Antigonus the One-Eyed

by on March 10, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

One of my interests for some time has been getting a better idea of just what happened after Alexander the Great’s death. Often that time period ends up ignored or summarized until Rome comes on the scene. So a book on one of the primary Successors was of decided interest, and the fact that it was by a person who I’d read prior books by only helped.

Despite the fact that this is technically about one person, it is a work of military history, not biography. While it does give as much of Antigonus’ life as is available from the sources, there’s no real attempt to draw from the somewhat sparse records any detailed sense of what he was like. The bulk of the book concerns itself with Antigonus’ campaigns, which did occupy the bulk of his life. In addition, we get some idea of what the other Successors were doing, including in the period right after Alexander’s death, when Antigonus is away from central events, just acting as a governor.

The subtitle ‘Greatest of the Successors’ doesn’t get all that well justified. Certainly, at his high mark, he was by far the most powerful of the Successors, and could draw in a lot of money as tribute/taxes. But it didn’t last long. The Battle of Ipsus killed him, and broke the power of his kingdom, leaving his son, Demetrius (who also gets a lot of attention in this book) to carry on. While he survived, it wasn’t until his son that a stable kingdom formed, and while it had the prestige of being Macedona itself, that wasn’t even part of Antigonus’ kingdom. Now this is more a case of great power attracting great enemies, but it still falls short of the lasting impact of Ptolemy or Seleucus.

Still, it’s a good book that does a good job of trying to put together the chronology of a confusing time (sometimes called the ‘Macedonian Soap Opera’), and comes with decent maps of the action in all the major battles described.

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Block Clearing—Offense

by on March 6, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Patch and I decided to go for a game of Up Front after our big SFB adventure, and again went for the next scenario in line, G “Block Clearing”. One side sets up with a group already in a -3 Building, and some anti-tank weaponry, while other has a squad and an AFV, and must score twice as many VPs as the first side to win. Also, only the defending side can use Sniper cards. I had attacking Americans (with a Sherman and the higher-morale leaders) against Patch’s defending Germans (who have a couple MP 38-armed men in place of standard 98ks, and a pair of PFs). I’m afraid I had a lot of screw ups this time, which we eventually sorted out. (I’m giving the Fire Strength and all the modifiers that applied to attacks; a ‘C’ refers to a concealment card played on it.)

Patch set up in two groups, with the LMG and six men in Group B, which was in the start Building. One PF was in each group, so I split my infantry into to equal groups in A and B, and put the Sherman in Group C, where it was a little further away from one of the PFs, and could concentrate on the larger German group. Neither of us had any additional starting terrain, and Patch started off by Moving Group B closer. The Sherman Fired its MGs at Group A (2) to pin one man. Patch immediately Rallied him and Group B moved into a new -3 Building. I tried more fire, with A Firing at Group B (3 – 3), and pinned three men with good cards, and followed up with more MG Fire from the Sherman at B (5 – 3 – 1C), and pinned two more men, but couldn’t affect the guys already down.

Patch Rallied 2 of his men, and put some Smoke on Group A for protection. I continued pounding Group B with my B Firing (2 – 3) for no effect other than blowing away the smoke, and the Sherman Fired (4 – 3 – 2C), but malfunctioned the MG to halt the attack midway through. Patch Moved up A, and I followed suit, and Patch moved up onto a Hill, and took a Sniper shot at the Sherman, getting a KIA to kill the commander and force it to button up. (This was really bad this early in the game, but I didn’t always remember to apply the commander modifiers on top of the button up.)

I finished my move into -3 Buildings, and repaired the Sherman’s MG. I tried putting some Wire on Patch’s B, but he immediately Moved off of it. Patch finally opened Fire on my Group B (2 – 1) to pin one man. I Rallied him immediately, and kicked the Sherman into gear to Move to Range 1. Patch finally Rallied the rest of his B, and the Sherman parked in an open field. The plan was to use the Sherman as cover for B when they moved up, but Patch put some Wire on B before they could get started.

The Sherman opened up with MA at B (TH 0), but missed. Patch Fired his B at my B (2 + 1 – 3C), and pinned two men. I Rallied them, and Fired the Sherman’s MA at his B (TH 0-1), and missed again. Patch Fired his B at B again (3 + 1), and pinned the entire group. I Rallied All. Patch Fired his B at my B for the third turn in a row (2 + 1 – 2C), but had no effect, though he did place a Wire on my Group A.

I finally Moved my Group B off their exposed position on the wire. Patch Moved his Group A forward again, and I discarded a Stream onto them. I then Moved both of my infantry groups, getting A off the wire, and finally moving B up to Range 1, and following up with a Wall the next turn.

After that, we had several turns of discards before Patch Fired his B at B (3 – 2) again for no effect. I responded with Firing the MA at his B (TH 0-1) for another miss. After another couple turns of discarding, the MA fired at his B again (TH 0-1) for a hit (4 – 3; it should have had a +1 FS from the hit, but we missed that rule for a while) that pinned one man.

Patch Forded the stream on Group A, and my A Fired on them (1 + 1 – 1C) for no effect. They then occupied some -2 Buildings. The Sherman fired the MA at B again (TH 0-1) for a Hit (4 – 3) to pin two more people. Patch Rallied them all.

I Smoked my Group B before Moving them up to Range 2. Patch Fired on them with his Group B (5 – 2-1+1 – 1C) and pinned two men. They slipped into -3 Buildings before more fire came their way. Patch did Fire on them again with his Group B (4 – 3 – 2C) for no effect. I then Rallied my two men before Patch Fired again (1+3 – 3) to pin one man again. The next turn, Patch Fired B at B again (5 – 3) pinning the rest of the group. I Rallied the group, and Moved up the Sherman to lend a little more protection. It parked in the open again, and then reacquired Group B with the MA (TH 0-1; miss). Patch made another try at Firing on my Group B (2+2 – 3-1), pinning two men again. After a turn, I was able to Rally them, and the Sherman Fired on Patch’s B again (TH 0-2), and hit (4 – 3), pinning everyone but the LMG and his crewman (I slipped up here and read the MG firepower at this range (5) instead of the MA effect (4), but it made no difference to the results). And Patch immediately Rallied them.

I tried discarding some Wire on Patch’s Group B, but he immediately Moved them off it. Then I Fired the MA at Group B again (TH 0-2) and hit (4 – 3) to pin the LMG assistant, who was immediately Rallied. The Sherman Fired again (-1C; TH 0-1) and missed (thanks to the Concealment; that was nearly a hit at +2 FS). Patch then Fired his A at my Group A (3 – 3), pinning one man, who I Rallied.

I started the Sherman on a lateral Move, and promptly found a Stream, which I Forded before parking it on a Hill. A Sniper shot at my Group B, but did nothing. Patch’s Group B Fired at my A (4 – 3), but did nothing more than malfunctioning a rifle. The Sherman reacquired Group B again (TH 0-1), and hit (4 – 3) to pin four people. Group B followed that up by Firing at his B (4 – 3 – 2C), and routed one man. My Group B took another Sniper shot, but there was no effect. The Sherman Fired the MA at B again (TH 0-2) and hit (4 – 3 + 2), killing two pinned men (including the LMG assistant) and pinning another. The next turn, the Sherman Fired again (TH 0-2) and hit again (4 – 3 + 2), pinning the only GO man left in B, and killing another.

At this point, Patch decided it was past time to try and take out the Sherman (it was) despite the odds, and played a Hero card on the man with the PF in Group B, and took the shot (H+1; TH 0-1; black only for HD), but missed. I’d taken the position on the hill purely for the HD, and recent events showed why I thought he needed to try for it even with the normal 0 TH odds (which were also true for Group A firing at it).

The next turn, Patch Rallied his LMG. The Sherman shifted its Fire to Group A to have more people to possibly affect (TH 0-1), and hit (4 – 2 +1), pinning one man. Patch put his remaining rifleman as the crew to the LMG in Group B, and Fired at my A with his (3 – 3) for no effect. The next turn, his B Fired at my A (3 – 3), pinning one man. I Rallied him, and the Sherman Fired at his Group A again (TH 0-2), but missed. Patch Fired his B at Group A (2 – 3) and pinned three men. The Sherman Fired on his A (-1C; TH 0-1) and hit (4 – 2) for no effect. Group B followed up (5 – 2), routing the pinned man, and pinning another.

The action slowed a lot as we searched for good cards. I placed Wire on his Group A, and Patch Rallied the pinned man in the group. The Sherman Fired again (-1C; TH 0-1) and missed, and Patch Moved off the wire. I Rallied two men in my Group A. A Sniper shot at my Group A and missed. My Group B Fired on his A (2+1 – 2) for no effect. His B Fired at my A (1 – 3) for no effect. I Rallied my last pinned man in A. A Sniper pinned my Squad Leader in Group A.

I didn’t want to waste a Rally 4 just on him, but after a couple turns used it because the hand limit was a problem. But in the meantime, Group B Fired at his A (4 – 2 – 1), but did nothing other malfunction a rifle. It was repaired at the same time as my rally. The Sherman Fired on A again (TH 0-2) and hit (4 – 2 + 2), pinning two men. Group A followed up with more Fire (2+1 – 2) but had no effect. Patch Rallied both of them. I tried putting Wire on his Group A again, but they immediately Moved off it again. The Sherman Fired on Group A again (TH 0-2) and hit (4 – 2 + 2), and killed a man, ending the game as Patch was under half his original force.

Afterword

I’d actually saved up three more Fire cards, and had finally gotten a Hero. I’d been wanting one since early on to get the Sherman Crew Exposed again, but now was saving it to double the BAR’s firepower the next time I got a big Fire card. If Patch had survived the Sherman’s shot, I would have done a 1+1+3 attack on him (needing 9 firepower) to hopefully finish it.

The ability of ordnance to just throw otherwise useless Fire cards downrange is really nasty, especially if you can get a bonus to the Fire Strength from the hit. Even better, they aren’t as likely to malfunction, as only the To Hit draw can malfunction the gun. The Sherman also has a MG factor that’s really nasty, and was pounding Patch until that Sniper. That forced me to use the MA a lot more than I would have otherwise.

The entire middle part of the game devolved into a stalemate. A scenario that removes Woods cards instead of Buildings allows for much tougher terrain, and we had a hard time getting through the cover available. As things sorted out, I was at 15 VP to his 13 (for groups in cover; his forward group was the smaller one). But then I got a streak with good RNCs, and Patch’s Group B came apart. At that point, it was 22 VP to 10, so I had a likely win, but wanted to shut him down before he could get lucky. Which he did at one point. Thankfully I was able to recover before he could do anything permanent to my Group A.

We had enough fun with this that we’re going to turn it around and play it again. I need to figure out how to deal with his tank.

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The Seventh Bride

by on March 2, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

“T. Kingfisher” is a pseudonym for Ursula Vernon’s more ‘grown up’ books, but The Seventh Bride is really more Young Adult in my eyes. Certainly, the level of writing is still in that area (that’s not bad, the book just isn’t that horrendously complex or deep). However, setting it apart from more kids-oriented books is a good idea, there’s a few things that get creepy and could be nightmare fuel for younger readers.

There’s also Vernon’s usual bits of magic run amuck (“Potatoes were, for some reason, more prone to fits of random magic than most vegetables. It would take a remarkable magic to affect turnips or kale.”), and an overall a fairy tale tone to the entire book. This last is generally undermined by Rhea’s engaging commentary on everything, but the feel is strong enough to survive that unharmed.

In keeping with the kind-of YA theme, this is a story about growing up. Rhea has to come to terms with the fact that her parents can’t do everything, and that she must confront an unwanted (and frankly dangerous) marriage on her own. I think this isn’t quite as well developed as it needs to be, but the the story itself works, and a lot of fun to read (which is typical for Vernon).

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Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs

by on February 26, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Adrienne Mayor starts with, intelligently, expanding the normal contemporary definition of ‘chemical and biological’ weapons to include pretty much anything that causes biological harm, such as poisons, noxious chemicals, and beyond, to the use of animals, heated sand, and other unusual items. Her book then combs all the ancient sources for examples of these in the ancient world. There’s a concentration on Greek and Roman sources, but there are repeated references to Indian and Chinese uses as well.

The problem is that the phrase ‘unusual items’ above does describe the book. While grouped into chapters for broad topics, its really a bunch of mini-essays on what are often ‘one-off’ uses of poisons and disease, and shows little systematic use of any of these. On the other hand, it does very well with making the point that the concepts were not unknown, and that even where deliberately spreading a disease might be difficult to do reliably, people were thinking about how to do it.

Sadly, the first item in the title of the book (Greek Fire), is the last thing discussed, and it doesn’t get much. It is shown that it is descended from earlier petroleum-based fire weapons. What was special about it was the delivery system, and that isn’t even speculated on.

Overall, the book does well in showing that, despite generally being ignored in histories of the era, ‘chemical and biological’ weapons were very much on the minds of the ancients, and it shows that they were probably in regular use with peoples we don’t have a lot of records from. It also shows that Western attitudes towards them match up with Greek and Roman thought, pointing out how the ‘boomerang’ effect of poisons and disease feature prominently in early myths. But, the mini-essay approach undermines the cohesion of the work, especially when the same thing is re-introduced over and over (yes, by the sixth time it’s brought up, I’m pretty sure I remember that the Arthashastra is from India).

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174 Lagus Assault Guns

by on February 22, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After a bit of a delay, Tom Arnold and I got together for another Vassal ASL game, this time with a scenario from the recent Hakkaa Päälle. The Russians have taken the offensive in Finnland in mid-’44 and are back to trying to break the defenses that stopped them in the Winter War.

In this scenario, the Russians enter with eight squads (split between 1st line and elite rifle squads), a couple leaders, a HMG, a T34/85, a SU-152, and a IS-2, and then get six squads of (628) assault engineers with a couple FTs and DCs on turn two. The Finns defend with ten 648 1st line squads, a MMG, hero, PSK, two Sturmis (StuG IIIs in Finnish service), and a 81mm MTR. They’re actually in two groups, but one setup area is just a subset of the other. One squad equivalent gets HIP, and the Finns get to assign two of their available PFs to any unit(s) they wish (probably the hero, but one each to the hero and best leader seems like a good idea). The Russians have seven turns to either take 5 of 7 buildings in the board 17 village, or get 5 squads (not squad-equivalents) and two AFVs past a ‘finish line’ that lies behind the village.

Tom had the defending Finns and set up a defense scattered along his setup line. Interestingly, he used all his available Dummies (6) as large “?”, giving me five possible locations for his two Sturmis. It looks like the normal approach is along the west flank, going through some cover, and driving right at the village where there’s some open ground for the AFVs to operate. I decided to go on the east flank, in the board 32 woods, and try to drive for the goal before he could get everyone to focus on me. Better yet, there’s a nice gap at the beginning of the path that leads towards the village. By securing that, I can keep him uncertain as to which way I’m going. In fact, if he puts too much in front of me, I can switch goals in a hurry. Patch was by while I was setting up, looked things over, and had much the same idea, which was neat.

My initial advance had the two T-34s, covered by a pair of squads, holding my west flank. The main drive went up the 32A5 road, seizing the initial groups of houses for some cover. Tom only made one attack, revealing two full squads at the ‘gap’, and broke two squads who were armored assaulting up the road, while pinning a leader. I put acqusitions on the two squads, and on 17X2.


Situation, Russian Turn 1. North is to the left; the red circle is where the victory buildings are (two are covered by Finnish “?”), and the dashed line is what the Russians need to cross. As usual, green is movement, blue is advance, and red is routs.
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