Fording Onward - General d'Armee AAR

With Historicon coming up in a couple weekends, Ted invited us over to help refresh his General d'Armee knowledge with his go-to convention scenario, the Battle of Gilly. 

You may recall that this isn't the first time I've refought this battle; Ted ran this game at a previous SJGA meeting.

The original battle took place in June 1815, at the start of Napoleon's Waterloo campaign, with a Prussian rearguard force hoping to delay the advancing French. The bridge at Gilly offered one of the only clear methods of crossing the Sambre River.

Chip, one of the Prussian commanders, was allocated two swamps to place alongside the river that cut the battlefield in half. These swamps were impassible for infantry, cavalry, and artillery, while skirmishers could cut through. 

As a French commander, I was given a ford to make crossing easier (as the only way the cavalry could cross the river at all, apart from the bridge in the town, was over the ford). I placed it on the opposite side of the town to the two swamps. 

Chip and Steve elected to put one of their infantry brigades in the town to defend it.

Steve commanded a brigade of Landwehr reservists and cavalry on one flank. 

And Chip took command of the other two infantry brigades (including the one that was guarding Gilly. 

Ted had control of an infantry brigade and a cavalry brigade.

And I commanded the other two French infantry brigades. 

The scenario's goals for the French were to cause two Sauve Qui Peut results on the Brigade Command table, or three Retreats on the same table. The Prussians had to hold out for 10 turns. However, if the French managed to land a Sauve Qui Peut result, the game's turn limit would be increased!

The game started rather inauspiciously for the French when a Prussian artillery salvo sent two regiments of the far-left infantry brigade retreating back to safety. 

Everywhere else, the French advanced in their classic attack columns. 

As soon as I could, I launched an assault on the town. After the first round of combat resulted in a draw (despite 2:1 odds against the Prussians!) I gambled on three units being able to displace the defenders. The bet paid off and the French controlled Gilly for the rest of the game. 

On the other side of the town, Ted was launching his first assault across the river, in the face of multiple Prussian regiments and artillery. 

With the Prussians temporarily pushed back from the outskirts of Gilly, I was able to move an infantry regiment out into the open. 

I could tell you that this was a masterfully planned move to bait Steve's cavalry into charging the infantry and end up in range of my artillery units, but that would be a lie. 

I also messed up and moved my infantry into lines far too early, before they had even crossed the river. The meant I had to spend several turns slogging across the river, instead of moving at a brisker pace in column formation. 

With the Prussians moving forward to bottleneck the town, I started to swing my infantry regiments around the outskirts. I figured it would be faster to move through the Sambre than it would be to try and force the Prussians back with sporadic fire from the town's defenders. 

Meanwhile, Chip had set up a well-defended position to contest Ted's river crossings. As the cavalry could only cross at the ford, a traffic jam was quickly forming. It didn't help that any cavalry unit that tried to move across the ford ended up being fired upon by multiple infantry regiments and supporting cannons.

As my infantry brigade slowly made its way across the Sambre, I had to fend off repeated cavalry attacks from the Prussians. The charges themselves didn't hurt much, but they forced my infantry regiments to form square which made them perfect targets for Prussian return fire.

Ted had again mustered his troops for an advance across the river. In an astonishing example of how fickle the dice can be, one of his cavalry charges against a line of Prussian infantry - having failed to get into square before the cavalry were upon them - was rebuffed! The French cavalry were forced back once again as the infantry soldiered on. 

By this point, it wasn't looking good for the French. Bottlenecked in Gilly and stymied on both sides of the river, it didn't seem like they would have enough time to cause the needed numbers of Sauve Qui Peut or Retreat results before the end of the game. 

And then, a lucky break (or unlucky, depending on which side of the table you were on)! In the previous turn, a French artillery barrage had sent one of Steve's cavalry regiments fleeing, which meant he had to roll again on the Brigade Command table. He rolled a Retreat and decided to use an attached ADC to try and get his soldiers back in order. 

And then - sacre bleu! - a dreaded Sauve Qui Peut was the result instead!

While we didn't get a chance to finished the game, the extra time allotted to the French gave Ted and I the chance to get into a more advantageous position. It was unlikely that Steve's Landwehr were going to last long in the face of a full French infantry brigade, and Chip was too busy fighting off Ted's troops to assist. 

We decided to call it after around three-and-a-half hours of game time with an expected French victory. 

Painting Update - Warmaster

 My work on various projects continues!

The Daemons of Chaos army for Warmaster continues. Above are the various commanders for the tournament at Historicon this year; a General (who can also be upgraded to a Wizard), two Heroes, and two Wizards. I'm sure you can hazard a guess at which Chaos God each character is aligned with.

With no options for ranged units like archers or artillery units like rock throwers, the main goal with the Daemons will be to get into close combat as quickly as possible. Thankfully, Daemons not only get Cavalry, but the potentially much more dangerous Chariot (3 units per 1,000 points). Here's a brigade of them, ready to charge blindly into any enemy formation. 

Long-based flyers may not be as good as short-based flyers (who get the same frontage as cavalry units), but if you've got them in Warmaster, there's little reason to not take them. As such, I've painted the two units that I can in a 2,000 point force, hopefully as a means to counter enemy artillery or flank enemy brigades. 

War in the Air - Wings of War AAR

Wanting something lighter to put together for this past weekend's game night, Ted brought out his sizable Wings of War collection for some lightning-fast engagements. 

And it has been a while since I've seen a "Wings of" game! The last time I can recalling playing was way back in 2014!

Our first game saw Steve and I piloting a pair of Fokker Dr.1s while Chip and Ted flew in a pair of Sopwith Camels.

To start, we only played with the Jamming rules in the damage decks, to get a feel for how the maneuver decks worked.

Unfortunately, Steve's conspicuous red plane ended up being the main target of the British pilots and was shot down first.

Steve ended up flying off the table by accident, so Ted and I ended up dueling to see who would control the skies. Luckily, that ended up being me!

For the second game, we played using most of the damage deck conditions (jammed steering rudders, fire, smoke, etc). 

With a better handle on the maneuver decks, both sides were learning how to keep themselves alive for longer. 

Immelmann turns were a favorite, since the slower-yet-nimble biplanes could spin around and fire at an enemy plane that was closing in from behind. 

Like last game, Steve and Chip had the bad luck of being shot down first, which gave Ted the opportunity to take his revenge and shoot down my plane. 

For our third game, we switched up the planes. Steve and I moved over to a pair of Fokker D.VIIIs while Ted and Chip piloted a RAF S.E.5a and a Sopwith Snipe.

Ted's S.E.5a was lightning fast compared to the rest of the planes, while the D.VIIIs and Snipe had some absolutely mind-boggling maneuver cards (like the D.VIII's ability to use two stall cards in a row, or being able to use stalling turns for quick turnarounds). 

While I chased Ted for a few turns, Steve and Chip went at it like a pair of bare-knuckle boxers.

Which, despite the more 'robust' builds of these later-war planes, ended in somewhat predictable results. 

And then led to what Steve called the "Ted and Brian Show." While my Fokker was less damage, I had suffered a broken steering rudder and could no longer turn left. Ted's S.E.5a had a bunch of damage cards. It came down to who could get the right angle, and that ended up being me (thanks again to the Fokker's tiny turn radius). 

Three games in as many hours! Wings of War makes for a fast-past but still complex game. The pre-programming of the planes actions makes for some fun guessing games and brilliant moments of tactical foresight (or coincidence, depending on who's firing at who!). 

It's a shame I wasn't around for WoW back in it's glory days. I believe that Wings of Glory is almost completely compatible, but the game doesn't seem as popular as it did a few years back (after Fantasy Flight Games dropped it). 

Painting Update - WWII, Mythic Americas, Romans, Warmaster

It's been a long time since I've had any posts about what I've been painting between games, so here's an update!

I wanted to add a little more armor to my 28mm Late War Germans, so I picked up a Marder III from Warlord Games. 

I also finished the monstrous Ayar for my Aztec warband in Mythic Americas. This Monstrosity is a Mythic Americas original, formed from the shattered soul of one of the legendary Ayar brothers after having been captured by the Aztecs and sacrificed. Now an Aztec High Priest can call upon the Ayar to aid them in battle. 

I've been working on a Second Punic Wars project as well. Josh was kind enough to supply me with a fully 3d-printed set of miniatures. As Josh will be commanding the Carthaginians, I took over the Romans. 

Here's a unit of Velites. We're using Hail Caesar for the rules, and DBx basing. So two bases for small units. 

Here's the Hastati. Regular sized units will be four bases. 

The Principes are close in style to the Hastati. The white feathers on the helmets will help distinguish them from the front, and from behind the chainmail armor also makes them stand out. 

The Triarii are the most visibly distinct, with feather and crests on their helmets, and their long spears. 

Hail Caesar calls for a 2:2:1 proportion of Hastati, Principes, and Triarii, so that's what the two Roman legions will be formed from.

And finally, the commander 

I have another battlegroup of Romans to paint up (probably with blue shields), along with a battlegroup of allied Italians and a cavalry battlegroup. 

What currently on the table is a Daemons of Chaos army for Warmaster. I received these minis from another Black Gate Miniatures kickstarter, and I wanted to take them to a tournament. The upcoming event at Historicon was the perfect excuse to start working on them.

This is a brigade of three Daemon Hordes and a Daemon Swarm. The demonic infantry are generic looking (they would work for any 10mm demonic force, rather than something specific to the Warhammer Fantasy world), so I've used a color palette that should tie them in to the main four factions of Chaos. 

Ambush in the Jungle, Part 2 - Bolt Action AAR

With only a few turns left, Sam, Dick, and I returned to John's place to finish his Palau scenario that was covered in last week's post. 

We had ended on turn 10, which only gave the Americans (Sam and Dick) 5 turns left to move their units off the table. The Marines needed to get 5 units off for a Marginal Victory, 6 units for a Minor Victory, and 7 units for a Major Victory. 

This far along in the game, the battered American forces were finally approaching the Japanese table edge and close to escaping. So John and I had to throw the last of our reserves into the fight to try and halt their advance. 

The Marine squads were still deadly, as long as a random Exceptional Damage roll didn't take out their flamethrowers or bazookas.

With the Ha-Go cleared out, the Marines in the center rushed into the unoccupied bunker to get out of sight of the Japanese mountain gun. 

The Ka-Mi, however, was still holding up the fastest route for the Marines to make it to the exit point. 

It didn't take long for the Americans to get a bazooka into position and brew up the Ka-Mi after avoiding a poorly aimed Japanese sniper shot. 

The last of the Japanese reinforcements appeared to try and hold up a reconstituted Marine squad. However, both sides only managed to do a single casualty to each other. 

With no more ambuhes left to stop the Americans, John and I could only watch as sections of the last defensive line were overrun by Marine assaults. 

With the Ka-Mi gone, Sam and Dick were scrambling to push their remaining units as fast as possible down the road. 

In the center, both sides had their infantry fail an Order test and go Down, leaving the jungle oddly quiet for a moment.

And the Marines got their first unit off the table!

However, another unit was wiped out entirely. But if Sam and Dick decided to reconstitute the squad, it would have pushed them to turn 15, leaving them no time to score more victory points.  

Multiple Marine units converged on the same small area, hoping to double time to safety. 

After another failed Order test, one of the last Japanese infantry squads went down. This left them as a perfect target for a close assault, with the Marines handily routing the enemy squad. The Americans left the table the next turn, scoring another victory point. 

Disaster struck in turn 15 for the Americans! The lead infantry squad failed its Order test and went down, directly in the path of a jeep filled with the platoon's command team, as well as the two remaining Shermans. 

While the Americans were able to randomly roll up a 16th turn, it was only enough time to get the Jeep and the command team off the table to score a third victory point. The two Shermans were left in the lurch, unable to move off the table by the game's end. 

This left the Americans with only three victory points. Had the infantry squad not halted the column's progress, the Americans would have scored five victory points; enough to claim a Marginal Victory. 

Without scoring the tanks, victory went to the Japanese. 

Overall, the players enjoyed the game. It would work well as a 4-6 player event game. The Americans were frustrated at times with how the Japanese could suddenly appear so close to them, but the massive 15-man Marine squads were well equipped to survive the slog (barring a lucky Japanese mortar round). 

It was the tanks that the Americans had to worry more about. With only a d6 of movement through the jungle, the Shermans mostly stuck to the roads. This left them vulnerable to anti-tank teams, guns, and hidden tanks. The underpowered guns of the Ha-Go and Ka-Mi might not have been too threatening, but they could still cause pins and potentially hold up the American advance.

The Japanese played entirely statically in this scenario. Once a squad deploys, there was little chance of it being able to move before being wiped out by an American unit, or taking out its target if the American unit was weak enough (or ran out of luck with an anti-tank attack). Being able to ambush from only 6" away helped offset this, and having every unit deployed behind heavy cover usually meant they could stick around for a turn or two if the Marines flamethrowers missed. 

Hopefully we worked some of the kinks out, since this would work well as a club game.