Grinding It Out – Part 6

Boardgames, Sessions

Finally made it to the night turns.  Took 18 turns to get there……Jeez…this is such a long game.

We’ll pick up my fragmented narrative with the Confederate phase of Turn 16.

Here’s battlefield view looking West.  Pea Ridge (at least my version) is really two fights.

This is a closeup of the “Western Fight”.  Here, the Confederates have pushed back the Union left, with Rebel forces forming to assault the Union’s right flank.  With a key  unit out of ammunition and the left flank crumbling, the Union situation is deteriorating.

The Union situation in the “Eastern Fight” does not look promising, either.  Three units have rolled “1” during fire attacks.  This can lead to Ammunition Depletion if a follow up roll of “1” or “2” is made.  Yes, that has happened three times, in addition to one unit being Pinned by Confederate fire.

This above depicts the overall situation during the Union’s phase of Turn 17.  I include this to show the Union’s ammunition resupply entering the game at the upper left (south) of the photo.  BTW, wagons are frustratingly  slow until they hit the Pike road.

In the East, the Union line is holding due to strong artillery support.  Artillery is not involved in ammunition depletion rolls.  They are for small-arms, only.

The Union’s defense  in the West is a “fish hook”,  buttressed by reinforcements.   However, there is considerable pressure from Confederate units just moving into melee.  The Confederates have some very real limitations for melee combats  Unless stacked with a leader, a unit must be adjacent to a leader and roll a “1” or “2” to enter melee.  All melees must be declared before rolling for entry.  If one fails, the others must still roll.  This makes for some bad, low odds, attacks.

Here’s an battlefield overview for Turn 18.

And now overviews of the East and then West Fights.

The Confederate attack has been repulsed in the West, with only limited success in the East.

By the end of Turn 18, Union forces have completed their ammunition re-supply and stabilized their defensive positions.  While the situation in the West is the same as shown above, here is a picture of the East fight.  While there is some pressure on the Union’s right, the Confederate attack is not well supported, with Union reinforcements arriving.

While there has been some back-and- forth, the Confederates have been consistently stymied by the short range of their muskets, ammunition depletion (without any chance for re-supply) and the aforementioned melee limitations.  The Union forces have benefitted from their ability to deploy and use artillery  (especially effective on Confederate units at close range trying to use muskets and enter into melee), the longer range of their rifles and, on a limited but very effective basis, the devastating short range fire of those units equipped with carbines (x5 increase in firepower at one hex range).

Now it’s time to read the Night Turns’ special  rules.

 

SOPAC – It’s Never Over Until…….

Boardgames, Naval, Sessions, World War II

“Finally Finished”‘?  No……

Was reviewing the rules last night while preparing for my new session.  I was feeling pretty good about myself.  And then I discovered two more rules gaffes.

  1.  You can’t play a Future Offensives Card as your last play of the turn.  Both sides did this for the decisive Turn 6 .  Might have made a difference.  I’m not going to do a post mortem to find out.
  2. The elimination of a US division or brigade in an attack negatively affects Political Will.  Again, no post mortem, but I’m pretty sure at least one was wiped out.  I do remember an Australian Corps was destroyed, but their elimination does not affect Political Will.

Sigh……..

SOPAC – Finally Finished

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Whew!  That took awhile.

Was pleased the last turns flowed pretty smoothly.  Especially when compared to my initial efforts.  Well, that’s what should happen, right?

I kept some play notes, but as with most efforts at this, what was cogent at the time is  now indecipherable.  So, this post will not include a blow-by-blow account of Turn 6.

However, I can chronicle some of my lessons learned.  But first, a picture.

During Turn 6, I had to take four airfields/ports/resources to meet Progress of War requirements.  I only took three, but this shortfall had no impact on whether the Allies won or lost the scenario.

What did have an impact was my capture of four ports during the course of the game.  They are highlighted by the red arrows.  This fulfilled the conditions for an Allied Victory.

The “X”s represent locations where I botched the rules.

The lower right “X” represents my failure to move the US Naval Headquarters (HQ) to control landings north of Guadalcanal.  I assumed actions there could be initiated by the headquarters in Hawaii.  It’s in range, but the scenario rules limit that HQ’s  influence to the New Hebrides.  Only the play of the “Halsey Card” extended the HQ’s range to cover operations nearer Rabaul.

The “X” in southern New Guinea indicates a significant rules gaffe.  I had been using the SW Pacific Headquarters to activate both U.S. and Australian units.  No!  Only the Australian HQ can activate Australian air/ground/naval units, unless a special event card is played.

The “X” in northern New Guinea marks a real tactical blunder.  I activated an Australian ground unit with an attack strength of “11” to battle an opponent with a defense strength of “12”.  This significantly reduced my chances of destroying the Japanese unit, as it would take a D10 roll of at least “7” (inflicting 1.5 times the Allied attack strength) to eliminate the Japanese unit.  The Allies rolled low and the Japanese  rolled high.  The understrength Australian unit was  eliminated.   Dumb.

I started playing cards for their Operations Value rather than as events during Turn 6.  The reason was unless the event involved a significant special condition, the lower intelligence value of the operation use made a successful defender reaction die roll less likely….in theory.  This is very important since no reaction means the attack is a Surprise Attack, with the defender taking losses before they can fight back.

However, there were a couple of occasions when a reaction roll of two or lower was needed, and damned if it wasn’t rolled!  Is there something creepy going on with VASSAL die rolling iterations?

I now fully appreciate why this game is so well regarded.  Encouraged by my  rules familiarity and increased speed of play, I’m going to give it one more try.

Groza – Even More Momentum

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Tim finished his setup.  He pointed out the airfield capacity in urban hexes is three units rather than the six used in the Europa Second Front rules.   A quick shifting of several  German air assets, and my setup is complete.

Now for the fun!  Tim anticipates continuing his (Soviet) pre-Surprise Attack steps (there are ten) this week.  Steps 5-10 include flipping four armored/motorized cadres to full strength and all 3-6 infantry divisions to their 4-6 sides; placing the June II Turn reinforcements; planning special operations; a special movement and exploitation phase; designating NKVD units as “Spetsnaz” units;  and, finally, the  Soviet Jul I player turn.

Here are shots of the North of Warsaw and South of Warsaw front-line deployments before Steps 5-10.

Vassal and Kindle and Apple Music

General

I’m beginning to enjoy Vassal.  It took awhile.

This acceptance process mirrors my experiences with Kindle and Apple Music.

I gravitated towards Kindle because many books are very cheap, it’s portable,  and I am out of shelf space.  I love paper books, but compromises had to be made.

I’m using Apple Music because I enjoy listening to a variety of music, but buying music is expensive, especially when auditioning a band by purchasing a disc (only buy used) or mp3 file that may or may not satisfy.  Now I can audition/enjoy a band by listening to its catalog.

I love paper/counter wargames.  But, I can play multiple games with Vassal, without taking up the table space used for paper games.  In many cases, the games are already set-up. Taking the game down is just a couple of keystrokes.  This saves a lot of time and effort.  I can also audition a game by dialing up a module, seeing if there are rules on-line and start pushing (virtual) counters.  Not as satisfying as paper, but still fun.

One thing I really like about Vassal is the ability to capture clear images of what’s going on.  You’ve seen my photos.   I really, really like it now because I finally “broke the code” for good images…..Screenshots.

The picture function in Vassal takes a shot of the entire game area, and will not take shots of specific areas or expanded counter displays.  But, screenshots will.

Now if I can just get proficient with using captions, icons and my cheap digital pen……

No!  No resolutions for 2025.  There are enough learning curves involved with a new game.  But, it might just happen.

SOPAC – Even More Progress

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Yes, progress….however slowly.  Finished up Turn 4.

Allies met their Progress Of War target by securing four Japanese held airfields northwest of Guadalcanal.  Most of the action took place with the last Allied card play of the turn.

It was an unusual situation, I guess.  Their initial card play(s) of the round  had inflicted significant damage to the Allied fleet, reducing two battleship counters and sinking the Lexington by playing a “Submarine” Reaction Card.  However, their only had a Future Offensives card left.  The Allies had one card left, along with their own Future Offensives card.

Here’s a shot at the beginning of Allied play in this Turn 4 round.

The Allies’ card was “Operation Chronicle” allowing the invasion of one island and automatically, before Japanese reaction, controlling any adjacent islands.   The Future Offensives card was “Operation Watchtower”, allowing the activation of one ground unit, along with air/naval unit, in a surprise attack.  The Japanese could not  react to this card without a Reaction Card – which they did not have.

The Japanese card was “Combined Fleet”, allowing  the activation of several air/naval units, but no ground units.

So, the Allies had the possibility of the “free play” of one card, with the Japanese needing a low Reaction die roll (D10) to counter the “Chronicle” card.

The Allied quandary was which card to play first, and then whether or not to play the second card.  For the Japanese, it was slightly simpler question; whether or not to play the “Combined” card after the Allied play, or save it for Turn 5.  A Future Offensive card does not reduce the card draw at the beginning of a turn.

The Allies played the “Chronicle” card, betting  the Japanese would not roll a four or lower on the D10.  However, just in case, the Allies used all their activated units to support the landing.

The Japanese rolled high, and the landing was unopposed.  The Allies occupied Baka Island with Marine air and ground units.

Both sides decided not to play their Future Offensive card.  Here’s the situation at the end of Turn 4.

Grinding It Out – Part 5.5

Boardgames, Sessions

Made it to Turn 15, and now consistently applying the Command Span rules, and have my unit stacking squared away with infantry regiments on top to absorb any fire casualties, protecting artillery batteries from hits.

As to the other rule application “deficiencies” noted in my previous Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) post, I’ll hold off on fire column shifts for unit density until after the night turns – as a weak attempt at consistency, and bag tracking artillery ammunition use until my next game.

I decided to use Russ Gifford’s Powerpoint GBACW Rules summaries for a rules review and (maybe) an easy way to find anything I’ve overlooked.  Very helpful and highly recommended.  His tactics discussions are also of value.  These aids seem to work best now that I have a good working knowledge of the rules.

Lots of football this weekend, but I’m going use an app to listen so I can get some gaming in.

ASLSK Armor Rules – The Saga Continues

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

I’m now in the Belly Of The Beast.

Had my first “real” armor encounter since really (yes, really) reading the rules.  Painful.  All the new acronyms, modifiers (24!), with counter clutter beyond belief.  Yes, the counters do contain a lot of information, but how to remember/decipher it all?  That will take time, and time, and time, and time.  I now truly understand why some Gamers (See Grumble Jones) play literally nothing but ASL/ASLK.  It’s self preservation.  Too many rulesets at once melt the brain.

Going to wrap up “Monty’s Gamble” (S23).  Made it to last turn for each side, and the Germans can’t win.  The Scenario Archive indicates it’s a tough go for them regardless of who’s playing.

One German AFV has exited the board, with another having a fair chance to do so.  However, that represents only 14 of the 17 VPs necessary for a victory.  There’s no way two squads can make get off-board since they can’t go CX (Exhausted) for consecutive turns.

Here’s a shot at the end of Turn 3.

Oh….why not?  Play it out to gain more experience with armor/ordnance.

In Turn 4, the German AFV at top of the board successfully exits after surviving both Defensive First Fire and Intensive Fire from the anti-tank gun located in the woods at the board’s edge.  The AFV at the bottom of the screen  maneuvers to avoid the British PIAT to be in position for a run to the board’s edge.  One German squad attempts to exit the board, with the British making countermoves.

Here’s a shot at the end of Turn 4

Turn 5 is for the Germans only.  The remaining AFV uses the hill as cover until just before exiting the board.  It survives both Defensive First Fire and Reaction Fire, and exits.  The infantry  squad attempts to exit, but is routed during its move.

Try it again, or a new scenario?

Grinding It Out – Part 5

Boardgames, Sessions

Starting Turn 14, but only half-way through the game.  Long game, with its duration compounded by my inability to sit down at the table for longer than one-hour.  With four (well, three active since my Der Weltkrieg efforts have stalled)  games going on, one must allocate their time.

A little less grinding now, and a little more flow.  I toyed with the idea of finishing using just one side of the battlefield, but decided not to.  Perhaps a firmer grip on the rules is the reason.

Still, I need to improve my rules application, especially for these….

  • Unit Density – Seven or more factors in a hex results in a one column shift right for fire combat.  My implementation is sporadic.
  • Ammunition For Artillery – Yes, they can run out.  I’ve simply forgotten/ignored keeping track.
  • Command Span  – Getting better.  Early on just a mess letting different brigade units intermingle and stray.
  • Stacking Order – Top units take casualties/morale checks first.  I tend to put artillery on top of a stack so they aren’t forgotten.  Need to get over it, and get it right.
  • Game Exclusive Rules – The only one I’m consistently implementing is Confederate morale check to allow advancing into melee.  Need to refresh my knowledge since the Night Turns are coming up and there are several exclusive rules for them.

Here’s a couple of End Turn 13 photographs with comments.

Union forces have consolidated their defensive positions, with some reinforcements on the way.  The Confederates finally have their artillery in position.  As noted in my previous post, I did a terrible job positioning their artillery early in the game.

The Confederates were finally making progress until the Union’s Phase, with a low firepower attack  (aided by horrible morale check die rolls) causing several units to rout, completely disrupting their advance.

Just Keep Trying

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

I’m  determined to get a solid grip on Empire Of The Sun.  So, dove back into it early this morning.

Decided to follow the GMT articles cited in my previous post.  Did so, and learned just how little I really know about the rules.

What did I learn?

  • Bombers (aircraft units with range six or greater)can establish, but don’t negate Zones of Influence (ZOI).  I’d used them to negate ZOIs
  • The Allies Central Pacific Headquarters (C Pac HQ, Range 25/Efficiency 8) is in play. Hadn’t used it at all.
  • A U.S Headquarters can not activate Commonwealth units.    I had allowed that.
  • HQ with different colors along a diagonal facing line are that way to indicate inter-     service rivalries are in effect, limiting a HQ’s ability to activating only Army or Navy units, and not both during an Offensive.  I’d followed the interservice rules, but thought the color division meant the HQ was a joint HQ.

It’s a little discouraging to find my rules comprehension still has such significant gaps.

Anyway, I used the Northampton to pin the Japanese Units in Rabaul (by declaring a Battle Hex) so they could not interfere with the Guadalcanal landing.  The ensuing fight cost me the Northampton, but the landings succeeded.  The invasion force dispersed, as per the GMT article, with the activated Japanese (having played the Battle Of Savo Island Reaction Card) using Post-Battle Movement to also sail to dispersed positions.

Here’s a shot after play of the US Turn 3 initial card.