Started playing Battle of the Atlantic last night. The active player controls German U-Boats, Condor aircraft, surface raiders and resupply submarines.
British air and surface ASW asset dispositions in each sea zone are determined by a card draw. Cards also determine German U-Boat production and British technological advances, as well as designating certain combat modifiers for the turn in which they are drawn.
Initial Setup
Technological advances effect the order in which Allied ASW assets, U-Boats and Condor aircraft are placed, as well as which side resolves their combats first. Technological advances (Ultra, HF/DF, Radar) are cumulative, pushing the initiative towards the Allied player. This is critical, since losses are taken immediately.
German objectives are to a) sink as much tonnage as possible, b) maintain at least half their U-Boat fleet at the end of any one turn, and c) prevent the Allies from forming and deploying convoys.
The German commander must determine which sea zones to deploy attack assets, and what posture (aggressive, normal or shadow) they take. Aggressive subs can sink more tonnage, but are easier to destroy.
Play is quick, with straightforward CRT tables for each combatant and asset type.
After my usual stupid misplay during the first turn (roll one die, not two on the German Attack table), the first two “real” turns found the Germans falling short of their victory objectives, but suffering light losses. I’ll find out more this evening.
TAD back in the Midwest. Had visions of getting some gaming in, but small children, erratic weather, poor planning, and nearly catastrophic fall from a boat hoist have rendered these plans moot.
What I have done is read some old issues of Panzerschreck picked up on EBay a couple of weeks ago. The poor planning part was not bringing card and adhesive to use after I cut out counters and markers.
Did get through the rules for both Battle of the Atlantic and Fall of Constantinople. Gary Grabner’s solo games always have a certain level of abstraction, and I mean that in the best way. He always focuses on the simple solution in the cause of playability. Granted, these are truly low-fi games, but many designers would be tempted to overwhelm the player with rules/chrome to compensate for a nearly absolute lack of physical quality.
While it is patently strange to compare games of these topics/periods, there are similarities. Both games use area movement, by turn assignment of units to these areas, and straight-up combats without a whole load of modifiers.
I will play these games during the trip…..well, I need to find the misplaced Battle of The Atlantic issue (no, don’t blame pain meds, not using them). It’s just the problem of finding hobby supplies in a town of 7,000.
I really am looking forward to the Constantinople game. I own and actually tried to play the S&T game. That was before I read about its total lack of development, playtesting and……this is the best…..total ommision of naval rules.
Finally started pushing cardboard, but immediately ran into problems. Not unanticipated, but one of them brought the session to a halt.
Movement phase difficult because counters are damned fiddly. Movement trays? Bad thought. Cardboard is easy, right?
The French advanced with skirmishers front, engaging each Spanish regiment. I do like the way the game looks!
Then, another problem: Casualties. The game calls for a detailed accounting of losses. Makes the fiddiliness of moving regiments pale in comparison. So, in the name of my sanity, decided to assign losses to the entire regiment, removing company counters for each 10 percent loss of the regiment’s total strength. Skirmishing companies will be accounted for individually.
Drafted up a regiment, company strength, total strength worksheet. A picture is shown below.
Crude, but hopefully effective.
While messing around this morning found this link/article over at Web Grognards. Confluence of events?
That CRT is interesting, with the attackers possibly taking losses even on an 8:1!
It seems that a defender would be well advised to defend with at least two factors in each hex. That way the attacker doesn’t get the +1 modifier for a single defending point and runs the risk (in the absence of other modifiers) of taking losses.
Is supply checked at the instant of combat? If that is the case (and I can’t check since my copy of the rules got put back into the box and is now back in Bend…) surrounding defenders becomes even more important. I would think, given the CRT, it wouldn’t be hard to surround defenders….
That game does not reward defending! The infantry units defend much worse than they attack…I wonder if it would be worthwhile for the Poles to continue to attack in the North. I had thought about making a couple of spoiling attacks against weak units, but I didn’t want to trigger Russian reaction and extra reinforcements.
You did a good job with the Konarmiya. I’m not sure how that would have played out…I was hoping that you would suffer some attrition that would prevent them from rolling up my southern flank and I was directing all of my reinforcements and replacements there, but who knows if that would have been enough to stop them…
I had thought about moving a unit next to the units in the Konarmiya to deprive them of the charge bonus, but that felt too gamy…
Over to Portland for Tim’s birthday and some wargaming at Guardian Games.
Fun place. You can game, drink beer, and when it’s your opponent’s turn, look at the inventory. It’s not a wargame store, but they do have some games, along with Flames of War miniatures.
Lots of diverse Portlandians playing a wide variety of games. However, the fellow next to us playing D&D using different voices for each character was a bit difficult to handle.
Thank Goodness The D&D Game Is Over
Played Red Star/White Eagle, an old GDW Russo-Polish War game. Mechanics similar to Europa, but with period chrome. An earlier session attained legendary status due to a rules gaffe changing it from a fluid, fast and fun game to a static, boring slogging match. We misinterpreted the CRT. I’ll leave it at that.
That CRT is bloody. Most casualty results also require retreats of several hexes, with opponent able to pursue. There are no outright ZOC kills, but many units have a intrinsic “delay” factor, forcing a retreating unit that pass by them to roll for casualties on a separate table. Literally double jeopardy.
Tim played the Poles (blue counters).
Situation After Game Turn 3
It’s a big map with relatively low counter density. The Soviets have two armies, which cannot cooperate, located in the north and south, respectively. The map’s center is dominated by marshy terrain, significantly reducing movement, with rivers creating east-west compartments. As you can see, the mandated initial set-up for the campaign game places both side’s units facing each other in the East. Victory is determined by city occupation.
Both Soviet and Polish armies are mobile, with most units having much higher attack than defense factors. Mobility is assisted by rail networks.
Each side receives significant replacements. These factors are represented by special counters which must be in the same hex as an active counter during the reinforcement and replacement phase of a game turn. So, some planning and management is required to reinforce reduced strength units.
The northern Polish and Soviet units have limited movement and attack options for the first three turns, so early action occurs in the south. Also, the Polish player must capture Kiev early, or lose his Ukrainian troops. Tim attained this objective and gained 6 victory points.
Poles Take Kiev
By Turn 4, both sides are free of movement restrictions and by Turn 6, the Soviets have received the Konarmiya reinforcements. This is a corps of cavalry and mechanized units, with extremely high attack factors and a charge bonus. To gain this bonus, the unit(s) must begin their movement outside a Polish ZOC.
I pushed my Konarmiya south of Kiev, maintaining sufficient distance from Tim’s Poles. I was afraid that Tim would “ZOC up” the Konarmiya with low strength units to reduce my combat effectiveness.
Russians Counterattack Kiev
The attack was successful, but it was time for a big Italian dinner. Just when it was getting interesting.
In summary, this is a fun and challenging game. We will play it again when we meet this summer. No food until game finished!
Thrashing now. Trying to reconcile the game system with reading Napoleonic tactics. Disconnect with battalion/regiment frontages and depths. Of course, all of these book dictates are conjectural, based on manuals, pundits, and the revisionist interpretations of manuals and pundits.
One hex in Squad Leader is 40 meters or just over 43 yards. The hex width is 3/4 inch. Counter frontages in System 7 are one inch equals 40 yards. Battalion frontages were 75 yards. Not a match, but close enough.
The real problem appeared to be a company counter depth of 5/16 inches or roughly 14 yards in scale. According to my interpretation of a Chandler, a six company battalion advancing in column would have an overall depth of 15 yards. This is problematic, especially since according the rules, maximum stacking is two companies, which leaves a depth of 42 yards per battalion if attacking with two companies abreast. All of that just doesn’t make sense and at this point I was dizzy.
Somehow came to my senses, looked a few more resources, had a pop…..ahhhhhh…the depth was 15 yards per company or 45 yards.
Wargaming involves a lot of preparation. Reading rules, understanding rules, punching counters, set up, the inevitable initial rule foul ups and finally, an understanding of how the game mechanics work.
But, there’s also the understanding the period piece of any game. Background reading is always helpful, because you want to “play the period”. While the game designer is tasked with this, it’s up to the player to appreciate the intent, and play the game as intended.
System 7 is a miniatures game played with cardboard on cardboard. In theory, there are no tactical constraints. It’s up to the player to make it a simulation.
Spent the last few days getting things ready. The handout accompanying the counters implores the player to cut out the counters, not punch them. Good advice. The punched counters I inherited have those unsightly “chads”. Lots of x-acto knife work, but worth it.
The other prep piece is some reading on background and tactics. I’m not that interested in Napoleonics, but I have a few helpful books. Here they are. Again, I’ve collected these over the years, all used, at reasonable prices.
This is the Mother Ship. If you can only have one, this is it.
Elting is completely underrated. Also has done some wonderful work on US military uniforms.
Chandler again. Formal, and informative.
Informal and compelling. Fun Read.
Everything you ever wanted to know about The Guard. Can also serve as a doorstop.
