TRULY VILE
Battle at Jeff's

Last Sunday saw a contest at Bluebear Jeff's table.

This time round was a second encounter with Victory Without Quarter rules.

The differences this time were, a storyline, complicated battlefield terrain and a time limit (of sorts as my eldest son and I could not stay on and on till a final ending).

The setup saw Vile Stagonia opposite a river (with fords) and Duchy of the North, marching in parallel lines, Jeff has the battle that this is based upon.

Essentially the Stagonians must overcome working on exterior lines of communication while the Norden troops have the advantage of interior lines of communication.

Another problem with the Stagonia situation was totally dependent on early luck, as the river fords could only be crossed at 1/2 speed, something that the movement rules run by random cards make even harder since on many turns NO ONE may get to move at times.

The Victory Without Quarter rules are a 'game' as opposed to a simulation, something that must be taken into account and I would certainly never run a tournament with them nor use them with any historical simulation players.

Here is the situation at the end of turn one, not much change from setup other than the one bit of luck for Stagonia was the entire left wing got to move (sadly only 2 units on the right - the ones that have to cross the river fords - got to move).

Turn two and more movement on the Stagonian Left Wing, so was the Norden Left Wing busy, again only 1 unit crossing a river even got to move.

The big VILE STAGONIAN MOMENT came when my son decided to first charge at (not allowed by the rules) then SHOOT AT the Duke of the North, who was just inside charge range and definitely in pistol range of his Vile Stagonian Trotters. IT was a resounding success with many hits and a failed save. BANG the Duke of the North was dead!

Needless to say the player handling him was not impressed, actually figuring the battle was over ~ not so said I and I was ready to trade him my crummy situation in a heartbeat ... he did not take me up on it. (darn)

Turn three, plenty of movement on the whole Norden line, only the Stagonian Left was moving, nothing at all from the Right wing, no cards = no move. Now the one unit that had got to move was totally out of position, alone and being shot to pieces, with no return fire allowed, in this GAME no card = no action - nothing, zip, zilch Nada.

Now at turn four I was seeing shades of Austerlitz in this battle.

And I was on the 'allied' side.

Stuck behind a river and forced to sit still for three turns while my opponent got his shooting lines set up...the battle was really over here ~ we just did not fully accept it.

I got a hit in with some great dice rolling, then it all went downhill for the Black Foote veterans I had, they wisely fell back across the river and then I decided to move the Right Wing Horse to the Left, sadly with this GAME rules what I decided means nothing since unless I get the cards to take action my units can do NOTHING, which they did for the next few turns.

The other ford was similarly totally blocked up, now with masses of infantry catching my foot working valiantly to push across. A foolish order to attack at all in my view as only 2:1 odds is useful in any attack situation, and with this GAME rules even a force at 3 or 4:1 will have trouble if their cards do not come up.

Then four turns of maneuver and finally the cannon showed up (cards not drawn means no action remember?)



My son did yeoman work alone on the Left Wing, taking and holding a hill that I told him to after Killing the Duke of the North, certainly the winner of this game. This formation that he used to move forward made me think of some proposed changes, especially in light of what masses of infantry can do to horsemen, I really think that such a double block when facing ANY horsemen should get HUGE bonuses in close combat, for the block of pikes would be everywhere here and NO CAVALRYMAN would ever charge into such a mass of men with no clear way past them. Yet in these rules only the lead unit must or gets to fight with NO bonus for the MASS of so many more men RIGHT THERE!

Once again I remind myself, this is a GAME and not a simulation.

Over at the river ford, the death toll mounted, again all I could do was watch as none of my cards came up here.

Turn ten, game si essentially over as the VILE STAGONIANS have managed to get at least half of their army killed at this point.

Odd dice rolls make our host shake his head, though the contest was not in any more doubt since turn 4.

Turn 12, too little too late.

At long last I get some cavalry move cards (the others are gone from the deck now), it was a futile move, mostly to permit my son to finish enjoying the day.

I'll wrap it up here with some more minis eye candy.



Next time a simulation, if the demand is for a cards game, I'll choose poker.

PROXY BATTLE
After Action Report

My son Victor and I filled out the troops and laid out a map on the tabletop



Our instructions were: one collision will be Rudelheim militia and dragoons running into Highlander mercs and fusiliers and Hussars (Frankszonia under Broderick Woad) in open but rolling terrain.



Here we see the first major action on the tabletop, the mercenary Highlanders and fusiliers have advanced while the Dragoons have moved to engage their opposing Hussars.



Here we see a closer image of the lines of Infantry set-up in opposition...the Militia men have spread out their ranks to cover the larger numbers of mercenaries.



A close-up of the first cavalry tangles that would erupt on the Militia right wing.

This cavalry tangle-brawl carried on for three rounds. Then the Dragoons overrun the Hussars, pressing on into the flank of some Fusiliers (shattering them and taking their colors) and carrying on into the flank of the Highlanders (who did not make it into square!); who kept their cool and drove off the Dragoons.



Here we see the foot lines exchanging fire, with the Highlanders now in Square.



Meanwhile the Dragoons were triumphant over yet another formation of Hussars, Victor looks on with interest.



With Turn 7 (perhaps 2 hours & 20 minutes simulated) the tipping point was fast approaching. Half of the Dragoons and 1/3rd of the Militia were either destroyed or fled the battle. On the Mercenary side the Hussars were all badly mauled, one fusilier unit was utterly shattered the others were all suffering casualties in the continued musketry exchange with the militia. Only the Highlanders were relatively unscathed, though forced to maintain their square due to the presence of the greater half of the Dragoons.



The tip came with a blast from one of the wounded militia formations, shattering the morale of the remaining fusiliers ~ the retreat was on, the Highlander Mercenary infantry brigadier was unable to stem the tide.



Proudly showing their captured fusilier colors taken as a prize the triumphant Dragoons began cheering as they watched the mercenary lines dissolve...



Facing defeat, the mercenary commander must now recoil without becoming enveloped by the Dragoons, with all his Hussars fleeing the field the Highlanders may have to walk out in square until dark...



As can be seen here at the end of the day's battle, the mercenary infantry could easily be pinned and forced to surrender utterly.

Thus is the pain of fighting in the open when your cavalry cover is gone.

PAINT DAY

A wonderful evening of brushwork's was shared with Bluebear Jeff.


I worked on some Napoleonic Austrian foot and four 1/900 scale Portsmouth Miniature sailing ships.

They were all primed and dark undercoated, the evening was spent in quiet conversation on topics ranging from Emperor vs. Elector Blog items of interest ~ the Frankzonia proxy battle ~ to historical tidbits, such as the pre-dreadnought ships and plans of Jeff.


Jeff's work concentrated on some tricorne foot for Bearstein and conversion of some more xmas buildings for tabletop use.

All in all both an entertaining and productive evening.


The ship finished product looks great with all the sails!

Little Table Top

My youngest son, Marcus, was excited to learn that on May 2 we were to play out a game that he could control the troops for.

I set up a simple little skirmish on the kitchen table.

Some red coats and some blue coats.

Marcus liked the blue ones.

After a few musket exchanges, where Marcus got to roll lots and lots of dices, we came to an encounter with the cavalry and a 'square' of red coats.

The blue riders did not fare so well, the red coats did loose one unit also.

After sneaking around the trees (and having the house move?!?) the 'green jackets' sent off one more of the blue coat men. Marcus turned his final unit and blasted the 'green jackets' out from the trees and won the game!

Fast Tabletop Action

My son Alexander really wanted me to run a game on the first afternoon I got back after a biz trip away for 4 days.

So I decided to set my time to the boys (his younger brothers wanted to watch) for the afternoon after getting home like that.

So a fast SHAKO game got put on the tabletop.

Alex wanted the redcoats vs French.

We set it in Spain in 1813.

Rolling for terrain we got lots of 'rough ground'

The troops were simple, one foot gun with a light and heavy foot for the British and a force of light cavalry. For the French some hussars a pair of horse guns and a light and heavy foot force.




Alex set his men into a mass on his left and Horse to his right, with the Gun on the tall hill in the center ~ set to dominate the field!

I had set the French into defensive formation, with the horse on the left (the only open ground) and the light infantry to support them.

The action took a couple of turns to get into the main thrust, Alex's guns were not able to get any hits and he chose to move the Horse forward, putting them into the range of the French horse gun on the flank. Then the horse formations together clashed, here we see that the French Hussars have withdrawn from the first encounter and were rallying to come back again.

Here we see the field at the moment the British commander chose to fall back ... their horse were defeated, first a salvo of artillery broke their morale, then the French Hussars charged into them ... sowing great confusion and sending the unit from the field.

Shootout in Grizzlyville AAR

With Jeff down with a flu, I stepped into the spurs and took on the challenge of hosting a tabletop game at the Courtenay area game event Dak-Kon XV.

Grizzlyville is a wild crazy-horse town where you never know when the next throw-down gun-slinging gang fight might break out.

We started with a really simple 1-1 gunfight in the middle of this one-horse town to demonstrate the simplicity of the "Fistfull of Lead" rules and let a few folks hear the "ace" - "king!" - "queen!?!" calls (which brought in some more players). The players were also feasting their eyes on the Whitewash City buildings by Eric Hotz.

With the quick & the dead cleared up we were able to get into a fast 3-way gunfight.

One gang setup tight together and on the roof of one of the buildings.

Storming around Patterson and Brothers GUNS was another gang, carefully avoiding contact with ROY (we'll see more of him later).

Fighting broke out fast around the Grand Hotel, here we see one man pinned behind the privvy.

Out in front of the Grand Hotel, life was carrying on...

The street in front of the Saloons had been cleared (mostly) now was filled with whizzing lead. The first gunfight ended when the Corn hat gang rushed the brown hats pinning their last man behind a corner, then storming him to gun him down.

So a new group of three players had assembled, this time each controlled two gangs...

Roy had crossed the street and appeared ready to bring the news to the Sheriff about the gang activity.

The gunmen had shot at Roy as he ran into the Sheriffs office. Roy came out AS the SHERIFF now and demanded that they throw down their guns. The gunmen that he first saw did this, the rest ran for cover and continued their gang war in the back streets...

Roy was not amused.

A gunslinger, gang leader was dropped at his feet...pinned and wounded (you can tell from the PIN on top of him!). This picture also shows off the great detail in the Hotzworks Whitewash City buildings.

... meanwhile down the backstreets more of the townfolk were having to take cover from the battle raging between two of the rival gangs.

The gallows were ignored for now as the gangs battle out behind the sheriff's post and the Saloons.

Sheriff Roy had been forced to retreat for a time into his post early in the fight, not coming out from pinning for two rounds. Now the reason comes clear...he had called for the mounties to come clear out this bunch of rowdies!

Actually I had run into the next 'time period' and wanted to clear off the table so as to have enough time to run a bigger game with some of the registered players.

The mounties rushing onto the table brought another rush of interested players and now I had one that wanted to run the NWMP ... why you ask? He was a real-life (off duty) Mountie! After some discussion with the other players it was agreed to let him run the NWMP, though this time the 'attacking' gangs would be bigger...and better armed.

Random luck permitted the gangs to start at one end of town and the Mounties at the other. One group of police riders were in the livery stables, the other at the Hotel across the one horse town (mat) road. The gangs decided to throw away any cautious meeting or pretext of camouflage and shot Sheriff Roy with a rifle right away!

This brought all the combatants into the street and a fire fight ensued, with the pistol armed cowboy gangs coming off the worse for wear. Roy was NOT dead and came out shooting!


The Mounties were definitely doing well early in the fight, they were now dashing down the boardwalks, led by their officer, to catch those cowboys that had taken cover or were staying out of range.

CHARGE! was the command from the Sergeant to urge the Mounties across the last open street towards the gunmen.

The Corn hat gang leader had holedup in the Orient Saloon, it was then that he started to pick off Mounties ... starting with an incredible long-shot at the officer in charge!

The mounties put up a great cross-fire, but could not manage to kill off this man in the Orient Saloon. Meanwhile Sheriff Roy had gunned down four of the rifle armed cowboys and sent the rest running for cover behind the Grand Hotel.

The streets of Grizzlyville were silent and empty for a time as both NWMP and gunmen maneuvered.

Both groups then suddenly decided to occupy the Grand Hotel, gunmen ran in the back, Mounties in the front door. The close-quarter battles began.

There are rules to cover some 'interior' actions in Fistful of Lead, we did not have full interiors filled out for all buildings ... so I improvised. Along the way I think I have hit upon the simplest CQB fast result skirmish "cinematic" system I have yet seen.

Works like this, both the gunman and the mountie rush the building in the same round, one was already in there 'somewhere'. So the rushing in player draws from a standard deck of cards (not the whole deck as there are already cards dealt as part of the rules, these are the ones left), the 'defending player' in the building draws next.

If the suit (hearts, diamonds, club or spades) is the same they will have a hand to hand battle - no option. The one with the higher card will get to 'shoot first', however the result of the 'shot' will not count until AFTER the hand to hand.

If the suit does not match, then the high card gets to shoot, the lower card then may take action after that has been resolved.

This system was so good that it was used four more times in the Grand Hotel until the main staircase was soaked in blood.

One Mountie was now on the balcony of the Grand Hotel, with two dead NWMP inside and three dead cowboys with them. Across the street the Oriental Saloon had no windows left as Mounties and the corn had Gang leader had exchanged multiple rounds of fire, leaving the leader pinned and wounded inside.

Up on a balcony a young Mountie keeps cover fire on the Oriental Saloon, while in the distance a nearly dead Sheriff Roy has run out of luck.

The Sergeant rushed the smashed front of the Orient Saloon, while in the back another Mountie rushed that door. Both had shots at the Corn Hat Gang leader, both only managed to keep him pinned, as he had run out of ammo and was not shooting back they felt confident that the situation was under control.

Going for broke having a "6" card, the Corn Hat Gang leader instantly reloaded his guns and managed to kill the Mountie in the back and badly wound the Sergeant in the front.

A round later, having failed to recover from pinning, the Sergeant was shot by the leader of the Corn Hat Gang.

The Mountie on the balcony of the Grand Hotel was rushed by another gang and shot down off the balcony, finally succumbing to his wounds in the street.

Grizzlyville was quiet, now in the hands of the Corn Hat Gang of desperadoes...

Preparing AAR for Grizzlyville.

Challenge of working and three active boys aged 4-10 makes for interesting nights to say the least.

I leave you with the promise of weekend AAR and this offering from Tombstone ... I must go to put children to be (again).