Sneedville War - The Powell River battle

Rules used were Rebels and Patriots by Osprey games, played on Tabletop Simulator.

The Knoxville's Army of the Pines and Kingsport's Jone's Army meet on the banks of the Powell River. 

The Battlefield

The Kingsportian host arrayed for battle

Knoxville deployed for battle.

Plus Knoxville has a little surprise waiting

Kingsport Advances

Squadron A of the Pennington Dragoons is fired upon by the Orphans, who had arrived the day before, and had time to set an ambush, they inflict one figure in casualties, which causes a morale test and Breaks them (Snake Eyes), they retreat and next turn when they try to rally they roll another snake eyes which causes them to flee the battlefield.

Cavalry mix it up between the Buchanan woods and the Powell River.

Kingsport is the nominal winner. The Orphans are driven out of their forest holdfast. 

Action shifts to the Southern side of Buchanan woods.

A battalion of the the Surgoin Rifles, acting as skirmishers, adavnce into the Riley woods but are ridden down by A squadron of the Barbourville Dragoons, who then chase the survivors off the batttlefield.

At this point a fire fight takes place with Kingsports 1st Big Stone Gap battery firing on the Knoxville Grand battery, which is, initally, more concerned with shooting up any Kingsports infantry or cavalry it can see.

The scecond battalion of the Surgoin Rifles eventually flanks the grande battery and finishes off the crew of the Cumberland Battery, but the Harrowgate battery turns to bring them under fire and disperses them.

The battle hangs on a knife edge, for three turns, with Knoxville hanging on, one unit away from breaking (hitting 75% casualties) but the destruction of the Pennington dragoons (B Squadron) causes a series of morale tests that cascades into a Knoxville Victory as Jonesville Lancers (B Squadron) suddenly routs from the battlefield taking General Patton, who had attached himself to them, with.

Final results:

The Army of the Pines (Knoxville)

• Pineville Line (3 figures = 189 casualties)
  
• Middlesboro Line (4 figures = 252 casualties)
• The Orphans (2 figures = 126 casualties)
• Barbourville Dragoons (Light horse) (6 figures = 378 casualties)
• Evarts 2nd Lancers (Med horse) (9 figures = 567 casualties)
• Cumberland Battery (4 figures  750 casualties)
• Harrogate Battery  (4 figures 750 casualties)
•  3,012 casualties
  

• Jones' Army (Kingsport)
  
• Surgoinsville Rifles (Light Infantry) (9 Figures = 567 casualties)
• 1st Virginia Line Infantry (6 Figures = 278 casualties)
• 2nd Virginia Line Infantry (2 Figures = 126 casualties)
• 1st Duffield Lancers (7 Figures  = 441 casualties)
• 2nd Duffield Lancers (9 Figures = 567 casualties)
• Pennington Dragoons (Veterans) (6 Figures = 378 casualties)
• 1st Big Stone Gap Battery (1 Figures = 187 casualties)
• 2nd Stone Gap Battery (0 Figures = 0 casualties)
• 2,544 casualties
  

This was a Pyrhric victory for Knoxville.

Painted in April

April had an even lower painting output than March.

At least one scenario for Clash of Spears needs a couple of herd/flock bases, and I didn't have any, so I painted what I had.

the Brown steer are ERTL Cow town (surmised scale id 1/64th), I got several decades ago. The Whitish ones are some 1/48th scale I purchased at Hotlead last year.

This Month I added 8 figures, one of which would not fit on the base.

The yearly total is:
     Vehicles (1/72 scale):              0
     Artillery (28mm):                    0
     Infantry/Cavalry (1/72 scale): 0
     Infantry/ Cavalry (28+mm):    69
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             Total 69

Colonial adventures 2: Zululand patrol

I got "Colonial Adventures 2nd Edition" from 2-hour wargames and had to try them out.

I decided to play a British patrol scenario into Zululand.

I decided to use 3 British units and they worked out as 3 infantry units 2x REP 5 and 1x Rep 4 they came with 3xREP 5 leaders, 2xREP 4 NCOs and a REP 3 NCO.

My table is 4'x4'. I generated my terrain using the clear/hilly terrain chart and this is what I got:

That's right 5 hills, 2 woods and a 2 hut village

The 3 British columns enter, we have no idea where the Zulu are.

Where are the Zulu?

To find out where the Zulu are, I go to the charts (again) roll some dice and get PEFs (Possible enemy Forces) in sections 2, 4 and 4

Area 2, The woods at the back of the table. The white die shows the REP of the PEF (6 is the Best possible)

Area 4, both units behind the crest of the hill. The Dice show the REP of the PEF, (1 is bad)

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Turn 2: The Brits closest to to the two REP 1 PEFs  advances 8" and shakes into line, the Center column advances and stays in column so it can move through the woods next turn, the Column on the Right cannot activate. The Zulu REP 6 PEF activates and races into the central woods, where the British get LOS  on it and it morphs into a REP 5 Impi, (I should have read the PEF movement chart, I then would have know PEFs move 16").

Sir, I think I see something moving ahead of us!

Zulu are in Open order, since only troops in open order can enter woods, unless they are foolishly in column of march.

 The British are within 12" and have LOS they must take a test of will check, they pass 2, a volley crashes out with 4 dice, needing ones, they score no hits, the Zulu take a received fire check and regardless of what they roll, they will want to charge (the Zulu are ferocious)

That's not too bad, we'll pull back, shake into line on the hill and feed em some lead next turn.

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Turn 3: The great British plan is scuppered, the Zulu go first, another round of melee ensues leaving the centre unit a bit short in the manpower department.

But a plan is a plan and they successfully pull back, the Zulu take a test of will and charge, a puny volley pops out, the Zulu pass the casualty test and at 16 to 5 eviscerate the redcoats (it was 18 dice vs.8) and though they rolled 5 successes it could not offset the Zulus 9 successes, the redcoats were down to 2 figures then the morale check reduced it to one, the REP 5 officer.

The left platoon decides to advance onto the hill and disperse the PEFs there (REP 1s probably aint going to be actual troops)

Wrong! one PEF is TWO units the other ONLY one.

One Zulu unit tests will, charges and is fired upon and then melees, then the second Zulu unit takes his Test of wills, charges and is fired upon and then he conducts melee. The second rank units seeing there is no room for him, decides to race over to attack the unit in the open, hoping to co-ordinate with the survivors (all 15 of them) of first attack.

The second unit of British dies even quicker, in melee the +1 melee die for each extra figure is very deadly, Since they are fighting two units the British have to split their melee dice so it was 2 Zulu units, one of 18 and one of 16 versus, 14 redcoats so 18 to 7 and 16 to 7  it worked out each attack was 18 dice vs. 5 dice, they didn't even need to check morale they were all dead. During two rounds of melee they had managed to kill 2 Zulu from each unit (4 total), plus 1 or 2 from gunfire as they charged in.

 The survivors on the nearest hill charge the British in the open and manage to tie them up long enough for the rest of the Zulu to mop them up as well.

Here two truly ferocious Zulu are preventing the British from recovering casualties (or withdrawing), as the rest of the army moves in.

Thoughts on the rule changes. Maybe I should stop fighting ferocious units as they always seem to skew the results.

Things I like:
I like how the melee resolution is much faster.
I like the removal of the constant casualty checks.


Things I don't like: (may be colored by Ferocious ability)

Zulu are either REP 5 or 6 (they were good, I don't think they were that good)
Shooting is very ineffective.
Melee: the winner takes only 1 casualty, regardless of how well his opponent rolled.
Melee: unit size has no effect on number of dice you roll (near the end of the game 2 Zulu attacked 11 Brits with 7 dice 5 for REP +1 ferocious, +1 shielded, admittedly the Brits rolled 15 dice back at them, 4 for REP, +9 dice for extra figures and +2 dice vs Open Order unit)
The Army lists only tell you REP of the units, not how they are armed.


Home rules I'm thinking of:

When firing on native Mobs hits on 1 or 2, (MOST natives were crappy shots, so they'll stay at 1 when firing on close order Europeans)
Zulu mainly REP 4 with a few 5's.
Melee, only front two ranks plus 1 overlap on each side counts during melee.
Melee winner needs to suffer more, maybe remove all successes from other side, rather than the difference from the loser,

The Battle of Kut Al Amara

The Great War play test game.

Ralph was asked at the last minute to run a game at Adepticon (I think), and he needed some people to play test the game he whipped up. It was set during the Siege of Kut Al Amara.

It used the "Great War " rules from Warhammer Historical, the same company that released Kampfgruppe Normandy and a couple of other titles. The Great War rules are  apparently Warhammer 40K transposed into the First World War. I don't play 40K so I don't know that they actually are, but everyone else seemed to think so, the unit stat blocks look identical to 40K at least.

There were three central powers (Turks, Germans and Arab allies) players vs. three Allied (British, Indian and Arab allies) players.

Central powers had 2 artillery pieces, a German Krupp and a small Turkish Gun, 2 light mortars, 2 Medium Machine Guns and several Infantry units.

Allies had 1 Gun, an Armoured car, 2 light mortars, 2 Medium Machine Guns and some Infantry units.

We fought on a 8'x4' table, a town (control of which was the objective) about 4-5 turns from the Turkish starting line, the Allies a mere one move away from the town.

We rolled initiative and the Allies won. Turn one they enter 3 of the 7 houses comprising the village, the armoured car races forward to interdict the Central Powers advance, the Allied gun fires on the Turkish gun killing 3/4 of the crew. The Central powers advance, and the small Turkish gun (which drafted two nearby soldiers so as to be able to fire) kills the Armoured car and that was the high point of Central Powers game.

After that it was the slaughter you would expect from a piecemeal attack against an equal sized force in superior cover.

Highlights (or low lights depending on whom you ask) were the complete inability to hit (troops) with the Krupp, but it did eventually manage to collapse three buildings ( 2 of which were full of troops but killing 1 guy in each building collapse), Sikhs charging a unit unit of Turkish Arab allies, killing all but the leader, who passed his leadership test and the frustration of the Germans 6 inches away to shoot at the Sikhs, because you cannot fire on melee, he knew he was going to lose the next round of assault (outnumbered 9 to 1) and the Sikhs would plow into him and he could do nothing, so he dove into into the melee and won killing most of the Sikhs who passed leadership test, the British nearby had the same situation, but they wanted to get "stuck in" anyway, so they were happier than the German player. They joined the melee and killed all the Germans and that was definitely "Game Over, Man!" (at that point the Central Powers had no chance at victory) though we played a few more turns.

Allied troops after their first move

Central powers after 3 turns of movement

5 turns of shelling has resulted in this, 2 collapsed buildings and 2 dead Allies

This was as far as the central Powers got, the Allies ignored our Machine guns and mortars, until they reached 36" (their maximum range) and blasted them before they could get a single shot off

The Great War has some odd rules, like once you fire with a machine gun you can't move it again (ever), same with guns and mortars.

The purpose of the play testing is to help the GM to find any faults in his scenario design and to refresh his knowledge of the rules. In that respect the game was a success, but unfortunately for the Central Powers players it was well nigh unwinable for them.

Hotlead 2012 report

Hotlead 2012 Con Report.

I was able to attend for the Saturday afternoon session only.

I arrived just before noon, I figured 2 hours to walk around  and do some shopping would be sufficient. My game was to start at 2PM.

First stop was the "Bring and Buy". It had a lot of Warhammer 40K stuff, some of it was overpriced, one Eldar army (maybe 40 figs) for $650 (pretty sure the seller took those back home), old boardgames and some books and a bit of terrain.

My contribution to the "Bring and Buy" was 4 Wooden Dollar Store houses I tarted up and 18 Eldar I have had kicking around for years. I got $10 a piece for the buildings, but didn't sell the figs. I had an item from one of my friends who couldn't make it, a box of forty 15(ish)mm WW2 Armoured Fighting Vehicles (mainly tanks) mostly from Wizards of the Coast Axis and Allies line. Someone wanted them IF they were the right scale. One of the Bring and Buy minions pointed me out to the buyer, who spent the next 30+ minutes asking me (and several passers by) questions about them and looking at them trying to determine if they were the ones he wanted or not, eventualy he decided they were and bought them, unfortunately I couldn't lower the price, I think that's what he wanted me to do, as I have to give my buddy $54 regardless of what they sold for.

I eventually got to look around, and even do some buying, unfortuantely by then there was not much of what I was looking for remaining, WW2 1/72 Scale stuff, everyone had the same stuff as everyone else or were sold out of what I was looking for. I Did manage to find somethings; 2 boxes of Pegasus hobbies T34/85s, a box of Pegasus Hobbies German Mortar crews, a box of Armourfast STUGs, an Italeri German ambualnce and a box of Italeri Tank Hunters. That was it for purchases, except for a $5 sandwich, pop and chip combo. Guess I'll have to do some mail ordering

Then I did a walkthrough with my new camera, and botched a lot of the photos, what turned out OK I published in a previous post

Attendance wise it looked full (If being a bit hoarse when I got home is any indication of size). I didn't see any games with 4 or less players, most had 6 or more.

The game Greg and I ran was full (6 players) it was a hexless version of Squad Leader, with many small things removed (to speed up play) and seemed to go well, lot of burning vehicles and dead infantry. The problem with converting a well known boardgame, is with people who have played the boardgame and are looking for the things you have removed.

Overall I give it a solid B+ or even an A-. My biggest gripe is; it was a tad difficult to move around, the aisles between the tables need to be more than a metre wide (some weren't even that far apart), but if they are too wide that reduces the number of tables. That was probably a result of only being there for the Saturday afternoon shift, it probably was better in the morning and the evening shifts.