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Aug28

Konya wa Hurricane Coalition Turn 17

by Rindis on August 28, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Konya wa Hurricane

The overall Coalition economy continues to contract, with the Lyrans picking up a little bit of ground, which didn’t make up for either Klingon or Romulan losses, which happened in spite of both of them surveying a new province. Adjusted income was 309.75 EP.

Builds:
Klingon: D7C, D7, D6J, D5W, 7xD5, AD5, F6, 6xF5, D6V->D6U
Romulan: CON, FHF, 3xSP, SPC, SPM, 2xSK, SKE, SEH, WE, SNB, WE->KE, SP->SPM
Lyran: BC, STT, NCA, CW, CWE, CWS, 2xDW, DWE, 2xFF, FCR

The Romulans worked through most of their cripples from last turn’s SB assault, but the Klingons are still dealing with a large number of cripples, and are currently cancelling some of the smaller ships to deal with it. They did convert the last D6V to a D6U, as I had planned, which eliminates that class of odd 5-point carriers. B10-2 rolled well, and is all but guaranteed to come out next turn. B10-3 only rolled a ‘2’; by average rolls, it should come out on 21, but there’s an outside chance that both could show up on 19, which might be a problem.

The Klingons put a repaired D5 back in the Raid Pool, and added an existing FD7 to start filling out the expanded pool. The Lyrans raided a Kzinti province, and killed a Federation FF that was holding a Klingon province, and preventing supply to BG Harbinger. The Klingons raided three Federation provinces, and the C5 was sent to try and crack the wall of ships built around the Orion Enclave, but all the raids were run off, with one D5 being crippled. The Romulans raided two Federation provinces, and one Gorn, and made another attempt to kill the supply LTT in 4007 (partially to draw out a ship from 4006, which was a likely target during the turn). Both Federation provinces were disrupted, but the LTT was merely forced to retreat, and a Gorn POL ran off a FFH to keep that province from being disrupted.

A primary problem was dealing with the solid wall of ships Byron had erected around the Orion Enclave to keep me from keeping supply to it, which would enable me to keep it neutral. There were a number of strong fleets nearby to complicate matters. The biggest problem was the fact that the Third Fleet had shifted forward to 1910 and stayed there, putting it in range of way too many important targets in Klingon space

But that meant the garrison on the 3rd Fleet SB was much reduced (consisting of the 4th Fleet, no longer needed near Kzinti space). So I started concentrating on tying down the reserves as best I could, and making one last try at it before the Federation started destroying everything I had left near it over the next few turns.

The Romulans had a heck of a time working their way out of the knot of Federation fleets near their border, but managed a good force to reclaim the NZ planet. To the north, they struck at the last Gorn border BATS, and had a decent fleet to take one of the Gorn-Fed border BATS while pinning a reserve there.

The Lyrans kept their activity light, going for 1504 in Kzinti space while backing up the Klingons elsewhere and keeping ships available.


Limited goals.


Limited goals.


The big push (again).


Trying to pull back more than a stump.


More BATS destruction.

The small Hydran reserves split between reinforcing 0416, and the small fight in 0916, while both Kzinti reserves went to 1504 (the only fight in range). The Federation 1st R (the only one completely unpinned) went to 3210, and two of the 4th R ships freed up there went to 3111, and the end of the wall around the Orions. The 3rd R in 2610 still had five ships free, and they went to 2509, which allowed the 2nd R there to send five ships to SB 2211. One Gorn reserve was stuck in 2610 with the bulk of the Federation reserve, and the other was stuck in 4006.

Battles:
3511: SSC: Federation: crip FF
3111: SSC: Romulan: dest WE
3412: SSC: Federation retreat
3413: Federation: crip FF; Romulan: crip SN
0416: Hydran: dest TR; Lyran: dest CWG, 2xDW, crip CW, DW
0916: Hydran: crip CU; Lyran: DW
0717: Hydran: dest LNH; Klingon: dest E4
1504: Kzinti: dest FKE; Lyran: dest DWE
2012: SSC: Federation: dest POL
2211: Federation: dest SB, CA, 2xDE, crip BT, CA, 9xNCL, DE, 5xFF, FCR; Klingon: dest 2xD6, D6D, D6S, AD5, D5S, F5L, crip D7, 3xD6, AD5, D5G, MD5, D5S, 2xF5, F5E, wound PT; Lyran: dest DW, crip DW
2509: Retreat after declined approach
2610: Federation: crip CA, NCL; Gorn: dest BDE, crip LTB; Klingon: dest F5W, crip 3xD5, 3xF5
3210: Federation: crip NCA, NCL; Romulan: crip SP, SK
3415: Federation: crip 2xNCL; Romulan: crip 2xSP, 2xSK
3315: Romulan: dest SNB
4408: Gorn: dest BATS
4006: Gorn: dest BATS, crip COM, DD; Romulan: dest SKF, K4, crip SPF, WE

Given an initial 53-point difference in ComPot, I wasn’t sure that I actually could take the 3rd Fleet SB, but it was the best shot I had to limit Byron’s ability to strike into Klingon space. One weakness he had was a limited number of CR10 ships, so I destroyed escorts to drive the CVA off-line, and Byron did some of my work by self-crippling a battle tug. Sure, it’s really efficient to repair, but my first goal was to get his line density down. By round 3, the difference was 17 ComPot, and I had the ships and fighters to take that, and some good rolls was helping. If he’d been willing to self-kill ships (and the Feds build enough), he might have squeezed another round out of it, but it probably wouldn’t have been worth it.

Byron naturally accepted approach in front of 2610, where the Gorns are setting up a MB. Two ‘6’s from the Alliance in a row kept me from getting at the base, and I didn’t have what it took to go four rounds and have any sort of fleet left, so that job was left undone. Maybe I can get there again, but it’s getting more and more unlikely….

The Federation rolled much better than the Romulans over 3415, but ran out all their fighters in the first round, and then gave up the NZ planet. But they gave better than they got, and overran a two-ship garrison next door on the way out.

I had just about given up all hope of killing the 3rd Fleet SB, and as the Federation offensive starts reaching into Klingon space, its presence was something I really couldn’t afford. So killing it is a big win for me, and I got it for relatively cheap. It did leave me a bit out of position, and the cost of taking it out may still turn out to be excessive. But in the long run putting much of the south-center out of reach will pay off. I just have to survive the short term while reorganizing.

Meanwhile, the Romulans have finished off the Gorn border BATS, and hampered their reach that way. Federation pressure is mounting, but the Romulans can… mostly put up a stubborn defense. The Federation has a lot of strength near the rim of the galaxy now, and I expect a fair amount of havoc near Tholian space. This means I’m probably not reestablishing contact between the Klingons and Romulans, and the KR spare parts are winding down….

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Aug12

Two Rounds of Granicus

by Rindis on August 12, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Patch and I recently had our between-games set of Commands & Colors: Ancients, and this time we’ve hit Alexander the Great’s career with the Battle of Granicus from Expansion #1. Alexander has a river to cross to get at a fairly decent Persian army, but has a number of advantages. The Companions ignore one sword hit in combat, and can ignore a banner, while Alexander causes a unit to battle with one extra die. Meanwhile, the Persian leaders only allow helmet hits for the unit they’re attached to, instead of all adjacent units, and Leadership cards only order the unit they’re attached to. And, the Persians have four cards to Alexander’s six.

I had Alexander first, and opened with Order Light, to line up at the river a bit more, and caused two blocks of losses with archery, and drove two units of cavalry back. Patch used Order Mounted to pull the rest of his forward line back out of range, not contesting the river. I started crossing the river, and Patch Ordered Lights into archery range. I Ordered Three Right to charge into the lights before Patch could start getting hits, and did one block to a bow unit.

Patch counterattacked with Order Three Center, putting Spithridates and Rhoesaces into my strung-out units, doing three hits to an Auxilia, and taking one in return. Inspired Center Leadership got my left flank into the river, and an Order Three Right cost me a MC as Patch got a double-banner on it, and drove it off the board. We both inched or centers up, and then Order Lights from me did two hits on a LC from archery, and knocked out a MC while taking one block in return.

Patch then used Mounted Charge (“I failed to do this last turn, and lost a unit as a result”), and got behind Alexander. I used First Strike as he went for my 1-block Aux in the river, but only got one of two blocks, while he got the Aux and Ptolemy. Then he knocked out the Companions, and Alexander had to evade through the enemy line (I’ve known the rule, but never had to do that before), Momentum then took out two LC blocks in the river, but I finished off his LC when they joined in.

I used Line Command to get intact units across the river, as well as getting more into it. Patch then used a second Mounted Charge, which finished off my LC and killed Alexander. World history is in ruins. 2-6

Patch spent the first three turns lining everyone up along his bank of the river, while I moved units up from the base line. Then Patch used Line Command to get most of his line into the river, driving off two of my cavalry units, doing two blocks of damage, and taking one in return. I used Clash of Shields for the two MC still at the river, and drove back his Med and did damage to a Heavy, but took two hits on a MC in return. Patch used I Am Spartacus to order a Light, two Medium and two wild (Med and Heavy), and put his flank cavalry into the river as well as getting his Med back in, and knocked out both of my center MC, while taking two blocks himself.

I used my own Line Command to fill in my center, and Patch used Mounted Charge, and did two blocks to an Aux, who then drove the attacking MC back past the river, and Alexander wiped out a MC, and I decided to keep Mithridates on-board, but momentum caught up to him and killed him (did not think that through…). I used Move-Fire-Move to rework my line and drove Alexander back. Patch used Inspired Right Leadership to move his center across the river, and I used Darken the Sky, which got six hits on various units, and finished off a Heavy, while damaging the other one.

Patch Out Flanked, and drove off my LC (they stayed since it was a river and a one-block MC, but a banner kept me from battling back), and on the other flank his LC was driven off by a banner from my LC. We both spent a turn rearranging a bit, and then I Ordered Three Center to knock out an Aux and drive off another. Patch Ordered Four Right, but only took one hit for his trouble. I Coordinated Attack for no damage and Patch Ordered Two Left to knock out an Aux, and do a block to a LC on momentum.

Desperate, and out of better options, I Double Timed but failed to get a 1-block Aux and lost a full Med on battle back after two attempts on his Medium. 2-6

Afterword

I knew my initial charge over the river in the first game was chancy, but Patch had some really good luck in that one. The second game bogged down near the end as we both had problems. Patch had a bunch of reduced units scattered around and didn’t feel safe taking on my more intact army. But I was out of cards to maneuver with, and couldn’t find any good ways to finish them off.

The scenario is certainly interesting, with the split setup for the Persians, and the Granicus River really influences the battle. The hills never quite came into play, though both Patch and I used them as an anchor at some point.

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Jul31

Konya wa Hurricane Alliance Turn 16

by Rindis on July 31, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Konya wa Hurricane

Overall, the Alliance economy was up 5.8 EP this turn, most of this came from the Federation, while the Hydran economy expanded a little to offset losses to the Kzinti. However, the Hydrans and Kzinti also hit the first stage of exhaustion at this point, which dropped the actually total collected from 368.8 to 342.5 EP, which is still comfortably ahead of the Coalition.

Builds:
Federation: CVA, CF, TG, NCA, 11xNCL, NSC, 3xDW, 2xDWA, FFB, 8xFF, FFE
Kzinti: NCA, 2xCM, LTT, 3xDW, 2xFFK, 3xFKE, VAP, 2xCV->CVH
Gorn: DN, BC, CMV, TG, HD, LTT, BDE, 4xDD, MB, CL->CLE
Hydran: RGR, TG, MKE, HR, PGC, 3xCU

At some point, the Kzinti CVH was bumped up in date to match the various scout carriers that get heavy fighters before general availability. I’m not sure how many the Kzinti will convert over, as there are some logistical problems, but the more he converts, the more they can feed each other. The appearance of a Kzinti CVA pod is also a bit ominous, as the Klingons are far from affording theirs.

The Hydrans swapped out a RN for the new RGR and added a PGC to the raid pool, which eliminated a crippled D6 left near the capital. The other Hydran raids hit the far end of their space again, eliminating a E4 and F5L, and liberating the last province that was still under Long-Term Capture. The Kzintis added one of two available DNLs to the raid pool, which went after a Lyran garrison DW, but a BC reacted from 1105, and crippled the DNL for no damage. The BFs hit Lyran space again, and successfully raided two provinces. The Federation added a CF to the raid pool to join the three DNLs, which all went after Klingon ships in Federation space, and killed a F5 and crippled an E4 (the latter all by itself, surprisingly, while the F5 had help from a second one, and another F5 target fought off the DNL with help from a C5), while the CF raided in Romulan space, and a POL kept it from raiding the province. The Gorns added nothing to the raid pool, with an attempt to kill a SNB in Federation space crippled it, and a SNB in Gorn space was forced to retreat.

The first offensive that developed was when the remnants of the Gorn 2nd Fleet crossed the border. They were the only ships in range of SB 4411, and weren’t enough to deal with it, so the SUB group and all the SB fighters reacted out, as Byron was about to do a maneuver he’d done before, where he moves between two BATS, and then move on to one, with nothing on the other able to react. The entire fleet stopped for my reaction, and later the 3rd Fleet moved out and hit BATS 4310, adjacent to where the 2nd had stopped.

In Hydran space, the fleets moved out, and it was obvious they were headed for 1013 where the Lyrans had a MB co-located with the Klingon BATS, which does a lot of Lyran supply in the area now. The 2nd Fleet purely pinned the Lyrans, and then the Home Fleet moved out, and I threw everything I could its way so the force that made to 1013 might be manageable.

The Federation drove a broad-front offensive against the Romulans, clearly intent on recovering 3509 as well as making a solid attack on 3612, and hitting the end of the Romulan line of BATS near the Tholians. They also attacked the Tholian Border Squadron, while sending a huge force against 1910, doubtless making up for the fact that I’d managed to take it on his last turn.

The Kzinti struck back south, leapfrogging their major fleets to pin the Klingon North Fleet and then assault 1506 and 1407. There wasn’t too much to be done about that; while I’d sure like to retain possession of my own planet 1407, the Kzinti can put way too much force into one spot for it to be practical with the continued Federation offensives.


Hydran offensive.


Kzinti offensive.


Federation offensive.


More Federation offensives.


Gorn offensive.

Battles:
2308: SSC: Klingon: E4 dest
2012: SSC: Coalition retreat
3412: SSC: Romulan: crip SNB
3413: Cloaked evasion
3314: Cloaked evasion
3313: SSC: Romulan: dest SNB
3317: Romulan: dest BATS; Federation: crip CF, FF
0815: Hydran: dest HN
1013: Klingon: crip D5; Lyran: crip STL, DW; Hydran: dest PGS
0516: Lyran: dest CL, crip DW; Hydran: dest NEC, AH
0616: Klingon: crip F5, E4A; Hydran: crip SA
1407: Klingon: dest G2; Kzinti: capture planet
1506: Klingon: dest F5L; Kzinti: capture planet
1405: Klingon: dest D6, F5G, crip D7, D5; Kzinti: dest CM, FKE
1809: SSC: Klingon: dest G2
2108: Federation: dest FF
1910: Klingon: dest D5, crip D5, F5; Federation: dest DN+, FFE
2010: Federation: dest FFS
2511: Klingon: dest D6, D5, crip CVT, D6, D5; Federation: dest NCL, crip NCL, 4xFF; Gorn crip BDE
2615: Klingon: dest D5; Federation: crip 2xNCL, FF
3415: Cloaked evasion; Federation capture neutral planet
3414: Romulan: dest SNB
3114: Romulan: crip SP; Gorn: crip 2xDD
3612: Romulan: dest SKE, crip KE, 2xSP; Federation: dest NCD, DE, crip FF
3512: SSC: Romulan: dest cripK4; Federation: dest POL
3213: Romulan: crip SP; Federation: dest NCL
3516: Romulan: dest BATS
3611: Romulan: crip WE, capture CL; Federation: dest 2xCL, crip FF
3509: Romulan: dest 2xSKE, crip SPB, WE; Gorn: crip CL, BD, 3xDD, recapture planet
4410: Romulan: dest BHE; Gorn: crip 2xDD
4310: Romulan: dest FHF, capture BC; Gorn: dest BC, crip DD

Given the importance of MB 1013 to maintaining a Lyran presence in more than a corner of Hydran space, I expected Byron to come in, take any lumps, and blow the MB. So I accepted approach, and put up a good line, including Stormtooth, the new replacement STL. Byron had actually had no intention of forcing the issue in the face of my two reserves, and left after the first round; sadly, Stormtooth failed its shock roll (which is only a 6, instead of 5-6 on d6, thanks to the DN hull), leaving the Lyrans still down a DN in theater after one was crippled last turn. There was also a little confusion over the CSV; Byron hadn’t properly realized that the Lyrans had built the first scout carrier.

I still have a decent force near a couple of Federation worlds, and naturally they came under attack in 2511. The Allied force wasn’t too much better than mine, but had some important advantages (such as actual CR10 vs my D7C in command), but a good first round had me stick around, and then a poor second round pretty much eliminated what I had gained, and forced excessive cripples.

3512 was an odd little fight with a Federation POL trying to finish off a crippled K4. Both sides rolled an ’11’, so the POL got close for an accurate photon volley, only to find that plasma wasn’t a pseudo, and both ships were eliminated.

The Federation showed how much it wanted planet 3509 back, by sending four ships… and a Gorn fleet. I was holding it with a single battle line, and Byron used the DNT to cripple my SPB group to kill in pursuit (an approach I’ve contemplated a time or two, but I’m usually not in a position to try it). I inserted a BHE into the group, and he was unable to do more than kill the escorts in pursuit.

Coalition: 413 EP (x2) + 560 (bases) + 804 ships (/5) = 1715.6
Alliance: 368.8 EP (x2) + 460 (bases) + 805 ships (/5) = 1519.6

The slide continues, with the Coalition now only registering a Tactical victory. In some ways, the news may be worse than it looks. The Alliance total is about the same as a turn ago, but this is largely because of the loss of the Gorn SB in 4206. All the Alliance fleets have expanded at least a little, and the Federation by nearly 20 ships. Meanwhile, the Romulans are down 13 ships, thanks to that same assault, though the Lyrans managed to gain 8 ships.

Most critical, the Federation has moved solidly into southern Fed space, and set up a cordon around the Orion Enclave. Beyond the likelyhood of the Federation getting a very important shot in the arm from that, communications between the Klingons and Romulans are probably forever cut, especially with the loss of the only Romulan BATS in range of 2715. The current KR spare parts will last through turn 26….

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Jul23

43 Into the Fray

by Rindis on July 23, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After a little casting about, Patch and I ended up going for an ASL scenario with the Allied Minors, playing “Into the Fray” from Doomed Battalions. It’s the first day of the invasion of Poland, and Germans are attacking with 16 1st-line squads with decent leadership, and some armor (2xPz II plus 3x PSW 221) coming in on turn 3. The Poles initially defend with 13 green squads with poor leadership, a MMG and two ATR, but get 13 elite cavalry squads with good leadership on turn 1. Both sides have a minimal SAN of 2. The Germans win by either exiting 30 VP off the far edge of boards 4 and 33 in seven turns, or by getting 20 more CVP than the Poles do.

Patch took the Poles, and when I got his setup, I saw three main possibilities. The first one that occurred to me was to advance near the west edge of board 4. I had a grainfield and a couple of woods hexes for cover, and would presumably push back the Poles with their 6+1 leader. The real problem was that there was actually a fair amount of terrain to fall back on, and I’d be pushing him back ~4 hexes at a time. The second, and a fairly interesting one was up the center. There was a group of four squads with no leadership with only light cover. If I could isolate them on the flanks (using my MGs) I should be able to defeat them in detail. But the cavalry would be in front of me after that, and everyone else on my flanks….

I ended up with the third option: Up the east side of board 33. There’s a large grainfield to cover the initial advance, and an initial knot of defenders in a two hex house to deal with, and then a lot of open space with only an orchard for cover. Trying to exit that way certainly had it’s own problems, but I had a range advantage, especially over the initial green squads, and the wide open spaces would allow me to use that.

As expected, my first turn was reasonably quiet. Between the grain, and long range, Patch didn’t have a lot of shots, but an upper-level squad managed to pin my MMG squad as it started forward, delaying that part of my plan. A shot by his other upper-level squad at my 8-1-led stack with my other MMG generated a PTC that was ineffective. A couple of DFPh shots did nothing, and then… my first AFPh roll was ‘2’, which generated a 1MC broke his squad even after cowering, my second shot was a 1MC that broke another squad, and a later shot was a NMC that reduced a brokie to a HS (it would have disrupted the last squad in the building, if I hadn’t been going for a double-break). Patch routed out of the large building into the stone building adjacent.


Situation, German Turn 1, showing the full board. North is to the left. The Poles had a two-hex strip to set up in….
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Jul11

Konya wa Hurricane Coalition Turn 16

by Rindis on July 11, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Konya wa Hurricane

This took me a while to get started on. The Klingons have been pounded, and I wasn’t seeing anything useful they could do. Of course, this is the turn where 75% exhaustion kicks in, but I almost consider that the least of my worries, though with all the backlogged repairs finally hitting the system, money got tight real fast. Gross income was 417, down just 0.9 from last turn, though the Klingons had a ~6-point drop that was being made up by the other two. However, after exhaustion, this was a mere 312.75 EP. The Alliance’s recent income is ~360, so this has taken me from solidly ahead to solidly behind in real money.

Builds:
Klingon: 3xD7, D5W, 6xD5, AD5, F6, 3xF5, F5E, F5J
Romulan: NH, VHK, SP, SPC, 2xSPM, SK, 2xSKE, SEH, FAL, SNB, WE->KE, BH->BHF
Lyran: STL, CA, NCA, CW, CSV, CWE, 2xDW, DWE, 3xFF, CL->BC

Repairs were at an all-time high of 121.5 EP, nearly half of that being from the Klingons, who consequently had a very tight budget; but it doesn’t do a lot of good to build new ships if I can’t use the ones I’ve got.

For the first time the Klingons did not build any new fighter capacity this turn. I expect there won’t be any new carriers for a bit, but I should be converting the last D6V up to D6U next turn, and I hope to convert a D7V to D7U at some point soon; they’re expensive, but with how Byron’s been beating me up in the EW war, a scout carrier seems like a very handy item to have. Hopefully, I’ll get to see the Lyran CSV in action soon (also my first heavy fighters, something I’m sure we’ll see a bit more of).

This is the turn where the raid pools expand, but I didn’t want to pull a bunch of ships off the line to go raiding, so the only addition was the Romulan SHR, which I had retrograded into the capital last time specifically to be come the third Romulan raider. The Klingons and Lyrans each sent a raid into Kzinti space, disrupting a provinces now out of easy reach. There were five raids in Federation space, which disrupted three provinces, with one failure crippling a D5, while the last was a successful attempt to kill a Federation Tug (though a Prime Team was wounded in the process). The Romulans tried a similar raid on a Federation LTT on a supply mission just inside the Gorn border, but a DNL reacted to chase the SHR away, and the final Romulan raid in Gorn space also failed.

While the main Federation front was a series of problems with no solution, there was still room to maneuver elsewhere. The Gorn SB in 4206 was relatively lightly defended, and there were no reserves in range of it. First though, the Romulans worked on a plan for another offensive in Federation space, which led to a constant stream of move and counter-move as I tried to pin the 3rd Reserve in 3212, and elements of the 5th Fleet reacted in to keep some of it mobile.

Meanwhile, the Lyrans finally attacked 0416, a project that I’d been meaning to get to since Turn 11. With a large chunk of the Hydran fleet now on the capital, it wouldn’t be as punishing, and I had hoped it would draw some Hydran forces away from the capital, but nothing moved. They also pressed forward in Kzinti space, to help the Klingons regain their border from them. The Klingon North Fleet stayed inactive to block any access of the Kzinti reserves to planet 1407 (where the guard FF was assaulted by two ships), while larger forces challenged 1202 and 1506. A bunch of small fights developed in Federation space as I tried to clean things up a bit, and finally, I made an attempt on planet 2509, though there were enough non-reserve forces nearby to shut down some of my moves. The Romulans also sent their large West Fleet to 3509 again, which had had its last defenses knocked out last turn.


The Lyran’s turn in Hydran space.


Back into Kzinti space.


Activity, but not a lot else.


An important gap.

Naturally, the two Hydran reserves (four ships total) went to the only fight in Hydran space, while the Kzinti reserves went to 1202, though the DNLs that had been leading them stayed behind in the capital. The Gorn and Federation reserves on 2610 both went to the planet in 2509 (though he thought of sending the Gorns to 2011 to kill my crippled D6M in that combat). The Federation 2nd Reserve went to smash a small battle in 2207, and the rest were already pinned.

Battles:
4008: SSC: Gorn: dest POL
1611: SSC: Federation: crip FF; mutual retreat off of captured planet
1407: SSC: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingons recapture planet
1506: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingon capture planet
2207: Klingon: dest E4
2110: SSC: Klingon retreat
2011: SSC: Federation retreat
2609: SSC: Gorn: crip LTT
3213: SSC: Federation: dest NCL; Romulan: crip SKF
4208: Gorn: dest BATS; Romulan: crip SK, K5S
3212: Federation: dest ECL, crip FF, FFE; Romulan: crip SP, SK
3509: Federation: dest CA, crip 2xNCL, FF, FFE; Romulan: dest FHF
4206: Gorn: dest SB, DN, HDS, 2xBD, 2xDD, 2xDDG, crip 2xBC, TG, 3xHD, 5xBD, 5xDD, SC, K5 captured and expended for combat bonus; Romulan: dest SUP, SKE, 4xSEH, 2xKR, KRM, K5L, K5, K4, 4xWE, FAL, 2xSN, SNB, crip CON, FH, R-CLE, 9xSP, 2xSPF, KR, K5, 4xKE, 2xWE, CE, 2xBHE, BHF
2509: Federation: crip 2xNCL; Klingon: dest MD5
2510: Federation: dest NCL; Klingon: dest D6D
0416: Hydran: dest 2xPDU, DWE; Lyran: dest CW, 2xDW, crip DN
1202: Retreat after denied approach

My offensive towards 2509 included an over-ambitious strike by two D6s at a Gorn LTT+TPOD by itself in 2609. Byron simply reacted a CM into the hex for a slightly better force with a size advantage. But the rolls were 12 to 3, for the D6s to cripple the LTT for no damage, though they then retreated to 2510 to keep from being alone and cut off. The captain in charge of the strike will be promoted to squadron command in a D7C.

The battle for the SB went longer and bloodier than I had hoped (as ever). The Gorn fleet had a natural firepower superiority the entire way, and started with a large EW advantage that I kept to a -1 shift by killing the HDS. The Romulan fleet on the Gorn border is light on carriers, which aided the carnage, and die rolling was relatively even, though I had a 6-2 split late in the battle that certainly helped. It took six rounds to wear out the Gorn fleet and get him to take 6 voluntary SIDS. I then directed the last two SIDS and the crippled base over the next three. Thankfully, he got a minimal roll in pursuit so he couldn’t do more than kill the two big maulers. The Romulans will be very thin until the repairs get processed, and still thinner than I’d like with all the ship losses. But the Gorn fleet there is smashed (9 uncrippled ships, including 2xSAS), and the one on the other SB doesn’t have a lot of things it can immediately do.

Things are still bad, and the fact is, I’m unlikely to ever have another chance at the 3rd Fleet SB, which is way too close to too much. But, even if a bit late, the Romulans have managed another step towards the goal of pushing Gorn bases far away from the original frontier. There’s one border BATS left, and now only two of the backup bases remain.

No doubt, there will be increased pressure on the Romulans after this. But that hopefully means less Gorn involvement in the Fed-Klingon theater.

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Jun17

The Road to Erzurum

by Rindis on June 17, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Jason was over again on Thursday, and we tried out the Caucasus 1916 scenario from Osmani Harbi. I contemplated trying one of the other maps in the set, but decided to keep it simple by sticking with the area and sides we’d seen already. We kept the same sides (i.e., me as the Ottomans), which meant that Jason got to be on the attack this time.

This scenario starts in early January 1916 and runs to the beginning of May, and a special rule ensures that all but the final turn are in Winter conditions. The front has advanced back into Turkey, and the Ottoman forces are exhausted, with all but a couple infantry divisions down to one strength point, and the others still down to their 2-4 side. The Russians are generally at full strength, and have 40 supply split between four HQ. Victory this time depends on taking Erzurum and keeping demoralization down.


All those -1 markers are hiding Ottoman divisions that are down to 1-4.

Jason moved up methodically while I did some minimal reworking of the line, and late in the month he did two sharp attacks that killed depleted divisions and blew holes in the line. Worse, the division between the two attacks was stuck in place. (Der Weltkrieg features a number of places where familiar rules have an interesting twist. It has the usual ‘1 hex minimum move’, but forbids it if you’re going from enemy ZOC to enemy ZOC and the terrain cost is 4 or more, so mountains can really stick you). Isolated, he ended up surrendering.

I anchored the center part of my line in relatively clear ground, with a hex that was nearly surrounded by rivers. Jason second another round of attacks as January came to a close, eliminating an independent regiment near the flank, and drove me out of that position. But he was gobbling up 4-5 supplies per attack, and taking pretty noticeable losses himself.

I disbanded my three lost divisions (special rule for the Ottomans) to get an extra replacement point at the start of February. I used it to rebuild the destroyed regiment, and the normal two I got headed north to rebuild a division on the line. I also started building a trench in the next hex down the valley. I wasn’t sure I’d use it even if I completed it, since trenches and mountains don’t work together, and the hex could generally get mountain terrain against an attack. But better to have it than not.

Jason spent a decent amount of February getting new supplies and troops to the front while lining up his next attack, and I strengthened my position with a new fresh division and rebuilt another to full. He hit the next hex in the valley, driving me out of it before the trench completed, and getting him within two hexes of his goal.

The Russians get a lot of replacements in March (9 points above the usual monthly two), while I got a couple of HQs (only one with actual supplies) and another fresh division (the Ottoman reinforcements trickle in while the 11 Russian replacement points all arrive at the beginning of the turn). I naturally started entrenching in the final hex before Erzurum.

Of course, Jason didn’t really want to take that approach anyway. Erzurum is a very limited fortress. The strength of it is fine, but it only works against one hexside: the one that faces up the valley that the Russian advance had been moving up. So Jason’s next target was the north flank of my line, which had a full-strength 3-4 division in it. Towards the end of the month, he forced me out of the hex with losses, but the trench in the other hex completed.

Meanwhile, I’d been using the latest round of reinforcements and replacements to try and cause trouble on the southern flank. It had ground to a halt early (in fact, I think all activity was from me pulling back to keep pace with the rest of the line), and was held by a series of 1-strength units on both sides. While some strength did go to shoring up the position in front of Erzurum, I did end up with a pair of 3-4s slooowly moving into position on the weak flank.

Jason’s activity in April was partially consumed with reorganizing the very limited supplies left to him, which culminated on an attack north of Erzurum which failed to dislodge me. There wasn’t much left, but he was exhausted too, and there wasn’t enough time for one turn in May to make a difference. Meanwhile, I’d hit his flank three times, using up much of my available supplies. Since he wasn’t supplied the counter attacks were at strength 1, and he rolled horribly (1s) to not do any damage to me in the first two combats. I returned the favor by merely rolling poorly to do nothing to him. On the third try we finally hurt each other, knocking out a brigade and giving him a potential problem on that flank… if I had anything to follow it up with.

The game technically ended with an Ottoman Decisive Victory, but late in the day, we finally realized our major rules muff of the day. We’d forgotten that retreating defenders are only double strength instead of tripled. It’s hard to say exactly how much difference that made, the results chart is fairly flat in the numbers I was dealing with all day (especially with the mountain and winter +4 mods making the max result likely in most combats). Certainly the first few combats, I would have gone from strength 3 to 2, and that wouldn’t have affected anything. In the middle it’s hard to say. As it was, we were really close to 2:1 on Demorilization (~15 to ~32 by memory), so I count this as a Substantial Victory.

It’s hard to say how the Russians can do much better though. No matter what, it’s just really awful terrain to do anything but defend, and with the occasional movement problems, not always the best for that either. Even if he’d gotten that last hex, he was about out of supply, so attacking Erzurum itself was going to be a major problem.

I have to say, I’m starting to think these smaller scenarios are probably only good for 2-3 plays before being fairly exhausted (I could be missing something), but the next step up is generally a one-map ‘duration’ scenario that would be way too long. I wish I was seeing something more intermediate, like a full year.

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Jun09

Konya wa Hurricane Alliance Turn 15

by Rindis on June 9, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Konya wa Hurricane

The erosion of the Coalition position led to a hefty 30-point jump in the Alliance’s economy, with the Kzinti getting the most with a 12 EP jump, powered by the recovery of most of their provinces. This allowed for more robust shipbuilding, but specialty ships are still restricted to scouts and some replacement escorts.

Builds:
Federation: DNG, NCA, 12xNCL, 3xDW, 2xDWA, FFB, 11xFF, NCL->NSC, 2xFF->FFS, 2xDD->DE
Kzinti: NCA, 2xCM, LTT, DW, 3xFKE, FF, CM->MEC, EFF->FKE
Gorn: CCH, BC, CM, 3xHD, 2xBD, BDS, DD, FCR, 3xCC->CCH, CL->CCH
Hydran: TG, 2xTR, DWE, 4xCU, 2xHN

They Hydrans raided east Hydran space, picking off an F5, and crippling another, and also hit Lyran space to pick off a POL and disrupt the province. The Kzintis sent two raiders into Lyran space and disrupted provinces, while the Feds picked off an F5 in Kzinti space. A Fed DNL tried to pick off a couple out-of-supply Klingons in western Fed space, but a D6 joined them, and the DNL was only able to cripple an F5. Another DNL tried to take out a patrolling E4, and got a D7C in response, which fought it off (poor roll). The Gorns hit a couple Romulans patrolling Gorn space, and picked off a K4 while a SNB evaded.

The Hydrans did their standard move on the homeworld while pinning down the Lyran reserve force, and the Kzinti made another move against the Lyran border SB. The Federation naturally send the 4th Fleet against the remnant of the Klingon NE Fleet that was holding the major planet in Federation space. Further south, efforts were made to pin most Klingon forces, and send a good combined fleet against the fortified planet in 2715. The group holding the Klingon planet in 1611 mostly bugged out, and attempted to take NZ planet 1910. Byron apparently didn’t realize that the Lyran Fire Squadron was nearby and had no other business, so it reacted onto the planet, along with an adjacent D6, giving him a fight he was not equipped to win.

Early activity on the Romulan front concentrated on taking 3210 back, but a decent force moved on 3711 later, generating a series of separate fights, as various detached forces intercepted pieces of the move. Finally, the Gorns tried a thrust against the SB in 4812, but the 3rd Star Legion intercepted and pinned most of it, and the Gorns halted just inside the border.


The same old dance.


Kzinti expansion.


Throwing the Klingons back across the border.


Gnawing on the flanks.

The Lyran reserves naturally went to save the Kzinti border SB again, while the Klingons sent a reserve each to help 1105 and 2715. The 1st Reserve in 1312 was positioned so as to help in Hydran space if they started trying do more near the old border, and so merely sent two ships to fight on the Federation border. The Romulans sent two reserves to save 3711 from a combined Federation-Gorn force, and sent the third to BATS 4010.

Battles:
0918: SSC: Klingon: dest cripF5; Hydran: crip CU
0519: SSC: Klingon: dest F5, crip D6
1809: SSC: Federation: crip FF
0703: SSC: mutual retreat
0214: Lyran: dest CW; Hydran: crip 2xHN
0617: Klingon: dest F5V, E4A; Hydran: dest LN, capture capital
0404: Retreat after declined approach
0504: Lyran: dest DW; Kzinti: crip CM, cap DW
1105: Lyran: dest STL, crip DW; Klingon: dest C9A, FRD, crip D6M; Kzinti: dest MSC, 2xFKE, crip MEC, 2xCL
1404: Klingon: dest F5E, crip D5, AD5, F5; Kzinti: dest FKE, SAD, crip CM
2006: Klingon: crip 2xF5; Federation: crip CL
2307: Klingon: dest cripD6; Federation capture D6
2306: Klingon: dest F5L, E4V, E4A
1910: Lyran: dest DWE, DDG; Federation: dest CA, DW, crip NCL, FF
2010: Klingon: crip F5L; Federation: crip FF
2409: Klingon: dest D5, E4A, crip D6M; Federation: dest DE, crip CC
2711: SSC: Klingon: dest F5
2511: Klingon: dest 2xF5, F5J, crip D7C, AD5; Federation: dest NCL, FFE
2715: Klingon: dest BATS, E4, crip 4xD5, 3xF5; Federation: dest DE, SWAC, crip NCL, planet captured; Gorn: dest BC; crip 2xCM, CLE, 2xLTT, BDE
2814: Klingon: dest E4
3210: Romulan: dest KE, WE, crip FH; Federation: dest CA, crip 3xFF, capture planet
3711: Romulan: dest FHF; Gorn: dest HD, crip 3xBD
3710: Romulan: dest SN
3610: Federation: crip FF
3609: Romulan: dest SNB
4010: Romulan: dest SKE; Gorn: dest BDS, crip BD
4810: Romulan: dest K4, crip K7R, KE, WE; Gorn: dest HD, crip DDG

My surviving F5 from Hydran raids was picked off by a CU+POL pair, but he rolled a 12 to get some revenge and cripple the CU. Meanwhile, he’d sent a PGV and an independent fighter squadron (launched from 6xPOL…) against the garrison of 0519, and they rolled high to nearly get both ships there.

The battle over 1105 was extremely painful. Byron’s real goal was to kill the Klingon FRD sheltering there, but even with 12 points of Kzinti DB, I had a higher ComPot, though the Kzintis could shift me. All the Lyrans had to do was roll equal to the Kzinti to prevent the Kzintis from getting to the planet (and FRD), but rolled one less instead. Worse, the Kzinti did 36 to exactly kill the STL. For the second round, I brought out the C9A, in the hopes of lowering his ComPot enough that he couldn’t kill it and get the FRD. On three attempts the C9A rolled ‘6’ each time, doing absolutely nothing for its efforts. VBIR went down, and the Kzinti did 18 exactly to kill the C9A. And then the mauler shocked, and I lost a PT on a capture attempt. After he killed the FRD, I attempted to pursue to kill a couple of cripples, but failed on that. This was a battle that could have been really painful for the Kzinti (holding him to approach for three rounds would have put him dangerously low on fighters), but instead I lost the FRD and two specialty dreadnoughts for nearly no return.

Planet 2715 needed more defenses, so I had finally gotten around to putting a PDU there to supplement the BATS. I knew this would probably generate an attack to stop it, but failed to shift as many units over there as I had intended (I’m just short everywhere, and got cold feet on weakening the East Fleet over by the 3rd SB). So it got hit by a larger Fed/Gorn force than I had expected, and I didn’t really have a hope of defending it. Except that the first two rounds were 1-6 and 2-6, allowing me to drop a lot of damage on a fleet without any real backup fighters.

Coalition: 417.9 EP (x2) + 570 (bases) + 809 ships (/5) = 1729.4
Alliance: 363 EP (x2) + 485 (bases) + 770 ships (/5) = 1519

The Klingons have been having one disaster after another, and now the Coalition is in the low range for a Major Victory, with no end of the slide in sight. Next turn the entire Coalition goes to 75% economy, on top of the contraction caused by successful Alliance offensives. The Kzinti and Hydrans will also go down to 75%, but their economies are expanding, and the Federation, the real problem will still be at 100% for some time yet.

Worse, the Alliance is nearly at ship parity (…it sure doesn’t feel like it, he has more ships than I do at any point that’s important), and all fleets are continuing to get bigger, with the exception of the Klingons who have net lost ~10/turn for the last two turns.

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Jun05

The Road To Sarikamis

by Rindis on June 5, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Jason recently made it over for another FtF session last Thursday, and we finally tried out the copy of Osmani Harbi that I picked up nearly two years ago for cheap. Thankfully, we had some time to read through the rules before hand; I was having trouble fitting it all in my head at the same time, even though much of the system is nothing especially new.

I went with the 1915 Caucasus scenario to try it out because, 1) it’s the first one in the book, and 2) it looked to need fewer of the Osmanli-specific rules (since there’s no desert, and it uses the normal Winter turns instead of the Summer turns). With most of my knowledge of this part of WWI still coming from Pursuit of Glory, I needed the victory conditions to confirm that the Ottomans are on the offensive here (the general goals are to take Kars, Sarikamis, and be less demoralized than the Russians). A random roll gave me the Ottomans, and off I went!

The initial look at the situation didn’t seem promising. The Russians have already advanced slightly past the border, and are in good defensive terrain (then again, the terrain in the entire map isn’t good for much other than defense). It sure didn’t seem that I had enough on hand to mount a real offensive. But there were a few possibilities. My main moves were against the ends of the Russian line, and I tried one combat, against a one strength Armenian division, and only took a point of damage myself.

The idea of the defender getting a ‘counterattack’ in which their strength is tripled takes some getting used to. The actual point is to effectively build the combat system around the old idea of a 3-1 attack being equal odds, while using strength factors instead of odds calculations. But it really makes you pause on attacking, and feel it’s so unfair. I needed to remember, that at around 3-1 odds, both sides should take about equal losses, and there’s only a third as many defender to absorb them.

An interesting wrinkle is that it seems that the attacker only ever gets negative modifiers and the defender only positive ones. However, I was usually attacking in mountains, which has no (attacking) modifier, but halves the attacking SP. This gives the attacker the ability to get a wide range of results compared to being stuck with the low ones as some of the other heavy terrain causes.

Jason consolidated his line slightly on his turn and I tried again against the Armenian division, getting a 6-1 die roll to knock it out for no losses. The next turn I moved in on the slightly shorter line, and continued working my way around the west flank, and concentrated on the center. My big attack there had another good set of die rolls, and I pushed the Russians out of a hex.

With things going poorly on the flanks and the center, Jason started pulling back. I think he pulled back too much, and let me take ground while he was reorganizing, instead of trying to make me pay for it, even if he lost a couple units in the process. By the end of December I was repositioning some extra cavalry to continue trying to threaten cutting him off from Batu, and was close to Sarikamis itself.

We ended up calling the day early, but got halfway through January, and could have finished the month if other events hadn’t gotten in the way. Still, by that point there was probably going to be a lot less activity. I took Sarikamis in a large attack from the SE, which meant I was only facing broken ground. This in turn surrounded three 2-4 infantry brigades that ended up surrendering after a failed breakout.

I had a Substantial Victory pretty well in hand, but was rapidly running out of supply, so short of being handed a really tempting target, I was planning on settling on something near the current line and waiting it out. The Ottoman ability to not need supply for defense had already been handy a time or two, and meant that I could basically exhaust my supply while doing this. (To be sure, the Ottomans get less supply to compensate for this.)

We’re both pretty happy with the system so far, and we may be giving it another go soon.

Questions:

Can you inspect enemy stacks? You can’t inspect the supply status on the charts (that is stated), but can you inspect the contents on on-map stacks? (I think you can, but an explicit statement eludes me.)

The depots on the map have no supply points listed, are they supposed to be empty? (I’m pretty sure that’s a yes, but stating ‘0’ in the scenario would have been preferable.)

There’s one railhead marker on the map, which makes it clear where that line ends. The scenario rule about ‘rail lines in Russia’ implies that the branch out to Tabriz exists. Does it stop at the Russian border (i.e., not go in Persia, and not reach the Tabriz depot) too?

Is there anything for the two engineer units in the scenario to do other than perhaps allow a HQ to move into a trench?

A 1-4 unit has (1)-4 on the reverse. Does flipping it resolve a SP of losses? Does removing it after being flipped also satisfy an SP of losses?

Can you supply some units for an attack, but not others? Or can you only provide supply on an ‘all-or-nothing’ basis? (Probably not ‘all-or-nothing’, as supporting a breakout attack is already an exception.) Can you just supply by number of strength points? i.e., provide 5 supply for a 21-point attack, which would then become a 20+0.5*1 attack or 20 SP.

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Jun01

City Fight

by Rindis on June 1, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Patch has been fairly distracted lately by other parts of his life, so for our latest game, we went for one of the simpler scenarios from Up Front, and simple sides—German vs Russian.

I had the Germans, and split my squad into two teams, with B taking most of the better members, the LMG, and the DC, while the SL led A. Patch split his Russians up into four groups, A had his five best guys and the DC, B had five second-best, including the LMG-toting ASL, and C had three morale 3 guys, and D had the last two morale 2 guys. (I’m giving the Fire Strength and all the modifiers that applied to attacks; a ‘C’ refers to a concealment card played on it.)

There was no pre-game terrain, and I led by putting Wire on Patch’s B, which he immediately Moved off of. I Fired anyway at his A (1), which failed to do anything, and I realized just how high-quality his guys there were. I then Moved B up to range 1, and into Buildings (-3), and they then Fired at his B (2; -3C) to pin one man.

Patch finally acted after that, Moving his D up to range 1, and my B immediately Fired on them (3+1), pinning both, while my A Moved forward. Patch put a Brush on my A, and I accepted it. He then put a Wire on my B, but I had no movement available. Then his D went to ground in Brush, and then Rallied, making them the best-protected group he had. My B Fired at his B (3-1), and pinned two men, who were immediately Rallied, while his A and C Moved up. I Moved my A up while he was busy, Patch’s men all halted in open ground, while mine took a Hill.

From my hilltop, I Fired at his A (4+1; -3C), and pinned one man while malfunctioning a machine pistol. (I’ll note the cards were poor enough that I still wouldn’t have outright killed anyone on Strength 5 without the concealment. In fact, I would have only pinned two.) Patch immediately Rallied, and I permanently broke the machine pistol, leaving me with only four weapons in the group. After a pause, my A Fired on his again (3+1), pinning three men. Patch Rallied 2 of them, and his group B finally moved up and into Buildings (-3).

My Sniper pinned a man in his B, and his A Fired at my A (1-1), doing nothing. A little later, his B Fired at my A (3-1; -1C), pinning two men, including the weaponless one, who were immediately Rallied. Patch finally Rallied All to get his men in A and B up again, while I finally Moved off the Wire on my B. Then his A Fired at my A (2-1; -1C) to pin two men, and followed up with Fire from his B at the same group (1-1), to do nothing. I Rallied my two men.

Patch started trying to Entrench all his men out in the open, but didn’t have any immediate success. His B Fired on A (1-1) to pin one man. Reminded that the rest of his men were out there, and relatively low morale, my A Fired on his C (2+1) to pin one man. Wire appeared on the hill to complicate things there. A second attempt Entrenched Patch’s D. Fire from his B at my A (1-1+1; -2C) did nothing, and I finally Rallied the pinned man there. Patch finally Entrenched his groups A and C. His B Fired at A again (2-1+1; -2C), pinning two men, who were immediately Rallied.

Patch’s D Moved up to range 3, and my B Fired at his A (2-1; -1C) to do nothing (I had forgotten about his D, or else I might have fired on them). D stopped in open ground again, and now I Fired on it from B (3) to pin them both, and from A (4) to Rout one man. Patch Rallied the remainder, and then Moved him laterally into Brush. The Russian Sniper failed to do anything to my Group B, who then finally Moved off of the Wire. Patch’s D re-entrenched. My B Fired on his B (3-3) and pinned two men, then my A Fired on B (2+1-3) to pin another man and panic one of the pinned ones, at the cost of the SL malfunctioning his machine pistol. Patch rallied the rest, and then, after my Sniper tried to hit that group, they eliminated him.

Patch’s A Moved forward, and my B fired on them (1+1), pinning two right before they ducked into Buildings (+3). His B then Fired on A (1-1) pinning on one man, then A Fired on them (4-1; -3C) for no effect. My next turn saw the SL in A permanently break his weapon. Patch Rallied his men in A, followed by me doing the same. Patch’s Sniper had no effect on my B. Patch’s B Fired on my A again (3-1; -3C) for no effect. My B Fired at his A (4-3; -1C) for no effect. A little later, my A Fired on his C (1+1-1) to pin one man, followed by my B Firing on them (2-1) to rout the pinned man. Patch’s A Fired on my A (5-1; -2C) to pin two men, followed by his B at my A (2-1) to pin the other three men, and routed one. I Rallied everyone, but Group A was down to four men, with only two serviceable weapons (both rifles), for fairly minimal firepower.

My A Fired on C (1+1-1) to pin one man, and B followed up at the same (2-1) to pin the other. The next turn, B Fired on his C again (2-1) panicing one man, and then Patch Rallied the remaining one. My B then Fired on his A (3-3) to pin one man, and followed it up with the same next turn (3-3; -1C) to do nothing other than malfunctioning another machine pistol. Patch’s A Fired on my A (4-1) to pin one man, and then his B followed up (1-1) for no effect. I Rallied A, and the weapon in B repaired (for once!). Patch Rallied his man in A.

With my Group A being relatively exposed, and lacking in useful firepower, I put Smoke on the hill, and discarded Wire onto Patch’s B, but he immediately Moved off of it. My B Fired on his A (3+2+1-3), and killed one man outright. Patch’s A Fired at my A (2-1-1), to pin one man, and then Fired B at my A (4-1-1) routing the pinned man (taking his weapon with him), and pinning another. I Rallied the pinned man. More Wire showed up on my Group B. And a couple turns later, I put Wire on Patch’s Group A.

Patch’s A Fired on my A (3-1-1-1) to pin two men, and followed up with Fire from his B (5-1-1) to panic one man and pin the remaining good order one. I Rallied the survivors, which were the SL and the one man still with a weapon (in fact, he was the last casualty of the game, and he was the first person who broke his weapon; despite starting with a Morale of 2, Patch had generally drawn low RNC against him). I Moved off the Wire in B, followed by Patch Moving off his Wire.

Patch’s B Fired on my A again (4-1-1) to pin the SL, who I immediately Rallied. My B Fired on his A again (1+1+1-3) for no effect. Patch’s A Fired on my A (3-1-1) for no effect. And after a few more discard rounds, the game ended at the finish of the third deck. Patch won with 4 guys in Group A at Range 2 in Buildings (8 VP), 4 guys in Group B at Range 1 in Buildings (4 VP), two routs (2 VP) and a kill (2 VP) for a total of 16 VP. I had 5 guys in in Group B at Range 1 in Buildings (5 VP), one rout (1 VP), and 4 kills (8 VP) for 14 VP.

Afterword

Patch had a pretty good plan with four groups and an obvious desire to move up and get into good ranges, with the low morale guys way out on the flank where it was harder to reach them. However, he hardly saw any terrain cards at all in the early going, which is what kept him stopping in open ground regularly. I had planned to move around more than I did early on, but once again got choked with a lack of Movement cards. The three Moves to Range 1 and 2 in my two groups, plus getting rid of a Wire or two represents every Movement card I saw until about halfway through deck 2. It’s a good thing I didn’t try a three group setup (which was considered), as I’d never have managed to get all three into motion. I did have some movement possibilities at the end, and if I’d discarded slightly different, might have gotten my nearly useless Group A into a Gully for the final ~1/4 deck of the game.

The dominating thing for me in this game were the weapon failures in Group A. It really left me with one effective group for the final deck or so, though it still managed some effective fire thanks to the +1 strength bonus. The lack of movement kept Group B at Range 1, and meant I never had a chance at the higher power cards, though I could manage 8-12 firepower at various groups.

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May12

Two Rounds of Chaeronea

by Rindis on May 12, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

There’s been some delays on getting something bigger going, so Patch and I did another round of Commands & Colors: Ancients a couple weeks ago. This time was the Battle of Chaeronea from Expansion #6. It confirms my comments on the previous battle, as it features an allied Greek army with a good number of MH blocks (with the Sacred Band as a special heavy), while the Macedonians are heavies with good leadership and two units of Companion Cavalry (MC that can ignore one flag and one sword).

I had the Macedonians in the first play, and led with Darken the Sky to kill one unit outright (two hits on the first roll, and a pair of banners, which forced the light to try to retreat through his solid line), while forcing another light back, and doing a block to a third. Patch Ordered Three Right to pull in that flank while I Ordered Light to move up some units and do more ranged fire, which drove back another light. Patch got his lights in motion with Move-Fire-Move which did no damage.

I firmed up my center, and Patch Out Flanked me to bring the Special Band in contact with my skirmishers, who evaded for no damage, while he drove off an Aux on the other flank. I moved up my right twice, while Patch skirmished some more and then used a Line Command to start the real engagement. Patch did two blocks to two heavies, and drove one off the line, but lost a MH outright, and took two blocks on an Aux in return.

I used Inspired Center Leadership to bring in the bulk of my unengaged line, and knocked out a MH and the wounded Aux, while taking two blocks in return (even with a muffed First Strike), while one of my Auxes did nothing and was driven back with one loss. Patch used another Line Command to move up the still-intact right half of the army; an Aux and LC traded blocks, while the Sacred Band did three blocks to a heavy and took two and two banners in return. He failed to take out a 1-block heavy, and lost two in return, and then lost an intact MH after doing one block to another heavy. I used Leadership any Section on my left to surround an isolated Aux and took him out on one hit and two banners. 6-0

For the second game, Patch started with Order Lights to establish a continuous line and knock one of my lights to the baseline on two banners. I Ordered Two Center to close up the gap between my right and center, and Patch moved closer across the front with Line Command. I Counterattacked, moving closer to a collision while linking up with my left flank. Patch rearranged a couple units, and I Out Flanked him, forcing a couple units to evade, and doing a block to a heavy while taking two in return, and doing three blocks to an Aux that knocked my left-flank MH back a hex.

Patch Ordered Mediums to bring up the Companions, knocking the Sacred Band back a hex, and taking out the weakened MH and attached leader. I Ordered Two Left to finish off the Aux, Patch attempted some archery to no effect, and I Ordered Four Left, doing two damage to a heavy, but lost MH completely, and a block on another. Patch Ordered Three Center to engage the center of the lines, knocking out an Aux, doing three hits on an MH and knocking another two hexes back, and taking two hits on each of two heavies in return.

I did a Coordinated Attack to finish off a heavy, do a block to a Companion, and do one hit on a two-block heavy. The battleback did three hits to eliminate the MH, and the leader went with him. 2-6

Afterword

The Macedonian heavies are certainly doing a great job dominating the Greek medium hoplites. It didn’t help that Order Mounted and Mounted Charge did not, for a change, come up in either battle. I had really hot dice in the first game, to knock Patch out before he could get going despite me having some card issues. My dice went cold during the second game, which kept me from taking out a couple more units, but the real problem was the leader losses. Without them, the right flank was still in good shape, and Patch was having trouble in the center, though overall the odds were still with him.

Again, this was a pretty fast pair of fights; most of the terrain just squeezes in the flanks, keeping things straightforward. Though the marshes may have become important if I’d done more on the right.

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