Monday, November 21, 2016

Victory Without Quarter Stagonia wins at Library table

Again the forces of Alpia and Vile Stagonia came to clash, this time over cupcakes in the little village in the Alpian foothills.

Stagonian pike and shotte marching in column
The players had experienced the game system, Victory Without Quarter, once before, though as subordinates - this time they would be solo commanders.

table at start

Alpian left wing

Alpian center

Alpian right wing

Stagonian right wing

Stagonian center

Stagonian left wing

another view of Stagonian center
Again the troops from Jeff Hudelson have been brought out to take action on the tabletop.

the first deck saw about 1/2 troops get a move

Alpian guns boomed out (to no effect due to range)

Stagonian guns got into motion

whole columns of Stagonian troops got moving

with the second deck very few troops moved

though just enough got to move so as to present a good target

The Alpian commander 'called' this card #1 in the deck for move 3

this was the setup for Zuff

Stagonia looked to have all the action early on

indeed two brigades of Stagonia were going forward as planned for the Stagonian commader
The third 'deck' (cards are used to determine who is moving/shooting), and Alpian commander used his magic (calling out to the gods to tabletop luck) and got the first card he wanted and Zuff shot apart the leading column of Stagonian Knights.

some break-up of the Alpian forces as others did not get to move much

Zuff - Alpian Pike & Shotte blasted Stagonian knights

a Stagonian "stupid" commander chose to counter-march his brigade

other Stagonian horse drive forward to support the Knights

deck 4 and still more closing on the 'cupcake' towne

Alpian cannon continued to fire

victory looks close at hand for Alpia's Queel (ship flag) Pike & Shotte - and if you look at the background you can see the windows into the library lobby where folks can look through to see us playing - we did get a few come in and get a closer view

many counter-marches would send the Stagonian forces into disarray before the battle would be done
My camera came out less for a few decks, as they went by rather quickly often only 6 or 10 cards.

Turn 8 was something of a turning point as again nearly the whole table got to move.

now the whole table was in motion

though Stagonian 'stupid' commander was counter-marching over and over

there was one Brilliant commander that was keeping the horse moving

while the others were going in circles

the artillery action card did not come up in time to stop this charge by Alpian horse

while the stupid Stagonian commander kept ordering fire into the town
I have left the last turn (8) photos with the background intact so that you may contrast them with turn nine (9) photos for comparison when I used the painted backdrop to improve the photo shots.

deck (turn) nine (9) was to be the victory point as the Stagonian crossbowmen had finally stormed into the square of the town and taken control over the cupcakes!

here are the crossbowmen holding the town square

while behind the town the rest of the Stagonian brigade and their 'stupid' commander continued to counter-march

Stagonian horse, steeled their nerves to face Alpian Knights and cannon

while Stagonian foote moved to cover the right flank

the Alpaian Green Knights were to be the best on the table this day

while on the Alpian left an entire brigade kept marching so slowly that they never did get into the fight at all

Stagonian cannon prayed for the ability to get to fire (card driven mechanics are tricky)

more of the counter-marching Stagonian foote

both commanders were on the far flanks all battle long, in this case the Stagonian commander was keeping one of his stupid brigadiers 'in-line' so that the troops could keep moving as needed

the Alpian commander was in a panic!  those were Stagonian horse that had just run down the crossbowmen to his left!

while coming around the town and into the center were even more Stagonian horse

with two full ranks to support continued charges into Alpian lines!

Turn nine (9) was the critical moment as the Alpian flank was run over and the Buffoon Alpian brigade retreated off the table (taking three pike & shotte regiments out of the battle).

There was still a chance to deny the town to Stagonia, those Crossbowmen had to be broken.

though the Alpians pushed hard on the crossbowmen in the town, they were not able to push them out

ultimately Alpian foote did not take any aggressive actions at all in this battle

the Stagonian crossbows stood firm

these Alpian Green Knights were able to destroy three full Stagonian troops without losses

the Stagonian foote was on the hilltop on the Alpian flank, the battle was lost, no cupcakes for Alpia this day


STAGONIA WINS
the second Library engagement