R vs B Coalition Turn 14 in Review

by on May 10, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

The Romulan economy continues to pick up steam with the last bit of on board survey, and some Federation provinces. However, the Klingon economy shrank by ~27 EP, to put the total Coaltion economy down by 21 EP.

The Klingons also canceled the bulk of their schedule in preference to maximizing repairs, and got about a third of the way through the cripple pile sitting on the capital. This technically is a problem for ship count, but many those cripples have been useless for turns now, and it means he returned a lot of heavier ships to active service (capital repairs were 2xD7C, 3xD7, 4xD6, D6M, 4xD5, 2xF5E). In addition, the Lyrans and Romulans had large repair bills, with the total Coalition repair spending hitting 78.5 EP.

Also, B10-1 Invincible rolled a ‘1’ this turn, putting it one point short of completion….

Naturally, the Hydran capital got a lot of attention, with most of the forces in the area going into the hex, and smaller forces into the surrounding space, trying to trap the Hydran fleet.

A substantial Klingon force moved onto the planet in 2715, and I send a couple ships from the 7th Fleet to reinforce the defenses, but then just about every Romulan ship in the area piled onto the SB. The 3rd Legion spread a number of small ships from 3415 over the region to interfere with sending reserves before the balance of the fleet joined in.

There was a fair amount of move-and-countermove along the Federation-Klingon border as Bel moved to kick me off various planets in Klingon space. In the north, moves were mostly confined to pulling more forces out from being cut off by Kzinti fleets. However, the Lyrans moved their Kzinti-front forces to re-take 1105.

Two of my reserves went to their obvious posts of reinforcing the Romulan-border SBs, but otherwise I largely avoided the big fights in order to provide a decisive advantage in certain small fights.


Near Kzinti space.


Move and counter-move.


The Romulans put more pressure on the border.


Piling into the Hydran capital.

Battles:
0617: Uncontested retreat
0518: Klingon: dest F5, F5S, crip F5; Lyran: dest FF
1105: Kzinti: dest CM; Lyran: dest DWE, capture planet
1003: Lyran: dest CWE, DWE
1007: Lyran: dest DW
1307: Klingon: crip D6V, AD5
1004: Lyran: crip FF
1210: SSC: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingon: capture planet
1209: unopposed withdrawal
2715: Klingon: dest D6M, D5V, AD5, F5E; Federation: dest CL, 2xFF, crip CL, 2xFF
2815: SSC: Federation: dest FF
2915: Federation: dest CL, 4xFF, crip CC, CA, TG, 2xNCL, 2xCL, DE, 6xFF; Romulan: dest KR, 2xSP, SPB, SPF, 3xSKE, 2xSNB, crip 2xFH, 3xSP, WE, BH, 2xWH, 2xBHE
3213: SSC: Romulan: dest SN
3114: SSC: both sides retreat
3014: SSC: Federation retreat; capture SN
3410: SSC: Federation: crip CL, retreat; Romulan: dest WE
3412: Federation: crip NCL
3611: Romulan: dest KRM, 2xKE, FAL, 5xSP, crip FH, FAL, SP; Federation: 3xSIDS, dest NCL, DE, FFE, crip DN+, NCL
3711: Federation: dest CA; Romulan: dest 2xSP, crip KRM, SP
3812: Federation: dest BATS; Romulan: crip SK
2414: Retreat after refused approach
2416: SSC: Federation: dest FF, crip DD, retreat
2216: SSC: Federation: dest FF; Klingon: crip D5, capture planet
1916: Klingon: dest F5
2214: Federation: dest DD, FF, planet captured
1812: SSC: Klingon: crip D5, retreat
2014: SSC: both sides retreat
1913: Federation: crip NCL; Klingon: dest F5E
1911: SSC: Klingon: dest FV
1713: unopposed withdrawal
1611: Federation: dest NCL, planet captured
1712: Federation: crip CC, FF; Klingon: dest D7, F5E, crip FV, F5S

0617 didn’t go anything like Bel had planned. To be honest, it didn’t work the way I thought it would either. A careful reading of the capital assault rules showed that with zero defenses in place, I could basically retreat out before combat. It seems odd, but it also seems pretty clear. Bel had abandoned the major planet in 0718 to force the Hydrans out of position, but there were two major problems with that idea. One, while it immediately reverts to my control, the planet doesn’t become a supply source until the next turn. Two, he only had a single line of pickets between the capital and the Old Colonies, so as soon as I retreated onto it, I was in supply.

Planet 2715 was a fight I was determined to win, but had doubts about. I accepted approach to kill the one mauler present so that Bel would have a hard time just killing the PDUs to make it easier to take next turn. Once over the planet, my ComPot was substantially higher, and Bel retreated out, self-killing ships to avoid pursuit. I don’t know why he killed his carrier….

Bel had a nice large fleet at the 7th Fleet SB in 2915, but it was thin on larger ships, meaning I mostly had to outlast the initial heavy line. This was aided by me rolling an average of two over Bel, and he retreated out after I killed a SKE to force the SUB group off the line, and then I got his SPB group in pursuit.

I could easily outlast the Romulans in 3611 against the 6th Fleet SB, except he brought three maulers and started directing SIDS. I killed two and then the third one shocked and he retreated out leaving the SB at 4xSIDS.

The obvious choice for the 2nd Federation Reserve was to send it to the NZ planet in 2214 and make a fight for it. However, I didn’t think the odds were good with the reserve, so I sent it into Klingon territory and planet 1916, where a Klingon squadron was picking on the garrison FF, and now I have a battle line central to several points of internal infrastructure.

My CVAs in Klingon space ended up in adjacent battles. Bel let me withdraw out of the first one in 1713 (I was tempted to stay and bleed him, but I want the forward carrier group in good shape for my turn), and probably should have retreated onto the other battle. Instead, I retreated into a position that would get cut off if I didn’t hold 1712. I had lots of fighter reserves (18 fighters on carrier tugs), but Bel had full carrier groups to shuffle through, and I retreated on the second round after we exchanged high-low rolls. (Thankfully, his retrogrades opened up supply.)

Overall, I’m happy with the continued chaos inside the Klingon Empire, but while I’m holding off the Romulans (I really did not think I’d manage to hold on to 2715, 2915, 3611 and 3711), they are starting to drive deeper into Federation territory.

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Mr. Selden’s Map

by on May 6, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

In 2009 a highly unusual map was found in the Bodlean Library archives. Unusual enough that it might have been considered a fake, if not for the fact that the records of the Library receiving the map in 1659 still exist. It’s an early 17th century map in Chinese of China and Indonesia and out to the Philippines and Japan, and it looks like no other known Chinese map.

Brook’s book is an idiosyncratic look at this map with lots of connected history included. It tours through a number of different subjects, such as the origins of modern international law, and really doesn’t come together as a cohesive whole.

That said, I really enjoyed the book. The various subjects are all interesting, especially as Brook tells it. Also, it’s not all that long, so nothing has a chance to outstay its welcome.

And, while a lot of the book is on the world around the map, there are little bits of tales of Brook figuring out things about it, and at the end he finally talks about what we can know about where it comes from. Most interestingly, the map started with defining the trade routes of the region, and then arranged the land masses around those.

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Rat’s Reputation

by on May 2, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Michael Payne’s latest book is a bit unusual. It’s broken into four uneven parts, each of which contains several short or very short stories, each of which is preceded by quote from some work from that world. These smaller stories are not titled, and the table of contents does not refer to them, but just gives a couple passages from each part, along with the page it appears on.

So it’s not really conceived and structured as a short story collection, even though it technically is one. The volume is a publication of a bunch of stories that has been available in in bits and pieces for decades, and has gone from being about the anthropomorphic town of Ottersgate to centering on Rat.

As a unified set of stories, it’s all told from Rat’s point of view, except for the first story, which details his mysterious rescue as a small child from some large fire by one of the Curials (gods). The later parts of the book answer the mystery raised here, and also goes some into the nature of the Curials, but largely the book is a ‘fish out of water’ story, with the orphaned Rat growing up among squirrels and mice, and not quite fitting in (somewhat literally; the animals here have human intelligence, but the same forms we know, and somehow have buildings, and clothes, and tea—it doesn’t bear thinking about too hard—so Rat is larger than many of the people he deals with), and faces persecution from many deeply prejudiced people.

There’s also a bit of travelogue to the book. Rat spends some years on the road at one point, and you get glimpses of plenty of other towns and societies. And just what is shown of Ottersgate itself is enough to make you realize the iceberg hiding beneath the surface of this book is massive indeed. Payne has an expansive world worked out, and we’re getting bare glimpses of it.

Its structure means Rat’s Reputation does not have the tightest writing you’ll see, but each story works on its own, and while building the whole. I recommend it, and if you wonder just where some of the secondary characters disappear to near the end, I also recommend Payne’s earlier book, The Blood Jaguar. Both are good furry fantasy novels.

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Two Rounds of Munychia

by on April 28, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Over the last couple of weeks Patch and I played a couple Commands & Colors: Ancients games of the Munychia scenario from Expansion #6. Set right after the Phyle scenario, the Athenians surprise the Spartan-supported oligarchs and drive off their army. Well, at least in history; here, not so much…

I had the Athenians in the first game, with compact formation set up on a line of hills, while the Spartan army is in two disjointed wings. I deployed the flanks of the army with Out Flanked, and got a banner on Patch’s LC to cause it to take two losses from bumping into the baseline. Patch responded by Double Timing the Spartan Hoplites up to the rest of the line. I kept skirmishing on the flanks, and kept forcing his left-flank Auxilia to retreat, but couldn’t cause any losses. He slowly advanced while skirmishing, and caused a loss on my leader-led MH.

I then pressed harder on my right with an Order Three Right, coming off the hill, with both of our Aux taking two hits and my right-most MH retreating back to the hill. Patch Ordered Light to cause another block of damage to my Aux while driving it back a hex. We then skirmished for another round before I swept down off the hill with a Mounted Charge. This broke my line, as I rolled lots of red results (there’s no heavy units in the scenario). I did knock out his damaged Aux, and did two blocks to two allied MH in return for losing two MH outright and taking two damage on another that then retreated back to the hill (where my leader joined them as his unit was wiped out).

Patch then chased me with a Line Command, and forced all three MH still forward of the hill to retreat back to it, two of them with damage, while only taking one block himself. He also attacked the unit my leader had joined, and eliminated it (but not the leader) while losing a MH himself. I partially consolidated my army with Order Mediums, and knocked out his leader-led MH and got the leader with it.

Patch countered with his own Order Mediums, and drove off three of my units while doing two damage to a MH, while taking 1 himself. I used Leadership to get all my MH into a line but lost a two-block unit while doing 3 hits to a Spartan MH. Patch then used Inspired Center Leadership to swarm onto the hill and pick off a remaining MH. 4-5

Munychia-1

Similar to my opening, Patch deployed his flanks with a Coordinated Attack, but didn’t get a lucky roll against my LC. I used Order Mounted to move up the Spartan MHs, and then Out Flanked to bring the MC up as the ends of the line continued forward a little. Patch then used Leadership to bring part of his center down off the hill towards the my center. I used Order Mediums to finally get the Spartan MHs up to the rest of the line, and Patch used Move-Fire-Move to rework his flanks, but couldn’t get any hits.

I then used Line Command to come into contact with him across the board. The left flank was separated from the rest, and didn’t do too well, doing two hits to his Auxilia while taking one hit each on two units, one of which was forced to retreat to the main line. After that, hot dice took over, wiping out his leader-led MH in one attack (and driving him away before doing any leader-influenced rolls). Two attacks reduced another MH to two blocks and retreated it for one block, another MH was driven back with two losses, his Aux took three hits while doing one, and then my leader-lead Spartan MH wiped it out and then traded one block each with a retreated MH, while accepting a banner to retreat back into my line.

Patch used an Order Two Center to pull his forward MH I hadn’t attacked back to the hill. I Ordered Lights, but only took a hit on my Aux for my trouble. Patch then played Line Command to shift most of his units one hex to his left and close a gap in his line. I used Out Flanked to pick on the ends of his line, and got single hits on both of his LS, as well as finishing off a 1-block MH. Patch pulled a LS back, and then I advanced my right flank with a Leadership any Section. I finished off one MH, and drove another off with two hits (and taking one in return). My leader then used Momentum to get into the hills, and drove his LS off with a hit.

Patch countered with Clash of Shields, which only gave him two units, and did one damage and two banners to my Aux, and got three damage on a Spartan MH, and took only one block in return. An Order Three Center allowed me to continue to press forward, and I finished off a two-block MH. 5-0

Munychia-2

Afterword:

Both of us had trouble with the Athenians. We were in a good position on top of a hill, and had a hand full of good cards. Why go anywhere? But we had to do something, and ran out of ‘little’ cards. The theory would seem to be to charge off the hill and defeat the left line of the Spartan army before the Spartan MHs come up. But both times the other half of the army came up pretty fast, and the Athenians have a hard time of it. I kept it fairly close in the first game despite the worst Mounted Charge I’ve seen, but Patch didn’t have a chance in front of the amazing die rolls I got in the second game.

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The Tigress of Forlì

by on April 25, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

My knowledge of Renaissance Italy is about as minimal as it can be and still have studied Western history. That is, I know a number of very famous names associated with some artwork just as famous; I know of a little of the politics… and that’s nearly it. It’s a lack that some of my reading has been filling in the edges of. (The Fourth Part of the World had a good section on the early Humanists.)

Elizabeth Lev’s biography of Caterina Riario Sforza de Medici is about some of the details of that era, and was still very easy to follow. Lev introduces a cast of characters and keeps them all straight (despite the usual problems of different people with similar names) with unusual ability. Caterina did not make it to the big times of international fame (though ‘Medici’ is one of the big names, and I realized I’d heard the the name ‘Sforza’ before too), but she is still very much a local hero. She has obviously become a hero for Lev as well, and despite some (sadly in keeping with the times) bad qualities, and excessive bloody-mindedness, at her best she was an excellent leader and Countess.

My main complaint is that Lev starts with a prologue from what can be called Caterina’s finest hour (I might argue it, but it certainly made her reputation). It makes a good introduction to her, but when the book catches up to that point near the end, that part is basically acknowledged and skipped over, leaving the reader to recall exactly what was said at the beginning of the book. Other than the hiccup of wanting to take the prologue and stick it between two other chapters, it was a well done biography throughout.

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