Monday, March 18, 2024

Heart of Darkness

Halfway through John Company Jeff had to go off on an expedition to find his phone.  So it was appropriate that Richard and I had a go at this game.  It is almost solitaire and we only completed one turn, but it does tell a lovely story.  Maybe one that is no longer in fashion, but so it goes.


Having played some games on Boardgame arena, this game would be perfect for some computer hosting as there are lots of counters to pull out to populate adventures.

Anyway, my explorer, hired by a media mogul, "discovered" a lake and painted a beautiful picture of it which was reproduced on the front page of one of the mogul's esteemed journals. Well done!  


Sunday, March 17, 2024

John Company

Another day another new game to learn.  Tough going for this old dog.

Richard billed this as a mystery game and sent out the following invitation:


"Topee or not Topee?"*

by Richard C

* (and No, I'm not trying to take the Pith here)

 

Please come along to my new Board game

Now you might end up an Officer out for Trophies and fame,

so it could be all guts and glory or it could all end in shame.

Either way, I think that you'll be glad that you came.

 

The game is about your Company in more ways than one,

we'll need to work together or it could all come undone.

Your share of the profit could be amazingly fat,

on the other hand its very easy to fall flat.

 

If you can do a deal as a Writer,

the company's future will be brighter.

Our Ships need to serve our common cause,

but will they sail to our shores?

  

Empires will rise and Empires will fall,

but the roll of the dice will have everyone in thrall.

One will have the Office that will be the envy of all,

but, if you don't make it work, it could be your own down fall.

 

There WILL be an Elephant in the room which we'll all talk about

but just wait until you see what happens when it goes Walkabout!

We won't need to do this daily,

but they certainly didn't tell us about it at Hailey!

 

Everyone will have a share,

but can we agree to make it all fair?

Nepotism is allowed if everyone agrees,

and you could end up retired in a Country Pile.... unless you can't pay the fees.

 

We'll all get to vote on laws that we like,

otherwise we can tell the Prime Minister to take a hike.

You might be able to call in a favour at a time that you choose,

It could be the difference between if you win or lose.

   

You won't have to read the rules,

I will explain them to you, so you don't just sit there like fools.

Some people think the game is in bad taste,

so the doors will be locked in case you try and leave in great haste.

 

I hope you will come,  I think it will be fun.

One way or other, a great tale will be spun.

 

Jeff and I took up the challenge, and while the game can accommodate more, three was enough in what was, for me at least, very much a learning exercise.

Like a lot of games/rules, it is essential to follow the correct sequence and that is very important with John Company and rather hard as plans and excitement spur you on, then it all gets complicated when, compounded with limited familiarity with the game/rules, you make mistakes.  But we powered on and completed three turns, enough to have a go at trying to calculate victory points.

Beautifully presented game and looking forward to playing again.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Letting Go

Two sayings spring to mind:

  • Too much is not enough.
  • SABLE - Stuff Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy.

After religiously following the first bit of advice I am now trying to deal with the second bit.

It is hard to do, but by doing so I earn all important Brownie points with my partner: I've got to learn to let things go, well, a few things.

My Napoleonic focus is clearly 15mm (although I do have some 6mm).  The 6mm came from James and so it was excellent to be able to pass on to him this accumulation of 1/72nd Napoleonic figures, some of which I've had for decades, others only a few years.  Of course I can't just let things go, I had to photograph them and post them here.

But most importantly I had to find them a good home, and in a bit of serendipity I was sitting next to James Fisher in the movie theatre (The Three Musketeers - Milady) and was chatting beforehand.  He had been to Tactics and bought some 1/72nd figures and in the belief that more is better, I offered him some surplus figures I had.  Better still I was able to find them when I got home and drop them to him at the club that evening.  My partner even provided the bag to put them all in, thereby earning me an extra Brownie point (as it was a lovely Koko Black carry bag, not needed, but too nice to just throw out - plus the boxes fitted perfectly!)

C'est magnifique!
But they weren't ever going to be painted and based, 
never mind see the top of a table.

A dream.
Had ideas for some skirmish action,
as well as just much needed support units 
for those Napoleonic campaigns I was going to do in this scale.

This pack is really old.  
I found it in a toy shop and was amazed as it was just what I needed...
But obviously not.

Beautiful for the box art alone.
These were for the Quatre Bras scenario that I thought I would reproduce
 in 1/72nd having already done it already in 15mm (with plans underway for 6mm as well).

Again, for Quatre Bras.
I think I had two packs as they came as a mix of hussars and dragoons,
and I did complete one 12 figure unit.
Better still here is a blog post on them.

Officers were always in short supply, so this pack was a God send.

Excess.
But at least I had plenty of fun with them as can be seen 
herehere and here.

A mixed bag.

And a surprise.



Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Barbarossa Turn 44

For the 16th and 17th of September 1941 the weather is fine in the north and central fronts, but mud in the south.

Even with good weather the Germans are only able to make three attacks.
The ones near Moscow succeed, inching forward. 
(Benefiting from the application of some super heavy artillery)
The other one fails.

AGS grinds down the defenders of Kiev a little bit.

But Kherson is captured.

The north is very quiet.

The centre has actually seen a bit of a pull back by the Germans,
directly south of Moscow.

The great space between AGC and AGS.
In the middle are a panzer and a panzer grenadier division,
stuck in the mud on their way to reinforce AGC.

The southern front.

Another view of the southern front,
showing the full picture: Kiew to Odessa.





Sunday, March 10, 2024

Stolberg Corridor - Day One

It has been a long term aim to replicate the Command Decision Stolberg Corridor scenario for Rommel.  The biggest challenge was to not give in to bright ideas and keep things as close to the Rommel rules as possible.  The only new rules were for pillboxes and dragon's teeth.

Pillboxes function like Prepared Positions (Page 50) but are not removed after absorbing the first hit. They are removed when the position is occupied by the US.  

Dragons Teeth block supply, but do not cause isolation.  They are in a hex but line a hexside and only affect units crossing that hexside. They are ignored by non-motorised, but other units must stop on reaching them.  If a motorised/armoured unit starts adjacent it can cross but is tipped. They can attack across, but are vulnerable and do not provide armour benefits (i.e. tank shock), and if it advances across the hexside (as it must) then it is tipped. Dragon’s Teeth can be removed by engineering (Page 78-79). Place a marker next to the Dragon’s teeth in a US Marker Step provided a US unit is in the hex containing the Dragon’s Teeth.  Remove the Dragon’s Teeth in the subsequent US Marker Step provided the US are still adjacent.  The assumption being that enough explosive is on hand to blow a gap or engineering equipment to bridge a crater. (I'm still perfecting the wording.)

The map for the first day:

Please note the following images are taken from the German perspective.
The above map is orientated from the US perspective.

Simon and Stephen were CCA and CCB of the US 3rd Armoured Division respectively while I was the German commander and adjudicator as required (which was mainly just looking up a rule to confirm how it worked, the downside of only playing Rommel a few times a year).

This image doesn't do the initial deployment justice.
There are wall to wall Yanks with more on the way.
and not enough Germans to man the defence lines.

After moving up, CCA starts to attack what just happens to be the best German troops.

The single battalion of Pz Grenadiers are not enough to hold the wooded area near Aachen.
and the US troops are soon breaking through.
(each hex is about a square km and each stand around 200 men)

CCB starts to isolate Schmidthof.

It will take time as the pillboxes absorb the first loss in each combat.

The various battalions of the German 353rd Division arrive surprisingly quickly.
A promising counterattack however ended in disappointment.
This was the one and only German attack.

CCB still trying to isolate Schmidthof.

CCA launches another attack on the Pz Grenadiers.

CCB makes a direct assault on Schmidthof.

US attacks at both ends of the German line.

CCB pressing on with its attacks.

The Germans withdrew from Schmidthof.

The defence of the German left-hand side of the corridor now rest on the hills.

CCA attacks on the other side of the corridor, by passing Aachen, 
the outskirts of which can be seen on the right-hand side of the above image.

CCB have now broken through, and the Germans are at risk of being surrounded.

The Germans withdraw.

The US forces don't want to miss their chance to trap the Germans and surge forward.

Attacking at multiple points in the line.
but night is falling, and the bulk of the Germans slip away to the next defensive line.

The US content themselves with mopping up.
The exercise completes in the first turn of the second day.

Always tricky to know how a scenario will play out.  I was pleasantly surprised about the different challenges this one presented so far.  The pillboxes and dragon's teeth worked fine.  We had to move the mat once to gain an extra two hex rows, but that went smoothly.  The nighttime phase, out first in a Rommel game, worked surprisingly well, with the Germans taking full advantage to break contact and rebuild.  

The first turn of Day 2 saw the US mop up the Germans who were left defending the dragon's teeth (hex row 5). This meant the Germans could use their first turn to complete consolidating on the Stolberg defensive position, hex rows 13 to 15.  The US will start in hex rows 10 to 11 for their second turn of day 2. There is a small forward force of Germans in hex L11 near Zweifal and the US will be set up one hex back from that position. Both sides have 2 Ops dice to start with.

The map for Day 2:



Thursday, March 7, 2024

Early Seleucids versus Sui Dynasty Chinese

Having recently completed some Seleucid heavy cavalry I was keen to get them on the table and so took this army to fight Karl's Chinese.

Things started off well with the Seleucids winning the scouting.

A cautious advance in the face of the Chinese superior missile fire.

Slight advantage to the Seleucids.

The Thracians held the Chinese heavy cavalry off.
The Seleucid heavy cavalry had a spectacular charge,
but pulled up short before the Chinese crossbows.
The pikes were also successful, 
but didn't appreciate the potential of the Chinese counterattack.

The crossbows get 6 dice on the cavalry which are already disordered.  The Chinese infantry had a surprising plus 3 charge bonus (the pikes were only plus 1).

It's all starting to unravel,
but the Seleucids still have hope.

Hope fades with the Seleucid heavy cavalry reduced to a pin cushion.

Defeat 
:-(
Although it was close.