R vs B Coalition Turn 9 in Review

by on August 17, 2012 at 9:13 am
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG

Turn nine has been a turn of surprises for me. The Klingons actually cancelled a couple ships this turn, so they could support maximum carrier builds (D7V, D5V, F5V).

Meanwhile, the Lyrans are rolling in EPs.

Movement was much shorter than I figured. More cripples pulled out to better repair facilities, and the Coalition went in for the Third Battle of Hydrax.

Meanwhile, he pulled back to defensive positions on the Kzinti front. I’m all too aware that my forces are getting spread out, now that there’s more things to protect, and I refused to take the few reactions I could, since I didn’t know what was coming, and what location he might try to pick off on the cheap.

As it turned out, nothing was coming as movement ended.


All quiet on the Kzinti front…


Hydran theater

Combats:
0119: Hydran: dest RN; Klingons: crip 2xD6D; Lyrans: crip CW
0617: Hydrax I: 3xPDU; Lyrans: crip BC, 3xCW, 3xDW, dest 2xBC
0718: Hydran: dest AH; Klingons: capture planet

If I had examined the forces that went into the Hydran capital, I might have acted differently. The Lyrans had a decent force, and I assumed the Klingons had a fleet just about as big as the Lyrans, but it was only a few small ships.

As it was, he spent one round stripping PDUs over the capital, crippled almost all his big ships and retreated.

However, he has now taken the major planet in 0718, reducing the main grid to the capital and a disrupted province.

I’ve been starting to wonder if I should just abandon the capital shipyard and voluntarily start on a new one in the Old Colonies, but have held off to keep his attention focused down there.

Well, it’s working. The vast majority of his new ships and repairs moved into Hydran space. The Fourth Battle of Hydrax will likely be the last, save any Hydran attempts to take it back.

When I saw ships pulling out of Kzinti space, I was wondering if he was starting preparations for an invasion of the Federation. Not yet. Instead, he used field repair on the new Lyran cripples, moved more ships into Hydran space, and sent money to the Klingons. I’ve been hinting that he should be doing that, but I think watching me do it in Second Wind has brought it to his attention.

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VotG CG I The Central Railway Station — September 15

by on August 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Having familiarized ourselves with the general special rules for VotG, Patch and I started the smallest of the Campaign Games included in August 2008…:

After a week or two off for our respective setups, Patch and I started VotG CGI tonight. (Who says we can’t jump on the bandwagon?) We diced for it, and I got the Russians, so I got to try and figure out my setup first. The map surprised me, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so long and skinny. I could really wish for a bit more backfield.

Anyway, we got through the first German turn, and most of the first Russian Turn tonight.

Patch set up a lot more North-heavy than I was thinking in terms of. I’ve got to stop letting him do that to me. So the initial line of pickets didn’t last long at all (no surprise), and there’s a lot less in front of him than I’d like.

Then again, with these forces, he could attack anywhere, and I would want twice as much in front of him. I’ll admit the idea of defending this area for multiple CG dates has me a bit rattled.


Opening setup, 15th September.

At least he got off to a poor start. Prep broke a conscript, but out of three search attempts, he got 6, 6, 5; and that last was with a CX unit, so he still didn’t manage to search. Also another HS that was about to search got Pinned on a SFF shot. Sadly, that same shot activated his Sniper and he killed one of my only non-Commissar leaders.

Advancing fire revealed dummies in I30 and D34. He also pinned a real conscript in E30, but that activated my Sniper and he managed to fatally wound a 7-0. Sadly, he then performed a successful Sniper Check and reduced my SAN to 4. With the way the Sniper has been for me the past few games, that could be very bad.

He advanced into a couple of close combats, ambushing the conscripts in E30 and revealing another dummy in D31.

On my rally phase, a Commissar promptly reduced my broken conscripts to a HS for abandoning their post. Generally, my turn is just rushing troops up from the extreme south end of the board, where he hasn’t put anyone to create a new second line.

I hope.
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The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751

by on August 14, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Posted In: Books

I’ve been interested in the Merovingian period of (proto-)France for some time. So I was very happy when I finally got Ian Wood’s The Merovingian Kingdoms for my birthday.

It’s not a great book. Though I’d say for the period it is a necessary way-point to better.

Well, better from the viewpoint of the less-dedicated reader. Wood does an excellent job of detective work, comparing various sources and teasing out bias, coming up with ways to re-align sources to explain inconsistencies, and, with the insights thus gained, expose the likely motivations that moved the all too nebulous figures of the Merovingian Dynasty.

I’ve had an interest in the period for some years, but it is very hard to study. There’s not a great deal known, and even less written in English. Wood’s book helped me out a great deal, as he takes a look at several subjects (such as Roman literary continuity) and shows how they tie together across a period of time. This fragments his presentation in other ways, and I don’t think I have any sort of grasp of how any one point in time worked, but the tools are there to reconstruct it from his different chapters.

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VotG3 Khopra’s Crossing

by on August 9, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Once we both had Valor of the Guards, Patch and I decided to try out the set by playing one of the smaller of the fantastic number of stand-alone scenarios it has. We wanted to try a Stalingrad CG, and would soon enough, but it seemed a good way to get a handle on all the special rules. Starting at the end of June 2008…:

I’m back for more punishment with our latest scenario kicking off tonight on VASL.

Only, Patch is the one getting punished. More on that anon.

Patch got his copy of Valor of the Guards about a week or two before I had to concede the last game. We had already figured that once he had it (I had preordered) we would go on to one of the smaller scenarios to get used to the VotG ruleset before going on to a CG. I probably had thoughts on which ones would be good, but I lost track of that by the time that we actually needed to choose one. So, Patch suggested VotG3, we diced for sides, and I ended up with the defending Russians.

Looking at the situation and the VC, the hardest part was keeping track of who could legally set up where. The Germans can win by exiting a fair chunk of their forces (I note that they have exactly enough squads to win it that way; but they also have two StuGs, a 10/5 and 9 points of leaders), or by clearing the road that goes through the center area. This means I need to defend both flanks and the middle.

The TCs to start the game were okay. I kept concealment on most of the front line, but lost it on 3 out of 4 leaders. The rest of the turn was mostly as expected. He broke the conscripts who’d failed their TC in D44 during Prep and swarmed all over D47. The 447 there put down good fire, despite cowering on the first shot, and Patch’s sniper broke G47 on a FPF (gee, I thought it was the squad doing the firing that was supposed to break). Patch rolled a ’12’ on one of the MCs I generated, reducing the 1st line squad to a broken 2nd line HS. Patch’s sniper: 1 for 2; Mine 0 for 2.


Situation, German Turn 1, AFPh. This is the entire active map.

Given the odds, it wasn’t too surprising that no one rallied for me on my RPh. Patch got his reduced HS back, but also got a ’12’ to CR another squad.

I don’t care to think of the day that karma bill comes due.

My Prep pinned a 9-1, but failed to affect the three squads with him. Movement was accompanied by the realization that conscripts in heavy terrain don’t go far if they want to maintain concealment. Specifically, anyone I wanted to shift out of a foxhole had to exit it in MPh and then move in APh.

The trend towards really low dice I showed during Patch’s turn became more pronounced during this one. I got a 2 on a PTC, but soon followed it up with another on a NMC, turning a 527 into a 628. The real irony there is that the 8-1 there had just failed his, and since the 527 was lower morale at the time, the 628 promptly pinned with a 12 on the 1LLTC. SAN: Russian 0-1, German 0-0.


Situation, Russian Turn 1, after DFPh.

As a preview of turn 2 – I took a shot with an ATR and an interesting question came up: The on-line TK table has a red ATR entry in the ‘6’ column marked, “Russian, Finnish, Japanese, Allied & Axis Minor/Italian (20L only)”, implying that only 20L ATRs get the 6 (instead of the normal 5). However, Patch’s printed copy has a semicolon after “Japanese”, implying that the 20L clause only applies to Allied & Axis Minor & Italian ATRs. My 1st Ed chart just says “Russian, Finnish, Japanese, Italian”, effectively agreeing with Patch’s 2nd Ed chart. It turned out to be a moot point anyway, but I’d like to know for certain, for future shots.
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Two Rounds of Great Plains

by on August 3, 2012 at 11:09 am
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Last week Patch and I had our CC:A the session between ASL games. Got in a set of Grand Plains. Another of the Second Punic War set, the Romans are advantaged with six cards to four and the first move. However, the Carthaginian forces are fairly good, and start in a better formation than the Roman army.

I took Carthage the first time, and had pretty good dice. The cards weren’t bad either. I didn’t get much in the way of ‘special’ cards, but rather lots of Order Two and Order Three, but that meant I kept in motion. Patch pressed in on the right side early on, but I kept the main action of the battle on the left and center most of the time. I managed to get the heavier elements of my line in contact with Scipio and come out ahead on the exchanges, destroying two Roman Med and forcing Scipio to a Hvy (three hexes back…). Scipio got back in action with a Double Time and Line Command.

I was feeling pretty good with a 2-2 score when Patch broke out a Mounted Charge that knocked out three units, and forced Hanno off-board, and completely broke up my right flank, though I did kill a LC on a battle back. His units were still somewhat shredded, and I managed to kill a LC, and then nail Scipio’s Heavy on a First Strike that I had just drawn. He then got a leader on the right to end the game. 5-6

Switching sides, I was less happy with my six-card hand than I had been with the four-card Carthaginian hand. I spent a couple turns deploying the Roman army; thankfully Patch wasn’t nearly as lucky with the Slingers as I had been. An Order Medium (via Counterattack) and a Line Command got our lines into contact on both flanks, and killed a Med on both sides. I played Clash of Shields, and Patch goofed. I hit his HC with a Med, figuring at six dice I’d still have a decent shot when he evaded. Patch forgot about the extra dice, and stayed, and lost the unit and Hanno.

My Med on the other flank muffed its six-die attack, and Patch nailed it the next turn. I decided to stick with bonus die attacks and played Mounted Charge, completely surrounding a Med with my LC, and hitting the right flank with my MC. For once, this worked and I knocked out the Med in exchange for only one block, while I missed on the right. Inspired Right Leadership finished the game when I picked off a one-block unit and and killed an Aux with a combination of archery and a good attack roll. 6-2

Both games just wanted to go very well for me. I was doing pretty well in the first game until that Mounted Charge broke everything open. Patch never really got a chance to get any momentum going in the second game, I was on him pretty fast.

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