Field Of Battle II - Seven Years War bash - Prussia versus Austria

Game with Stephen using my favoured FOB2 rules and our Prussian and Austrian SYW forces.

We used it as trial of a points system we found online (tweaked slightly) as very often our games are last minute arrangements which makes it hard to set up scenarios and randomize units etc.
Points seemed to work fine for Units and Commanders but may need bit of changing for points for Deck quality as we felt 20% difference was tad too much for Average vs Skilled deck (10-15% may be better).

As always with FOB it proved to be a belter of a game.
I should have known what was coming when Stephen rolled for his Morale Pool rolling a 12 on D12 !!

He then managed to gain Up 1 in 3 pre-game rolls for Fate and therefore on the Command Decisions matrix he gained 3 extra Deployment Zones, I had to suffer Deploying 3 Commands at his whim and he got to re-deploy in a zone (fairly meaningless with me have to deploy 3/4 of army first).
I did however manage to win the Strength category sufficiently to force one of his Commands to be delayed by a D4 + a D6 of course the 'dice demon' then rolled a measly 3 in total !

And so to the game with Austrians able to see Prussian deployment and deploy themselves forward accordingly (Stephen had a Cavalry Command delayed).
Initial Austrian Cannonade saw me roll 1-2s whilst gunners rolled 11-12 and I had Infantry Battalions (including Crack Grenadiers) decimated and routing !
I won 99% of Initiative rolls but Austrian shooting was deadly throughout the game whilst mine was mediocre at best, not only did Stephen roll high but also Even which has added benefits in FOB.

We saw the power of Cavalry in FOB2 if they can survive any shooting and close with foot, well at least Austrian Cavalry proved irresistible as my Prussian mounted arm had more mixed fortunes (but did manage to Rout an Infantry Bttn).
Again Stephens rolling was superior to mine in bulk of Melees.

Of course my Morale Pool was dwindling rapidly with this laser guided Austrian firepower and soon I was out of Chips and handing the Austrians extra chips and this coincided with arrival of Austrian delayed troops.

I pulled an Army Morale card which I managed to pass but declared defeat as over half my Army was destroyed or routing.

Great game played to a conclusion in about 3 1/2 hours which is always a bonus for an evening game.




Prussian centre advances

Left flank threatened by Austrian Cavalry

Austrian left

Prussian Dragoons and Hussar on extreme right

The centre and left, note two Routing Prussian units (red markers)

Prussian left flank has collapsed so centre having to redeploy

Prussian Musketeers just recovered from Rout now in contact with fresh Austrian horse

Prussian horse advance

As does Austrian centre (newly arrived horse unit just visible on left)

Prussians forming a multi-unit square of sorts

Prussian Dragoons readying to charge

Some of the mounting Prussian losses !!

Combat Commander: Stalingrad 3 games played

Another session with my Dad of this most excellent game.

More mayhem in Stalingrad with Ivans being victorious in three encounters, one near the Barrickady factory, another against Romanians at an airfield near the Chir river and lastly a vicious struggle for the 'Commisar's House'.   

All were fairly close affairs with both sides capable of clutching victory.

We had just about everything in the system thrown at us, Mines, Ampulomets (mine blew up breaking its crew and setting fire to hex !), Wire, Snipers, Heroes, Wire Entaglements, Blazes in fact everything except Air Attacks.



Great fun with truly great game, not since the heady days of Squad Leader have I been so devoted or enamored with a game !

Shako II - French versus British in Peninsula

After a long long week of work and the madness of the world twas great therapy to get a game of Shako II today at Stephens.
I fielded French 'pick up' army for Peninsula 1812-14 against Stephen's British force from same period.
British get to pick to be defender which is sort of no-brainer as they also get 6 terrain selections to French 4 (we added 1 each as table roughly foot wider and 8" deeper than Shako default size).
In Spain this means Brits gets lots of hills and often steep in fact Stephen rolled up 4 steep hills 1 gentle hill a vineyard and a piece of rough ground so a fair old fortress for me to assault (thus yielding me 10% more Regular French Infantry units in this case 3 more plus 1 extra skirmisher base).
Stephen set up in standard reverse slope defence with couple of Divisions in reserve (initially off-table).
I sent my Cavalry Division of 3 Dragoon, 1 Chasseur and 1 Horse Battery on a Deep Flank march off-table  on my right.
As they only appear from turn 4 onwards and only on a 5-6 this is risky but was only way I could see to flank the line of hills (and wanted to see how it works in Shako as only am option for French).
I refused my left flank (at least initially) with 1 Infantry Division and sent the other 3 on Attack orders against the central gentle hill and adjacent steep hills.
To test rules I sent 2 Divns in Columns and the other also in Column but deploying into Line before contact made.
My flank march arrived on turn 4 much to my surprise but we were a little unclear as to just how deep such a march can go (confused re entry point at 3/4 of table depth vis a vis the restricted deployment zone of 6" either side of Commander).
I do think I got it right as rules are written but not completely clear, however if Stephens more restrictive view is correct (ie that no 'units' can deploy into last 25% not just the Commander) then I think such a risky move is not worth doing and entry area far to predictable by enemy).
Game developed as we expected with French having to advance into teeth of British guns and then Musketry with several French Inf units taking hits and staggers.
I did manage several charges with multiple columns but the centre was dominated by some Elite British units (Highlanders) who managed to shoot of my columns (usual 6s aplenty by Stephen) and then these can counter-charge my repelled columns meaning they Fell Back or were destroyed. 
Out of 6 such charges only 1 managed to hit home and break an Elite unit.
I however lost a whole division lost to Break Test (ie all units removed).
My flanking Cavalry Divn however arriving at first opportunity done sterling work despite having to charge several squares (compulsory under Attack orders once with 4") as it was for once my turn to roll 6s whilst Stephen rolled low !
If Cavalry outscore Inf the Inf are destroyed )a sort of 'quick kill' mechanism).
However I was now facing the British Cavalry reserve so things could have gone either way as we had to call time on game.
In Shako Cavalry are very potent as are Elite/Guard Infantry but are not a numerous resource.
Great game with a really nice set of rules.

Will this madness ever end !!??

Such grim news again and from one of my favourite cities in the world.............................

Combat Commander two more Stalingrad scenarios played

Managed to get in a couple of games with the always excellent Combat Commander.

Two scenarios from the Stalingrad Battle a Pack with Ivans winning the first and Nazis the second.

L'Art De La Geurre - Maurikian Byzantines vs T'Ang Chinese

Game with Stephen using my venerable Byzantines against his T'Ang (some lovely figures) using LADG.
Great game which pretty much hinged on late arrival of my out flanking command.
I thought I would give out flank rules a go (arrives turn after rolling a 5 or 6) but they arrived to late in day to have desired affect.
With the relatively short duration of LADG games out flanks are a bit too risky to undertake unless situation desperate enough.
The T'Ang foot with Spearmen backed by Bowmen are tough as they shoot, count missile support and their spears counter mounted Impact.
My Elite Bukellaroi however proved a match as they are able to survive low rolls and can grind down the foot.
We do enjoy these excellent rules which play somewhat like DBx system but with FOG combat/outcomes.