The Citadel: The Breakthrough- Breaking Through (Game 2)

 

We played the second game in the Citadel: Breakthrough a couple of weeks ago at the Abyss. Graham (the  Soviets) forced me to withdraw from table 1 with significant losses while he had none.....time for a different plan.

The Patrol Markers are the larger discs, Graham had yet to place his objectives, the one on the road was an error, one was placed further to the left and one in one of the houses. The photo is from the Soviet edge.

As you can see this terrain is wide open and we are playing the Attack and Defend scenario from CoCv2 as written. We had finally sorted the terrain interpretation in respect to the streams which offer light cover only but are not difficult to cross. As you can see there is a lot of open ground. The scenario requires 2 Objectives and the Attackers have to capture one of them (one disappears after the end of turn 1-attackers choice). So what to do? I was essentially missing 1 squad while the Soviets were intact with 4 Sections...so 2 versus 4. Neither player had a lot of support points and guessing that Graham likes to be in Hard Cover (there was none on the terrain). I felt he probably would go with entrenchments. 

Forces

Germans (FM 10)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon #1 (less 7 men)

Supports  9

Kubelwagon

sIG33

Soviets (FM 10 )

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon #1 (intact)

Supports 4

4 Entrenchments

The Game

So off we went. I selected the Kubelwagon in case I got a chance to race across the table with the 3 man team and capture the objective on the left which was in the open. But this was going to be a difficult task without a heavy bombardment. For this reason, I went with the sIG33, it is a beast with a HE of 13d6. It has a gun shield so placed in the forest on my right flank it would be in Hard Cover.

As you can see Graham did indeed take 4 entrenchments and placed his sections with 2 LMGs in each while placing his other Sections in Light Cover behind the wooden fences. This was a lot of fire power in an attempt to take out the attackers.

I held off deploying the IG untilI got a double phase so I would get to fire twice at the entrenched Soviet Troops. In the interim I deployed my 2 intact squads in the stream in light cover. I did use them to fire and they had some success but they were primarily there to engage in suppressive fire. This was at some cost but as it was, the IG caused significant attrition on the entrenched troops so they were forced to withdraw....a German Victory........on to table 3.

Summing Up

Not a whole lot of effect on the Platoon Morale, but the Germans did manage to cause permanent attrition to the Soviets to make up for the German losses in Game 1.

Saga: Franks versus the Romans, The Ambush

Two weeks ago myself and Gavin got together at the Abyss to have a game of Saga. We played a slightly modified version of the Ambush from the Book of Battles.  This is one of the scenarios that will be coming up in our Saga Grande Mélee which will be held at the Abyss in Montreal on November 7th. 

We both played the warbands that we are planning to use for the tournament. Gavin is playing his Romans, I should have written down the composition of his warband but you will get a sense of it from the photos below.

Franks

Warlord

2 units of HearthGuard

3 units of Warriors

Deserter Mercenaries

This is the second time that I used a unit of Mercenaries, so this was another test run. This is quite an unusual scenario where points are gained for capturing objectives as well as massacre points. I had played something similar a couple of weeks before with David and got crushed. I felt I had a much better sense of how this scenario worked this time around.

The Game

I went with 5 dice as below. The Frankish Battleboard has a cheap ability, The Frankish People,  that allows you to activate 3 units as long as they are within M of a Hero for a common or uncommon dice. I have noticed that I have seldom had to put my dice on the activations but rather on the advanced abilities. The critical ability on the Battleboard is Momentum and with this once triggered by winning 3 melees you can activate any 3 of your units by Determination. The trick is though that this has to be done early in the game to make it work especially in games that last 5 turns only.

5 Saga Dice

Warlord

Unit of 12 Warriors

Unit of 12 Warriors

Unit of 8 Hearthguard

Deserters

Starting positions after initial movement of the carts.

The Romans quickly grabbed 1 of the Objectives

A dropped Objective

The Franks with 2 Objectives

Using Momentum the 2 Franks were able to end the game with 2 Objectives on their start base. 

So a Frankish Victory of, if I remember correctly, 34-26 points, but I think I was lucky in that Gavin made a very minor error when he picked up one of the objectives with a unit who was already holding an objective (the rules allow only 1 objective per unit). This caused him to drop it which I was subsequently was able to pick up. By then I had Momentum initiated which allowed me to grab it and move it towards my side of the table. Once the points were calculated it was found that the Franks won by holding 2 Objectives, if the Romans had held the 2 objectives they would have won.

More Full Nelson

Last week, I finally got to get in a game with my friend Pierre-Yves. We have had many games over the years but this was our first chance to have a go at the playtest of The Full Nelson. I believe PY has had one previous game and this would be my fourth. 

As this is a playtest, I try to say as little as I can about the rules as they are not yet released. In our game we see a battle between Britain and Spain. The Spanish have a 1st Rate and 2 Frigates while the British have two 3rd Rates and a Frigate. I made the British crews regular while the Spanish crews were good. I played the Brits and as usual as happened I ended up starting the game sailing in the wind!

We are playing v2 of the playtest and pretty well have the rules down aside from the playing the games with our ships starting in formation or squadrons, so we went with a single ship activation sequence. The activation is card driven like Sharp Practice but the mechanisms are dice driven. 

Just a couple of photos, the ship panels were all designed by myself and printed on a 3d printer. You are looking at Spanish ship panels in the second photo. The ships are from Warlord Games and are 1/700 scale, my mat is a little smaller than it should be at 50x40" but I like it. I bought it years ago from a company in the UK now long defunct.

I had a terrible game and the Brits were essentially blasted out of the water in a couple of hours. But it was a lot of fun and I look forward to the next game. I am still working on my ships but they are getting there.

When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas

Last week I had a WWI Naval game with William. He set up the game and wanted to try out a new set of rules he had come across. He had some cardboard flats to represent the ships and I brought the mat. We played at the Abyss in Montreal.

The game uses d12s and the rules themselves are only 5 pages long. The game was mechanistically quite simple but there was certainly some tactical decision making. Interestingly it was not really IGO-UGO as initiative was diced for each turn but you also could decide if you had the initiative whether to shoot first or not by deciding whether you were going to make a full or half move.

We played the Coronel scenario from the book, seeing a battle between 4 British and 5 German ships. A clever record sheet was provided so the game was easily played with just the QRS and the Record sheet.

We played several rounds with a clear German victory, game probably took well less then 2 hours.

I believe that this is the first game from the Little Wars TV publishing entity Battle Box Studios. Little Wars TV has put out several previous games including their western game Ruthless. But they are now formalising the process through their own publisher. I would have a look.

I was quite impressed by this game and I feel that Little Wars TV is becoming the premium wargaming group in the US. I see that they have just put out a company level WWII game SNAFU!

For those interested in 20th century naval wargaming I can highly recommend this set.

 

Midgard Practice

We had a Midgard practice game last week to trial the rules for our Battle of Bosworth game which is scheduled for tomorrow. Rather than bring all the troops to the table we played with the movement base as well as the 7 Heroes. Since there were just 4 of 6 of us for the practice we removed 3 of the armies so played with 4. It was bit of an uphill battle initially with the rules as none of had really played before and the ones who did had played more then a couple of years ago. 

Graham and myself trying to figure things out, we were playing Henry Tudor. Rob and William were on the other side of the table playing Richard III....I am sure equally perplexed.

We did get through the game but had a lot of questions which I was able to sort out the next morning.

Q&A

1) Initiative does not exist. The Attacker starts the game and starts each turn thereafter. The QRS Turn sequence is pretty clear. As an aside Henry Tudor attacked first in the historical battle so will be the attacker in our game. p27

2) Hand gunner range is 2 ST see War of Roses scenario

3) Heroes do add dice equivalent to their level, so a level 3 hero can add up to 6d6 to the number of dice to the unit they are attached (3 for level and 3 for mighty deeds). p 28 and 55

4) Evade can be in any direction but you can not change facing, you have to pass a Command Test (CT). The charger then moves it full distance in attempt to re-engage. So essentially infantry can not catch cavalry as cavalry has 2 ST of movement vs 1 ST for infantry.

When evading you can not pass through an enemy killing zone. Only skirmishers can pass through formed troops. p38

5) Forced retreat from combat has different rules. You move directly back 1/2ST if you hit a unit behind you, it is also pushed  back back. Both units have to take a CT is failed they lose a point of stamina. Skirmishers pass through and do not push back a support. p59-60

6) Movement. 1 ST for warriors but can wheel 1/2 ST as first move. If you want a 2nd move you pass a CT. The order does not matter unless you are charging in melee then the wheel has to occur first. p 30-31

7) Killing Zone restrictions:

An enemy’s Killing Zone prevents you from manoeuvring across its front. It is a square 1 ST wide × 1 ST deep, directly in front of the enemy unit. Any part of your base inside it counts.

While your unit is inside that zone:

You may move straight forward towards that enemy, or straight backward away from it.

You cannot wheel, slide sideways, or cut through the zone to attack a different unit.

To turn, you must use Change Facing: pass a Command Test, turn in place, and finish facing at least one enemy whose Killing Zone you occupy. This uses your entire movement for that phase.

If you occupy several enemy Killing Zones, you may charge only the nearest enemy, and only if you can reach it by moving straight ahead.

Example: moving forward 1 ST and then wheeling ½ ST is allowed only if the wheel is clear of enemy Killing Zones. Passing the second-move Command Test does not override those restrictions. 

8) Defensive fire. Here is what it says, the critical piece is that it is not a separate shooting action but rather adds dice to combat. 

Yes, both the charging unit and the unit receiving the charge can use missiles—but the attacker is limited to javelins. I rechecked “Missiles in Charges,” page 56.

The wording describes missiles being loosed just before contact, but the game resolves them as extra Combat Dice in melee, rather than a separate shooting attack before the units touch.

Charging unit    May throw javelins, provided it has not already shot this turn    Add half its usual Shooting Dice to its Combat Dice; give it a Shot marker

Unit receiving a frontal charge    May use any missile weapon, subject to the exceptions below, provided it has not already shot this turn    Add half its usual Shooting Dice to its Combat Dice; give it a Shot marker

A charging hero with javelins adds one Combat Die for throwing them and receives a Shot marker.

For example, your Wars of the Roses handgunners have 8 Combat Dice and 8 Shooting Dice. If charged to the front, and they have not already shot, they add 4 dice, giving 12 Combat Dice before other modifiers. If the handgunners themselves charge, their handguns give them no additional dice—only javelins can be used by chargers.

The restrictions for the unit receiving the charge are:

No defensive missile bonus against a flank or rear charge.

Blast weapons and Magic Missile cannot be used.

A unit must choose between using missiles and Counter-Charge or Thunderous Charge.

So there is no separate defensive shooting roll that can stop the charge before contact. Both sides include any eligible missile bonus in their melee dice and then resolve combat. 

9) Melee Summary

10) Armour Ratings

The Citadel: Breakthrough-Reconnaissance Pull (Game 1)

Last week myself and Graham got together to play Part 2 of the Citadel campaign. Historically, this campaign chronicles the Battle of Kursk in 1943. In the first part of the this campaign the Germans have overran the first Soviet line of defence. 

PanzerGrenadier Division Grossdeutschland now are advancing to the second line of the Soviet defences at Lukhanino River. Defending are the 3rd Mechanised Corps with the 1st Tank Army. The campaign consists of 6 scenarios all during 4 days in July, 1943.

As the Germans scored a Major Victory in Part 1 of the Citadel Campaign, they get a +1 roll on their FM for the first 2 games as well as subtracting 2 from the number of turns required for Victory. The Soviets suffer a -1 on their FM roll for the first game.

As we have done in Part 1, where possible we are using v2 Chain of Command ruleset rather than v1 for which the campaign was written. We do use the OB from the campaign but do add non specific supports like Replen Points. We also where possible use the v2 scenario support and victory conditions as we have done here in the Probe Scenario. In the later scenarios in the campaign we will have to depend more on the original scenarios.

Forces

Germans (FM 11)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon #1

Supports  7

SL

2 Cars

1 Sniper

Soviets (FM 10 )

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon #1

Supports 2

2 Entrenchments

The Game

Patrol Markers and JOPs

We had quite a hard time figuring out the terrain instructions, we treated this as a dry Balka but it should have been a stream. It made for somewhat of a confusing game

This was a tough game for the Germans, I just could not get across the Balkas, I was able to get one section off the table by running them up the road, but the second victory condition capture a JOP was stymied when the Final Countdown was initiated and then was suddenly terminated with Graham rolling a double 6 thus ending the game. I had considered withdrawing because I had lost one full section, but fate prevented me from having to make this decision.

Summing Up

We are having game 2 tomorrow, I think we have the terrain sorted so hopefully a smoother game.

Update Saga Terrain

 

I have been working on upgrading some of my Saga terrain and gaming accessories. The initial plates I did were a little boring so I added some flock.

Saga is fun but because of the competitive nature of some of the games, many players like to use 2D terrain. This is a real no for me. The only solution I could see was 2D plates with moveable 3D terrain. I did most of this with a 3D printer.

Overview

Steep Hill

Large Forest

40mm Objectives...sheep!

Flat Hill

Small Forest

Cart

Baggage Train

Small Rough Ground

Small Marsh

Small Rocky Ground

Cart with Small Ruins

Age of Invasion Campaign-Franks vs Britons (S3)

Monday last,  I got together at the David at my place for the third season game in the Age of Invasions campaign. I decided to do a raid on the Britons as I had not confronted David in quite sometime and I wanted to make sure that I get to play all 5 players in the campaign. I suppose I will battle the Welch in season 4. This game was going to be a tough one as David is an excellent player, but I am in it for the fun and it was really nice to have David over to my place as it had been a while.

I had chosen to RAID this season, thus there would be just one game. We played the Pure Profit scenario from the Polish Tournament Battle Pack. As noted below, I completely misunderstood the tactics needed to succeed in this scenario. 

Photos

Starting positions, with the Franks to the left and the baggage train in the middle. 

The Britons are ready.

Turn 2 and the Britons had already captured 2 of the 3 baggage trains!

Game was over essentially at the beginning of turn 4, I will know better the next time.

Results

Well that was a true pounding but an odd one as only a total of 3 figures were killed during the game. I did learn a lot though as this was ot a game about fighting but more about tactics. Both my terrain choices and deployment of my warband was just terrible and by turn 2 I had realised that I missed the whole point of the scenario.

But It was great to get together with David and I believe we spent more time chatting than playing!