HF6 Jackpot Jones

by on March 18, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After our time in sunny southern France, Patch and I returned to Hatten, where there’s snow on the ground, and not that many Flames. I took the defending Americans, and regretted it, as I didn’t see any great way to hold the Germans off for five and a half turns.

The Americans are trying to hold the area around “the fort” with nine squads and three M18s (and 9-1 AL Jones). The main setup area only extends three hexes west of the victory area, so there’s not a lot of room to work with. To the north, there’s five hexes, largely orchard and a couple of wooden buildings, as opposed to the stone buildings to the west. Two of the M18s can set up HIP in orchards, or can enter on turn 1. I set up two behind the main area of defense for late-game surprises, with the third (w/Jones) to enter. Two MTRs were set up to cover the north orchard. Two “?” were at the north limit in buildings, with a HS at the corner of the allowed area, and a squad in D20, who should escape into the orchard, and fire on any halftracks that try driving around my rear. G17 and K21 got Dummies, while the main west line had two squads and a BAZ. Two MMGs were sited in K20 and I21. Mistake: I forgot to set up boresighting.

The Germans have twelve squads, two Pz IVs, a Panther, and two 250 HTs. While they have good tools, they do need to take all but one location in the victory area. Or all but two, if they have more functioning AFVs. This keeps them a bit careful about HT rushes, as losing them would be a 3-3 tie; on the other hand, the tank destroyers can only take on the Panther from side or rear, and I know Patch isn’t about to let that happen. They all enter on turn 1, with an extensive entry area.

Patch entered in two large groups, one to the west, and one aimed at the NW corner. To my surprise, he stopped to search in B20 (later, I was thinking that D21, just outside his search area, would have been a good backup to the squad in D20). I had no fire, but Patch poured everything he had into D17 with no result.


Situation, German Turn 1, showing the full board. North is to the left.
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Echoes of Betrayal

by on March 14, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The third Paladin’s Legacy book picks up with a nice bit of action, dealing with Arvid and shenanigans around a necklace that seems part of a deep, dark, legacy. He is not part of the most central plot line, and never gets a chance to interact with the other major plots, which do tangle with each other. He gets lost in the big ensemble cast.

Which is more a pointer to the fact that we’re in the middle of a big overarching story, as opposed to an independent book. Arvid’s arc does flow out of events in the previous book, and on those occasions we return to it, chronicle a person in the middle of a very personal arc, which make his sections memorable and a good read. It’s also quite evident that this will come back to the main events elsewhere soon, probably in the next book.

Meanwhile, the big events of the major plot (Lyonya and the elven court) and its adjunct (Tsaia and the Verrakaien) take up the bulk of the novel. The former part tends to feel like the wheels are spinning, as Kieri doesn’t have enough information to understand just what is wrong, and the cryptic warnings he has gotten. Movement is slow, but some things are learned, providing progress.

The opposite is rather true on Dorrin’s side of things. We don’t really get any more information, but much of the action of the novel (outside of Arvid) comes out of this secondary plot. We find that rooting out the Verrakaien is going to be a much harder and messier job than might have been originally thought. This might be backwards progress, but I get the sense that these two major problems are tied together more tightly than it appears.

At any rate, there is a definite ‘middle novel’ syndrome here, but I think I overall found it moved better than Kings of the North, and I am enjoying the entire ride as much as the original novels.

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Fury in the Wilderness

by on March 10, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

After trying A Most Dangerous Time, Mark and I turned our attention to the recent Rebel Fury from GMT. We picked the Wilderness scenario, since that’s always been an interesting battle, and I’ve tended to gravitate to it for the tactical side of the ACW ever since it was the first scenario when my dad got SSG’s Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Volume III.

Mark had the Confederates, who get six moves before going to the game’s standard back-and-forth on moves. Personally, I think he should have come into contact with Griffin (a)’s division (though that would chew up three moves), and lock up the entire Union army [generally, units are divisions in this game, but this scenario breaks almost all of them into two parts—a and b]. Instead, he got a small line in place further down the Orange Turnpike, Hampton’s cavalry guarding the flank (needed either way), and started down the Orange Plank Road.

As it turned out, this gave me enough rope to hang myself. Before Mark could decide to gum up the works, I got Griffin’s division through to back up Wilson at Parker’s Store. When I sent Barlow’s division from the Chancellorsville position south to secure the goal, F(itzhugh) Lee got in the way, and ended up separating the two parts of the division. I got Wadsworth through and facing off against Rodes, and Getty inched forward into contact with Johnson, who was getting close to the Germanna Ford. There was a nice gap in the marching order, and Mark finally dived into it.

Early a went forward, and Crawford a moved into contact, and then Early b went through the gap, and I protected the Culpeper Mine Ford with part of Wright. The not-engaged part of Rodes then took off into the gap, and I should have moved Torbet to protect Ely’s Ford, but instead moved Wright into contact.

The strategic goal for the Confederates is to take out one or more of the pontoon bridges at the fords. Once that’s done, it’s a strategic victory for them, and I’d basically been fool’s mated into it. Not that we realized that at the time. It’s Mark’s game, so I didn’t have the victory conditions to read and re-read (I merely thought I couldn’t achieve a strategic victory). Also, the language around taking down a pontoon bridge confused us (“can be voluntarily removed … as its entire activation during a Movement Phase“; had us thinking of needing to be there for the full phase—instead it seems to be saying it can’t activate to demolish during battle, which wouldn’t have occurred to us). We played on, even after realizing that Rodes had the opportunity to get the pontoon bridge. (Well… perhaps not: I move as close as I can—ZOI, Rodes switches to battle formation, blowing his move, then I move into contact, and you can’t do it while in ZOC. Still, I blew it there.)

After all that, the Confederates were somewhat short of new divisions to go on long treks with, and Mark passed, leaving me 19 (the maximum possible) moves to finish up my dispositions.


All images are right after movement is done for the turn.
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A Wicked War

by on March 6, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

This book gave me a bad impression early on when the introduction states, “All the land taken from Mexico, historians now acknowledge, could have been acquired peacefully through diplomacy and deliberate negotiation of financial recompense.”

That’s a rather big pill to swallow. David M. Pletcher did indeed make this argument in a 1975 book (footnoted in this text), but I’m not sure how many people would agree with him, especially in 2012, when this book was written. And in fact, in the main part of the book, when Greenberg gets to it, she acknowledges that just paying Mexico for a huge swathe of its territory was pretty much impossible. Sadly, there’s also no direct engagement with the contention implied in A Country of Vast Designs that Polk was attempting to get a peaceable settlement by playing the same game of brinkmanship that he pulled off with Great Britain over the Oregon Territory. (Admittedly, the other only came out four years before this book, which would be a fairly short turn around time to talk directly to that idea.)

What we do have is an attempt to look at the Mexican-American War through the viewpoints of five people. The problem is only two were directly involved (one killed in action, and one forced through the treaty of Guadalupe Hildago), two peripherally involved, and while Polk was central to the war, he was also physically a long way away from it. So, if you want to understand the actions of the war itself, this book isn’t a great place to go, and when it is talking about that, it’s actually detracting from central parts of her book.

Greenberg is much more critical of James Polk than Merry’s Country of Vast Designs (fine enough), but you also don’t get to know nearly as much about him here, and she could really have used a better look at just how disruptive Buchanan’s actions in the cabinet were.

John Hardin is the surprise star of the book. He was a successful Illinois politician, who’s falling out with Lincoln could have permanently derailed Lincoln’s career. But he gave up his position to support patriotic fervor and went to war. His regiment was shot to pieces at Buena Vista, and he returned home for a state funeral.

Nicholas Trist pretty much single-handedly held the peace process together, and against Polk’s orders produced a treaty that no one could refuse. Merry’s book is longer and more detailed in general, so his treatment of Trist is similarly more detailed there, but there’s plenty here too.

Henry Clay’s involvement in the book is about as outsized as his entire career was. While there’s a lot of attention on the personal side, he’s also part of the political anti-war movement that Polk stirred up with his heavy-handed actions against Mexico. I would have liked to see a bit more coverage on that, though what we get is good.

Abraham Lincoln is the least present of the five people focused on in the book, despite being one of the three to make the cover blurb. There’s no accounting for fame. That said, the end of the book very much leans on him, presenting a speech from Clay that Lincoln attended on his slow way east to take his seat in the House of Representatives. Lincoln had generally stayed away from the subject of the Mexican-American War, and had concentrated his political energies on economic matters. But after this point, he becomes one of the more fiery anti-war persons in the House, making some fame with his “Spot Resolutions” (if Mexico attacked Taylor’s army on American soil, show me the spot on which it happened). The stance may well have sunk what few chances Lincoln had in politics in the short term, but also seems the start of the more morally involved career we see later.

In all, this does add up to a fairly good book. The parts do generally weave together well, and there’s a lot here, even if a lot of it doesn’t get very well developed. If you’re interested in the war itself, look elsewhere, but this shows a lot of the tensions the war generated in the United States.

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Two Rounds of Bruttium

by on March 2, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

After the failed defense in southern France, Patch and I did our between games round of Commands & Colors Ancients. We’re in the later part of Spartacus’ rebellion, with the Battle of Bruttium. The Romans have a nice wall, but it’s not well manned, and there is enemy cavalry behind it (in woods) already. There’s a ditch in front of the wall, which stops movement, but does nothing else. Also, Sparticate foot units can exit the Roman side of the board for banners.

I started the first game with a slave Mounted Charge, nearly killing a LB with two retreats and two hits, and doing a block to a LC, but taking two hits on a LC in return. Patch Ordered Mediums to finish off my LC and chase off another. I Ordered Lights to finish off his LB, and do a block to another. Patch used Mounted Charge to shift left and chased off my only LC still behind the wall. Order Two Right only got me a couple casualties, and Patch chased me off his flank by calling I Am Spartacus. I Counter Attacked (8 dice!) to order five units, moving up some Warriors and doing one block with ranged combat. Patch Ordered Lights to trade a block each.

I used Leadership Any Section to rush the wall, and did three blocks to an Auxilia. Patch Coordinated an Attack to pull him back, and move up replacements. I Ordered Four Right to consolidate at the wall, and drove off a Medium. Patch Double-Timed to get more guys at the wall, but not where I was, and I moved up with Order Two Center. Patch Darkened the Sky to force a couple retreats and finish off a LC. Inspired Center Leadership got me into contact, and a couple Warriors over the wall, but I took slightly heavier losses than I gave. Patch struck back with Line Command to finish off a Warrior, but lost a Medium in return. Leadership Any Section got me to the wall over to my left, drove off a LB, but took one more block than I did again. Order Two Center let Patch join a leader with a new unit, who finished off a weak Medium. Order Mediums let me bring up a good number of fresh units, and I finished off four different units for the win. 6-4

In the second game, Patch opened with Order Lights and brought up a couple units on his right, and did one block at range. I Move-Fire-Moved to stiffen my left, while Patch approached the ditch with Order Three Left, and chased off a LB. I then Double Timed Mediums into that part of the wall, and Patch shifted slightly with another Order Three Left. Mounted Charge mixed things up on my left, and we each lost a LC to banners. Double Time did two blocks each to an Auxilia and LB, while also chasing off my LC. I started towards the left wall with Inspired Center Leadership, but could only do two blocks damage.

Patch came into contact with Order Three Center to destroy two Mediums, and a hit to a LB while taking three blocks across two units. Order Two Center nearly lost me a weak Auxilia, but I finished off a Medium, and sent Spartacus running back outside the walls. Line Command got him into the ditch, doing three hits to an Auxilia in return for one each on two units. I used Line Command to shuffle the defense over a hex, doing three blocks to a Warrior who retreated along with an Auxilia. Patch Ordered Three Center to regain the ditch, finished off a weak LB, wiped out a MC, and finished off my Auxilia. 3-6

Afterword

Both games finished very suddenly with multiple units going down in one turn. The combined fortification and and woods make for a very unusual battlefield, and I like how that works out. I think seeing the ditch for a Roman camp stop movement is something that needs to show up more often. For one thing, it really focused attention on the wall, since an enemy can’t just get through an empty space, and (with cards) get a chance to react.

The action was fast and furious, but didn’t see a complete collapse anywhere. Patch commented how I was closing up gaps as fast as he made them in the second game, and I was trying to hold cards to do a few things like that. But, just couldn’t bring enough force bear to hold him off.

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