Big Day - Fire in the Sky AAR

This past weekend was Cold Barrage. While I wasn't able to make it to Saturday, I had decided to volunteer as a gamemaster on Friday, running Fire in the Sky.

Amazingly, three people decided to sign up! We had enough time to run through three scenarios from the rulebook with some slight modifications. 

First, I ran the players through a quick history of Operation Argument (or Big Week), then a quick walk through the rules. After answering some questions, we hopped into the first scenario: Rolling Thunder.

The Allied player started with three squadrons of P-47s, defending three squadrons of B-17 bombers. The Germans have two ME-109 squadrons (one of which has one-shot rockets attached) and one FW-190 squadron. 

The Germans appear randomly (both in time and deployment space) behind the B-17s, with one squadron starting on the table. 

The initial German attack was successfully, with the rocket-equipped Me 109s knocking out two B-17 sections before being wiped out in return.

Unfortunately, Lady Luck seemed to be against the Germans in this scenario. While they managed to shoot down a couple of B-17 sections, the Germans were eventually either shot down or had to retreat. The Americans claimed a solid victory. 

The second scenario, Zerstorer Ace, gave the Americans three P-51 squadrons, while the Germans would be attacking with two Me 109 squadrons and one Me 410 squadron. The Me 410 squadron leader was also an Ace, which meant his could reroll failed Firepower rolls and Saves and could modify his Special Ability die roll by plus or minus 1.

This was another uphill battle for the Germans, as their activation cards saw them go in piecemeal against the Americans and were picked off. The slower Me 410s were the last to go in, but their anti-bomber guns and rockets weren't enough to shoot down the amount of B-17s needed to even the score. 

Which meant another American victory!

I decided to change things up for the final game and skipped to the Dora Dora scenario. The Americans had two squadrons each of P-47s and P-38s (my favorite twin boom plane!). The Germans originally had three squadrons of Me 109s, but I swapped squadron out for two squadrons of FW 190s. 

For this scenario, the Germans could deploy their squadrons as they pleased. 

During this scenario, the Germans had better luck with activation cards. They also spent a good amount of time circling around the American formation in a large group, rather than approaching by separate squadrons. 

It was during this third game that the Germans solidified a potentially devastating tactic: get in close, wait for the Americans to approach, then use a Reaction to slip towards the B-17s and then attack. This led to one squadron of B-17s being wiped out!

However, the American players still had Lady Luck rooting for them, and while this was the closest game of the three, the Americans still scored more victory points by the time the last German squadron was cleared from the skies.  

Overall, the players said they had fun and one (a board game designer working on his own strategic-level game focused on the 8th Air Force!) commented on how the game had enough period-specific distinction to feel correct. I was also complimented on my work with the miniatures, which was very kind.  

I feel like I have a handle on teaching the rules. I have two immediate improvements that I know I have to make: 

1. I need to make the German players more aware that they can use their Reaction to beeline towards the B-17s (they just can't attack them during the Reaction)
2. Squadron Leaders are NOT needed to perform combat actions such as Side Bounces, Rear Bounces, or Focused Attacks. This stemmed from me extending the condition that Squadron Leaders are needed to fight head-on for zero action points, or are needed in order to attempt Reactions, to other complicated aerial maneuvers. 

I also need to redo the unit labels, as I messed up some of the plane designations. A friend also suggested adding Axis and Allied symbols to the labels for better recognition on the table. I did this in marker before the game, but proper symbols would be an improvement. 

That said, I believe I have a good enough handle on the rules that I plan on running more games this year, and can hopefully make this a successful 6x6 goal. 

 

Battle of Albuera, 1811- General d'Armee AAR

My second game at Fall In was the Battle of Albuera, 1811, using General d'Armee 2 and run by Chip (with assistance from Ted).

The game focused in on a section of the overall battle. Four French infantry brigades started on the attack against just two Spanish infantry brigades. Over time, two British infantry brigades and a Spanish cavalry brigade would reinforce the Allied line, while the French would see a cavalry brigade added to the battle. 

The French advance was generally cohesive, with only one brigade falling behind from multiple Hesitant results.

The Allies had a tougher time dressing their lines. With the British coming on after the initial deployment, the plan was for the two Spanish brigades to fall back and drift apart, forming a space for the British battalions to fill. 

You can see the problem the Allies found themselves in. Hemmed in on both sides, the British had to squeeze into whatever gaps they could find. I unfortunately also made the mistake of masking my guns with my skirmishers and prevented them from firing. 

The Allied right was also being threatened by the French cavalry brigade. 

One of the Spanish brigades began to falter as the French columns charged forwards. 

On the other side of the battle, French battalions shifted to line as the flagging infantry brigade caught up. 

Unfortunately, one of the Spanish battalions in square was charged by French infantry and routed, leaving another battalion isolated. 

After seeing the Spanish battalion routed, the British formed square while a single Spanish battalion awaited a mass of French columns. 

On the Allied left flank, the pair of Irish battalions held firm as the French filtered around the small village (which acted as rough terrain instead of a proper Built Up Area. 

The Spanish cavalry sat in it's position, unwilling to advance but keeping a French brigade out of the action by doing so. 

After weathering multiple French charges, the British decided to launch their own assault, throwing back a few enemy battalions. 

Unfortunately, my poor artillery battery was doing poorly in the Spanish heat, and my dice rolling was causing more damage to the crews then enemy fire was. 

And to add on another calamity, I managed to fail two rolls to keep my other faltering British brigade from fleeing the battlefield. This opened a massive hole in the Allied lines. 

We decided to call it there as we were close to the time limit for the game and the Allies were in a bad position. Thus, a French victory!
 

I feel like I need to play more GdA2, as there are plenty of nuances that I just don't have done, especially with the changes from the previous version.

However, I'm always happy to get a chance to game with Chip and Ted!

Boot Camp - Clash of Rhyfles AAR

This past weekend was HMGS' Fall In, the last major convention of the year. 

While I had intended to attend both Friday and Saturday, I had to change my plans and wasn't able to stay for Saturday. Conveniently, I hadn't locked in a hotel room yet so I was able to increase my spending budget.

Because I had changed my schedule I was only able to attend two games on Friday.

The first game was a demo of Clash of Rhyfles, the skirmish set of rules for the Quar setting from Zombiesmith that's received a boost in popularity from a pretty consistent release schedule from Wargames Atlantic. The "full" version of the rules have been released in anticipation of a new starter set coming in the next few months. 

Two tables were set up, each with a standard Crusader and Coftyran squad. 

Since I had played the rules a couple before, I ended up controlling a single Coftyran squad against two new players who controlled two halves of the opposing Crusader squad. 

The Coftyran squad's LMG and loader set up with a decent fire lane through the center of the table while the squad's yawdryl took half of the squad's rhyflers on a flanking maneuver. 

The Crusaders split into a number of small teams and filtered through the terrain. The squad's milwer was knocked down by the Coftyran LMG, but managed to recover. 

Unfortunately, my luck wasn't great for this game. It started with a rhyfler tripping over his rifle and knocking himself out. A Crusader marksquar knocked out another rhyfler, and the squad's milwer was shot trying to tend to his fallen comrades. 

On the other side of the battle, the Coftyran yawdryl and his accompanying rhyflers were pinned by pair of Crusader rhyflers. Armed with large caliber rifles, the Crusaders kept punching through the Coftyran's lighter cover. 

As a demo, the game only lasted three turns, but we were given a decent overview of the rules and setting. Had we continued, I wouldn't expect the Coftyrans to last much longer. 

I did end up picking up the Coftyran and Crusader specialists boxes, as well as the newly released Chyweethl and Ailthean tractors (Quar-equivalents to tanks, about the same technological level as interwar vehicles).

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, 1781 - Live Free or Die AAR

My last game at Historicon was the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, using Live Free or Die, and run by Pat.

This is a scenario I have experience running, as it was what we played using Washington's Wars back when I was in New Jersey.

Pat had been running the Southern Theater over the weekend, with the result that Tarleton's Light Dragoons wouldn't be appearing in this version of the battle. 

There were some further additions to the rules introduced by Pat, such as the use of buck and ball by units of both sides and effective ranges for musket and rifle fire. This led to an overall increase in lethality. 

The British goal was to inflict more losses on the Americans to score a minor victory, and to capture the two road exits on the opposite side of the table as well for a major victory. Any other result would count as an American win.

I was one of two American commanders, and there were two British commanders. 

The game began with the British encountering the first line of American militia. 

The militia were pushed, though not without some fallen redcoats in return. 

To stymie the British, Harry Lee and his light horse launched an assault on the British right flank. Unfortunately, even with favorable odds, the cavalry were repulsed. 

Both sides continued to move and fire. Occasionally a unit was able to halt and fire and volley, or the British decided to launch a charge. 

The American position began to falter somewhat as the first line of militia met the second and tried to move through. 

The Americans did managed to sneak a unit of militia through a gap in the British line, using them to fire upon the redcoats' rear. 

Realizing that having a rebel unit, even a small one, dealing damage in their back lines was a problem, the British quickly routed the militia. 

Having swapped a good part of their lines, the fresh American militia waltzed right into British volley fire. 

At the very last moment, the Continentals stepped off so they could show the British just how well they marched in step. 

The game ended with a decisive American victory, though one with an asterisk. While the Americans caused more casualties overall, I only realized a day later that I and the other American player missed that units moving backwards only do so at half speed. While slower movement would have still kept the British from approaching the two road exits by the end of the game, there's a chance that being forced to stay closer to British units would have results in more American casualties. 

Regardless, Pat ran a fun game, and it was a great way to close out my time at Historicon. 

The Battle of Kutná Hora, 1421 - To the Strongest! AAR

A not-so-decent night's sleep (it turns out city center is fairly noisy, and my rental was right next to some sort of municipal building that really wanted me to know it was 3am with its bells) was fixed with a decent cappuccino and an Italian sausage and egg bagel from the Italian bakery next door. Somewhat revitalized, I rocked up on Saturday morning for my morning game; refighting the Battle of Kutná Hora with To the Strongest.

James, the GM, changed the scenario to a defensive siege rather than the charging column that historically saw the Hussites win the battle.

As a fun coincidence, Ted (from the New Jersey gaming group) had also signed up for the game. 

Jan Žižka and his Hussites were deployed atop a hill, their armored war wagons bristling with handguns and crossbows. Supporting the war wagons were a few units of infantry, cavalry, and light artillery.

Surrounding the Hussites was a sea of Catholic forces, with a mix of infantry and cavalry. The most dangerous units were the lance-armed, heavily-armored knights of the nobility. 

The game began with the Catholic forces advancing. The two commands facing the Hussite center had the furthest to go, while the flanking forces were relatively closer. 

Thanks to the seating arrangement, Ted was commanding the Hussite forces opposite my Catholic battalions. 

While the war wagons didn't have traditional flanks that could be attacked for an advantage, the Catholic commanders agreed that the weakest part of the Hussite positions were the spaces where the wagons could be charged on the side. 

Combat started with some desultory fire on both sides. I was hoping to place some Disorder markers on the war wagons before engaging in close combat. 

The Catholic commanders on the other side of the table had the same idea; try to crack the war wagon line where it intersected

While I was able to put a few hits on Ted's wagons, they were able to rally back to normal. Their guns, armored cover, and supply of ammunition meant that I was likely to lose a longer ranged engagement, so I instead decided to charge in. My Noble command (with four units of knights) began shifting to the right. 

And in a stroke of luck, one of the war wagon sections was demolished by a charging unit of Nobles!

Their charge was immediately halted by a failed flank attack on a group of Hussite spearmen.

Another breach was made in the wagon line in the Hussite's center, but the attackers had taken casualties and lacked the heavy cavalry to exploit the exposed position.

Hussite spearmen and Catholic cavalry clashed in the corner of the battlefield. Hussite reinforcements hurried to cover the two breaches made in the wagon line. 

My commands were quickly losing troops as they broke upon the Hussite rocks. 

And not too long after that realization, the game ended! It was a solid Hussite victory, with the Catholic Germans losing too many troops to continue.

All in all, a very fun game, and it was great to roll dice against Ted. 

The Battle of Jaffa, 1192 - Lionheart AAR

My second game at Historicon was a refight of Jaffa, 1192. It was run by Chris Grau, who was the GM behind the amazing Battle of Helm's Deep at Fall In a couple years back. 

Chris was using his own rules, currently titled "Lionheart". Originally based on Little Wars TV's mass battle version of Ravenfeast, Chris has worked to make his own product that provides a fun game for mid-to-high medieval battles. 

The scenario saw two armies, Crusaders and Ayyubids, clash outside the walls of the besieged city of Jaffa. Richard the Lionheart, King of England led a force of British, French, and Italians against Saladin's force of Turks, Egyptians, Bedouins, Syrians, and others under the Ayyubid Empire's control. 

The Crusaders' two commands consisted of heavy spearmen, crossbowmen, mercenaries, and just two units of mounted knights (one apiece). The Ayyubids' three commands had some slightly-less armored lancers, lightly-armored spearmen, and plenty of light cavalry. I was given control of Saladin's command in the center of the Ayyubid lines.

The battle began with an aggressive push on the Ayyubid's left, with a unit of light cavalry making its way through the suburbs of Jaffa to try and capture the Crusaders' headquarters tent (worth a victory point). Richard's knights were attacked on multiple sides by Ayyubid lancers and horse archers.

The main bulk of the Crusader infantry advanced in a line, but the French command on the left was forced to open a gap as the Ayyubid right shifted outwards in a potential flanking maneuver.

In a reversal of historical events, Richard was dragged from his horse and captured early in the game. 

Stunned by the lost of their king and commander, the Crusader's right flank was then overrun, the heavily armored infantry swarmed by Ayyubid spearmen and cavalry. The loss of their headquarters was an additional hit against the Crusaders' morale. 

On the other side of the battlefield, the lines had broken up into a series of smaller engagements. One-on-one, the odds were in the Crusaders' favor. 

The heavy armor and arms of the Crusaders kept the French commander alive as Ayyubid light cavalry launched multiple failed attacks.

Hoping to counter the use of the Ayyubid's reliance on cavalry, the center line of the Crusader infantry deployed stakes. These defenses then had to be abandoned as the situation on the flanks grew more dire and the Crusader infantry advanced to try and come to grips with Saladin's division. 

Two units of Knights Templars, arriving late to the battle, momentarily put some pressure on the Ayyubid right flank. However, a trio of absolutely devastating dice rolls resulted in three Crusader infantry units routing in a round of combat. Hopelessly outnumbered, those Crusaders still mounted turned to flee, leaving the infantry to the mercy of the oncoming Ayyubids. 

Ouch! A few early losses by the Crusaders put them on the backfoot from the start, and the greater numbers and mobility of the Ayyubids allowed them to pick the most advantageous combats where needed.

I did enjoy Chris' rules and I will get a copy for myself when they're available. His 10mm miniatures were fantastic to look at (especially the tiny cityscape of Jaffa), and very inspiring for a potential Al-Andalus project with these rules.