L'Art De La Guerre - two more games played

 Another couple of games of LADG played today at Stephens.

First up it was my Avars vs Thematic Byzantines, however I had got my army list slightly schewed a tad by including Elite Medium Cavalry Bow (not allowed but could have been Heavy Cavalry Bow instead at same price) and then counting my Light Cavalry as Elite when only ordinary despite costing them correctly.

Not sure it made any difference as my shooting was pretty pants from get go but may have made a couple of elements hang around longer than they should due to Elite bonus ?

Quite evenly matched armies although the Avars find it difficult to deal with supported Byzantine heavy infantry of which there were thankfully only a few.

Avars lost eventually.

Avars advance trying to hold Byzantine foot on right 

Next game I fielded an all mounted Central Asian Turkish force for a good historical match up against T'Ang Chinese. 

My 22 elements were all elite but again they just have no real answer to the T'Ang mixed spear and bow heavy foot of which comprises a third of their force.

Thankfully the river Stephen placed turned out to be dried up so I did try a flank march with a light cavalry command which arrived right away (ie on turn 2) which was maybe just too early letting cat out of bag rather soon, but at least they arrived.

T'Ang where able to march right along my left flank and push the 'wall' of heavy foot directly forward due to good leaders and high PIP rolls, of course I managed to roll a one twice for my command PiPs limiting my ability to react.

The Chinese heavy foot then shot up my light cavalry and a gap soon appeared in my center as my left wing cavalry clashed with more numerous T'Ang mounted.

I did kill a couple of crossbow units with some lucky shooting and killed a cataphract but too little compared to losses I sustained as Turks fell apart.

One of these days..........................................

Turk right wing tries to envelope Chinese (flank march appeared on far right)

The 'jet propelled' T'Ang do an on table outflank

My left wing in difficulties with low PIPs hampering options.

Barbarossa To Berlin - solo play

Got Barbarossa To Berlin board wargame to table for short solo session.

Been awhile since I have had a board game in action and very enjoyable this was too even if only solo mode.

This game really does show just how preeminent the Eastern Front was compared to the sideshow that is the North African theatre (but a possible drain on resources) and even when Western Front is opened in Italy and France the main area of pain or gain for Whermacht is definitely Russia.

I only played until Total War started and Germans up against it due to insufficient VPs gathered in Russia and think the would have been hard pressed had I continued to bitter end.

Moscow was threatened but Panzer Armies failed to take it and then suffered losses to Panzers (a real hurt to German cause), Leningrad also held out and Germans never really got further than Kharkov before having to shore up a collapsing line.

L’art De La Guerre - Maurkian Byzantines up twice

Being a masochist of sorts I decided to try my Maurikian Byzantines with LADG today. 

Two games managed again first against Arab Conquest and the second against late Sassanid, so historical match-ups.

I find the Byzantines rather impotent and difficult to organise effectively but both good games.

The Arabs are a nightmare with the solid line of heavy infantry swordsmen to which I have no real answer. I used a Bedouin Ally which is cheap and did sterling service. I held my Skutatoi and bowmen back in center straddling a hill as no match for Arab foot and tried attacking with my mounted on my left. I had excellent shooting dice it must be said but this just does not do enough damage before my mounted have to fight.

As expected the elite Boukellari held their own but the ordinary Defensorses and Hun lights succumbed too quickly leaving my elites to be flanked and overwhelmed. A couple of poor evades rolls saw me lose some light infantry which are costly hits to army and a deluge of disordering hits saw my army morale plummet and break. 

Second game against Sassanids was a completely different affair with lots of ‘micro’ manoeuvring and swirling combats. I did not use the Arabs this time fielding a couple of Optimates (elite lancers) and Cursorses (LC bow) in their stead. I even managed to catch a group of evading Sassanid heavy cavalry in the rear with my own cavalry but failed to kill them off and again my lesser cavalry was mauled by a marauding elephant and my army morale collapsed.

Ulster Wargames Club - Field Of Battle - Zorndorf

Put on another Field Of Battle 3 game today at UWS Club using my trusty old Zorndorf scenario (simply as I had scenario stuff easily to hand).

I umpired and had 5 players participating as Prussians (David T and Phil) against Russians (Jeremy N, David S and Leslie) on a 6' x 4' table with my smaller 3 base units, but we used standard 25mm measurements which fairly made the game crack along (I would usually use 1/2 or 2/3rds on a 6x4).

Zorndorf is essentially a straight forward slugging match (as it was historically) and so it transpired in this outing.

Prussians held back on their right with Schorlemers Cuirassier Brigade as it faced the inferior more numerous cavalry wing under Demiku and managed to engage this wing effectively throughout game despite Schorlemer being shot from saddle at one point 

On Prussian left their cavalry under Seydlitz and Bieberstein faced their counterparts under Gaugraben and this was a bit of and to and fro with Prussians gaining upper hand but just too slowly.

But the story of the game was with the Prussian infantry of Manteuffel, Kanitz and Dohna in the centre advancing against the Russian foot under Saltykov, Gallitzen and Browne.

The Prussians suffered horrendously from the Russian guns (so many 1s rolled vs high Russian rolls) early on and failed to rally on most opportunities.

Some Prussian Grenadiers did manage to assault and almost breakthrough the Russian center but were then repelled and finally destroyed and their supporting formations of Musketeers also suffered high losses and Dohna was also shot down.

This failure by Prussian foot saw their Army Morale dwindle to nothing and Frederick failed to muster their resolve (failed roll on Army Morale card) and they quit the field.

Another excellent game with FOB and it was very interesting to watch the battle develop from afar. FOB is easy to umpire as mechanics are basically simple and the card sequencing makes it easy to explain what players can do each time. The multiple dice types can be a bit confusing for new players but they certainly generate decisive results and aid fast play. The opposed rolls also keeps players engaged in game which is a real benefit in multiplayer games.

Winner and losers both expressed their enjoyment of the game and ultimately that is what its all about no matter the dice results. 

David B and John were engaged in a couple of FOGR games but I only managed to take pics of their second game which was an interesting match up of Monrose Scots against an Later Northern Parliamentarian force. Some lovely flags on display again.

L'Art De La Guerre- two games with Punic Romans

Two fun and interesting games of LADG today at Stephens with my Republican Romans taking the field.

First opponent was Gallic with lots of mounted troops.

The terrain worked out pretty well for the Romans with cover on both flanks despite my failing to place a river on a flank.

Whilst I choose to attack the numbers of Celt mounted meant that I knew that advancing too aggressively would see me outflanked on both ends of my line as Celt foot hung back from legionaries.

And so it turned out as I ended up vainly chasing the Chariots with Legionaries on my right whilst my left bore brunt of charges by the Gauls elite heavy cavalry as warbands held back until near the end to defeat the Romans. 

The Gaul Soldurii with an embedded General proved very effective.

Romans just cant field enough mounted of their own to support flanks effectively. 

Roman Legion faces the Gauls

Romans have good terrain on flanks at set up but Gaul mounted dominate the more open areas

Gaul elite cavalry bear down on my left

And Chariots invest my right with no real counter to their 'skirmishing' ability

Second game was a much different affair as Stephen fielded Later Macedonian.

This was much more of a slugfest and really came down to my Elite legion failing abjectly against the pike whilst their average compatriots dealt with Macedonian right.

A couple of key combats decided the matter for Macedonians but this was a bloody battle !

Getting two games in is certainly very feasible with LADG even with our discussions of all sorts unrelated stuff including 'could the Germans have actually won WW2 ??' and other waffle :-)

Romans deployed to met the Macedonians

Clashes all along the line with my Elite Legion beginning to suffer already in center

Right wing supports chasing off some cavalry

Macedonian General survives a flank attack on my extreme right.

Field of Battle 3 - Ramillies scenario with 10mm chaps

Played a scenario based on Battle of Ramillies May 1706 using FOB3 today with Stephen.

Stephen chose the French defenders and I therefore took the Allied force.

We used a free set up for units rather than historical deployments with units equating to roughly Brigade/Regimental level units.

Great game once again with FOB3 that played really quickly (3 hours in total with 2 1/2 decks run through).

French cannons in center were deadly early on causing Dutch cavalry a lot of hits as their foot compatriots attacked Ramillies directly.

I did manage to contest the town (before getting thrown out later in game) but a single unit of French cavalry ran roughshod over my mounted units despite being outnumbered in several melee combats.

My Dutch Foot Guards at least lived up to their elite status but were eventually overwhelmed.

Game really turned on my left where I had deployed the elite English foot and cavalry around Taviers.

The French did occupy the village so easily taken but my elite units completely failed to make any headway against French opposite numbers and the English were all to quickly decimated.

This left the overall Allied effort essentially stymied and morale losses were mounting and in reality we should have called game at this point, but I fought on to then see the Dutch in center repulsed from Ramillies and pulverized in turn.

The Allied German/Danish/Prussian foot survived mostly unscathed as the just demonstrated against the French lines across the Pitite Gheet.

FOB3 is certainly a very decisive game especially with my rolls (so many ones...so many ones.....) but I just love its unpredictability and narrative style. 

The battlefield view from Allied lines

French right wing behind Taviers

French center and left wing (around Ramillies and Petite Gheet)

Allied foot on right support Dutch foot in center

Dutch foot advance on Ramillies as their cavalry get pounded by French cannon

The ill fated English advance begins on left wing

The English are suddenly absent from the field.................

Field of Glory: Renaissance - 16th Century match up Spanish vs Dutch

Game of FOGR today at Stephens as he wanted to try out a couple of 16th Century armies. 

I dont have anything from this period so he fielded both protagonists, these being Spanish and Dutch (some later period figures done stand in duties).

I took the Spanish with their large Tercios and first was time using troops that were use Kiel formation.

Kiels comprised two units of Walloons with 6 Pike, 2 Halberdiers and 4 Arquebusers but I redeployed these as a unit of 8 shooters and 16 Pike/Halberd.

I also had 2 Spanish Early Tercios (durable 16 base units), 1 Artillery Battery and 4 mounted units with 1 unit of mounted Arquebus and 3 armed with Lances (new to me in this period as well) for 11 unit equivalents 

Dutch had several Pike and Shot type units with 2 Artillery behind gabbions with a unit of lancers and 3 very potent units of Dutch Curassier with Pistols generating 13 units. 

Stephen also redeployed 2 Pike and Shot units as a unit of pike and an 8 base unit of Muskets (only ones on field).

Dutch won initiative and flung their mounted units across the field on my right for a brawl with my lancers and reiters.

Dutch refused on their right and I knew that that meant it would take at least 5 turns for my Tercios and Kiels to come to engagement range even with double moves with Generals (no sweeping advances ala FOB or BP) so the mounted battle was obviously key.

Thankfully my mostly outclassed cavalry managed to destroy one Dutch unit and manfully hold up the Cuirassier as my foot trundled forward.

As it turned out it took me 7 turns to get into contact with Dutch right wing and then a virtual stalemate ensued as Dutch veterans proved hard to grind down (with an average unit standing despite being fragmented). 

I lost a unit of 6 light lancers on this wing to another Cuirassier unit.

My right had by this time imploded despite my chasing a Dutch lancer unit off the table and my army break point was reached, but the Dutch were fairly bloodied as well.

Another enjoyable game once again with FOGR and for once my dice rolling was pretty good at times ! not often I get to say that.

Mounted clash on my right

Musketeers face my Arquebus unit across a field

Tercios and Kiel trundling forward

But is a long way to Dutch lines

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we will remember them....................................

 

O Group - Cristot scenario completed

Finished Cristot scenario started last week with Stephen. 

We got a much tighter handle on the various orders available and found play speeded up we learnt the basics of rules and were able to play through turns quickly. 

We did make a couple of errors of omission forgetting some of the national characteristic rules such as British ability to use Smoke and re-rolls for Germans if firing on Spotted units, and I completely forgot to use my Sniper !

Game was won by British on 11th turn (of 16) as they managed to inflict 3 Fubars on Germans (ie 12 losses) whilst on 2 Fubars themselves.

Overall I like O Group with its dicing for Orders system and straightforward combat systems. 

Its is very much limited to its single Battalion vs Battalion match up but within that framework it works very well falling into a niche between lower level sets like Panzer Grenadier or IABSM and higher level stuff like Spearhead or Rapid Fire.

The points system included is fairly nominal and I feel that scenarios will be how the game will be best,  which is true of most WW2 sets I prefer unless going with more ‘gamey’ style like Bolt Action or Battlegroup which are further down my preference list.