All Systems Greene - Washington's Wars AAR

I not only attended this month's SJGA game, but also helped to run it. Major kudos to Ryan who not only also helped to run the game but painted 120+ miniatures in a short period of time, and to Sam for providing his collection for us to use as well. 

Sam had requested earlier in the year that we run a game using the rules "Washington's Wars", which were published back in 1993 - two years after I was born. 

The rules have a few scenarios in the back, one of which was Guilford Courthouse. Sam's collection has both Tarleton's Legions and Washington's Cavalry, and Sam had an ancestor in Washington's unit. So we decided to use that scenario for our game. 

The British players started at one end of the table, consisting of:

General Cornwallis

General O'Hara

Colonel Webster

von Bose Regiment

71st Foot

23rd Foot

33rd Foot

1st Battalion Guards

2nd Battalion Guards

Grenadiers

Light Infantry

Legion Cavalry

Jagers

Artillery (2 Light guns)

Their goal was to rout or capture three of the four Continental regiments. 

The American were deployed in three lines, spread out along the table length:

First Line

General Greene

1st North Carolina Militia

2nd North Carolina Militia

North Carolina Riflemen

Virginia Riflemen

Artillery (1 Light gun)

Second Line

1st Virginia State Militia

2nd Virginia State Militia

Third Line

1st Maryland Continentals

5th Maryland Continentals

4th Virginia Continentals

5th Virginia Continentals

Washington's Cavalry

Artillery (1 Light Gun)

Their goal was to cause more casualties than they lost. They would need to have the four Continental units engage before being allowed to begin a general withdrawal. 

The British stepped off together, but their approach was stymied by the American riflemen. The large, 16-man Virginia rifles were especially dangerous, causing relatively massive casualties early on.

However, the rifle's poor morale meant that once the British were in musket range, they were very likely to run off, leaving their defensive positions behind the fence line.

The British did have better luck with their artillery, quickly knocking out the lone American gun. 

One of the rules changes we made (since the rules were designed for 15mm miniatures and we were playing in 28mm), was making the reserve movement double instead of one-and-a-half times a unit's movement. 

This allowed the Americans to bring up their reinforcements somewhat quickly. Sam was in charge of the Continentals and charged Robert's Legion cavalry. The Legion had the better time of the fight and forced the American cavalry back.

Unfortunately, Robert then followed up with a countercharge. He did force Washington's cavalry to retreat, but that led him into range of a point-blank reaction fire from the accompanying Continental infantry. The bonuses for short-range and First Fire was enough to wipe out Tarleton's unit. 

On the British right, the Americans were in full retreat, hurriedly trying to reorganize their lines before the British could get to close. 

British long-range fire peppered the American lines, causing casualties but not forcing them back. 

With both cavalry units rendered ineffective through casualties, the Prussians and Continentals faced off, exchanging volleys. 

With the Continentals double-timing, and some well-timed volleys from the Americans, the British advance was checked. This gave the Americans enough time to shore up their lines.

Further combat on the American left saw losses on both sides, with the British continuing to advance. On their right, the British had halted their advance. 

Unfortunately, we ran out of time. But the Americans had battered the British, with the Redcoats losing twice as many casualties. With the Continental units almost untouched, the Americans could put a feather in their cap and ride off calling it macaroni. 

Washington's Wars, for being a dinosaur compared to other wargaming rules, turned out relatively easy to play. We did have to talk out some of the rules (like some sections on the reference sheet missing in the rulebook, or lacking clarification), but it wasn't a bad time. And I'm happy that we managed to get 7-8 people playing. 

Between Ryan's and Sam's collections, the club should be able to put this game on again if they want to tweak any of the changes to the rules we used. 

Teste of Strength - Battlefleet Gothic AAR

This month's SJGA game was Battlefleet Gothic, run by John Stanoch (who, I will note, came up with all of the ships' names). 

John was using a modified version of Battlefleet Gothic Remastered, which is an ongoing project to update the Battlefleet Gothic rules and keep them available to new players. John's modifications included a grid-based movement system (which also affected weapons and ordinance) and a chit-draw activation system (combining a player's fire and ordinance phases into a single turn). 

The scenario was an ambush, set up by the Imperials by the theft of a Chaos artifact. With a Word Bearers fleet in pursit, it would be up to the Imperial players to pounce on the pursuing enemy fleet. 

The Chaos fleet was composed of:

Desolator-class Emperor's Testicle (Brian)

Slaughter-class Soulless (Brian)
Repulsive-class Bringer of Despair (Sam B)

Inferno-class Hellspace (Sam B)
Acheron-class Chaos Eternus (Phil)

Hades-class Injustice (Phil)

While the Imperial fleet was made up of:

Armageddon-class Hammer of Light (Robert)

Lunar-class Justicar (Robert)
Tyrant-class Zealous (Sam W)

Dauntless-class Abdiel (Sam W)

Dominator-class Hammer of Justice (Dick)

Dauntless-class Uziel (Dick)
Retribution-class Cardinal Boras (Tim)

Firestorm-class Gold 1 (Tim)

The Game started with a fell omen for the Imperial players. Robert failed his first command roll to order his ships to move "All Ahead Full". The Chaos ships, sensing an opportunity, passed their rolls to "Lock On" and mauled the Hammer of Light and Justicar.

Sam, realizing that Robert's lone ships wouldn't last much longer under such concentrated fire, moved his ships onto the table from the back edge, eschewing the optional rule to wait and deploy further up the table edge (5 squares per turn). 

The Justicar was the first Imperial ship to fall, becoming a drifting hulk. 

As Sam moved up and launched torpedoes, he was joined by Dick's squadron. 

There was a brief lull in combat as the Chaos Fleet was broken up, having to dodge between the waves of torpedoes launched by the Imperial ships. 

Seeing the formation scatter, Tim brought the intimidating Cardinal Boras in from the opposite table edge, accompanied by the single escort from Gold squadron that was included in the Imperial fleet. 

The Abdiel was destroyed when it was caught by a broadside of lances from the Emperor's Testicle. 

The Chaos Eternus and Soulless launched attacks against the Cardinal Boras, but the heavily-shielded battleship emerged unscathed from the enemy cruisers' attacks and set its sight on the grand cruiser Bringer of Despair. 

More and more Imperial ships were being destroyed, picked apart by weapons batteries and lances from the Chaos Ships. Caught between the Emperor's Testicle and Injustice, the Uziel was shattered. The Hammer of Light fled the failed ambush, moving to the edge of the system and opening a warp gate. Gold 1 was also caught by the Bringer of Despair and destroyed. 

Meanwhile, the Cardinal Boras moved forward, launching broadsides at the fleeing Chaos cruisers that unfortunately failed to connect. 

At the end of the game, the Cardinal Boras was the last Imperial ship on the table, with none of the Chaos ships having even been crippled, let alone destroyed. This ended as a disastrous ambush for the Imperium, and the losses would hinder the Imperium's effort in the sector for a long time. 

This fight was an uphill battle from the start for the Imperials, from Robert's bad luck at the start and their scattered approached to the Chaos battlegroup. This allowed the Chaos ships to dodge their torpedoes and pick the Imperial ships off one at a time. John also pointed out to me that the Chaos fleet likely had too many points for what was supposed to be an ambush. Potentially swapping out the Desolator for a cruiser like a Murder would make the Chaos fleet less likely to engage in direct combat. 

The only suggestion the players had was allowing a little more freedom in placing torpedoes. 

As they were, the torpedoes had very restrictive arcs that made it difficult to line up attacks. You could only place the torpedos either directly forward or to a 45 degree angle to either side. 

Allowing a player to give the torpedos an additional turn of 45 degrees to the left or right would give more freedom in direction, which would have given the Imperials a boost during the game. 

John's adaption of the rules to a grid-based system was fantastic. It took all the ambiguity out of movement and shooting, which made running a 7 player game relatively easy. I would absolutely consider doing the same for Castles in the Skies. John's game also reinforced my thought that less is more. Had each player been running 4-5 ships, this would have been a mess.

I'm looking forward to more Battlefleet Gothic in the future. 

Bollock's Bluff - Homebrew ACW AAR

This month's SJGA meetup saw a new gamemaster step up to the table - Chris!

He was running a somewhat home-brewed set of rules based off of Fire and Fury: Brigade meant to work as a fast-play alternate for group games. We used his 1/72 scale plastic collection, perfect for recreating that 'toy soldier' feel!

As befits a playtest, the best scenario is the simplest! So we had three identical brigades on both sides; an infantry brigade, an artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade. 

The infantry brigades were headed by Sam and Sam, one veteran club member and the other new to the scene. I'll refer to them as Rebel Sam and Union Sam respectively. 

Union Sam sent his troops up the left flank, looking to block Robert's Confederate cavalry. Brandon's artillery was backing him up. I took the Union cavalry for a spin, trying to find a decent spot to slip past the Confederate lines. 

Rebel Sam was aiming for the fields in the center of the table, sending his three infantry regiments sprinting forward in column.

Robert's dismounted cavalry was the first to engage the Union infantry, with both sides trading somewhat desultory fire and minimal casualties. 

Rebel Sam's infantry continued to push up the table, engaging with Union Sam's infantry and guns. 

My cavalry were having to deal with all of the fences along the road, slowing their movement. 

Meanwhile, Tim was bringing up the rest of the Confederate artillery and a reinforcement regiment of infantry.

Fully set up in the field, Rebel Sam ordered his infantry into line, just as my cavalry was starting to get away. Unfortunately, Rebel Sam also discovered just how horrendous artillery fire was in these rules, as an entire regiment was wiped out.

Union Sam and Brandon did a little switch at this point, swapping an infantry regiment for an artillery battery so they could concentrate on their respective arms. 

Rebel Sam's infantry was catching fire from multiple angles as my cavalry continued to rush towards the Confederate rear. 

Tim and Robert had linked up, with Tim beginning his own artillery barrage against Union Sam's infantry. 

After a couple lucky shots from Brandon's guns wiped out another of Rebel Sam's regiment, Sam moved his infantry back into column and started moving them to flank the Union artillery. 

Union Sam saw one of his infantry regiments retreat after being pounded by Confederate artillery. 

Both sides were being whittled down at range by the other side's artillery. 

My cavalry had finally swung around into a decent position when...

A Confederate tank showed up?!

Well, it seemed we'd gone from a historical battle to steampunk.

My cavalry charged and routed the last of Rebel Sam's artillery, while his last infantry regiment was wiped out by Brandon's guns. 

However, Tim's artillery had mostly seen Union Sam's infantry off, and the last remaining Union infantry regiment wasn't about to move into the open where they would be run down by Robert's cavalry. 

With Sam's tank now outflanking my outflankers, I decided to resist charging into Tim's infantry regiment and retreated back towards the Union artillery. 

With both sides battered, it came down to an artillery duel between Brandon and Tim, and with a 2:1 advantage, the Union was heavily favored. Some decent dice rolling from Brandon destroyed two Confederate guns. We decided to call the game, as a draw. 

While we were working out some of the kinks in the system (artillery fire being far too deadly overall, for example), Chris did put on a great game. I could see these rules being used for fast group games at either the club or convention, maybe with a little more chrome to make them feel more period specific. 

'One' for the History Books - To the Strongest! AAR

At this month's SJGA meeting, Bill ran a game of To the Strongest!

This was a refight of his Romans vs Germans scenario which I wrote a blog post about three years ago; what a different world that was!

The previous battle ended with a decisive Roman victory. Could the Legions find repeat glory in another win?  

For this scenario, the Germans had the larger force and so would be on the attack. Each side had three commands, split up into three separate battles. 

Phil and Tim clashed by a small stream, commanding Germans and Romans respectively. 

Sam was the center Roman commander, while I controlled the German center. 

And Dick and Bob fought on a relatively open flank, with their German and Roman forces. 

Tim's command contained all of the Roman cavalry, which mean Phil was hard pressed to defend against the more agile force. 

In the center, Sam quickly shifted his legions to block my light cavalry, stopping them from going after the Roman camps. 

Poor chit pulling from both sides kept much from happening, however. 

On the German right flank, Bob and Dick fought a grinding action, shield against shield. Both sides waited for an opening to exploit. 

While Phil and Tim were mostly managing to do damage to their own units by attacking, eventually the scrum broke in Phil's favor as Tim lost a unit of cavalry. 

The fight in the center also decisively swung in favor of the Germans, with same losing two legion units without causing any lasting casualties. 

And around the same time, Dick finally broke through Bob's lines and turned the flank.

With all those losses, the Romans finally reached their breaking point, fleeing the battlefield. This was a crushing victory for the Germans, a complete reversal of the previous time I'd played. The Germans hadn't lost a single unit over the course of the game. 

This was partially due to really bad command pulls from all sides. Despite having an even distribution of chits numbering 1 through 10, it seemed like both sides couldn't trip over their own feet, leaving attacks or reformations half finished. 

Skirmish at Żywiec - Bolt Action AAR

Before I went off for a week of vacation, the South Jersey Gamers Association got together for its first in-person meeting since March of 2020! 

Way back in the Before Times, the club had started to plan a series of campaign games to refight platoon-level games during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. Books were read, minis were assembled and painted, scenarios were thought out. And then the pandemic hit and in-person gaming wasn't an option. 

The campaign was postponed indefinitely until such a time that enough club members could gather again to play. We decided to use July's SJGA meeting to break out the miniatures, terrain, and Bolt Action rules to dip our toes in, and then start the campaign proper in September.

We kept the scenario simple. We made two forces from our German and Polish collections, each consisting of an infantry and a tank platoon. At 1275 points we had a lot to chose from, since Early War units and vehicles are relatively cheap. 

We used the Meeting Engagement scenario from the rulebook, with both sides deploying along the short table edges. We laid out the scenery starting the river and adding on from there, with fields on one side and a lightly wooded forest on the other. The banks of the river provided light cover to infantry units willing to stand in the water.

The game would last for 6 turns, with a potential 7th. To keep the game moving, both sides would be limited to 9 order dice in the bag, instead of the 15 that the Germans could bring and the 17 the Polish had. Both sides also had an off-table medium mortar. 

Bill, John and Tim commanded the Polish forces, while Chris, Brandon and I commanded the Germans. 

The Polish starter the game with a heavy armored presence, deploying all three of their 7TP's and the scouting armored car, as well as a motorcycle platoon and a towed anti-tank gun. 

The Germans ordered their infantry forward to the train station, while a single 38(t) and a 222 armored car moved along the road. 

The Poles continued to push forward, with the motorcycle platoon (ignoring their dismounts back by the disabled armored train) racing up the to river. 

The Germans continued to bring units on, with more tanks rolling  through the outskirts of the town. 

By this point, the snipers and mortar observers that both sides brought had mutually destroyed each other, with only the Polish sniper team remaining!

While the Polish motorcycle squad were able to reach the cover of the riverbed, their rifles and single Browning Automatic Rifle weren't able to compete with the multiple LMG's and MMG's that the Germans were firing with. 

The armored battle in the town was proceeding cautiously. The single Polish smoke round that they managed to land before losing their spotter had landed in front of the bridge, so Brandon used it to cover a 38(t) that took up a position behind a stone wall. Hoping to get a return angle, Bill and Tim pushed a 7TP out of a hedgerow. Both sides couldn't land a hit, however. 

The skirmish was developing nicely by this point, with both sides engaging around 2/3's up the table-length. 

Both sides of the tank battle had taken up defensive positions, engaging potshots. The 222 that had rushed up onto the bridge got the worst of it, with a stunned crew from a lucky 7TP hit. 

Another 7TP and a machine gun crew were rushing up to help out the battered motorcycle platoon. Seeing the lone Polish tank, the Germans had deployed a 38(t) to the train station as a counter. 

With the game nearing its end, Brandon summoned his inner panzer ace and pushed his tanks forward. Unfortunately the 222 suffered a hit from a 7TP and was destroyed. 

And even more unfortunately, the gambit didn't pay off. Tim and Bill  were free to use their 7TP's to return fire at the lead 38(t) which ended up battered, if not brewed up. 

Not content to let their armor do all the work, the Polish commanders brought on their infantry squads for a late game appearance. 

By then, however, the spearpoints had run themselves out of steam and the two sides withdrew to regroup. When the dust settled, the Poles had a slight advantage in victory points, gained mostly from their sniper that had survived the initial fighting. 

All-in-all, it was a great game for the club to return to. The limited order dice kept the game moving and forced both sides to consider where they needed their command resources most. We can also adjust the number of dice to show once side having a better command initiative. 

If I could change anything, it would have been to have the two forces deploy along the long edges instead of the short edges. With the scenario only lasting 6-7 turns, only a few infantry units managed to see any action before the game ended. Had we included more transports that might have been a problem, but the foot-bound infantry found themselves ignored in favor of the faster tanks, armored cars, and motorcycle troops. 

I do, however, think we can call the first in-person meeting of the year a success, and we're set up for the campaign to start properly in September.