L'Art De La Guerre - Sogdian vs Thematic Byzantine

Quick (very) game today with LADG as Stephen heading down south again at end of January for Munster (Cork) Competition and so looking some practice games.

Competition has a sort of Dark Ages theme (with several outliers) and Stephen wanted to try his Thematic Byzantines and I selected a Sogdian force to oppose them. 

Really quick game decided in two melee phases !

At first clash we had nine melees of which five were at even factors and of course I managed to not win a single one (two draws my best effort) suffering numerous hits and then being obliterated in second melee phase with 2 Generals dying !! truly awful dice rolls, Stephens were not stellar but did not need to be.

Ah well it was at least practice for him and likely our next batch of games (post Christmas) will be LADG outings.

 

Field of Battle 3 - Guldengossa scenario at Ulster Wargames Society

Club meeting today (delayed from last month) and I set up a Napoleonic scenario (adapted from Leipzig scenario book) of Action at Guldengossa 16th October 1813 with French (Mr B) attacking a Russo/Prussian defence (Dave T and Dave B).

Action covers afternoon period (1400 onwards) after French Grand Battery on Galgenburg Heights (off-table in this scn) has pummeled Allied artillery and a massed cavalry advance by 1st Reserve Cavalry Corps is forming supported by Infantry from V Corps.

Only one Cuirassier Division starts on table with rest of French arriving on successive Move cards with two light Batteries from Grand Battery able to join if desired.

Facing them are two Russian Infantry Brigades (from 1st and 2nd Corps) and two Prussian Brigades (9th and 10th) with four Brigades in reserve (high quality Russian Guard foot and mounted along with Cuirassier and Grenadiers) also on following Move cards (but with slight delay).

A light Cavalry Brigade sat as on table reserve on Allied right.

Great game as ever with FOB with French Cuirassier (I gave them an UP1 on initial charge in game to simulate Elan shown on day) managing to annihilate a Russian brigade but being stymied by Prussians (sensibly in square).

Only real check on French was the vaunted Saxon Cuirassier being Routed although they recovered almost immediately, but the Allies suffered several morale losses and Routed units (by comparison any losing French only fell back).

Allies not helped by two Brigadiers becoming Hors D'Combat (underlings Disordered) and initial two Reserves being delayed (dreaded 1 on D10) although the Russian Guard Cavalry and later their Cuirassier managed to get directly involved.

The Russian Guard Jager Infantry (best foot in game) and Grenadiers did eventually arrive but alas too late to effect outcome.

Russian morale losses mounted steadily and of course they ran out and failed the first ARmy Morale test taken so giving French the field.

Initial moves sees bulk of French force arrive. Grand Battery off table in center.

Cuirassier surging forward 

Riding down a unit of skirmishing Russian Jager that bravely/foolishly tried to delay them

French infantry in center

Allies defend Guldengossa

Russian Brigade about to fold between village and ponds

Prussian on Allied left wisely form square as Guard cavalry moves up in support

French exerting pressure all along line (couple of Allied units Routed)

Saxons have just rallied (in near center) after ignominious Rout. French Cavalry numerous on this flank (they all appear on right)

French and Russian cavalry clashed on right, with French losing a unit of Dragoons whilst Russians lost a Cuirassier and Guard Dragoons, but shore up a crumbling flank.

View from French right across the field

Square stand firm but losses elsewhere forced their ultimate retreat.

Also at club were couple of other games.

A Battlegroup game in 20mm with Adam against Andy umpired by Dave P set in Hungary 1945. 

Some really excellent paint jobs on display here and nicely 'animated' units and cool (groan) winter terrain bits. 

Believe Germans won this.

The two Jeremys with Dave S and Dave M (yes yet more Daves !) played a 28mm game using Dux Britannium (I think) with Saxons versus ? no idea how this turned out but more nice kit on display.

Emperor of the Battlefield test game

Tried out Emperor of the Battlefield rules today at Stephens with his French facing my Prussians (550pts each).

I do not have the rules (but have played authors SYW set - King of the Battlefield) and Stephen not played them before (hence the play test) so a few things to absorb especially re the set up and deployment of forces which is quite involved (roads entering table more important than in most sets).

Forces are very like standard Shako with each player fielding a roughly a Corps (4-6 Infantry Divisions and/or Cavalry Brigades) and indeed 15mm unit sizes are same as in Shako (ie 2 stand units each stand 40mm wide) which perfectly suits our armies.

System hinges around Morale Tests which occur as the (only) result of declaring a shooting target or units engaging in close combat (unusual use of a D8 counting positive and a D6 counting negative along with various modifiers to generate an result) with failed tests generating a Waver marker.

Combat/shooting potentially very bloody as most units Rout upon suffering 2 Wavers (1 for Raw and 3 for Guard) and are removed but can cause cascading morale tests on any units routed through. 

Another interesting facet is charges can be preceded by a preparatory firing phase in attempt to force target to temporarily 'flinch' (minus factor in any ensuing combat).

Formation changes require a Control Test (modified 4+ on a D10) to be successful.

Several optional rules (we did not use any) covering an Orders system and Rallying Router and suchlike.

All in all a interesting set with decent unit interactions and points system (if you like that sort of thing) but lacking army lists and any national traits (again if you like that sort of thing).

Believe they were used at recent Warfare show for a small competition and they seem well suited to such.

Only real criticism is that the QRS and the rules seem to be at odds on couple of things but nothing major.

Liked them enough to order a set although was it ever in doubt I could resist !!?? 

Only couple of pics as busy trying to fathom how things worked

Back cover

A bit of Rapid Fire Reloaded and some solo Combat Commander

Game at Stephens today using Rapid Fire Reloaded and the OP Epsom scenario he set up a couple of weeks ago.

We only managed a few turns due to discussing his visit to Warfare and various rule sets (a fav subject for our waffling) but we found RFR to be a fast playing set with simple shooting and movement allowing sizeable games playable in a reasonable (ie Rapid) time frame. 

There are a few major differences from RF2 and indeed even quicker playing but maintains the interesting sequence of play (2 Move phases allowing you to 'shoot in' an attack). 

Infantry are much more durable if based in 2's or 3's. 

We did however have real difficulty with rules for 'standard' hedges and spotting related to them as wording very confusing (there is confusion on various RF Bakebook sites) but impact on a game is huge regarding possible lines of fire and we played them differently (sort of bocage like) than we have in past I think. 

A consequence of brevity of rules in this regard as what was covered in several pages in RF2 is now boiled down to a couple of sentences (I always find this an issue with such condensed/simple rule sets in that they tend to have gaps in clarity) but nothing else caused problems that we came across.

Definitely needs some clarity (and rules for Bocage) or of course house ruling.

British attackers in Fontenay-le-Pesnil and approaching St Nicolas Farm (on right)

Germans unseen under 'Concealment Cards' in front of Rauray

Also played some Combat Commander in solo mode this week and had rare old time as usual even if I am beating myself !

So much action in each game and fluctuating fortunes and managed to get through 3 scenarios in an afternoon.

Catch up on another disrupted gaming week and a blast from the distant past

No face to face game again this week (boo hoo) as wifey needing car for last minute dentist visit, and Stephen off to Warfare at weekend.

We had planned to try a Rapid Fire Reloaded scenario at Stephens based on action at Rauray during Op Epsom and hopefully we will at some point.

I had quick solo session with Fire In The Lake game using the 'medium' scenario which plays much quicker (only 3 decks) than usual full scenario I play. 

NVA start much stronger in this and US with many more boots on the ground but the sneaky VC came through victorious after a really powerful 'Tet Offensive' card play. 

Great game.

I also set up a solo test for latest (Sept ?) version of Valour and Fortitude rules with a basic 350 points encounter type game with French vs Prussians 1813

Only major difference I can discern from last version is that Rallying units hits is much harder (6 needed rather than old 4+), some other minor tweaks to unit abilities etc.

I consider V&F an alternative to Black Powder (feels very much like a variant) as only failing to activate Brigades on a 1 seemed better than 2D6 method in BP, but have to say so far in my outing there have been an awful lot of 1's and therefore inactive formations. 

But the 'event' cards are a nice addition (if a bit gamey) and the various systems for movement, shooting, melee and morale all work fine and are a tad less 'dicestatic' than BP. Fine as a quick play easy to balance (ie points) system although still well behind FOB in my own estimation. 

 

Also I came across some real vintage pics from my very early miniature wargaming days ie 1978/79.

Couple of (poorly lit as it was in our loft) early games with 6mm kit on an unpainted board with some unpainted terrain items. 

Believe this was during Christmas holidays 1978 when I was off school and Dad off work and think we used No 1 Wargames Command World War 2 rules.

Skip forward 6+ months and terrain has improved somewhat with a Hornby grass mat and more painted items of scenery (several old Bellona 'cut outs') 

Hard to tell but AFVs are mix of old GHQ and Heroics and Ros and all unbased ahh those were the heady days of yore.

I started gaming with Airfix 20mm around 1975 but cant find any pics (possibly some cave drawings someplace)