Two Rounds of River Hippis

by on February 14, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

To celebrate the release of the first expansion to C&C: Medieval, Mark and I returned to the game. Of course, the new Vassal module wasn’t out yet, so we ended up playing one of the original scenarios. Namely, the third Lazic War scenario, which has a fair amount of terrain involved.

I had the Sassanids the first time, and started with a Line Command to advance my right, Mark started Forward, and got one block with ranged combat. I Counter Attacked, and used the opportunity to get some of my center over the river. Mark Ordered Three Center to close up with his infantry, and I used Move-Fire-Move to activate the flanks driving some LBC off hills he had occupied. Foot Onslaught brought us into contact, and I lost two blocks each on two units, using Bravery to keep the second in some woods while the other retreated across the river, and I did one block in return.

Leadership Center let me bring in the SHBC, and I knocked out a Heavy and reduced a Medium to one block at a cost of one block. Mark regrouped Forward and drove off a LBC and did a block to a weak Medium. I Cried Havoc to order the SHBC and a couple lights, driving off a Medium, doing a hit and two banners to a Heavy, which used Bravery to only go one hex, which I then drove back another hex after doing another block on momentum. Mark Rallied the Heavy and Medium up to full and took a new leader, and did a hit to my evading SHBC. I Ordered Mediums and did a hit to a MC. Leadership Right w/Foot Onslaught let Mark get into contact in the center again, knocking out the SHBC, but I Ambushed his SHBC for two losses and two banners. I also took two hits on a LBC, and my Medium in the woods took another block while doing one in return. I Ordered One (Heavy) for no ranged damage, and used Leadership Any to finish off my weak Medium and do a block to an Auxilia.

Order Three Center got me back across the river and did two blocks to a Medium. Order Lights let Mark re-form in the center, but did no damage, while Coordinated Attack did one block to a HBC. Order Three Left let Mark reshuffle that flank, spoiling a long-term plan of crossing, getting the weak unit in the woods, and advancing out, but I didn’t have the cards anyway. Left Leadership let me drive his Medium out of the woods with Fire and Close with one block left. Mark used Any Leadership on his right to Rally, bringing the Medium up to full. Order Two Center got me a block on a Heavy, but battle back did three to me. There were a few turns of no result, and then another Any Leadership with Rally let mark get a block back on his Heavy, though he simply reformed his flank. Order Three Right let me take a block off a Warrior, and Order Two Left returned the favor on a MBC. I Out Flanked for a ranged hit on his Heavy.

Mounted Charge let Mark engage on both flanks, knocking out my Auxilia in the woods, with his SHBC, which I Ambushed again, but got no hits on, and he got two hits on a LC, but lost his to a hit plus banner. Any Leadership got my center moving through the river, but I got nothing for a Rally and merely lost a block in combat. Coordinated Attack let Mark finish a Medium and force a second across the river, while a LBC evaded to my baseline. Foot Onslaught let me strike back, but I couldn’t do anything. Order Two Right finished off my LBC, while Command Right did a block to a LB and let me attach my leader to a weak Medium, while an Auxilia forced a HBC from the river. Mounted Charge did five blocks across three units, wiping out Charianes’ second command. Order Three Center forced the SHBC to retreat, but Order Two Right forced my LBC offboard. 2-7

For the second game, Mark started with a Coordinated Attack to move forward but little else, while I Scouted to do a block to a Medium and force it into the river. Mark Ordered Mediums to reshuffle a bit, and did a block to an evading LC. I Ordered Three Left to line up along the river, and Any Leadership let Mark line up on the far bank. I then used Any Leadership to wade into the river on my left, and drove off a LBC. Coordinated Attack killed a block on one of those units, and Left Leadership with Mounted Charge (which only counted for one unit…) got me out of the river and did six blocks across three units, driving them all off, and taking one block in return (from First Strike).

Mark Ordered Two Right to finish off my MC, and I Cried Havoc to get on the left hills and do a block each to two units. Mark Counter Attacked to pull a weak LC out and did three blocks to a Warrior, and took a hit in return. Line Command started moving up my center, and Mark Out Flanked to pull back another two units, but lost one block for nothing. Order Three Center got me a little closer, and I did a block at range. I followed with Foot Onslaught which traded three hits between a Heavy and SHBC, and did two blocks to an Auxilia. Mark Rallied to get two blocks back on the SHBC, and one each on LC and MBC, and the latter finished off a Warrior. I Ordered Heavies to pull my Heavy back, and send in a fresh Heavy, SHBC and HC, finishing off a Auxilia, doing a block to a Medium (and forcing it out of the river), and did a block to a LB on momentum.

Mark Ordered Two Center to do a block to the HBC, and I Mounted Charged into the river, finishing off a Medium, doing two blocks each to another and a LBC, but taking three on my SHBC. Mark then did a Mounted Charge to pick off a loose leader and finish off the SHBC, taking two hits on LC in return. Clash of Shields ordered three units, but the HBC was killed by First Strike, while I finished off a LC. Order Three Right thankfully did nothing, and Coordinated Attack did one block to each of three units. Command Center put Mark into the river, and finished off my weak Heavy. Command Right got me at a couple units at/near the baseline, and let me finish off a LBC. Right Leadership let Mark Rally three blocks on an Auxilia and one MBC, and finish off a Warrior. 4-7

Afterword

The first game especially had stretches with not a lot going on. Part of it was I having problems finding anywhere that I wanted to deal with the river and come to grips with Mark. But, I was also just realizing that it is harder to have a high-impact fights, since there’s a lot of resisting sword hits, and nothing does five dice damage. So, there’s a lot more trying to get help from cards or leadership abilities.

Rally is also more powerful in C&C:M, as you don’t just rally units with/adjacent to a leader, and Mark had very good rolls to undo all the hard-won damage I did to the big units. My luck with Rally has generally been poor, and my attempts here didn’t do any better.

Still, it’s an interesting scenario, since the river really chokes things up.

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The Albegensian Crusade

by on February 10, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Written about two decades before starting his epic five-volume history of the Hundred Years War, Sumption’s history of the fall of southern France follows along the same general lines.

In this case, the second chapter goes into a general long-term history of dualist theology. Like so many religious theories, it has a start in the Middle East, echoes elsewhere, and raised questions for Christianity. There’s no one definitive theory, but it does tend to resolve around the idea of the material and the spiritual being two separate spheres, with only the latter being the creation of God. These ideas slowly spread west (especially after having been encountered in the Crusades), with communities growing up in northern Europe. Suppression and persecution followed, with many people fleeing to more hospitable lands, largely southern France.

The third chapter goes on talk about the Cathar Church as it existed there (from what little can be pieced together). From there, the book pretty much entirely drops down to the affairs of men, and the Languedoc of the first chapter. This is presented as a rich area, yet without real central authority. The Viking raids and other troubles of the past few centuries had largely bypassed the area. While northern Europe had, for the day, fairly centralized states forged in military necessity, southern France invested little real power in the higher rungs of what was really just the trappings of a feudal system.

Raymond V of Toulouse spent nearly half a century fighting the centrifugal actions of his domain, but to little avail. His son Raymond VI takes over in 1194 with ongoing crises in a slow boil. The Catholic Church, and especially Pope Innocent III who was concerned with matters there. Legates were sent to deal with the problem, but were of course viewed with suspicion by most of the inhabitants of the region, and one was killed at the start of 1208.

Just who decided to kill Pierre de Castlenau, how much official sanction, and from who, is impossible to say. But, the death set in motion a crusade aimed at stamping out heresy in the region. Since there was little help to be had on hand, an army was assembled at Lyon and swept, well, much before them. The immediate aftermath of the first campaign’s success was to appoint someone to administer the lands seized from heretics, and Simon de Montfort (father of the—in English history—more famous leader in the Second Barons’ War) steps in. As might be expected of the Montfort family, his concerns are military, secular, and involve maintaining and extending his power.

Since Raymond VI is not the technical target of the crusade, but much of his lands and rights are, there are endless petitions to the Pope about what is going on, and a slow but steady stream of legates are sent to oversee the situation, and try to balance the competing claims, which often fall afoul of Arnaud Amalric, who is bitterly opposed to Raymond VI. Meanwhile, more heretical areas fall to the crusade, until a series of revolts puts everything into doubt in 1216. Part of this is from changes in the cast of characters, with Innocent III dying in 1216, Simon in 1218, and Philip II of France in 1223. His son, Louis VIII steps in to finally bring the power of the northern monarchy to bear, with a final treaty protecting Raymond VII’s position, but with his titles passing into the French royal family.

While technically a religious matter, and Innocent III had meant for a more scholarly approach to the matter, the threat of force rapidly turned into the use of force, and the religious problems became little more than a backdrop as messages take their time on the roads. This makes it well suited to Sumption’s general style, which is not so well developed here as two decades later. Still, I found it good and informative, and it certainly one of the best volumes you’re going to find in English. (I was surprised to see my new book was a 1999 edition before I realized it was the 30th printing.)

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Anime Fall 2024

by on February 6, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Anime

This post is running well behind again with the new season solidly started. Of course, much of my viewing doesn’t notice anime air times, and I get to them when I can. As ever, the listing is from general best to worst, though it’s been a good three months with a very crowded top-end of the list.

Arcane — We’re currently 2/3rds of the way through the second season, and it is living up, and more, to the first season. Frankly, I don’t know that I can take another two or three episodes of this. My understanding is this will be it for the series, and I can believe it, we do seem to have a lot of personal character arcs headed for a conclusion.

Pluto — We finished this off shortly after the last post, and there were still some really big twists and developments to come. This is another top entry for ‘remakes done right’. This is action-drama with all the emphasis on the drama. There’s a lot going on, but the series takes its time with it all, and develops it all out.

Carol & Tuesday — We’ve been meaning to get this into the Thursday rotation for a while, and are now most of the way through. Like Cowboy Bebop (same creator), it pays a lot of attention to the music; I only know maybe a third of the references in episode titles. The first half kind of comes under ‘why Mars?’, with there being no real reason plot-wise other than general setting, and cutting loose from Earth institutions. The second half though makes it very important, and is surprisingly prescient and relevant on several current subjects.

Delicious in Dungeon — Smudge and I started showing the guys this a bit ago, and we’re a good part of the way through the second half. Dave has been unsure, but has warmed up to it over

Scott Pilgrim — The four of us are just about done with this. And it is a very wild ride. Not the same as the graphic novels or movie, and being very purposeful about it, and meta, and actually celebrating the movie at the same time. If you’ve seen the others, see this. If you haven’t, still see this, it is very good, and while… kind of a sequel, doesn’t require knowing anything about the originals at all.

Shangri-La Frontier — This is continuing to be good, and Smudge and I are basically caught up. I was a little annoyed by the diversion Nephilim Hollow, but it actually did not outstay its welcome (what I was afraid of), and made for a nice side arc. Meanwhile, we’ve had a real fight against Lycagon which was well done, and the latest episode developed Katzo, which I also appreciated.

Ranma 1/2 — Not a top entry for remakes done right, but at least a solid effort. Now, I know the start of Ranma pretty well, and there were a lot of disappointments. The main trouble is that in a lot of places Mappa seemed to be doing a shot-for-shot recreation of the manga, instead of translating it to TV. Frankly, the original anime series did a very good job of that in places (“Eternal Lost Boy” managed to be much funnier than the manga), and Mappa did not pick up on them and follow the lead of any ‘that was better’ moments (so much so, that I wonder if there’s a rights issue behind the problems). The English translation then loses a lot of good lines by ignoring the original Gerard Jones translation (“See, they’re like a couple already.” “He’s a couple by himself!”). The dub is fairly good, but has problems like Kuno sounding about a decade older than his actual 17. (Smudge is right though; while I’m not a great fan of male Ranma’s voice, his voice acting is spot on.) In some ways, the best thing about the new series is that it’s in HD, and the original shall be forever stuck in SD. But, while it doesn’t do as much with the story as it could of, it’s still a solid story at this part, and I hope there’s another season (especially as the production seemed like it was loosening up as it went).

Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest — So, the gang’s back together for one more really big job. In a way, there is a bit of sequelitis going on. So, the same characters doing largely the same things. On the other hand, it’s a good cast, it’s always been somewhat episodic (story-arcdic?) in format, and there were some decided dangling overall character threads left hanging. The central plot does not deal with them, but they are actually progressing along with the story, so it’s actually working out quite well. Smudge and I are early in the moon dragon arc, and we just got to se Aquarius summon herself. Because of course she did.

Pokemon: Horizons — Smudge and I are nearing the end of the first half of the series, and it is continuing to be very good. Roy (and Fuecoco) can be a bit annoying for me, and I was worried by Liko’s hesitant nature, but she especially has been growing past that nicely. The action is good, the characters are good, and I like that there’s a number of adults around as part of the main cast who both help and respect the kids.

Delico’s Nursery — This was an interesting one. I was really unsure when Smudge first tried it out, but it has a solid story. Unlike the next entry, it spends time and effort explaining much of how the world works naturally inside the plot, and keeps things moving. It’s a complete story in one season, and doesn’t feel at all rushed or padded. The production is certainly on the cheap end, but they spent their money well.

Bye Bye, Earth — The one show of the list I don’t recommend. It wasn’t bad, but it’s definitely on the cheaper side as a production, and you can tell that this is from a pair of novels (possibly squeezing too much into one season). The premise is not bad, but there’s practically more hints as to the background in the opening credits than in the story so far. But… well…. The real problem here is everything happens because the plot says so. A lot of actions and character bits come off feeling extremely forced, and not really rising out of the characters. Visually, I think the series also suffers a bit from the fact that they took Amano designs and worked them down into a somewhat stiff conventional style.

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The Incredible Tide

by on February 2, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Alexander Key definitely has a ‘type’, and this book is straight in his favored genre. Boy’s adventure with a super-powered (generally psionic) protagonist.

Here we have a post-apocalyptic setting, where destructive weapons have reshaped the earth, drowning almost all the land, and causing new, dangerous, weather patterns. All that’s left are a handful of islands; former mountain tops….

Only a small population of humanity is left, and simple survival is the first order of business. This is an action novel, so we don’t get a lot of time with that, but lots of incidental bits are brought up in the course of other things, which is very good for structure and pacing.

Instead, we get an action-focused novel with the New Order threatening the entire cast of characters with a totalitarian regime. Key goes for a very stark and unkind representation here, no pulled punches on the cost of unfeeling conformity and the urge to make everything fit into your boxes without room for freedom of expression. Even so, in the middle of the book Briac does point out the necessity of much of what they did, making sure a partial manufacturing center (part of it, too, is under the waves) stays operating to feed a decent population.

So… it’s often a bit heavy handed, for instance the West being a stand in for, well… and The Peace Union for the communist bloc. There’s lots of, effectively, psionics on the good side of the cast. But, its a good YA adventure novel, and while not Key’s best, it did inspire Hayao Miyazaki, which is great right there.

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J223 Latecomers

by on January 29, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

After fleeing in an F5C, Patch and I returned to ASL, with a scenario from Journal #14. It’s part of the Italian offensive into France in 1940. It didn’t get far, but it did generate this scenario.

I had the defending French, who have nine and a half squads, two LMGs, and a 37mm popgun (its an INF so small, it’s counted as a support weapon). On turn two they get another two squads with 8-0 and LMG, and… a car. It is mounted with a LMG, but a 2FP AAMG mounted on a very small vehicle with no armor seems to be asking for trouble.

The Italians have eleven squads (and two HS), two LMG, a HMG, and two light MTR. They also get a 9-2 and four radioless tankettes (two with MA and two with CMG). They need 16 VP, and get three each for taking buildings on board 32. The road there is a fairly natural barrier, and taking everything south of that would get them 15 VP. They need to either get across the road, or exit units off of 32A6 (1 or 2 VP each, depending).

Italian setup is on a diagonal line that runs south the further east it goes; they can also just enter the west side of board 32 on turn 1. There’s enough orchards and other cover to make the obvious approach a good one, but coming along the board 32 woods/road shouldn’t be ruled out, and I set up a LMG to stall that as well as see an approach in the middle of board 38. The main defense was just south of the main road, with a trio of HS just west of there, and the INF in F4. Patch set up in a dense line on the east half of the board.

With orchards in the way, there wasn’t a lot I could do, but a lucky 1MC was followed by a 12 to reduce and ELR a LMG squad. Patch revealed and pinned a HS in AFPh.


Situation, Italian turn 1, showing the full board.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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