The Battle of Chickamauga

by on November 17, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Mark came over Saturday as we try to catch up on some gaming. We went with Battle Above the Clouds scenario 3 “The Battle of Chickamauga”. It’s effectively an expanded version of the second scenario, going for three days and bringing in all the action to the south. We decided to switch sides from last time, giving me the Union forces.

Chickamauga-1
Beginning of the game.

Towards the beginning of the turn, I decided to secure the center by sending part of the XIV Corps into Wicker Gap. Light Confederate forces were in the area, and I aggressively pushed an attack, and with good die rolls carried the day. Reynolds rolled 6-1 on a 1:1 attack against Wharton’s division for a 1DR, with the resulting Demoralization putting them out of action for the rest of the battle. Then Brannan’s division came up and rolled 3-1 in a follow up 2:1 attack, which pushed Armstrong’s division back and gave me a position behind a creek. Mark counterattacked with Hindman’s Division vs Brannan but a 1D to the attacker halted that.

There was a lot of maneuvering after that, and Mark came up against the same problem I had in the earlier scenario: The north flank of the Union position, while not superb, is still fairly good, and getting across the East Chickamauga Creek was giving him trouble. Once Hood had shown up and everyone was in contact, he attempted an assault (with a plan to try for a grand assault) to force a crossing, but rolled a ‘6’ to do nothing more than wear out the men. Buckner tried an assault with his corps against a couple divisions of the XIV Corps in the Wicker Gap, but got a high roll that meant only Stewart’s division went in, and both sides took 1D from that attack.

Chickamauga-2
End of turn 1.

Things ground to a halt after that, but early the next morning, Bragg pulled off a grand assault, and forced a crossing at Thedford’s Ford, forcing McCook’s brigade back with a 1DR* (I don’t think we’ve seen a Demorilize-2 marker in action before…). I started trying to pull my southern flank in, but I was out of position with most of my cavalry, and couldn’t do much without letting units get cut off. Crittenden managed an assault that cost me one strength point to nothing, but both sides were worn out by the fighting (‘D’), which was useful in keeping  a good amount of Confederate infantry from advancing further. Meanwhile, Confederates were moving across the East Chickamauga at Lambert’s Ford, and the cavalry was moving around the north end of my line. Liddell’s division attacked the right end of my northern line near Thedford (about where I’d gotten across last time), and got a 6-1 roll to send Wilder’s brigade of the XIV Corps and some smaller units retreating from a 1Dr.

Chickamauga-3
End of turn 2.

We had to call it a day at the end of the second turn. However, we had a decent idea of where things were going. My line had had to pull south, leaving the northern trail over Missionary Ridge (5 VP) and Chattanooga uncovered (10 VP). McAfee Church had already been occupied by his cavalry, but presumably an infantry unit would be by the next day to take it on the way to Chattanooga (5 VP), and he’d already taken Jay’s Mill (5 VP). He had lost 6 strength points (-18 VP) and had inflicted 7 on me (14 VP). So the total was looking like a Union marginal victory, though there would have been further fighting for Kelly Field, and Rossville.

The initial wildly successful Union attacks set the tone for quite some time, and kept Mark a bit extra cautious. It took both of us quite a while to realize that all the VPs were up north, and there’s very little reason for the Union to not pull back the south flank so as to shorten the line and possibly feed units to where the action is, which really hampered me the second day. I’d really like to give this one another try.

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Halftrack Shoot-em-up

by on November 13, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

After our last FtF session of Up Front, Patch and I decided to come back to it on Vassal after we’d had a chance to study the vehicle rules some. So for the last couple of weeks, we’ve been playing scenario E “Armored Recon Patrol”, with me as the attacking Germans and Patch as the defending Russians. We have three decks to get four people into protective terrain at Range 4, though the defenders win by default if that doesn’t happen. (I’m still figuring out how I want to report this game, and have gone overly-verbose this time, giving all the fire attack values and concealment, and the final effects numbers, but not the modified fire strength.)

I set up in three groups; two four-man sections with the Sdkfz 251/1 halftrack in between, figuring to use it for the defense bonus to adjacent groups as much as I could. Patch set up his 15(!) men in three groups with four on each flank and seven men including the ASL/LMG in the center. For initial terrain, I placed a Stream on Patch’s Group B.

Some turns passed before there was any activity. I tried a Sniper to no effect (and no effect from Patch’s subsequent Sniper Check), and finally a Fire 1 (Conceal -1) at his big group for no effect (-1, -3, 2, 0, 0, -4, 1). Right after that, Patch Forded with Group B, and I hit with another Fire 1 (Conceal -3) to pin one person (1, 1, 0, -2, 5, -1, -2). Patch then moved into Woods and Rallied the pinned man.

I then got my Group C into motion, drawing a Fire 2 (Concealed -1) from Patch’s B, pinning two (0, 3, 2, 1), before they could get into some Buildings (my earlier fire had burned through 3 of the 4 ‘removed’ cards, and Patch had tossed one earlier).

Patch moved up Group A, and I hit them with Fire 3+2 (Concealed -3) from the HT to pin two of them (3, 3, 5, -1) while Rallying group C. Patch got his men behind a Wall, but the HT hit them again before they could rally with Fire 2 for no effect (-3, 1, 0, 3). A couple turns later, he Rallied All in Group A, and then started Group B forward again. With everyone else under cover, the HT Fired 1 on Patch’s Group C for no damage (1, -3, 0, -1).

His Group B moved into some Brush and then Fired 4+1 (Concealed -2) on my Group C, pinning one (-1, 1, 3, -5). I put Smoke on my own Group A before moving them up, and Patch’s Group B moved up again. The HT Fired 2 on them, but did no damage (3, 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, -1), and they went on top of a Hill while my Group A ducked into a Gully. With both of my infantry groups advanced to Range 1, the HT followed suit, but was forced back to 0 by a Marsh from Patch. My Group A Fired 1 on his B (gully -> hill) to pin two men (-4, 4, 0, 0, 1, 5, -4). Patch Rallied 1 of them and the HT moved up to Range 1 again, while my Group C finally Rallied. Patch Fired 4 (Conceal -2) from the hill at the approaching HT, but couldn’t affect it (1).

Patch moved Group C up to Range 1 (now everyone was at 1 except his B at 2), and my HT parked in some Brush. Group C Fired 1 (Concealed -1) at his C to pin one person (-1, 1, 2, 7) just before they ducked into a Gully. The last pinned man in Patch’s Group B finally Rallied, and my Group A moved up, drawing Fire 5 from the hill to pin the entire section (7, 4, 5, 5). Rally 6 was sufficient for that, and the HT returned Fire 5 (Concealed -1-1) to pin three men (2, -2, 4, 2, 0, 3, 2). Patch put some Wire on Group A, which they immediately Moved out of, and the HT continued Fire 3 at the hill, routing one man, and pinning another (2, 3, 1, 2/6, 5, 2, 1).

That fire round finished off the first deck, and the next turn Group A (finally) moved onto a Hill. Patch Rallied Group C while I placed some Wire on his Group B. Group A then Fired 3 along the hill, pinning the LMG assistant gunner, but also malfunctioning my SL’s SMG (3, 6, -3, 1, 0, 0). The HT followed up with Fire 3+1 pinning the rest of the group, including the LMG/ASL (6, 4, 0, 1, 4, 1).

Patch’s Group A Fired 3 at my A, pinning one (2, 2, 4, 7) while his C started moving out of the gully. My SL desperately tried to repair his SMG with no luck, while being Fired 3 (Concealed -1) on again from his Group A, which pinned him (6, 0, 4, 0). Patch’s group C moved into Buildings. I Rallied Group A before I took a card hit, and then failed to repair the SMG a third time before Firing 1+1 (Concealed -3) at Group B panic/kill one person (2, 1, 0, 0, -2, 2/1).

Patch responded with Fire 2 at my Group A for no effect (-3, -4, 2, -1). I failed to repair the SMG again, and Patch rallied his ASL/SMG. Finally getting another movement card, my Group C moved up to Range 2 as I finally repaired the SMG in Group A. (Patch: Huzzah! –I mean, crap!) Patch then pinned the HT with a Sniper and put a Stream on my Group C. I was able instantly Rally the HT.

Patch Fired 2 at my Group C to pin two men(5, 5, 0, -2). I Rallied that as well, followed by Patch Rallying two of his Group B. My Group C tried to go around the stream, but failed, following that up with Fire 4 (Conceal -2) from the HT at Patch’s Group B, which malfed the MG on the second resolution (-1, -4). I had hoped to do more before following up with Fire 1 from Group B, but tried it anyway and pinned the LMG again (6, 3, 1, 0, 0).

I got going again with a Ford on Group C and a successful repair of the HT’s MG, and Fired 2 with Group A at Group B to rout one man and kill another (-1, -1, 7/8, 3/5, 0). That trimmed his big group down to three people, and the ASL/LMG was still pinned, and the entire group was still under the wire. It was getting pretty obvious that I’d win, since there was still over a deck to go before the end, but since he was at range 2 on group C, and my Group B was the HT (and unable to win on it’s own), only Group A was capable of maneuvering to a win. Which left shooting Patch’s squad to pieces.

But it wasn’t going to be easy, as Patch put a Marsh on by Group C, leaving me the choice of accepting terrain that required two move cards to get out of, or going back to the stream that I had to ford. I figured taking my chances one card at a time was better than seeing if I could get up to two move cards at a time and went back to the stream. The HT Fired 4 (Concealed -2) on Group B again routing the ASL and killing the third man outright (6/6, 3, 8).

Needing two more kills/routs to break his squad, I switched to picking on his Group A at this point, with the HT pinning one man on a Fire 2+1 (2, 3, 2, -2), who immediately Rallied. Meanwhile Patch’s man in Group B went out of assistant crewman status and recovered the LMG. My Group C attempted to re-ford the stream and failed, while the HT Fired 5 (Concealed -1) at B for no effect (4), ending the second deck.

I put some Wire on Patch’s Group A, and a Sniper took a shot at my HT for no effect. Instead of using another Move card to attempt to move C off the stream, I moved the HT forward and parked it on a Hill (with everyone now Range 2) before making another attempt with C, which failed to ford the stream again. Patch then Fired 3 at them with his Group C, pinned one person, and killed another (2, 3, -1, 8). The pinned man felt Heroic enough to rally, and the HT Fired 3 (Concealed -1) at A again for no damage (2, 2, 2, 1). My Group C then forded the stream again, and finally got into a Gully.

Patch moved Group A off the wire, and a Sniper attempt on my HT failed. He then put Wire on my Group A, but they moved off it immediately. The HT Fired 3 at A, killing the SL and one other (8, 7, 4, 8) to end the game as Patch’s squad routed with 8 out of 15 men gone.

Afterword: The MG on the halftrack is just nasty. 8 firepower at RR 0 allows for a lot of effective long-range shooting. I had a hard time moving up, as I didn’t see much in the way of Move cards, and Patch managed to gum up Group C’s efforts for a long time. The large Range 2 group on the hill was set to do a lot of punishment, and apparently the first big break on them came right before they fired, and Patch had to discard the Fire cards in a quest for Rally cards. Worse, I got that Wire on them, which he never got rid of, and it negated the Hill (and gave a bonus to my Group A once they got on their Hill).

I was disappointed with the results of a lot of early attacks. I figured with seven targets one result would be high, and get a result, but I kept getting low RNCs. The pair of malfunctions came right after Patch’s situation started going south, and could have been a lot more serious but for that.

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Mild Weather

by on November 9, 2015 at 1:56 am
Posted In: Boardgaming

Had the gang over for gaming on Sunday. With five people in the house, we went for Dominant Species, with our usual random selection of animals leaving out the Birds (I think we’ve had them selected once).

I ended up the Amphibians (I think that’s a first for me), and accomplished nothing I wanted to do on the first turn. Three water did allow for some good dominance, but I didn’t end where I wanted, and lost most everything I gained. And I scored well, putting myself into a nice early lead.

Most of my attention got taken by Dave (Insects), who, like me in my last game (as the Insects) struggled with a grass-water capacity that lead into parity with my water-grass adaptation. In the mid-game we actually hit true parity (me 3/2 water/grass while he was 2/3), which lead to a lot of tied Dominances, and we were pretty well intertwined in oceans and wetlands as he separated from the pack to gain a strong second behind me.

I was going to try to keep Dave from getting (alone) an extra action by scoring his only Dominance for him (I had none at that point), but it turns out that he’d get the card at that point anyway. We’ve had that right in the past, but I keep forgetting it. On the other hand, we discovered a rule we’ve done wrong all along. A Regression action just keeps that player from regressing, we thought that it removed an element from the box so that regression wouldn’t happen.

In the meantime, Patch’s Mammals ended up struggling as most of the meat sources died out on a wasteland action. I never got a good sense of what Jason (Reptiles) and Mark (Arachnids) were up to for much of the game.

My consistent lead and good scoring drew a lot less fire than I was expecting for most of the game, though I did take some hits near the end. I then had an excellent turn, where things went right, and my new adaptation gave me a round of new Dominances across the board.

It was a real pity that was the second to last turn.

Instead, I got hit by Niche Biomes (by second-place Dave) for 9 VP, which put me a lot closer to everyone else. Mark suddenly turned into the Dominance machine as we went through the final turn, and there wasn’t a lot any of us could do as he picked up a end-of-game 8 Bonus Points, and second place.

Dave got some good scoring, and decent Dominance to win at 111 VP. Mark got 95, squeezing past my 94. Jason got 89, with Patch taking up the rear at 59 VP after never recovering from the mid-game collapse.

WIN_20151108_151824
End of game.

A couple unusual notes for us is that we only had one glaciation action in the beginning game, though it got more popular later on. (This while it was raining outside, in the first of what we might hope is several storms over winter). And no one really came close to running through their species stock (and Hibenation came up early when nearly no one had any eliminated species to bring back).

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Empires and Barbarians

by on October 29, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

I picked up Peter Heather’s 2009 book simply because it was cheap on Kindle at one point. I’m now thinking I want to get a proper hard copy book. This is mostly a measure of how much I liked the book, but there are a number of good maps that I’d like a better look at too.

The primary purpose of this book is to re-examine Europe from the Roman to Dark/Early Middle Ages, and argue against the cultural continuity/no migration stance that has gained popularity from the 70s onward. The main new thing brought to the analysis is concepts from modern migration studies (it was highly appropriate that I started this book about the time the Syrian migration crisis started hitting the headlines). These have identified a lot of trends in how and why migration happens, and Heather then applies those concepts to Roman narratives and archaeological evidence.

Starting around 1 AD, he notes that the areas the Romans conquered were relatively prosperous and well developed; Roman expansion in Europe pretty much petered out when it reached (largely Germanic-speaking) areas that were less well developed with less intensive agricultural patterns. In fact, agriculture still relied on picking up and moving every couple of generations as the land was exhausted. Heather points out that migration studies show that people who have migrated once are likely to do it again, and that the next couple generations retain the habit. So, if there’s an entire cultural system that has to pack up and move every so often, it’s likely that migration will be a major answer to any new problems that come up.

One of major motivators of migration is economic disparity. More prosperous areas draw people from less prosperous areas. Not only was the Roman Empire the most developed part of Europe, but the Empire spent a fair amount of money and effort in promoting power structures on the frontier, and occasionally breaking them apart when they got too big. Heather shows that the fall of the Western Empire started when this system failed (and argues that this had to happen at some point, but the actual event was earlier than it had to be). Rome’s wars in the east drew off troops, and allowed the short-lived Hunnic Empire to form in central Europe, causing all sorts of groups to migrate to get out of the way, and then it came apart, causing all sorts of groups to migrate away from the resulting chaos.

After tracking how the late fourth and fifth centuries play out, Heather continues with the evolution of central and eastern Europe through the year 1000. This involves the Avar Empire, the spread of Slavic speakers through much of Eastern Europe, the Viking era of Scandinavian migration, and briefly the Magyars, and why they didn’t set off any noticeable migrations.

So, it is a study of the fall of the Roman Empire, from outside of the Empire, and a study of the demographic changes that happened across most of Europe over a thousand years. I think it does a lot to correct current scholarly wisdom (which, itself, was a much-needed correction), and I found it very informative and well argued.

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Crossing Chickamauga Creek

by on October 25, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

After a long silence, Mark gave me a call Friday night, and we arranged a game for the next day. After some discussion, we decided to do another scenario from Battle Above the Clouds. At first we were looking at something moderate-sized, but ended up going for the one-turn “Crossing Chickamauga Creek” scenario. Since we did a fair amount of catching up before and after the game, this worked out fairly well.

Not only is it one turn, but it takes place in less than one quarter of the northern map, just covering the Confederate attempt to Missionary Ridge near Rossville and interpose themselves between Chattanooga and the bulk of the Union Army. Confederates occupying a section of the Lafayette-Chattanooga road is worth 6 VPs, occupying a parallel road to the south is worth 10, taking Rossville itself is 3 VP, and casualties are also worth a fair amount at this scale (with Confederates being worth more). I ended up with the Confederates, trying to figure out how to dislodge the Union position.

Chickamauga-Creek-1

One thing I had forgotten was that the dice that came with BAtC are very uneven (the red die has a strong tendency to roll low and the white one has a strong tendency to roll high—after lunch we switched to other dice). I tended to take the white die for activations, and got to do whatever I wanted for quite a while (though it took quite a while to roll a ‘5’ so that Hood showed up to speed along Bushrod Johnson). I started by moving up Forrest’s cavalry to either side of Wilder’s mounted infantry and tried to one-two punch him out of there.  I had a small flanking bonus, so Davidson attacked with an overall -1 that I hoped would at least force some fatigue onto the defenders, and then Scott (with Forrest) would hit on the other side with an even roll (due to Forrest’s better tactical rating). One or the other should do something.

Instead, I grabbed the red die for the attack, and 6-1 roll ended up with Davidson’s brigade being wiped out, loosing the small flank bonus. I went ahead with the second attack anyway, and rolled poorly for that too, putting Scott at Fatigue 4 while losing another strength point.

3 losses in the hole, and nothing to show for it.

Lots of little maneuvers followed, trying to find a way to get a decent attack. Hood finally showed up, and I sent Johnson forward and across Lambert’s Ford, and his attack finally dislodged Wilder. This was the opening I needed, and immediately parked part of Walker’s Corps on the closer (lower value) road. Things were a little stable at that point, with me not wanting to stick my neck out any further, but trying to figure how to get onto the next road.

Mark sent Whitaker’s brigade forward to extend the line, and I managed to get part of Buckner’s Corps up to him, and defeat him before Mark could send anything else forward. This got me onto the second road, and things kind of petered out at that point, with no good opportunities left.

Chickamauga-Creek-2

I had 16 points in objectives, and 2 from one Union manpower loss, but I lost six manpower doing it for 18 VP, and a total of 0 is a Union Substantive Victory. If the beginning hadn’t been quite so bad, it would have been a Minor Victory… for someone, depending on the details.

I’ve played some tiny scenarios from other GCACW games before, but this one turned out to be better than the others. It’s still not a great show of the strengths of the system, but there’s just enough maneuver there to sink your teeth into.

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