Tuesday, October 28

Annexation of Chiraz - Game #4 - Return to the Arsenal - Set up and Game

At last you breathe, some table top action.. well,of a kind.. this one was played out over 13 or 14 moves... on Skype!

You may remember that the campaign started with the attack on the gunpowder mill and arsenal at Petreville – which DG won :

Set Up/OOB
The Game

..in this scenario, the fourth in the campaign, an Allied relief force (me) has arrived to attempt to take back the mill..

Forces are as per the following (NB. No artillery - the chance of stray cannon balls is still to horrible to even contemplate... )

Country Unit Type Unit Name SP MP
French Cavalry Souastre 5 6
French InfantryBearn 5 6
French Infantry Navarre 5 6
French Infantry Toulouse 5 6
French Infantry Nivernais 5 6
CountryUnit TypeUnit NameSPMP
AlliesCavalrySchomberg56
AlliesInfantry North and Grey5 6
AlliesInfantry Dering 5 6
AlliesInfantry Goor 5 6
AlliesInfantry Beinheim 5 6


Set up notes:
  • As the forces are small, no Brigadiers were allocated, just the C-in-C..
  • French will be defending the arsenal, and can deploy anywhere on the table below the road running across the top of the following; the Allies (me) enter the table from the edge at the top of the following:
  • You'll note that the forces are equivalent (even down to morale bonus), but that the French start the game in control of the (fortified) mill; the Allies get the traditional weighting in favour of the attacker from the fact that in my rules British and Dutch troops get a firing bonus (it emulates firing by platoon)
  • It’s a 6’ x 4’ table and we used our usual WSS rules (a modification of the Will McNally AWI rules - details on my project page [clicky])
  • Both sides can deploy in any formation they prefer - the French may start the game inside the buildings if so preferred. 
  • Wood is open; all hills are gentle; river not crossable except at the bridges (which are wide enough for one base width column); rocky outcrops are rough ground; the mill has a surrounding wall; houses will hold one unit each/the mill and church will take two
  • Winning conditions: The winning side needs to ‘control’ the mill at the end of the game… DG came up with a hideously complex formula for working this out - I agreed to it of course, but put him in charge of counting the casualties and working out if any of the conditions in the formula had been met! (For the record they worked out quite well.. )
     
    • "Control" means sole occupancy of the mill
    • Game ends when at the end of a Turn one side
    • 1] Has 8 or less SP remaining [68% + losses]
      and
    • 2] Has a negative 2+ SP difference from the other side
      and
    • 2] Does not control the mill
      or
    • 3] Concedes

    That side is then obliged to quit the field
    . So, as long as a side controls the mill they can't lose  Hint: Read the following slowly and carefully :o)))))) (he knows me so well )

  • EG1: Side A 7 SP, Side B 8 SP Mill control N/A; Game continues [1 SP difference]
    EG2: Side A 6 SP, Side B 4 SP Side B controls mill; Game continues [Side A has a positive 2 SP difference, but Side B controls the mill]
    EG3: Side A 4 SP, Side B 6 SP Side B controls mill; Game ends [Side A 4 SP
    Side B 8 SP, negative 2 SP difference,Side B controls mill. Side A quits the field]
     
     .. and finally :o)
    EG4: Side A 7 SP Side B 4 SP Mill uncontrolled; Game Drawn [Both sides <= 8 SP, 3 SP difference, Mill uncontrolled, Both sides exhausted and quit the field]
The Game:

The game started with French deployment and DG chose to garrison the two houses faving my entry with a regiment apiece, and two regiments in the mill ..  he positioned his cavalry by the church bridge to act as a mobile reserve

I chose to bring all of my forces on in column, from the road top left of the map above..  just for once I had a plan..  frontal assaults are deadly and I was hoping I could string DG out enough that I could force an entry...  and it worked... leaving Goor as a reserve, I marched with the rest of my force quickly down the mill access road; DG had to move Toulouse to cover, but wasn't quite quick enough with Nivernais, and Schomberg's dashed at the wall in column, and charged over it into their flank and routed them... now isn't that a cracking mental picture..

Schombergs have charged over the wall- Nivernais can be seen "departing" to the village - red pin - Toulouse remain but are looking perturbed.. On the road, Beinheim are far right, Derings (green flag), and at the back North and Greys regiment
Now I'll admit right here that I had some amazing dice throws on the evening and that was just the first.. pausing only to gather their horses however, Schomberg weren't finished, and wheeling right they then proceeded to do the same to Toulouse!

Things were not going all my way however as DG had bought his cavalry up - Beinheim deployed to line, fluffed it, and were caught mid manoeuvre and sent running... Derings came up and sent the cavalry running with a well aimed volley, and also saved the day..

A few moves later - Toulouse have been sent packing (far wall) - Derings (green flag) have stabilised the flank, Beinheim (centre bottom) have recovered and are getting a good talking to from the C-in-C. On the other flank Goor are sending out crashing volleys while retiring slowly (and single-handedly keeping half of DG's infantry otherwise occupied!). North and Greys regiment has entered the powder mill to consolidate gains
...and so to the next phase of the battle as DG fought manfully to regain the upper hand...

Gathering Toulouse he put them into the mill building, and a move later they were joined by the now recovered, Nivernais - North and Grey were too slow and Toulouse just beat them to it

I bought up Derings and both sides then started exchanging volleys... two crashing volleys (two double sixes, successive moves!) from Derings did for Toulouse; cover or no, they routed - Derings then followed up with a successful assault on the mill - they were in!

North and Greys were not so successful however, and a failed assault, followed by a failed morale throw saw them heading off for safety in some discomfort..

In the meanwhile Schombergs had followed up on their earlier success and routed DG's cavalry - at this point the picture was as follows:

Derings enter the mill... Brave boys!
...and on the other flank (following), Goor continued to do sterling service, alternating musketry between DG's regiments so as to save themselves from direct assault, while continuing to retire slowly...


Couldn't go on forever though and in the end DG got them (following) too late to change the overall picture though...


Back in the mill and a ferocious fight ensued within the confines of the building with Derings eventually victorious and expelling Nivernais for good (picture following)..


At which point DG told me that his complex formula had resulted in a victory for me as he was below 8SP's in total, with me having a positive 2 SP difference and also being in control of the mill.. hurrah!!

Post match analysis:

First the butchers bill..

Country Unit Type Unit Name SP MP
French Cavalry Souastre 1 2
French InfantryBearn    23
French Infantry Navarre 3 4
French Infantry Toulouse 1 2
French Infantry Nivernais 1 2


Points remaining: 8/25
CountryUnit TypeUnit NameSPMP
AlliesCavalrySchomberg56
AlliesInfantry North and Grey2 3
AlliesInfantry Dering 5 6
AlliesInfantry Goor 3 4
AlliesInfantry Beinheim 4 5


Points remaining: 19/25

So the French got a right thumping - the points lost is slightly misleading, as a fair amount of them were as a result of my outrageous dice rolls - four of them were lost just as a result of those two double sixes! Having said that I was most chuffed with my plan..

Laurels and battle honours go to Derings and Schombergs (who continue to be my favourite cavalry regiment), and I think possibly Goor as well for holding that flank on their own-some for so long..

Playing via Skype worked out reasonably well but there is no doubt that the remote player suffers from having to see everything via the camera - going to see if for the next game I can suspend the camera above the table to give DG a better view

This one played out in about 3 and a half hours, which is better than 6 months plus...

Cheers DG!

Saturday, October 25

Cheap magnifying light...!

...looks like this [clicky] might be worth investigating..   well...  if you are UK based - and certainly at that price...

Available from Monday 27th ....

POWERFIX Precision LED Magnifying Glass
£4.99*Each 
  • Ideal for repairing and soldering small, fiddly items 
  • With 2 LEDs light and 2.5x or 5x magnification for ultimate precision whilst working 
  • With 2 adjustable clamps to hold work piece and convenient soldering iron holder 
  • Batteries included

Thursday, October 23

Taking stock.... or, "give us me mojo back, mister"

Not even the end of the year, yet..  bet I'm first.... ๐Ÿ˜

I cycle to work, and an occupational habit of doing that is an unaccustomed flow of oxygen to the brain that makes it opportune to think about varying things...   the other day it was on cam cleats and fairleads (blame sailing)...  previously it had been whether I needed to modify my War of the Spanish Succession rules to make it obvious that a regiment can only enter a house if you are facing it (and a fruitful ten minutes was spent imagining what a regiment walking backwards into a house would look like)... but today it was about the wargaming hobby and particularly how it applies to yours truly....

The thoughts arose as I had noticed the other day that my Painting Totals page for this year was still empty...

...for shame...

I cannot remember the last time that I finished a year without having painted something, in this case I haven't painted anything at all since December 11th last year when I finished some 15mm WWII skirmish stuff...

My gaming has also suffered this year - just one table top game, and the recent correspondence/email game all year....

I've posted here 47 times this year but this compares with 57 by this time last year....

I know that in my case, the arrival of grandson #1 has certainly eaten in to my time - delightfully, I have to admit...  work is also more onerous this year - longer hours...  and there's also the "demands" of the boat; it's been a glorious summer, and sometimes it was just easier to go out and lounge on the boat than sit in a stuffy loft... 

Similarly, when I come in from a day at work I'm mentally pooped - so the thought of setting up a game, or concentrating on a paint brush (and I've never found painting the little metal men to be a relaxing activity) is swiftly subsumed in the rush to a nice comfy chair, a good book, and a beer/cigar combo...

I think that mentally I missed Colours as well this year...  when my mojo is beginning to splutter to a halt, I've often found that a wargame show will enthuse - with Colours off the scene (and that's 30% of the shows I go to in a year) it's a long wait from Salute to Warfare....  I hope it's back next year.

So....

...I guess in the grand scheme of things these are not big things - it's hardly ebola, or the quest for world peace, or the cure for the common cold, but I still found it slightly surprising that my engagement with the hobby has been so little this year... where's the year gone, where's my mojo, and is anyone else feeling the same??

I open up the question to the wider audience as I note that a number of the "names" in the bloging world that I follow seem to be suffering the same, and I wonder if it is the act of blogging that is suffering (while their gaming/painting goes from strength to strength), of it is a more general malaise?

Having said all that, I have a table top game lined up for Thursday (game 4 in the "Annexation of Chiraz" campaign), and I have an unfamiliar urge to check the paint table out - must be the fact that the weather is getting cooler, the nights darker, and the boat is out on the hard... green shoots of recovery??? 

Tuesday, October 21

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (UK)

With the death of Raphael Ravenscroft [clicky] it seemed an opportune moment to put this up... only my favourite song of all time..... ๐Ÿ˜Š



He's gone, but he's also left an amazing legacy..!

Saturday, October 18

Portsea Island Beer Festival - 2014

Hard to believe that this is the fourth one, but it remains a firm favourite of mine, mainly I have to say because of the venue [clicky] which is chock-full of atmosphere.. 

Much reduced turnout for "rent a crowd" (my beer tasting companions) this time - which was a shame - we seemed to hit a holiday period this time round, and one of our members was at the Tower of London planting poppies as part of the remembrance installation...  power to his elbow.. on the plus side however, just for once my brother in law in law (we're married to sisters ๐Ÿ˜) could make it.

Those of us who did go however had a cracking time, and brother in law in law and I also had a damn fine full English [clicky] in the Ship Anson [clicky] before the ale drinking commenced..

Brewery (clickable) Beer (click for more info) ABV Notes (from brewery website) What I can remember...
RCH Pitchfork 4.3% "The name comes from the Pitchfork rebellion of 1685 the last battle to be fought on English soil of the Civil War.
A golden bitter with floral citric hop aroma. It has a hoppy predominate taste which is slightly sweet and fruity and leaves you wanting more."
My number 1 favourite beer of all time - usually quaffed in great quantities on my annual festive trip to Bath - so when I saw it was on I made an immediate bee-line. Lovely!
Cerrdin APA 4.3% "A Welsh American Pale Ale, with pronounced hop character and a lasting bitterness." Sour - hideous - yuckkk..  had to dispatch this one to the great bucket in the sky...
Derventio Hoplite 4.2% "A pale refreshing beer with heavy citrus notes and long hoppy finish" Overtones of lime - a significant improvement on the previous beer..!
Great Oakley Gobble 4.5% "a straw-coloured beer with a large smack of hops at the end giving a fantastic mouth feel". Very nice...
Black Country BFG 4.2% "A straw coloured quaffing beer, with an impressive bold citrus hop aroma, fruity balanced sweetness and a lingering refreshing after-taste." Fairly average session beer - not outstanding...
Kennet and Avon Pillbox 4% "A light refreshing ale with a hoppy bite that punches above its weight. Lager coloured, and popular with the ladies". Only comment I have is "grows on you".. it's also worth noting I have two beers marked as "5th" so the event was clearly successful..
RCH Double Header 5.3%
"A golden brew made only with pale ale malt and goldings hops giving it a well balanced hoppy flavour. Very drinkable - beware!"
Getting towards the end of the session so a step up in strength and given how much I like Pitchfork I thought I'd try their other offering...  bit too sweet for me, I marked it as cloying...
XT XT4 3.8% "An amber beer with a special Belgian malt and a fruity mix of American and European hops. Very addictive, and our flagship beer." Bit of a discovery this brewery - this offering had a distinct hit of coffee in the mouth - very nice... they also had another beer on called XPA that I had tried a few tastes of, but which had run out by the time I got to it, that was definitely my beer of the festival (
XT - XPA 5.9% American IPA - "An IPA brewed with crisp, clean extra pale malts and more hop additions than any of our other beers. Plus a cooler, slower fermentation for a really special hop forward flavour".)
Waen Landmark 5.5% "Award winning IPA with full hop bitterness and citrus flavours" Last beer of the session and I'd really wanted an XPA - average brew....















Thursday, October 16

Annexation of Chiraz - Game #3 - Incident at Drew - Game Moves 11 to End

I'll keep this short as the look of an online computer game can never compare with moving the little lead men, but DG and I have had no opportunity to game for some time, and given we live 2 or 300 miles apart this is the only quick option... it's even worse this year as Colours was cancelled, so my three guaranteed games a year were cut to two straight away...

So I would refer you to this post [clicky] for the setup - which was back in March - yep - we've been playing this game for over half a year, and this post [clicky] for the first dozen moves...

At the point the game ended, we were on move 57, so you can see we went on for some time!

In summary then - the winner of the game needs to control all four bridges - any less than that is a loss...

In the screen shots - the following will be useful when identifying units...



I think it safe to say that strategies changed throughout the game, but for the first 15/16 my aim was to consolidate ownership of the bridges, and then to launch a flank attack from my left (the furthest from my entry point..)

Goor and Beinheim try the flank attack (top left) but DG is rushing troops to counter - I have holding forces on the other three bridges....  the old "pin him and strike" routine (he thought hopefully).. The move after this Schomberg broke and ran for a while as a result of the pounding from DG's artillery..

Four moves later and we have stalemate - DG has managed to conter the attack and is digging in against all the other bridges - turning into a WWI scenario - neither if us wants to attack as we know the casualties will be great...

Five moves later and both Schomberg and Chartres have been battered into submission - so the right bridge/flank is largely open - for the rest it was all artillery fire and a stately minuet as units danced round each other looking for an opening... my left flank (right of the picture) is still stalemate...

Five moves later and I am withdrawing troops on my left to bolster the centre - the action on my left has not been without some success however, as I managed to drive off the Royal Italien with a bloody nose (bottom right of picture)...

At this point in the game the Allies have lost both allied Chiraz units, Schomberg's, and North and Grey's..  the French have lost two cavalry units (Chartres and Orleans) and infantry regiment Bearn - fairly even after a little over 30 moves - 5 hours in real time... a bloody struggle with no clear winner yet

Five moves later and both sides have withdrawn to their own sides of the river - but now it's time for DG to go on to the offensive - not looking good for me on my right..One good piece of news - I've driven off his artillery, and in hindsight I think that was the game changer...

Five moves later, and between move 35 and now, things begin to come round to me.. on the right, where it had looked so poor, DG had sent both Navarre and Bourbonnaise across the bridge, and my Dutch regiment had seen them both off with musketry beofre they could close..  after that though the morale dice gods were with me and they both routed away => flank safe...  Shame I couldn't say the same on my left flank!
Five moves later and those two poor French regiments have routed to destruction - flank is safe. On the other flank DG has gone defensive and occupied the built up area - he's bought up the poor benighted Royal Italien but they're facing off steady muskets and artillery, and won't be long for this game...

Mexican stand off - no way I'm attacking him in the built up area - but if he stays there he can't meet the victory conditions..
End of the game - I have sent my cavalry on a long sweep round the flank..  DG's infantry is isolated - he offers to surrender in return for the right to march away with colours flying, and muskets shouldered..  I gladly accede...

...and so we got to the end of the game...

Post match analysis:
  • Both sides had huge casualties - one of the problems we've identified is that the rules we use are largely tactical in focus and there are no such things as army level morale/break points. For the next scenario DG has suggested some we can use...  this game lasted about 10 or 15 moves longer than it should have - one of the reasons for this I think is the way that the game was played..  with a day between each move there was none of the immediacy you get in an across the table game where player morale is as important as troop morale
  • We had some interesting "discussions" throughout the game - as DG and I are want to do - some of these will make it to the next version/iteration of the rules. We had at least a weeks worth of discussion on whether DG's units should be allowed to enter a building backwards...until DG pointed I had done it myself earlier in the game!
  • Have to say that my opinion of the campaign as a whole has not changed much - and I still think this is a much poorer show than the first campaign book...
Onwards and upwards...  DG and I have already discussed the next scenario, which features a return to the powder mill, and a relief force! This game will be over Skype, but I have some prep to do first...