Mars Attacks in Aid of Boxer Rebellion: For Queen and Planet AAR

 

View from the bridge as the Allies withdraw across it, fighting their delaying action

The battle report re-posted from Sept. 30, 2009

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.

A Chinese and Cephalopod force on the march

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 Cephalopods 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 'straffing-like'.

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

The set up for the game was that the Sino-Cephalopod alliance is in pursuit of a column of retreating civilians and 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!

The Chinese forces close in on the west village

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).

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

Each Command (3 Sino-Cephalopod 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 Cephalopods, 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 aquited 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 unit destroyed, one unit crippled at game end, and one unit about half dead. It definitely could have gone either way.

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

 The above report was written by the rules author and GM Tom Graves. Our long-time gaming companion, Joel Sams, always has a humorous look on any battle. Here's his take on the affair:
And 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 Cephalopods 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 Cephalopods 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.  Then the sound of gongs, firecrackers and bugles signaled the Imperial Chinese & Boxers to charge on village.  The Cephalopods 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 Cephalopods 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.

Flashback Post: A Queen & Planet AAR, "The Battle of Ginnis, Sudan 1885"

 Hi...in honor of the release of our second title -- Queen & Planet -- from our game company,  First Command Wargames, I'm reposting a battle report from my old miniatures gaming page. This game was played in my friend's Keith's basement in February of 2011. Lots of great Colonial/VSF fun...!

Battle of Ginnis - Colonials at Keith's Clubhouse

Rules: Queen and Planet
Scenario: The Battle of Ginnis – Sudan 1885

Battle of Ginnis - 15mm Colonials using Tom's rules. For some months, the Ansar had been filtering into the area around the Nile River villages of Ginnis and Kosha. The Ansar were building up forces to repel an Egyptian or British invasion and the British responding to the buildup had been increasing their own presence in the area.

The Ansar move up to support their Beja allies, who are heavily engaged with the British

Skirmishes and artillery shelling had been increasing for several weeks, when the British decided they needed to do something about what might be an Ansar buildup of forces to invade Egypt. Two brigades of seasoned troops hurried to the area and Colonels Sams and Graves wasted little time in formulating an attack plan. Attack at dawn when the heathens were still asleep in their beds and put them to flight.  Simple. Effective. If the Ansar had been abed when the British attacked, it would have worked well. Unfortunately, they were not only awake, but deployed into forward attack positions. In the first glimmers of dawn, Col Sams brigade approached the small village of Kosha with the Egyptian Camel Corp holding his right flank along the Nile, his batteries of cannon and Gatlings holding the center of the line and the Cameron Highlanders holding his left flank near a steep escarpment. The Sudanese IX battalion, at half strength, was in reserve.

Joel moves his Cameron Highlanders, the heroes of the battle, who held off attack after attack, while Tom hums a bagpipe tune

A sharp-eyed artillerist spotted the first Ansar among the walls and building of Kosha and opened up from extreme range. A skilled or lucky shot forced the Ansar Jehadia to withdraw into the village interior and it was later learned they had completely lost nerve at the unexpected casualties in their ranks and had fallen back south of Ginnis and as such were effectively out of the battle. C in C Graves urged his battalions forward with the caution that the British attack had already been discovered by the Ansar. There would be no surprise and no easy victory. As if in response, 1000 yards to his front along the edge of the escarpment, a captured Krupp artillery battery manned by subject Egyptian crews opened up on the Cameron Highlanders, doing some casualties and forcing them back to regroup. Colonel Graves held the edge of the escarpment as his right flank with the 1st Berkshires Battalion to his left was a battery of mountain guns and further left was West Kent Regiment. The 23rd Royal Engineers were far to the left trying to sweep around a rocky tor. The Durham Light infantry were in reserve.

Unfortunately, the next moment it became clear that the tor was swarming with Beja warbands and they were preparing to charge the Engineers. The Engineers were able to turn to meet the charge of the Beja, but could not get off a shot before they swept down from the tor and charged into their ranks. The Engineers were pushed back, but held firm. Colonel Graves ordered the Light Infantry to assist and moved forward to engage the Ansar artillery. As he did so, another Beja Rifle rub appeared out of the grey dawn and opened up on the 1st Berkshires at very close range. Casualties were taken and the infantry fell back to regroup.

It was touch and go, but the British battle line narrowly held off the Ansar attack

On the Nile flood plain, Colonel Sams was faced by more and more Ansar and Beja pouring out of the Palm orchards between the two villages. Heavily outnumbered, Colonel Sams forces gave better than they got. The Egyptian Camel Corp withstood a furious charge of Ansar warbands near the village of Kosha, driving them back and then watching them fade into the dust their charge had kicked up as their morale failed as quickly as their charge had failed.  Just as quickly, the Egyptians were shaken, after the charge, by the long range, but effective fire of a Krupp gun sheltering in a Zariba far to the Ansar rear. However, the two different threats shook the Egyptians and they fell back on the British fort to our rear, leaving only the Gatlings and field guns to hold the left flank of Colonel Sams’ attack.  On the left flank of Colonel Graves, the Beja had put the Engineers to flight and had turned on the Durham Light Infantry, who having seen the Engineers dispatched had fallen back and received the support of the West Kents. They now stood together, 600 line infantry versus 750 Beja warriors.

Colonel Sams was having both good fortune and bad. The Cameron Highlanders had been engaged with a Beja warband rub for almost an hour. They struggled back and forth and were wearing each other down when the Camerons held their fire to the last moment before another short charge carried the Beja home. This time, they were put to flight, disappearing into the Palm grove. Unfortunately, the Beja appeared to be limitless as another rifle rub moved out to replace them. Unfortunately, the fire was in the belly of the highlanders and they took it to the Beja, inflicting terrible casualties, wounding the Sheik that lead the army and driving them off as well.

The last Ansar and Beja waves prepare prepare to hurl themselves on the British line, once again

On the escarpment, Colonel Graves forces had managed to obliterate both the Beja warband and rifles and only the artillery remained to be cleaned up. The CinC, seeing and hearing the Camerons put flight to two Beja rubs rode down to join them and ensure that the British would be victorious.  The Ansar lost heart at the furious Camerons, the loss of their Sheik and retired sullenly, but mostly intact, into the desert. The British sighed with relief as their own forces were heavily shaken by the aggressive attack of the Madhist forces.  -- Tom Graves, Read About The Games People Play At Columbus Face Games Blog, http://columbusfacegames.wordpress.com/

Queen & Planet rules are now available on the First Command Wargames website: http://www.firstcommandwargames.com/

Flashback Post: A Queen & Planet AAR, "The Battle of Ginnis, Sudan 1885"

 Hi...in honor of the release of our second title -- Queen & Planet -- from our game company,  First Command Wargames, I'm reposting a battle report from my old miniatures gaming page. This game was played in my friend's Keith's basement in February of 2011. Lots of great Colonial/VSF fun...!

Battle of Ginnis - Colonials at Keith's Clubhouse

Rules: Queen and Planet
Scenario: The Battle of Ginnis – Sudan 1885

Battle of Ginnis - 15mm Colonials using Tom's rules. For some months, the Ansar had been filtering into the area around the Nile River villages of Ginnis and Kosha. The Ansar were building up forces to repel an Egyptian or British invasion and the British responding to the buildup had been increasing their own presence in the area.

The Ansar move up to support their Beja allies, who are heavily engaged with the British

Skirmishes and artillery shelling had been increasing for several weeks, when the British decided they needed to do something about what might be an Ansar buildup of forces to invade Egypt. Two brigades of seasoned troops hurried to the area and Colonels Sams and Graves wasted little time in formulating an attack plan. Attack at dawn when the heathens were still asleep in their beds and put them to flight.  Simple. Effective. If the Ansar had been abed when the British attacked, it would have worked well. Unfortunately, they were not only awake, but deployed into forward attack positions. In the first glimmers of dawn, Col Sams brigade approached the small village of Kosha with the Egyptian Camel Corp holding his right flank along the Nile, his batteries of cannon and Gatlings holding the center of the line and the Cameron Highlanders holding his left flank near a steep escarpment. The Sudanese IX battalion, at half strength, was in reserve.

Joel moves his Cameron Highlanders, the heroes of the battle, who held off attack after attack, while Tom hums a bagpipe tune

A sharp-eyed artillerist spotted the first Ansar among the walls and building of Kosha and opened up from extreme range. A skilled or lucky shot forced the Ansar Jehadia to withdraw into the village interior and it was later learned they had completely lost nerve at the unexpected casualties in their ranks and had fallen back south of Ginnis and as such were effectively out of the battle. C in C Graves urged his battalions forward with the caution that the British attack had already been discovered by the Ansar. There would be no surprise and no easy victory. As if in response, 1000 yards to his front along the edge of the escarpment, a captured Krupp artillery battery manned by subject Egyptian crews opened up on the Cameron Highlanders, doing some casualties and forcing them back to regroup. Colonel Graves held the edge of the escarpment as his right flank with the 1st Berkshires Battalion to his left was a battery of mountain guns and further left was West Kent Regiment. The 23rd Royal Engineers were far to the left trying to sweep around a rocky tor. The Durham Light infantry were in reserve.

Unfortunately, the next moment it became clear that the tor was swarming with Beja warbands and they were preparing to charge the Engineers. The Engineers were able to turn to meet the charge of the Beja, but could not get off a shot before they swept down from the tor and charged into their ranks. The Engineers were pushed back, but held firm. Colonel Graves ordered the Light Infantry to assist and moved forward to engage the Ansar artillery. As he did so, another Beja Rifle rub appeared out of the grey dawn and opened up on the 1st Berkshires at very close range. Casualties were taken and the infantry fell back to regroup.

It was touch and go, but the British battle line narrowly held off the Ansar attack

On the Nile flood plain, Colonel Sams was faced by more and more Ansar and Beja pouring out of the Palm orchards between the two villages. Heavily outnumbered, Colonel Sams forces gave better than they got. The Egyptian Camel Corp withstood a furious charge of Ansar warbands near the village of Kosha, driving them back and then watching them fade into the dust their charge had kicked up as their morale failed as quickly as their charge had failed.  Just as quickly, the Egyptians were shaken, after the charge, by the long range, but effective fire of a Krupp gun sheltering in a Zariba far to the Ansar rear. However, the two different threats shook the Egyptians and they fell back on the British fort to our rear, leaving only the Gatlings and field guns to hold the left flank of Colonel Sams’ attack.  On the left flank of Colonel Graves, the Beja had put the Engineers to flight and had turned on the Durham Light Infantry, who having seen the Engineers dispatched had fallen back and received the support of the West Kents. They now stood together, 600 line infantry versus 750 Beja warriors.

Colonel Sams was having both good fortune and bad. The Cameron Highlanders had been engaged with a Beja warband rub for almost an hour. They struggled back and forth and were wearing each other down when the Camerons held their fire to the last moment before another short charge carried the Beja home. This time, they were put to flight, disappearing into the Palm grove. Unfortunately, the Beja appeared to be limitless as another rifle rub moved out to replace them. Unfortunately, the fire was in the belly of the highlanders and they took it to the Beja, inflicting terrible casualties, wounding the Sheik that lead the army and driving them off as well.

The last Ansar and Beja waves prepare prepare to hurl themselves on the British line, once again

On the escarpment, Colonel Graves forces had managed to obliterate both the Beja warband and rifles and only the artillery remained to be cleaned up. The CinC, seeing and hearing the Camerons put flight to two Beja rubs rode down to join them and ensure that the British would be victorious.  The Ansar lost heart at the furious Camerons, the loss of their Sheik and retired sullenly, but mostly intact, into the desert. The British sighed with relief as their own forces were heavily shaken by the aggressive attack of the Madhist forces.  -- Tom Graves, Read About The Games People Play At Columbus Face Games Blog, http://columbusfacegames.wordpress.com/

Queen & Planet rules are now available on the First Command Wargames website: http://www.firstcommandwargames.com/

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: 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: Radio Fryer, Q&P AAR

As my Earthlink-based gaming website heads towards internet oblivion, I am reposting some fun AARs using the rules we play onto my blog here. This is another game using Tom Graves' For Queen and Planet rules. 

Martian/Mahdist Commanders (L-R), Dave, Joel, and Tom survey the battlefield and the advancing Italians

So, Tom, feeling sorry for my poor Colonial Italians that I'd painted up for his Victorian Sci-Fi/Colonials system, designed a scenario so the oppressors of East Africa could take the field. The background behind the game was this: A Martian vehicle had crashed in Sicily, providing the Italians with a chance to salvage some advanced technology. Jealous of their fellow European powers, they located their research facility in their East African possessions. Their experiments attracted the attention of Martian scouts, who were promptly shot down by the Marconi Radio Cannon. Realizing they were discovered, an Italian field force was dispatched to secure the Research Facility, while simultaneously, the Martians sent a Mahdist force to capture it.
The battle report below was written by one of the players, Joel Sams.

Madhist/Martian force of Flying Machine, Beja Rifle, Beja Warband, and Ansar Cannon advance

Battle Report: Radio FryerMartian/Sudanese Recon Force: Commanders: CnC Joel Sams, Tom Graves, Dave Welch
Italian Rapid Reaction Colonial Force: Commanders: CnC Mike Demana, Joe Merz, Keith Finn

An Italian Radio Cannon brought down the Martian S.S. Millennium Faulkner.  A Martian/Mahdist Recon forces dispatched to investigate had a meeting engagement across the fast moving Dheep Dudu River, with severely restricted crossing points.  The Sudanese forces, on the right flank (Dave), moved quickly to capture Cannon Hill, but the high frequency and highly accurate cannon fire (Joe) drove off all the natives, repeatedly. 

Meanwhile on the left flank (Ptomas) and the S.S. Faulkner were on the verge of being overrun by Eritrean Italian Askaris (Keith).   Martian cannon fire slowed their advance enough to allow a fanatical tribal warband to maneuver onto a Italian flank.  What followed goes down in tribal history as "their finest hour" (if they could tell time that is!). Hats off and a Martian Salute ('nnack 'nacKK!) to Ptomas for a job well done. 

Meanwhile the Martian center (Joel) command developed slowly due to indecision, formation changes and the river crossings.  When the battle draws to an exhausted end, the New Sudanese Army "won" but too few survived to exploit the victory.

Italian center advances in column over a hill towards an East African village

Thanks again Ptomas for running- Keith for letting us use the club house.

Blast from the Past: Clash of Warmachines, Q&P AAR

My Earthlink-based gaming site will disappear before long, so I'm salvaging some fun AARs using the rules we play and reposting them here. This is a August 2007 report of a battle using Tom Graves' For Queen and Planet rules.

British forces roll towards the Sudanese, led by their steam-powered Imperial Walker

Tom Graves ran his eagerly-anticipated Colonial Sci-Fi game at what is becoming our regular gathering spot, "Keith's Clubhouse." We had a great turnout -- six players and Tom as GM. Keith Finn, Joel Sams and I were the Sudanese defenders of a zariba (thorn fort) and village. Allen Sams, Dave Welch and Steve Verdoliva were the imperialistic British attackers. The scenario showcased Tom's new resin British gunboat and his scratch-built Arab dhow. Nice eye candy for the tabletop, though most of us felt they should be able to DO more...

Tom's nifty new gunboat was great eye candy on the tabletop!

It was a knock-down, drag them out fight, with the British overpowering the Sudanese. Our Martian weapons ended up outclassing and defeating their infernal machines (Steam Tank and Walker), but that was our only real success. In the most one-sided butt whupping that I've been a part of recently, Steve Verdoliva's elite British force handily thrashed my command.

In Tom's game, you roll 2d6 vs. your shooting or melee factor. The less you roll under it, the more casualties you cause. Steve's dice rattled off "3's" and "4's" repeatedly against me, then after he'd wiped me from the board, marched on and started to chew up Joel's force. He capped his evening rolling back to back snake eyes against Joel! Even when Joel snatched his dice away -- forcing him to roll different ones -- Steve slaughtered him. In short, his elites fought like elites, while our tribesmen fought like...well, we had somewhere more interesting to be...off table...like now!

The bitter end -- British crash through the zariba fort, despite the efforts of the Martian Scout Walker

It was a great scenario, and really did come down to the end, as both sides had suffered grievous losses. Both commanders continued to pass their army morale checks to avoid quitting the field, so it dragged on to the bitter end (for the Sudanese). The British seized the ford, and was able to secure a crossing to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum.