The Second Battle of Kernstown - Pickett's Charge AAR

The second game I played at Cold Barrage was a refight of the Second Battle of Kernstown, using Pickett's Charge and run by Ted and Chip, more member of my old New Jersey group.

Three Union Divisions faced three Confederate Divisions. If I remember correctly, both sides' goal was to cause 40% casualties to the enemy while maintaining their own coherence.

I was a Union commander, once again saddled with Rutherford B. Hayes and the 23rd Ohio, and set up against Will (my fellow Yorkist commander from the morning's game).

Will's Confederates came on in a grey-and-butternut tide. My own troops quickly retreated to the relative safety of the fenced-off road, while my lone artillery battery scrambled to wheel into position.

The other two Confederate divisions began the long march toward the Union lines. 

While the main Confederate attack ground forward, Will's separate attack was coming under fire from Union artillery safely positioned up on high ground.

The outnumbered Union infantry had to be worried, watching more Confederates stream out from behind the wooded area and push forward into an uncontested flank.

The weakest Union position was in Kernstown itself, defended by an understrength infantry brigade. With the other Confederate divisions moving away, I decided to bring the other two Union regiments in to reinforce. However, I wasn't able to do so before Will's rebels charged into the town.

Will's attack on Hayes' brigade hadn't fared well, with the average-to-large sized Union regiments outnumbering the attacking Confederates. The Confederates were forced back in disarray. 

Despite some encouragement from Ted (who pointed out that Hayes' political career would benefit from a decisive win against the Confederates), I decided to keep my troops in cover and holding the flank.

Will's attack on Kernstown was going much better. The defending Union regiment was chased out of the town and the artillery was routed. 

On the other side of the battlefield the Confederates were still coming on strong, but had finally entered the Union artillery's range. Cannon fire was beginning to take its toll, and a small unit of Union cavalry was skirmishing against a pair of Confederate brigades. 

The fight for Kernstown ended up with multiple small regiments firing (somewhat) ineffective volleys at each other.

The rest of the battle was shaping up in the Union's favor, with their weight of artillery punishing the advancing Confederates. 

We decided to call it there for time with a Union victory. 

I have to say, with Ted and Chip running the game, and with Will playing, this almost felt like one of the old Saturday night games that I haven't been in for almost a year now; fun and nostalgic with just a hint of melancholy, to be honest. 

Overall the day was a complete success. I played in two fun games and walked out with about half as much flea market items than I walked in with! 

Tewkesbury Drift - Pike & Shotte AAR

When HMGS canceled Cold Wars 2024, HAWKS stepped up to the plate and offered Cold Barrage as a replacement event; a single day convention held at the Havre de Grace Community Center much like Barrage usually is. 

I attended the event and it was fantastic. Attendance was high (reportedly at 90% of Barrage's average amount, and again that's a two-day event), the food truck in attendance was great, and I really enjoyed myself. Not only did I manage to play in two games, but I also had a flea market booth that did really well.

The morning game I played in was a refight of Tewkesbury, 1471, using Pike & Shotte and run by Roxanne. 

Will (from my old New Jersey group) and I played as the Yorkists, while James and Judson (if I remember correctly) played the Lancastrians. 

Both sides were largely the same when it came to army composition: a front line of bombards and longbowmen, backed up by billmen. The Yorkists did have an ace up their sleeves with a "plump" of spear-armed cavalry waiting somewhere over off on their left flank. The "plump's" entry into the battle would be randomized, so we didn't know when they would be joining the fight. 

Historically, the Yorkists made use of their higher number of bombards to hammer the Lancastrians and force them into melee. For our game, Will decided to take the initiative and began moving forward on the Yorkist left flank. My own poor rolling kept the Yorkist right sat exactly where it was for several turns.

Roxanne's twist on the battle was the inclusion of a small ditch between the two armies (included after conducting historical research), which forced both sides to drift at an angle while moving through it. The Yorkist line quickly became spread out as the longbowmen and billmen moved forward. 

Volleys of bombard stones and arrows flew back and forth between the two sides, and units began to rack up disordered and casualty markers. 

The Lancastrian army drifted to its right to keep the Yorkist line from encircling their flank.

Thanks to some lucky rolling, the "plump of spears entered the battle!

And then thanks to some unlucky rolling, the cavalry pretty much refused to do much else than vaguely wave their spears in the direction of the fighting.

The first unit to rout was a group of Lancastrian bowmen. 

The Yorkists were having trouble bringing up additional bowmen thanks to the drifting effects of the ditch.

My own unit of bowmen posted to the top of the hill also routed.

Both sides were taking hits, but neither side was willing to get stuck in. Will's battle on the left flank was the first to become "broken", with one unit routed and another shaken.

James decided to force the issue, sending his billmen and supporting archers in against Will's own battered unit of billmen. 

The cavalry sent their encouragement from on top the nearby rise.

Judson meant to move the Yorkist left flank forward into combat, but rolled boxcars and ended up with a "blunder". In a moment of peak wargaming, he then rolled a six for a massive charge; exactly what he wanted!

After a couple round of combat, my bowmen and billmen were forced back. Will did better and fought off the Lancastrian attack.

However, thanks to the casualties accumulated during combat, the Lancastrians lost both of their billmen units!

With the accrued casualties, that left two of the three Lancastrian commands broken. Which gave the Yorkists the victory, coming back to the historical result in a roundabout fashion.

Roxanne ran a very fun game, and it was a good demonstration that Pike & Shotte (and its sibling rules Hail Caesar and Black Powder) can be fun with smaller battles. The inclusion of the drift was a great complication that easily added an extra layer to the fight.

Paint the Town Red - General d'Armee AAR

This past weekend I was back at Kelly's place for a game of General d'Armee. 

Kelly had set up a scenario based on the Battle of Jakubowo-Kliastitzy, compressing the two days of fighting into one. 

I was assigned to be one of the attacking Russian commanders, alongside Gary and Alex. Scott, Kevin, and Chris played as the French defenders. 

The Russians had four attacking brigades, three infantry and one cavalry, with two more infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade in reserve. The French had three infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade on the table, with two more infantry brigades in reserve. 

The Russian assault started well, with infantry columns streaming towards the town of Klyastitsy. 

The Russians had some problems from the outset. Our somewhat cramped deployement meant we had two options; either 1)deploy the artillery forward, move them into effective range, fire for a turn or two, and then the move the infantry in or 2) deploy the infantry forward, try to take the town via infantry assaults, and use the artillery as overhead covering fire.

We elected to do the second method, thinking we wouldn't have long before the reinforcing French brigades arrives.

Looking to take part of Klyastitsy before the French reinforcements could arrive, I ordered an Infantry Assault with one of my infantry brigades.

(Unfortunately, I think we messed up the rules for this, which really effected how the rest of the game went. 

Battalions in BUA should only get Casualty Dice for firing like skirmishers, but the defending French fired as normal. There's also no Charge resolution for attacks against battalions in BUAs; the defenders gets to fire and the fight goes directly to the Melee phase. 

This resulted in the Russian infantry battalions getting stuck in multi-turn attack, taking casualties before being able to get stuck in).

While my brigades were struggling to take the town, Kevin's French infantry came streaming up and over the hills, squaring off against Alex's brigade.

Meanwhile, Gary was pushing his infantry forward through the cover of the nearby woods. Skirmishers from both sides dueled. A gap in the Russian line opened as the cavalry brigade spent multiple turns as Hesitant. 

It was about halfway through the game when the tide turned against the Russians. I had failed to take Klyastitsy, with one of my infantry brigades hesitating and not able to join the fight. Gary had attempted to attack Scott's artillery battery with his cavalry, but the Russians were repulsed. 

The French had managed to establish a defensive line with infantry brigades flanking the town.

Finally, my infantry assault finally broke through, but with heavy losses. As a counter, Scott brought up fresh infantry to take the BUA back. 

Gary's infantry brigade was slowly being forced back, as the initial French reinforcements charged into his flank. (At this point, Gary had to leave, and Chris took over his command).

You can also spot the two French reserve brigades making their way towards the battle.

Scott's counter attack was successfully, forcing my brigade to Falter (and dispersing one of my infantry battalions).  

Alex had moved his battalions back into columns to meet Kevin's advance closer to the town.

Chris' Russian infantry brigade was in a bad position. Scott's charge results were fantastic, forcing two infantry battalions to Rout and the overall brigade to Falter.

At this point the Russian attack was really falling apart. With my one infantry brigade faltering, it opened up Alex's flank, allowing Kevin to charge his cavalry into the side of Alex's artillery battery.

We decided the call the game there, with a minor French victory. Technically the Russians still had three fresh brigades (one on-table Grenadier brigade, and two off table brigades), but any newly launched attack would do so into the face of a relatively fresh and well position French position.

Despite the poor showing by the Russians, it was still fun! General d'Armee always makes for a good game. I'm looking forward to seeing what changes in the second edition (which should be releasing in a month or so from the time of writing).

Painting - Downsync

Here's an update with what I've been painting since last time: more Downsync models. 

The Republic's Goliath squads are rough-and-tumble power suits equipped with anti-tank cannons and machine guns. I decided to pick up two squads, since I like the models and enjoy the multi-role armaments they have. 

Seeker teams are stealthy infantry units, able to scan enemy pings, spot for Mandible artillery units, and reach out with their sniper rifle that can kill any Stunned unit (even tanks!). 

The other Heavy unit I picked up was a Mandible mobile artillery. They're slow and pretty much defenseless, but have no maximum range and can swap between anti-infantry and anti-everything rounds. 

Rounding out the force is a pair of Harbinger recon vehicles, which are fast moving, able to both scan enemy pings and are another unit that can spot for the Mandible (giving me three potential spotting vectors in a game). 

We Have Reserves - Downsync AAR

This past weekend I helped Carl test out a scenario for Downsync. 

Inspired by a Flames of War scenario, the Downsync version sees both players placing 1 each of their Large, Medium, and Small pings into off-table reserves. The Attacker goes first in deployment, the Defender second, chosen by a dice off. The players then choose a quarter of the table to deploy one objective in, then place a second objective in the opposite quarter, and then finally deploy their non-reserve pings in the original quarter.

Both sides are looking to score four points from objective captures. At the beginning of turn three, the players' reserve pings arrive from the long table edge that their original deployment objective was on.

For this game, I had taken my "generalist" Republic list:

2 Harbingers

Seeker team

Vector squad

2 Crusaders

2 Goliath squads

Courier

Samson

Mandible

Mark, my opponent, had the following Coalition list (if I remember correctly):

2 Widow Scouts

2 Soldier Spider Drone squads

2 Virago

2 Phantom

Aurora

Marksman

Destroyer

Both sides spent the first turn maneuvering Pings.

I did try to use the Seeker team to spot for the Mandible, but unfortunately I messed up the line-of-sight rules and deployed them poorly. I lost one Harbinger, but traded it for an Aurora and a Widow (and before it had managed to deploy its Infiltrator Spider Drone squad). I also wiped out a Soldier Spider Drone squad thank to massed MG fire from the Goliath squad deployed in the small forest.

This early committal of Republic reveals gave Mark plenty of targets for his arriving reserves, while his own units were still hidden as pings.  

Both sides' reserves hammered into their respective flanks. I lost the Mandible and one of the Crusaders defending my objectives, but took out Mark's last Widow Scout (which again wasn't able to deploy its Infiltrator squad) and got lucky enough to destroy his reserved Marksman heavy tank.

Mark lost another Soldier squad to more Goliath MG fire, as well as his second Aurora and Virago.

Concentrated fire from Republic units managed to knock out the Coalition Destroyer, and my Goliath squad closed in to knock out the last Virago. Not, however, before it managed to score a point, putting Mark in the lead a 1-0.

It was at this point that we decided that we would make an adjustment to the scenario; adding a six turn limit. This was important because, had we not put a limit, I could have just spent as much time as a I wanted scoring points or just wiping out the last remaining Coalition unit. 

Such as it was, this meant that Mark's positioning and delaying of my forces only let me score one point myself before the game ended, leaving us with a draw, 1-1. 

We discussed our thoughts on the scenario with Carl after the game. We found the general idea behind the scenario to be sound, and suggested adding the turn limit to encourage more aggression. Carl did point out that removing the other side entirely from the table would have given the remaining player a full 4 point victory. 

I look forward to testing more scenarios for Downsync.