Boardgame solo day

Couple of board wargames played solo today.

First up my ever favoured Combat Commander playing a Bulge scenario based on action near Lanzerth.

Small force of Yanks dug in armed to teeth with MGs against a motley collection of Kraut Volksgrenadiers, Conscripts and a couple of Fallschirmjager. 

A tough one for Germans this.

Then it was turn of The British Way COIN system game. 

I managed to play through the Palestine and Malaya games.

I have yet to fathom how to play Brits in Palestine as the sabotage and terror tactics of Irgun just drain Political Will.

Malaya an easier proposition for Empire and they came good at the end.

Disaster in the Holy Land

 

Victory in Malaya

The British Way COIN - a two player outing

Played the Malaya game from The British Way with my Dad and great to see the game in 'proper' two player mode.

I played the extended version (9 cards per campaign rather than 7) and Dad took the British and I the MCP.

Great stuff and easy to teach and play (Dad not up to heavier games anymore) and in the end my MCP won by a mere 4 VP.

The British Way COIN - Malaya and Kenya solo

Couple of solo plays with the COIN games The British Way namely Malaya and Kenya.

So easy to get into these fun short 'gamettes' even in solo mode.

Malaya had a clear MCU victory over Britain on almost final card (I played the extended 27 card version) as able to sabotage the Economic Centres and Kuala Lumpur.

In Kenya Britain was able to easily put down (second Propaganda card) the Mau Mau insurgency by striking hard at their bases.

 

L'Art De La Guerre - two games played

First game session of New Year (after missing couple of weeks due to other circumstances) and it was with LADG to give Stephen further practice for Munster at end of month.

He has still not decided what army he will use (having a proliferation of available types) but tried Burgundian and then Ottoman Turk.

First up I used Order of St John against his Burgundian and for a change I choose (having won the option) mountainous terrain (we do find that 9 of 10 games are in Plains) and this lead to a clustering of terrain in my right corner.

Lots of maneuvering due to terrain and I came undone when my Brilliant CinC on my right rolled minimum PIPs for a couple of turns thwarting my attempt to turn enemy flank before they done same. 

Burgundians won this one easily and I lost 2 General in combat (he can roll ones when he wants to !)

Second game I used Free Company list against the Ottomans and on a more open table. 

The Jannisaries are tough troops as Elite shooters and fighters (swordsmen) although I did have some Elite English Longbowmen.

Turks had upper hand early on due to effective shooting but as game wore on I did inflict several losses and managed to outflank a fortification killing occupants.

However on my left my knights suffered and were outflanked with my Camp in danger just as game ended (I had lost 21 with Turks losing 14 elements) but a much tighter game overall.

I did manage a game session over Christmas period with my son - who was home for a few days - of the British Way using the Malayan situation. I won first easily (Steven learning game) but second ended in a draw. I neglected to take pics however 

(Pic of Malayan game from a solo session)

Stalingrad Advance to the Volga 1942 - an early birthday present

Stalingrad - Advance to the Volga (by Revolution Games) is an early birthday (25th - date that is not age unfortunately) pressie that arrived and got it set up and running on table.

Game is a solo type on Germans attack on Stalingrad in early October 1942.

It is based around the Area system first seen in the old 'Storm Over Arnhem' Avalon Hill title, of which designer Mike Rinella is very much an aficionado/proponent, so usual aspects of Area defence factor variety, Movement Costs, Spent units and so on.

One plays as Germans with Soviets as purely static (but tough) units, with fog of war element being that the Soviets are unknown/hidden units each with varying defence strengths and 'tactics' and are taken from a pool of units based on terrain type.

Tactics are labelled as Heroes, Ambush, Guard and similar all of which have varying effects in or post combat (extra losses to attackers, loss of morale that sort of thing).

Germans have Supply points which they can spend to 'buy' assets at varying cost of usual variety; Stukas, Artillery, Engineers all of which generate modifiers to combat. They can also boost their Morale level.

The victory schedule for Germans looks tough (only played a single turn so far) as they need to capture essentially all areas whilst their Morale (combo of morale and logistics) level dwindles and Soviet resistance increases as they push further into urban areas (defence factors increase)

Great production values in game with nice counters and a luv'rly mounted map board.

Rules are short concise and clear and this is a rules light game although it does include a couple of scenarios and some optional rules.

Have Cyprus game from The British Way set up on other side of table and just started as well so I feel like a Chess Grandmaster (except not so grand or in any way a master and not playing Chess, but otherwise identical).

This one is similar to Palestine game with Arms Caches, Intel and Cells on a very small area of conflict.

More of The British Way soloed

Been performing ferry service to and from various Hospitals and Health Centers for an elderly relative so reduced time for gaming (no time to prep a minis game) this week but did manage to squeeze in a couple more sessions with The British Way.

The title with its 'mini' games fits this niche perfectly as each game takes no more than 2-3 hours to complete and easily fitted in over several sessions if needs be.

Each game in box is very immersive (even solo) with enough variety and differences between each to keep it all fresh within same COIN umbrella.

Managed to play Malayan and Kenyan Emergencies to completion and up next is Cyprus then I hope to replay all with the Campaign system included.

Had great play through of the Malaya game which plays much more like a 'standard' COIN game with Resources, Area Control and Population Support. 

I was therefore more attuned to how both sides operated in this one with only a few adaptions for subject matter and unique Events to assimilate.

British had a much smoother time in this one although it was close in the end and I know that early play of the Malayan Communists was ineffectual (too many Events taken).

Then I got Kenya to table which again is more akin to a 'standard' COIN game but with some twists (such as only Mau Mau track resources and can never destroy British Troops and a Supply Line concept) and Events.

British looked to be clear winners up until last few cards as Mau Mau managed to obtain control of several [rovinces and convert these to Resistance (from Loyalty) which combined with a couple of Terrorised areas swung VPs in their favour with Brits unable to reply in time. 

The British Way - Palestine played twice

Played Palestine 'gamette' from The British Way today with Stephen and we managed to get 2 games completed. 

Stephen took Irgun (Jewish faction) both times losing first game by a mere 1 VP but winning second on 2nd Propaganda card.

Found it pretty tough for British to counter relentless Sabotage actions despite trying to get lots of Irgun cells sent off to prison (this worked in first game, not so well in second.

Irgun seem able to manage to sabotage the railways pretty easily and if able to sabotage or commit terror acts in a city/cities they can accrue a sizeable amount of VPs that British really struggle to off-set as they are spread pretty thin despite having superior numbers. 

Favourable runs of events seem more important for British less so for Zionists.

But great fun exercising the old brain cells with this game trying to solve the strategy and decision making 'puzzles' it constantly throws up coupled with the unexpected order and effects of events.

The new 2 player Initiative track is very clever.

Nice to have COIN game that plays quickly with smaller footprint.

Hope to get Kenya to table next.

 

Hill 112 scenario with Panzer Grenadier Deluxe and The British Way sees light of day

Four ball with 15mm kit (we are on a WW2 kick at present) at Johns with Panzer Grenadier Deluxe and Hill 112 scenario, this was planned as chaps not long back from a Normandy jaunt so keen to 're walk' the ground.

Stephen and John controlled the attacking Brits and Mr P and I the defending Huns (Le Duc was AWOL)

Game played pretty smoothly and we completed 7 (out of 14) turns amidst usual deluge of waffling, insults and craic.

We did learn that trenches and dug-outs have bit more ubiquity than we realised as they count as cover so can be set up in open ground (we had been forcing them to 'cling' to fields/woods), made sense really.

Mr P had control of Nebelwerfers (off board although scenario has them on table) which blew away 2 Brit infantry sections on first turn but failed to do anything thereafter.

Hun right flank folded as Brits put bulk of effort here (against Mr P) and this was not helped by crap shooting by Hun AT guns and a 'you are getting no reinforcements' roll, so no Tigers...sniff...or sod all else.

As we called time at end of turn 7 I declared it an unfinished Draw but no one else did :-)

Initial Brit deployment (note tantalising prize atop Hill 112)

Main Brit effort on our right - were they afraid of my Soldaten !? can't have been fear of my famed dice rolling ?

Nasty fire breathing Crocodile and his back up singers overrun trench line as our flank folds

Panzer IVs on Roman Road

Huns suffering even in trenches

Mr P had a PzIV achieve a flank shot on the Crocodile but missed, then was damaged and forced back by return fire

I had a Pak40 in ambush in walled field but in 7 turns it managed to inflict a single Disengage on a Churchill, due to failed activations, long range shooting and general sub par dice rolls.

In other news I managed the day before to crack open 'The British Way' and get a solo session in with the Palestine game (note this multi-pack does not include any solo Bots unlike other COIN games).

Nice small quick playing version of COIN with a few twists for each situation. 

Irgun (main Jewish insurgent group) are Cells rather than usual Guerrillas and they have Arms Caches rather than Bases and can 'fall out' with their more moderate Hagannah allies if these get too nasty (this can impact number of Irgun pieces available). 

British are usual mix of more formal Police and Troops though they can imprison cells. 

With a mere 18 Event cards and 3 Propaganda cards which are dealt into bottom 2 of three 6 card piles (there are additional 14 Event cards not used each session so lots of variety for re-play), a with a low number of regions (6), cities (3) and railway lines of communication (4) on small board its a pretty brisk game. 

All about reducing/maintaining British Political Will (track on right) and with use of Terror/Sabotage the Irgun depleted said will (starts at 18) to required zero in third deck (campaign), I need to better understand the Brit counters to this as it seemed achievable a tad easily (often the case with first play of a COIN game).

I do like the COIN system and this two player version has a nice new Initiative Track (simplified version of that in Colonial Twilight) with some new options.

I have next gamette 'Malaya' set up just need to read the game specific rules although this one seems more akin to 'normal' COIN, with area control, population support and resources, albeit on smaller scale. Economic Centers and British Commanders are new twists.

Panzer Grenadier practice (and a board wargame purchase)

Had a practice game with my favoured Panzer Grenadier Deluxe rules today at Stephens as we have multiplayer game scheduled for Saturday at Johns (Hill 112 is planned scenario).

We used a scenario 'Advance on Budapest 1944' with me as Fascists and Stephen as Commies.

(We had a practice last week as well but I had no phone or camera to take pics)

We last used these rules regularly in 2018/2019 and we had forgotten quite a bit of nitty gritty but think (?) we have ironed out any issues we had (mainly with terrain/cover) and hopefully we can run smooth game between us.

And in other news I actually splurged monies on a board wargame (first in 4+ years) as was enticed by 'The British Way - Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire' latest in the COIN series of games from GMT. 

This is first of multi-pack approach with game containing four small two player situations in this instance covering British 'withdrawals' from Palestine, Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, each sharing a common set of counters/markers but with differing adjustments per theatre to core COIN system.

Hopefully this one will be with me in couple of days (enroute from the ever excellent Hexasim in France).