Double Time!, Part 1 - General d'Armee AAR

Having had our fill of nautical combat, Ted and Chip brought their Napoleonic collections together with General d'Armee.

The scenario was based on the Battle of Corunna, which saw the British retreating after a French campaign to force their enemies out of Spain. 

The scenario starts with a massive French advantage; three infantry brigades, an artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade lined up against only two British infantry brigades. The British do have two more infantry brigades in reserves, but had to wait to bring them on. One of those brigades consists of two elite Guards battalions. The British also control the BUA of Elviña. 

The French do face one complication, however. Their cavalry brigade is on the opposite side of a river, and can only cross over once a ford is found (by rolling doubles on a pair of average dice). 

Originally the scenario was set for 10 turns. Post game, we discussed carrying on a few more turns as the rules the scenario was meant for has faster movement rates overall. 

Steve and Chip took command of the British, while Ted, the two Johns (whom I'll call près John and loin John) and myself commanded the French. 

Most of our ADCs went towards loin John's brigade to give them extra movement. Unfortunately, près John's brigade halted on the first turn, opening a gap between the two brigades. 

Loin John's brigade continued to press onwards at the French's far right flank, with four battalions in columns steamrolling directly towards one of Chip's battalions. Près John had gotten his own brigade moving, looking to close the gap and put more pressure on the British left flank. 

Over on the British right, Steve had followed history and moved one of his battalions into Elviña, directly opposing my own brigade. 

Seeing the tide of blue coming his way, Chip had his own infantry step off down the slope to meet the French columns.

My own brigade managed to chase Steve's defending battalion out of Elviña as my artillery hammered another British battalion (we did later realize that this should not have happened, as battalions defending BUAs ignore discipline tests). And Ted's cavalry squadrons were continuing to search for a ford to cross at. 

The first of the off-table British brigades made its way on, march columns quickly moving down the road to reinforce the British right flank. At the same time, Ted's cavalry had discovered a ford, and moved their artillery battery up to cover the crossing. 

Chip and Steve were hard pressed by the French attack, but the Guards had finally arrived. These massive battalions of elite infantry were going to be a massive obstacle for the French, as difficult to dislodge with fire as with bayonet. 

With Ted and I moving around Elviña, this did leave a gap in the French lines that potentially left their artillery vulnerable. But with no cavalry and attacks on both flanks, the British were stuck repelling the French infantry instead of going after their artillery. 

While the Guards moved up into position, Chip had to deal with a faltering brigade after losing a battalion. 

Less eager to charge into combat against the fresh Guards battalions, the two Johns began changing their battalions from column into line. 

After taking turn after turn of artillery bombardment, one of Steve's battalions broke and routed. But his Highlanders were still fresh, and neither Ted nor I were in a position to really push yet. Steve did lose his artillery to concentrated skirmish fire, which gave the French a monopoly on big guns. 

After wavering for a turn, the British line had solidified along the hilltop. I did managed to put a dent into one of the Guards units with a decent Artillery Assault order. 

Chip demonstrated how deadly the Guards can be by removing one of près John's weakened battalions in a single volley. While the rest of près John's battalions were in relatively good order, loin John's infantry was shakier (since he had been the spearhead of the attack). 

In loin John's favor, however, was the fact that another of Chip's battalions broke and routed. While he managed to keep the last battalion of the brigade in place

Steve's position was doing better (he wasn't outnumbered as much as Chip was), but the French brigades he was facing were much less haggard.

As we ran out of time, we put the game on hold and decided to continue next week with a few more turns. It wasn't looking good for the British, but they didn't need to break the French; just hold on until sunset ended the battle. 

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. 

Destroyer Action - Naval Thunder AAR

After a week's break, Ted hosted a game of Naval Thunder this past weekend. 

This week's scenario was the Battle of the Yellow Sea, where a Russian fleet attempted to break past their Japanese opponents and form up with other Russian forces. Historically, the Russians were defeated after their flagship took a hit to the bridge; whereupon the rest of the Russian fleet followed the uncontrolled flagship for a period before realizing it was no longer actually leading them. 

This version of Naval Thunder is based on pre-Dreadnought fleets, with ships engaging in what could be considered "knife fighting" range. So any firing past 20" was incredibly inaccurate and almost not worth doing. 

Chip and I commanded the Russians (I had the battleship division and Chip controlled the various protected cruisers and destroyer flotillas), and Ted, John, and Steve commanded the Japanese (with a mix of battleships, armored cruisers, protected cruisers, and destroyer flotillas). 

For the Russians, the game plan was simple: the battleships would chug along in a relative straight line towards the far table edge, where they hoped to escape from, as they protected the lighter cruisers and destroyers. 

That game plan was almost immediately foiled when Steve rolled up with a destroyer flotilla, launched nine torpedoes, and immediately sunk the Russian flagship Tsesarevich, but not before firing their secondary batteries and getting a critical hit on the ship's bridge.

Now, technically, we did things wrong here. Ted later discovered that destroyer flotillas can only launch three torpedoes per side, per turn. Which likely would have saved the Tsesarevich. But it sure seemed like Fate was having a hearty belly-laugh at my luck. 

Since we didn't realize the rule error at the time, Steve was quite happy to use his destroyer flotillas' much faster speed to spin around to the other side, launch another volley of torpedoes, and sink the Retvizan. 

So. Only a few turns in, and the Russians had lost their two strongest ships. Ted's cruiser division was making its way on to the table, and Chip had moved into the battleships' shadows to engage Steve's cruisers. 

Slowly, inexorably, the Russian and Japanese battleships drew closer to their assumed climatic confrontation. 

Meanwhile, Chip and Steve had gotten to grips with each other, their cruisers duking it out at short range. 

Realizing that John's battleship division was positioned to cross my division's T, I had my battleships veer off to port. This would at least give me a chance to fire back, and perhaps the additional splash markers from John's firing would save my ships. 

Unfortunately, that didn't work. John got enough critical hits to knock out half of my ship's main batteries, and my return fire was dismal. Two ships ended up with engine room hits as well, slowing them down. 

With my battleships in such dismal shape (and with us running out of time), I decided to run up the white flag and surrender. Had we played another couple turns, John would have used his split division to surround and destroy my remaining battleships. 

It looks like we'll be playing this scenario again, especially after discovering that destroyer flotillas aren't quite the unstoppable juggernauts that they seemed to be. If Chip and I control the Russians again, our best bet will be to slow the battleships to let the cruisers get ahead, screening the larger ships from the enemy's destroyer flotillas. The Japanese battleships are still a concern, but a 6:4 (plus two Japanese armored cruisers) fight would favor the Russians. So we'll see how that goes!

Alea Non Est - Strength & Honour AAR

Warning: The title's not the only bit of bad Latin in this week's post. 

This past weekend, Ted invited me to bring my Strength & Honour forces for another game. I obliged, as I wanted a refresh on the rules, and it's going to be one of the games for this month's club meeting.

As my order from Korhyl is currently making its way from Italy to the States, I used the same units from my first game of Strength & Honour. Individually, the Roman Legions are more than a match for most of the Pontic Greek units, but the Greeks were more numerous and had three units of cavalry to the Roman's none. 

Last time the Greeks had received a decent beating, so I was interested to see how it'd turn out in this game. 

John and Ted controlled the Greeks, while Steve and I controlled the Romans. 

In the first couple turns the Romans largely advanced as a front, while the Greek cavalry surged forward, outpacing their infantry counterparts and forcing a unit of Roman Skirmishers to retreat.

And it was fairly early on that, if I were to latinze the appropriate idiom, stercus percussit flabellum. 

A failed discipline test saw the only Veteran Legion, which had been a powerhouse in the previous game, instantly rout. Not only that, but the Legion lost their Eagle as well; a double Disaster Card result. 

With Steve's Experienced Roman Legion keeping the flank protected from the Greek's Skirmish Cavalry, his Raw Legion was facing both the Pontic Cavalry and Cataphracts. I swung my own Experienced Legion to hit the Cataphract's flanks, but was then flanked by one of Ted's Imitation Legions. And my own Raw Legion was staring down the length of a wall of pikes. 

One early result may have sealed the Roman army's fate early on. Now Steve and I were on the back foot, trying desperately to find some sort of equilibrium. 

Of course, my own traitorous dice weren't having any of that. 

To try and stem the Pontic tide, Steve and I both used our Skirmishers to head off enemy units. Unlike last game (where one unit of Skirmishers routed two Pike Phalanxes), this was more in line with how skirmishers should act in a game. 

Unfortunately, my one Experienced Legion was still stuck with an Imitation Legion in its flanks (thanks to a failed maneuver test), and my Raw Legion was pushed back and Disordered. The Romans were accruing Setback cards at an alarming rate.

While somewhat scatted, Steve's unit were at least hanging on. My Raw Legion managed to rally, and while Disordered the Experienced Legion at least ended up next to its Raw counterpart which had successfully reformed.

Distressingly, I was utterly outnumbered on the Roman right flank, and it was only due to a couple Greek Reversal of Fortunes that had kept my lone Experienced Legion from being overrun. 

Of course, that didn't much matter much after my Experienced Legion in the center failed to reform and instead routed and lost its Eagle (for two more Disaster cards)! 

John and Ted finally took pity on the poor, beaten Romans and called Homonculus Est. The final tally was 34 points against the Romans, and a measly 2 points against the Pontic Greeks. 

This was an even worst disparity compared to the last game! Here it seems like the Romans couldn't get anything right, as though the entire army had managed to drink the same soured wine the night before. 

At the very least, Ted's ordered Germans and my reinforcements should be arriving soon, at least the variety of armies I'll be defeated by will soon increase. 

Burning Troubridges - Naval Thunder AAR

The usual crew gathered a Ted's place this past weekend for a change of scenery. Instead of the usual scenery, we found ourselves on the high seas; in the Mediterranean, to be specific, and about 40 years in the past. 

The scenario was a refight of what, historically, ended up as the debacle of a pursuit of the Goeben and Breslau, the two ships that Germany gave to the Ottomans to coax them into World War 1. In reality, the British let the German ships slip by, refusing to engage. We would play the engagement out and see if the outdated armored cruisers of the British could defeat the heavier armed and armored Goeben. 

For this scenario, I was controlling the Goeben and Breslau. I could either gain a tactical victory by escaping off the far board edge, or a major victory by sinking three of the four British ships. John, Ted, Chip, and Steve commanded the Defence, Warrior, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Black Prince, respectively. 

Unfortunately, I missed the first couple turns of movement as we were working out the rules. The British ships stayed in a single line of battle, moving at an angle to intercept the Goeben and Breslau. 

I decided to stay on that course for a couple turns, then had the Goeben break to port as the Breslau continued onwards, hoping that the British ships would have to take a turn or two to regain their bearing. 

Unfortunately, I didn't account for how freely ships can move in Naval Thunder (although this does mean less hassle when actually playing, so I see why it's done). 

The British ships split into two separate divisions, with the Duke and Black Prince splitting off to intercept the Goeben, and the Defence and Warrior moving to intercept the Breslau. The light cruiser didn't last long against the two British ships, and was quickly sunk before it was able to fire a shot. 

Now it was a 4-on-1 fight, that that might have been what kept the Goeben alive for so long. Each British ship that fired on the Goeben added a splash marker to the combat, representing the ships calibrating their ranges by the splashes of missed shells into the ocean. With four ships firing at the Goeben, it became exceeding difficult for them to actually hit. 

The Goeben, on the other hand, didn't have this problem, and her massive 11" guns could really do some damage if they managed to hit (if being the operative word. John's Defence lasted for most of the game thanks to some well-done maneuvering and my poor dice rolls). 

I was going to have to go through the gauntlet to get the Goeben off the table, so I ended up splitting the difference between the Duke and Black Prince.

While the Goeben could deal out some nasty damage with its 11" main guns, I quickly learned that the secondary batteries on the British ships were something to be feared. They ignored the splash markers that the main batteries had to deal with and their rate of fire at closer ranges made it far easier to hit their target, i.e., me. It seemed like the Goeben was going to face a death of a thousand cuts if I couldn't make it off the table. 

And then, disaster! For the Germans, at least. A lucky critical on the Goeben meant that she had a stuck rudder, which was likely to spell disaster if it didn't get stuck in the forward position. It also didn't help that another critical hit started a fire, which increased the damage that was slowly being chipped away bit by bit.

The Goeben's rudder ending up forcing me to turn to port for at least a turn, which left me facing the oncoming British ships. At that point, I decided to skip the tactical victory and go the major victory, or sink trying. Steve's Black Prince took a broadside dead-on, and ended up being the first British ship to sink. 

And as luck would have it, the British scored another rudder hit on the Goeben! 

Forced to turn again, the Goeben found herself surrounded by British ships. John's Defence, the main target of most of the Goeben's firing throughout the game, took another broadside and was sunk. But she wasn't going alone, and the combined weight of fire from the Duke of Edinburgh and Warrior was enough to finally sink the Goeben. Admiral Troubridge himself was likely dead with the sinking of the Defence, but instead of a court-martialed disgrace, he was going to get a hero's funeral. 

Most of my naval gaming experience has been with General Quarter's 3, but I found Naval Thunder to be a fun set of quick-play rules. I could easily see each player operating with a division of 3-5 ships in a relatively fast game, all things considered. Expect to see more posts about it in the upcoming weeks.