Byzantine Disaster

Despite their defeat at Chobani, the Persians continued their offensive.

Dispositions

The Byzantines (red) have a line anchored between some woods and a village. The Persians advance from the south (bottom).

The opposing forces include:

• Byzantines - 2 units of cataphracts (heavy cavalry), 1 unit of skutatoi (heavy infantry), and 1 unit or archers.
• Persians - 2 light cavalry, 1 heavy cavalry, 1 medium infantry, and 1 elephant.

The Battle

The Byzantines advance to the hill, where a massive melee breaks out. On the Byzantine right, however, 1 unit of cataphracts gets shot to pieces by light cavalry bows.

Note: Above, you can get a look at my new casualty markers in action. Here is a close up.

The Persians wipe out the cataphracts and surround the skutatoi.

Breaking them and killing the general. The archers flee from the village.

Note: You can get a good look at the 2D village above. It is attached to a 1" square of thin wood.

Aftermath

With this unmitigated disaster, the Byzantines lose the war. The Persians win the campaign 3-1.

They sue for peace and make territorials concessions to the Persians.

Notes

I decided to play a quick scenario to entertain Thomasina, my game-loving cat. I chose to whip something up rather than play Battles of Medieval Britain because I wanted to get my new casualty markers and town counter into action. I am quite pleased with them!

Chocks Away!

I've been playing some flying games recently.

B-17 Queen of the Skies

I managed to get my hands on a copy of QotS at a reasonable price. It is missing the German fighter cards and the counters. I can substitute miniatures for the cards and never really needed the counters anyway.

I played a couple of missions.

1. Target: St. Omer. A short mission (Zone 2)
• Some desultory passes by German fighters but only minor damage and no wounds
• Bomb run on target with 30% accuracy
• A safe return home
2. Cherbourg (Zone 3)
• Escorts effectively drove off most enemy fighters
• Hit by flak over the target, which caused the bomb run to go off target (0%)
• A safe return home with only minor damage and no casualties

The rules are very intuitive. It's been more than 20 years since I played but I was up an running within minutes of scanning through the rules! That's a testament to the quality of the rules.

One issue is the number of charts you have to shuffle through. With time, you remember where to find the table you need, but it can be a little annoying.

B17 The Fight for Air Supremacy

I created a revised version of the rules to fix my issues with this game, but I ended up shelving the project for the time being.

I had hoped that FfAS would be a kind of quick-play QotS, but then I had other ideas.

Homebrew Bombing

I've been mulling ideas for quick-play games that I can easily set up and complete during lunch. I figured that a simple bombing run game would work, but I would need to reduce record keeping.

I then had an epiphany. Instead of tracking a sole bomber, why not run a squadron? OK, 12 planes is a bit much, but what about an element? Three planes seems feasible. I just won't track individual crew stats.

Then I decided not to keep track of zones, like both the B-17 games. Instead, I'll just roll to see if the element faces a wave of fighters, then keep rolling waves until no more appear. After that, drop the bombs and run for home!

I jotted down some rules on a sheet of paper, then played a couple of test games.

In the first mission, my bombers suffered no damage but heavy cloud cover caused them to miss the target.

Here are some pictures from my second mission.

My squadron gets bounced by a trio of enemy fighters. Alice with Malice, the lead bomber, takes damage.

Later, another fighter attacks Charming Charlotte but her gunners blow the attacker from the sky.

Flak over the target. Charlotte takes a hit. Her bombs are inaccurate, but the others pound the target.

The missions were quick, 5 to 10 minutes each, and do not require a lot of record-keeping. I only tracked 3 stats per plane - Enemies Killed, Bomb Hits, and Damage. I managed to record each mission on a 3 x 5 card!

I am encouraged by my experiments. These rules show promise.

Getting Medieval

Battles of Medieval Britain

BoMB has become my go-to game when I want some quick gaming action. The only problem is that they are so quick and easy that I don't always take the time to photograph the games.

Anyway, here is a quick synopsis of my recent forays.

Hastings

I played this scenario twice and went 1-1. 

I played poorly in the first game but my archers, the lone survivors of the battle, managed to shoot down Harold. 

I actually played better in the second game but fell just short of killing Harold.

Battle of the Standard

It took me 3 tries to win. 

I came close in my second attempt, but my last ditch attack in the final turn failed. 

The third game started well; I eliminated 2 enemies on the second turn. But the English counterattack wiped out 3 of my units. Nevertheless, I rallied and killed the last of the English with 3 units and 2 turns to spare.

Lewes
My first attempt at Lewes was an unmitigated disaster. The rebels wiped me out after 4 turns.

Here is my second attempt. The rebels are blue.

The second turn was a disaster. The Royalists lost 3 units.

There was no recovering. One unit managed to survive until the end, but the rebels still held the field.

Chariots

Last year I experimented with chariot races to complement my Byzantine project. I purchased figures from Irregular but I did not like my attempts at painting them. As a result, the project languished.

Recently, when I began working up counters for my games, I created some for chariot races. I got the images from Junior General. They even have crashed chariots.

I ran a race to test them out. Above shows the finish. 

• Green pulled away for the win. 
• Blue was behind most of the race but managed to pull even with Red in the home stretch. But then Red bashed into Blue, causing him to crash!
• Yellow fell behind, but he still came ahead of Blue.

B17 The Fight for Air Supremacy

Previously, I mentioned that I tried out B17 The Fight for Air Supremacy.

I noted I had issues with the rules. I planned to write a review but I changed my mind because I received an antagonistic response to my last critical review. 

Now someone has asked what my issues were so I feel compelled to respond. I'll give a brief rundown of my impressions.

• Too many run-on sentences and missing punctuation. The rules need more periods.
• Dense paragraphs. The author needs to break them up into smaller chunks and use bullet points to make reference easier.
• Too much flipping. Unlike Battles of Medieval Britain, the game pages do not have complete rules reference tables. This requires the player to flip through the book during the game. 
• Note: I made my own reference sheet for use but I should not have to do that.
• Rules not sequenced effectively. For example, rolling for escorts should happen before the Germans attack the bomber, but the rules for escorts are after the rules for fighter attacks.
• Too many rules questions. Too often I had questions about how a procedure should work but I could not find the answer in the rules. This left me very confused.
• Crew activation mechanic is annoying. You roll 5D6 to determine which crewmembers can activate in a turn. Too often, my roll would fail to activate the crewmember I needed. Very frustrating and it seemed needlessly random.

Because of these issues, I could not get through a single game. I ended giving up in frustration.

Nevertheless, I think there are some decent mechanisms in there (aside from crew activation). I started re-working the rules to address my issues. I haven't taken my revisions for a test flight yet.

Bombing Brouhaha

After Geoff aka elliesdad got me into Battles of Medieval Britain, he recommended another solitaire wargame book. When I checked it out on Amazon, I also discovered this:

I have previously waxed nostalgic about the Avalon Hill classic, B-17 Queen of the Skies so this is right up my alley. I ordered a copy immediately. My hope was that this book would be a kind of Queen of the Skies-lite. My hopes were dashed, however, as the rules in this book suffer from a number of issues.

I'm still in a mood for gaming bombing runs, so I am assessing my options.

The Venerable Queen of the Skies

I immediately went online and tried to track down a copy of the Avalon Hill game. I hoped that someone had created a print and play option. Alas, no. I ended up bidding on a copy on ebay, but I was outbid. I may still try to find a reasonably priced copy.

Later, I found some PDFs (such as this one). They may be copyright violations, but I downloaded one. It seems complete, with the rules, map, counters, charts, and even the box covers. I have what I need to make my own version but I haven't got around to it yet.

Star Raiders

A few years ago, I dabbled with a homebrew set of rules I called Star Raiders. It was essentially B-17 lite in space.

Star raider schematic

I could pull these out an give them a go. I think I was having issues with game balance, however, and ended up dropping them. Not sure if I want to get back into them.

Tweak B17 Fight for Air Supremacy

I still like the idea of B17 FfAS. Essentially, it could be a light version of QotS. I have ideas about keeping the basic framework but tweaking the rules to address my issues. I started working on it, creating my own version of the rules. I have not had a chance to playtest it yet.

Play Bomber Crew

I found a video game that covers bombing missions in WW2.

Called Bomber Crew, it is available on the Nintendo Switch and Steam. The graphics may be cutesy but I read that it is a challenging game. 

I played the training mission and found the controls a little confusing. I need to try out more missions.

More Battles

A trifecta of quick battle reports.

BATTLE OF CHOBANI

A battle in my Byzantine campaign.

Following their victory at Oikos, the Persians send a force deeper into Byzantine territory to seize more ground.

They clash with Byzantine forces blocking the road north (bottom).

The archery of the Persian light horse destroys Byzantine heavies.

The Persian cataphracts charge the road, but the Byzantine skutatoi drive them off.

And another unit of Persian cataphracts get skewered on the skutatoi spears.

The remaining Persians retreat. Byzantine victory!

Notes

• With the victory, the Byzantines stave off defeat. They still trail 1-2.
• The scenario is #25 - Infiltration from One Hour Wargames. To win, the Persians need to get 2 of their 4 units off the north edge of the map along the road (where the skutatoi are located).
• I used the One Hour Wargame tables to randomly determine the army compositions, with heavy cavalry as the primary troop type.
• Somehow I lost some pictures so I don't have one of the initial set-up. The first picture is around turn 4.

BATTLE OF FULFORD GATE (1066)

The second scenario from Battles of Medieval Britain.

English earls Morcar and Edwin (red) intercept a Viking invasion force (blue).

The English aggressively attack the Vikings and eliminate one warband.

Massive slaughter!

Despite losses, the English keep up the pressure.

The Vikings try to hold on. It comes down to one final melee. The English win!

Another fortuitous die roll on the last combat of the final turn.

BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE (1066)

Another scenario from Battles of Medieval Britain.

King Harold's army (red) advance against the Vikings.

After a slow start, Harold makes inroads against the invaders.

King Hairy-old (played by Onyx) surveys the battle.

The end of the battle. The English overwhelm the last of the Vikings.

Off the Coast of Florida

An Independence Day Battle

Once again I offer an American Revolution battle to celebrate Independence Day.

This is part of a series of fictional battles set in East Florida.

Introduction

Stymied in his efforts to invade East Florida by land, Colonel Endicott takes to the sea.

He outfits a small flotilla and hopes to sneak by the British navy. Alas, his force is spotted by a squadron of British frigates.

Top (red) - The British squadron consisting of the Ajax, Bucephalus, and Cato.

Bottom (blue) - First squadron (top 2) - Adams and Franklin. Second squadron - Washington and Jefferson

The Battle

The combatants loose their initial broadsides.

The Continentals take the brunt of the damage. The Washington is nearly crippled.

In desperation, two of the damaged Continental ships rush in to board their opponents.

The Bucephalus strikes! But Continental hopes fade when the Adams also strikes.

The remaining Continental frigates swarm the damaged Ajax, which is locked with the Adams.

Heavy gunfire forces the Ajax to strike.

Despite being undamaged and facing heavily damaged enemies, the Cato looks at the numerical odds and flees the battle. Its captain will have a lot of explaining to do!

Meanwhile, Endicott finds the sea lane to St. Augustine open!

Battle Notes

From 2018 to 2020, I played a Revolutionary battle to celebrate Independence Day. I demurred for 2021 because the scenarios were beginning to feel same-ish. That's why I decided to do something different for 2022 - a naval battle!

My East Florida campaign is now tied up at 2 battles apiece. Next year will be the clincher as Endicott will try to take St Augustine, and with it the entire colony of East Florida.

I don't have formal rules yet for naval battles. I just kind of made things up as a went along, using MicroBattle as the framework. 

I also don't have a gridded naval battlemat that is large enough for Age of Sail battles. I used a plain blue felt mat and a ruler.

The ships are 2D counters I scratch built back in 2018.

Battle of Brunanburh

I made some custom counters for Battles of Medieval Britain and decided to give them a test run.

This is an account of my playthrough of the first scenario.

Background

In 937, a coalition of the kings of Dublin, Scotland, and Strathclyde invade England. King Aethelstan meets the invaders at Brunanburh.

Set Up

The invaders (blue) are spread out over a wide front. Aethelstan follows suit and spreads out his forces.

All units are classified as warriors armed with axes.

The Battle

Aethelstan must destroy the invaders quickly so he rushes his warriors forward.

The scenario objective is to clear the map of enemy units within 7 turns.

But things start off poorly. In the first attacks, Aethelstan loses nearly half his army!

The English missed with their first attacks. You can see the invaders' rolls below. In an instant, two units are gone.

But fortunes can turn quickly in battle. One warband, which Aethelstan dubbed "the Boars" (middle red unit) charge and wipe out two enemy warbands.

The Boars got two kills in one turn. And they eliminated another unit the turn before!

By the way, you can see my shield wall marker on this red unit.

As night approaches, one enemy unit still remains. The Ravens (unit on the right) attack and wipe them out. Victory!

This was the last attack of the last turn. I needed a hit to win. You can see my roll below.

Postscript

It looked bleak at first, but the Boars made an amazing run to make it close. The Ravens, who had been pretty useless for the first 6 turns, finally pulled through to win the game.

I am pleased with how my counters came out. I tried a different method with these. Instead of gluing cardstock onto Litko bases, I printed the designs onto a full page shipping label. Then I cut out each counter and just stuck it to the base. By the way, I used custom-sized bases (1/2" x 3/4" if I recall correctly). I realized, however, that I need a turn counter.

I also turned the game into a boxed set. I took a blank board game box that I bought from GMT Games and filled it with the book and the game components.