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!

Battle of Blasthof

This is a game I've wanted to play for close to thirty years. Well, to be fair, I did play it with my first pack of 28mm AWI Wofuns, years before I started this blog, but I was using the original "beginner" rules then. This time is with the Athena Books edition which I hope to run at Das Krieg Haus. All moves and ranges are converted from inches to centimeters.

The forces:

2nd Foot, Yorbourne Dragoons, and Blew's Battery

 Saillant Regiment, 1st Cheval and Jaune Battery.

Deployment. My apologies: closer examination
will reveal the refuse of the farmer's feline harvest.

I did not play a true solo game with intent to win, I simply put the "Electoral" Brits on the defense while the "Imperial" French aggressively moved to seize the bridge. As it proved, this wouldn't be good tactics, but it did provide opportunities to test all the mechanics.

Turn 1: Both sides move, Brits cautiously - except to
cross the river with cavalry.

Turn 2: Closer to bridge. French cav reforming,
with intend to hold off Brit cav from preventing
a crossing.

Turn 3: Brit cav tempt French to charge. Notice that
the British guns have been plinking at the French horse,
who thus far have three casualties.

Turn 4: Cavalry charge. French lose due to 4 casualties
from crossing artillery fire, though killed two Brits
in melee. Infantry crossing bridge.

I used the SCRUD method for the 1-1 fighting. One combat was 2-1, so its side got to double the score and I rolled separately. Infantry melee is simpler, one die-score of casualties per 10 men fighting.

Notice that until this point, the French battery was entirely masked. It fired its first shots and killed one British gunner, who was immediately replaced by a nearby infantryman.

Turn 5: French cav retreats one move past guns while Brits rally.
Infantry gets onto bridge but takes 11 casualties
from guns and musketry. I forgot that canister allows full score
to hit between 6-12", so it could've been even worse.

Turn 6: French horse retreats second move. French infantry charges. British canister causes only two casualties! Also I think I forgot to roll for British musketry on the way in - there should have been three dice of long-range (ie half casualty) fire.

19 infantry a side, at one die per 10 men (I'll use full dice, though the second ought to be halved). The French win the melee, 9 casualties to 3! (plus two prisoners), but are now at half strength of their original 32 and must retreat. They fail to capture the colour (on a 6), which would have been a consolation.

I should have tried column attack here, which would have allowed four ranks of the column (16 figures) to fight versus two (eight figures) of the line. It probably would have come out the same.

Brits, recovered, charge the French guns, taking two casualties to canister on the way. One gun is contacted. Gunners cannot fight and are automatically deleted.

Turn 7: French cav rally. Both sides' infantry retreat.
The Yorbourne Dragoons take the second French gun,
whose crew do not have time to spike
(would be hit during the spiking move).
Brit guns fire canister at the retreating infantry on the bridge,
again causing only two casualties!

Owing to the order of actions, in which artillery fires before charges go in, it would normally be possible for the French gun to get a shot off, but the cav are too close (less than 3cm).

Current casualty score: 

• Brits: 18 of 60
• French: 34 of 58.

Turn 8: The now understrength French have clearly lost, but as the bridge is the objective and they're still on it, we'll do one more turn. Infantry fall back again, Saillant are now off the bridge. To prevent them being charged by the dragoons, ten rallied French cav charge six Brits, meleeing among the guns. Three casualties to one, plus a prisoner - the British horse are down to two men and (at 1/3 strength or less) out of the game. This will give the French the opportunity to retrieve their guns, even under fire from the intact British battery.

Just for the heck of it, the British battery gets off two more rounds of fire before the French are out of range. They cause two more casualties to the infantry.

Turn 11: Both British units are done rallying.
They can both return to the bridge by turn 15,
so, like Soubise's Electorals, have thoroughly won.

End total: 

• Brits: 22 casualties, including three prisoners. Serious casualties to infantry regiment, cavalry almost eliminated.
• French: 38 casualties, including entire gun crew and over half an infantry regiment. Guns retrieved from field.

I think this went pretty well. And it was surprisingly fun. At this small scale, the inch-cm conversion worked very well. My first thought for playing this scenario at Das Krieg with more than two players is to raise each base to a regiment, thus having five battalions and two horse regiments against four and three respectively. The two guns would remain, being appropriate for the size of fight.

My other thought is to run "Kleine Krefeld" from Charles S. Grant's first Wargaming in History volume, but that is a less "setpiece" action. I may try it myself in the cm scale at home. 

Speaking of which, I found Grant's Scenarios for Wargamers on ebay and have a copy on the way. Looking forward to reading it.

Thanks for reading.