L'Art De La Guerre: 2 games played

Two games with LADG today against the 'Dice Demon'.

First was nice historical match up with my Punic Romans versus Carthaginians.
As usual a hard fought match up this one but as ever the extra Cartho mounted units seem to make the difference as Romans always lacking in this regard.
That plus fact my Legions could not out roll the Punic foot expect on two occasions !

Second game I used my Maurikian Byzantine and Stephen used Early T'Ang (contemporary rather than historical opponents).
This one was much more one sided as Byzantines have no real answer (except to run away) to the Chinese foot formation of Spearmen backed by Bowmen as they out shoot my mounted arm and cancel my Impact ability.
My Skutatoi were overrun in quick order by some Chinese 'warband' types and my Cavalry mauled to give T'Ang a rather quick victory.

Both enjoyable games with LADG and always nice to get two games in in one session.





Rome vs Carthage

Byzantium vs China

Field Of Glory Napoleonic: French versus British 1815

Another go with FOGN today at Stephens, where he chose to use 1815 British and so accordingly I chose 1815 French.

My French based around an Infantry Corps and British the same although he had a Division of Brunswick assisting.

I chose Probe as strategy and British took Prepared Defence.

British managed to get a Strong-point position on my left but I had placed a River (first time for everything) which being classed as difficult effectively sealed of the left flank on mt table side.

I had Battery of Heavy Guns which I placed against the strong-point occupied by a large unit of Hanoverian Conscripts but they failed to do more that Disorder the Germans who Rallied without problems.

A large battery of British Medium Guns caused several Cohesion hits on my opposing units however.

In the center we had 2 Infantry Divisions apiece facing off against each other and as always against the 'Dice Demon' I was as ever out shot at every juncture including a couple of unit shot to Wavering status......ouch again.

On my right it was a Cavalry versus Cavalry match-up.
I had a unit of Dragoons and 2 Chasseurs faced by Impetuous British Mounted with two units of Shock Heavy Cavalry one led by a Brigadier.
The British charged first and chased off my Dragoons and one Chasseur both Wavered.
However (in my only success of the day.......well sort of............) I managed to outflank a Pursuing unit (which Routed the retiring Chasseurs) and this Disordered the British.
However we both ended up on 5 dice each but with my needing 3+ and the British 4+ to hit.
So odds in my favour you would think but no I roll a mere 2 hits the British 4 (without needing any re-rolls from attached Commander) !!!!!
Both units went Wavered and only my charging first forced the British back.

Sadly by this time I had lost 4 units with a further 5 in Wavering status whilst British had just 2 units Wavered so French yielded the field.

I just cannot out-dice the 'Demon' especially when dice hate me ! although to be fair I did pass every test for units Routing through, past or nearby of which there were several !!

However another fun and interesting game with this very playable set of rules.




Initial French moves (Reserve command has arrived on right center)

My Mounted Divn also arrived on turn 1 on my right flank

Central Divn moves up

Heavy Guns 'pound' the town....hah !

French 3rd Inf Divn advances

French Cavalry arrayed

British left wing 

British right and Brunswick Divn in center

French "coming on in the same old way"

And being "dealt with in the same old way" 

French Legere gone and other units Wavering

Wavering all across the line

Chasseurs having chased of British heavies but of course Wavering.

No Retreat! The Russian Front full game played

Another outing with this engrossing game with my Dad.
This session we had time to play beyond the Turn 12 Initiative switch.

Played through to Victory Phase at the start of Turn 21 with Russians crushing the Fascist vipers in their lair (ie achieving an Auto Victory level of 31).

But a real roller coaster of a game with Germans twice coming up only 1 VP shy of an auto-win themselves.

Dad had Moscow surrounded but I just managed to break the encirclement saving myself a gaming losing VP (and likely another along with -1 Card for loss of Moscow).

The Soviet upgrades change things and then once initiative changes mid 1943 (Turn 12) the Soviet juggernaut really goes up a gear and any Axis losses (usually to an Exchange result) hurt as so costly to Upgrade them to full strength.

The SS Panzer is a tough unit but it only last 6 turns and its removal along with 2nd Panzer 2 turns before really dent German offensive strength.

The mountain areas help Germans but Prussian and Berlin is much easier fare for rampaging Ivans.

Great stuff once more with this game.

Field Of Glory Napoleonic game played

Simple 800 points game today using FOGN version 2 with Stephen today.

I used Spring 1813 Prussians and he Spring 1813 French both from recently published 'Triumph Of Nations' version 2 lists.
No major changes although the Prussian do lose ability to field Fusiliers as Light Infantry units as essentially subsumed within the standard Infantry Brigades that a table unit represents.

We both had 13 units although French had several Large Infantry units due to having a large minimum of Conscript Infantry to field.

We both chose Flexible Defence as a strategy but Stephen won dice off and selected to be defender.

Most terrain ended up on his side of table and so I set up with a refused right flank with a French strong-point ensconced in the central town area.
I had a Poor Reserve unit in a Town on my extreme left.
I had a Dragoon Division in Reserve off-table and Stephen had a Young Guard Division in his Reserve.

Another excellent and fast playing game ensued.

The Large Infantry are pretty good as hard to Disorder or Waver due to cancel 1 Hit and I suffered several Disordered and then Wavering units from French volleys.

A Cavalry encounter on my right saw both my Dragoon units defeated one by a Cuirassier (no surprise) and the other by Chasseurs (damn well should have beat them !).

In FOGN once an Army suffers a lot of Cohesion drops it is rather hard to recover as a General can only attempt to recover 1 be friendly Recovery Phase (with CinC able to try recovering a further unit) and this helps make the rules pretty decisive.
This means those that fail or have to sit in Disorder or are Wavering are in real danger of being Wavered or Routed.

This occurred when I had 10 out of 13 units in either Disorder or Wavering status I did manage to Rally 5 but then in next French turn those left in Disorder, Wavered and then were Routed in following Fire Phase (ie before getting any chance to Rally).

Having 3 units in Rout and a further 4 Wavered put me at 10 (ie 40% loss level) losses and with French only having 2 losses (ie less than 10%) the game was up for Prussians.

The rules are very slick and fast playing and I have to say very well written with every query easily answered.
Nice set for a Corps sized game playable in a few hours.





Prussian deployment on the left

French opposition

French Cavalry advance on their left

Armies clash around the central town

Cavalry about to cross swords

Overview of battle from Prussian right

Prussian units suffering Wavers and Disorders

Prussian right

Even after good Rally phase Prussian units still holding Cohesion hits

No Retreat! The Russian Front played again

Another session of No Retreat with my Dad and another fun outing with this excellent game.

Again we played from Barbarossa through to Turn 12 when Initiative shifts to Soviets and another draw declared.
Different game
 to last time with much more action around Moscow and much less on southern front.
Leningrad fell this game but not Sevastapol.
I nearly forced the surrender of 3 German Panzer armies outside Moscow but they managed to get supplies through damn their Fascist hides !

Such a playable East Front game this.

We also played the initial scenario from this game but as I forgot to take pics I will discuss its very interesting system when I do.