Ambush the Caravan!

    

So, in honor of getting his basement gaming area cleaned up again and ready to host, my friend Keith ran an impromptu fantasy miniatures battle scenario this past Sunday. The rules were Song of Blades and Heroes -- one of our favorites. They provide for a quick game. The flow is unpredictable and player decisions have a big impact on the course of the battle.

Keith's scenario has a supply column of dwarves escorting a dissembled artillery piece needed to reduce an orc fortress passing through a narrow valley. For warbands composed of goblins, orcs, and uruk-hai have combined to block its progress. Allen, Mike S and myself were the Orcs, while Keith, Joel, and Steve V were the dwarves. We set up to hit the dwarves from all four sides, but ran into some snags along the way.

Our first problem was that both of the forces on the opposite side of the road from where my uruk-hai set up suffered horrible activation rolls and ended up stalled. Allen's "Hee-Hee" goblins received their nickname from the giggles that their leader received from the pack when he ordered them to advance. The mass of them hung back, only to expose their leader to dwarven crossbows. Mike S's Orcs gave my uruk-hai a head fake, leading the charge on the front of the caravan, only to hang back and lob long-range arrows at the dwarves.

 

My force and Allen's other Orc warband crashed into the dwarves and had some initial success. However, as no second wave hit, the dwarves shifted troop reinforcements over and outmanned us at the point of attack. Allen's Orcs were running back across the hill and my uruk-hai were edging backwards when we finally called it.

Thanks for running the game, Keith...it was fun to return to the basement abode...!

28mm Dark Ages mounted warriors finally finished!

So this unhappy few, this mounted half dozen, have been sitting partially-painted on my desk for a month, now. I was pretty far along with them when I made the decision to do my French & Indian War clifftops that you see in the previous post (Ohio Frontier Aflame at Advance the Colors 2013). The cliffs so consumed my time that these guys ended up just sitting on my desk.

 

However, with ATC 2013 and a successful series of games run there concluded, I was ready to finish them off. I picked up most of these figures from a flea market vendor selling 28mm Foundry incredibly cheap. They were meant to be able to be used as generic mounted warriors for my Dark Age Britain skirmishes. So, I wanted them to be equally usable for mounted Vikings, Britons, Picts, Saxons -- you name it. Two of the figures were not Foundry, and are Alternative Armies figures I've had sitting in my box for years. I knew one day I'd progress beyond just foot figures in my games to include mounted ones. 

 

The real reason they made it to the forefront is I plan to run a skirmish campaign for my Sunday night gaming group. They have all chosen one of six factions -- Saxon, Briton, Pict, Dal Riatan Scot, Danish Viking and Norse Viking. Each faction has a "special ability," and the Briton one is to be able to substitute a percentage of their force as mounted. Thus, no games could be run until I have the mounted figures ready for it...! 

 

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how these guys turned out. Some I like better than others, of course. All of the shields and the one banner are hand painted (as you can probably tell..!). I particularly like how the horses turned out. I have a page I downloaded from the internet long ago which illustrates different breeds of horses. I decided that since these are in 28mm, I need to do more than paint a generic brown horse, gray one, etc. I think it makes the horses' coloring look much more realistic.

 

Next up are seven 28mm provincial troops for my French & Indian War games. I was inspired by how well my games went at ATC 2013 last weekend. My new format for running big scenarios worked like a dream. The only drawback was that meant I am using up pretty much all my miniatures in an 8 player game. If I have any dreams of increasing the number of players, that means I need more figures. I know, I know. What a horrible dilemma for a miniature wargamer...! So, I dug through my unpainted stuff and cleaned and primed a batch up. I expect I will also be putting in another order with Conquest Miniatures -- who makes the Indians I use. I love their figures to death. They are reasonably priced, gorgeously done, and have very active poses.

 

Also in the planning stages are buildings for my 28mm Pulp games. I want to set my scenarios in southeast Asia, with Indiana Jones wannabees digging through ruins like those at Bagan, Angkor, Borobudur, etc. 

 

Ohio Frontier Aflame at Advance the Colors 2013

A number of years back, I decided it was time to upgrade my presentation of my miniatures games. Well-painted figures are only half the battle, so to speak. To give it the full visual appeal, you need nice terrain, too. I've felt pretty good about my progress from felt to flock to scratch-built terrain pieces. Over the last several years, I regular receive a "thumbs up" from players and bystanders for how my games look. I had never been a "showpiece" game, though. The flagship convention of our historical miniatures group, HMGS Great Lakes, recently provided me with that opportunity. Our convention is held each September at the Heritage Center of Clark County in Springfield, OH. The center is a museum that has a few ballrooms that give us enough space for our games. Each year, the events coordinator selects one game that will make good "eye candy" to place in the lobby, as visitors to the museum come in and out throughout our show. This year, when a' three-day recreation of the Battle of Gettysburg was scratched, I offered to create a sprawling French & Indian War game. A big part of that war was fought in or around our state of Ohio, saw we thought it would be an appropriate showcase for visitors to see our hobby.

The rules that I use are in the final stages of publication. They are a variant of the Ganesha Games "Song of Drums & Shakos" adapted for this period. One problem with the rules set, though, is that the more players a game has, the slower it can move. I typically could take only six players per game, and even with that few, sweated out the down time if players moved or deliberated on their actions slowly. After my last convention game (a Viking raid using a similar rules set from Ganesha), I pondered a way to incorporate more players and yet speed up the game. I finally hit upon an idea. Why not line up four or more linked 1-on-1 matchups to create one game tied together by scenario? In other words, there is one board broken up (in this case by rivers) into 4 quadrants. Players can send reinforcements to neighboring allies, if they desire. Additionally, each side of four players would allocate their troops to the quadrants as they saw fit. Finally, the scenario victory points each player earns from their skirmish are totaled up for the side to determine a winner. What would make this game go much faster than my 6-player scenarios would be that each quadrant would do their turns completely independently of the other. Once your opponent's turn is done, you take yours. Back and forth, with you being constantly involved via the opposed die rolls the system uses.

So, my idea was to recreate four typical types of skirmishes that occurred during the French & Indian War. The sides were divided into a "French allied" side, and a "British allied" one. They included a settler family rushing to an English fort as Indians are on the warpath in the woods around them, a French supply wagon being ambushed by Mohawk Indians, the aftermath of a raid by French courier de bois on a Seneca village, and a clifftop battle between Hurons escorting captives from the raided village being intercepted by Seneca warriors. The last skirmish was inspired by the climactic scene of the movie "The Last of the Mohicans." It also involved me scratch-building the cliffs, which took about 3 weeks of steady work. I was incredibly happy with how the cliffs turned out. They received compliments all convention long, as did my "showpiece" game itself. In fact, the game itself was a hit as well. It filled up all three runnings. All the players said they enjoyed the format and didn't feel the division by quadrant felt artificial or restricting. Those who had played my games previously felt it was a better game done this way. Of course, this means I can keep expanding, if I wish. I can just as easily make this even larger to accommodate 10, 12, or even more players. The one hitch is I had nearly every figure I own on the tabletop, and I'd have to paint (and perhaps even buy...?) more. Darn! A justification to expand my collection...oh horrors! The (not) worst thing a gamer ever hates to encounter...!!!

Here are some pictures and explanation of the game and scenario, "Ohio Frontier Aflame!"

The Interrupted Raid

    An aerial view of the cliffs and Seneca village, along with the woods that covered most of the 12 foot long board

    French Courier de Bois linger too long after raiding a Seneca village

 

    In the woods outside the village, the Seneca hunting party shows up, alerted that their village has been raided and eager for revenge!

Clifftop Rescue

Huron Indians have raided and taken captives from a Seneca village. The captives will be valuable adoptees into the tribe. The Seneca have used secret paths to race to the rescue of their people. The two forces meet on a ridge and battle for the captives..

    Huron raiders take a short cut across the shale cliffs, leading their captives towards their villages to be adopted into the tribe

    Behind the Huron, Seneca braves pursue the Huron kidnappers onto the cliffs...

Another party of Seneca take secret paths to cut off the Huron as they descend the cliffs

 

"Merde! Ambush...!"

French regular and provincial soldiers are escorting a wagon load of supplies to one of their forts. A scout returns breathless, having spotted a Mohawk ambush ahead. Orders ring out in French and eyes nervously scan the trees. Meanwhile, dark forms move through the woods towards the wagon train...
 

An out-of-breath Canadian scout hurries to the French supply wagon, shouting news of a Mohawk ambush he'd spotted

 

"Hurry! To the Fort...!"

Indians are on the warpath and a family of English settlers is desperately fleeing to the local fort with their belongings. They have to run a gauntlet of Fox Indians who have drawn a noose around the fort. The English can spare only so many men to rescue the family -- the walls must stay manned!

    A party of English settlers hurry towards the safety of a fort, hearing the noise of Indians on the warpath in the woods around them

    The gates of the fort open and a file of English soldiers march out to meet and escort in the anxious family

A special thanks to Steve Verdoliva, who provided me with two 6'x4' game mats to string together for my scenario. More than half of the trees I used were also borrowed from him, as well as the river sections that divided the table into quadrants. Keith Finn provided me with the English blockhouse, palisade walls, and log cabin. I intend on purchasing my own French & Indian War stockade soon. So, next time I will have one of my own to put onto the table. Without the help of these two friends from my regular Sunday night gaming group, there is no way I could have staged the game.

    Convention Math: A 12' long table plus 8 gamers having fun = one happy GM!

The three runnings of the game all turned out differently. Friday night's game was an overwhelming French allied victory, while Saturday afternoon saw the British win huge. The rubber match on Saturday evening (which I actually got to play in due to someone who had signed up being a "no-show"), was much closer. Despite the British allies getting handily defeated in the "Interrupted Raid" and "Clifftop Rescue," the Mohawk player racked up so many points in the supply wagon ambush it was a close game. All of the players said they had fun. Many  were eager to purchase the rules, and urged me to let them know when they were available. The best thing of all was that the format was a success. Now I can apply it to other games using the Ganesha Games "Song of Blades" engine.

My first foray as a "showpiece" was a satisfying one. I look forward to building on this to stage ever bigger and grander games...!

Starting Fresh!

So, I've valiantly resisted a blog and held onto designing my own website for more than a decade. However, like Alexander the Great in India, it is finally time to admit defeat. The Sea Monkey web composer I've been using on my Lead Legionaries website has gone wonky, and it becoming more and more work. I have posts disappearing, titles resizing themselves, and other pranks being played upon me by the internet gremlins. It is time to retire my trusty old Bukephalos and use a new, sleeker internet steed. Hopefully, this website will be that conveyance.

Welcome aboard, and if you get time, be sure to visit my old website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemanagames/index.html

Blast from the Past: Battle of El Obeid, Q&P AAR

As my Earthlink-based gaming website will disappear one day, I am reposting fun AARs onto this blog. Here is a Colonial battle from December of 2009. It is set during the Mahdist rebellion in which a discredited Pasha Hicks invades the Darfur region of The Sudan. We use my friend Tom's For Queen and Planet rules. He is the author of this battle report.

The battle for El Obeid swirls around an Ansar strong point

On Sunday we played a scenario of Queen and Planet that was semi-historical. Early in the Mahdist revolution, a mercenary named Pasha Hicks (a discredited British officer) was sent into the Darfur region with 8000 penal and 'conscripted' police troops. They were guided by what were suspected Ansar sympathizers that lead them around in the wilderness until their food and water was exhausted. They were then surrounded by about three to four times their number of Ansar and in a battle that lasted over three days were killed, virtually to the last man.

My wing of the Anglo-Egyptian relief force advances

In our semi-historical recreation, I assumed that their guides were loyal/competent and were able to guide them through the wilderness and avoid the Mahdist forces operating against them. They arrived at the capital of Western Sudan, El Obeid, and gave battle to a force of Ansar just slightly weaker than they were. Our battle consisted of about 2900 British-lead Egyptians and 2800 Mahdists in a struggle on the outskirts of El Obeid. Joel and Mike lead the Egyptians and Allen and Keith commanded the Ansars.

Joel's command leads the assault on the Ansar-held town

The Ansar deployed hidded in the buildings, slums and orchards of El Obeid and the Egyptians marched forward to recapture the city. As the battle developed it was clear that the two Egyptian commands had Shiek Keith's single command in a bit of a 'pinch.' Shiek Allen rather leisurely (but brilliantly) redeployed to assist his commander in chief. The Ansar had deployed a battery of old brass cannon on the roof of the most forward home and since this home had been designated by the Egyptian CinC (Joel) as the initial objective to sieze both Colonal Mike's command and General Joel's command quickly closed in on it. Unable to removed the cannon from the rooftop. CinC Keith decided to support his forward position by pushing his Jehadia infantry forward to support the cannon.The home and the battery quickly became the focus of the entire battle with the Egyptians twice storming the building and attacking the battery on the roof only to be driven away by extremely well timed counterattacks from Sheik Allen's redeploying command.

Our "high water" mark - the charge of Hick's Own Cavalry penetrates into El Obeid

In a final outpouring of bloodshed both CinC generals were killed or routed and with casualties on both sides at 50% or higher and with both commanders fallen, the Egyptian and Ansar armies broke and fled the field.

Successful Ansar counterattack drives the relief force back from its hold on the town

I was trying out some new thoughts/rules on urban warfare and most things seem to work well except close combat vs units in buildings. It didn't seem reasonable to give overlaps against units inside buildings, but it also didn't make sense to give hard cover to them either. Thoughts on how best to handle hand to hand with one unit inside a building and the other attacking from outside would be appreciated.

Blast from the Past: Europeans Try to Protect Retreating Column,Q&P AAR

The action is fast and furious as the allies try to hold off the advance of a Chinese/Cephlapod force to save a column of civilians

My Earthlink-hosted gaming website is disappearing, so I am in the process of salvaging some AARs from there and reposting them on my blog. Here's another one using Tom Graves' For Queen and Planet Colonial/Victorian Sci-Fi rules. 

No, it hasn't been four months since we've gamed on Sunday night. It's been that long since I updated this part of the website, though! Time was mostly the reason I hadn't gotten around to it. The guys had written entertaining reports of the gaming action. I had pictures of some of the evenings, though the troubles with my camera contributed to the sporadic updating. Also, I was worried about space -- since Earthlink gives me only so many megabytes for storage for this website. With learning how to "hotlink" -- which means storing the photos elsewhere but linking them here so they appear part of the page -- that concern should also be one of the past.

The introduction below was written by the GM, Tom Graves:

A Chinese and Cephlapod force on the march

Sunday evening we met to try the new rules for Queen and Planet VSF. These included, the joker card inserted into the action deck to represent all uncontrolled movement in the game (warband charges, damaged machines, positional instability of water and air craft, also movement of CinC between units). Also, the modified morale rules to limit units that will require a morale check from taking offensive action without making the check.
 
There was a black smoke projector on board, which required wind rules, but it never was able to fire on the enemy because the Chinese and Allies troops were so intermixed (I'm not sure the Cephlapods would have been as careful of Chinese casualties as Joel played them, but that was good for us).
 
I liked the joker card very much, it made the warband charge that much more uncertain for both sides. The ability of the warband to charge as many as three times in a turn gives them the leg up they need against the firing superiority of the colonial troops, so that is still working well. The positional uncertainty of the flyers was also interesting as I found them much more reasonable in their (in)ability to just hover around and shoot things. Now they are more "strafing-like."

Russian machine gun company and rifles momentarily check the Chinese/Cephlapod advance

The set up for the game was that the Sino-Cephlapod alliance is in pursuit of a column of retreating civilians. The Colonial allies are tasked with securing the route of escape and holding against the onslaught. The idea comes from the scene in the most recent War of the Worlds where the American armored brigade hopelessly engages the Martians in an attempt to allow the civilians to escape. This battle was quite a bit more balanced than the movie!
 
An 'impassable' river bisects the board with only a single bridge crossing it. Two villages are along the road that runs from West to East toward the safety of a port and the evacuation ships. Ceplapods, Imperial Chinese, and Boxers are pursuing from the west and the Colonial Allies are deployed hidden to try to defend the line of retreat (represented by a supply wagon marking tail end charlie of the refugees).

Chinese forces close in on the west village

Each Command (3 Sino-Cephlapod and 3 Allied) had a special ability of some sort (The imperials knew of a ford across the river, the Italians had minefields, etc). Joel had the Cephlapods, Keith the Imperials, I had the Boxer command, Allen had British and half of the Russians and Mike had Italians and half of the Russians. So, of course the Russian command were sacrificed at the point of the spear! However, they acquited themselves very well, and absorbed an enormous amount of Chinese punishment before being forced to withdraw across the bridge. 

Mike's "death trap" was never completely sprung, but it held up my Boxer command as I probed for a solution. We played six of the expected 12 turns necessary to complete the scenario. It is hard to tell what the result would have been. The Boxers overran the West Village, but it looked near impossible to have secured the bridge by the turn 8 deadline. Each side had one command destroyed, one crippled, and one about half dead by the end of the game. It definitely could have gone either way. 

The gallant Russian guard battalion makes a stand in the center of the west village

And here is Joel's, always humorous take on the action:
The European Powers relief force had collected the threatened civilians and were working on a slow, methodical  evacuation. The Allies dug in to provide full cover for their citizens return to safety.  The Boxers were on the massed on the right flank of the Imperial Chinese, the Celphalods on the left and back slightly.  

The battle opened with a Russian machine gun raking an advancing Imperial Chinese unit, then the Boxers took a slower, caution advance on the village.  The Cephalods seemed fascinated at the hilariously primitive Sikorsky flier.   After two turn their side bets were much more important than the battle in the village & wheat fields.  The Italians had  hoped on a crossfire to stop the Boxers, but the Russians, to their right were pressed and wavered.  

The allies are slowly shoved out of the west village by the Boxer assault

Then the sound of gongs, firecrackers and bugles signaled the Imperial Chinese & Boxers to charge on village.  The Cephalods were still betting that the Sikorsky flier would/wouldn't crash any minute now. The Italians pulled back in order, then the Russians ran passed and the Cephalods were disappointed the Sikorsky flier, wobbled & dipped but survived the entire battle.  Once the British finished their tea & biscuits they were ready for any fight.

Blast from the Past: Haitan Food Riots, Wars of Insurgency AAR

So, as my Earthlink-based gaming website is on its way into internet oblivion, I've decided to re-post some of the AARs here on my Lead Legionaries blog. This is one from when we were regularly playtesting my modern Africa rules, Wars of Insurgency. No photos this time, but some may enjoy it anyway!

Haitian Food Riots

So, with the digital camera at the repair shop, no pictures of our modern warfare session at Joel's this past Sunday. Here's our host's account of the game he ran:

• Some called it "Bizzaro world"

• Shots fired at UN troop. They immediately "arrest" a pig on suspicion. The pig squeals. National Police loot (secure?) NGO rice bound for the poor of Haiti.

Joel's report:

It was my attempt at simulating the Haitian Food Riots of 2008, with Mike's Wars of Insurgency rules. The government players were Keith, with two squads National Police, and Zeke, with one squad of Brazilian U.N. troops. The well-armed mobs were Mike, Steve V and Allen. The government troops set up in the middle of the board, while the wild mob surged over two edges.
 

The government kept the initiative, but had trouble finding enough good cover. Keith took cover in a warehouse and the cheap 'No-tell Motel.' Zeke was on the road when shots rang out and took the nearest cover he could find. The Brazilians took cover in a pig sty and dealt with Allen by giving well-aimed fire we expect from the UN troops. Keith's squad in the Notell Motel suffered a terrible toll in a crossfire from Mike and Steve. 

The mobs broke into warehouses and grabbed anything of value. Keith retaliated by effectively dropping flash grenades into the mob in the street and stairwell. The mob moved back. Then, tragedy struck as the UN came under fire and three soldiers from Brazil were killed (the paperwork hasn't stopped yet). The mob was declared the victor and ruled the field that day.
 

Meanwhile...somewhere in dusty hot Really, really, bad.....
 

Afterward a few of us stuck around for a quick comparison glimpse at Firepower modern fire skirmish rules. A British foot patrol (Allen) was ambushed by Sheik Kover (Keith), mujaheddin leader. The mujaheddin draw first blood and Pvt. Kilkenny, S.A.S., dies a gruesome death. After initial panic and shock, the British strike back by dispatching Ali, then Muhammed, and finally AliAliMuhammed. The mujaheddin quickly withdraw...


Blast from the Past: Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner, Wars of Insurgency AAR

As my old Earthlink-hosted website will eventually go away, I am transferring some AARs to this blog. This is another one from when we were playtesting our modern Africa rules set, Wars of Insurgency. Not a lot of photos -- storage space was limited back then. Enjoy, though!

Dead soldiers and damaged vehicles lay scattered like the bundles of money across the battlefield

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

So, Joel had a scenario in mind for a Modern Africa free-for-all. It was based loosely on the Warren Zevon's song, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner." Keith, Tom and myself each took a faction, while Keith brought along some new players to run the fourth. I ended up with Roland himself, who was the mercenary guarding a supply convoy that had been ambushed by "that sonofabitch Van Owen" (played by 11-year-old Patrick, coached by his Dad, Jimmy).

True to form, Van Owen came gunning for my forces right off the bat with one of his squads, while the other two advanced on the ambush site in the center of the board (Roland's forces, having been driven away from the vehicles, are assumed to have regrouped and are heading back in from a board edge like the other players).

I'll let Joel take up the description from here:

Prelude: Congo 1967, Battle Report: 7.13.08
Roland - Mike
Mulele (Simba rebel leader) - Keith
VanOwen - Patrick/Jimmy
Never formally introduced - Ptomas

VanOwen arrived early, as it should be, at the ambush site, walked the grounds, and asked a lot of hard questions. Roland arrived late to his ambush, as it should be. Two soldiers were killed right away, one truck damaged, the two Duce & halfs abandoned. Roland regrouped and deployed en masse to counterattack the ambush. 

Each side has different victory conditions
• All sides have equal forces 

• No one is formally introduced/identified  

Roland's Militia close in -- too late -- to the ambush site

VanOwen (Patrick) deployed the aka pygmy warriors in the jungle on his left flank, hoping to slow down Roland's (Mike's) counterattack, as he simultaneously advanced on the abandoned trucks. Suddenly, the LMG from Mulele - Simba Leader, opens up and tears into the supplies spilled on the ground. Yankee Dollars, English Pounds and French Francs flutter to the ground and the entire battlefield is quiet as everyone realizes 'This is nothing more than armed robbery!" 

VanOwen now moves a little faster to secure the last of the money bags. Hans & Franz, aka the "Jerryatric" brothers (Ptomas) move slowly, knowing it is not safe to rush to the center of the battlefield first. Besides, they have a different goal this time. Hans simple trick of "Who's there?" to find out who are the crouching militia (Keith) to his front doesn't work. So, Franz puts some bullets over their heads to move them on quickly, but that doesn't work either. Hans & Franz find themselves in a shootout with the militia the rest of the battle AND the bullets fly. 

Meanwhile VanOwen's gang reaches the money bags, and everyone else takes notice and slowly whittle away at VanOwen and the rest. VanOwen is the last to fall as he tries to reach the safety of the jungle.
 

Conclusion

Roland could not reach the last of the supply trucks safely, and the few Simba rebels make sure the trucks are of no use to ANYONE. Mulele Simba leader was killed in battle, but was easily replaced, and his soldiers fought well and could claim a minor victory with the death of VanOwen. VanOwen's troops were dead all along the battlefield, some with dollars stuffed in the pockets, others with dead cold fingers still on the triggers. The "Jerryatrics Brothers" were slow to get into the fight, BUT their victory conditions were achieved for them (Kill VanOwen + Kill Mulele). So, they left the battlefield able to claim a major victory. Ptom "Trick C" won! -- Joel Sams

Blast from the Past: Europeans Seize Bloody Escarpment, Q&P AAR

With my old Earthlink-hosted gaming web page to disappear one day, I am saving some fun AARs and reposting them here on my blog. This report is from April 2008 and covers a game we played using For Queen and Planet Colonial / Victorian Sci-Fi rules. It is written by my friend, Tom Graves.

GM Tom sets up the battle

We had five on Sunday and I game mastered. Allen and Keith took the roles of Russians and Italians, respectively, based on their shirts. Joel and Zeke took the roles of Imperial Chinese and Boxers, respectively, based on their shoes, if I recall.


The Euros were racing toward Peking, and disregarding all military common sense when they came across an escarpment, continued to do so. This is despite the fact that the escarpment seriously restricted their advancement options -- especially with Chinese Imperial forces and screaming Boxer hordes already defending two of the three areas that could be used to ascend the escarpment. Without any recon, the Euros advanced with the Russians on the left and the Italians on the right. Oddly enough, a British Colonel was in command. The Russians immediately veered hard to their left and headed for the one pass in the escarpment that did not appear to be filled with Chinese. The Italians moved forward and kept their eyes heavenwards for a sign...or perhaps they were just watching the nunnery on the top of the escarpment that seemed to be filled with Boxers.



One Boxer warband charged out of the pass and toward the Italians. In an incredible display of marksmanship and steady soldiering, the Italians shot the Boxers to bloody pieces and drove them back into the pass. One Italian trooper received a slight cut (Keith rolled, Keith's dice in Keith's basement for the Italians -- Zeke's first engagement was a little disheartening).


The Russians continued to veer to the left and toward the undefended and apparently abandoned British iron mine. This unfortunately left a gap between the European forces that was suddenly and violently filled with Imperial Chinese. These forces clashed with one Russian sub battalion, driving it back with a few casualties, then pursuing after it. This caused the Russians to panic and flee [an 11 for rally roll].

This left the Italian flank completely open, though the Italians had the good luck and discipline and were able to form square. The Imperials were not to be stopped, though, and they charged the Italian square in repeated waves, doing horrific casualties, but not breaking the stalwart Italians. The Italians turned another sub battalion to engage the Imperials and was able to finally fight them to a halt and drive them back.

Having turned to face the Imperials, the Italians had left their flank open to the Boxers who tried to charge into their flank, but came up a little short. The East African Askaris, far from home, came forward to support the Italians, and the Boxers charged them instead, driving them back and doing serious casualties to them. However, the superior Askaris reformed on a nearby hill and waited. The Boxers then continued their charge into the Italians, but their force was spent and the Italians halted their charge.

Chinese troops prepared to defend a Pagoda during the battle

Seeing the Boxers were spent, the Askari charged back into the conflict with bayonets fixed and routed the Boxers, who took the Imperial Chinese Commander-in-Chief with them. The Imperials, already shaken, took this as a sign that the battle was lost and also broke. Down by half their units and with the C-in-C lost, the Chinese could not survive two rolls needing 5 or less and 3 or less, and the Chinese broke and ran. I had assigned victory points for holding certain objectives in the game and the Chinese held 8 points worth and the Euros 4 at game end.

I am thinking that morale may need to occur during the action phase, rather then afterwards, because sometimes a unit will just get destroyed, but can still charge or fire. Then, later in the turn, they take their morale test and rout -- so it is kind of weird. On the plus side, both the Boxers and Imperials seem to be costed and "powered" pretty well. I don't see any problems with them. The moving of uncontrolled movement (as a joker) into the action phase seems to work pretty well also. The added uncertainty of moving it into the action phase, where it can happen early, late or somewhere in the middle, is interesting.

Next battle: Assault on We Loc Fu. The Euros have captured a Chinese rail junction and village and the Chinese are moving to retake it. Will Euro reinforcements come in time? Will Martian reinforcements make the Euro reinforcements moot?

A Chinese Boxer unit advances towards the enemy

 And now for the Chinese point of view -- written by Joel Sams...

Boxer Rebellion 1900-
Commanders: Keith (Italians) & Allen (Russians) 

vs. Dave Z (Boxers) & Joel (Imperial Chinese) 

 
Wang Dng doodled the attack plan in the dirt of the trench, the sub-commanders Lo & Dim continued to stare blankly back at him.  Wang Dng pointed to the Russian infantry advancing past the bamboo grove and explained the attack plan again, still the same blank stares.  Then a second Russian unit  marched past the bamboo grove to work their way behind the Chinese trenches,  Commander Wang Dng became desperate to move his unit out of the trench. 

It was then and there that he resorted to the swift five fingers of motivation.  He used it on the sub-commanders, and on any troops within reach and it worked.  The troops moved out of the trench, then a quick formation change and the troops seemed ready for the "Long Charge". It was a charge that will be talked about all the way to Pei-king and echo around the palace. 

Commander Wang charged a Russian unit and drove it back.  An Italian unit on the Russians right flank, saw the dust cloud and formed square just before the Chinese horde attacked them next. The Italians were driven back and the Chinese were not stopping yet.  A second Italian unit was charged and gave ground and gave some more ground.  The Boxers high on the hilltop cheered and a unit of Boxers moved forward to support their victorious country men. The Italian resistance stiffed and swept away the Boxers and shot the Victorious Ones to save the center.  The victory went to the Europeans troops, but their offensive had stalled at the pass as Chinese troops still had the hilltop fortress and roads leading to Pei-king.

Blast from the Past: Anger in Katanga, Wars of Insurgency AAR

The Warlords plot their moves in this modern Africa Wars of Insurgency scenario

Here's another blast from the past - a Wars of Insurgency AAR from the early days of playtesting our modern skirmish rules set. This was in the days of limited web space, so I apologize for the scarcity of photos.

 

Anger in Katanga: Wars of Insurgency AAR

I ran an impromptu scenario using our (Wars of Insurgency) rules for Modern Africa. Three players fielded troops representing the UN-spearheaded invasion of Congo's breakaway province of Katanga. The invaders had one UN force and two ANC (Congolese National Army) forces. The three defenders represented the militia of Katanga, stiffened by white mercenaries hired from Britain, France and Belgium.

It was a bloody battle, with the two Congolese Army groups virtually wiped out: Only the UN force remained relatively intact at game's end. The defenders suffered gravely, too, as the Katanga militia were eliminated, and both mercenary forces suffered light to moderate losses. On the strength of that disparity, the game was declared a narrow victory for the defenders. The invasion would be forced to pull back and regroup, with doubtless more UN waffling on whether to continue participation in a civil war in the Congo.

Closeup of Keith's troopers and "Technical" with HMG

Keith enjoyed the game to email us all his account of the action, which I've taken and published here.

We were pretty angry, as our native Congolese seemed to be taking the brunt of kills on both sides. On one side, we had Congolese Regulars (my troops) in the center, the UN (Joe) occupying part of the town on the right, and a mixed force (Joel) on the left. Pthomas was opposing Joel with some Rhodesian mercenaries, Allen faced me with the usual militia gaggle, and Dave faced the UN in town with some Belgian mercs.

I had a jeep with HMG, a 4WD truck with a recoiless rifle, and two squads of regulars. Allen had three milita squads and a technical with a HMG. Pthom's ptroops seemed to be professionals, and he had a mortar, an armored truck, and a recoiless rifle. I never did quite figure the composition of Joel's force, while Dave and Joe seemed to have an almost identical mix of troops -- all regulars.
 
Allen and I chewed each other's forces to bits. Noted hits included eight of Allens militia dying from a well-placed recoiless rifle round, and four members of one of my squads dying from a well-placed RPG round. Dave and Joe played Stalingrad in town, although Dave did abandon the direct assault when three of his guys ran into the street on turn one, and two were killed by a recoilless rifle blast!
Joel delayed Pthom's troopers for the entire game, dying to a man. He did make a superb sniper shot, killing the driver of the armored truck, though.

My jeep moved out towards town to get another shot on Allen's immortal technical (his gunners, alas, all too mortal). My HMG gunner killed the technical's gunner, and then succumbed to a perfect storm of RPG, small arms and LMG fire from Dave (hiding in a little window in town, and just waiting for a juicy target).

Unknown to me, Pthom had been moving his mortar in a very stealthy manner, and just before the end of the game, he dropped a surprise mortar round in the midst of my last four healthy troopers - then rolled no skulls for hits! Boy, but those guys dispersed on the next move! 

At the end of the game, the rebel/merc side was deemed to have the advantage. While the UN troopers were solidly fortifed in town, there was very little left to support them. I had two squadlets of three men each, while both vehicles were wrecks. All of Joel's troops were dead. So, Pthom and his heavy artillery (mortar + recoiless rifle) could blast Joe out of town room by room, and Daves mercs would gun down any that tried to flee.
 
I had 3 BIG SURPRISE hits during the game: The first was Allen's militia RPG getting four of my squaddies in a blast and killing all four; The second was my jeep moving into a place where Dave could take a shot on them from town; And the biggest surprise was Pthom's mortar round from nowhere. In each case, I was concentrating on the battle in front of me, and not observing other places of danger. This is one of the more realistic aspects of the game. I think I inflicted 2 BIG SURPRISE hits - the RR shot into the woods that killed eight of Allen's militia, and the turn one RR shot that killed two of Daves troopers.