I Live with Cats

Cabin Fever: The Saga Continues...

2012-01-17T10:14:00.000-08:00

I attempted an abortive escape this morning. Yesterday afternoon saw a bit of a thaw and by this morning it looked as if Snowpocalypse 2012 was winding down. The road out seemed clear and I thought I'd head into the office.

However, after going a mile down the road and finding it still pretty tricky, I decided to turn back and work at home again. I at least had the chance to stop by the store and stock up on food. Now I won't be forced to eat the cats—or be eaten by them.

As soon as I parked at the store, the snow started coming down. It hasn't stopped since.

I have no idea how long the snow will stay. A few years back, I was housebound for a week as the snow fell, partially melted, fell again, melted, fell again, etc.

One needed supply I got at the store was sweets. I had no idea how much a sugar junkie I am until I found myself craving something sweet. Maybe it was just the inability to procure some that had me going. Now that I have what I craved, I'm not so eager for it. It's just comforting to know that when I want it, I'll have it in spades.

Cabin Fever

2012-01-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

The Seattle area has had its first major snow of the winter. Up to now we've been blissfully spared. Unlike other places where it snows, it snows here infrequently and the cost/benefit ratio for equipping the region to have snow clearance is nil. Therefore, when it snows, the roads are undriveable (except by morons whose corroming off parked cars on icy roads is a staple on YouTube).

Particularly undriveable is the hill that leads from my town home out to the main road. So, when it snows, I'm stuck at home. The Z just won't do that hill.

Being stuck at home is not without its consolations. I have ample time to read, eat, paint, eat, bond with the cats, eat, etc. Sunday was rather pleasant. I spent it reading by the fire with cats lounging about me. I managed to finish Harry Sidebottom's latest Warrior of Rome book, The Caspian Gates.

Rhiannon, my heat pig, enjoying the crackling fire

Today I'm working at home. It's nice to have a job with remote access where I can do everything here that I could do there—except be interrupted by coworkers who randomize me throughout the day. But then, their remote access only means that they can't randomize in person. I've been working for one hour so far, and already I'm doing something I hadn't planned on doing today.

I didn't paint. I should have. I have so many projects I want to work on. I just felt no desire to sit at my painting table. I seem to be most eager to paint only when I must be doing something else (like working). With time on my hands, I tend to be more indolent.

Grendel is intrigued by this cold white stuff, but not for long

While Grendel wanted to tip-toe through the snow on the veranda, I preferred not to stir. There's a store within walking distance for when I run out of food, but I don't relish the walk. I may venture out today, however.

The snow looks to last through mid-week. I hope it's the last snow of the season as well as the first. I've spent too much time living in snowy places to have any interest in winter wonderlands. I can enjoy being inside only for so long. After a few days of this, I may go crazy.

Stackless in Seattle

2012-01-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

Kevin Smyth and I hosted a Sail & Steam Navies game for out annual Drumbeat game day. I came up with a scenario that involved the Confederate squadron in Charleston coming out to challenge the blockade. It was the first time in our S&SN games that we had first-line Confederate ironclads in action and I was eager to see how they would do. I thought they would power through the blockading ships and power back. They were well armored, well-armed, excellent rammers, and all mounted Spar torpedoes as well. However, things didn't turn out so well...

The Confederate forces were the following:

CSS Charleston (ironclad ram)
CSS Palmetto State (ironclad ram)
CSS Chicora (ironclad ram)
CSS David (torpedo boat)
CSS St. Patrick (torpedo boat)

The Union ships at start were the following:

USS Commodore Barney (converted wooden ferry boat)
USS Kansas (wooden gunboat)
USS Octorara (double-ended wooden gunboat)
USS Keokuk (bad ironclad gunboat)
USS New Ironsides (bad-ass ironclad frigate)

The game also saw the first use of shoals as a "terrain" feature. We didn't get a chance to see how well ships navigated over them because the players just avoided the shoals entirely.

The Union started with their forces either anchored or moving very slowly. New Ironsides was anchored farthest back, with Commodore Barney as the sacrificial lamb closest in. The Confederates started on at full speed in a line ahead formation with ships ordered as follows: (L to R) Palmetto State, St. Patrick, David, Chicora, Charleston.

The Confederate squadron in line ahead

I figured Commodore Barney would be matchsticks in no time, but she put a lot of hurt on Palmetto State with minimal damage in return. In one cannonade phase, she completely destroyed Palmetto State's smokestack, which reduced her speed to a mere 4" per move phase for the rest of the game. This cause the Confederates to start to lose formation and the ships came on higgled-piggeldy rather than in a solid line. Palmetto State also had one whole section or armor shot away by Commodore Barney's pop-guns. Scott Abbot, who ran Barney, just couldn't miss or roll lower than a 10 for damage.

Commodore Barney packs a lot of hurt in her small frame

Palmetto State's fate with her stack was a portent of what was to befall the rest of the squadron. All of the surviving Confederate ships had their stacks shot away and the reduction in motive power that caused was a principle factor in the eventual Confederate loss.

Chicora takes the lead as the other ships lose speed

St. Patrick also suffered from Commodore Barney's fire and was quickly sunk. This was another first for our games. Torpedo boats have been hard to hit and the few that were sunk were done in by failed torpedo attacks that became collisions with much bigger ships or, in one case, a torpedo boat blowing itself up while attacking.

New Ironsides and Keokuk out beyond the shoal water

At first, New Ironsides was only able to participate with a single 150-pdr Parrott rifle. Its massive broadside of seven XI-inch Dahlgrens had insufficient range to affect the oncoming Confederates. Kevin, who ran the ship on its maiden voyage, slowly got it up to speed, but lingered a while with its broadside facing the oncoming Confederates. Eventually as the range decreased, New Ironsides got in a few shots at long range using battery fire, which increased her effect and chance to hit. However, the initial results were poor except for pulverizing poor David with an XI-inch broadside (over 1100 pounds of metal against one little steamboat) when she got too close in an attempt to make a torpedo attack.

David (far left) attempts an attack on New Ironsides

After David was lost, Chicora took the lead and headed at full steam for New Ironsides. She took a pounding getting there: she lost her stack and had several sections of her armor beaten up. Eventually, her lack of speed made it impossible to actually make a ram attack on any Union ship. Her erstwhile quarry, New Ironsides, simply put water between them and headed round the shoal to get between the Confederate rams and Charleston harbor while Chicora limped along behind sending a desultory shot now and then at New Ironsides' stern.

Chicora steams toward New Ironsides in a vain attempt to ram

By this time, the other rams were also slow and beaten up. Charleston lost her stack and had a lot of scattered armor damage. She also had her steering shot up. They'd had enough and were heading back to cover under the guns of Fort Sumter and the other batteries protecting Charleston harbor.

At this time, fate intervened. I hadn't expected the Confederates to take such a pounding and I had a couple aces up my sleeve with more Union ships that could come in as needed. While certainly NOT needed, I couldn't help but bring on USS Sangamon from the north to interpose herself on the Confederates' line of retreat. It was kind of cruel, but I really wanted to see how a XV-inch Dahlgren worked in the game and the XV-incher's main target—Confederate ironclads—was conveniently at hand.

I ran Sangamon and took her in holding my fire until I got close. When I finally fired, just outside of close range, my XI-inch hit, but the mauling XV-inch missed. Kevin said it served me right for attempting overkill. So, we'll have to wait for another game before we see the effect of XV-inch guns on rebel ironclads.

Post mortem

I think the tweaks I did for the rules worked out well in the game, although I may go back to making 10s a hull hit. I was a bit surprised at the amount of destruction dealt out by New Ironsides. Kevin and I both had misgivings that the Confederate rams, which also mounted torpedoes, would get in, sink New Ironsides and be back quickly. The loss of speed due to stack hits early on meant that the Union had a lot of time to shoot away before the Confederates were anywhere near striking distance.

Confederate ships had decent rifles, but nothing to compare to a XI-inch Dahlgren. Their best guns had a GR of 6, while New Ironsides had armor of 5-7. There was no chance they could do a lot of damage by gunfire; they had to get in with a ram or torpedo attack. The Confederates also didn't seem to attempt to much against the wooden ships. Octorara was untouched and Barney was only slightly damaged—despite spending the first turns of the game in a shoot-out with Palmetto State. Kansas held back at long range and took pot shots with its 150-pdr Parrott, taking only a few minor hits in reply. Kekokuk was less well armored than New Ironsides, but was never seriously targeted.

The design of the Confederate rams didn't help them too much in a gun fight. The guns only bear at limited angles and there is a big dead zone where none of the ship's guns can bear. There were several time when the Confederates just got shot without being able to reply.

The scenario needs more tweaks. The points values of the ships favored the Confederates by 107 to 73. I had originally planned it to be a night game using blinds for the ships until they were identified. The limited visibility and -2 to shooting "to hit" rolls would have favored the Confederate's chances to get in close and ram without taking a lot of damage. When I play this scenario again, I'll try that approach.

I may also retire New Ironsides. It's too powerful a ship, which is historically correct, but all play balance is lost. She took a lot of punishment while on station at Charleston, including a torpedo attack by David, but stayed put through it all. It's no wonder the Confederates never seriously tried to use their ironclad rams to break the blockade, but limited them to harbor defense instead. A determined sortie would undoubtedly run into New Ironsides and various Passaic-class monitors, which would have shot the rebel rams to bits.

Cats and blogging

2012-01-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

I came across this title just recently:

If O'Reilly uses cats on the cover of its Essential Blogging book, it confirms my suspicion that cats are an essential element to a good blog. Where would I be if I didn't live with cats?

I'm just a hack, of course, but I credit Grendel, Rhiannon, and Maebh with any good in this blog. Thanks, munchkins, for your essential contribution. Now get off my keyboard. Please.

More Ironclads

2012-01-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

After the DANG game on Tuesday and before we play again at Drumbeat on Jan 7, I wanted to play a game to try out some of the Sail & Steam Navies (S&SN) modifications we discussed after DANG. The mods are an attempt to restore some balance between shooting and ramming, which we felt was out of whack. In S&SN, shooting is one phase followed by a two-round movement phase in which ram attacks may take place. Ships that have no viable shot in the cannonade (shooting) phase are often rammed and sunk by ships they could see and easily target during movement. Add to that that shooting has proven to be largely ineffective at damaging enemy ships, except for the odd lucky shot.

My modifications changed the sequence so that in between the two rounds of movement was another cannonade phase (thus Shoot - Move1 - Shoot - Move 2). Guns could only shoot in one cannonade phase or, if they had not already shot, as a defensive fire against a ramming ship before resolving the ram attack. I also increased the chance of doing damage on the damage die rolls. There was now a 30% chance of damaging the ship and a 10% chance of causing crew suppression.

The game was a straight-up affair with two squadrons fighting it out on a river.

The Confederates had CSS Missouri (ironclad), CSS General Beauregard (cottonclad ram), CSS Governor Moore (wooden ram), and CSS Hornet (torpedo boat).
The Union had USS Choctaw (ironclad gunboat), USS Chillicothe (ironclad gunboat), USS Tyler (timberclad gunboat), and USS Monarch (unarmed wooden ram)

The Union squadron attempting some kind of formation

The rules mods started showing their worth on the first turn when no one shot at long range during the first cannonade phase; better to save shot until you get closer.

The squadrons soon passed each other like two lines of jousting knights. The only casualty was Tyler, which got rammed and sunk. Poor Tyler has been in three games so far and has been ram's-meat in all three: sunk twice and critically damaged once.

Squadrons engage en passant

While shots were traded, with only minimal increase in effect, the Monarch and Hornet were relatively ignored. It's a universal truth that gamers only like to shoot at ships that can shoot them. (Which is counterintuitive because the ones that ram will more surely sink you.)

As the ships circled back for another pass at each other, more shots were exchanged with better success. I ran the scow-of-the-line Chillicothe, which mounts two XI-inch Dahlgrens in a forward battery. The guns have a very limited field of fire and there is no rear battery. Even with the modified action sequences, I had no target in several cannonade phases. When I did get Governor Moore in my sights at close range, I rolled "1" for both shots: misses! XI-inch Dahlgrens are a fearsome gun—but only when they hit something.

Meanwhile, the Brooke rifles on the Governor Moore were having an effect on Chillicothe. When we call Chillicothe an ironclad, we're really just being polite. The forward casemate is OK, but otherwise the ship is about as well armored as a teapot. There's metal, to be sure, just not much. Moore shot away Chillicothe's armor in a few places and starting inflicting hull hits. Too many hull hits and you sink.

I did get back a bit of my own later, when I got Moore again in my sights, set her on fire, and blew up her steam power (but only enough to reduce her max speed to six inches).

As Missouri came about for another go at the Union ships, Chillicothe was able to target her and start pounding. However, Missouri mounts a XI-inch Dahlgren herself in a central pivot that can fire from either broadside. As she was in close range of Chillicothe, Chillicothe was in close range of her. A shot from Missouri's Dahlgren made a critical hit that inflicted a lot of crew suppression and took away all my steam power.

Chillicothe and Missouri trade big shots

Missouri, however, was on a rendezvous with terra firma. Coming at the shore at too great and angle, she became grounded under my guns—which weren't going anywhere since I had no speed.

The wily little Hornet was skulking around in Missouri's shadow most of the game waiting for a shot with its spar torpedo. With Chillicothe in straights, she had a perfect target. The attack came in perfectly, but failed. The attempt became a collision, which sunk the Hornet. This is the second time I've run ships that escaped a torpedo attack. It's such a good feeling.

The attack that failed

General Beauregard became the brunt of Union gunfire for a few turns until it lost all lower hull boxes from fire, which I think is the first time in our games that a ship has been lost solely by gunfire. Governor Moore, however, continued to hunt for ships to ram and found an opportunity against Choctaw. Despite being on fire, Moore bore down on Choctaw and got a ram attack in on the stern quarter. The attack was successful and Choctaw, heretofore undamaged, started to sink.

Choctaw sinking, Governor Moore ablaze

Governor Moore had further troubles in that her attempts to put out the fire started by Chillicothe resulted in the fire spreading and a loss of hull boxes burned away.

At this point we called the game, but it's unclear who won. For the Union, Tyler and Choctaw were sunk, Chillicothe was stopped, only Monarch (which never got in a single ram attack) was unhurt. For the Confederates, Beauregard was sunk, Moore was burning and lost more than half its hull, Hornet was sunk, and Missouri had freed herself from grounding and was mostly unhurt. If we score the game by victory point values, it was a Confederate win.

Rules mods post-mortem

I think the rules modifications gave better balance to shooting/ramming. The players did complain that it's still to easy to ram. The movement system is I-Go/You-go, so the opponent is stationary when you move. This means that even though the ships are supposed to be moving simultaneously, a ramming target is really a sitting duck. This can be especially galling if the target ship is actually moving faster than the attacking ship. We discussed a modification that will take in the target vessel speed as part of the calculation for a successful attack.

We also discussed simplifying the musket fire by sharpshooters. It seemed like a lot of work for an effect that rarely succeeded and only causes a single suppression when it does.

With the modifications, I think that S&SN is shaping up into a more balanced game.

DANG X: Up the Carnot river without a paddle wheel

2011-12-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday we played the tenth Dave's Annual Naval Game (D.A.N.G.) hosted by Dave Schueler. This year's theme was the American Civil War. Dave provided a simple campaign system that had a Union flotilla hunting for an ironclad that is rumored to be nearing completion somewhere up the (fictional) Carnot river in (non-fictional) Mississippi. Several others of us provided 1/600th scale ships (since we've been playing ACW naval since the early 90s).

We divided into sides and each had a set number of points available to buy ships. The campaign was set circa 1863 (before the fall of Vicksburg) and the available ships weren't necessarily limited to ships that operated on the inland waters at that time. The selection was large, so limiting ourselves to just a few was a tough choice. The only constraint was that the Confederates had to chose at least one ironclad.

The Union players were:
Me (USS Essex)
Kevin Smyth (USS Monarch)
Dale Mickel (USS Tyler)
Scott Murphy (USS Tuscumbia)
George Kettler (USS Naumkeag, USS Rattler)

The Secessionists were:
Arthur Brooking (torpedo boats, flotilla commander)
Dave Creager (CSS General Beauregard, CSS General Bragg)
Mark Waddington (CSS Missouri)

In addition to the ships we paid points for, the Union had two transports with troops that could be landed and some barges that contained fuel and ammunition. The Confederates had a series of batteries at points along the river. We could run by these batteries (at a loss of victory points) or attempt to silence or take them (earning victory points).

Like a chump, I didn't bring my camera. As luck would have it, others did. Dave Schueler's blog has his recount of the game with lots and lots of photos.

Day 1: Action at Sullivan's Ferry

On the first day of the campaign, the intrepid Union flotilla went into action against a battery at Sullivan's Ferry, just above the confluence of the Carnot and the Mississippi rivers. Only slight damage was incurred in capturing the batteries, which was quickly repaired at night.

While anchored at night, a marauding force of Rebel cavalry—clearly lead by someone much less illustrious than Nathan Bedford Forrest—was surprised by the troops accompanying the flotilla. Prisoners quickly and effusively gabbed and provided us with the location of all the remaining Rebel batteries on the river.

Confederate progress on completing their ironclad was a bit delayed due to faulty workmanship and lack of a suitable work ethic—defects quite foreign to Yankees and their can-do spirit.

Day 2: Burning out secession one town at a time

At dawn on the second day of the campaign, Honest Abe's able seamen proceeded upriver to Hannahsville, a secessionist hamlet nestled on the river's brim. En route, another battery was subdued, again with little damage to the squadron.

Upon reaching Hannahsville, the tars made a merry bonfire of the nest of rebellion. The town burned spectacularly, with the exception of the few buildings deemed necessary to the war effort, such as Madame Crotchfyre's social club and the "Last Gulp" saloon, which entertained the flotilla's officers while the tars aboard ship tucked into a nourishing meal of rancid hardtack and brackish water.

However, while teaching this practical lesson in civics to Hannahsville, the Union ships were set upon at night by a squadron of steam launches armed with infernal machines on spars. The Rebels lacked the requisite mechanical skill to work their machines and the first few attacks were foiled by secessionist incompetence. However, they figured it out a bit by trial and error and the USS Naumkeag was lost due to a successful explosion beneath her waterline. The USS Tyler, was also struck, but suffered only the loss of her port paddle wheel and no loss of floatation.

Gunfire at night against the tiny, fast-moving craft was disappointing. However, one torpedo boat was hoist with its own petard while attacking Tyler, leaving just two. Also, having expended all but one of their infernal machines, the rebels were less likely to accomplish further success by these means.

Day 3: Pressing on

Despite the losses of the night, the Union flotilla was ever more eager to continue upriver. The Tyler's damaged paddle wheel (unrepairable on campaign) rendered it unable to keep up with the other ships. A brief captain's meeting determined that rather than abandon Tyler and her powerful broadsides of VIII-inch Columbiads, we would tow her using one of the transports.

Just above Hannahsville, the Union flotilla encountered Battery Mickel, which was taken with minimal damage to the ships.

Further on, the flotilla reached Dave's Mill, which we quickly burned down, which was unfortunate in that we later learned that we might have used the millwheel to repair Tyler. Still, it made a good fire and taught the deluded rebels the price of treason.

Rumors came to the Union flotilla that completion of the rebel ironclad upriver had been further delayed due to mechanical ~~incompetence~~ complications.

Day 4: Smyth's Ferry

The Union flotilla fought batteries at Smyth's Ferry. The batteries repulsed our initial attack, but fire from Tuscumbia's XI-inch Dahlgren's quickly silenced the battery and drove off its crews.

The flotilla also captured a steam ferry and pressed it into service. As we proceeded upriver, the new ferry provided tow service to the still-disabled Tyler.

Day 5: Setback at Battery Murphy

The Union flotilla proceeded upriver passing Kettler's Ferry until we came upon Battery Murphy. In the action against these guns, the flotilla prevailed. However, a shot from the batteries disabled Essex' engines leaving her without motive power.

A consultation of ship captains determined that repair of Essex was essential. There were reports of rebel ships nearby upriver and it was decided to width raw to Kettler's Ferry to make repairs to Essex and continue next day.

During the night, an attack by secessionist cavalry was decicively repulsed, thus gaining more renown for the expedition.

Day 6: End of the rebel monster

The damaged to Essex' engines being repaired, the flotilla set out to run down the rebel ships upriver and bring them to a decisive battle. The enemy withdrew from our advance through the day. Even after joining with the ironclad, which had finally come down river, the rebels kept moving upstream until we thought they would mire themselves in the swamp at the head of navigation.

However, this withdrawal was merely a ploy to allow them to strike the Union flotilla at night when our superior gunfire would be minimized. What ensued was a fateful and sanguinary affair that ended the rebel threat.

The Union squadron deployed with the Rattler out front as a picket. Further down the river were the Monarch, Essex, Tuscumbia, and Tyler (initially towed by the captured ferry).

The Confederate squadron came on with CSS Missouri in the center. Persistent mechanical failures had reduced Missouri's speed to an almost negligible rate. Rather than let her be destroyed on the stocks without a fight, the rebels towed her downstream into battle. This masked her forward battery, so she need to turn broadside to the Union ships in order to fire.

Accompanying Missouri on her port side were the CSS General Bragg and CSS General Beauregard. Also, the lone armed, surviving torpedo boat was at the extreme left of the line.

As Missouri advanced and turned broadside to the Union ships, Lt. Cmdr Smyth in Monarch saw his change for a ram. Getting steam up as aggressively as possible, he braved Missouri's fire and pressed in.

The rebel rams came downriver quickly aiming to smash into a Union ironclad or two. However, the Union ships were diligent not to present a target for the rams. As things transpired, the tin clad Rattler (to which Lt. Cmdr Kettler had transferred command after the sinking of Naumkeag) was struck by the Beauregard and sunk. Splashing throughout the water, Kettler was able to make it to the ferry (now cut lose from towing Tyler) only to be struck by Bragg and lost. Lt. Cmdr Kettler has the brave distinction of commanding every Union ship lost in the campaign.

Essex, a slow ship—especially against a current—made its way bows-on to the rebel ships. Beauregard passed provocatively close by without getting shot (a rules anomaly), but Missouri hove into range soon enough and I got a few ineffective shots off.

Soon Commodore Arthur and his one remaining toped boat came towards Essex. I turned bows-on to him but didn't have enough movement left to run him down. The torpedo boat obliged me by smacking itself into my bow and getting crushed.

The Bragg and the Beauregard continued into the Union main line, but found little else to ram besides the Rattler and ferry. By now, too, the Union ships had found the range. In one explosive turn, Essex found itself in a target-rich position and got shots off with all its guns at once. Coupled with the fire of the Tyler, the hits were starting to count and Cmdr Creager took his ships upriver.

Finally, a lucky win of the initiative roll, let Lt. Cmdr Smyth ram Monarch into Missouri. With a resounding crash, Monarch stove in the side of the rebel monster. In doing so, however, Monarch found itself fouled with Missouri and was threatened with the prospect of being dragged under. A timely roll (generously modified by the GM) enable Monarch to escape a watery grave and Missouri settled to the bottom alone.

Cmdr Creager continued upriver with his damaged rams to eventually perform the Confederate naval tradition of scuttling them and the campaign was won by the Union.

Thoughts on Sail & Steam Navies

The rules we used for the game is our latest enthusiasm, Sail & Steam Navies by Bay Area Yards. There is a lot to like about these rules. They are streamlined for easy play without genericizing too much. The main thing we notice are that the rules heavily favor ram attacks and minimize the effect of gunfire.

The reason for this is twofold:

1) The game sequence of Shoot - Move - Move makes it difficult to target ships coming at you. A ramming ship can be out of range or out of arc in the shooting phase, and then make two moves to make a ram attack without ever being shot at, even if most or all of their move is within range and arc of enemy guns.

2) The effect of shot is not terribly destructive. Once you actually hit, you roll a number of D10s equal to the difference between the gun rating (GR) and the armor value of the section hit. Each D10 has only a 20% chance of causing actual damage (armor or hull hits) and a 10% chance of causing suppression, which is easily removed in the repair phase. Triples can cause critical hits or damage guns, but only of the section hit allows that. I've had several occasions to roll a lot of D10s and get triples for a hit on a ships smokestack that did nothing because there is no critical hit for a stack and no guns in the location.

What's needed are some house rules to address the issue. What will work would be changing the sequence to allow shooting at any time before or between moves or allowing only a single move per turn. Another change is to increase the effect of hits so that there is a greater chance of doing damage. As written, the rules give a suppression on a roll of 8, an armor hit on a 9, and a hull hit on a 10. Changing this to suppression on a 6, armor hit on a 7 or 8, and a hull hit on a 9 or 10 may work. (Or possibly suppression on 6 and 7, armor on 8 and 9, and hull on 10 because armor hits on section that have no armor or have lost all armor become hull hits.)

Theoretically, the bigger the gun (higher GR) means that you'll roll more D10s and therefore have an increased chance of inflicting damage. I'm no statistician, but I think that it's a lot like playing the lottery: the number of tickets you buy doesn't really increase your chance of winning. Rolling multiple D10s doesn't change the fact that each die has a 70% chance of doing nothing and I've rolled a fistful of dice too many times with no effect to be mollified by theoretical mathematics.

Other than that, the rules are a lot of fun to play.

Smokey Waters:Gaming ACW Ironclads

2011-11-28T19:28:00.001-08:00

Earlier this year I played in a ACW naval game run by Kevin Smyth at the Fix Bayonets game day held at Fort Steilacoom in Steilacoom, WA. It was the first time I played ACW naval in a long time and the first time I played the Sail and Steam Navies rules from Bay Area Yards.

I got pulled into ACW naval gaming by Kevin about 18 years ago now. Back then, we had 1/1200th scale ships produced by Houston's Ships (a.k.a. Lyzard's Grin). The first ship I even painted was Houston's USS Chillicothe—an ugly little model of an ugly little ship. The rules we used were a miniatures adaptation of the old Yaquinto Ironclads board game.

Over the many years we played ACW naval, we tried a number of different rules, but none ever held us like Ironclads. The rules were detailed without being too difficult—although every game I ever ran seemed to require me to run the charts for every shot fired from every ship by every player. What Ironclads had going for it—and still has—is the nice bits of chrome that make the game interesting. Every gun was called out by type and the stats for each gun type was unique. The ACW on the water being an ersatz affair, there were a lot of different gun types. Even Union forces, which attempted some kind of standardization, had numerous ships with a hodgepodge armament. You could double-shot your guns for greater penetration (at the risk of bursting the gun).

We later expanded to 1/600th scale using Toby Barrett's excellent Thoroughbred Figures range. That range has expanded considerably—as has my collection of them. Despite selling off a number of unbuilt models to Bill Stewart, I still have several awaiting some attention from me and I've recently added more to the crowd. The new rules have filled me with some enthusiasm and I'm in an ironclad frenzy right now.

Since the Sail and Steam Navies (S&SN) game at Ft. Steilicoom, I've played two more games: one last Saturday and one today. I'm starting to get enough experience with the rules to be able to compare it to Ironclads and to the other games that came and went for us. On the whole, I like S&SN and I've invested a lot into it (more on that later).

Today's game pitted a small Union force of two ironclads and one timberclad against a Confederate fort supported by one ironclad and two wooden rams. The action took place on a nameless river. The record of it in the CSN archives has been lost and the USN decided not to record it.

The Union, consisting of the USS Essex, USS Indianola, and the USS Tyler came on to fight a Rebel battery, but were intercepted by a force comprising the CSS Arkansas, CSS General Beauregard, and CSS Governor Moore. All the Confederate ships were rams.

I rage the Union forces and Ken Kissling and Steve Puffenberger shared the Confederate command. Ken ran the Arkansas and the battery while Steve ran the two cottonclad rams.

The river was against me, which reduced my already pathetic speed. I chugged upstream with the Essex in the lead, followed by Indianola and Tyler.

Essex and Indianola chug ahead

The action started pretty soon. The Rebel battery mounted two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles and I was in range by turn 2. The results of Ken's first fire were less than desultory and that remained the hallmark of the battery's performance for the entire game.

The Johnnies came down at speed made even more rapid by the benefit of having the river flow in their favor. I soon began to worry that I would be easily outmanouvered, which is even more worrisome when facing rams.

Governor Moore and General Beauregard

As soon as the ships were in range of each other, we started trading shots. I had a definite advantage in firepower. The Essex fairly bristles with guns as does the Tyler. Indianola has fewer, but the forward battery are XI-inch Dahlgren smoothbores with a wicked punch. However, this gets into some of the interesting differences between S&SN and Ironclads.

Ironclads has a separate chart for every gun. That makes every shot unique at the cost of reduced speed of play and a great deal more fuss in play aids. Guns have a penetration factor that doubles or triples as the range gets closer. Wooden ships hit by shells that penetrate have increased damage. The result is that shooting—especially against wooden ships—can be devastating.

S&SN rates guns somewhat generically by type (rifle, smoothbore) and size (small, medium, large). If a gun shot hits the target, you compare the Gun Round (GR) value, that can be modified by range and other things, to the armor value of the target area hit. If the difference is greater for the GR value, the shooter rolls D10s equal to the difference to get damage results. (If the values are the same or if the armor value is greater, only on D10 is rolled.) Actual damage on the target occurs on 9s (armor hits) and 10s (hull hits) or on triples that can be gun hits or critical hits. 8s are suppression hits, which can accumulate causing crew morale issues. The result is that, generally, it's tough to do a lot of damage by gunfire.

Tyler struck amidships and soon to go down

My idea for the scenario was that the Rebel flotilla would be little more than an annoyance to the bombardment group. I figured that the wooden rams would be shot to pieces in a few turns. However, events transpired otherwise. The reverse side of meagre shooting results is the power of ramming attacks. Ramming is fairly effective in S&SN. It's even more effective when the rammers move quickly and the rammed don't. The Rebels' wooden rams move at a rate of 12" per movement phase. There are two movement phases in a turn, so they can cover 24" of surface every turn. That closes the distance rapidly. It's not too difficult to hit a target because the movement is I go, you go. When it;s the rammer's turn to move, the target is sitting still. (In Ironclads, ramming is more difficult because the moves a pre-plotted and done simultaneously.)

Arkansas and Essex trade shots—ineffectively—at close range

The result was that after a few disappointing shots, Steve's rams were upon me. I gave it my best, but the ineffectiveness of the shots and the effectiveness of the ramming meant that my ships were doomed. It turns out we were playing it wrong in the one sense that bow-to-bow and bow-to-stern rams are not allowed; those situations are treated as a collision instead. Playing it right might have made some difference because I may have been able to maneuver in such a way that it was difficult for ram attacks. However, the legal rams were tough enough.

The Essex was the first ship to go down. Steve rammed it earlier in the game and it limped along within one lower hull box of sinking until another ram (a stern ram) inflicted the remaining damage.

The Tyler, whose 8" Columbiads made the most effect on the Arkansas, was hit next (again in the stern). While not sunk outright, it, like the Essex, was badly hurt and succumbed later to another hit.

The Indianola kept at it. The best armored and heaviest armed of the flotilla, it got a few good shots with its big Dahlgrens, but the results were never stellar. I wiped out a few smokestacks, but never brought an enemy to a sinking or near-sinking condition. Once all three Rebel ships were concentrated on it, the Indianola was doomed.

Indianola rammed from every angle

I'm now working on ship cards and more models for Dave's Annual Naval Game. It's the most productive I've been in years. Models I've had sitting unbuilt are now in play and I'm looking forward to a lot more ACW naval gaming in the coming year.

The following is a rogues' gallery of some of my favorite ships built recently or in the past:

CSS Baltic

Tubby, but irresistible

The Baltic is a tub: poorly armed, poorly armored, and underpowered. It looks like a floating cow-barn. However, it is compelling in how it epitomizes the nature of the American Civil War on water. An ersatz ship built to protect Mobile Bay. it was eventually disarmed and its armor used to protect the CSS Nashville. I especially enjoy playing games with this king of ship. I ran it in a game earlier where it held its own for most of the game until a lucky shot by the XI-inch Dahlgren on Kevin's 90-day gunboat blew out its steam locker and left it floating with no power and a scalded crew.

CSS Charleston

Sleek and deadly

The Charleston is one of the first rate ironclads purpose-built by the Confederacy to protect its harbors. Its heavy armor and heavy rifles make it a deadly opponent to Union warships. Its bête noir is the Passaic class monitor whose XI- and XV-inch Dahlgrens can smash it up. I haven't played it in S&SN yet, but it's a tough fight in Ironclads.

CSS Virginia II

Capital ship of the Capital Navy

The Virginia II was named after the first Virginia (a.k.a. Merrimac) which made such an impression in its foray into Hampton Roads and subsequently fought what is probably the most famous ship-to-ship duel in history against USS Monitor. This Virginia was likely the most powerful ship in the Confederate navy. However, stuck on an obstruction at Trent's Reach in 1865, it had great bloody chunks torn out of its armor by the XV-inch Dahlgren's of the twin-turreted monitor USS Onondaga.

Postscript: The cost of S&SN

As I intimated earlier, even though Sail & Steam Navies is a $20.00 PDF that comes on a CD. Actually printing it out into hard-copy rules, game aids, and ship cards is expensive. I admit that I've gone deluxe on these items because I want them to last. I don't have a color printer or laminating machine, so I do it all at Kinko's for big bucks. I hope it's all worth it and that I'll get a lot of bang out of my bucks playing S&SN for the near future (until something else shiny captures my gaming attention).

So far, I have to say that S&SN is the best rules for this period since Ironclads, which remains my favorite (with a few reservations).

Shoot 'n' Scoot

2011-07-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we played another game of John Kennedy's home-made modern version of the Kampgruppe Commander rules at the Panzer Depot in Kirkland, WA. With the first of my Bundeswehr units completed, I was eager to get them in a game too see whether they had a viable life as a wargame force or whether they would fail utterly and be cursed forever. I'll save you the suspense: they'll be fine.

The scenario was yet another wee Red juggernaut aimed at the heart of decadent bourgeois society. It was a bit bigger and badder than last game, though. Plus, there was artillery. The Soviets had the following:

T-80 Tank Regiment
1 bn – 6 x T-80
2 bn – 6 x T-80
3 bn – 6 x T-80
4 bn – 9 x BMP-1/mech inf w/1 x 120mm mortar
Recon – 1 x BDRM-2, 1 x BMP-R

T-64 Tank Regiment
1 bn – 6 x T-64BV
2 bn – 6 x T-64BV
3 bn – 6x T-64BV
4 bn – 9 x BMP-1/mech inf w/1 x 120mm mortar
Recon – 1 x BDRM-2, 1 x BMP-R

Motor Rife Regiment
1 bn – 9 x BTR-70/mech inf w/1 x 120mm mortar
2 bn – 9 x BTR-70/mech inf w/1 x 120mm mortar
3 bn – 9 x BTR-70/mech inf w/1 x 120mm mortar
4 bn – 9 x T-64BV (as 3-tank companies attached to infantry battalions)
AT unit – 2 x BRDM-2 "Konkurs" w/AT-5 Spandrel
Recon – 1 x BDRM-2, 1 x BMP-R
Assets: 3 x AT-4 Spigot

Each regiment also had a battalion of 122mm guns attached. The two tank regiments started on board with the MRR coming up later as a follow-on force.

Facing this was an initial force of American and West German units:

US combat team
1 company – 3 x M1 Abrams
2 company – 3 x M2 Bradley/mech infantry
3 company – 3 x M2 Bradley/mech infantry
4 company – 1 x M106 4.2” SP mortar
5 company – 2 x M901 ITV
Recon platoon – 1 x M3 Bradley CFV
Assets: 2 x Dragon ATGM

West German combat team
1 company – 3 x Leopard 2
2 company – 3 x Leopard 2
3 company – 4 x Marder IFV/panzergrenadiers (w/Milan ATGMs)
4 company – 1 x Panzermörser SP 120mm mortar
5 company – 2 x Jaguar-1 Racketenjagdpanzer
Recon company – 2 x Panzerspähwagen Luchs

The game was played along the length of a 5' x 12' board (6km x 14km in game scale). The NATO allies started as hidden units at the halfway point. The Soviet objective was to get two battalions of any kind across the river situated about three feet behind the NATO starting positions.

Hide and seek

The Soviet recon units started well ahead of their main formations and gently probed for the decadent, dissolute minions of the warmongering, capitalist oppressors of the proletariat. The latter, bided their time and waited to react only when it best suited them.

Following the recon, Jerry Tyer on the Soviet left lead the T-64 regiment against me. Ken Kissiling, on the right, led the T-80 regiment against Steve Puffenberger's Americans.

T-64s swarm the bucolic German countryside looking for trouble

Ken's BMPs advance along a roadway with T-80s on the flank

Ivan came on strong and vigorously scouted positions that contained numbered blinds. Ken ran his recon unit around a hedgerow and exposed Steve's M1s and M3 CFV. He followed this up by swarming in with his T-80s and soon, Steve's M1s were in full retreat.

T-80s get the better of a company of Abrams

Meanwhile, Jerry was aggressively pushing his tanks over the ford against an unseen enemy who was calling in artillery strikes to try and break things up.

T-64s fording under fire

This inaugurated our use of John's new artillery rules for the moderns. In the standard game, off-board artillery is simply a fire value (the % chance for a hit) and you throw a set number of dice, usually four, to get results. In the new rules, there are multiple steps that randomly determine fire value and intensity (the number of dice). It felt a little like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at first, but after a few turns we had it down. Although we dropped trying to use any modifiers, which can affect both fire value and intensity. We all agreed that we like these artillery rules better than in the standard WW2 game.

The high-explosive fun ended after Jerry pushed his recon unit up to my position. My ambush shot on him was ineffective and after getting shot at by too many T-64s, the Panzerspähwagens ran back to temporarily better ground.

Look! Luchs

After my Luchs (Luchsen?) scooted away. I engaged Jerry's oncoming Bolshevik hordes with a company of Leopard 2s and the raketenjagdpanzer company.

Overwatch: Leopard 2s on the hills above Hannahsheim

At the same time, my Luchsen was hiding behind another hedgerow where it could call more fire down on Jerry's tanks.

Does it ever feel like all of Mother Russia is in your face?

The engagement ecevtually got the better of two of Jerry's tank battalions. The rules give Soviet units good armor penetration and good protection, but they can't hit much that's far away. The shooting has five range bands: 6", 12", 18", 24", 30", 36". Russians can only shoot out to the 24" band and have only a 10% chance of hitting at that range. At the same range, my Leopards had a 60% chance of hitting, which allowed my to double my shots while halving my odds (six shots at 30% instead of three at 60%). The Soviet tanks in the scenario also had AT-8 Songster missiles, but the Leopard 2's Chobham-style composite armor give it the advantage in defending against ATGMs.

Even though the Russians took a beating, the modern rules allow them to keep advancing while in a shaken morale state, which normally prevents a unit from moving closer to a known enemy. We also increased the number of morale failures required before a unit has to retreat for Soviet units. In addition, I gave the Russians fairly high morale (Communist ardor?) in the scenario because I wanted to ensure that they kept coming on like zombies in some B-movie. It may have been too much, but several Soviet units did break into involuntary retreat after taking a lot of hits.

While my tanks were engaged with Jerry's tanks, he moved his BMP/mech infantry up to the woods in an attempt to get in close and assault the Leopards with his infantry. I would not have survived that fight.

BMPs on the ridge moving against the Leopards in the woods

Steve had pulled back and was holding a defensive line from the larger town, Hannahsheim (in honor of Paul Hannah who loaned us his 1/300th scale scratch-built buildings) and the fields around it.

ITVs and Bradleys hold the line at Hannahsheim

More Bradleys take cover in the fields

With his M1s forced to retreat earlier in the game, Steve only had the Bradley companies and his ITVs to hold off the inexorable swarm of T-80s. Even though he sent Ken's tanks back a few times, they just rallied and came back, fewer in numbers, but just as determined.

Hannahsheim has fallen to the Red Swarm!

At this time, the follow on motor rifle regiment appeared. This was a lot of troops and looked impressive rolling along the autobahn.

Just the lead of three more battalions rolling in

More T-64s and mech infantry (with missiles) missiles come on

Up to this point, I had been following my philosophy that on defense, it's better to be shot at and return fire than to initiate a firefight and let the opponent fire back with everything he's got. This is especially true with the way we set up ATGMs for non-antitank units. Because they aren't tank-hunters, we don't let IFVs that have ATGMs fire as an action in their own bound. Instead, they can only fire in reaction within their reaction range (16"). This emulates tactical doctrine and, from a purely game perspective, eliminates the phenomenon of flights of Spandrel missiles obliterating targets 40" away (4km in game scale, which is the max range of most ATGMs by 1985).

That being said, I got cheeky and wanted to take out some tanks. In response, I got my Jaguar units shot up and forced to retreat.

Scheiß! Mein raketenjagdpanzer is kapautt!

With Steve pulling back on my left, the Leopards in the woods were in a tough state and soon to be cut off if I didn't move them. I made one attempt in my bound, but failed to pass the check to see if my tanks could move through the woods. It wasn't until John (taking over from Jerry) shot at me that I could respond by making a voluntary retreat, which took me way back beyond the smaller town, Paulshausen, and another wood.

With my forward company of Leopards forced back and my raketenjagdpanzer (I love that word) unit shot up, I had only the company of Leopards in Paulshausen to hold the line.

Defending democracy in Paulshausen

At this point, Steve decided to fall back beyond the river to rally and recover.

My false allies in retreat

Steve's ~~manouver~~ betrayal left my flank wide open but it also triggered the arrival of a reinforcement team:

1 company – 3 x M60
2 company – 3 x M60
3 company – 3 x M2 Bradley/mech inf.
4 company – 1 x M106 4.2” SP mortar
5 company – 2 x M901 ITV
Assets: 1 x Dragon ATGM

M60s: Great tanks—in 1961!

This was a bit of a hollow legion. The ITVs were potent, but the venerable M60 Patton had seen its day by 1985. Its 105mm gun was the same as the one on the M1 Abrams, but the armor was old school. Not quite adequate to defend against Soviet tank rounds, the armor was useless against ATGMs.

While the NATO reinforcements were still in column, Ken threw the might of the motor rifle regiment at my one company of panzergrenadiers holding Paulshausen. I hoped that my troops would hold, given that they were in excellent cover and had lots of Milan missiles to shoot. Nevertheless, I lost half the unit and the remainder was forced to retreat. My Leopards that were also in the town, got shot up anf forced to retreat as well. This left Paulshausen wide open to the Bolshies.

Doomed panzergrenadiers defend Paulshausen

My On my next turn, I ran the only units I could into the town: the M60s. This wouldn't normally be a wise move. It wasn't this time, either. I should have pulled back and given my tanks a nice field of fire to defend the bridge. Tanks don't do well in close combat with infantry—especially infantry liberally supplied with RPG-7s. Even if I rolled well, I couldn't shoot them up enough to prevent them from coming in—and my shooting was desultory at best. The company was completely destroyed.

On my next bound, I withdrew the other M60 unit from the town and pulled back in a line facing it.

The German-American Bund (post WW2 edition)

Now the Soviets moved into Paulshausen and in the area around it.

The Bolshies enter Paulshausen

Steve, having sufficiently licked his wounds, came back across the river and took up improved positions to stop the Red Menace from getting any farther.

Last stand

I had recovered my beloved raketenjagdpanzer unit and had been exchanging shots with John's remaining T-64 battalion. I also brought up the ITVs alongside to prevent any resurgence along Jerry/John's axis of attack. I might not have worried too much, although it was a full battalion and could have done some harm had it worked around.

Noble remnant of a once-proud tank regiment

By now we called it. It was nearly 7:00 PM and we'd been playing since noon with a short lunch break around 2:30. The time seemed to fly and we have no idea how many turns we played. With the KGC time scale of one turn being 30-45 minutes, we must have been fighting in the dark for the last few turns.

Post mortem
The modern rules are really shaping up. Despite the novelty of some of the mechanics, there seems to be a better flow of the game than with the WW2 version.

The Soviet tank fire is anemic in it's ability to hit, but when it hits it can cause some damage. Even then, at one point, John started firing HE at my Leopards because he had a better chance to hit and could inflict damage on me if I rolled "10s" for my armor saves (which I have a talent for doing). Right now, the formula gives the Soviets about 50% of the hit chance for the NATO troops. This reflects loading times, ammunition, and sighting equipment. We might need to revisit that and perhaps bump it up a notch.

I gave the NATO better commanders, but just slightly better. I think I should have made the Soviets a "0" or even a "-1". Soviet tactical doctrine called for masses of tanks and troops. A Soviet tank regiment is not something that needs to be wielded skillfully. Just mass it and bring it on. They don't need a lot of command pips to that. Even a -1 commander can get one pip per turn at worst and four at best.

I made the Soviets 8 morale and the NATO 7. I think I should have made the Soviets lower. At least a 7, maybe a 6. The modern rules let them keep coming on despite being shaken. By giving them 8 morale, they were too hard to delay.

By next game, John may have a draft of the helicopter and airpower rules. I hope to have my PAH-1s ready to go. I'm currently painting Gepards, Rolands, and Stinger teams.

Ist das nicht ein Bundeswehr?(Ja, das ist ein Bundeswehr)

2011-07-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

With the inherent enthusiasm of a new game interest, I've been able to complete the first units for the modern Kampfgruppe Commander rules. In no time at all, I've become Oberst Dave of the Bundeswehr. The plan is to complete a panzer brigade that would comprise the following:

Two panzer battalions with three companies of Leopard 2A1 tanks (each)
One mixed panzer battalion with two companies of three Leopard 2A1 tanks and one company of four panzergrenadiers in Marder 1A1 IFVs
One panzergrenadier battalion with three companies of four panzergrenadiers in Marder 1A1 IFVs and an M106 self-propelled 120mm mortar
One Raketenjagdpanzer company with three Jaguar 1s mounting HOT ATGMs
One recon company with three Spähpanzer Luchs recon vehicles
One artillery battery with three M109 self-propelled guns
Various supporting units that are outside the brigade formation, such as PAH-1 attack helicopters and LARS batteries

Looking at that list, I'm impressed by two things: First, that a Bundeswehr panzer brigade is significantly stronger in tanks than a WW2-era panzer division; second, that in 1/285th scale it's much easier and much cheaper to build a significant force than it would be in 15mm. That's not to say that microarmor is cheap, but at an average of $2.00 per model, it's less than 20% of what 15mm would cost and considerably less than 20mm or larger.

I also like how easy it is, mostly, to put together 1/285th scale tanks. My Leopard 2s come in two pieces: turret and hull. Occasionally, you get a model with more fiddly bits, like the Flakpanzer Gepard AA tank or the PAH-1 helo.

The first fruits of my project are done and ready for, I hope, a successful game this coming weekend. The units are:

A panzer battalion of nine Leopard 2A1s and a M577 command vehicle. This is a pretty simple formation of three tank companies, which could be augmented with other units ad hoc.

Leopard 2s in column on a dirt road

Leopard 2s again with the M577 command vehicle in the pea patch beyond

Leopard 2 in the rough ground

The Raketenjagdpanzer (I love how appellation that rolls of the tongue) company is three AFVs mounting HOT ATGMs. More than likely this would be attached to a panzer or panzergrenadier battalion as extra anti-tank strength.

Jaguar-1s ready to launch the HOTness

Close-up (Ja das ist ein gefährliches ding!)

The one panzergrenadier unit is either the single panzergrenadier company in a mixed panzer battalion or one of three panzergrenadier companies in the brigade's panzergrenadier battalion. I only have the Marder IFVs so far. The dismounted infantry is yet to arrive.

Panzergrenadiers in Marder 1 IFVs

Marder 1 up close

A recon unit of two Spähpanzer Luchs vehicles. Mounting only a 20mm autocannon, these are exceptionally non-formidable. However, the standard groundscale makes it possible to play scenarios where the action covers several kilometers. A good scouting force is essential for spotting the enemy and, once we get the rules for it, calling in the artillery strikes before they reach your main line of resistance.

Luchs reconnoitering the pea patch

Behind the brow of a hill looking for Ivan

I've started the remaining models of the first order to GHQ. I've made another recently, so I'll be able to get the complate complement of Leopard 2s and Marders that I need for the brigade. I'll also get some infantry figures for the troops that dismount from the Marders. I ordered some Ros and Heroics infantry a few weeks back, but there's no indication that they've shipped. I wanted the Ros and Heroics because they make figures in 1/300th that are specifically West German infantry. Of course at that scale, how can you tell? With that thought in mind, I also ordered some British modern infantry because they could pass as Germans if I paint them in the moleskin color and they heavy weapons teams include Milan ATGMs, which is what the Bundeswehr used.

Once the West Germans are done, I'll start with some East Germans. I don't really need to do Russians since John Kennedy and Ken Kissling between them have—or will soon have—and entire shock army's worth of T-80s, T-64s, BMPs, and BTRs. The East Germans, being non-Russian by definition, didn't get the big boy toys. In the mid-80s, their arsenal (even up to reunification) consisted of a lot of T-55s, with T-62s and T-72s replacing the older tanks in some units. They also had BTR-50s for their mechanized infantry. Painting East Germans will be an interesting way to get some of the older cold warriors on the board. However, I think the Leopard 2s will eat them for lunch.

The Wee Red Juggernaut

2011-07-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

The 1980s: parachute pants, The Police, and Ronald Reagan. It was also a time known as The Cold War, which most people thought might turn into The Hot War at any moment. A great deal of speculation over how that war might be fought took place among wargamers in the 70s and 80s and game companies produced more than a few tactical games about it. SPI's Red Star/White Star was one of the first, although my favorite was SPI's MechWar '77. My friend Chet and I played numerous games pitting T-62s and T-55s against M-60s and M-48s and the fields of West Germany were criss-crossed with the wires of ATGMs that flew back and forth. But these were all board games. Despite having models available since the late 60s, I've never games the hypothetical WW3 in miniature.

While there are a number of ready-made rules sets for this period, we've started our home-grown version based on the Kampfgruppe Commander rules we use for World War 2. We also decided to go wee. Rather than the 15mm scale we use for WW2, we're using 1/285th (or 1/300th) minis from GHQ, CinC, and Heroics and Ros among others. John Kennedy is doing all the work on the rules while the rest of us kibitz and kvetch, but the project is starting to take a decent, final-ish form. John has basically taken vehicle and weapon stats from other sources and converted them to the KGC scale and game design philosophy. There are still kinks to work out and we haven't established anything yet for indirect fire, air attacks, and helicopters.

We played our first game last week using erzatz values for the vehicles because John hadn't fully worked them out. We had Chieftain tanks using M-1 stats, which got evened out the next game by using Chieftain tanks with Centurion stats. The first game was enough to get me excited about painting an army, so I'm now busy painting a few battalions of Bundeswehr circa 1985: Leopard 2s, Marder 1s, Luchs, Jaguars, PAH-1 helos, etc.

We played again yesterday at The Panzer Depot in Kirkland, WA. Ken Kissling designed a scenario representing a the vanguard of a Soviet motorized rifle division advancing on a 7km front against a battalion of British mechanized infantry and a supporting armored battalion.

The Red Menace was played by Ken and Steve Puffenberger. Their forces were two motorized rifle regiments, which consisted of three battalions of mechanized infantry and one battalion of tanks. The tanks were all T-64s. Steve's infantry was in BTR-70s with an attached company of BRDM-2s carrying a load of AT-5 Spandrel ATGMs. Ken's infantry were in BMP-2s, which mount a single launcher for a AT-5. In addition was a reserve tank battalion of T-64s.

Ken's BMP-2s advancing across plowed fields

Deployed against them were John and me. John started with the 1/Royal Highland Fusiliers mounted in FV432 IFVs with support from some Milan ATGM assets, a mortar platoon of two FV432 self-propelled 81mm mortars, and a scout platoon with two FV101 Scorpions. Farther back in reserve, I had the 3rd RTR with three companies of Chieftains, an anti-tank platoons of two FV438s mounting Swingfire ATGMs, and a scout platoon of two FV107 Scimitars.

A column of T-64s advances past an infantry battalion in BMPs

Ken and Steve came on with their units in echelon formation. Both of them led with motorized infantry and kept their tanks back. John's units were the first to be hit. They were able to hang in a few turns and repulse the first assault. However, the Bolshevik horde was too numerous and after a few turns, John's infantry was streaming back.

Steve's BTR-70s attempt a mounted assault on infantry in a town

With John's infantry hard-pressed (and John hard-pressed with customers in the store), I decided to abandon my excellent positions and move up to meet the Slavic Sledgehammer of Doom. I took up closer positions and waited until Ken's lead units got close to open fire.

Chieftains take position in the wheat field to support the retreating infantry

I had one company of Chieftains and my platoon of FV438s that opened fire on a battalion of Ken's infantry in BMPs. While I fired with good effect, the barrage of missile fire I got in return, severely messed up my units. Reduced and shaken from the return fire, I held position for a few more turns, but my fire was less effective.

Steve's regiment in supporting echelons advancing on a town

On the other side where Steve had taken the town in another assault (this time dismounted and in force), I moved a company of Chieftains and my recon platoon to support John's infantry. As happened earlier, I got a bit shot up by a mass of T-64s supported by ground-mounted ATGMs. I retreated into a wood and remained, shaken and reduced.

I also moved my third company of Chieftains into a position in a wood where they emerged at the edge to shoot Steve's T-64s. Again, the responding barrage of tank fire and missiles shot me up. Missiles, I surmised, were getting to be a problem.

Things were looking pretty hopeless and the Red Juggernaut, somewhat reduced, was poised to continue on and overrun us. But then the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards came on the board as reinforcements. One tank company went to take up an overwatch position against Steve, while the rest faced Ken. With two tank companies and an FV438 Swingfire platoon, John had enough fire power to hurt. The resulting exchange saw Ken's battalions further reduced until his total force was less than half what he'd started with. John also took casualties (#@!* missiles), but did not suffer adverse morale and, because he had a higher hit number, didn't lose any stands.

Royal Scots tank companies move into position

While John and Ken were exchanging shots overhead, I had my two units tucked into a gully in between them where I was able to resurrect my units through a few turns of rally and recovery actions.

Having forced Ken back, John took the two tank companies over to the other side of the table to face Steve's advance, which remained still potent. Ken also brought on the divisional tank battalion of more T-64s and put them in position to move to either flank.

T-64s moving up

The situation looked promising for a British counterattack, although except for the Royal Scots, every formation was pretty shot up. I managed to recover one tank and one ATGM unit, but my other two tank companies were badly shot up and shaken. Had I advanced my recovered units out of their gully against Ken's stalled forces, I could expect a barrage of missiles from his BMP battalions that might end me.

After playing nearly five hours—interrupted by rules discussions and pesky store customers—we called the game. The Brits held the line against the Bolshies. Despite much concern, I ultimately lost only three stands while the Soviet regiments had been significantly reduced. Even then, they outnumbered the Brits. However, it would have been difficult for either side to make progress against the other.

The rules seem to work very well. KGC has it charms, which is why we like the system—despite it anomalies. The modern stats transfer over well and easily integrate with the KGC command/control mechanisms. In the next games, we'll introduce helicopters and indirect fire, which should add an interesting new dimension to the games.

Odd and ends...

2011-05-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, even though I have had a few things going on worth blogging about. Today's blog is a grab-bag of recent goings on. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera to the games I mention, otherwise I would include some nice pictures to ameliorate my vapid, tortured prose.

Employment
I've been fully employed again—and then some—for a while now. It was a slow start, then I started working two jobs (six days a week), and after today, I'm back to one, but the money is better than ever.

I like the latest gig. I get to play with words and I'm mostly able to do it on my own schedule with my own project plan. It's temporary (like Achilles), but looks to last through summer and maybe into the fall. What's after that, I don't know, but "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matt. 6:34), so why worry now.

Hail Caesar!
I picked up the latest expensive, hardback, full-color rules from Warlord Games today. I enjoy Black Powder immensely, so Hail Caesar! looks to be more of the same fun--except that it's ancients now. I have so many ancients rules that I want to play (and don't), one more can't hurt.

However, I see the dreaded activity of debasing and rebasing in my future. It also means the end of my dreams for a revival of pre-DBx WRG ancients. Of course that was always a bit of a pipe dream. Kevin Smyth and I had a brief retro-gaming period playing WRG 6th, but everyone else turned up their noses at it. Alas.

I very much like Field of Glory, too, but no one plays it much. Besides, I already have 15mm armies for FoG. I'm looking for something to use for my 28mm figures.

I'm contemplating all the ancients figures I have—mostly unpainted—and it's really a hodge-podge. I have a lot of 3rd c. Romans that will require rebasing, as well as several more unpainted. Even with all that lead, I'll need to buy more to flesh out my cavalry units. And then I need an historical enemy to fight. I've also got a lot of Sassanid Persians and some Carthaginians, but these are almost exclusively bare metal.

Black Powder
Quite unintentionally, I got roped into not one, but two Black Powder games yesterday. I had planned to spend the morning/early afternoon having dim sum and shooting with Phil and Karen Bardsley and then back home to putter and hang with the cats. However, I stopped off at The Panzer Depot on my way home and Bob "the tempter" Mackler cajoled me into being an Austrian cavalry commander: Graf von Sullivan.

Game 1 went beyond my expectations. It was already under way, with Bob on the ropes. I was the cavalry reserve. After a few turns of rolling 10s for my commands (and doing nothing), I got lucky several times in a row. I sent in the Austrian cuirassiers and swept all before me: taking out some light cavalry, two batteries—and even beating back the vaunted Grenadiers au Cheval. This didn't make for an Austrian victory, however. Our center had ceased to exist. We had two units huddled in square formation on one flank while the French infantry occupied the rest of the board.

After game 1, I was nearly out the door. If I hadn't dallied to talk with John and Dave Redding, I would have made it home safely. Instead, Bob buttered me up with compliments about my superior Austrian cavalry-handling skills and worked on my vanity to lure me into a second game.

Game 2 was played on a bigger table with more figures. John Kennedy, Dave Redding, and I were the Austrians. Bob Mackler and Dick Larsen, the French.

Regardless of how many big Austrian units there were, the French seemed to outnumber us. Also, Dick had his all-grenadier division in play (he based this puissant formation on Oudinot's converged grenadiers ca. 1806).

I had two Austrian line battalions, two Austrian grenadier battalions, two batteries, and some jaegers. Facing me was Dick's grenadiers du mort. as well as Bob's grand battery. To my right was Dave with the Austrian cavalry, the same guys who had rode to glory in game 1. To my left was John with a division of Austrian infantry, a battery, and a hussar unit, and then farther left, John had a division of light cavalry with some grenzers and jaegers.

The course of the battle saw our flanks crushed while our center fought bravely but in vain. Dave's first attacks against Dick's cavalry wind seemed to go OK. His cuirassier forced two of dick's light cavalry units to retire off board and his lancers took out one of Dick's batteries, much to Dick's chagrin. However, a counterattack by Dick's "Gros Bottes" put the hurt on him. In short order, he lost his lancers, his light cavalry and rolled snake-eyes on the morale test for his supporting cuirassier unit. The remaining cuirassier unit was forced to retire because the division was broken.

In the center, I put one of my big battalions into line thinking that I would shoot up Dick's grenadier columns. They were on me in a flash and a vicious, prolonged fight ensued between two battalions of French grenadiers in column and my battalion in line. I got some advantage from being a big unit, namely more dice in combat and a stamina of 4. However, Dick was throwing 14 dice against my 9. My dice seemed unable to roll above 3; his dice were unable to roll below 5.

Nevertheless, after several turns of fighting, aided by the fact that all units were "steady" and automatically passed their first morale check, I managed to have both of Dick's columns shaken, while I was still hanging on. But even shaken, Dick managed to roll better and my unit was eventually forced to retire shaken to the other side of the hill.

On my left, Bob started early with an attack in line that ran all the way up to within close range of one of my batteries. I think he meant to shoot it up, but failed. The return fire from the battery, two of my columns, and John's jaegers caused Bob to go disordered and shaken.

I figured this was the time to send in a column of my own grenadiers. They performed magnificently, but Bob's unit was "steady" and so it automatically passed it's first morale check. It took another two rounds before I managed to rout him. At that point, I was exposed on a hill before Bob's merciless grand battery. At one point, I became shaken, failed morale, and was forced to retire out of cannon shot--exactly what I wanted to do. But then next turn, when I attempted to rally the unit, I rolled boxcars (blunder) and got an advance order, which took me back into the cannon fire, now augmented by Dick's howitzers. One turn of getting smacked by three batteries and the unit routed away.

John's cavalry wing fared about as well as Dave's—although John was facing Imperial Guard cavalry. The first few turns were a fight, and then everything went south. That division had left only a battalion of grenzers in square and some jaegers skulking in a hedgerow. Fortunately, Bob was unable to get his cavalry to do anything else after beating John. John's infantry in the center was completely unable to go forward against Bob's battery and infantry opposite him. John's guns kept up a lively fire at one of Bob's remaining battalions, but another battalion was free to work it's way down to take out John's grenzers who were fairly impregnable in their square against Bob's cavalry.

Dave Redding left, bequeathing me his single withdrawing cuirassier unit, i.e., the entire Austrian cavalry wing. I had been working away with some jaegers at one of Dick's grenadier battalions that had formed square back when Dave had a functioning cavalry wing. It wasn't much, but I kept him disordered and taking casualties so that he couldn't reform from square. I turned my howitzer battery on him now and in a few turns managed to smash him and rout him from the field. This left my small jaeger unit exposed to Dick's cavalry.

Dick charges one of his hussar units at the jaegers, who formed up and did the best they could. Their best wound up being pretty good. After a single round of combat, the hussars lost and routed.

It wasn't enough. After my line battalion retired from fighting Dick's grenadiers, I threw in my second grenadier battalion, in column, against one of Dick's shaken columns. The result was rather disappointing. I got chewed up, but stayed in anyway. I now had just one fresh unit, one unit routed, one shaken, and a third beat-up and locked in a losing combat. That was it for the Austrians.

I think I've learned that unless you must, there's no good reason to fight in line when your opponent is in a position to get you 2:1 with units in column.

Viva Mexico!
We played some Mexican War games using Fire & Fury Regimental. Chris Craft has been working on 15mm Mexican War figures for a while now. We played Resaca de la Palma a month or so ago and just a few weeks ago we played Palo Alto. The games went better for the Mexicans than one might think. Even though they are qualitatively outclassed, the Mexicans can put up a good fight.

In the Resaca de la Palma game, the US won handily, even though it was close at the very end. Palo Alto, however, was a real challenge for the Americans.

The Mexican players we me and Ken Kissling, while Chris and Steve Puffenberger were los Gringos. Ken had a lot of cavalry, but it was mostly middling to poor in quality. However, he managed to break a square of American regulars and push back the elite (but few) American dragoons.

Mexican shooting was better than expected. My guns even managed to shoot up Ringgold's flying battery, which Chris used as a position battery instead of flying it around. My Zapadores fought to the last stand, which held up the American left. My one cavalry unit played a part, too. Feckless though it was, I managed to work it onto the American flank where it caused Chris enough concern to dispatch an infantry regiment to deal with it. That was one less infantry regiment attacking the Mexican line.

At one point, when I foolishly thought los Gringos were on the ropes and my time to counterattack had come, I unwisely advanced the Tampico battalion, one of the best units in the Mexican army, against one of Chris' batteries. I got shot to bits. 'Nuff said.

The game eventually ended as a Mexican win, but just barely. Both sides took heavy casualties and most of the Mexican infantry was worn or shaken. However, the Americans had two infantry regiments rout off the board, one dragoon regiment destroyed, and Ringgold's battery nearly destroyed (one damaged section remaining).

So far, I've enjoyed the Fire & Fury Regimental games I've played. Kevin Smyth is play-testing a scenario for Hobkirk's Hill on Saturday in Tacoma, which I plan to play in.

Cats
Finally, the cats. Grendel seems to have developed Feline Hyperesthesia Sysndrome (FHS). It sounds more terrible than it is. The name is fancy veterinarianese for "we're not really sure what this is and what causes it." I noticed it first when Grendel started chasing his tail. Odd as he is, he's never done that before. That was back in November. From there, he started twitching his back and then running to escape from himself. It's a bit concerning to see. It's not something he does all the time, just in brief episodes.

I took him to the vet when the signs first showed up, but the vet said it's OCD. That's pretty much the line on FHS. It's an emotional disorder that may be due to diet, environment, or a lack of stimulation. I.e., it could be anything. And, it may go away if the cause is eliminated—if you can discover what that is.

I've been treating him with Bach's Rescue Remedy, which is supposed to calm the nerves. I put a few drops in his food at every meal. It seems to do some good. I also use the Zoom Groom on his back when he starts having one of his episodes. Whatever the vet says and what other information states, it still seems to me like his skin is driving him crazy at these times. The Zoom Groom scratches him where he itches. However, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with his skin. His coat is full and healthy and there are no places where he has been biting himself. I'm just hoping it will go away, but I know I have to keep doing things that will stimulate him. He's almost 8 now and has been with me for five years. He's indoor only, so being cooped up all this time may be a factor. But I don't live where I want to let him out, besides, I have a townhome whose only door to the outside is on the first floor. I couldn't hear him coming and going if I did. He'd sit outside and whimper all night because I couldn't hear him to let him in. So I Zoom Groom and give him Rescue Remedy. It's better than the Prozac the vet recommended.

In other news, whereas I first thought that my cats were antiliterary, I'm now adjusting that view. I think cats may read by osmosis, which is activated when they rub their face against a book. This might explain why they do it so often. I can't get five minutes into a book before one of the cats has his or her face in it. I now think that their attempt to keep me from reading is just a ploy to ensure that they gain knowledge without my gaining it too. Plotting, always plotting. Little scamps.

Rumble on the steppe

2011-02-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

I ran a spur of the moment Kampfgruppe Commander game at The Panzer Depot yesterday. Around Thursday, I stopped by to see if there was anything planned for Saturday and on hearing there wasn't, I determined to get a game going.

Because my figures are all Germans and Russians, I didn't have any trouble deciding where the scenario would be set. The big problem was my lack of enough models and figures to pull it off using only my own figures. (Mark "Joe Stalin" Serafin couldn't make the game, so his vast store of Soviets wasn't available—and it slipped my mind to ask Ken Kissling if he had any Russians.) As I've posted before, I have a lot of irons in the fire. Figures I started painting years ago are tucked away unfinished. I knew I had some partly-completed Russian tanks stashed somewhere, so I got to work—rare for a sluggard like me—and finished 11 tanks for the game.

I set the scenario in late 1943, after Kursk about the time the SU-85 appeared in service.

The Germans comprised two SS panzergrenadier battalions, a understrength tank battalion of Pz IVs, and a late-arriving "fire brigade" of a heavy panzer company of Tiger Is with an attached GW 38t "Bison." The German forces would start with a single battalion on the table ensconced in one of two towns (their choice). The remaining German forces would come on piecemeal with the Tiger company arriving last. Chris Craft, Ken Kissling, and Steve Puffenberger played Germans.

The lone German position at the start: bristling with nastiness

The Soviet force comprised a tank destroyer regiment of SU-85s, a tank battalion of T-34cs, a tank battalion of T-70s, and two Guards mechanized infantry battalions, one of which had an attached company of lend-lease M3 Lee tanks—known infamously to the Russians as a "coffin for seven brothers." The Soviets all entered the table on turn one. John Kennedy, Bob Mackler (playing his debut KGC game), and I were the Soviets.

Victory conditions were points based. Each side got five points for every town block they controlled plus a variable number of points for destroying enemy stands. These points were biased towards German losses being more dear than Russian losses.

I figured that the SU-85s were more than a match for the Pz IVs and that by turn six, when the Tigers came on, the Germans might be on the ropes. As it turned out, the Soviet battle plan didn't match our strength against their weakness.

I came up on the right flank with a mechanized infantry battalion (plus the M3s) and the T-70 battalion. My goals was to occupy the two-block town that was about 2/3 of the way down the table and deny it to the Germans when they came on. Bob went up the center with the T-34s to support my attack on the left, and John was on our far left flank with the other mechanized infantry battalion and the SU-85s to attack the town where Chris had dug in his panzergrenadiers.

Bob's T-34s take position on a ridge with my Guards infantry behind

John's attack started to fall apart quickly. Chris plastered him with 120mm mortar fire and opened up on the SU-85s with his PAK 40 causing losses.

John's Guards dug in during their attack on the town

My advance on the empty town stalled after Chris moved the Pz IVs right outside it to blast out anything that came in.

Panzers vor! That's a lot of metal to face sober. It's good that we have vodka!

As it turned out, Ken, with the other panzergrenadier battalion, managed to occupy one of the blocks in the town before I got there. I did, however, start moving up my T-70s to a position to occupy the woods next to the town.

Fear me: Wee T-70s prepare to occupy the woods and face off Pz IVs

I threw one infantry company into the remaining block of the town along with the M3s. The resulting firestorm of opportunity fire put losses on both companies, who failed morale and sat shaken. I figured a strong German counterattack would sweep me out and give the Germans complete possession of the town.

Russian advance into the town stymied

The counterattack didn't come, but the M3s disappeared the next turn after return fire from infantry, a PAK 40, and some Pz IVs obliterated it. The shaken infantry hung on and later recovered from being shaken. Meanwhile, the T-70s outperformed all expectations by inflicting more damage on a company of Pz IVs than they took. Never underestimate the salutary effect of vodka on communist ardor. Fearing the ignominy of losing real tanks to a swarm of armed wind-up toys, Chris withdrew his panzers to a safer place.

Fear me part deux: T-70s inflicting hits on Chris' precious panzers

Now was the time to go for broke and see if I could take the other town block. I figured that I would make one attack that might weaken Steve's defense and follow up on my next turn with the real attack that would take the town. I hit the town with mortar fire, which resulted in the defenders being shaken, and then I moved in. I managed to pass through the opportunity fire unscathed and to my surprise, took the town after two rounds of close combat when Steve decided to pull out rather than die to the last man (an interesting side effect of having enemy points gained for your losses). Bob moved some T-34s into the other town block and another company beside the town in support.

The town is ours! For now.

I also immediately attached a 45mm AT gun to my company and forced Chris to withdraw another company of his panzers to safety. My victory proved short lived, however. In the next round, Steve counterattacked with a panzergrenadier company. My company broke, losing half its strength and all its assets (an MG and the AT gun). The only bright spot was that Steve had called in a barrage of 105s on the town block, which didn't wind up coming in until the end of the turn. Without any remaining command pips to call off the barrage, his company had to tough it out, which they did without loss (sad to say).

I then attempted my own counterattack with a fresh company backed by engineers with flame throwers, but it got shot to bits by the defending Germans.

By this time, John had come to the conclusion that using the SU-85s to attack the town held by Chris' panzergrenadiers was a wasted effort. He had recovered his earlier losses from the PAK 40 and figured that he should be going after the Pz IVs instead. He shifted the regiment to the center of the board and started exchanging shots.

Tank destroyers in the center

By this time, Ken's anticipation of the Tigers arriving was satisfied. In my scenario planning, I thought the Tigers would arrive to save the day, instead of just coming to pile on.

дерьмо! The fascist invaders of the Motherland bring on the big guns!

Ken started shooting at my T-70s, so instead of having bloody great chunks torn out of my battalion, I fell back behind the woods to rally and recover. Even for mad Russians, discretion is sometimes the better part of valor. Bob also discreted and pulled out his T-34s that were beside the town rather than see them aerated by 88mm holes.

By this time, things were looking hopeless for Stalin's minions. Chris' control of the town he started in had never been seriously threatened. John had suffered some losses in his mechanized infantry battalion and it looked very doubtful that he would be able to take the town.

Still defiant! Chris' panzergrenadiers hold the town

I had shot my bolt with my own mechanized infantry. I lost one company outright and the other two were licking their wounds behind a ridge line. The gallant T-70s hadn't lost a stand, but that would change if they ever got seriously entangled with the Tigers.

On the other had, the Soviets had lost only two tanks so far (my M3s—now burning coffins for 14 brothers in the town). We still might have hurt the panzer forces and gotten the better points total in an exchange of losses. But, I don't think we could have taken any town blocks from the Germans. Our infantry strength was shattered. By this time the Germans had about 60% more points than we did: another victory for Deutschland in its losing war on the steppe.

Post Mortem
I like the scenario and the other players did too. It needs to be tweaked for balance, however. The choice of units was largely determined by the figures and models I had painted. I would rather have used Pz IIIs for the german tank battalion, which is correct for 1943, but I don't have any painted. Otherwise, I could have used another T-34 battalion, but I only have the one painted. As it was, the T-34s were badly outgunned by an equal number of Pz IVs. But the T-70s were perfect!

I used the alternate Command Decision TO&E for the Russians of a battalion with three two-stand companies instead of the KGC formation of a regiment comprising three four-stand battalions. The battalion formation makes the Russian units too brittle and too weak in firepower. I've used the battalion formation in other games, but I think I'll abandon it. As with the tank units, it's a matter of how many figures I have painted. I only have enough for one regimental formation (12 stands), so I couldn't field more than one formation. I do have enough figures already started (and nearly done) to fill out a Soviet infantry division of three regimental formations.

I think the panzergrenadiers were too strong as well. I might have used two-stand companies instead to make them less resilient and reduce their firepower. If I had PAK 38s painted, I would have used them instead of the PAK 40s, which were still limited in number in 1943.

Another factor was the terrain placement. I intended to enable the Russians to fully occupy by turn 1 or two whichever of the two central towns the Germans didn't occupy at start. Instead, it took too long for the Russians to get there, by which time the Germans had already occupied part of it. Still, the back and forth attacks and counterattacks proved to be the liveliest fight of the game.

I need to get back to the painting table and replay this scenario again.

Ma vie en plomb (My life in lead)

2011-02-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

Today I stopped by the American Eagles hobby store in Lake City, WA to confirm a rumor that they were closing. Indeed they are. Their last day of business will be April 9th, 2011, just over 42 years since they opened for business.

American Eagles had seen its better days pass some time ago. The store's founder, Mike Edwards, opened his store a few blocks from his home in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle in April, 1969. His son George, who's run the place for the last decade since Mike died, says that his dad started the store because he was a plastic modeler and he had had the wonderful epiphany that if he owned a store, he could get his plastic model kits at wholesale.

For military-minded hobbyists in the greater Seattle area, American Eagles was a mecca. In their hey-day they carried several lines of miniature figurines, as well as paints and other accessories for wargamers. They also had a basement/back room where there was regular miniature wargaming. During its career, American Eagles moved from Ballard to the Greenwood neighborhood, back to Ballard again, and finally to its Lake City location. A scrapbook at the front counter of the store contains several clippings of antique articles from local newspapers telling all about the store and its devotees. Even though I've only been a customer since I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1991, I felt very nostalgic looking at them—less because of the store itself than because its history and eventual demise resonated with my own experience growing up as a kid who liked models, wargames, toy soldiers, 'n' stuff. The hobby stores of my youth have almost all come and gone as well.

American Eagles' closing is another mark indicating the passing of an era that will never return. In the 1950s to 1970s, hobby shops were a going concern. Before video games and the overly-structured lives that kids live today, hobby shops were a wonderland of creative things to do. Kids these days don't go into hobbies like we did in our youth. Internet commerce, too, has extracted its toll and the brick and mortar hobby shop is a dying breed.

I grew up in San Jose, CA where the notable hobby shops of my youth were Huston's Hobbies, D&J Hobbies, and San Antonio Hobbies. Huston's was around in the 1960s when we first came to San Jose and I recall it as a place my father would take me to buy plastic model kits (of tanks and warplanes, of course). Huston's disappeared in the early 70s. Later, the shopping center they were in, Town and Country Village, was bull-dozed for a new, swank shopping center (Santana Row).

D&J hobbies started as a wee nook of a place next to a pet store in Campbell, CA. My friends and I used to ride our bikes there to buy Rocco Minitanks and plastic models. My first job was working at D&J from 1977-1978 (by which time they had moved to a larger location). They're still in business—it must be almost 40 years now—and their current location is even larger than when I worked there. I think that diversity, especially Jan Pozzi's (the "J" in D&J) emphasis on crafts, has kept the store viable for walk-in shoppers. D&J never had much in the way of miniature gaming, but I was able to order Hinchliffe figures for myself and get them cheap through the store. But Darryl ("D") and Jan are getting on in years. When they retire, I don't see the store remaining.

The big store for wargamers in my area was San Antonio Hobbies in Mountain View, CA. In our pre-driving days, my friend Ron and I used to take a long bus ride up from San Jose, through Cupertino, Santa Clara, an Sunnyvale to Mountain View. The event was always a day-long excursion, which usually netted us a handful of Minifigs, dearly bought at .25 a figure. San Antonio carried the full range of Minifigs in their little boxes. We would have Natalie, the attractive older woman who worked the wargaming section, pull out box after box for us to pick through and get the figures we wanted. San Antonio closed shop some years ago after the owner suffered a stroke. He couldn't find a buyer for the store, so he just shut it down and liquidated whatever stock he had. San Antonio Hobbies had a few career workers, one of whom I knew for years, who were well paid with competitive benefits. I'm sure they once thought their future was secure.

There were a few other places as well, like Mickey's in Sunnyvale, whose eponymous proprietor sat painting bootlegged Britains toy soldiers in his tiny store. Even with his limited stock, Mickey never knew what he had on hand. Any call to ask if he had someting would just get the response that he had "many, many things" and that we should come in and look for ourselves. Mickey's is long gone, I don't know when.

There was also The Gametable in Campbell, CA that opened in the mid-70s. It was the first dedicated gaming store in the area. It was co-owned by three brothers and for some years was a hot-spot for miniature gaming. It went out of business in the mid-80s after a brief change of ownership. One of the original owners, Larry Duffield, now runs his own board game company, LPD Games, in picturesque Fort Bragg, CA.

I get a little misty-eyed thinking back on those days and how I've lived my life in lead minis. However, there are still stores that remain. The Panzer Depot in Kirkland, WA has been hit by the economy, but it's still a great store with a lot of miniature figures, paints, etc. It's also a place where gaming occurs regularly throughout the week. The Game Matrix in Lakewood, WA has miniature gaming one Saturday a month (when it's not pre-empted by a Pokemon tournament).

Despite constant bewailings of the "graying" of the wargame hobby, I can't help but notice how many gamers are younger than me (leaving aside notice of how many are older). One store's passing, doesn't mean the end of the hobby. Still, I think Donne's lines are fraught with portent: "Send not for whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee." When I'm an ~~old~~ older fart, will there still be a wargaming hobby to participate in that doesn't involve only me and a lot of other toothless fossils? I hope so.

Holiday gaming: part deux

2011-01-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

The second part of my holiday gaming was briefer than expected. I had planned on spending a good part of the day at my friend Rick's house in Carnation, WA. However, I spent the morning and early afternoon at my mother's house assembling a TV stand and setting up her 42" plasma TV that we bought her for Christmas. These things always take longer than expected.

My brother and I finally got everything set up and ready to go by around 3:00, then off to Rick's, which was tricky. It snowed here in the Seattle area on Monday and has remained frozen ever since. Some thawing has made most roads passable, but you never know. I was keen to avoid anything that might prove unmanageable in my 350Z. It's a great car for dry roads, but on ice it's like an elephant. I generally stay home in conditions like this, but I'd been out an about for the last few days and the roads seemed OK. On I went, but I took the safer back way and didn't get to Rick's until almost 4:00.

Game 1: Team Yankee ate my baby!
Our first game was a play of the first scenario from World at War: Eisenbach Gap. This is a fairly straight-up Soviet attack against a US defense. I had 10 T-72s against a US force of two M1 Abrams, one ITV, and one infantry unit with an M113 APC. On the face of it, the Americans looked to be screwed. Oh alas for me, no.

Looking back to my days playing any board game that represented actual or hypothetical combat between US- and Soviet-produced equipment, the US-produced equipment rips the Soviet crap apart. This was true with Red Star/White Star, MechWar '77, MBT, and The Arab-Israeli Wars. World at War is no exception. The T-72 is no slouch as a weapons system, but the game models not just the equipment; it also models the tactical doctrine, tactical flexibility, and training of the units—another area where the Western-equipped and trained forces prevail. The game uses a chit-draw system to activate formations one at a time. Team Yankee got two chits to my one. Plus, the Abrams is a mother. The units are more effective and outrange the T-72. Add to that the TOW ATGM system used by the ITV. Then factor in that the Soviets are on the attack and therefore subject to opportunity fire as they move in.

I had to take all the town hexes of two locations to win, which meant that Rick had only to defend one town hex in one location to win. He abandoned any defense of the the first location and set up around the second with a nice kill zone in front of him. I figured that if I came in en masse, he just couldn't kill all of me before I got my shots against him. I erred. The chit draw didn't help. We played six turns out of the eight for the scenario and I missed activation on two of them. Overall, I managed one shot at an Abrams the entire game. All but two of my T-72s were wrecks and my formation commander had been eliminated. I need to refigure Soviet tactics. Unlike Nations at War: White Star Rising, the WW2 variant in this series, World at War is unforgiving in tank kills. The technology of the 80s is just too advanced. If they hit you, they get you—at least if you're in a Soviet AFV.

The smoking ruin of the Soviet First Tank Regiment

Game 2: Fall Weiß
We played part of a game of Conflict of Heroes: Price of Honour-Poland 1939, the latest in the tactical series from Academy Games. I was the Germans storming in with my armored cars and wee Panzer I and Panzer II tanks against a Polish force that was coming in from both my flanks. The scenario has the Poles trying to get a small convoy of guns away from the Germans as the Germans race towards them with their Sdkfz 221 and 222 armored cars. It's a choice for the Poles whether they want to just run the guns off the board or deploy them against the advancing Hun. Rick chose to vamoose, and fight with his infantry troops rather than risk losing the guns, whose loss gives big points to the Germans.

The first firefight was between one of my 221s and some infantry in a stone building. I shot up a couple units by the end of round 1. In round 2, I moved on against some other Polish infantry only to get close assaulted. It was a brief fight, but I lost a 221 to determined Polish infantry, which my remaining 221 shot up. The 222s moved over towards some other Polish infantry and got good results shooting at them. It was starting to look a bit dicey as more Polish infantry was coming on the board. I had my own reinforcements and it looked to be shaping up to an interesting game, but it was getting late, the roads home were even more frozen, and dinner beckoned. Rick, his wife Janet, and I went to dinner at a local biker bar. The clientele were an interesting lot, but the food was terrific. After that, home to my ravenous cats, who didn't get fed until after 9:00 PM.

Price of Honour looks to be a very good game. Rick and I hadn't played the Conflict of Heroes system for some months, so we were a bit rusty, but it comes back quickly. The scenario we chose was a bit ambitious for our time constraint, so next time we need to go smaller. One noticeable aspect of Price of Honour is that the Poles don't suck like the Russians do in the other games in the series. They have movement and combat cost that are equivalent to the Germans, so they can actually do a lot in a round, whereas Russians are usually limited to a few actions before they run out of action points (APs) and have to dip into their much-limited supply of command points (CPs) to get anything done.

And thus ends the holidays. Back, hopefully, to work soon.

Turkish un-delight (DANG IX)

2010-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

Monday was the ninth running of Dave's Annual Naval Game (DANG). This is a tradition among a group of friends. Dave Schueler, former submariner and fellow technical writer, hosts a naval game that gets about 6 to 8 of us together for a day-long operational/tactical naval affair. Dave provided a compendium of DANGs past on his blog Naval Gazing.

For all but DANG I, Dave has provided a small set of possible themes that we can vote on to determine the year's game. This year's voting inclined towards the Battle of Lepanto where Turkish naval forces under Ali Pasha got shellacked by the Holy League lead by Don John of Austria. To put your suspense at ease: no, history was not stood on its head in our game.

The ships were Figurehead/Hallmark 1:2400 scale galleys. Dave bought these in October and painted both fleets in record time. The ships come with their own bases, but Dave put these on 20mm x 40mm Litko 3mm thick wooden bases for better movement and getting the ships to line up in formations better.

The Christian fleet, galleasses in front

After a brief intro by Dave, we chose sides. The Turks were Kevin Smyth, Dave Creager, Paul Hannah, and me. The Holy League was Dale Mickel, George Kettler, Scott Murphy, and Mark Waddington. The game started with each side choosing its admirals. We had a list of historical characters with a small bit of information about each choice. After choosing, we were given more information about each admiral, such as how they may react in a battle. The final characteristic of the admirals would not be known until they actually got into a battle, when we would roll to see if they are superior, average, or poor. More on that below.

The first part of the game was an operational phase where each side jockeyed about attempting to raid enemy ports, consolidating our fleets, and seeking out the enemy. The Holy League managed one successful raid on the Turkish-held Dalmatian coast. Our attempted raid on Crete was a disaster resulting in a great loss of fighting crews. We had to slink back to a friendly port to get more soldiers for the fleet.

The fleets consolidating for the big clash

Paul seemed very interested in a raid on Venice, which looked much too formidable—especially after our Crete disaster. We feinted that way with a dummy fleet, but the Holy Leaguers didn't bite. As it was, the operational phase ended when our fully consolidated fleets met off the coast of southern Greece.

Now we rolled to see what our admirals' qualities would be. Of our for admirals, three were sucky and one was merely adequate. This would affect how well we handled our fleets. (The Christians, I believe, rolled better.)

The rules we used for the naval action were Christian Fire and Turkish Fury by David Manley. The rules are an adaptation of the popular American Civil War rules Fire and Fury. Manley's take on the galley-style naval actions is that galley fleets behave more like formations in a land battle than individual ships. He did an earlier set of rules for ancient naval gaming called Greek Fire and Roman Fury, which put shape to his ideas. Christian Fire and Turkish Fury extends that concept to the gunpowder era. It's unclear how to get copies of the rules. They were published in a magazine some time ago. Dave has copies he got from David Manley.

Dave set up the playing area according to his predetermined idea of how coastal islands would feature for any given area on the operational map. The island placement restricted us to a narrow front. The Turkish ships are faster, so we might have attempted a flanking run if we had open water. However, we had to adapt our thinking to what was pretty much a head-on fight.

One restriction to our battle plan was Paul's admiral. Sucky though he was, Hassan, the son of the great Turkish admiral Barbarossa, was a fire eater. The wing he commanded must move at full speed towards the nearest Christian squadron. We lined up with my two Turkish squadrons in line abreast in the center. Paul was on our left in line astern, with the plan to skirt the island there and then form up against the Christian right. Kevin's Barbary squadron, our only elite formation, was behind me as a reserve, and Dave Creager's squadrons were on our right.

The Turks arrayed

We thought, well hoped, that we would have an advantage in numbers to offset the Christian advantage in technology. But that didn't seem to be so. Also, many of our "numbers" were smaller ships with paltry combat value. Against us were several elite Christian squadrons and their galleasses. In the Mediterranean of 1571, the galleass was the dreadnought of its day. With a much broader beam, it could mount a heavier battery, including broadsides, that provided all-around fire rather than being limited to straight-ahead fire as other galleys were. The Leaguers concentrated their three galleasses in the center between two galley squadrons.

The Christian center

We set up far enough apart that it took a few turns of movement before we came in gun range of each other. Paul (a.k.a. Hassan) ran up at full speed, while the rest of the Turks came on at half speed so as to be near enough to support Paul, without being the first into the narrows between the island groups.

The action started, as expected, with Paul's squadrons meeting the Christian right wing. Paul's two leading squadrons were wee galiots with poor long-range fire. The initial long-range volleys had little effect. But in the ensuing close range fire and melee, Paul's galiots fared for the worse worse. In the first couple turns of the game, our left wing was in severe trouble.

Christian fire! Dale shoots Paul's lead squadrons

In the center, I came on with my two large Turkish squadrons right into the teeth of Scott's galleasses. The result was predictable. Both squadrons got shot to bits. My lefthand squadron managed to get into melee contact with its tormentor, but that didn't change things. The Venetian galleys I fought had the upper hand throughout and my squadron was flotsam in just a few rounds. My other squadron held out long enough to inflict a bit of gunfire damage on Scott's ships. I even managed to put a galleass into disorder a couple times, although there was no chance of sinking one.

The fleets closing in after Paul and Dale's first clash

My squadrons engage - poorly

Kevin brought up his elite Barbary squadron and its supporting squadron of fustas. In just a few rounds, Kevin managed to shoot up Scott's lefthand squadron and then close in to destroy it. In the follow-up to that he also managed to contact a galleass that had been disordered by my feeble gunfire (my only tangible contribution to the game) and destroy it.

Kevin's Barbary squadron makes its presence felt
while only two ships remain of my two squadrons

On our right (the Christian left), Dave Creager and George slugged it out in the shadow of the hampering islets. The result was much like the legendary Kilkenny cats. Dave C. came out on top, but with only the bare minimum of ships in one squadron and only his wing flagship surviving out of the other locked in mortal combat with George's flagship, which was George's only survivor.

~~Turkish~~ Barbary fury! Kevin's squadrons break through
supported on the right by the remnants of Dave C.'s squadrons

The situation by now was Dale victorious over Paul, with little damage to himself. Scott was somewhat diminished in the center, but with two of three galleasses remaining. George vanquished on the Christian left. My two squadrons were as gone as Paul's. Dave C. had just a few ships. Kevin was victorious and undamaged in our center. However, Dale's squadrons were turning in and Kevin had yet to bear the fire of Scott's galleasses. We called it a Christian win.

The day was another DANG success. Much thanks to Dave and his wife Lynn for their hospitality. In addition to a great game, they provide a spread of delicious food. One treat this year were Lynn's rum balls. I haven't had a run ball since the 1970s. My friend Chet's mother used to make rum balls and brandy balls every Christmas and I couldn't get my fill of them. I don't think I ever got drunk on them, but I did retain a fondness for rum well into my 20s.

The day ended with us admiring George's latest model aircraft creations. He's been making masters for 1/285th scale planes for about ten years. He had Phantoms, MiG 21s, MiG 17s, F-105s, and others that were being readied to be sent for casting. It brought to ind how long it's been since we played an air game. We also, discussed options for next year's DANG, although it will be October before we get down to voting on choices.

Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!

2010-12-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

I saw the new release of True Grit on Sunday. I've been anticipating this movie since I saw the preview for it this summer. The 1969 version with John Wayne, Glen Campbell, and Kim Darby is one of my favorite movies. If it's not the favorite, it's at least in my top five. The movie is memorable for many things: John Wayne's only Oscar, Kim Darby's breakout role (although it never flourished after that), and early performances by Dennis Hopper as Moon and Robert Duvall as Ned Pepper. The movie also featured uncredited performances by Wilford Brimley and Jay Silverheels.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the remake, but it's a Coen brothers movie, which is always a good sign. It also features Jeff Bridges, the Dude (or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing) as Rooster Cogburn. I'm a big Jeff Bridges fan and he did a great job in the role. I wasn't too sure about Matt Damon as LaBoeuf, but he was good in the role. The LeBoeuf character in the new version is the biggest departure from the 1969 version.

The biggest uncertainty was about Mattie Ross. Kim Darby gained a great deal of recognition for her acting in that role. Although 24 at the time, her small size and slender frame made her pass well enough for a 14-year old girl. That fact that she was an adult herself, contributed to her ability to portray Mattie's precociousness when dealing with, and getting the best of, her elders. Hailee Steinfeld, who is actually 14, plays Mattie in the new version. She is brilliant. She has put her stamp on the role.

The Coen brothers' remake is said to have followed the novel by Charles Portis more closely than the original. I'm eager to read the book to see for myself—but it's not available for the Nook yet! There are noticeable differences between the two versions, but it's endearing, too, to see how much alike they are in many respects. Much of the more memorable dialogue in the 1969 version is repeated in the 2010 version, which means either that the Coen brothers kept it from Marguerite Robert's 1969 screenplay or that the dialogue comes from the book. In either case, any remake would be the poorer without the climactic exchange between Rooster Cogburn and "Lucky" Ned Pepper as well as other lines and exchanges between the characters.

One interesting homage in the movie is the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms". The tune plays at times through the movie and the hymn is sung by Iris Dement during the ending credits. The only other western that Jeff Bridges has done, as far as I know, is Wild Bill, where "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" is also sung at the movie's end (with the chorus variation "Leaning on Jesus").

As I watched the movie, I unconsciously ticked off every favorite quote from the 1969 version that was retained, in some form, in the 2010 version, but not everything got in. Here are a few favorites that didn't make it:

Rooster Cogburn: By God. She reminds me of me.
LaBoeuf: Well, then we might just not get along.

Mattie Ross: I won't rest until Tom Chaney's barking in hell.

Mattie Ross: Those horses can't get away from Little Blackie - they're loaded down with fat men and iron.

Rooster Cogburn: When's the last time you saw Ned Pepper?
Emmett Quincy: I don't remember any Ned Pepper.
Rooster Cogburn: Short feisty fella, nervous and quick, got a messed-up lower lip.
Emmett Quincy: That don't bring nobody to mind. A funny lip?
Rooster Cogburn: Wasn't always like that, I shot him in it.
Emmett Quincy: In the lower lip? What was you aiming at?
Rooster Cogburn: His upper lip.

Tom Chaney: What are you doin'?
Mattie Ross: I'm getting some water so I can wash my hands.
Tom Chaney: A little smut won't hurt you.
Mattie Ross: That's true - or else you and your chums would surely be dead.

Rooster Cogburn: You can't serve papers on a rat, baby sister. You gotta kill him or let him be.

Mattie Ross: Why do you keep that one chamber empty?
Rooster Cogburn: So I won't shoot my foot off.

Mattie Ross: Do you know a Marshal Rooster Cogburn?
Col. G. Stonehill: Most people around here have heard of Rooster Cogburn and some people live to regret it. I would not be surprised to learn that he's a relative of yours.

LaBoeuf: I wouldn't count too much on bein' able to shade somebody I didn't know, fella.
Rooster Cogburn: I ain't never seen nobody from Texas I couldn't shade.

Rooster Cogburn: LaBoeuf, you get cross ways of me and you'll think a thousand of brick have fell on you! You'll wish you was back at the Alamo with Travis!

Rooster Cogburn: Baby sister, I was born game and I intend to go out that way.

Rooster Cogburn: Any man who packs a big bore Sharps carbine could come in mighty handy, if we're attacked by buffalo... or elephants.

The new True Grit is a great film in its own right and I recommend it for any westerns fan or anyone looking for a good adventure film.

Holiday gaming: Part Un

2010-12-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

Being currently out of work, "holiday" gaming is a bit of a misnomer. Apart from looking for work and waiting, waiting, waiting to hear about positions I've interviewed for, I have a lot of time on my hands. However, in this formulation, time does not equal money. When I'm making money, I have no time. When I have time, I'm not making money. Why can't I have time and money?

So, during this—hopefully brief—period between jobs, I have been able to get some gaming in.

Boardgaming
Boardgaming is a kind of first love for me. I started in the hobby with it, left it for some years, and am now re-enjoying it. My friend Rick recommended a game released this year called Nations at War: White Star Rising from Lock 'n Load games (which I've mentioned in my last posting). It's tactical combat in Western Europe in WW2. I ordered a copy straight away and I've managed to get a number of games in in the past week. I expect to play a few more times in the next week.

White Star Rising (WSR) uses the same games scale as PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader where a single counter/unit represents a platoon. But after that WSR departs considerably. WSR uses a chit-pull command activation system that limits what you can move at a given point, randomizes who gets to move what when, and may cause one or more formations to skip a turn, which can matter much for an attacker who needs to take an objective within the game's turn limit. Formations, when activated by their chit being pulled, can fire, move, overrun, or close assault. After they complete an action, they are marked as Ops Complete. Meanwhile, enemy units can opportunity fire against an activated unit moving.

Rick and I have learned through the game that infantry, especially panzergrenadiers, armored infantry, and paratroopers, are tough. Somewhat easily killed in the open but formidable in close combat against tanks, infantry is best when holding woods or built-up areas against attacking armored forces.

The system uses hit dice and saving rolls, which is novel in a board game. The system is reminiscent of Flames of War in some ways, but more sophisticated. It would make a good translation to miniatures. (Note to self: translate to miniatures.) All you would need to do is make up charts indicating the combat values for the units in a formation and convert the hex distances to inches. There may be some other tweaking desired; for example, it may be a good idea to make standard range bands that apply to all units. You would also need to work out combat, armor, and movement values for vehicles not yet covered in the system.

I like WSR so much that I've ordered some of the the World at War (WaW) system games from Lock 'n Load. This series predates WSR by a few years and is the genesis for the system, except that WaW depicts hypothetical conflict between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces circa 1985.

WaW should arrive tomorrow via UPS, so I hope to get a game or two in this coming week. I also have the Vassal module for it, so I can practice online and work out the rules kinks.

I got my long-awaited pre-ordered-back-before-the-earth-cooled copy of Columbia's Shiloh: April 1862 just before Christmas. I've played one partial game with Rick, just enough to get a feel for it. Its rating on BoardGameGeek is a wopping 8.17 out of 10, so it's been well received in its first month.

As is inevitable in playing a new game, we fumbled through the turns we played. I was Grant, Rick was Johnston/Beauregard. He came on pretty strong in the first turns, but I got lucky on a counterattack and set him back a bit. It bears replaying to see whether or not I was truly lucky or if we got something wrong.

Miniatures
I've only been able to get one miniatures game in. This was a Kampfgruppe Commander game run bu Mark Serafin. The scenario was set Russia 1941 with a pretty poor Soviet force defending a bridge and ford on a river line against a pretty good German force. Pz 38(t)s went up against T-28s, T-26s, and early model T-34s. Unfortunately, all the Soviet tanks were, well, crap. Poor training, low morale, and feeble response ratings pretty much made them fodder for the panzertruppen. Of course, my singular excellence in rolling 10s (the worst result) for my defensive rolls helped considerably.

The game played well, even if a German win was almost inevitable. It provided a good example of the early Barbarossa actions: good German armored forces concentrated against unready infantry forces supported only by a few tanks here and there. Alas, I didn't get photos.

Other stuff
Don't be shocked, but I managed to some painting done as well. I have a box of 15mm buildings cleaned and primed for painting that have sat unmolested in my garage for a few years now. I finally got to a couple. When painted one by one, they go pretty quickly. They're all western European types. Because my WW2 figures are exclusively Russian and German, they'll be good for scenarios where the Russians are running roughshod over the Reich in '45.

I got to some of my half-finished WW2 vehicles, too. Closer to be done are some Russian T-28s, T-70s, and T-34/85s. I also got well along with some StuG IIIs and a Hornisse.

I've also pulled out some 28mm Copplestone Castings Future Wars figures that I've had sitting about for some time. I have long had a desire to use them for playing Stargrunt II. I have enough for a single side with a small section of power-armored troops. (I've been a fan of power armor since I read Heinlein's Starship Troopers.) The Stargrunt II rules are a solid system, but seem a bit cumbersome for larger games. However, if I keep the scale small—just infantry and support weapons—it should make for some nice games.

Monday is DANG. We're playing Lepanto, so I hope to get some photos and do a write-up.

I am a Vassal

2010-12-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

I've been aware of the Vassal online game engine for some years, but my initial foray into its use didn't impress me. It seemed flaky on the Mac, which was the only computer I had back then, and I was somewhat confused by it all. I immediately gave up. However, I gave it another try today using my PC and I've been having quite a time downloading modules and playing a few solo games—even though Vassal is ideal for playing a board game with an online opponent.

The engine supports modules that someone has designed and uploaded to the Vassal web site. Creating these modules no doubt requires developer/coding skills I lack, but I am curious. Many thanks to the guys who create these modules for no remuneration. They are heroes in the hobby—although I suspect that if I had skills, I would create modules a) for bragging rights and b) so I could play my favorite board game on Vassal.

The number of modules available is pretty impressive. The quality varies and several modules have multiple versions that are either incremental improvements or creations by different designers.

The first module I downloaded was, of course, PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader. I'm pretty impressed at how well this module works. The graphics are great and all the charts and situation cards are available.

Initial Russian attack: Lots of wrecks.

I played a solo game using the Vassal engine, Situation 6.

Russians get past the hill defense and prepare to push onto board 3

The Germans squeaked out a tactical victory, but it was close. The challenge for the Russians is to get from Board 1 to Board 3 by way of Board 2, which is lousy with Germans. It was a nice solo game. I avoid solo board games at Chez Dave because les chats vilains tend to fiddle with the pieces even when I'm right there; to leave the game unguarded is inviting disaster. But with Vassal, the cats are reduced to merely walking back and forth in front of the computer, or sitting on the laptop.

Save your sorry panzer division or feed me. Choose wisely.

Vassal also has a module for The Arab-Israeli Wars, so you get the Avalon Hill trifecta. I hope someone does the Panzer Leader 1940 variant...

Another online game is the fairly recent Nations at War: White Star Rising, which is my new favorite board game. The graphics quality for this module is excellent:

S.Pz.Abt. 501 heading into disaster.

I fiddled around with this solo as well, although I didn't play a full scenario game. My friend Rick and I played WSR scenario 1 yesterday and we debated and alternate approach for the Germans. I tried that approach using even better units that were in the scenario and I think that my avoidance tactics of yesterday was the better course. In the few turns I played, the Tiger were burning, the other panzers were burning, and the SS detachment was cowering in the woods and town to avoid getting shot to bits.

Vassal has modules for several GMT games, such as Men of Iron and Nothing Gained but Glory. There are modules for the World at War series from Lock N Load Publishing (an earlier released system similar to WSR for hypothetical tactical combat circa 1985 in western Europe). I have these games on order, so I look forward to playing them on Vassal.

The Vassal module provides all the graphical elements you need (map, counters, etc.) and provides the dice-rolling mechanisms. It does not provide the rules of play or, in most cases, the game scenarios. You need to buy the games to get those. In some cases, however, you can download game rules for very old games. I downloaded the 1965 and 1975 versions of the Avalon Hill Blitzkrieg game.

I'm not sure how much I'll play with online opponents. For a while, I'll just fiddle with the engine doing solo games and getting to know the ropes. The Vassal modules have no controls that limit your actions. They play just like a board game except that the board, pieces, and die roll results are online. I fear that I'll screw up so badly when playing a live opponent that they'll interpret my stupidty as deviousness.

One sad note about Vassal is that there is a very small number of copyright owners who won't allow Vassal modules for their games. One of these is SPI. That's a shame. I don't know who actually owns the SPI copyrights. Most of these games are 30-40+ years old. I see no intellectual property that they are protecting. None of the old SPI games are available for sale—nor have been for many, many years. Maybe I should start a campaign to get the SI copyright owners to unclench and let those of us who own decaying copies of their board games to play them online. Heck, I'd even pay to get a Vassal module of games like Armageddon or Musket & Pike.

Postscript
The mystery of SPI's exclusion from Vassal is solved. Decision Games, who holds the copyright on SPI, has it's own online server called HexWar. SPI games will only be available there. HexWar is subscription based and currently offers only 41 games—none of which are the ones I want to play. However, HexWar, unlike Vassal, provides rules and has the game constraints built into the engine. Users don't need to have the game to play it online because everything is provided.

Post-postscript
After fiddling with the PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader module, I've discovered that the module designer included a large number of counters for variants. Even though the Panzer Leader 1940 scenarios aren't included as preset games, you can easily play them using the scenarios from the variant that appeared in The General. You can also create new situations for either game using counters that extend PanzerBlitz back to 1941 with Panzer IIs, Panzer IIIs, Russian KVs, T-26s, T-28s, T-35s, etc. I'm very impressed with that module.

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen

2010-11-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

I just finished re-reading my beat-up copy of H. Beam Piper's wonderful sci-fi novel Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. I think we all have a few books in our lives that we read again and again for the sheer pleasure of having a familiar tale unfold for us. And even though we know it all so well, each re-reading is like the first reading all over again. Kalvan is one of those books for me. I've probably read it 20 times since I bought my first copy and it never gets old.

It was Piper's last book. For reasons still unclear, he committed suicide in November 1964, just before Lord Kalvan was published. Speculation is that Piper assumed that his career was heading downhill and that he would never lift himself out of his financial problems. Ironically, Lord Kalvan was his biggest, albeit posthumous, success. He died without knowing the extent of his influence on the genre.

Lord Kalvan's story falls within a familiar theme where a seeming everyman becomes unstuck from his old life by events outside his control and finds a destiny he never imagined possible. Lord Kalvan is the last of the paratime series that started with the short story "He walked around the horses," which appeared in the Magazine Astounding Science Fiction in 1948. Piper had a fascination with the idea of parallel worlds where alternate probabilities worked themselves out. It was a theme he used in several short stories and novels. Most of Piper's work is available online as free e-books.

The story's protagonist, Calvin Morrison, is a Pennsylvania State Trooper who gets accidentally sucked into a paratemporal conveyor while he is apprehending a holed-up prison escapee. After a shoot-out with the conveyor operator, he's ejected to what appears to be the same spot he was before but different. Where there was only scrub, there is now primeval forrest, but other landmarks are correct. He stumbles on a farmstead whose humble inhabitants are clearly not from any part of Pennsylvania's history. He eventually convinces himself that he has been transported to a far-distant future where mankind has bootsrapped itself back up to roughly 16th century technology after being blasted back to the stone age in a nuclear holocaust. However, he is really on a alternate probability timeline (Fourth-Level: Aryan-Transpacific) where the Aryan migrations that went south and west to populate Europe and India before the Bronze Age instead turned east, sailed across the Bering Strait, and populated the Americas.

Morrison has wound up in a princedom called Hostigos, whose capital Tarr-Hostigos occupies what is Bellefonte, PA on Morrison's own timeline. He finds himself in the middle of an enemy raid that reaches his hosts' farmstead. He springs to action and, with his state-issue .38 special, helps to repel the attack and begins a counterattack. However, in the confusion of the fight, he is accidentally shot by Princess Rylla, the daughter of Hostigos' ruling Prince Ptosphes, but saved from death by his badge, which blunts the bullet's effect. This detail is an interesting story glitch because the Pennsylvania State Police do not and never have worn badges. I guess the alternate would be the old Bible in the breast pocket trick, but Calvin Morrison is described as an agnostic.

Badly wounded, Morrison is taken to the castle and nursed back to health by Princess Rylla and the priests of the god Dralm, a sort of kinder, gentler Zeus. Rylla teaches him the local language and Morrison, obviously a fish out of water, is able to explain himself as someone sent there by sorcery. Xentos, the high priest Dralm, declares that he was sent by the gods to help Hostigos. Morrison soon learns that Hostigos is beset by its neighbors at the direction of an evil theocracy called Styphon's House.

In the meantime, the Paratime Police, whose job is to protect the secret of paratemporal travel, track Morrison down to kill him if he's deemed to be a threat to the secret. Verkan Vall, the special assistant to the Paratime Police Chief, takes on the job himself. Coming into Hostigos as a free trader from outside the kingdom, he determines that Morrison's misunderstanding of what happened to him and his cover story in Hostigos pose no problem. Vall befriends Morrison, who has now been raised to the peerage as Lord Kalvan by Prince Ptosphes and betrothed to Princess Rylla. Vall admires Kalvan's character and helps him in his fight.

Kalvan is able to greatly improve Hostigos' military situation, but he remains initially unaware of its real problem: it hasn't enough gunpowder to defend itself when its enemies attack. He soon learns that Styphon's House is the sole maker and provider of gunpowder—called fireseed—in all the kingdoms. Only Styphon's highest priests know the secret and Hostigos is under the ban. It's then that Kalvan drops a bomb and reveals that he can make fireseed and proceeds to do so, making a better product than Styphon's.

Kalvan starts major gunpowder production in Hostigos, but also works to let the secret of gunpowder out of the bag so that anyone can make it, thus weakening the control Styphon's House has over the kingdoms. Kalvan sees Styphon's House as the real enemy and vows to destroy it. Styphon's House reacts by stepping up the pressure on Hostigos and urging its minions, the neighboring princedoms of Nostor and Sask, to attack sooner than they planned.

The war that follows is fought on two fronts. Kalvan smashes a two-pronged attack by Nostor and then prepares for a second war against Sask. The decisive battle against Sask is based on the Battle of Barnet in 1471, where Yorkist and Lancastrians fought a confused battle in the fog unaware that each had outflanked the other.

When the wars conclude, Kalvan is raised up as a Great King ruling the princes of Hostigos, Nostor, Sask, and a few minor states—and of course, he marries the princess Rylla, too. The book ends with the knowledge that the wars against Nostor and Sask are only the beginning of a longer fight to overthrow Styphon's House.

I became aware of Lord Kalvan back in the late 70s when I was all into Pike & Shot wargaming. I bought a set of miniatures rules called Down Styphon! that were written by Mike Gilbert and published by Fantasy Games Unlimited. These are still available (or, rather, again available) for just $4.00 directly from FGU. The rules referred to the novel and included an advert for purchasing the book from Ace Books for $1.50 plus 35¢ shipping. I thought I had been cured of responding to adverts after enough misadventures in my younger days with the schlock products that were the staple of the end sheets of every comic book (sea monkeys, X-ray glasses, etc.). But sending away for the book was the best hunch I ever took, especially since I had never been a sci-fi fan before, or really much since.

A few years ago, I acquired a copy of Roland Green and John F. Carr's 1985 novel Great Kings' War, which extends the story to the next phase of Kalvan's war against Styphon's House. Green and Carr have since written another two novels in the series, Siege of Tarr-Hostigos and Kalvan Kingmaker. I haven't read either. Great King's War was a good read, but it hasn't held me like Lord Kalvan. I've re-read it maybe once before, but now I've pitched into it again.

I've always wanted to game the world of Lord Kalvan. There are enough suitable Pike & Shot rules around, including Down Styphon! However, the descriptions of the troops in Lord Kalvan make getting their exact look very hard to do with the available figures. The men are described as looking part medieval and part 16th–17th century with chain mail, plate mail, high-combed morions, and a kind of unvisored sallet.

The Hostigos troops have a lot of crossbows and what firearms they have are a kind of flintlock with an action that works in reverse. I've always thought that a reverse flintlock was an odd thing for Piper to create in his story. I own a flintlock musket, so I'm familiar with how they throw a spark beyond the frizzen. If the action is reversed, the spark from the flint striking the frizzen goes into the shooter's eye. Piper was a gun nut; he ought to have known that.

The Down Styphon! rules announced a figure line to be created especially for Lord Kalvan's world based on specifications provided by Mike Gilbert. They don't seem to have ever been produced. The rules themselves are fairly straightforward and use mechanics that were standard for the 70s, and very typical of FGU games in particular. I am toying with these rules as yet another project. I have some 30 Years' War figures, but perhaps an intervention is needed instead...

Lars Porsenna's boys: A review of Gorgon Studios 28mm Etruscan line

2010-11-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

I discovered Gorgon Studios back in July this year. The figures I'm painting for my De Bellis Velitum project are all Foundry Greeks, which were sculpted by Steve Saleh. I was browsing the web to see if there was any current range of figures being sculpted by Steve Saleh and sure enough, Gorgon Studios came up on Bing! Not only was I happy to see that Steve was sculpting more figures, but equally happy that the new figures were Early Etruscans, ca. 6th - 5th century BC.

The pre-Roman period of Italy has gotten short shrift so far from most figure manufacturers and I have been hoping for someone to attend to it. Aventine Miniatures does a beautiful range that includes Late Etruscans, which are suitable for use as Italian allied legions in the Republican Roman army, but until Gorgon's line, no one that I know of has done the earlier army that was Rome's first great enemy after they ejected king Tarquinius Superbus and became an republic.

I ordered online on a Tuesday evening and my figures arrived on Saturday from Peoria, IL, where Gorgon Studios is located. That's good turnaround. The cost of the figures is in line with other premium figure ranges: $8.00 per pack of four foot figures, $14.00 per pack of three mounted figures.

The Etruscan range so far consists of some first class hoplites, second class spearmen, cavalry, and command sets for each. Hank Edley, listed on the Gorgon staff page as taskmaster of Gorgon Studios, says that the Etruscan line will expand. I presume that means that they will create figures for the remaining three classes of the Etruscan army: class 3 (spearmen), class 4 (light spearmen/javelinmen?), and class 5 (slingers).

The figures are sold in packs of four foot and three horse. There are three packs for each, one of which is the command pack.

1st class hoplites, more pictures from the

Gorgon Studios website

Casting
The casting is very clean with minimal mold lines and no flash. Also minimal are any of the spikey bits that come from the air-holes used in the casting process. Cleaning the figures has been very quick. The metal has a high tin content and is very rigid, which might make cleaning up some areas more difficult, but since there is little cleanup required, I had no problem working with the figures.

Poses
Each figure in a pack is unique. The poses for hoplites and spearmen vary between attacking with spear overarm, thrusting spear underarm, advancing with spear upright and standing/defending with spear upright. The command packs include two leader figures and two musicians.

The poses for the cavalry are various positions of horsemen with spears: overarm, thrusting, and underarm.

All of the figure poses are lively. For my use, skirmish gaming, the variety is perfect. However, I suspect that someone wanting to build larger wargame units for WAB or FoG will want figures that are doing something similar, such as all overarm, all advancing, etc. Gorgon sells their excellent Spartan range packs with figures doing the same thing, so I'm not sure why the Etruscan range should be different.

Detail and accuracy
I'm no estruscologist, so my observations are based on what I've read in secondary sources. The hoplites' helmets and armor look correct and are beautifully executed on the figures. The hoplites wear muscled cuirasses except for two who wear a kind of linothorax-style, where the body is scale and, presumably, the pteruges and shoulders are linen (or maybe leather). The helmets are typically Greek in style.

The tunics are just about knee length, which seems a bit long based on frescoes and statues that show a very short tunic, so short in fact that in some of the sources, the warriors goolies or their rear end hangs out—obviously a premodest society.

Shield forward, spear up, tackle out!

"The uniform 'e wore

Was nothin' much before,

An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind"

I'm not complaining about the lack of full-frontal (or full-backal) male nudity in the figures, but I always thought that the short, short tunic was a distinctive look for Italian hoplites and I miss it in the figures.

Size
The figures measure 28M on the Barrett scale and are completely compatible with Foundry's World of the Greeks range (no surprise given that the sculptor is the same for both). The bases aren't thick enough to skew the size of the figures compared to others and the overall height, including helmet crests is about 35mm.

Painting
I'm painting several of the figures right now: six mounted and 16 foot. I use the excellent North Star wire spears for arming my boys, cut down to about 40mm in length, which, I think, approximates about 8' length in scale.

I'm using a lot of "pretty" colors for tunics for the hoplites. The 2nd class spearmen will be less flashy. The critical issue is painting the shields, which I've decided to hand-paint rather than use decals. I'm going on the theory that hoplite's shield designs were certainly naive in execution, which happily is much like my painting.

Anticipation
So far, the Etruscan cavalry released in July, 2010 are the last figures produced for this range. I hope to see some light troops soon so I can get some serious skirmish forces painted. I'm also crossing my fingers for early Romans (who may, after all, be the same as Etruscans for this era—so, maybe not).

Milgamex' Ancient Warfare: The Search for the Grail

2010-11-17T13:45:00.001-08:00

Well, it may not be as dramatic as all that, but I'm happy to say that I finally acquired a copy of a hard-to-find set of golden oldie wargames rules. I bought them through Noble Knight games, which can be a great source for out-of-print games and rules.

Ancient Warfare came out in 1975 at a time when WRG was releasing it's 5th edition Ancients rules. At the time, many people considered it to be the Betamax to WRG's VHS. Ancient Warfare had some novel mechanics for the time, such as variable movement rates, two movement phases in a turn, a separate Impact phase before a Melee phase (much like Field of Glory uses currently), and combat resolution that didn't tick away at the number of "real" men per figure. However, WRG had established itself internationally as the rules for Ancients competitions and Ancient Warfare never caught on with enough players to establish itself. There were two printings of the rules and by 1980, they were almost impossible to find. They remain rare enough that no one has submitted them to Board Game Geek (well, not until I just did).

The copy I found is a bit knackered, to say the least. It has the feel of an ancient document that may crumble in my hands. The Quick Reference Sheet is very battered and held together by tape. The QRS has a lot of charts that are not included in the text of the rules, so reproducing these is a top priority. It looks like another project for Adobe InDesign.

I don't know what I'll actually do with them. I have a 28mm 3rd c. Roman army for WRG and am working on a Sassanid army for WRG as well. Ancient Warfare used the same base sizes as WRG, which was common for almost every ancients rules set that came out in the 70s due to WRG's dominance of the genre. So, I could alternately play WRG and Milagmex.

But of course, I would need to complete my Sassanid army and I am nothing if not indolent when it comes to painting these days.

The Fizzle of '42: The Solomons Campaign part deux

2010-10-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

We completed our second turn of the Solomons campaign and it turned out to be a bit disappointing. I got an extra command decision for the turn, so I had five things I could do: a carrier sortie, two reinforcements, a supply mission, and a bombardment mission.

As feared, the carrier sortie couldn't find its own butt using both hands and a mirror. That's probably a good thing because if I could find him, he would find me and the results might be quite uneven.

The supply mission succeeded, but got attacked by the Cactus Air Force on its way back up The Slot towards Rabaul and one light cruiser was sunk.

The bombardment mission failed because Mark sent out two carrier sorties. His first missed my carriers, but his second found my bombardment group moving down from Truk. The result was one battleship sunk and another so badly damaged as to be in dry dock until 1947 or so—just in time for the Americans to tow it to Bikini and blow it up.

The bombardment fiasco wasn't fun. As I mentioned before, Japanese AA fire is about as effective at shooting down attacking planes as blowing kisses at them would be. The game charts for planes attacking ships are quite bloody—if the attacking planes are American. Mark got five hits on one battleship and three hits on the other. Each hit does a world of damage, so Oppenheimer should thank his lucky stars that he'll have Kongo to nuke after the war.

Three ships lost and nothing gained for the turn. I had intended to go to Tacoma on Saturday and play Field of Glory: Renaissance, but I got drawn out to the Panzer Depot instead because I was expecting a surface action with either my supply mission or the bombardment group—generating surface actions being the whole point of running the campaign. Admiral Ghormley, however, has turned Fabius Maximus on me and is now avoiding surface actions. The only thing to do when I got there was to roll to see how badly my ships got sunk by his planes. Haruna was sunk so badly that the next ship named Haruna will automatically sink as soon as it's launched just to cover the excess damage done to Haruna I.

I am a bit less enthusiastic about the campaign now because it's a bit more carrier focused than I care for. We use the GQ3 campaign rules for air-to-surface actions, which can be done quickly with paper, pencil, and few dice. The campaign allows for up to two carrier missions per turn and woe betide you—as I just learned—if you don't run two missions. The loss of two battleships occurred because Mark's spare carrier mission had nothing else to do but go looking for anything else floating. You get only four missions per turn (typically), but you have to run half of them as carrier missions just to keep your other missions from getting jumped by enemy carrier-based aircraft against which they have no chance of success ("success" here being defined as mere survival). That means that the main part of the campaign, surface actions, gets short shrift.

Remains of the day

Too late to make it down to Tacoma for piking and shotting, I went into Seattle to run some long-delayed errands. First stop was Tacoma Book Center and Sea Ocean Book Berth in Fremont. I was hoping to snag a copy of John Bulkeley's At Close Quarters, the official US Navy account of PT Boats in WW2. I knew that one of the shops had a copy the last time I was there. However, I discovered they sold it just days before.

After browsing a while, I went for lunch at Pacific Inn just across the street. They have Seattle's best fish & chips. I used to work in the neighborhood and I've devoured many a greasy pile of halibut and french fries at PI, washed down with a pint or two of Manny's. It was was a treat to devour more after too long a hiatus.

Next stop was the University Bookstore to get some nice, fat 1.4mm leads for my Faber Castell mechanical pencil. These are hard to find in shops because it's pretty rare to find anyone who carries Faber Castell pens/pencils except some art supply stores. I got their last two refill thingummies, which I hope will last me for a while. I use the mechanical pencil for note-taking, jotting, scribbling, etc. at work. I ran out of my last lead a few weeks back and had been meaning to run to the U to get more, but I always had something else going on.

Final trip of the day was down to Auburn, WA to visit Comstock's Books. I used to get down there much more often. I haven't been in years, which is partly a testimony to the value of online books stores like Abe Books where I can search for and order a lot of long out-of-print books from the comfort of my den. It's also a testimony to my declining tendency to wander far on a weekend. (Am I such a homebody now?)

It had been so long since I was at Comstock's that I feared they might not be there any more. It was a nice surprise to turn the corner onto Main St. and see them still there, still open for the day, and with parking space right in front. They also had a new batch of store cats since I was last there: twin torties and a big white cat, who was lounging in the sun by the main window.

Comstock's has a great section, really several sections, on military history. I browsed their nautical section, still hoping to find At Close Quarters. No luck, but I did find a more recent paperback on PT Boats in the Pacific that had a forward by Bulkeley. (Bulkeley, by the way, was the commander of the PT squadron that took MacArthur away from Corregidor. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for other actions in the Philippines from Dec, 1941 to Feb, 1942 when the few boats he commanded were about the only US Navy in the area.) I also picked up Richard Frank's massive tome on Guadalcanal and, a lucky find, the elusive, out-of-print Osprey book Roman Military Clothing: 100 BC to 200 AD. I'd seen it online before for some absurd price, which I wasn't going to pay. Comstock's had it for the same price as any of the other Osprey titles in stock.

After Comstock's, it was home again, home again, jiggity-jig. I had stopped home earlier after The Panzer Depot in order to drop off all the stuff I schlepped there expecting a game. I just unloaded it into my garage while Grendel mewled pathetically through the door at me, after which I drove off, much to his chubbiness' chagrin. Now home again, my fat little man was happy to know he, and his harem, would be getting fed.

Postscript

Later on Saturday, I went to Amazon.com to search for At Close Quarters and discovered several copies available from Amazon affiliated sellers. I ordered a copy from Barbarossa Books, which is just across the sound on Bainbridge Island, and it arrived today. My interest, apart from a good read, is to work out some scenarios for 1:1250th coastal gaming. Hallmark/Figurehead have a nice range of American and Japanese coastal craft, which I'll order as soon as I figure out what I want.

Too many irons in the fire

2010-10-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

The sluggard's craving will be the death of him,
because his hands refuse to work.

Proverbs 21:25

Wargamers are like kids in a candy shop—at least most of the gamers I know are. Everything looks good and we want it all. Now. In massive quantities. Thank you.

If you're a well-disciplined and focused painter—like Bill Stewart or Kevin Smyth—your throughput can inspire awe. If you're not well-disciplined and focused—like, er, me—things tend to pile up.

I'm looking around at all the projects I have in progress and I'm a bit dismayed by it all. No sooner do I get well underway with a new project than a newer new project tempts me away (Ooh, look, a shiny thing!). The result is a daunting number of projects that sit round partially painted. Currently on the painting table (in no particular order of priority):

28mm Sassanid Persians - I have several A and A Miniatures figures that I bought years ago to go along with my A and A 3rd Century Romans. My approach to these figures is that no two will be alike. That means that assembly-line painting techniques just won't work. Each horse and rider is done separately. I can do some things in batches, such as paint all the brown horses at once, but past that, the horse furniture and caparisons/barding is all separate. I tackle this project in fits and starts, but it's been stalled for much longer than it's been active.
28mm Ancients skirmish - I posted a while ago about my playing the never-published De Bellis Velitus (DBV) ancient skirmish rules that Phil Barker drafted about 20 years ago as a companion to his De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) rules. After that playtest, I got busy mounting a number of 28mm Foundry Greeks on the 30mm x 40mm bases I've adopted for DBV. The Greeks were originally intended for use with a home-grown set of rules by Bryan Booker called Warriors of Antiquity, but I've lost my copy, the rules are no longer available, and Bryan Booker has fallen off the face of the earth, alas. I then thought about using them for a grid-based game that was a revival of a set of rules I played in the 70s, but I figured I may never attract other players to it. So DBV it is. I'm just a bit stymied on the momentous question of painting the hoplite shields using simple designs and solid colors or to "cheat" and use Little Big Men shield transfers.
28mm late 17th century - Back in the early 80s, my gaming friends in San Jose and I got together on gaming the late 17th century using the Gush Renaissance rules and using the new Dixon League of Augsburg figures sculpted by Mark Copplestone. With the release last year of a new late 17th c. range, Glory of the Sun, covering the era of 1660 – 1675, Bill Stewart, Doug Hamm, Rich Knapton, and I got excited enough to start a new project using the Beneath the Lily Banners rules. However, Copplestone stalled after his first release of the range. Figures for guns and horse were to be forthcoming, but after a long delay the rumor was that Copplestone had found a "real job" and wouldn't be completing the range. The new rumor is that the old rumor is false, but no new figures seem to be forthcoming. As it is, I'm partly through two infantry regiments, but out of steam because I'm not sure if there's any point...
15mm WW2 Germans - This is only partially a stalled project because I've been painting WW2 figures on and off for 15 years and I have a large collection of painted Germans and Russians for use with the Kampfgruppe Commander rules that we play. However, the only German infantry I have painted are a couple battalions of late-war SS in camouflage. I bought a large number of Peter Pig late war German infantry to be painted as Wehrmacht infantry ca. 1943-45. The total figures will provide about four infantry battalions, several 75mm PAK 40 guns, 81mm and 120mm mortars, and several tripod-mounted MG42s.
1:600th scale ironclads - Kevin Smyth and I got hyped up on naval wargaming for the ironclad era a long, long time ago. We started with 1:1200th Lyzard's Grin figures, but soon switched to the exquisite range of Thoroughbred 1:600 models. I have dozens completed, but there's always more to do. For the longest time I pined away for Toby Barret (Mr. Thoroughbred) to do a model of the USS Choctaw. Now that he's released it, and that I have the model in hand, it's just sat there waiting for me to do something with it. I also have several of Toby's later models that include other ships I've wanted for a long time.
28mm Punic War - I posted a long while ago about starting my 28mm Carthaginian army for Field of Glory. I have a lot of prep work done—about 100 figures cleaned and primed, with may partially painted. Like the Sassanid Persian project, I want each warband type figure and Lybian hoplite to be unique. So, there's a lot of work painting figures one at a time. It's gone on so long, that I'm not even sure I still want to use them for FoG. (I have been thinking recently of scaling the project down and use the circa-1976 Legion rules by Al Margolis.)
15mm Parthians - I started this project using Peter Pig's range of Parthians as a new 15mm Field of Glory army. As with other armies of barbarians, I want each figure to be unique. It's slow going. I haven't played FoG for a while now, so the impetus to get back to painting a new army isn't too strong right now.
1:1250 scale coastal ships - As I posted recently, I've been working on this project for a while and have enough models painted to run several different types of scenarios. However, I also have a number of unpainted or half-painted models that I need to get to. I'm also eyeing the Japanese and American ships available for the Figurehead 1:1250 range, which could just mean more pile-up.
1:2400th WW2 naval - The Solomons campaign that we're started underscores a need for more ships apart from the many that I've already painted.
15mm Renaissance - About five years ago, I bought two armies of Minifigs 15mm Renaissance figures. That was a saga in itself and I wound up with two of each army. The armies are Tudor English and Spanish Imperial. My intent was to build the armies for De Bellis Renationis (DBR), but with the recent release of Field of Glory Renaissance (FoGR), I'm now looking at building the armies for these rules.
28mm Napoleonics - Let this one sink in a minute. Yes, I have Napoleonic figures that are actually in progress of being painted. The Black Powder rules sucked me in. I traded to get some unpainted figures from Bob Mackler, bought some more from Old Glory, and tore apart my garage looking for the Foundry French cuirassiers I bought so long ago, they came four to a pack. This genre IS the black hole of wargaming, so it could easily eclipse all else.
28mm WW1 - This is another offshoot of Black Powder about which I will post more later I've had the figures for some time and recently painted a company. I have another company, a couple machine guns, and some skirmishers to complete.
&c. - The above, daunting as it is, is just a précis of the unpainted lead that has piled up over 20 years of sluggardy. I have a 28mm Dark Ages Britain project that I started a long time ago. I played Pig Wars with the figures I had painted (Picts and Irish), but I have a lot of Saxons and some Britons started—and more still in the bags. I have Medieval French in 28mm that I started for the Pig Wars Late Medieval Variant rules that I wrote several years ago. I have 15mm WW2 Polish and Dutch. I have a lot more 15mm WW2 besides. I've got a box full of 1:300 scale WW2 aircraft that I will probably never get back to, having already sold all the painted planes I had. I've got another box of 15mm DBA armies, which I will also probably never paint because I sold all my painted DBA armies a few years back.

So, my work is cut out for me just to make the lead pile go down a bit. However, I'm always buying more, so bet on the pile going up. The only thing buoying my spirit is the age-old belief that a wargamer can never die as long as he has unpainted lead. At this rate, I will give Methuselah a run for his money.

Return to Ironbottom Sound:The Solomons Campaign Turn 1

2010-10-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Ken Kissling got us started on the idea of playing the Solomons naval campaign using Nathan Forney's campaign rules from Old Dominion Game Works (ODGW) and we played out the first campaign turn over the last two weekends. The system is well laid out and I played a similar campaign in one D.A.N.G. day using an earlier version of the campaign rules, Guadalcanal Nights, by the same author.

For the campaign, Mark Serafin is Ghormley/Halsey and I am Yamamoto. Other players take command of part of the forces of one side or the other when surface actions are played out. So far, other players have been Steve Puffenberger (IJN), Chris Craft (USN), Marky Ernhardt (USN), and John Kennedy (USN). Ken is running the campaign.

The campaign is divided into six monthly turns that run from August, 1942 to January 1943. In every campaign turn, the Japanese and American commanders make four command decisions, which could be modified up or down based on chance. The specific options vary each turn, but generally fall into the following:

Send out a carrier group
Send a bombardment force
Send a patrol force
Send an escorted or unescorted supply mission
Reinforce
Transfer (Japanese only, transferring ships from Truk to Rabaul)

Other options could be an assault on Henderson Field (now Honiara International Airport) by whichever side doesn't control it at the start of the campaign turn. A strategic index keeps track of the ups and downs of the campaign. Whoever holds Henderson by the end of the January '43 turn wins and an estimate of their naval losses determines the scope of the victory.

The campaign has tables where the command decisions are compared and any actions are determined. In some cases, and action may proceed without interruption. Otherwise, a naval action is played out using the General Quarters 3 (GQ3) rules (also from ODGW).

The first turn, August '42, resulted in three actions.

Action 1: Attack! - Repeat - (nevermind)
The first battle we played out for the campaign was the clash of carriers. Mark sent out a force based on the carriers Enterprise and Saratoga, while I sent out a force based on Shokoaku and Zuikaku. The action was fierce and in the first strike, I inflicted grievous damage to both his carriers, effectively putting them out of the campaign. In return, Mark's SBDs and TBFs sank Shokaku, lightly damaged Zuikaku, and disabled the battleship Kongo.

Then Ken determined that we had misplayed Mark's CAP defense (i.e., Mark didn't shoot down enough incoming Japanese), so we had to redo the Japanese attack. Then, having done that, he determined that we misplayed the whole carrier action. As it turned out, the Japanese had the strike advantage in the first of three rounds, meaning that my strike went in before Mark could get a strike off—but I failed to actually find Mark's ships with the strike. The next round resulted in no one finding the other and the action ended.

We went from complete carnage inflicted on both carrier forces to a quiet holiday at sea with nary a shot fired in anger. It was an eye-opener, however, because a lot of the campaign is weighted against the Nihon Kaigun and as we understand better how the rules work, I fear the Japanese will be hard-pressed to make a strike work. The USN has better ships, more effective fighters (i.e., they DOUBLE their effective numbers in air-to-air combat because the Americans used the finger four formation, which the rules consider to be vastly superior to the Japanese three-plane "vic" formation), heavier bomb loads, and score better with women. I also learned that American AA fire is very heavy and that Japanese AA is anemic.

Still, the chance that a large strike will be entirely wiped out, is remote. At least a few flights will get through and have some chance of making an attack.

Action 2: Smoke on the Water
The second action we played was a surface fight at night. My bombardment force from Truk ran into Mark's supply mission. Both sides were equal. I had three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and two squadrons of destroyers. Mark had three heavy cruisers and a force of destroyers equal in number to my own.

I did have one of my battle divisions, consisting of two Kongo-class battleships, but it was pointed out that I exceeded the five-sortie limit for my battleships/carriers, since I already had two CVs and two BBs in my carrier group and I had to withdraw them from my OOB.

The two forces were on set courses until contact was made. For the Americans, contact could be radar detection; for the Japanese, who didn't have such technological wonders, it was visual sighting, which is also the point where target acquisition occurs.

On detecting us by radar, The American force started bugging out with its transports, which were not at anchor and could therefore flee the scene without having to wait. We made visual contact and acquisition just after that. I got one shot off against Mark's cruisers, resulting in a single hit. Thereafter, the Americans made smoke and kept the screen going all game. The only valid targets were the lead ship making smoke; everything else was screened or obscured within the smoke cloud.

I did manage to get one hit against a DD, the USS Wilson, when it was the only viable target. I pasted it with 8" shells from the cruisers while Steve hit it with 5" shells from his DD squadron. The ship survived 18 hits and kept on going. It took more damage later on, but never went under during the game. It's one of those anomalies about naval rules where you roll to determine where a shot struck. It's possible to keep getting hit in the same innocuous location; for example, you could take five hits on your depth charges, which does nothing at all to diminish your fighting ability for a surface action. It doesn't even start a fire.

The Japanese pressed in taking the most of every opportunity to get a hit, but we couldn't hit anything that was screened by smoke or target it with torpedoes. Mark was showing a pronounced reverence for the Type 93 Long Lance. The best success in the game—for both sides—came from the Long Lance. Steve managed to get a chance with several torpedoes resulting in, I think, three American ships sunk. Steve also managed to steam his light cruiser straight into one of my torpedo spreads resulting in one fewer IJN light cruiser for Mark to have to worry about. American gunfire sank another two Japanese DDs.

We failed get a single hit on the American transports before we broke off the action, so the American supply mission was deemed a success. Otherwise, our ship losses were roughly equal. Besides the ships sunk, the Americans had a few more damaged enough to be out for the remainder of the campaign.

Action 3: Fly, you fools!
The third action was my supply mission that was intercepted by a HUGE allied force at night. I had a force of two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and 10 DDs escorting a supply squadron of four APDs (destroyers in a supply role).

Opposing me, Mark had a force with one squadron of four American heavy cruisers, one squadron of an American light cruiser (the USS San Juan, which is festooned with 5" DP guns) and five DDs, one squadron of two RAN heavy cruisers and a light cruiser, and a fourth squadron with four DDs.

I figured I would be heavily outnumbered, but my supply ships started the game at anchor. Once I made contact, I would have to relay the contact to the supply ships—which takes two turns—and then get underway—which takes another five turns. The challenge was whether I could hold off a much-superior force for seven turns after first contact without losing everything.

As fate always has it, the Allied force detected us with radar before we even knew we were at sea. That enables them to begin manouvering around into position, while we had to steam ahead at a preplanned course and speed. The rules give Japanese an advantage for making visual acquisition at night, but it didn't benefit me at all during the game. I didn't spot Mark's cruisers and DDs until we were nearly touching, by which time they saw me as well. I also spotted Marky's RAN squadron from further away.

On contact, I started firing at Marky's ships and also sent off a salvo of torpedoes his way from my DDs, while reserving my cruiser torpedoes for engaging Mark's American heavies. Meanwhile, Steve engaged Marky's squadron and Mark's DDs with his two DD squadrons.

Japanese gunfire was desultory throughout the game. We used the revised GQ3 rules that take away rapid-firing from all Japanese guns except for specifically-designed AA guns. For the game, we had no batteries that could rapid fire, while the Allied ships all had rapid fire capability for every gun 5" and smaller. That's a daunting thing when facing the USS San Juan and all its 5" batteries. I exchanged shots with HMAS Canberra, but got the worst of it. Marky hit the Aoba several times and I wound up minus one battery and had two fires on board.

Torpedo fire was just a bit better for the Japanese. Steve managed to hit the HMAS Hobart with three torpedo spreads, resulting in four hits. This was the only catastrophic sinking in the game.

After first contact, I turned to present my broadsides to Mark's approaching squadrons with the intent that I would fire torpedoes from my heavy cruisers and then make speed away under smoke. The resulting turn of gunfire nearly did in the Aoba. She lost her second TT mount (the loss of the first was the cause of one of the onboard fires). My other heavy cruiser, the Kinugasa, got off a spread as did the light cruiser Jintsu. Jintsu's spread caused one torpedo hit on Mark's rear heavy cruiser, although it apparently didn't do enough damage to cripple her.

My smoke protected me for a few more turns. Mark had target fixation on the burning Aoba, but most of the remaining damage was caused by the fires that I couldn't extinguish. Soon the Aoba was slowing badly as her fires caused hull losses and I had to turn her out of the battle line and let her sink, while I went on with the remaining ships in my squadron towards the supply ships.

I also turned away my two DDs to put them in position for a torpedo attack with their remaining four-tube mounts. This made them prime targets and they got badly shot up, but managed to get their fish in the water—to no avail. Mark was adept at combing the wakes, but the two DDs did buy time since Mark had to turn away to comb the wakes and it bought a turn or two of respite.

I tried at several times to acquire new targets with Kinugasa, but my die-rolling was pathetic and I couldn't contact. It was a few turns later when I got within 2000 yds of the Canberra with Kinugasa and Jintsu that I peppered her with four hits and took none in return. That was about my only success in the game with gunfire.

The supply ships finally got under way by turn 12 and, because they were DDs, could accelerate and move at high speed. I got one torpedo shot off with the outboard DD before I turned toward the board egde making smoke. All through the game, the supply ships, three Shiryatsuyu-class DDs, were represented by a hidden counter. It was only just before they got away that Mark made visual contact, but intervening ships prevented him from firing on them. After 16 game turns, we called it off and declared it a successful Japanese supply mission.

Losses were almost equal. Mark lost the Hobart and two DDs, I lost the Aoba and two DDs. However, one of his heavy cruisers suffered a torpedo hit, which will take it out of the campaign for a while. I also suspect that HMAS Canberra may be out of action for a few campaign turns.

The game also saw a repeat of Steve getting hit with one of my torpedoes. We also had a couple collisions. One of Mark's DD losses came as a result of colliding with the Canberra and Steve and I had a collision between two of our DDs. Steve's DD in this collision being particularly unlucky since it was the one that ran into my torpedo next turn.

My bad luck with torpedoes and gunfire was balanced by my luck in managing to hold off a superior force and get my supply DDs away unscathed. The Kinugasa also had a lot of luck in the game. Targeted several times, she was never hit once. Jintsu, took only a couple hits, but was not disabled by the action.

Further thoughts and whimseys
So far, I like the campaign and we've already made our command decisions for the September '42 campaign turn. The campaign creates interesting surface actions and situations. It also causes one to use his ships judiciously. Wargamers being as they are, in a one-off game we would play out the action to the last ship. Now we consider the strategic implications of our losses and act accordingly. In all the naval gaming I've done with GQ3, I never seen more smoke employed than in the last two games. Preservation of a force in being is more important that shooting at the other guy.

The campaign is also causing us to re-read (or read) the rules. After each game, we discover something we've been doing wrong. For example, in the last game we used the "initial salvo" rule that halves the number of dice you throw for the initial salvo on a target. However, the rule only applies to daytime actions, and our games are night actions.

Among Mark, Ken and me, we have most of the ships we need for the campaign. Nevertheless, the Lynnwood Naval Shipyards are in full swing with all my hitherto unpainted ship models getting assembled and painted. We're still shy a large number of Japanese DDs, but we can always substitute. The Fubuki-, Yugumo-, and Kagero-class DDs were very similar and at 1:2400th scale, the visible difference is hard to spot.

Action on the narrow seas

2010-09-06T22:34:00.000-07:00

We played a Labor Day game at The Panzer Depot on Monday. I rummaged through my storage, dusted off my old 1:1250th scale coastal forces models, re-read my Action Stations rules, fiddled about with InDesign to create the ships charts, etc. and then put on a game.

The scenario was a German coastal convoy off Norway in 1943 attacked by a mixed force of British gunboats and torpedo boats.

The Germans had four tramp streamers of roughly 400-ton to 1200-ton size escorted by two VP-boats (vorpostenboot), two KFKs (kriegsfischkutter), and a single MFP (Marine Artillerie-Fährpram).

Attacking them were three Denny SGBs (steam gunboats), Two Fairmile D MGBs (motor gunboats), and one Fairmile D MTB (motor torpedo boat).

The Game started with the Germans forces strung out in convoy using markers to keep their identity from the British. The British had the option to enter the board under way or to lie in wait with their motors off and make a crash start when the enemy hove into sight. They opted to try the old ploy of launching a gunboat attack on one side and then launching the torpedo boats a turn or two later after the enemy was focused on the gunboat attack.

Accordingly, Ken Kissling started things off by crash-starting his pair of Fairmile D MGBs to attack to starboard (that's nautical for "right") of the German convoy. He immediately started mixing it up with Chris Craft's kriegsfischkutter. Chris, as his luck usually has it, rolled two "1s" to get two hits on Ken's leading MGB with his 37mm autocannon. Ken, as his luck had it, got the worst possible damage result. Half his force was now damaged and burning wildly.

Chris' wee KFK shooting it out with Ken's MGBs (the yellow is illuminated area)

Meanwhile, Mark X. got his Fairmile D MTB and SGB into action on the rear port side of the convoy. He got results right off against John Kennedy's VP-boat, hitting it with his foreward 2-pdr pom-pom and setting it afire.

John's VP-boat burns. Soon to be the least of its trouble.

The hits didn't put it out of the fight and John gave back a few hits on Mark. However, Mark launched two torpedoes from one of his MTBs and one struck John's VP-boat and blew it up. The other torpedo ran on and a few turns later missed my large tramp steamer. (My first lucky break.)

Steve Puffenberger brought the last british group into action, which was two of the SGBs. He launched a single fish from one towards Mark Serafin's MFP.

Torpedo headed straight for Mark's MFP

Having hit nothing with its pair of 88s and 20mm cannon, Mark regretted that his ship would go down without doing anything. However, the fish missed and ran on (fatefully). Mark's MFP had several more turns in which to hit nothing.

My ships, the tramp steamers with green gun crews, shot only a few times—to no effect—and then went silent. Their size made them impervious to most hits from the small guns carried by the British boats. However, their one weapon mount seemed to be a shot magnet. The first hit every one took, knocked out its gun. From then on, the only rolling I did was to determine hit damage on my ships (which was never much, anyway).

Ken's floating torch kept at it. The fires were partially put out and then restarted a few times and it was several turns until the fires were out. With minimal floatation left, and running low on working armament, Ken kept at it until his boat went under. He put Chris' KFK's engines out of action, but Chris got them restarted and kept on fighting. However, the maximum speed of the KFK is 6 knots, while, even damaged, Ken's remaining MGB was going much faster.

Rather than stay and shoot it out with Chris' 37mm autocannon and 20mm flakvierling, Ken started moving towards my two leading steamers. Peppered with 2-pdr pom-pom, HMG, and LMG fire, my first ship shrugged most of it off (except for those weapon hits).

At close quarters

However, my lead ship was a smaller class and not so impervious to small-caliber cannon. I started taking hull hits and a couple of machinery hits that stopped me in the water. Steve got into the action as well. Having shot off all his fish, Steve moved in close to my ships to try and hurt them with his surface fire. At one point, lacking anything else, he got close enough for me to get a serious shot with rifles and pistols (possibly even hand grenades). Of course I missed.

Mark X. still had a MTB with two fish and he manouvered his boat towards aft of the convoy and fired off a single torpedo towards Mark Serafin's steamer. Mark turned his ship to present his narrow stern (a harder shot), but the torpedo struck anyway. Loaded with ammunition, the ship took even more damage than normal (8 D10s), but was still afloat after the explosion. This was the only steamer hit seriously in the game.

Finally, the fish from the spread that missed Mark's MFP had run on until, near the other side of the table, it ran into Chris' KFK. The torpedo was set to run shallow, but even with the minuses for ship size and shallow draft, the torpedo hit and blew the KFK to bits.

We called the game a German win. Even though we lost two ships (well, boats), the British failed to sink a single merchant ship—even though Mark's steamer was certainly in dire straights. Also, the British lost one gunboat and all but one of the remaining gunboats were pretty shot up. Two of the SGBs were nearly sinking, Ken's remaining MGB had one hull box left.

I haven't played Action stations since D.A.N.G. in January and it was nice to get back to it. Before D.A.N.G., I hadn't played in years. It got me digging out all of the unfinished models I have, including more Fairmile Ds, more S-boats and R-boats, and some larger ships, like British Hunt class DEs and German M35 minesweepers.

The ships we used were Hallmark Figurehead 1:1250th scale coastal forces range. Phil Bardsley and I jumped right on this range when it came out and we finished several models. I also augmented my Hallmark ships with some Navis-Neptun models of larger ships. However, Hallmark has added several larger ships and expanded to include Italian, Russian, Japanese, and American coastal vessels.

This game was the second naval game I've done recently. Last week, Ken ran a General Quarters 3 game as a foretaste of our incipient Solomons campaign. I'm digging out my unpainted packs of GHQ Micronauts and filling out the holes in our US and Japanese navies (basically, lots of Yugumo class DDs).

La Bataille de Mont St. Mackler

2010-07-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

We had another game of Black Powder this weekend at The Panzer Depot in Kirkland, WA. We played the "Battle of San Miguel" scenario from the rules book, substituting Napoleonic troops for the Isabelinos and Carlists.

Bob "Fox of the Steppe" Mackler commanded his Russians, Mike Lombardy and Bill "The meat Grinder" Stewart commanded Austrians, consisting of BIG battalions of regular infantry and un-big battalions of militia, supported by a battery of 4-pounders and a couple squadrons of light cavalry.

General Mackler, the Fox of the Steppe, blessed by

his priest and genuflected to by his toady

Dick Larsen commanded the French forces, with Rich Knapton, Brett Hendrickson, and me as sub-commanders. My own command consisted of a battalion of line infantry, a battalion of légère, and a battalion of Frenchmen in Bearskins (Français dans les bonnets à poils) who were my corps d'elite. I also had a squadron of light cavalry (even if the figures -looked- like carabiniers à cheval) and a battery of guns.

The victory conditions for the game were to take and hold the hilltop town in the center of the board, which we dubbed Mont St. Mackler for our game. The Russo-Austrians had the advantage in gaining the town first because their set-up put them close to it and the French needed to ford a river—while annoyed by mad monks—to get to grips.

Brett's brigade crosses the ford while mad monks inveigh and plot

Once across the stream, we formed up and prepared to launch our gallant battalions against the sausage-eating Austrians and God-knows-what-eating Russians.

En avant! The French advance

I formed my command into a fine example of ordre mixte with the guns limbered in the center and my cavalry on my left. My plan—and I had one—was to advance across the stream, sweep the Austrian verlorene haufe, commanded by Bill, from the small hill by the town, unlimber my battery there, and then support my further advance against the Austrians.

First contact: The French 1er brigade meets the Austrian advance force on the hill

As I was fording the stream, Bill attempted to charge his cavalry at me, but he failed his command roll. Mike sent him another cavalry unit in support, which Bill deployed on his right. On my turn, I moved up to close range with Bill's cavalry and shot them up with my légère, leaving them shaken and disordered. My cavalry charged into the cavalry on Bill's right and beat them badly enough to allow me a post-mêlée sweeping advance, which I used to smack into Bill's shaken cavalry in front of my légère. That combat also swept away the other cavalry leaving Bill with only a militia battalion to hold the hill.

And then there were none - French light cavalry (despite wearing

carabiniers' bearskins) after sweeping the Austrian cavalry from the field

Meanwhile, Dick and Brett advanced their battalions towards the town, while Rich held the French right wing with two cavalry units against Bob's advancing Cosaques.

Russian foot and French horse square off

On the next Austro-Russian turn, Mike advanced his Austrian line battalions alongside the town, which he occupied with another battalion, and sent his battery and another militia unit up to support Bill. One of Mike's BIG battalions used it's first fire to get a debilitating five hits on Brett's leading battalion. Unmasked by the rout of their cavalry, Bill's Austrian militia shot my légère and disordered it.

The Austrian horde carelessly tramples the peasants' fields

On my next turn, I charged my line and elite battalions in column of attack through the légère and into Bill's militia, which broke.

Force de frappe! My two columns go in

Brett advanced a battalion in line through his disordered lead battalion and smacked into Mike's Austrians beside the town. But the Austrians held and sent the battalion back in disarray.

French Ligne in mêlée with a column in support

In the aftermath defeating the militia in front of me, I pushed forward the Français dans les bonnets à poils in hopes of further discomfiting les Autrichiens, which I did by beating the next militia unit in turn.

A successful advance, only militia stands between me and Vienna!

In the center, Bill and Brett continued to battle with the foe. Brett's battalion in attack column, which had taken one hit from the mad monks of the monastery as it forded the stream, was been poised and ready to spring into the Austrian battalion to his front, but got forced back by a break test. Every turn thereafter he wound up being disordered by Austrian fire, which prevented him from giving the unit orders to charge in again. There it sat for the rest of the game, unable to retreat or advance due to persistent disorder. It did, however, manage a few lucky sixes when shooting its one die at Mike's BIG battalion.

On my part of the field, the attacking battalions were getting a bit high on stamina hits. By chasing off the militia, my two columns had unmasked the Austrian battery, which proceeded to pour shot and shell at me until I formed line in order to fire back.

French colonnes d'attaque getting whiffed with Austrian grapeshot

Rich withdrew his cavalry in the face of Bob's advance, although he remained enough of a threat to make Bob form one of his battalions in square as a hedge against an attack on his flank.

Russians squared

Bob threw his other battalions against Dick's brigade and they mixed it up for several turns. At one point, the Fox of the Steppe made a successful flank attack with his cavalry against one of Dick's battalions, which cause it to retire to lick its wounds.

Dick's infantry getting warmacklered by the Fox of the Steppe

While I was trying to get my attack back on track, the mad monks came out of their monastery and started nipping at my rear echelon, namely, the guns. Still limbered and waiting their chance to form on the hill I had captured, they started taking lucky shots from the monks, who, though apparently armed only with scripture, were having an effect. I spent several turns unable to move the guns because they had been disordered.

As Brother Maynard quotes from The Book of Armaments, his brother monks

lob holy hand grenades at my feckless limbered artillery (mon artillerie sans feck)

Also on my part of the field, Mike kept feeding Bill units to get killed, but the task was taking its toll on my battalions. The elite Français dans les bonnets à poils and the légère were shaken. I put all my battalions into line and started trading shots with the enemy. A telling fusilade from the Austrian line finally resulted in my severely failing a break test and the elites went away, but not without having covered themselves avec la gloire. Au revoir, bonnets à poils, au revoir mes enfants.

Still harassed by the mad monks, at one point, I attempted to move my cavalry around and chase them off. However, after being able to retreat the guns from the monks on an initiative move, I turned the cavalry back around to bring it into support of my remaining battalions.

I continued to trade fire with the enemy and eventually shot the Austrian 4-pounders into a shaken state and managed to keep them disordered as well. This consistent success in shooting, finally induced Bill to attempt to "cool" me by ~~touching~~ defiling my dice. It worked for one roll (against his guns), but my next shot at Mike's troops resulted in three sixes. Maybe the dice work better after defilement. Brett and I were both shooting at Mike's foremost battalion and even if BIG, we managed to keep it shaken and/or disordered by numerous hits—which kept Mike's commander busy rallying it back from shaken status.

Mes enfants at game's end

On the French right, Rich brought his squadrons into the fray, but was eventually forced back by Russian infantry, now commanded by John Kennedy while the Fox of the Steppe took a break.

Exhausted - Dick's infantry and Rich's cavalry on the French right

after having fought the Austrians and Cosaques to a standstill

Finally, we called the game for the Austro-Russian side. They had taken and kept Mont St. Mackler and with many of our units shaken, we decided that the French had little hope of taking it themselves. I'd managed to take out five Austrian units, while losing only les bonnets à poils. My worst damage seemed to come from those unruly monks. We didn't take the town, but we had the monastery and would soon set ourselves to punishing those contumacious monks.

The Archduke Mike surveys the field of battle after successfully holding his position

and wonders whatever became of all those units he sent to General Stewart

Further ~~deep~~ thoughts on Black Powder

My second game with Black Powder went very smoothly. I mostly knew the rules by then and the turns played quickly, despite the large number of units on the board.

One thing I noticed is that elite units are just OK, if that. Their one advantage is being able to roll off disorder at the start of their turn, which enables them to take initiative or receive orders instead of sitting around—if they pass the test. On the other hand, the BIG battalions of the Austrians got +1 dice on shooting and +2 dice in hand to hand combat, much more tangible benefits just from being bigger, not necessarily better. My Français dans les bonnets à poils succeeded because I rolled good dice (until Bill defiled them), not because the unit had significant intrinsic advantages as an elite. (I never got disordered, so the unit's one advantage was moot.) The militia units I fought were just as good as I was at shooting, hand to hand, stamina, and break tests.

However, as one reviewer wrote of Black Powder, you have to see the rules more as a toolkit of game mechanics that you can use to build different unit characteristics. It's this ability to customize that enables the kind of chrome that makes games more interesting. So, we might have made militia units a minus at one or more of the characteristics that define a unit's abilities. For example, they might have been stamina 2 instead of 3 or fought hand to hand with -1 or -2 dice. Or, the elites could have had stamina 4 and/or fought hand to hand with +2 dice.

After two games, I am very happy with the rules and look forward to more. I've got the 1914 project under way and am pondering moving closer into the gravitational pull of the Black Hole of Wargaming (i.e., Napoleonics).

Back in the saddle again

2010-07-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

This is a bit delayed, but I thought I'd mention that I am working again. I returned to eating my bread by the sweat of my brow about two weeks ago. Ironically, I'm back at my old company in a different group and loving it. I'm in the same building I used to be in, so I'm getting a lot of "where'd you go?" and "glad you're back" from a lot of old coworkers. I'm actually a contractor and not full time, but I'm looking for an opportunity...

To celebrate my return to the ranks of the gainfully employed, here's a little wrap-up of summer vacation as seen through the eyes of my great, chubby cowcat Grendel:

Things will get out of hand. That is why we have orders.

2010-07-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

I played my first game of Black Powder on Saturday. I'd seen it played a few times and so had a little familiarity with it, but otherwise I learned (or not) as I played. On the experience of one play, I must say that I like them and bought the rules. I'm up to my neck in partially-finished/nearly-punted projects, mostly ancients, so I can't think of what I'll do with them yet, but the year 1914 is stuck in my mind...

On the painting table (for some time now)

Saturday's game preceded that watershed year by about half a century. We played a version of the "Fighting retreat at El Perez" scenario from the rules that we modified for the American Civil War. The town of El Perez was instead a piney forest, the French forces were Union infantry, and the retreating British were Confederate infantry.

Confederates were me, John Kennedy, and Rich Knapton. Union were Steve Puffenberger, Bob Mackler, Brett Hendrickson, and Bill Stewart. All the beautifully painted figures and terrain were provided by Bill. He and Bob were going to set up early, except that Bob had a perfect odyssey getting from Tukwila to Kirkland that involved highway closures, crowded alternate routes choked by road incidents, the trial of securing a Dick's Deluxe in the midst of the Wallingford street fair, etc. Not that set up was a huge undertaking. I watched and kibitzed as Bill set up and can say that for me the experience was fairly effortless.

My brigade deployed with Rich's l'enfants perdue beyond

John's brigade had the task of chasing the small Union garrison out of a wee hamlet on the other side of a bridge. To accomplish this, he had three infantry regiments and a battery of guns. Bill, commanding the garrison, had a single small unit.

Rich's and my orders were to withdraw towards the town and get our troops across the bridge. Getting our force across the bridge and off the board were our victory conditions for the game. John was overall commander and gave Rich and I explicit orders, apparently. Of course, being impetuous by nature, our troops saw the bluebellies come on, sang a few verses of The Bonnie Blue Flag, and pitched into the fight. From there, things went pear-shaped fast.

Bob, playing the role of a Buckeye pol looking for enough glory to propel him to a senate seat in the next elections, came on the board in column of attack heading straight for Rich's position in the center of the board. Rich, not wanting to wait for it, lead his troops out against Bob only to find his troops exposed. His lead regiment suffered a flank attack and got beat up.

Rich's infantry getting flank-smacked by would-be Senator Bob's troops

It held on a bit longer, but eventually became shaken by losses and failed a break test that had it routing from the field. Rich's remaining units continued to fight on against Bob's attack, but were outnumbered and fighting for life.

The blue tide begins to overwhelm the gray center

In support of Rich's attack, I moved up my line against Steve's advancing Yankee aggressors. The result was several turns of exchanging shots at short range. Eventually I lost my guns due to a failed break test and took the opportunity to fall back and reform my line and continue to engage Steve's—and Bob's—troops with long-range fire.

My brigade muzzle-to-muzzle with the hated Yankees

This brilliant tactical maneuver had the down side of leaving Rich ~~entirely unsupported~~ in an advanced position, but some things can't be helped. Beset 2:1 in hand-to-hand combat and pummeled by flanking artillery fire, Rich's lone remaining unit succumbed, which was all to the good as far as Rich was concerned since it was past lunch time and he was peckish.

Rich's last stand

John, bemoaning our insubordiantion, carried on with his task of brushing away the token garrison that blocked our retreat. This proved a more difficult undertaking than at first apparent. Beset by shot, shell, grape, and minie-balls, Bill's skeleton force hung on grimly and beat the odds for multiple break tests, meanwhile giving out better than it took.

Bill stands firm like Horatius at the bridge

As John beat his head against Bill's dogged defense, Brett advanced his brigade up the road to force John to turn and make a rear-guard stand. This forced John to form a shaken line of two regiments against Brett, who eventually wore him down. Meanwhile, John lost the infantry unit attacking Bill to a failed break test. The Confederate escape route was still closed.

Brett's brigade advances down the road

With only his shaken guns facing Bill's garrison, John rolled lucky boxcars on shooting and Bill's garrison, after many turms of holding firm, finally dispersed due to a failed break test. The escape rout was now open, but there were many fewer Confederates left to take it.

I tried moving my brigade back and towards the bridge on successive turns, but Steve was close on my retreat. I lost my unit of sharpshooters and was left with only my three infantry regiments. John's two shaken regiments facing Brett finally broke and dispersed. All that was left on the field were my three regiments, who were looking like they were about to be cut off. That was that for the game.

End game: my brigade standing against a field of Blue

Post mortem

I liked Black Powder. The mechanisms are simple and certainly don't provide a simulation of 18th-19th century warfare, but they play very well. I have always thought that success in a game depends on its ability to abstract enough of the detail so as to not bog down play, but without sacrificing a feel for the period. Black Powder might be accused of being generic, but the rules are very open to being modified ad hoc to represent a particular area.

I like the command rules and the means of indicating unit status that obviates removing figures or stands. The rules themselves are well produced, entertaining, and well written (but being a technical writer by trade, I always have a jaundiced eye when reading rules and I have learned to stifle my quibbles over correct pronouns, the uses of "that" and "which," and the occasional typo).

Another perspective is that while the rules, which cover warfare from matchlock smoothbore muskets to the era of bolt-action rifles, represent changes in firepower by changes in the range, but not in changes in firepower. They remind me a lot of a set of locally-produced rules called Brigadier! that I played in my youth. Like Black Powder, Brigadier! was suitable for games from 1700 to 1914. However, firepower was modeled much differently and the punch from a unit of rifled muskets was much different than what a unit of flintlock muskets could produce. The changes in firepower had the effect of modifying the tactics you used in the game. I suspect that Black Powder will play for 1914 much like it will play for 1758, except for longer ranges. But that remains to be seen. I think the machine-gun rules will be a significant difference.

De Bellis Velitum

2010-06-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Last night, John Kennedy and I played a few trial games of De Bellis Velitum (DBV), Phil Barker's never-published set of ancients skirmish rules. He wrote a draft of them in 1991 to go along with De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA), his quick-play ancients miniatures rules. Although he never published them, he has made them available online as an HTML page.

I've been intrigued by these rules for a long time. I copied the text from the web page and put it into Adobe InDesign for formatting. I planned to simply format the text into a booklet that I could print out and play with. However, the project sat for several years until just last week when I revived it and completed the formatting (along with minimal changes) and printed a copy to play with.

I only have 16 figures painted and mounted at this point. Several years back I started another project using Foundry's exquisite World of the Greeks figures. These figures, sculpted by Steve Saleh, are some of the best that Foundry has ever produced. I have a lot of them, but not enough for a conventional army. I had planned on doing a grid-based wargame using them (and still may) on singly-mounted on 30mm x 30mm bases. I got the first 16 done and based with another 24 or so partially painted. Fortunately, I painted all the light troops first, so we had a true skirmishing force—although the rules allow for heavier troops.

Peltasts fight it out in hand-to-hand combat

The forces we played with were a single sub-unit each. I just divided what I had and produced two equal forces of four peltasts and four slingers each. John had set up the tables at The Panzer Depot for a Flames of War tournament, so we just used terrain that was there (albeit more suitable for WW2 than for ancient skirmish).

It took three games to really get the feel of the rules. By game three we were not only playing correctly, but exercising a little more finesse in how we used our troops. We had to flip through the rules on several occasions and there were a lot of "Aha!" moments when we discovered how we were misplaying something. There were also several "hmmm" moments as we pondered the turgid, labored, nearly impenetrable writing of Phil Barker, esq.

Slingers open fire

DBV uses similar mechanisms to DBA, but with some significant departures. As in DBA, troop types are genericized into a few main categories: knights, cavalry, blades, spearmen, peltasts, shooters, skirmishers. (The rules also mention elephants and chariots, but there seems to be a lack of any specific mechanisms for using them.) As in DBA, you roll a pip die for each sub-unit and you move troops singly or in groups with varying pip costs per type of move. Unlike DBA, shooting costs pips. Figures can aid in shooting and in hand-to-hand combat. Although each sub-unit, and the force as a whole, has a leader, there is no command radius. Leaders get a +1 in combat and are also a liability in that, when they die, your sub-unit becomes demoralized and all combats have a -4 modifier for your troops. It sucks to lose the leader.

The combat outcomes are less of a rock-paper-scissors arrangement than in DBA. Results are based solely on the degree of difference in the die rolls. There are no quick-kills. The greatest degree of difference, 5 or more, results in the loser fleeing, while lesser differences might mean recoil, disablement, or the big sleep. Disablement is interesting in that the figures are removed from play, but not dead unless your side loses the game, in which case they are considered to be chased down and dispatched to the Elysian Fields by the victors. If you win, you don't count your disabled losses as lost.

Face-off and missile exchange before the clash

John took a dislike to the regimented feel of figures required to be in base-to-base side contact in order to form groups. He thought it was too much like DBA and less like a skirmish game. I didn't share his disapprobation. The skirmish games I've played also use base to base contact to indicate groups or figures who are supporting each other in combat.

At first (because we were playing it wrong) we thought that it cost too many pips to do anything, but once we corrected ourselves, the pip costs seemed reasonable. I like that you can't do everything in a bound and some bounds you can do very little. It makes for a better ebb and flow of initiative.

The games played well, despite our initial confusion. Victory went to whoever killed or disabled four opposing figures, and it took a while of shooting, moving, and fighting to achieve that. Like DBA, a game might end right away or become an interesting chess match, depending on the players, terrain, and troop types engaged. The one heroic figure—every game needs a hero—was my naked guy with a rock. He survived every game, faced off superior forces, and even killed a peltast in hand-to-hand combat, no mean feat for someone who's bollocks naked and armed only with a rock.

Don't mess with naked guy with a rock

I've read other criticisms online about DBV that I don't see as valid after having played it. The criticism that it's not bloody enough isn't true. There's no wholesale slaughter of wee tin men, but you lose figures quickly enough. Another criticism about "zone of control" for light horse doesn't really make sense. The rule forbids any troop to cross in front of an enemy figure within that figure's move distance. Light horse move 20 paces (20 cm) and so exert a fairly long no-crossing zone. That works for me. The rules seems intended to keep players from ignoring enemy in front of them. I've played too many skirmish games where players can move their troops around higgledy-piggledy with no regard for the threat from an enemy.

After our initial playtest, I feel pretty good about proceeding with the project. I've got a lot more Greek figures to paint so we'll have some different troop types in our next game like Spartan and Athenian hoplites, cavalry, and buck-nekkid javelin-throwers (to complement the buck-nekkid slingers I already have). I've also got several packs of Steve Saleh's excellent Foundry Thracians.

My dilemma now is how to proceed with basing them. The figures we used last night are on 30mm x 30mm bases. I planned to use 30mm x 40mm deep for the foot because I want a larger base. Phil's rules call for 20mm x 30mm, which is just enough to accommodate the figures footprint, but not the "overhang" of arms and weapons. Even 30mm x 30mm left the peltast's spears poking out fore and aft, which made it awkward to line them up in column (required for making march moves). Now, after beginning to base figures on the 30mm x 40mm bases, I'm worring that there's too much base. I think that after completing the base with all its flocking and such that they'll look good. Otherwise, I'll have to pry 20+ figures off the 30mm x 40mm Litko bases and redo them. I hate rebasing—but I'll have to do it for the 30mm x 30mm guys if I stick with 30mm x 40mm as planned. What to do?

I'm also planning an English-language version of the rules. The Barkerese is just too opaque in some places and can benefit from simplification and clarity. Those long, turgid, unpunctuated sentences enumerating several conditions would do better as bulleted lists. I'll also do a quick cheat-sheet to prevent having to flip through the rules time and again.

Another need is to flesh out some home rules for elephants and chariots. In DBA, elephants are their own entity while chariots can be either knights or cavalry, depending on the type of chariot. I think I can do the same for chariots in DBV, but the larger base is problematic (as it is for elephants). The 60mm frontage means that two foot or horse figures can be in frontal contact, plus an overlap on either or both sides. That's very un-DBx and if you apply a -1 for each figure beyond the first in hand-to-hand combat with you, an elephant or chariot could be swarmed and start combat with a -3. But maybe that's not a bad thing...

I think the rules promise to be fun and will reward further devotion. I look forward to painting more figures and expanding the theatre of war from ancient Greece to the Punic Wars. Also, Steve Saleh has a new company called Gorgon Studios. So far he's done Spartans (which will augment his already excellent figures done for Foundry) and early Etruscans, which look very nice. I assume these fit well with the big 28s he did for Foundry. I hope he does early Romans and other Italian states as well.

Making NOOKie

2010-06-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

I fully entered the age of digital literature yesterday when I bought a Nook e-book reader. It was an impulsive buy, but I had been thinking about it for a while—although not specifically about a Nook. Lorrin has a Kindle and on a drive home from Tacoma yesterday, my sister and I discussed getting a Kindle because the price had just come down. It was just happenstance that I walked into my local Barnes & Noble and saw the Nook salesperson in her booth right inside the front door.

I had to stop and see what Nook was all about because the last I noticed it was in the Fall when it still hadn't been released. I was very impressed with its features. I've done some online research about comparisons between Nook and Kindle and I can't see a huge difference.

Nook uses Google's Android OS and the software can be easily updated online. Kindle's OS is hard-coded and the only way to upgrade is to buy a new Kindle. Nook has expandable memory, Kindle does not. Nook can be serviced at any Barnes & Noble store, Kindles need to be mailed to Amazon to get serviced (I've done it already with Lorrin's Kindle after she learned that Kindles don't bounce).

The clincher was that if I bought a Kindle, I would have to order it online and wait for it to arrive. I could walk home RIGHT NOW with the Nook. Sold. I tried to enlist my sister in getting a Nook for herself, so she'll go to B&N to look as soon as she can—if she doesn't order a Kindle first.

I spent the early evening yesterday browsing for free or cheap e-books. There are a lot of older books that have been digitized at some point and are now free downloads. For example, J.B. Bury's History of the Later Roman Empire is a free download. I've also got free copies of Caesar's commentaries, Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War, Dickens' Great Expectations, etc.

The Nook is a great way to carry a lot of reading material on the go. I can't think of how many times I've been desperate for something to read and couldn't get it. Now I can read books that I have stored on the Nook, download new books, or download current magazines and newspapers. With 3G wireless, I can download from pretty much anywhere.

It's a strange transition for me to go digital because I have always been a lover of books. The physical make-up of a book, the binding, the paper, the font, the design and illustrations, have all made a deep impact. I can see most printed books going digital. Even now almost every published book has a e-book option for about 1/3 the price. I will keep most of my printed books, but I do see a cull coming. Some of my books are collectible, others are just more suitable as printed books. For example, I see no value in an e-book version of Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships or any book that uses a great many illustrations, charts, drawings, photos, etc. Digital ink has its limits.

One interesting aspect of the e-book revolution is that it's easier now for any schlub to be a published author. The overhead for publishing an e-book is minimal and anyone can write something and sell it through an online store.

Oh, also, it's easier to read from the Nook with cats lying all over me.

FoGgy day in Gig Harbor

2010-06-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

I played Field of Glory on Saturday at Bruce Meyer's house in Gig Harbor. We were going to have a FoG day at The Game Matrix in Tacoma, but we got faced out at the last minute by a War Machine tournament. Bruce offered his humble abode at the last minute. And by humble, I mean a huge gaming room in a detached building.

There were eight of us and instead of playing four separate games, we decided to play one big game using two armies on a side. The clash was Romans and Gauls versus Carthaginians and Spanish.

I was on the far right commanding a mid-republican Roman legion plus two Roman heavy cavalry units. Facing me was Tim McNulty with the Spanish cavalry and caetrati and Mike Garcia with some Spanish heavy caetrati. Mike also commanded some Spanish scutarii and more caetrati (there was a world of caetrati on that battlefield) facing my fellow Roman Gary Griess.

On our left, Bruce commanded the Gallic cavalry and Scott Murphy commanded the vast horde of Gallic warbands. They faced Dale Mickel and Al Rivers who commanded the Carthaginians.

Tim, a neophyte to ancients gaming as a whole and FoG in particular, started out by charging his light cavalry into my heavy cavalry. A mistake, despite initial success in the impact phase. Superior Roman armor and weaponry told in the ensuing melee. We both added second units to the fray, but the end result was predicatable: two routing Spanish light cavalry units and two Roman heavy cavalry units threating the Spanish flank.

At one point, Tim charged his Spanish medium cavalry against my supporting hastati/pricipes unit but after getting fragmented in the combined results of impact/melee, he had to break off in the joint-action phase and lick his wounds.

Further to the left, Mike charged his heavy caetrati into one of my hastati/principes units. "Hah!" I laughed. However, he got very good results in the impact phase and I was disorganized and minus one stand as a result. I was able to add a supporting hastati/principes unit and put the triarii behind for supprt as well as attaching a general. The additional morale support helped avert disaster, but the "easy" win against the lighter Spanish never happened. For the rest of the game we were locked in mortal combat with ups and downs on both sides. I eventually lost a second stand, but still hung in. Mike lost stands, too, but he started as a 12-stand unit with a third rank absorbing losses. My losses reduced my dice, his never did.

Even further left, Gary charged his Romans into Mike's Spanish scutarii. After just a couple turns, Mike's spanish were running. This is what should have happend for me against the heavy caetrati. If I were a legate, I'd have decimated my feckless hastati/principes.

In the Gallic-Carthaginian match-up, Bruce ran the Gallic cavalry roughshod over the Carthaginian right. while the Carthaginian Libyan spearmen s-l-o-w-l-y advanced against the wild-eyed Gallic warbands.

We called the game after a few hours of gaming when things looked very bad for the Carthaginian-Spanish coalition. They had several routed or destroyed units to very few losses, and no routed or destroyed units, for the Gauls and Romans.

It was a great way to spend a cold, rainy Saturday in late June.

I never did like it all that much and one day the axe just fell

2010-05-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm "pursuing new ventures," which is another way of saying I'm out of work. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I spent the last two years working under the worst manager in my professional experience and hated every minute of it. I should have bolted a long time ago, but I had some stubborn belief that I would come through it and be vindicated if I worked harder and longer. A few too many months of 12-hour days and weekends that went by without notice left me burned out and resentful. My girlfriend told me six months ago that my job was sucking the life out of me and I often thought of that passage in Hamlet:

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on’t! O fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

My enjoyment of life suffered, especially my hobbies, and I saw no end in sight, no bright spot indicating that the end of the dark tunnel was nigh. When the news came Wednesday morning that I was being let go, I felt as if the weight of the world had lifted from my shoulders.

Working for my ex-company had its rewards. My first year there was with a great manager and great coworkers on a great team. The pay was good, the benefits were terrific, and the opportunities for growth seemed almost unlimited. Then the re-org struck. The product I worked on was cut, most of the product team was laid off, and the writing team I was on got re-orged into a different product. I wasn't long enough in grade to transfer to another position; besides, I thought I could stick it out. Plus, the company went through layoffs, which limited a lot of internal mobility.

It didn't take long to see what a dysfunctional group we'd been dumped into. The management was a snake-pit. My first glimpse of that came in a large team meeting when the group manager yelled out from the back of the room to denigrate someone doing a presentation about a product feature. No matter what, it is never acceptable for a manager to humiliate a report in front of his/her peers. In my new team, that was SOP. Upper management seemed to have no other reason for meetings that to rip apart lower management. The product ship date slipped and slipped and slipped. Upper management was replaced by other versions of their snakelike selves. The week before last, I witnessed the new group manager shouting, "Do you want to fuck with me! Go ahead, fuck with me! Bring it on!" to someone (unseen) in an elevator. The product is still slipping...

My new manager had the art of creating chaos out of every project she touched. She created churn in my projects and then blamed me for the churn. I talked to HR; I talked to my manager's manager. Some sympathy and support there—but nothing tangible. I was told I was good at what I did, no doubt, I was just on the wrong team or had the wrong manager (ya think?). My manager's manager's best advice was to jump ship, get a contracting gig, and await an opportunity for a full-time position in another product group. Fair advice, in retrospect, but not too comforting. Not vindicating. As my girlfriend says, I'm a stubborn man. Obdurate.

So now the universe is my playground (until the money runs out). I'm looking for contract work and a chance to get back into the company full time doing something I will love, something that provides an outlet for creativity, growth, experimentation, collaboration, satisfaction—everything, in short, that my old job lacked.

I'm also looking into options for creating a blog that I can monetize for either extra income or my whole income some day. If I have any talent at all, it's typing out persiflage on a keyboard. How do I make money at it?

I am not dead

2010-05-09T11:21:00.001-07:00

It's been some time since I last updated the blog. It's not that I haven't been busy—it's that I've been too busy. Work is a burden. My group at work is about as organized as a swarm of blue-light special shoppers at K-Mart. We seem to rush from crisis to crisis with too little time to actually do our core work. After several months of trying to stay on top by working 12-hour days and weekends, I've given up. I need to find something else to do in the company, or elsewhere.

I have been gaming somewhat. My friend Rick and I have a semi-regular Sunday boardgame date. We started by playing a lot of Conflict of Heroes and have now branched out into other things like Race for the Galaxy and an interesting title called Age of Napoleon by Phalanx Games. I've also had a few boardgaming sessions at The Panzer Depot where we played Race for the Galaxy, Command & Colors Ancients, and some Columbia block games.

Boardgames are a nice pastime when you don't have enough time, or energy, to set up a miniatures game. I'm eagerly awaiting the release of some of Academy Games' next releases for the Conflict of Heroes series. Most anticipated is the the Price of Honor - Poland 1939 module, which adds more early war armor, like Pz Is and the Polish tankettes, but also cavalry. I'm interested to see how these work in the system. The link on Board Game Geek shows that a lot of the design is done--you can see the full counter sheets and maps. However, I'm not seeing much about its release date other than "2010," which still has more than half its course to run.

Next weekend is another Kampfgruppe Commander game at TPD. I'm not running it, so I'm not sure what the scenario will be. I will bring my camera and take pictures for the blog. I promise.

Enfliade! 2010 is coming up. I've been the convention director for the last several years, as well as taking part in planning it for many years before I was director. I resigned from the directorship after last year and for some reason this year I find myself with such low enthusiasm for going. I realize that part of it is burnout from work and now that I've resigned myself to looking elsewhere, I feel much better. So, I've made my pre-registration for the convention and booked my hotel room after a long spate of dithering.

I'm also reading more. As I have mentioned, my cats are antiliterary, but we've come to a kind of détente in recent months. The excellent Warrior of Rome series by Harry Sidebottom got me going strong and I decided to fill the time waiting for the next book in the series (due in July!) by re-reading Collen McCullough's excellent Masters of Rome series. It's every bit as engaging the second time around as the first.

Meanwhile, I've got contacts at work helping me find another position to escape to. I've had my fill of where I am and I know there must be something much more rewarding ahead.

Old school wargaming: Smackdown in Seleucia II

2010-02-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

We played our second game of WRG 4th edition ancients today. The rules are long in the tooth, first appearing in 1973, but the cast of gamers was even longer in the tooth. Bill Stewart brought his beautifully-painted Seleucid army to face my third-century Romans (augmented by some of Bill's Camillan Romans as ersatz legionaries). On bill's side was Rich Knapton, who was seeking to redeem himself after his phalanxes routed the first time we played. The other Roman players were Bob Mackler and Dick Larson.

We set up terrain about as haphazardly as we could, diced to see who would choose their side to deploy, and then set up our forces. On the Roman side, Dick commanded the cavalry, included my just-completed dromedarii unit. Bob commanded the center legionary units, the bolt-shooters, and a unit of lanciarii. I commanded another two smaller legionary units plus the auxiliary troops.

Roman mounted wing: dromedarii in front with catafractarii and equites behind

The Seleucids were divided with Rich having the two "common" phalanxes, a unit of cataphracts, some psiloi, the light cavalry, and an elephant. Bill commanded the argyraspides (a.k.a. "silver shields"), a unit of cataphracts and another partially-cataphract cavalry unit, the peltasts, and more psiloi.

Rich came up with an idea to use command markers that we would use each turn to mark what we would do. It worked OK, but WRG ancients really don't allow for changing your orders each turn and we had a lot of paper cubes on the table, as the pictures show.

Turn one saw Dick leading with his camels against Rich's cataphracts. It was a bold move—but doomed to fail. Even disordered against smelly camels, Rich's cataphracts could hurt the unarmored dromedarii enough to send them running, especially when they were supported by an elephant.

The dromedarii labor in vain against bigger, heavier opponents

In the center, Rich slowly advanced with his two phalanxes screened by his light psiloi, while Bob did the same with his legions.

The armies advance

On my side, Bill moved aggressively forward with his peltasts and cataphracts. He also ran his light javelinmen towards Bob's bolt-shooters. The bolt-shooters' fire was about as desultory it gets and Bill's light infantry just ran them over, leaving a nice hole in the Roman line.

The Roman line breached by Seleucid light troops

Meanwhile, my auxilia was mixing it up with Bill's peltasts. The first round was in my favor and I pushed the Greeks back. However, subsequent rounds did not go my way and the peltasts eventually wore me down until I routed away.

Roman auxilia push back the Seleucid peltasts for one glorious round before getting their butts kicked

In addition, Bill sent his cataphracts against my strongest legionary unit. In the initial round of kontos versus pilum, the kontos won, pushing me back in disorder. In subsequent rounds, I got pushed back three more times, which finally broke me–at which point we realized that the final three push-backs shouldn't have occurred because the cataphracts, having to resort to hand weapons after the initial charge, weren't inflicting enough casualties to cause a push back ("more that inflicted and at least one per figure"). Without being pushed back, the legionaries would have recovered their order and started pushing back the cataphracts, who would likely have rallied back to charge again later. C'est la guerre, c'est la stupidité. We weren't going to turn back the game three turns to rectify things, so we just wrote the two units off.

Cataphracts versus legionaries

On Dick's flank, the Roman catafractarii got to grips with Rich's cataphracts. This contest continued through the game. Neither side did enough casualties to push back the other, so they just sat in a disordered scrum while events moved around them. The Roman equites fought against Rich's elephants and light horse with the result of getting routed off the board.

Events in the center started looking grim. Bill's argyraspides smacked into Bob's rear legionary unit while it was changing formation. In disorder, the legonaries were helpless and routed immediately. Bob's elite lanciarii got bested by Rich's vile psiloi scum and his remaining legionary unit was suddenly facing two phalanxes.

Things are looking bad for Rome

But then THE MIRACLE happened. Beset two to one, Bob rolled high for his random factor and Rich rolled low for both his phalanxes. In the ensuing mêlée, Bob routed both phalanxes in the first round and fortune smiled on Rome for the first time in the game.

Triumphant legionaries see the backs of their beaten foe

While Bob was restoring our center, I charged my second legionary unit into Bill's cheeky psiloi, who had broken the hole in our line by wiping out the bolt-shooters. Caught in a quandry about whether to run or stand, he stood rather than evade through his argyraspides and disorder them. The legionaries broke the psiloi in the first round and they scurried off through the phalanx, which remained stationary to avoid disorder.

Next, my pursuing legionaries charged into the flank of Bill's argyraspides while his previously unengaged cavalry charged me in the flank. I looked like curtains for my legionaries, but the hung in for the first round.

Legionaries in an ugly scrum

Meanwhile, Dick had reformed the dromedarii and run them around to harass Rich's fleeing phalanxes, which by now had no hope of recovering and returning to the fight. At this point we called the game. Bob's other legionary unit had recovered and was ready to throw its weight into the battle on my flank. It was a qualified Roman win.

Post mortem

It was great playing WRG ancients again. I have always been a huge fan and this project has been a lot of fun.

We definitely need to play more to get more experience. I used to play WRG 5th edition ancients rules, Bill, Bob, and Dick used to play 6th edition, and Rich's story keeps changing (I think he started with 3rd edition). The upshot is that none of us played 4th edition and even the versions we played were played back in antiquity. (I think my last game of WRG 5th edition was played sometime in 1979 when I still had pimples.)

Our inexperience lead to some frustration, but we're all agreed to play again in the near future. I've got more painting to do...

My valentine

2010-02-14T15:45:00.001-08:00

Lorrin doesn't do Valentine's Day. She's a contrarian in most ways, so this is no surprise. She brought me chocolates last night, contrary to expectations, I brought her nothing as instructed–but perhaps not expected? She thinks I'm too rational, I think she's too emotional. I'm evenly tempered and mostly imperturbable, she has ups and downs followed by downs and ups (in no particular order). She's vegan–apart from eating milk chocolate; I'm vegan–apart from eating meat (sometimes). I'm an American and proud of it; she's a scatterling (with Australian citizenship) and proud of it. She's a night-owl; I'm a basket case by 10:30, but we both love sleeping in. We love cats, which is how we met. We love each other's cats. We enjoy Scrabble, although she hates losing, but I love winning so it evens out.

Relationships involve challenges and compromises in every way, ours is no exception. But what I gain from having her in my life is immeasurably more than the trade-offs having her requires. I am still obdurate, as she will attest; she is still high maintenance, which I think she enjoys. All difficulties notwithstanding, I am a better man with her and, I hope, improving. Whatever life throws my way, I hope to meet it with Lorrin by my side.

So to you, my valentine, a bit of the bard:

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie.

Book report: Harry Sidebottom's Fire in the East

2010-02-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

I have a strange relationship with historical fiction. Being a lover of history, I should naturally be drawn to it, but I often view the relationship between history and historical fiction as I do the relationship between history or literature and the movies that are based on them. There is so much distortion that I feel repelled by the fear that any book (or movie) based on history will take so many liberties as to render the experience of reading (or viewing) it painful, rather than the delight it should be. Still, historical fictions rank among my favorite books ever. Robert Graves' Count Belisaurius, I, Claudius, and Claudius the God are first rate. Gore Vidal's Julian, Burr, and Lincoln are also terrific. Rosemary Sutcliffe's "young adult" novels such as Eagle of the Ninth and The Lantern Bearers are particular favorites. I've also enjoyed some of Bernard Cornwell's series, which I see more as fictions set in historical times than historical fictions. (I may be the only one to see that distinction, but there it is.)

Nevertheless, I tend to read much more non-fiction than fiction and, as I've posted before, the cats, being antiliterary, allow me to read precious little in any case. When a fiction title comes across that interests me, I'm in a quandary about how to allocate my limited reading time.

I got Fire in the East on a friend's recommendation. The novel is set in the Roman empire during the latter half of the 3rd c. AD (257, to be precise). This alone was compelling because I have a particular interest in 3rd c. Rome, the "time of crisis." But at the back of my mind was the worry that I would only be disappointed. I started reading the book last Fall and got just more than a third of the way through before I set it aside. Not out of disgust, certainly, but because other things crowded it out until a week ago when I got re-inspired to read it. I started back at the beginning and couldn't put it down.

So, after all this long introduction, I have to say that the book is excellent.

The author, Dr. Harry Sidebottom, is a distinguished scholar of classical history. As such, he has a greater feel for accuracy than a non-specialist would master. This shows in much of the detail he presents. Descriptions of Roman arms and armor, for example, are correct for the period. (I read one novel set on the Rhine frontier in the 4th c. that unforgivably described arms and armor for the Romans that was anachronistic by almost 200 years!)

The book is a fictionalization of the fall of the Roman frontier fortress of Dura-Europos (Called Arete in the book), which sat on the Euphrates river at the extremity of Rome's eastern frontier. The city was taken in 257 by the Sassanid king Shapur I and completely destroyed, never being reoccupied. The remains of the city were only rediscovered in 1920 by a patrol of British soldiers. Sidebottom's narrative of the siege and various Sassanid assaults on the walls is gripping. The fictionalized events of the siege are still closely tied to the archeological evidence for the siege, such as the mines, counter-mines, ramp, and collapsed towers. His story of the final fall through treachery is plausible without disagreeing with any known facts or the archeological evidence. (There is no written account extant of the fall of Dura-Europos, which is why its rediscovery took 16 centuries, and why it's fertile ground for story-telling.)

The main character of the story, Marcus Clodius Ballista, is based on the very slightly known figure Balista (or Callistus) who was Dux Ripae, commander of the river defenses, on the desert frontier at this time. Ballista is portrayed as a Romanized Angle, regarded as no better than a barbarian by some of the men he commands, who has risen to high command and been entrusted by the emperors Valerian and Gallienus with holding back the Sassanids while they tend to other urgencies on the empire's vulnerable extended frontiers.

It's not giving anything away to say that the city falls in the end, but the story and characters are vibrant and compelling so that en route to the story's dénouement, you are entertained and engaged by the narrative and the complex relationships. The story ends with enough loose ends that you are left eager to hear the story continue and have the ends tied up in the following books.

Fire in the East is the first of a series of three novels following Marcus Clodius Ballista's adventures in Rome's time of crisis. The next book–on order from the UK–is King of Kings, which covers Ballista's involvement in the events following the fall of Arete (Dura-Europos) and leading to the emperor Valerian's failed campaign against the Sassanids. The third novel, Lion of the Sun (to be published July, 2010), continues the story in 260.

Beloved Toto

2010-01-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

Lorrin's excellent cat Toto died yesterday. He had stopped eating altogether on Monday and after a series of vet visits and an ultrasound, the worst was confirmed: he was wracked with cancer. The prognosis for his recovery was not good. He was on I.V. as well as being force fed with a syringe in order to build up his strength, but he seemed to slip farther away with every day. On Friday morning, Lorrin made the hard decision to euthanize him.

Toto had been with Lorrin since she found him as an emaciated abandoned kitten wandering in an industrial park in Sydney, Australia. At the time she found him, he was all tail, paws, and ears. He later grew into the ears and (somewhat) into the tail, but his paws remained outsized.

He was the stateliest, most serene cat I've ever known. He would walk into a room with his tail high as if he were an emperor out taking the air. But he wasn't aloof and imperious; despite the stern, eagle-eyed stare he had mastered since his youth, his calmness and gentleness revealed his true nature. He was friendly and loving, always had a purr for you, and he possessed a most zen-like character.

His loss is heartbreaking. Lorrin is devastated and her other cat, Jasper, is confused about Toto's sudden illness and disappearance. I will miss seeing him whenever I go to Lorrin's. He liked me and would sit beside me or on my lap and purr whenever I was there. I loved him and regret that he remains only in fond memories.

To Lorrin, he was all the world. She had him for 16 years, most of her adult life, on two continents. He was her pole star amid the tumults of life and her companion in its triumphs and joys.

Goodbye, Mr. Toto. You were a great-hearted and loving cat, a prince among your species. We will remember you fondly.

Holiday board gaming

2009-12-31T20:17:00.000-08:00

I managed to get a few board games in over the holidays, which is always a treat. I have so many board games and I play too few.

Men of Iron

Today's game was Men of Iron – Volume I: The Rebirth of Infantry from GMT Games. This came out in 2005 and I've had it sitting in my closet unpunched for almost five years. It looked interesting back when I bought it and now I'm eager to play some more. Dave Schueler and I played the Battle of Courtrai scenario. I've had an interest in this battle since I read about it in Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror about 30 years ago. The scenario was one of the reasons I bought the game in the first place, so it was a nice treat to play it at last.

The historical battle, fought in 1302, was one of those affairs lost by the side who should have won if only their commanders weren't arrogant, impetuous, and stupid—in other words, French nobles. An insurrection in Flanders brought a French force of mounted men at arms and footsoldiers commanded by Robert, Comte d'Artois to the city of Courtrai (modern Kortrijk in Belgium) to hand out some whup-ass to a force composed mainly of burghers with pikes and a curious little weapon called the godendag. The Flemish burghers, and a small handful of knights fighting on foot, were commanded by William of Jülich.

Flemish burghers with godendags

Up until this time, the mounted knight was the über-weapon of the medieval world. From the time of Charlemagne, heavily armored men on horseback pretty much kicked butt on whatever poor, footslogging oiks they came across. William and his men, who were poor, footslogging oiks, knew this and they prepared the ground in front of their position with ditches filled with water from the Groeninghebeke, a small stream that ran across the front of the Flemish position. The idea was that the mounted knights would be hard-pressed to get any impetus against the Flemish infantry because they would be disordered by the rough, marshy ground.

In a rash act of good sense, Robert sent his footsoldiers in first, supported by Genoese crossbowmen. These troops began to make way against the Flemish line, which created all kinds of panic among the French knights who feared that the glory of winning the battle may fall to their social inferiors. To avert this looming disaster, Robert recalled his footsoldiers and let his mounted knights charge in—right into the ditches where their impetus was checked and Flemish burghers with godendags (the word means "good day") bashed their brains in. The Flemish were under orders not to take prisoners and about 1000 knights were killed in this inglorious episode of the battle. Robert was among the fallen, as were most of the French leaders. The rest of the French army took to their heels and the Flemish chased them for miles.

One interesting note about the battle is that many of the slain knights wore golden spurs they had won in tournaments. The Flemish stripped these from the corpses and nailed them to the alter of the Church of Our Lady in Courtrai. The battle was ever afterwards called "The Battle of the Golden Spurs." The spurs remained on the alter for 80 years until another French army won a battle at Roosebeke (1382), near Courtrai, and in the aftermath of their victory, burned Courtrai and took back their lost spurs.

The game Dave and I played had a different result. I played the French, less stupidly than Robert d'Artois, and managed to break through with my infantry and finally made a ditch-free gap that my mounted knights could exploit. It was touch and go for a while and I seemed to be alternately on the verge of winning and losing. It pretty much came down to the wire until Dave's Flemish reached their break point. The only casualty of note was John of Renesse, a Flemish leader, who perished in an early stage of the game. I lost a lot of infantry, but only two out of 12 men at arms units. In this scenario, Flemish units eliminated or forced to retire by mounted men at arms count double for determining the break point. The rule is supposed to encourage the French player to "do a Robert" and risk his men at arms who face greater risk of loss because of the ditches as well as risk being unhorsed by the nasty godendags.

I think the system works pretty well. Richard Berg, the game designer, made a generic system that can be applied to several historical battles with scenario-specific rules. The activation system offers some interesting choices. A player can keep activating commands and moving as long as he rolls the commander's activation number. Unless he passes, fails an activation, or has an activation seized from him by his opponent, there is no structural reason in the rules why a player can't just keep moving and fighting. Of course, odds being what they are, a player will fail activation at some point. But the trick for the opponent is whether to challenge a new activation or to hope for a failed activation, which will allow you to activate a command yourself. A failed challenge gives your opponent another free activation, but if your opponent is on a roll with good dice, he will be able to keep exploiting any successes, or mitigating any disasters before you can do anything to react. So, you may feel you need to jump in and take the initiative back.

The Volume I bit of the game title makes it sound like more are coming (or might have come in the intervening years since the game was published). Oh, alas. This game covers the battles of Courtrai, Falkirk, Bannockburn, Crecy, Poitiers, and Najera. I hoped that another volume would cover some of the later Hundred Years Wars battles as well as some of the Swiss wars of the period. However, GMT does have a volume covering the Crusades on its P500 list. As with anything on the P500 list, this game could be years in coming...

Conflict of Heroes

Another game played over the holidays was Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel – Kursk 1943. This game is the second volume of the Conflict of Heroes series from Academy Games (Uwe Eickert). This volume introduces a refined activation system that makes for better game flow and also better ability to react to your opponent's actions. As the title indicates, the scenarios are set during the Kursk battles of July, 1943 (Tiger tanks!). Dave and I played the Black Knights of the Steppe scenario today after Men of Iron. He was German and I was Russian. It was a tight game, but in the end I managed to salvage a win. I played the scenario once before as the German and lost. It's a tough win for them.

A few weeks back we played the Wounded Tiger scenario. I was German and Dave Russian. I lost the immobilized Tiger to an aggressive attack that managed to come around to my rear and get an attack at point blank range. (It's like Oddball said in Kelly's Heroes, "A Tiger has only one weak point; that's its ass. You gotta hit it point blank and you gotta hit it from behind.") Unluckily for Dave, he couldn't get the rest of my tanks and the Pz VI and Pz IIIs wreaked havoc on his T-70s and T-34s—much to both our surprise.

This series is excellent and I hope Uwe continues to add more titles. The rumor I hear is that the next volume will move from the steppes of Russia to the jungles of Guadalcanal.

Richard III

The third game that got some play over the holidays was the latest block game from Columbia, Richard III: The Wars of the Roses. I have a longstanding interest in the WotR, so this was a nice title to see coming. I played my beloved Yorkists and Dave played the nasty Lancastrians. The game is played in three "campaigns" that roughly approximate the three main historical phases of the wars. I managed to win the kingship—for Richard of York—in the first campaign and held it through the other two. No paper crown for his severed head this time around. It looked uncertain on several occasions, Dave blasted me in several battles with those newfangled cannon things, but I managed to hang on through every battle, even if I had to run from a few to avoid annihilation. This game is fun and playable and worth more playing time.

Drums along the Odon: Les Anglais are attacking the 'burbs!

2009-12-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we ran a play-test of Kevin Smyth's latest Hundred Years' War scenario at The Game Matrix in Lakewood, WA. We used a simple home-brewed set that Kevin wrote called Arrowstorm. All the rules fit on one sheet, so it's quite a departure from other games I've played recently.

The scenario is based on an historical attack made by Edward the Black Prince on Île Saint-Jean, a suburb of the city of Caen in Normandy in 1346. The situation had a french force of dismounted knights supported by town militia defending a fortified bridge across the Odon river, with support from a couple of Genoese cogs, and also defending against an attack on the other side of the town from Sir Thomas Holland (later 1st Earl of Kent).

I played Holland making the rear attack on the town, while Adrian Nelson and Tim Barella played the Black Prince and Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick making the attack across the river. (This game marks the first time I've seen Tim in many years, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him there—despite his wretched die-rolling.)

Defending the town were Dave Schueler, Wes Rogers, and Wes' son-in-law (whose name I forget). They had free rein to set up anywhere and chose to defend closely around the tower of the fortified bridge.

The English attack lacked siege equipment, so the initial attack across the bridge had to wait until scaling ladders and a battering ram arrived. We also had to neutralize the cogs in the Odon, who could fire crossbows and ballistae against our forces crossing the bridge.

Accordingly, Tim massed his three archer units against one of the cogs with the intent of burying it under a storm of arrows. The scenario had the English being low on arrows, so we had limited ability to shoot. Desultory skirmish fire wouldn't deplete our arrows, but massed fire and arrowstorm could run us out of arrows quickly. We had five points of massed shots available per archer unit. A simple massed fire cost one point, an arrowstorm—the medieval equivalent of FPF—cost two. Tim shot off an arrowstorm with three units against the cog with almost negligible result. In response, Dave took out several archers with his return fire. The plan was already in doubt.

On my side, I massed my two 2-figure units of archers on the right to run them past the town and into the open area facing the pallisades situated beside the tower. My other forces were a 10-figure unit of men at arms, a 20-figure unit of professional footsoldiers, and a 10-figure unit of Breton javelinmen.

The open area gave me more ability to get my bows where they could fire for best effect, even though the fire was reduced because of the pallisades. I didn't bother trying to attack through the gaps in the town; I only needed to keep enough troops in the town area to keep Wes' troops at bay. While advancing between the outer buildings, my troops were assaulted by the burghers of Saint-Jean who hurled sticks and stones from the upper floors of the buildings. I had to peel off some troops to storm the buildings and lost only one figure overall from a falling chamberpot.

Wes and his SIL, commanded the troops initially facing me and started by trying to move against my flank with crossbowmen and militia. I positioned one of my archer units to sweep the open space between the building rows and held them back. No one wanted to face annihilation by arrowstorm. My other archer unit advanced to take position against Dave's militia along the palisade.

I brought up the other archer unit and after a couple turns' shooting, the militia was decimated and ran off abandoning the palisade, which Dave refused to re-man with his men at arms. Fear of arrowstorm was a bit daunting.

Meanwhile, Adrian had been fording the Odon with his 20-figure unit of Welsh spearmen. This seemed to promise a way across the river other than the bridge, but the time spent fording enabled Wes to bring up some militia foot and a few men at arms to strike them at the river's edge.

Despite their rough handling, the Welshmen didn't run, but by standing they got surrounded and in the end only a single Welshman remained, though not for long.

The ladders and battering ram had arrived to much cheering in the English camp, but it was discovered that only one of the ladders was sufficiently tall to scale the tower (which elicited less cheering). Nevertheless, Adrian sent his footsoldiers in the van with the ladder and ram supported by his men at arms. His intention was to let the footsoldiers act as quarrel- and bolt-fodder while placing the ladder and battering the gate.

I now began my attack against the palisade in earnest. With Dave's unwillingness to re-man the pallisade, I targeted the defenders of the bridge tower and cogs with my archers and sent my footsoldiers and men at arms over the undefended palisade against Dave's defenders.

At first, I routed away the reconstituted force that had fled the palisades earlier as well as a small number of men at arms. However, Dave sent in his men at arms and suddenly the match-up wasn't exactly best suited for my continued success. My footsoldiers, hardy as they may be, were no match for Dave's men at arms and were routed away. However, I was able to move my small unit of men at arms to fighting Dave's men at arms and continue the fight.

Adrian's troops managed to get on top of the bridge tower and were chasing its defenders down into the bowels of the barbican. The troops outside were still banging away with the battering ram and having little luck.

Alas, for me. My men at arms got the worst of it and were soon clanking along in their armor trying to catch up with the running footsoldiers. The Bretons had been wiped out earlier by some crossbowmen, so all I had to keep on with were my two units of archers. Both units had depleted arrows and were facing better-armed (and armored men).

At this point, our time ran out. The game limit was ten turns and we stopped then on the verge of what may have been an English victory: We were over the palisades in the rear of the town, we had men atop the bridge tower and men in it, we had many more men on the bridge ready to burst through the gate—or be let in once our men inside the tower gained control of it.

Post mortem

The game was a lot of fun and moved very quickly. As with any Hundred Years' War game, the English archers are just atomic and any French victory is won against greater odds than the numerical disparity would indicate.

Although based on the historical attack on Caen during Edward III's initial chevauchée that started in Brittany and culminated in Picardy at the Battle of Crécy, I think Kevin made a few adjustments for play balance. Historically, the French had only some palisades and were greatly outnumbered by the English. They had abandoned the fortified bit of Caen to defend Île Saint-Jean because that was the wealthy suburb of the city and its richest burghers wanted it spared the depredations of les Anglais. The bridge tower was actually built to defend the walled city on the north side of the Odon and the Île Saint-Jean is on the south side. The sources are murky as to whether they possessed any part of the actual bridge defenses. It seems as if they built a hasty palisade on the bridge, but the fortified bridge may have had barbicans on both sides. If so, the English would have been in possession of one side and the French the other.

The two sources I have for the battle, Jonathan Sumption's The Hundred Years War I: Trial by Battle and Clifford Rogers' War Cruel and Sharp make no mention of Holland's flanking force, but I defer to Kevin's more extensive library on all things Hundred Years' War for this. The most interesting narrative of the action comes from Bernard Cornwell's novel The Archer's Tale, but it is a fictionalized account.

I have some other sources that just mention the battle in passing. It seemed to be a small affair involving about 1500 French defenders and only a portion of Edward's army under the Earl or Warwick. The English took the walled town that the French evacuated and then rushed without orders to the Île Saint-Jean where they overwhelmed a hasty defensive position, mostly by going around it, and looted the town, in the course of which they killed many of the defenders and a few thousand burghers. Generally, being a French burgher in the path of an English chevauchée during the Hundred Years' War was a bad thing. A very bad thing.

Kevin is running this game again, perhaps with some tweaking after our play test, at Dick Larsen's Drumbeat event and likely at Enfilade! in May.

The cats love their momma

2009-12-30T12:10:00.000-08:00

Whenever Lorrin comes over, the cats are alerted to her arrival by the beep-beep of her door locks being activated electronically. When they hear it, they come running.

Lorrin has been in Australia over the holidays, so the cats haven't seen her for a few weeks. Sitting upstairs the other evening with the munchkins about me, one of my neighbors came home and beep-beeped their door locks. Suddenly the room emptied as the cats ran downstairs to greet Lorrin, who was still in Australia. When I followed them down, they were crouched expectantly at the top of the stairs leading from the foyer. They all looked up at me and back at the door expecting Lorrin to open it and step in.

It's nice to see how the cats have taken to her. Grendel is anybody's friend, but the girls, Rhiannon and Maebh, are choosier. That they love Lorrin is a good indication that I have the right woman in my life.

Los! (D.A.N.G. VIII)

2009-12-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

Today was the 8th occurence of Dave's Annual Naval Game (D.A.N.G.) run by Dave Schueler as part of our Christmas vacation activities. I haven't been to all, but all that I've attended have been a great time.

This year's even was "Action off Tunisia" and was a small combatants campaign set in 1943 during the Axis' last gasp in North Africa. I played the Axis side along with Kevin Smyth and Arthur Brooking. The Allies were represented by Dale Mikel, Scott Murphy, and Dave Creager.

The area covered by the campaign stretched from Bone in Algeria to Valetta in Malta, though most of the action took place in the area around Tunis to Porto Empedocle in Sicily. (Bone, btw, is now called Annaba and in its earliest incarnation as Hippo Regius, it was the home of St. Augustine.)

The tasks each side had to perform were routine patrols, minesweeping, minelaying, and convoy. In addition, the Allies had to keep German convoys from getting into Tunis. Each day of the seven days covered by the campaign was divided into AM, PM, and Night turns. We plotted our missions and Dave determined if any of our forces collided. The day provided three actions.

Action 1: Fighting off Porto Empedocle, Sicily

We (the Axis) sent our missions out at the start of the game with the hope of running into something worth fighting. Our major forces were at Porto Empedocle (a.k.a. Port Imbecile) on the south coast of Sicily. We sent our five schnellboote (a.k.a. S-Boats or, to the British, E-boats) swanning about hoping, unsuccessfully, to catch a convoy while we swept outside our port for mines using our remaining two craft, a pair of under-armed Raumboote (R-boats, also E-boats to the Brits). As the R-boats swept away, they ran into a pair of British destroyers bristling with guns of every calibre.

Having no torpedoes and armed only with a single, rear-firing 20mm autocannon and two forward-firing light machine-guns, we were for it as soon as contact was made. Our only hope was to run like hell and seek safety under the shore batteries of Porto Empedocle. As luck would have it, the British were able to pound one of our boats (mine) with 4" naval guns—no mean feat given the odds against their hitting small fast craft with big guns. However, Jolly Jack Tar forgot Nelson's maxim that "no sailor but a fool fights a fortress" and pursued us right into range of the 88mm batteries that protected the harbor. As shell after shell found its mark on one of the British destroyers, they made about and headed out of range with one ship at full steam and the other limping from significant damage. Our loss was a single R-boat. We figured it was not a bad exchange as we hoped the damaged DD would be out of action for the rest of the campaign, or at least most of it.

Action 2: Tangling with Fairmiles off Tunis

The next action was fought at night on Day 2 in the waters outside Tunis, but too far away this time for us to expect help from shore fire. We sent the two S-boats we had in Tunis off to patrol in the area of Bizerte, but instead ran into a force of three British Fairmile C motor gun boats and three Fairmile D motor torpedo boats (a.k.a. "Dog Boats").

Although not mounting 4" guns, the Fairmiles also bristled with firepower. The Cs mounted 2-pdr. pom-poms, 6-pdrs., and a few 20mm mounts. Our ships had torpedoes, which are next to useless against small craft, and two single 20mm mounts (fore and aft) along with some light MGs. Again, we were not only outmatched in firepower ship vs. ship, but outnumbered 3:1.

The S-boats ("S" stands for schnell!) were fast, but the Fairmiles were plenty fast, too. We took a peppering from them. Kevin commanded one boat and Arthur commanded the other. Early on, Arthur's boot took a hit to his steering that forced him to continue straight for four game-turns. Unaware of this, Dave Creager "crossed the T" with one of his Fairmiles only to get rammed by Arthur's unintentional kamikaze. The resulting crash was about as bad as it gets. Arthur's boat cut Dave in two and destroyed itself in doing so.

Meanwhile, Kevin managed to get away from Scott's boats and the action ended with one S-boat damaged and one sunk on our side and a Fairmile C sunk on the Allied side (possibly minor damage to some other boats, but I don't think were were hitting anything). This was another morale victory for Der Axis. The loss of an S-boat for a Fairmile MGB was a favorable exchange for us.

Action 3: Destroyers (again)

The final action of the campaign took place on day 3 when the five S-boats we had in Porto Empedocle were en route to Tunis to operate from there, since that's where the action tended to be. In their first two missions of the game, the S-boots had come up empty in their sweeps to find enemy forces. In this mission, which was more an attempt at transit to a new base, they came into contact with the same two British DDs that ran into the shore batteries at Porto Empedocle. It seems that by herculean effort, the boys in Malta managed to get the damaged ship repaired within 24 hours and both DDs were fit and ready for another fight. They, too, were en route to operating in Tunis and moving at flank speed.

This was another "brown trousers" moment for us, but we finally had the A-Team in action, however outclassed it may have been by the DDs. These S-boats were of a later class than the ones that saw action off Tunis. Armed with torpedoes, a 40mm autocannon, a dual-mount 20mm, a single-mount 20mm, and light MGs, they had some firepower and their torpedoes had worthy targets. We also had speed with a top rate of 40 knots vs. 36 knots for the DDs.

We shot off a volley of torpedoes at the point that we sighted them and they were still unsure of our presence. Arthur fired all his "fish" at Scott's DD while I fired one boat at Dale and kept the other boat's torpedoes in reserve, as did Kevin with his one boat. We basically had only bow shots, so our chances of a hit were slim. The torpedoes had to run one turn before arming and our targets managed to side-step them.

The shooting was a little better for us than in the last encounter with the destroyers. They hit one of my boats with a 4" gun (I got away with minimal damage from it), but for the most part, they were not hitting well. We scored plenty of hits with significant, if not extensive results. The DDs having armored bits, a lot of our hits were ignored. We did manage to shoot up Dale pretty well and he was on fire, had lost some weapons, and had his bridge out of action for a few turns.

Arthur turned and retired after his torpedo volley and the Brits never sighted him. Kevin managed to turn his boat and scored most of the hits on Dale's DD. I had turned one of my boats around but the other kept straight to avoid running into my own torpedoes. It was at this point that our fortunes turned.

Still as overly-aggressive with their bigger ships as they were when they ran them up against shore batteries, Scott chased my lone boat and in so doing ran into the torpedo spread I'd fired three turns earlier. Both fish hit and the resulting damage sunk the ship. The action was over with no boats lost for the Axis and one DD sunk and another damaged (superficially) and making away.

After action

By now it was late in the afternoon and we called the campaign. So far, the Axis had managed to get one convoy through to Tunis as well as a special mission in and out of Tunis involving secret cypher machinery and what-not. (All very hush-hush.) The biggest disparity had been in ship losses. We lost one R-boat and one older S-boat while sinking a Fairmile C MGB and a destroyer. Dave called it an Axis win.

It would have been interesting to see how the rest of the campaign would have gone. We had another convoy coming in, which was well-guarded by a corvette and several MFPs. It was the only time in the game we would have had our own ships bristling with firepower. (But, then only if the Allies had contacted it.)