SOPAC – The Reason Why

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

One reason to play wargames is to gain historical insight.  I had one the other day.

Started Turn 4 of my SOPAC scenario.  Unlike Turn 3, several powerful units of the Japanese Combined Fleet are available for deployment from Truk.

I had held on to  Japan’s  Savo Island Card for a Future Offensive.  One of the criticisms of Japanese strategy was its husbanding of the Combined Fleet for a climatic fleet encounter, somewhere east (the general location changed as their defensive perimeter was pushed outward in 1942) of the Home Islands.

So, what the hell, let’s play it…NOW!

This is a powerful card.  The Japanese can activate seven (7) units.  A task force with two (2) battleships and two (2) carriers sailed south, augmented by surface and air units from Rabaul.  The battle hex was Guadalcanal.

Allied forces successfully rolled to intercept the Japanese fleet, dispatching two (2) battleships, three (3) carriers, a cruiser and air units.  A critical element in the fleet composition was that all three (3) carriers were at reduced offensive and defensive strengths.

The Allies should have stayed  home and let the Japanese pound the Marines and Henderson Field.

The Japanese had 69 strength points compared to 62 for the Allies.  I’d call that a straight-up fight.  But, in EOTS, you roll for Combat Effectiveness – or what percentage of the strength points deployed actually count for the combat.

The Japanese rolled high, and all of their strength points could be used.  The Allies rolled low, so only a quarter of their strength points counted.  On top of this, the Japanese rolled very high – a nine (9).  This result creates a “Critical Hit”.  In EOTS, all units in a combat have to be reduced before a unit can be eliminated.  A Critical Hit allows for units to be eliminated without others  reduced first.

The Allied fleet was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed.  All carriers  were lost.  A  catastrophic defeat.

So, one can see why, at this point (unlike the situation at Midway) both sides were reluctant to engage in a decisive fleet action.  The fear of catastrophic loss outweighed the possibility of decisive success.

Here’s a screenshot.

Groza’s Gaining Momentum

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Tim finished up the heavy lifting.  He dug into the OBs and put together the ground combat counters for Operation Groza – the Soviet’s hypothetical pre-emptive 1941 offensive against Germany. My job was to create the air units.

With this work complete, I set up the initial Axis dispositions.  Since the scenario is set in June/July 1941, the deployments are for an offensive, not one anticipating an attack.

Tim had to return my work due to my inability to follow the map’s boundary adjustments reflecting the two Vienna Awards, which changed Hungary’s and Romania’s borders.  It took a few attempts, but I think (haven’t heard anything recently…..he might have given up in disgust) it is now OK.  I can’t vouch for it militarily, since it is the classic case of too much frontage and too few units (are there ever enough?).

We plan to use the new Barbarossa Unleashed (BU) rules drafted up by John Astell and posted out on the Europa forum.  There may be instances where we have to go back to the old Scorched Earth rule set.  This will probably involve air unit replacement and production guidelines.  We’re also ready to try BU’s new optional Combat Results Table (CRT) and variable overrun rules.

Here’s screenshot of my northern dispositions.  How I yearn for low counter density!

Picking Up The Pieces

Kriegsspiel, Sessions

Former clients over for a visit, so the dining room table had to be cleared of my Brandywine Kriegsspiel.  Here’s a final look.

Well, not quite final.  I did move the British into melee and that’s where I started thinking about the importance of the Umpire in Kriegsspiel.  Not an original or deep thought, but with a twist.  Let the rambling begin…….

The Umpire is The Rules.  In other wargames you have a rulebook and units with attack, defense, morale and movement ratings.  In Kriegsspiel all of these factors are generic.  The Umpire decides and/or arbitrates unit capabilities.

For example:  How well will units fight in melee?  Yes, there are guidelines for the effect of losses, but how well will that unit fight today?  Is that simply a product of die rolls, or is there an intrinsic capability for this particular engagement?  The rules provide for differentiation in capabilities in certain situations – attacking uphill, across barricades, when tired – but not necessarily between units.

Sure, Continental or British Regular units will perform better than militia and/or irregulars, but how about each regular unit?  Are all Continental units inferior to the British in musketry and so use a different die to resolve fire combat?  How about melee, an across the board adjustment?  At Brandywine, Stephen’s and Stirling’s Continentals fought the British toe-to-toe, while Sullivan’s ran.  Yes, they were trying to adjust their position, but what happened?

On top of that, how much research is the player willing to put in to provide a kriegsspiel that takes into account differences that existed on that day?  I learned that is very hard work, even if the resources are available.

This leads to the idea that Kriegsspiel is best suited for the generic and scripted encounters.  Without an Umpire, the player(s) must decide army or unit capabilities and how they are expressed.  What you have is an “ImaginNations” game on a low level operational and tactical scale.  Trying for a historical simulation is just too hard.

After all, Kriegsspiel was developed as a teaching tool, incorporating basic concepts/precepts but then crafted to meet, as we used to say, specific “learning objectives”.

So, the next time I pull my Kriegsspiel maps and counters out, I’ll use them to pursue a theoretical situation or, maybe, a historical one, but be satisfied with broad precepts, especially concerning a fighting force’s intangibles.

 

SOPAC So Far – Reboot

Boardgames, Naval, Sessions, World War II

Made it through the first turn of the SOPAC scenario (which is Turn 3 of the campaign game).

I’m pretty good with the Offensives Phase of the Sequence of Play.  Did have a major revelation, though.  Apparently any movement of a unit is considered an Offensive, and the destination is declared a Battle Hex.  So, my movement of two air units to a different base in Australia (see map screenshot below) results in that destination being declared a Battle Hex, with the possibility of the opponent making a Reaction Move if opposing units are within range.

Will have to do some research over at Boardgamegeek to confirm/deny this interpretation.

In any event, the Allies have landed at Guadalcanal, reinforced the initial landing, as well as moving units to New Guinea in preparation for an offensive out of Port Moresby.  The Japanese attempt to defeat the initial Guadalcanal landings with air and naval forces out of Rabaul was turned back with losses on both sides.

Any Japanese efforts during this initial turn are limited as the bulk of the Combined Fleet is in home waters, and not available until the following turn.  The Allies will also receive significant naval reinforcements during Turn 4.  Should be interesting.

Here’s a Vassal screen shot for the end of Turn 3.  The Area of Operations (AO) is outlined in the bottom right corner.

No Big Deal

Terrain and Buildings

Late Fall, back on Standard Time, with accompanying gloom.  No baseball, sitting outside or other congenial weather pursuits.  More time to fill up…..now I have to build the day around multiple projects.  Can’t just sit in front of the television for the next (gulp) five months.

So, back to some paper soldier/building/terrain modeling.

Built a Peter’s Paperboys Tembe, or fortified African house, for my Men Who Would Be Kings games.  A useful accessory.

Construction was, as usual, a ham-fisted and gruesome experience.  No way I will post a step-by-step photo depiction.  Embarrassing.

However, I think it did turn out OK, at least from the exterior.   The innards are a shambles, but nobody will see them now.  Just couldn’t figure out how to do a better job with the front and back roof sections.  And yes, the outlying fence is not supposed to be symmetrical (thank goodness).

You can just make out my replacement computer.  Cheap, and it works!  Lesson learned.

Grinding It Out – Part 3

Boardgames, Sessions

Have now finished up nine turns.  Both Army’s respective flanks are locked in contact, with the terrain favoring the Federal defenders.

On the Federal right flank….

Although the Federals’ positions seemed exposed, the Confederates are armed with muskets which have an effective range of only one hex.  At two hexes firing strength is halved, which renders their musketry ineffectual.  The Federal rifles have an effective range of two hexes, doubled at one hex.  This is a significant advantage.

However, the two units anchoring the Federal right have run out of ammunition.  This occurs on a fire combat D6 roll of “one”, with a follow up D6 roll of “one” or “two”.  But, the Confederate requirement to roll a D6 to enter melee, with score equal to or below their morale rating, combined with their already low ratings, have hindered their efforts to turn the Federal right.

On the Federal left, the terrain/situation is different, but results  much the same.

The Rebels have to cross open ground to engage the Federal left, while their center advance is channelized by unfavorable terrain.  Some progress is being made  in flanking the Federal right.  However, the Federals will receive reinforcements beginning Turn 10.

The battle is being shaped by terrain that limits each side’s ability to fully or even partially deploy their rather significant artillery assets.

I am looking forward to reading about this battle, but want to hold off until the game is finished.  It’s always fun to find out what I did that was historical, and what was ahistorical.

Working The Room

Kriegsspiel, Sessions

The “Room For One More” has its limitations….overhead light doesn’t work.  One of those fan lights with wiggy wall switch.  Trouble shot it.  Must be the bulb.  Two person job to remove since fixture so spindly.  Need a repair accomplice.  So, daylight sessions with the Brandywine scenario.

I want to believe this is a “process over results” effort.  Slow sledding since accounts are conflicting, and the map scale had me puzzled.  According to the Command Post Games site, their Pub Battles’ maps have a 1/1600 scale as opposed to Kriegsspiel’s 1/750-1/800 scale.  I was perplexed because distances seemed off.  When I checked the map’s scale legend against my Kriegsspiel Distance Ruler, the map was, in fact 1/800 or so.

I hammered my way through working out time-distance movements for the Continental right flank’s shift.  Came fairly close, with some help from concepts published at this interesting site.

So, here we are…….Top photo is Cornwallis approaching Osborne Hill, where his forces took a break from their 9-hour flank march.  Bottom photo shows the  British demonstration at Chadd’s (also spelled Chad’s in some accounts) Ford.  Time is approximately 1400.

Grinding It Out – Part 2

Boardgames, Sessions

The Pea Ridge game is developing some action as both flanks are  in contact.

To the South, both sides are deploying, with the Confederates moving into contact.  Van Dorn’s force has managed to unlimber artillery to support this advance against the Union right.  Little room to maneuver, so Van Dorn’s brigadiers are moving right down road, with supports moving into the adjacent woods.

A different story to the North, where McCulloch’s wing is deploying in the woods in order to flank the Union position.  The Confederates have been able to unlimber two artillery units for support but, again, the terrain is masking fields of fire`

Room For One More

Kriegsspiel, Sessions

I’m Home Alone, so the Dining Room Table is available.

Haven’t played Kriegsspiel for a while, and that beautiful Command Post Games Brandywine map has been just sitting in the garage……Why Not?  Use all available horizontal surfaces!

Cycled through any number of Internet sites as well as my West Point Atlas Of American Wars to put together Order of Battle, general dispositions, and background on the battle.  The process was time consuming, but interesting and fun work.

Decided to use Kriegsspiel’s standard scale of one block represents 450-500 men.   Since most of the brigades involved had 1,500-2,000 men, this works just fine.  However, the respective forces were organized in (divisions) groups of two (2) brigades.  I’ll have to ignore this lack of symmetry as my table-top groupings will have three (3) blocks, not  four (4)……just grit my teeth and suppress those compulsive instincts.

Here’s a viable map of the initial dispositions that I will use (North at top).  The Continentals were initially positioned along Brandywine Creek, but have reacted  to Howe’s flanking march from the north by pulling brigades off the line.  The remaining Continental brigades are facing Knyphausen’s force  moving east towards Chad’s Ford.

My map’s scale is roughly 1/16,000, while Kriegsspiel uses 1/8,000 scale maps.  Ranges and rates of movement are reduced by one-half.  Fortunately, the weapons used in 1777 are the same as those used in the 1824 Kriegsspiel rules, so no adjustments for effectiveness needed.

Another set of rules to read and become (semi) fluent with.  Also, I get to re-learn working with Kriegsspiel Dice.  That process is interesting in and of itself.

SOPAC – So Far

Boardgames, Naval, Sessions, World War II

As threatened, I’ve plunged into  VASSAL to play Empire Of The Sun’s (EOTS) “South Pacific” scenario.

Turned out to be double learning curve.  First curve is working with VASSAL.  Have  made a couple of half-hearted attempts in the past, without any sustained or focused play.  As to the scenario, I was surprised how quickly I’d forgotten the rules since my last play with Tim back in July.

In retrospect, I should have read that post.  Repeated a couple mistakes I had noted.

This is a great learning scenario that allows you to focus on card draw mechanics, activation, movement and both air/naval, as well as ground battle phases in just one area of the map.  While the scenario allows for play (and the significant rules overhead involved) in the  China/Burma theaters, those regions are not critical for achieving victory.

VASSAL’s Log function is handy for “What the Hell have I done” references as it  records everything you do.  It also documents but  your “back button” adventures when the player decides to “un-do” a previous decision.  Vacillation can be amusing.

You can quickly change sides, which makes solitaire play a breeze.

I also like the screen shot option, which I intend to use for this blog as soon as I reset my first game.

More later…Game One of the World Series is starting……