Something New

The weather final cooperated, and Tim was able to make his long anticipated – and often delayed – trip to the Pine Cone Lodge.

He is a fan of the Standard Combat Series now published by Multiman.  I had purchased two of the games some time ago.  We decided to play Yom Kippur.  The game covers the initial Egyptian assault across  the Suez in the October War.

We started and reset about three time.  The first was due to a rules knowledge breakdown (shocking!), the second due to Tim’s die rolling breakdown, and the third for “let’s try it again”.

We never made to Turn Four, but had a lot of fun working through several  operational approaches.

I also gained an appreciation of why so many like this system and how it has stood the test of time.

The basic concepts are straight-forward for an experienced gamer.  The only real adjustment is that you always “round up” for die rolls and an eligible unit cannot move in the Exploitation Phase if it is in an enemy zone of control (ZOC).  Each game has its own specific rules, but I found these easy to work with.

Plenty of comments and insights into the system and game at the links posted above.

One thing, though.  The map……….BTW that’s the situation at the end of last play-thru.  Israelis are Blue.  Map is oriented to the East.

Even More Heroes

Set up another DIY scenario for Heroes of Normandie (HoN).

A meeting engagement between two reconnaissance forces attempting to secure a crossroads.

Both sides had a mix of reconnaissance sections, along with infantry support in two halftracks.  The Germans had a motorcycle/sidecar/machine gun , and panzerschreck section.  The US had a Greyhound armored car and Jeep with .50 caliber machine gun.

The scenario length was 8 turns, with turn initiative alternating between sides.  Each side entered on opposite sides (east and west) of the map.  I used event cards, but did not remove any inappropriate ones from the draw decks.  This was a conscious attempt to incorporate them in gameplay, but reduce their possible impact.

It was quite the slugfest both times I played.

If I had set this scenario up in Advanced Squad Leader, my play would be far more constrained, with concerns about doctrine and realism.  Not with HoN.  The cartoonishness that is off-putting for some, seems liberating to me.  I feel encouraged to take more chances; that is within tactical reason.  Maybe it’s the straightforward vehicle rules…….

Here’s a photo of what was left after eight turns.  Most of the vehicles are wrecks, with units huddled in the hedgerows, or in the house at the crossroads.  North at top of photo.

Another Day, Another Ottoman

Lazy.

Too much work to move two armies down to storage, so elected to keep the Ottomans (and a chance for redemption) on the table and re-introduce the Abyssinians, as well as a detachment of Portuguese.

This keeps the focus north of the campaign’s Area of Operations (AO), but still following the general storyline involving the  Ottomans moving south on an overland route towards the Horn of Africa.

The battlefield is dominated by a hill and ruined temple.  So, in a burst of originality, this struggle will be remembered as “The Battle of Temple Hill”.

Patches of rocky scrub limits mobility for all troops, and provides defensive advantages for the Abyssinians.

Here are photos of the original dispositions and the dispositions after rolling for Disease & Mishaps (D&M).  Not as bad as the previous Ottoman debacle, but the Incompetent Quartermaster (adversely affecting D12 rolls) contributed to the disarray and some loss in Resolve.  The Abyssinians enjoyed the benefits of a Skilled Physician, and have suffered few adverse effects.  The black mini-dice indicate reduced Resolve.

Here’s the Army List.  Only Losers Scan.

 

 

More Heroes

Still having lots of fun with Heroes of Normandie (HoN).

Set up a quick scenario the other night.  Simple objective for the Americans; Get your armor across two boards.  Six turns, but Germans already in  ambush positions.  Same basic forces for both sides, except each now has a tank.

Played it through a few times.  It all boiled down to the last turn or two.  That’s when the German Pz IV and panzerschreck each get a shot  at the US M4 Sherman.  However, the US advance sequence during the preceding turns is critical in order to get infantry in position to support.  To make things even more difficult, I ran a scenario where the US had to also get an infantry unit off-board.

Did not use cards.  Drew them, though.  What wild outcomes they could have produced!  Need to reconcile my need for order with even more possible fun and confusion.  I’m not in a hurry to resolve this psychological conundrum.  I think a reading of the solitaire rules published on Boardgamegeek may be in order.

Simple, but interesting and fun.  Here’s a bad pic taken before the final game turn, with the Germans having initiative and Americans hoping to get to their turn with the tank still operational.  Cell phone is holding down a non-compliant map corner.

Ottomans Repulsed

Instead of rallying, the Ottomans should have marched back to their ships……..

Although it will take some time for the bad news to make its way East, there will be hell to pay in Constantinople.

Ottoman ambitions in the Horn of Africa suffered what could most kindly be termed “a setback” at a nameless defile just outside of Aden.

A motley group of civic guardsmen, mercenaries and neighboring tribesmen defeated an Ottoman force comprised of elite Sipahis and Janissaries.

Why? Overconfidence. The Ottoman Commander, Osker Boz, determined a frontal attack would scatter the opposition, assuming his army’s  high resolve ratings  would wear the Yemenites (what someone from Aden is called -today) down. Boz forgot, or ignored,  his Janissaries were missile (bow/shot) troops with low melee capabilities, and that he had just two units of Sipahis.

His scheme of maneuver seemed sound. Launch a demonstration with his Azabs against the east ridge (pinning the Yemenite forces), and a measured attack, with the Janissaries shooting as they advanced, against the west ridge. When these attacks had developed, and his artillery had reduced Yemenite resolve, a Sipahi charge against the long spear armed civic guardsmen holding the defile. This was a risky business since long spears have a +2 DRM against cavalry.

The Ottomans advanced after regrouping and restoring resolve.

The assault on the east ridge initially pushed back the Yemenites. But they rallied, scattering the Ottoman Azabs. One unit, through both pursuit and being out of command, and rolling for impetuous actions, even charged and scattered the Ottoman artillery unit.

The Janissary missile unit advance/shoot tactics wore down the Yemenites holding the west ridge. In desperation, the Yemenites pulled back to the reverse slope. This was the decisive event of the game. The Janissaries continued their advance while the Yemenites rallied, charging the Ottomans as they crested the ridge. Now locked in melee, it was a matter of time, and decent die rolling, until the Janissaries wavered or scattered.

Meanwhile, the Sipahi initial charge failed to dislodge the long-spear armed guardsmen. Again, locked in melee, the Ottomans were at a disadvantage.

The Sipahis wavered and scattered, leaving the Janissaries to fight a “last stand” against what remained of the Yemenites on the west ridge, eventually breaking under the  pressure.

Quite the fight.

Much of the defeat can be attributed to Osker Boz’s characteristics (inexperience and cowardice) and his employment of an incompetent physician who exacerbated the effects of some poor Disease and Mishap rolls.  As a result, the Ottomans rarely won an initiative die roll, had trouble rallying troops to restore resolve, and had significantly lowered resolve due to illness going into the battle.

Add an attack plan that called for some good fortune, and the outcome cannot be considered a surprise.

Recent rumors from Constantinople indicate that the Sultan has put his plans for naval expansion into East Africa on hold, pending successes by his overland forces working south along the both coasts of the Red Sea. Osker Boz has been ordered to return home. Given this blow to Ottoman prestige, it’s unlikely he will survive the trip.

As usual, a series of marginal photos with incoherent captions.

The Ottoman Attack Develops.  Top of picture is NNE.

Melee on East Ridge

Ottoman Artillery Support Ineffective

Melee

Melee Continues

Sipahis Scatter With Yemenite Pursuit Threatening Artillery

Preparing For The Final Assault

Final Melee.  Light Cavalry Ready To Flank Janissaries

 

 

Not Bad

Back from a fun 2+ week trip to (and recovery from) Joshua Tree NP and Organ Pipe NM.  Weather could have been better.

Have started playing Heroes of Normandie (HON)again.  I like this game, and I stress the word “game”.  Not a simulation, but still a challenge.  Beautiful components.  Just follow the Tag for my earlier impressions.

I realized during this latest play iteration that understanding the game’s rules and flow was all about the symbols.  In a typical hex and counter game, counter symbols are sparse, and aside from attack/defense/movement, provide little information concerning the  connection with the rules.  In HON, the unit counter is loaded with symbols involving literally every action that unit can take.  Understand the symbols, and you just play.  Very similar to Kriegsspiel, and makes for a far different  learning curve.

I’m using the updated, and cleaned up, rules found in the HON Compendium, as well as the Action Cards.  Need to read up on the solitaire guidance concerning the cards as how to handle them has been a little problematic.

Going to enjoy this for another week and then probably shift over to WW2 coastal naval combat.

And It All Seemed So Simple

Before I get into the mayhem, here’s a summary of the Game Modifiers.

Coastal Arabs:  Well Laid Plans – Allowing all companies to be in Command for one phase; and Ill Chosen Bedfellows – A -1 DRM for Disease and Mishap Rolls.

Ottomans:  Enterprising Captain – one Company always in command; the aforementioned Ill Chosen Bedfellows, which combined with their incompetent physician will cause real Resolve problems; and Miraculous Cure – good to add one to a unit having lost one Resolve due to disease.

The Disease and Mishap rolls were really something.  Each side lost a company through bribery (Bought Off), the Ottoman right became too Enthusiastic and moved well forward of their initial dispositions, while Coastal companies arrived late.  Both sides were affected by disease, with the Ottomans ravaged.  Two companies lose two Resolve!

Here’s a picture of a not quite so tidy battlefield.  The black die indicate units that have already lost Resolve.  This is not a game system for The Orderly & Systematic General!

Both sides need to spend a few turns regrouping……

Tanks! Redux

Watched Dunkirk the other night.  Not the new one, the good one.

Duly inspired, I dug out my 1/100 armor with accompanying terrain, and set up a mini-campaign for Tanks!.

Basic premise was a pack of misfit British armor, caught up in the backwash of the Arras counterattack, tries to get to the coast.  Set up random parameters for German opposition, and British crew capabilities.

Since the campaign was “based on a true story”, the rag-tags had an interesting set of crew skills and helpful equipment.  These add-ons provide the abilities to shrug off misfortunes of all kinds. The Germans were faceless, robotic drones.

The tricky part was what each force could see, and if they saw something, how/could that information be communicated.  Did some basic research on tank radios and found there is not that much out there.  So, just had some fun with it, using yes/no, directional, and other random dice.

The British had an armored car for scouting; an A12 Cruiser,  a Mk 1 Matilda and a Mk 2 Matilda.  The German mix could include Pz II, III or IVs.

The unintended consequence of all of this was another trip into the world of computer graphic design.  I’d designed some Tanks! cards with GIMP in the past, but had lost all of my chops.  Downloaded a template over a Boardgamegeek, and  floundered.  Wound up using my old mock-up cards.  Hopefully, I’ll continue to slog away at the new cards.

Again, it’s a real challenge to resist ginning up too many house rules.  Sure, I had to make spot judgments on backing up, Matilda frontal armor and others, but resisted the need to codify them.  Here’s photos of the first two scenarios.  Lots of Hide N’ Seek trying to work through woods along roads/side roads.

Had to pick up this AM.  I’m thinking coastal operations later in the week, or Heroes of Normandie.

Underrated Fun

Quick and semi-gratuitous post.  Set Fistful of Lead up on the dining table.  Couple of shootouts.

Can’t recommend this rule set enough.  Easy to read through, and the Play Aid Sheet covers about 95 percent of what you can run into.

Just turn the little guys loose, and see what kind of mischief ensues.  Only level of control I impose is whether or not they can see/are aware of what’s going on around them.  For that, I use the trusty “Yes/No” die.

This Spring – if that ever gets here – one project is to assemble some paper buildings.

Unintended Consequences

Put together the Army Rosters and rolled for Commander and Staff  characteristics.

Wanted to play a quality (Ottomans) versus quantity (Local) scenario, with both  forces built using an equal number of points,  and using the same terrain as last time.  Why same terrain?  I want to see if that defensive position can be forced.   The attacking Ottomans do have an advantage as the Locals don’t have as many shot or archaic missile (bow) units as the previous game’s defenders.

However…………

The Ottomans have a real leadership problem.  The dice dictated an Inexperienced Lord that is also Cowardly.  His staff has an Incompetent Physician.  These are a lot of negative DRM modifiers.    On the other hand, he is considered Dashing.  All that means is that he can get into trouble quicker.  This all begs the question, “How did someone like this get command”?  Well, it does happen, and we will see what Bey Osker Boz can do.

On the other hand, or side of the hill, the Local Commander, Taaj el-Burki, has no strengths or weaknesses, but does have a Bad Gunner on his staff.  But, since his force has no artillery, it’s of no consequence.

Here’s a photo of the Army Rosters Sheet.  Before I get started, I’ll have to come up with a name for the “Local” place.  I’ll go over the “Game Modifiers” in my next post.