, and the gun to the left. There is a possibility that the left flank will act defensively, which will suit the gun.

The rules are modular, and have basic additions for command and control, but I'm leaving those out for this first runthrough.

Deployment from the Attackers' side. As it is July 4, there were
atmospheric sound effects to help set the scene...

I roll to determine what the French left flank will do, and it will be drawn into the attack. We're off!

Deployed infantry and guns move 5", deployed cavalry 10". If in column, they move a further five. Guns have unlimited range, but a bonus within 18". Musketry range is 10". Since they are aggressive today, the gun will move with the infantry, aiming to get close before pouring in fire. As you can see from the photo, I've kept things simple by starting everyone off deployed into line.

Turn One: The French (well, about half of them Irish or Scots) march towards the British and Hessians on the ridge. The gun will target its opposing numbers. The mechanism is very basic - D8-D6, plus or minus any factors such as, in this case, being under fire from artillery over 18" away. I rolled 2-6+1; the result is less than zero, so one of my guns takes a hit. Another and it is routed. With infantry, I'd remove a single base; with guns represented by a single base, I'll have to remember.

I'm not actually sure if guns can move and fire in this game - they can fire while deployed and they can move while deployed. Given the paucity of scale, I'm fine with it; each move can be assumed to be several minutes.

The cavalry sweeps round a putative Built-Up Area.

The French gunners "lay on."

In response, the British hold their ground and I fire both my guns at the Irish regiment opposite. They'll have a +1 for the long-range artillery, but this is balanced by a -1 for being under fire from more than one unit. Straight D8-D6: 4-5=-1. They lose a base. Simple, see?

Turn Two: More advancing.

As enemy cavalry gang up on mine, I realize I made the mistake
of not moving my grenadiers forward into 10" firing range;
they're still 12" away.

"Close up, close up!" cry the officers of the Irish Brigade.

The extreme left has some difficulty as it skirts the wood.

The guns fire on Dillon again, and with a bare success - 1 on the D8, 2 on the D6 - they take another hit and fall back, too worn to continue. That's only one of ten units eliminated, though, and the defenders are still outnumbered.

Turn Three: Time to charge. units must roll to attempt such actions, at 4+ on a D10. Remarkably, only one of the units passes. The British morale roll is at -1 for first round of melee, but +1 for being uphill. They pass. My left-flank infantry, in response, move forward, but don't quite have line of sight to the cavalry (the crown of the hill is in the way) or range to the infantry. The cavalry melee continues with no result, as does my cannonade.

I need to dress the enemy ranks here...!

Turn Four: Moved forward, and did dress ranks. Lots of firing now we're in range, but ineffective on both sides. A second cavalry unit managed to charge in, but the combat remains inconclusive, even when I charged my own left-hand infantry into it.

Round and round we go...

Turn Five: Ranks fully dressed now, but still mostly out of 

The battle looks more traditional now, but the dying light
is in the defenders' eyes...

... and they are taking casualties.

Turn Five: The lines are in musketry range, and platoon fire flickers up and down the rows of French and British.

"For what we are about to receive..."

One unit of French horse retreats, leaving the other open
to charge in ... and they fail the roll for a third time. Cowards!

The British cavalry unit is eliminated, but its opponents are still in contact with infantry as well. Musketry is again inconclusive.

Turn Six: The French are now at the foot of the slope, yet still both sides continue to load and fire again. Only on the right are the French moves starting to bear fruit, as the Hessian grenadiers hold fast against yet another charge of French horse, now lapping about them, and the flank battalions cross bayonets.

Push of pike.

Turn Seven: The charges - most of them - go in:

Most of the fighting is inconclusive, with the exception of the Hessian grenadiers, who are finally smothered. One French unit fails its charge attempt; it and the gun instead fire into a British unit and force them to rout. This means a check on the AI chart - "A Blue Force unit is broken or falls back creating a gap in the line." I rolled "Hesitate two moves then move into the gap if it remains."

The "Gap of Danger"

At this point, that may not matter much:

With the grenadiers gone, an ominous flanking movement begins.

The British all hold, though narrowly at times. With all in melee, none are free to act.

Turn Eight: The Brits hang on as the cavalry starts to roll up their line. They attempt to break away and refuse their left flank, but fail.

Turn Nine: The next left-flank battalion is destroyed by the swarming Horse, and others take casualties, though thet guns manage to take out the Ecossais.

Turn Ten: Another British (well, Hessian) unit routs, and others take casualties. I think it's over, and I'll halt here.

So I lost the game against the attacking AI, probably because I failed to react and relied too much on my firepower. It took longer than expected, but by the end I had holes in my lines and was badly flanked. With only one roll per turn per unit, the combat system is pretty swingy and it could (and probably should) have gone far worse for me once combat was joined. My left flank held out agains outnumbering cavalry far longer than I expected.

I might change up Simpson's rules slightly - command and control rules could have made a difference, though most likely just making it more chaotic as more units refuse to obey orders. This is the second time I've run the first scenario in the book, and it's a good one to start with, though perhaps the attacker should be the active player. (Most scenarios can be played from either side.) All in all, a good game and, I think, a fair result.

The game would be far quicker if I didn't keep pausing to write it up and take pictures. With the brevity of these rules (a three-page article, one page of basic rules and one page of extra "modules") I could easily have played it through in an hour, but that might not be as interesting to read.

Next time, Scenario Two: Broken Ground.