Borodino, 1941 - Breakthrough AAR

My last game of the weekend was Breakthrough, a hopefully soon-to-be-released ruleset from Frank Chadwick. 

The scenario for the game was based on the Battle of Borodino, part of the larger Battle of Moscow.

The Germans had smashed the Soviet frontline units and were still pushing forward. The Soviets were somewhat scattered across the table, with two regiments battered but still somewhat intact. The rest of the Soviet forces were Siberian troops, fresh and ready to fight back. 

The Germans would need to keep themselves from getting bogged down before the Soviets could rally, and push off the opposite table edge to achieve victory. 

The starting German division consisted of two infantry regiments and an armored regiment. 

Using the massive road movement, the German tanks pushed up the center, while the infantry regiments covered the flanks. 

Tenacious Soviet defenders, however, pushed the attacking armor back. This would be a familiar sight for this game. 

While the German infantry on the left flank was doing well enough, the infantry on the right was also having a tough time. While the Soviets were slowly being pushed back, it wasn't fast enough. 

The Germans had to take their night turn to reorganize and bring up their artillery support. 

Unfortunately, I failed to bring the German armored regiment out of their reorganization stance, leaving the Soviet center free to bring up reinforcements and dig in. 

The German left flank was having a better go of it, scattering the Soviet defenders. 

Meanwhile, the Soviets' armored regiment had recuperated enough to begin rolling out. 

Time and time again the German center and right flank regiments were repelled. With so many disrupted battalions, the Germans lost their momentum as HQ units desperately tried to get their troops back in order. 

The Soviets countered with artillery and a sneaky armored car unit that threatened the infantry regiment's flank. 

The German regiments continued to receive reinforcements, but so did the Soviets, and the defenders' lines continued to deepen. 

I had to split my armored regiment into two groups to attack entrenched defenders, but finally managed to drive the Soviets from their positions. 

Of course, the German attackers were so disrupted (all those red markers) that we couldn't do much to exploit this.

A combination of Soviet armor joining the battle and a fortuitous night attack that pushed back the German left flank, we decided to call the game there for time. In-game, around three days had passed and the Germans were battered. The Soviets had lost more stands but were in a better overall position. The Germans would likely be able to push through, but the delay would be hugely detrimental. 

This game was alright, and I probably would have enjoyed it more had I a better grip on the intricacies of the rules. I think the scenario was decided early on when the Germans failed to keep up their momentum, allowing the Soviets to consolidate and deepen their defenses. It also didn't help that the Soviet players made some incredible saving throws, keeping their battalions in the game against the odds!

The Battle of Pharsalus, 48 BCE - Strength & Honour AAR

Saturday was the main day of the convention, and I had decided to focus on historical games. 

My first game of the day was Strength & Honour, which I haven't had a chance to play in a while. 

We were refighting the Battle of Pharsalus, between Caesar and Pompey for the fate of Rome. 

The Caesarian army was smaller but made up of more elite units, while the Pompeian army was more numerous but less experienced. 

The goal was the break the enemy army (the Caesarian morale was 19, the Pompeian morale was 23). The Pompeians did have a special rule, in that they could send a unit of cavalry off the opposing table edge to try and capture Caesar's scattered baggage train, which would be a Disaster card if successful. 

As the larger army, the Pompeians started with the first turn. Thanks to another special rule (that would give Pompeian legions a first-time only reroll on saving throughs in combat), we move conservatively, keeping our line formed up. Meanwhile, our cavalry force pushed hard on the left flank, intending to hit the Caesarian baggage train and get that Disaster card asap. 

The Caesarians had a tougher go of it, failing several movement tests and moving forward in a broken line. 

The Pompeian cavalry engaged first, forcing back a unit of enemy skirmishers. 

Over on my side of the table, the two battle lines squared off, neither side wanting to commit. 

The Pompeian cavalry pushed back the enemy skirmishers and ended up in the flank of the elite Caesarian Xth Legion. 

The Pompeian light cavalry also managed to get past the Caesarian lines and looted their baggage train. 

In an astounding result, the Xth Legion was broken and fled from the battle! This gave the Pompeian a perfect chance to launch a charge into another Caesarian legion's flank.

The other half of the Caesarian line came on and Roman shields clashed. 

With their better units, the Caesarians largely disrupted the Pompeian lines, but not enough to rout or disrupt any of my units. I was lucky with my movement dice and reformed my line. 

However, the lost of the Xth Legion and the collapse of Caesar's right flank gave them enough Setback and Disaster cards that the Pompeian were willing to call Haemonculus Est. It was delayed for a turn thanks to a Command token, but the next turn saw Caesar's morale collapse. With a decisive victory for Pompey and the Senate, history would be changed forever!

This was a great game, but I felt like the Caesarian players had a rough go of it. Lacking cavalry, they would've had a tough time stopping the enemy cavalry from sacking their baggage, and they had quite  a few bad dice rolls at critical moments that definitely saved me from losing my weaker legions. 

Despite that, I continue to enjoy playing Strength & Honour!

The Battle of Helms Deep - Midgard AAR

My second game of the weekend was a scenario based on the Battle of Helms Deep (the book version, so Haldir and his pals weren't in attendance). 

Chris, who was running the game, created an impressive model of Helms Deep. 

The Hornburg was incredible, a massive structure of modeled mountain and 3d printed castle walls. 

From atop the highest rampart, Théoden watched over the assembling army of Isengard, a mix of fearsome Uruk-Hai, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, and Men of Dunland. 

More warriors of Rohan lined the defenses of the Deeping Wall. 

Prior to the start of the game, both sides (I was commanding half of the Rohirrim) made some pre-battle choices. For the defenders, we decided to send Éomer out on a mounted sortie with a unit of elite warriors to hopefully peel of some of the attacking forces. The attackers brought a couple siege towers, a Fire of Orthanc hidden somewhere in their units, and some other choices that we would find out about later in the fight. 

The attackers also had a pair of camps that defeated units would respawn from, representing the unending hordes of Isengard's army.

The game would last six turns, with the defenders rolling randomly at the start of turn four to see if Gandalf would arrive with Erkenbrand and his surviving warriors. 

The horde of Isengard advanced at a steady clip, with some desultory archery fire from the defenders.

A smaller force of Uruk-Hai split off from the main group, marching up the earthen ramp to the Hornburg. 

It wasn't until the orcs were committed that they realized no one had thought to bring the battering ram!

Éomer and his men launched their attack on turn two, drawing off three Isengard units. The warriors of Rohan defending that section of the wall were relieved that combat wouldn't reach them so soon. 

Despite this, the main Isengard attack quickly broke through the Deeping Wall, with a unit of goblins sneaking a Fire of Orthanc into the Deeping Wall's culvert. Legolas spotted the goblins carrying the bomb too late and it exploded, killing the goblins and damaging the Rohirrim units defending that section of the wall (luckily Aragorn, who was on top of the Culvert when it blew up, was unharmed). 

Using their siege towers, the forces of Isengard quickly took the top of the wall, scattering the damaged Rohan Archers. 

It was a fierce battle atop the Deeping Wall, with Aragorn leading an attacking to try and reclaim the lost section that flanked Legolas and his unit. 

In the distance you can see Éomer fending off a couple Isengard units by himself, after his accompanying unit was wiped out. 

Meanwhile the Uruk-Hai steadily advanced up the rampart to the Hornburg. 

The defending Rohirrim were being pushed back, with another unit of archers routed. Isengard units were beginning to pour through the hole in the wall. Sadly, Legolas was the first hero to fall, assisting an elite unit of warriors hold back a force four times their size of Orcs and Dunlendings. 

Hoping to score some some morale points on my side, I had Háma charge out the gate with the Kingsguard. 

My luck had apparently be used up in the previous game that morning, and the Kingsguard were pushed back towards the gate. 

Then we discovered that the forces of Isengard had sent a unit of scouts to scale the walls of the Hornburg, resulting in a flank attack!

The forces of Isengard were in solid control of half of the Deeping Wall, resulting in an ongoing morale loss to the defenders. 

And another unit of Orcs appeared in the rear of the defenders, as more orcs mounted the wall.

Sadly, Gimli was the second hero to fall, helping to fell a unit of trolls (in another universe, Gotrek Gurnisson would likely find that a good death). 

I had Aragorn join up with the surviving unit of elite infantry and make their way to support the remaining Rohirrim units. The Deeping Wall might be lost, but perhaps the surviving warriors would push towards the Hornburg...

It was in turn six that Gandalf, Erkenbrand, and the rest of the relief cavalry arrived, too late to do much else apart from destroy an Isengard camp. 

The Hornburg was still somewhat secure, with the ambushed warriors of Rohan turning to face their attackers. 

However, the mess behind the Deeping Wall was too much for the defenders to handle and their morale was broken, giving Isengard a solid victory and potentially changing the fate of Middle Earth forever!

This was a wonderfully thematic and fun game to play. Had I another chance at it, I would definitely need to make some different choices, like getting the units and Théoden in the Hornburg down into the fray of the Deeping Wall. Abandoning the Wall might also be a good idea, instead of allowing the Fire of Orthanc to deal damage to units that hadn't seen combat yet. And I definitely feel like I didn't take Chris' advice of using the heroes enough, as they felt underwhelming against the massive Isengard force.

Still, Chris did a great job of adapting these set of rules to a siege battle, and it's still visually stunning. I will definitely pick up a copy of Midgard once it's released, as it might be a good way to utilize the 3mm fantasy figures I purchased a bit ago. Overall, it was a good conclusion to my first day at Fall In. 

Dawn Burns over Tennessee - All Quiet on the Martian Front AAR

Autumn has arrived and Halloween has passed, which means it's time for Fall In!

I signed up for four games over Friday and Saturday, and picked up a few items here and there from the exhibitor hall. 

My first game of the convention was a personal favorite: All Quiet on the Martian Front!

Set up as a "classic" brawl between Americans and Martians that would have been typical during the Second Martian Invasion, both sides consisted of relatively straightforward forces. 

The Martians had three Assault Tripods (one armed with Black Dust, another with Green Gas) and six Scout Tripods. 

The Americans had a reinforced infantry company (with three infantry squads and a machine gun squad per platoon), two platoons of Mk. III Steamers, three platoons of Mk. II Steamers, and a platoon of Steamer Artillery. 

The American infantry was deployed hidden, scattered across the battlefield, with some false "blips" thrown in to keep the Martians guessing.

The game would last six turns, with both sides attempting to break the other (I believe the Martians needed to lose 9 units, while the Americans needed to lose 15). 

As the attackers, the Martians came surging forward, revealing infantry and MG pickets hidden in the woods and buildings. 

Another MG squad was revealed by the Scout tripods. 

The Martian advanced was checked by concentrated steamer firepower, combining the mobile artillery's barrage and the steamers' 4" guns. Scratch one tripod!

One the flank in front of me, the Martians were using the move-fight-move turn order to sweep in, burn out the infantry with their lasers, and then fall back outside of the infantry's range. 

I did forget that the MG's had a 20" instead of 15" like the infantry squads, so I lost two MGs before I was able to fire with them. 

The second Assault tripod went down to the massed 4" guns of the Americans...

As did a Scout tripod on my flank...

And another Scout was taken out! Along with a squad on infantry, but that's a pretty worthwhile trade. 

Confident with their hot dice and the sudden lack of tripods in front of them, the Americans began to advance and press their advantage. 

Two squads of Rough Riders also managed to entangle the single remaining Assault tripod with their tow cables, before speeding off to try and avoid the patrolling Scouts.

Of course, that put the American tanks in the perfect position to be ambushed! Two steamer tanks were destroyed.

The Rough Riders were also slain, with their retreat suddenly cut off by Martian reinforcements.  

My platoon of Mk. III Steamers, which I hadn't been able to get into the fight, were routed and wiped out by the new Assault tripod. 

The American advanced was suddenly checked, with three rampaging tripods in their flank. 

I pulled my steamers back, concentrating fire on the Assault tripod. I managed to damage it's armor, but the Martian war machine kept coming. 

In the center and on the American right, the humans were able to better maintain their lines. 

American infantry attempted to launch assaults against one of the Scout tripods with their Forlorn Hope squads, but the explosive packages turn out to be duds, and the infantry were forced to retreat back to their cover. 

The Assault tripod was felled, but at the cost of one of the American command steamers and 2/3rds of a Mk. II platoon. 

A second infantry assault against a Scout tripod was launched...

With much better results!

The other Mk. III platoon was having much better luck, destroying a Scout platoon in the last turn of the game. 

And here's the table at the end! You can see that the American left flank (my command) had pretty much collapsed, and I had another steamer platoon were routing. However, the Americans had a good command of the center and their right flank. 

Having lost most of their attacking force, the Martians were forced to retreat. The Americans had suffered quite a lot in return, but were in overall better shape. 

This was a fun game overall, and a great start to the weekend!