New Gaming Location

Our game last Saturday was our last at The Dragon's Lair as that was also the last day they were open. We talked among ourselves about an alternate location and agreed to try the China Kitchen restaurant just west on Highway 80 from the Dragon's Lair. After lunch Jay talked with a manager and they agreed that we could use their private party room from about 10:30 am (they actually open to the public at 11) until about 3:00 or 3:30 pm. We had to guarantee that we would pay for ten lunch buffet meals, so if we don't have ten gamers show up who will also eat, then those of us who do participate will be responsible for the balance.

The game this coming Saturday (Feb. 7) will be the US Cavalry versus the American Indians. It was originally scheduled by Jay Ainsworth who had to drop out for personal reasons. So Jay Stribling, Jim Pitts, and John Switzer will pool their troops and Jay will be the game master. Please come to help us try out this new venue.

The China Kitchen should be familiar to almost all the regular Jackson Gamers as we tend to eat at the buffet almost every Saturday we have gamed at the Dragon's Lair. It is about 150 feet (more or less, probably more) west of the Dragon's Lair on Highway 80 in Pearl. The following pictures show the restaurant, which is also right next door to a Church's Fried Chicken place.

Looking from the westward direction

Looking from the eastward direction

Aeronef game, 11/29/2008

The British orders were to escort a convoy of transport vessels to the British colonies in East Africa and defend them against any attackers. The French were to intercept and destroy the convoy. The French came upon the British high above the African desert. Jim and Phil commanded the French fleet, while Ed and Sean commanded the British. I (Bill) took control of the convoy ships.

A squadron of French commerce raiders watch the skies for new prey.


The British transports and their alert escorts steam over the Mauritanian desert. Ed's squadron is spread out on the port side, and Sean's squadron is close on the transports' starboard.


The transports: two 'nef cargo ships are accompanied by two small 'dig transports and the 'dig passenger liner Majestic.


Two squadrons of French raiders move in from the table edge, racing into the spread-out port side of the convoy. Jim's squadron is on the left, and Phil's squadron is on the right.


Another view, from the perspective of Jim's French attackers. The French plan was to cut through the convoy at high speed, doing as much damage as possible, then break away from the fight.


As the French penetrate the British portside escorts, the transports turn away from the attackers and make all possible speed. The starboard escorts turn across the transports' paths, moving into range to fire on the French ships.

British fire was surprisingly ineffective. In the first turn, Ed managed to roll 26 dice and not get a single hit. Later turns continued that trend.


Jim's French position themselves for broadside fire against the British, then move on to attack the transports.


Phil's French squadron (on the left) and Jim's squadron (on the right) cut through the British defenders' fire and set their sights on the transports.


The two cargo dirigibles and one of the transport 'nefs have been destroyed, and the French are well on their way to destroying the second 'nef and the Majestic.

This game was definately a French victory. All the transports were destroyed, heavy damage was done to the British escorts, and the French attackers came out relatively unscathed. The French got three victory points for each destroyed transport, and one for each destroyed British military vessel. The British got one point for each destroyed French vessel and (in theory) three for each undamaged transport that made it off the table. The total points were 16 for the French vs. 2 for the British.

In hindsight, I probably needed seven or eight more transports and another squadron of defenders. Transports get half the damage boxes of an equivalent military vessel, and this made them surprisingly fragile. The victory point values should be adjusted as well. A method of taking ship class into account would work best.


(Photos by Jim Pitts and Ed Sansing.)

Comments on 2HWG's Colonial Adventures Rules

While at MilleniumCon last weekend, I played in a game using Ed Teixeira's new Two Hour Wargames rules Colonial Adventures. The scenario was titled "The Raid" and was run by Al Maurer of Askari Miniatures using his lovely North African colonial figures.

From the events list description: "Players take command of French Foreign Legionnaires conducting a raid of a Berber village. Can you find and capture the leader of the rebellion?"

Actually the players were divided into two groups, the French and the Berbers. Along with Bill Protz and two other gamers, I played as a Berber clan chief. We each had a unit of 20 Berbers armed with muskets (three units) or rifles (one unit). Our senior leader was hidden and the French would have to find him. Likewise all our units started out hidden as well.

There were four French players commanded three 20-figure units of infantry (one FFL, one Tirailleur Algerien, and one allied Arabs), one 15-figure unit of mounted troops (Chasseurs d'Afrique, I think), and a mule borne mountain gun.

The French clearly had the Berbers out manned and out classed. All of Ed's games use a technique known as a "Rep" to classify units, to determine when (and if) they can move and how well they fire. The FFL, gun, Tirailleurs, and cavalry were all Rep 5, meaning they could move when a 5 or less was rolled on a D6. The French allied Arabs and three of the four Berber units were Rep 4, while my unit was a Rep 5. There were a number of turns when none of the Berbers could move because we rolled more than a 4 or 5 on our D6 activation roll.

The first action involved Bill Protz's unit of rifle armed Berbers against the French cavalry around a rocky knoll with a cave in it. The melee lasted for several turns with the French losing heavily at first until the die rolling turned to their favor and gradually Bill's Berbers melted away and fled the table. The melee started when the cavalry sighted Bill's Berbers, who then fired. The cavalry then charged the Berbers and the melee ensued. All of these activities were determined by reaction die rolls, with the unit commanders having little to say in what their unit did.

Here is a closer look at the melee. As you can see, the figures were nicely painted and the terrain was well done, all resting on a battle cloth of regular patterned fabric like Travis Melton uses.

The main Berber defenses were around the ruined buildings with my unit (somewhat elite) occupying the two buildings on the right, another unit the building in the front center, and a third unit some rough terrain further to the left. The French allied Arabs were in a skirmish line that moved through the palm grove. It was gradually shot to pieces by the Berbers and either died or ran away. The units to the right of the palms are the mule gun and the FFL. the Tirailleurs are behind the palms on the far left and are hidden from view. The FFL were in close order line and could use a volley fire advantage which hurt my unit a little bit.

Because of casualties, I was forced to abandon the first building and retreated back to the second. Here I made my stand. Since I could only fire a few men out of each face of the building, I was normally only rolling 3 firing D6s, needing a 1 to hit anything. Needless to say, my abysmal die rolling resulted in fewer French casualties than I desired to inflict.

Finally the FFL assaulted my last stand building with cold steel. Although I killed a couple of them, they were too powerful for me to resist and so my last three guys (out of 20) ran away. I did kill one of the FFL leaders, but they also killed my leader in the melee. This completed my participation in the game, so I don't know whether the French were able to find our hidden leader.

OK, you ask, how did I like the rules? Well, they are advertised as a two hour game and we played about two hours before my unit fled and I left. But there were 8 players and we each controlled only one unit, except for one of the French players who controlled the FFL and the gun. With more units to control, the game would, I think, take longer. There were some errors on the quick play sheets that we used (note: each type of unit had its own, unique QRS with different results for the reaction checks.) so Al had to consult the rule book a number of times. It appeared that there wasn't enough quality control there. For the most part, once a unit is committed to an action, movement, firing, melee, the player tends to loose control over what the unit does. All actions are laid out in the reaction test tables and are dependent on passing die rolls. I'm not sure that I like loosing that much control, even though I've played in a number of games using various varieties of Ed's rules. Anyway, it was an interesting close to a long day of SYW fighting and I'm glad I got to experience these colonial rules. I doubt if I will get a copy as I'm pretty much a Sword and the Flame guy.

Texas Big Battalions Game

As many of you frequent readers know, I recently returned from MilleniumCon in Round Rock, Texas, where I participated in the Texas Big Battalions SYW game. Although the Electoral forces lost, it was a very enjoyable game, especially since I had the honor of playing opposite Bill Protz, author of the rules we used, Batailles de l'Ancien Regime (BAR). You can see several battale reports, pre-battle background, and post-battle reports at these various sites:

ColCampbell's Barracks

Emperor vs Elector

Der Alte Fritz Journal

Texas Big Battalions Blog

Landgraviate of Hesse-Fedora

Jim

Marching off to War

Please visit ColCampbell's Barracks over the coming week as I post pictures of the armies of the Margraviate of Carpania, Duchy of Courland, and Duchy of Sachsen-Wachsenstein leaving for the Champs de Mars in Round Rock, Texas at the Texas Big Battalions game.

Jim

Renaissance Battle in Italy

On Oct. 18, Jay Stribling treated us to a Renaissance game using slightly modified Fields of Glory rules. Using troops of Jim Pitts and his own, Jay set up a fictitious battle in northern Italy between the forces of the French king and the Holy Roman Emperor. Players were:

French -- Jay Stribling, Bill Hamilton, Sean Pitts, and Ed Sansing

Germans -- Jim Pitts, Travis Melton, Phil Young, and Larry Reeves

The center of the battlefield with the Germans of Jim Pitts
on the left and the French/Swiss of Jay Stribling
and Sean Pitts on the right.

Jim's attack progresses against the French.

Final fighting in the center

So who won? Common consent was (if I remember correctly) the the Germans would win since they had collapsed the French left flank and penetrated the center, threatening the French baggage park. There is now a full report on the Jackson Gamers web site, see link to right.

Re-Basing Mania

I've heard that all gamers, if they stay at it long enough, will look at units they have completed and decide to re-base them. I have now come to that point. I recently completed 2 Mex-Am War (MAW) Mexican regiments and Larry Reeves painted 2 more for me and I am wondering whether to change my method of basing. I have been using Wargames Accessories metal bases. What I plan on doing is using plywood on top to the base so I can put the name of the unit on the back so they are easily identifiable.

When I started my 15mm MAW army I based them in accordance with Fire & Fury rules. I used 1 x 3/4 inch bases for infantry. I mounted 3 figures per stand, since in F&F losses are by stand not by figure. Cavalry & artillery are on 1 x 1 1/2 inch stands. I used Musket Miniatures line and their packs have 24 figures each, so my units were 8 stands.

In the games we have played unit sizes have been, at the most, 6 stands, so I have toyed with the idea of re-basing the units 4 figures to a stand. If I do this I could also use these units with Brom's Standard rules for MAW.

What I am wondering is can I mount 4 figures on the size base that I have been mounting 3 without it looking to crowded? Here is a picture of a test. In the foreground is the new 2nd Lt. infantry, with 4 per stand, and in the background is the older 1st Lt. infantry, at 3 per stand.

I am looking for comments on which unit looks best.

Ed