Two Rounds of Utica

by on October 9, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Patch and I did our usual two rounds of CC:A between ASL games tonight. The Battle of Utica from the Truceless War pack was up tonight.

I had the Carthaginians first. With six cards to four, going first, and three units of elephants, they seem favored, but with how variable elephants can be, and only five banners to a victory, it could be easy to get in trouble.

I drew a Mounted Charge, and decided to go all in. This worked out as I eliminated an Aux, a Light, and a Med with his leader, while reducing two other units to one block at the cost of one hit on an elephant. Patch managed a second hit on another elephant on his turn, but that was it. I used Line Command to move up the bulk of my force, Patch hit an elephant with his Hvy, and whiffed (three swords, two leaders), while the battle back only did one hit.

I then used Inspired Left Leadership to get the weakened elephants back in motion, along with my MC. I hit the Hvy for a one hit and a banner, Momentum Advanced, and did it again. The other elephant hit his remaining Med, did two hits and and a banner, Advanced, did one hit, he battled back and got a banner, and I killed him on the Rampage. 5-0

I’m glad it was Vassal. At five player turns, it would have taken longer to set up than play.

When we switched sides, I was quite gratified that Patch did not have a Mounted Charge to open with, though he did use Order Mounted. He didn’t do nearly as well as I did, but he did manage to reduce both my Meds and my Hvy to two blocks apiece at the cost of one unit of elephants and a block on another.

I pressed forward on the left and knocked out the (weakened) elephant there. Patch came back in on the right-center and lost his final elephants on bad rolls. I Line Advanced to get into range of the bulk of his forces, damaging one of his MC, when he hit me with Order Mediums. That took out both of my Meds and my leader with them. My Hvy had been knocked back early, and I started moving it up again, but a Line Command from Patch shattered my line, which was all Aux and LS.

I Double Timed with two units to get my Warriors into action, and they knocked an Aux back to his base line. Patch then picked off my Hvy. I tried to pick off his MC with leader, but couldn’t get more than one hit. Patch returned the favor, but a timely First Strike got his MC before he could finish off my Warriors.

In desperation, I Ordered Center and made three archery attempts on Meds in the center of everything… and managed to get one hit each time. 5-4

Tactics sure help in this game, but there’s no beating hot dice.

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The Lone Samurai (and the Martial Arts)

by on October 5, 2012 at 10:33 am
Posted In: Books, History

In the introduction of  Stephen Turnbull’s The Lone Samurai and the Martial Arts, he points out, “the figure of the lone samurai, whose popularity is never in doubt throughout history, stands in direct contrast to what are perceived as the essentially group-led values of Japanese society.” Instead of being a book about modern martial arts, it is actually a history of the role of individual samurai (that is the warrior aristocracy) and martial arts from the time of the Gempei War to the current day.

Naturally, at the beginning the focus is on the samurai, which then shifts as the idea of actual swordfighting schools develops, and then the idea of martial arts develops in the centuries of peace under the Tokugawa.

In all, it’s an enjoyable book, that does a good job of presenting some of the social context of Japanese history.

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A33 Tettau’s Attack

by on October 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Continuing our tour of Market-Garden, Patch and I went to the second scenario in June 2009…:

This one may be very short….

Patch and I have played this one FtF before, but I can’t really remember anything of it. But, it’s the second scenario in the A’91 Market-Garden set which we’re going through, so here we are again. I lost last time as the Brits when Patch managed to nail my feet to the floor at get past me. So this time I’m the Germans.

Both of us look at this one and wonder just how the British are supposed to win, with the German advantage in numbers, and 11 turns to exit a mere 3 EVP.

Poor German dice look to help a lot.

I set up with a couple of sacrificial squad and a half groups on either flank. Their main job was to keep him honest as he’d have to make sure both board edges were adequately covered or risk one group getting through and beelining for the exit. The rest clumped near the center, looking to see a way forward. Patch put the 9-2 and MMG in the center of the village at Q4, with a backup force nearby and more off to the north in S7/R6.

His first shot was the MMG at my northern flankers, and broke the MMG on a ’12’.

Past that, he spent time developing his flanks.


Situation, DFPh, British turn 1.

My movement started out fine, other than a HS eating a 2KIA, but that’s what he’s for. Then Patch nailed the north flank. The squad that started out all the way to the north broke, and being a conscript squad, disrupted. The 7-0, squad and LMG meant to really hold that flank down broke, with the squad being reduced on a ’12’. Then, on a later shot, I rolled a ‘2’, and Patch’s sniper activated and wounded the 7-0.

Holding together that flank could get complicated….

And after surviving the rest of his First Fire, he got a 1KIA in DFPh to kill another squad and it’s LMG.


Situation, end of MPh, German turn 1.

The second turn started poorly with Patch getting his MMG back, and went downhill from there. He actually prepped everything he had (except the unit at P2, which has to be his 8-0), and got some sort of result on every shot. My lowest roll was a 5, and my average was 9.75, with three 11s and a 12 in there. At the end of it, I had 2 squads, 2 HS, and my 8-0 intact. The ELR of 2 is being very punishing with quality reductions all over the place, and my 8-1 leader reduced to an 8-0, eliminating the only negative modifier I had.


The disaster, British turn 2.

My plan no longer exists….
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R vs B Alliance Turn 9 in Review

by on September 27, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG

The Kzinti continue to recover, with their economy up to 78.2 this turn (plus 24.6 treasury, thanks to the Feds). They built a full schedule and replaced a PDU on 1502 (which had been reduced to 1), as well as converting a CVL to a full CV. Cycling the repairs is continuing, and the end of the backlog is in sight.

On the other hand, the Hydrans lost another three economy in the Capital grid, reducing it to 13 EP. Seeing the writing on the wall, I repaired another SIDS, built a TR, a pair of CUs (and a third at the off-map SB), and repaired a spare AH to bring the UH group up to full (overstuffed) strength, leaving 0 EP left in the treasury. The Old Colonies didn’t have much to do, and is now sitting on 58 EP.

I considered attacking a broad swath of northern Klingon space, mostly to keep some of the Coalition reserves out of the way, but ended up sticking with the main plan: I hit a few other targets to try and sweep the Klingons out of the 13-15 columns, and then sent the Home Fleet in to 1202 to try and retake the last Klingon-held planet in Kzinti space. He reacted out a sizable force to hold some of the fleet away, and then sent in the Lyrans from 1001.

Meanwhile, available Federation forces that I haven’t actually moved into Kzinti space have moved closer to the Klingon border, and in range of a few bases in Klingon space.

The Hydrans contented themselves with kicking the Klingons off of 0519 with overwhelming force (I was expecting the Lyran reserve to come in and force me to take damage, but nothing doing), which was about all they could do without the nearby Klingon forces reacting in.


Kzinti front.


Hydran front.

Combats:
1106: Klingons: crip F5
1107: Klingons: crip D5; Kzinti: crip 2xMEC
1305: Klingons: dest D5
1505: SSC: Klingons: dest D5; Federation: crip FF, retreat
1202: Klingons: PDU; Lyrans: crip BC, CA, 2xCW; Kzinti: dest SF, capture planet
1303: Klingons: crip F5S
1302: Klingons: dest D6M; Kzinti: crip BC, MEC, dest CLE
0519: Klingons: dest F5L; Hydrans: capture planet
1807: Klingons: dest F5, BATS

I was expecting to see a hard fight for 1202. The Kzinti fleet is getting pretty impressive, but it was fighting over Coalition defenses for a change, and he needs to start slowing the Kzinti down.

Belirahc has been shooting SFs every chance he gets, and I am feeling the effects. I’m going to have to start building MSCs just to make it more expensive (though most of the CMs are still going to escorts…).

This marks the end of the second scenario of the General War, “The Tempest”. Here’s how the Victory Conditions break down:

For any level of victory, the Coalition must have more ships than the Alliance (only counting Federation ships in released fleets):
Lyrans: 109; Klingons: 276; Total: 385
Kzinti: 150; Hydrans: 63; Federation: 61; Total: 274 Check
(The totals are adjusted for three Klingon ships that have been captured, which I forgot last turn.)

For a Tactical Victory:
A) The Alliance must have a total economy of 250 or less: 281.95 EP X
B) The Coalition has destroyed 35 Alliance Battle Stations: 29 X
(see the Turn 6 wrap up for how bases are calculated)

Even with the Federation economy at 75%, it counts for 165.75 EPs. The other two are only going to be under 84.25 if the Coalition has used the opportunity to really lock up Hydran and Kzinti space. And generally if it can do that, there will be a invasion of the Federation to cut it down to size before its build schedule kicks in.

Again, the 35 bases is going to be hard to do without invading the Federation (which should make that total easy). It’s still possible, as the bases left in the Marquis zone, which I’ve concentrated on keeping him out of, are worth another five. Combine that with fewer losses on the Coalition side, or more new bases built in Alliance territory, it’s not hard. And that’s not even considering the SBs in the two Alliance capitals.

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A32 Zon With the Wind

by on September 27, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

“Zon With the Wind” always looked like an interesting scenario to me. Actually, it always made me think that it’d be at home among the Paratrooper set, except for being set well after Normandy. At any rate, it turned into one of our bigger projects, as we went through the entire Market-Garden set from Annual 91, though we didn’t formally make a ‘campaign’ of it. We stepped off in June 2009…:

Okay, I still need to finish off the tale of our last game. But I’m going to try to pick at that while keeping up with this one.

After some hemming and hawing, Patch decided upon the Germans in “Zon With the Wind” (from a list of suggestions from me). I’m thinking we may very well go through the whole A’91 Market-Garden set, though I don’t know if we’ll do the ‘CG’ bit, or even stick to the same sides each time.

I have to say, tonight is not anything I’m going to celebrate as wonderful tactical acumen from me. While thinking through the scenario, I remembered the fact that I could deploy, and had good smoke capability (which certainly was not true last game). But I forgot both of them until turn 2. It sure would have helped on turn 1.

So, I went in with no scouting HS, and no smoke. Thankfully, the dice weren’t too kind to Patch, and one squad walked through a couple shots unhurt. My leader stack was going to head to J2, a nice, safe point from which to overlook the battlefield. Patch put down a FL, which did nothing. Then he revealed R4, which I get the idea he wanted to still be concealed for turn 2. He got a K/1 on a long-range shot and managed to wound the leader and break the squad. All things considered, not too bad a price for the muff. And as a last bit of luck, a squad in H2 managed to get ‘?’ while out of LOS, but not in concealment terrain.


Situation, end of American Turn 1 MPh.

The German turn 2 got exciting. R4 fired on M2 to no effect. Patch then got aggressive with his east flank, sending one stack to the edge of the American turn 2 entry area, and another stack shifting position into its former location. One thing you’ve got to give Patch: he makes a wonderful German small-unit commander—he’s as aggressive on the counter-attack as the Wehrmacht could hope for.

He next tried to empty out building M4, but that was the entire reason why I had two adjacent squads of paratroopers across the way. With some hot dice, I broke both squads as they tried to move, and a ’12’ caused the 7-0 to ELR to a wounded 6+1. The dice are definitely trying to make up for my blunders. He also sent his west-flank force into Crest Status at H4, which complicated what I wanted to do.


Situation, end of German Turn 1 MPh.

I took some time to figure out how I wanted to arrange my turn 2 forces. I also recalled that he had 5 dummy ‘?’. I realized that the T1 stack was probably a bluff as was one of his two flanking forces.

My broken squad came back, setting me up for a fairly active turn. The first thing was to send a HS into T1, which, indeed, was empty. My first attempt to press into his broken troops was repulsed when Patch revealed L6 and broke my squad in Bypass of K5. Suspecting that Patch hadn’t put all his Dummies on the same side, I advanced the recovered squad to the rear-side of his Crest Status counter, and then advanced my concealed squad up a hex. When he refused to even strip concealment, I was as sure as I could get.

My attempt to push in the center didn’t go so well. I smoked Q1 from off-board (planning to Advance in if the roll went badly), but fire from R4 still broke my leader, though it didn’t affect the squad.

My last move was not so good. I moved from O0 (offboard) to P0 and promptly got fired on by the first 88, which broke the squad. I was trying to save the extra 0.5 from O1, even though it wouldn’t have mattered. Bleh. 😛

I advanced a squad, leader, and dm MMG into N2h1, where it should prove an annoyance to Patch. My concealed squad in the west found that indeed there was no one home. And my main forces were well into the hole I’d blasted in Patch’s defenses and re-DMing everything in sight.


Situation, end of American Turn 2 MPh.
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