25-26 Thaumont 1000AC - Rahasia

Broneslav kicked back for the day in Reedle following a long lie in. Reedle was a village that provided services for caravans making the arduous trek along the Duke's Road, as well as having a very healthy agricultural background that had made many of its farmers very wealthy.

The ice that was still forming on the puddles in the muddy streets encouraged Broneslav to seek his entertainment indoors and he soon found himself a couple of Royals up in a card game when a yell in the street had him moving from his seat to see what was going on, just as a cartload of logs shed its load against the wall of the Rusty Sword tavern. The tavern was flimsily built and the wall gave way quickly. Skipping out of the way of the logs, Broneslav took this as his cue to leave. The rest of the day passed uneventfully.

The following day, he got up early, shouldered his pack, and set off northwards on his errand. He made good time, encountering only the usual travellers on his way and reached the smaller road into the woods that Sindar had instructed him to take. As he followed this road, he noticed that the trees around him soon seemed taller and more imposing. Spring seemed to be arriving early in this part of the forest, because he noticed that some trees were even now in bud. Wondering at this, Broneslav rounded a corner on the path and the low afternoon soon glinted off something metallic in the undergrowth beside the trail. He stopped to check. It was an Elf. His coat of mail was badly damaged and the blows that had caused the rings to break asunder had done similar damage to his body.

Checking to see if the Elf carried anything that might identify him, Broneslav noticed a scroll tucked into the body's belt. He read it quickly and realised that the Elf had been a messenger coming from Kota-Hutan. Someone called Rahasia had sent the Elf to seek help, and the message was a call to arms for any brave enough to face the threat that Rahasia's village faced.

"Aha!" thought Broneslav, "This looks like the first step on my road to glory, and it goes in the right direction too, for this package I carry is to be delivered at this self-same village. So, I shall defeat this Rahib and then be able to return covered in glory and gold to my beautiful Milka, she of the rose red lips and snow white skin. I shall rest my head on her breast with my reputation established and all shall be well."

He pondered who and what the Rahib might be as he followed the path further. He or it was certainly some kind of sorcerer, for the curse seemed real enough even allowing for hyperbole. The acolytes at the temple, the Siswa, may have been turned by the Rahib's magic, hence their refusal to permit any of the villagers to visit and the disappearance of this Rahasia's father and of her fiancee Hasan. Yes, this was shaping up to be a proper adventure, and Broneslav could be the hero that saved the day for Rahasia and the two other maidens that the Rahib had demanded. Damsel in distress: check. Evil sorcerer: check. Hero with sword: check. Perhaps accounting himself a hero already was a bit much, but Broneslav was prone to such daydreaming. It was better than the cold, wet, muddy alternative of actually being on an adventure.

With his thoughts occupied by dreams of glory, gold and the reddest of lips, the last part of the journey to the village passed quickly. A few Elves were abroad at this time and Broneslav was quickly able to meet with Rahasia. She was incredibly beautiful, even by Elven standards of ethereal grace, but Broneslav's tastes ran to more substantial women.

"Bit too skinny for my liking," he thought uncharitably, before agreeing to sort the problem out as Rahasia requested. He thought he noticed some doubt in her face about his ability to cope with the Rahib, but he quickly dismissed it in his own mind. After all, three feet of steel sticking out of his chest should severely discourage the Rahib from continuing to live.

Rahasia had food brought for Broneslav and talked about the temple as he ate. She announced that she would guide him to the base of Grey Mountain where the temple lay so that he would be on the right path, but she did not dare go further in case the Rahib captured her.

With food in his belly and Rahasia's instructions in his ears, Broneslav took a hot bath and went to bed early. Tomorrow would be a busy day.

Character
Broneslav Torenescu (S16, D14, C15, I12, W10, Ch14, F1, HP 9, AC4, Sword 1d8+3, Bow 1d8)
Human (Traladaran)
XPs: 60
Traits:
Torenescu Family Member 1
Hunter 1
Keen Vision 1
Good Education 1
Empathy with Animals 1
Goal: Prove that he is an adult following the Shearing Ceremony
Goal: Slay a red dragon
Quest: Deliver a parcel to Merisa in Gray Mountain Village

Vikings invade Pictland - a Dux Bellorum mini-report

Last week we played Dux Bellorum. We are playing again this week so I thought I should try to remember what happened and post a short report before the new game completely wipes the old one from my memory. I fielded a Viking army as Land Raiders. Steve used his new Picts. This meant we knew who would win at the outset because my Vikings are veterans of many games and newly painted figures never win their first outing, except against other newly painted figures.

I had chosen Champion's Challenge, Fanatics and Mead as strategies for my army. I also bought an extra Leadership Point. Steve had bought an extra 3 Leadership Points, but I don't think he had bought any strategies. Steve was the defender and I was the attacker. He set up the terrain as you can see below and I chose to deploy between a field and some woods, forcing him to split his army so that it could move easily in groups. My champion called his out and won, reducing Steve's Leadership Points by one as a result of being demoralised at the death of their biggest bloke.

Vikings at the bottom of the picture

There was little tactical subtlety in the battle. I began by sending my berserkers (Fanatics) off on a charge against Steve's right flank (my left). I hoped that they would disrupt his formation while the rest of my force picked apart his main body.

Berserkers to the left of me, Warriors to the right, and here I am stuck in the middle with you

The berserkers saw off a unit of skirmishers but were very quickly cut down, so I sent a unit of warriors off to delay the enemy some more. They did this rather well which surprised me.

The main body assaults the Pictish main body and is threatened by the skirmish horse from behind, Meanwhile the warriors on the left are holding up twice their own number and winning. That mead I gave them sure paid off.

My warriors actually won on the left flank while my main body, fuelled by mead proceeded to pick apart the enemy. The game ended with the Pictish general surrounded and eventually cut down. His bodyguard died with him and will be remembered in our songs.

The poor surrounded Pictish general

This was a good fun, but brutal game. We got a couple of things wrong but not too much at all. The key to winning it for me was picking the right fights in the main combat. Rolling well also helped, but it is fair to say that the mid-game was characterised by my inability to roll fives or sixes despite rolling whole buckets of dice. I'm fielding the Vikings as Saxons in the next game and shall try some different strategies this time around.

Steve got frustrated in the last game because he did so little damage to my troops, but that did not stop him from declaring what fun the rules are. I concur. I am now planning an Elven army using the Late Roman list and a Norman army based on the Romano-British list. It may well be time to find my painting mojo again.

Grand Admiral: Castles of Steel - WW1 Naval Game

We played Grand Admiral: Castles of Steel last night. I have been looking for a fast-playing naval wargames rules set for WW1 for some years now and found this to be interesting, so I bought and downloaded it. Previously I have played a lot of General Quarters 2. GQ2 is a fine game but it does not play quickly enough for the size of game I want to play, i.e. Jutland.

Anyway, it all began many years ago, when I bought a Conflict Miniatures (formerly Knight Designs) 1:5000 fleet set with all of the ships required for Jutland. These tiny beauties ranged in size from approximately 10mm in length for a destroyer to 20mm for a battleship and I have always thought that they must be 1:10000 and not 1:5000 scale. For their size they are brilliant. Individual classes of ship are recognisable with the larger models and I was quite taken with them, but I always found naval wargaming to be a bit sterile. Still, I painted them all and they languished in the cupboard for years awaiting a willing opponent. Then last night I finally persuaded Steve to play. Yay!

The British squadrons are at the bottom of this picture. Light cruisers are on the left, battleships in the centre and battlecruisers on the right. The German battleships are steaming at full speed down the centre, while the two battlecruiser squadrons are manoeuvring up top left.

I quickly put together two small battle-groups of three squadrons each and offered Steve the choice of sides. He picked the Germans, so I wound up with the British. We set up our ships and set to. It was a simple engagement that saw both of us steaming towards each other, although my own efforts to cross the T were slightly subtler than Steve's plan of steaming right into the middle of my ships with his battleships while his battle-cruisers lagged behind. The net result was that I was able to concentrate fire on his battleships and sink them all before engaging his battlecruisers and sinking enough of them to win the game. Steve severely damaged several of my ships and sunk a few, but the advantage was definitely mine.

The game itself played rather well, although it took longer than I expected. The key mechanic of the game is the card draw for movement and firing. A deck is constructed consisting of Ace through Six and two face cards in different suits for each side (we used hearts for the British and spades for the Germans). Each player holds a hand of three cards at the start and plays one card from that hand when it is their turn. They then draw another card. Play continues until all the cards have been played and the deck is then reshuffled ready for the next round to begin. When a player plays a number card (Ace to Six) all ships of the side associated with that suit whose speed is equal to or greater than the number may move. When a face card is played, all ships of that side may shoot. Players are not allowed to discard or pass, so they must, at some point, play cards that let their opponent act. The key is to work out when this is most advantageous for you. I like this mechanism, because it adds a bit of planning ahead to the game and introduces some uncertainty. Both of these are things I like in my games.

For shooting, the game uses the bucket of dice approach which we enjoy, but it also provides an optional single die resolution system. With the bucket of dice you roll for hits first based on being at short or long range, and then you roll for damage for each successful hit by rolling equal to or greater than the target's armour value minus your gun's penetration value. Damage causes ships to first become crippled and then to sink. Thus, ships have two floating states which amount to full strength and half strength. There are no critical hits or other fripperies, because this is intended to be a fleet level game played in a reasonable length of time.

Grand Admiral is designed to be played on a hex grid but we just counted one hex as two inches and worked everything out from there. The only way this affected the game was that our squadrons would have been deployed in one hex each and could have turned as a squadron on one movement card. The way we played, they needed several movement cards for the whole squadron to change direction while remaining in line. This slowed movement down, but felt about right.

Overall, we enjoyed the game and will play again at some point. I shall certainly try to get Steve to play General Quarters too, but that will have to be for smaller games because of the extra detail in those rules. Now that I have used my ships, I think I may rebase them to be more user friendly too. At the very least, they need names that are visible without having to pick the ship up or have an encyclopaedic knowledge of ship profiles from the period. It might also prove useful to base them on small hexes to aid with working out arcs of fire. I look forward to the rebasing and hopefully playing with these figures that I have bought over twenty years ago now.

Meeting at Longlier - CDTOB AAR Part 2

We continued our slow progress through the Meeting at Longlier scenario once more. The fighting is becoming more intense, Longlier is occupied by entire battalions from both sides and the Germans are desperately attempting to march around the French flanks.

The situation at the end of Turn 6

As can be seen from the map above, the French advanced rapidly to form up a line centred on Longlier. The Germans are trying to flank the French on the right with a battalion or more of infantry (it feels like more at the moment!) and the German recon cavalry is in the north-west of the map attempting to gallop around and capture the built-up areas behind French lines. Not all units are shown on the map, for the sake of clarity.

The view from the German lines at the end of Turn 4

Turn 4 saw the French artillery deployed and ready to rain all-out thermonuclear heck on the Germans, while troops of both sides marched towards the front at full speed. We set to and I gleefully rolled for artillery response for my first artillery unit. No response. I rolled for the second. No response. What were these idiots up to? I cursed my gunners as they failed to fire at all.

Meanwhile Longlier was becoming the Stalingrad of the Lorraine area. Both armies occupied it but neither was making much headway as new troops were fed in from the rear. On the German left flank forces were building up and things were starting to look dicey for the French.

View from the French end of the table at the end of Turn 5

Turn 5 began with the artillery stonk that I had hoped for on the previous turn. It was much better than the planned stonk from the previous turn because the Germans had parked all their artillery in the walled field to the east of Longlier (top of the picture above). A couple of artillery templates covered the artillery and some infantry, and some lucky dice rolling destroyed the entire artillery battalion. BOOM! The infantry were not happy either. Suddenly the field was empty.

The fighting in Longlier continued as more troops were fed into the meatgrinder, and the German left flank continued to march around towards the French artillery. It looked like they would be able to charge the artillery on the next turn, which would probably not go that well for the guns and the gunners.

End of Turn 6 as taken by an observation pilot in a Bleriot plane. North is to the top of the picture.

The start of turn 6 went well for the French. All the guns fired, suppressing infantry in Longlier and blunting the flanking attack. Better yet, the French won the initiative and were able to charge the first flanking force, destroying part of it and causing the rest to become shaken. The fight in the eastern woods dragged on with honours being even on both sides, but the French troops became pinned by their opponents. Next turn may not go well for them and reinforcing companies are also advancing rapidly around the flank. It may be too late for an orderly withdrawal from that side of the battlefield, but there are no strategic objectives there, so sucking the Germans into a drawn out firefight might actually work in the long run, but at the cost of some brave poilus.

In Longlier casualties mounted up but no progress was being made. Meanwhile the French had a company advancing around both sides of the town. It will be tough digging the Germans out, but it is still a possibility.

To the north of Longlier, German infantry and cavalry were advancing round the flank. A battalion of French infantry was deployed to try to cut them off. The French cavalry who had held part of the town from the start mounted up and moved out through the infantry lines to try to catch the German cavalry and sort it out.

We've made mistakes with the rules along the way, but the scenario is turning out to be good fun. Fog of War cards add something to the chaos without unbalancing the game, and the forces seem fairly evenly matched. Steve is showing his tricksy side with his flanking manoeuvres while I have focused on driving through the middle in best Viking berserker tradition. It's a shame that we cannot play more and finish it sooner but overall I think I have sold Steve on CDTOB now.

Norway 1940 in 15mm

Many years ago I converted a bunch of Peter Pig and Old Glory 15mm DAK troopers into a Norwegian army for PBI2. Since those heady days, the figures have languished in a box file awaiting a return to PBI2 or any other game system that will permit their use. Then, earlier this year, my friend Nathan suggested playing the scenarios from the Skirmish Campaigns Norway 1940 scenario book. I had the book, I had the figures, and I was sold instantly. There was just a small matter of buying a few Brits and some Frenchmen for some of the scenarios, but I could live with that, so I dug them out and began transferring them from multibases to skirmish bases. More recently, Feathersword on the Command Decision forum was asking about Norwegians so I responded, and he responded by asking for photos. These are some photos of my Norwegian army in response to his request. Hopefully it will not be too long before I get the scenarios played too, although my friend has inconveniently decided to breed a proto-wargamer in the meantime which is likely to mean reduced opportunities for gaming.

Officers

I think both of these are pretty much straight from the PP DAK officers pack

Officer and LMG Gunner

Officer as above. The LMG gunner is a British Bren Gunner with pack removed and head swapped for a DAK head, which is close enough to the Norwegian cap for my purposes.

MG Gunners

The LMGs in this photo are a British Bren Gunner and a Japanese LMG. The number 2s on the guns are both Japanese. The MMG is a British Vickers with the barrel end cut about a bit. The gunners had their packs removed and their heads swapped. It's close enough to the Colt for wargames purposes. I think I may have the ammo feed from the wrong side, but it's hard to tell in the photos I've seen because the same photo is printed both right way round and reversed, and there is nothing to tell me which is which.

Riflemen

For the riflemen I mostly used DAK riflemen, but I also used Germans and Russians in greatcoats for that winter chic. The guys on the left are partisans or RCW types who I use as local volunteers with no military equipment. It may not be entirely right, but it is romantic.

Ski Troops

It's not Norway without skis. These are German ski troops with helmets removed where necessary and caps added.

Sniper

A German sniper straight from the PP pack painted in Norwegian uniform.

Mortar

More DAK troops to provide support. This time a medium mortar. Let's hope that gunner is carrying tins of ammunition and not more lutefisk.

75mm Gun

This 75mm gun is the bastard offspring of a British 18lber and a Krupp 77mm from the PP WW1 range. It has the old-style wheels because apparently only a very few 75s were converted to pneumatic tyres for towing by vehicles. The crew are more PP DAK troops.

Looking at these guys, I now have a nostalgic urge to play PBI2 again, and a strong desire to cover my gaming table in snow.

Meeting at Longlier - CDTOB AAR Part 1

Last night, we continued the Command Decision: Test of Battle game that we began last week. At our current rate of progress it will take us another couple of weeks to finish the game. The scenario is the second one in the Death of Glory supplement. It pits the French versus the Germans in the Lorraine area in August 1914. Both sides have a regiment of infantry, a battalion of artillery and a recon cavalry squadron. The game will be 8-12 turns long depending upon a random die roll.

The game began with the recon cavalry ensconced in and around Longlier. The French had dismounted to occupy the town better while the Germans remained mounted. Reinforcements in the form of a battalion from the regiment arrive each turn, marching to the sound of the guns. The German artillery battalion must arrive as a unit, while the French artillery battalion arrives as individual batteries together with an infantry battalion. After three turns the French forces have all arrived and the final German battalion is nearing the battle area.

The situation at the end of turn 3 (Not all units are shown to make things clearer)

The French in blue arrived from the south. The Germans in grey arrived from the north-east. As you can see, a traffic jam was building in the town of Longlier. The northernmost French recon cavalry unit (hollow blue symbol) charged the German recon cavalry in the rear but the Germans were able to turn to face and eliminated the French unit. It was at this point that I realised that cavalry charging get no significant benefit from doing so. Boo! We are French, we are dressed well and we have style. We deserve significant bonuses for that!!

The table at the end of turn 3

At least by this stage I have deployed two artillery pieces and can bring fire to bear on the Germans. With any luck I can suppress the enemy infantry with artillery fire in the next turn and my brave poilus can charge home and drive the enemy from the woods with great elan. For the rest of it, I think there is going to be a turn or two of marching and re-ordering the troops so that we can occupy good firing positions and protect our homeland.

View from the west towards Longlier. French troops march bravely to support their brethren while singing lustily as they go

The scenario requires both sides to capture built-up areas, and to destroy the enemy. There are 3 victory conditions: one for capturing the most built-up areas, one for destroying enemy personnel (infantry/cavalry) stands, and one for destroying enemy artillery stands. The winner is the player that has achieved more victory conditions. I made some French and German flags to mark control of the built-up areas.

View from the south-western road. My artillery deployed on the reverse slope where their commander can call fire onto the enemy positions. A second artillery piece will take up position next turn

I am hoping that artillery on this hill in the south-east corner of the table will be a good firing position for my artillery. With two pieces there and the artillery battalion commander, I can call fire onto the approaching Germans and also shell Longlier in support of my own troops as needed. It only requires that my infantry drive off the Germans in the woods. I think I'm going to need better dice!

Figures by Irregular Miniatures

Hexes are GHQ Terrain Maker hexes that I fettled myself

Ancient Black Ops - TV Series

A new TV series Ancient Black Ops will be airing on Yesterday from 17th September. It is a series of programmes about various elite warriors of the past. The first episode is about the Assassins, and will be followed by an episode about the Spartans. Probably airing sometime in October will be a programme on Berserkers, in which I am the talking head. It was good fun filming it earlier this year. Look out for my natty woolly jumper if it makes it into shot.

I have no idea how the programme will have been edited, or anything like that, so I shall just blame all bad things on the editors (the producer was lovely so it's not her fault at all! :) ). The programme on Berserkers will be followed by one on The Varangian Guard to keep the Vikingophiles happy.

I suppose I had better get back to my normal service now. I'll try to get the next Scarlet Heroes session up soon, and there will be photographs from our refight of the battle at Longlier on August 22nd 1914. I meant to take a photo at the end of the session last week, but forgot, so I must try to remember to do so tomorrow evening.