Tweenwater War - Battle of Hartvale

Battle 1 of the Tweenwater War Eastern Front

In the initial stage of the Tweenwater War, Bluderian forces unsuccessfully tried to cross the Crystal River into the Redgravian held province. Meanwhile, Imperial forces advanced on the city of Blancport.

Redgrave sent the Auburn Army to reinforce the defenders of Blancport.

The Blancport Army sent forth a detachment, which occupied the strategic village of Hartvale. Alas, their forces were outnumbered by the vanguard of the Imperial Army. But then trumpets sounded and the defenders witnessed a heartening sight. Reinforcements crested the ridge west of the village.

Intent on seizing the village, the Imperial forces marched forward, ignoring the reinforcements on the hill. Long range artillery damaged the Imperial battery.

Unfortunately, the forced march of the reinforcements left them in disarray. As a result, they dithered in getting into action. Only Paxson's Brigade managed to open fire. Long-range musketry ensued.

On the Imperial left, two brigades of infantry approached Hartvale. Artillery ripped huge holes in the line. Long range musketry took its toll on the right.

The assault begins. An Imperial brigade holds off Paxson. But what of the rest of the reinforcements? They still dithered on the ridge.

 After heated actions, Paxson's brigade wipes out its Imperial counterpart. The assault on the village silences the artillery but Redgravian infantry take up the defense.

Paxson begins marching to the village. Sustained attacks annihilate the village's defenders.

But before the attackers can secure the village, Paxson rushes in.

But the attackers are too strong. Paxson's Brigade is scatttered. Meanwhile, General Spengler realizes the dire situation. He acts, sending cavalry into the fray. Unfortunately, he holds the rest of his force "in reserve" on the hill.

The cavalry vainly assault the village. Some troopers manage to make it into the streets and cut down the enemy. Resistance is too strong and the cavalry is thrown back.

 Finally, the cavalry is routed. Spengler orders his artillery to open fire to no avail. He now loses heart and orders the retreat.

With the fall of Hartvale, the road to Blancport is open to the Imperial Army.

Scenario Notes
This is scenario 28 - Botched Relief. Although the attackers are outnumbered, the defender's reinforcements (on the hill) can only operate one at a time. This gives the attackers a chance to meet their objectives without being overwhelmed.

The rules are essentially an adaptation of Memoir '44 with the Song of Blade and Heroes activation. Units can use extra activations to move further or add dice to their attacks.

Virtual Horse and Musket

After playing a satisfactory sci-fi version of One Hour Wargames on a virtual board, I started thinking about earlier periods. I tried an ancient/medieval battle but was not completely happy with the result.

The units made from PowerPoint shapes seemed to clash with the terrain, which was pictures of terrain items.

This got me thinking about alternate units. I tried Junior General, but I could not get them in the dense ranks at the scale I wanted. I then saw that someone had photographed their miniatures for use on a virtual tabletop. I decided to try that with my 3mm Magister Militum horse and musket figures.

My cat Cooper photobombed my first attempt.

But I finally got the shots and then copied them onto my battlefield.

Better, but still needs work. In particular, the bases clash with the background. I tried removing the background but it was too fiddly. I could take some stands off the bases and photograph them against a white background. I think it would be easier to remove in PowerPoint. I just didn't relish the thought of de-basing stands.

I was looking at some virtual units I created last year. They were just simple rectangles but they looked nice. They reminded me of units on a map, like this:

Which put me in mind of a game that Kaptain Kobold reviewed. W1815 used simple blocks on a map. I find the game to be rather attractive. I wondered if I could emulate something similar. So I changed my approach. When I started my crazy virtual wargaming phase, I created a tracker that used an old-time looking map as the background. I recycled the background, and turned it into this:

I actually rather like it. This is One Hour Wargames scenario 28 - Botched Relief. I set it in the long-stalled Tweenwater War. I played one battle then put the campaign on hiatus until I finished an Imperial army. I'm still waiting.

In the Tweenwater War, Redgrave is fighting on 2 fronts. I already set up their next confrontation with Bluderia.

This is scenario 12 - An Unfortunate Oversight.

It's not as pretty as actual miniatures, but I like the look. More importantly, virtual tabletops have me playing games at an unprecedented pace (for me)!

More Virtual OHW

Today I played another One Hour Wargames scenario using a virtual board. Once again, battle raged for the planet Frigidair (the battle report is posted on Tales of the Templars).

The scenario is # 7 - Flank Attack (2).
The Frigidair defenders are trying to hold a hill against a Federation attack.

I created the battlefield in PowerPoint, using shapes and pictures from the internet for the terrain. The troops came from Junior General. I actual like the look of the battlefield,

The rules are essentially Memoir '44 with a sci-fi theme. Units include infantry, power infantry (rangers), armor, and missile launchers (artillery). Infantry can deploy force shields (sandbags). Instead of cards, I use the Song of Blade and Heroes activation.

Another Virtual Experiment

After my enjoyable experiences with virtual skirmishes and a dungeon crawl, I decided to try my hand at a large-scale battle (and in my terms, large scale is using One Hour Wargame scenarios and army lists).

My first mission was to build the virtual board. Once again, I did it in PowerPoint and created a 6 x 8 grid. Initially, I was going to use Google Earth images for the terrain. I planned to use Junior General top-down paper minis so I thought that realistic terrain would clash with drawn miniatures. I opted instead for more of a toy soldier terrain with images of items that I currently use for my games. The ground is a picture of olive green felt. I made woods from a picture of a Scott's scrub brush. Using Paint, I cut out an irregular shape. Similarly, I cut out a shape from a picture of greenish cork board for the hills. Finally, a picture of blue acetate became a river. Here is the set up for my test battle.

As mentioned, my initial plan was to use Junior General top-down miniatures. However, I had issues scaling them down to a size that fit my squares. They turned out looking like black blob, and I could not distinguish colors to tell one side from the other. Eventually, I opted for basic geometric shapes from PowerPoint.

Below are the 2 armies on the board, ready for a battle in medieval Francesia. (Note that this is not a particular scenario. I just plopped some terrain and troops on the board then went at it.) The Redgravian army (yellow and red) consists of 4 units of heavy infantry, a warband, and a cavalry unit. The Imperials (gray and blue) muster 4 heavy infantry and 2 archers.

The units are functional but not as attractive as I'd like. I saw some pictures online where someone created a virtual battle using photos of actual figures. I may do that with my troops.

As the battle progressed, I used virtual tokens to indicate the action. Blood spatters indicated hits, crossed swords showed units in melee, and white dotted arrows represented archery volleys.

 The battle broke down into 2 distinct combats.

• On the right, 2 Imperial units held the hill against an onslaught of Redgravians
• On the left, the Redgravians advanced between 2 woods towards a lone hill

 The Imperials held the hill on the right but the Redgravians broke through on the left.

The victorious Imperial infantry advanced to the left to aid its beleaguered comrades

But ultimately they were whittled down by the combined attacks of 2 Redgravian units.

I reached 15 turns at this point so I called the battle in favor of the Redgravians.

Thoughts

• The virtual tabletop has a definite advantage in set up. It is far less effort than setting up actual miniatures.
• Additionally, I can leave the battle set up over multiple days. This allows me to play a turn here and there as time permits.
• Moving the pieces is actually more difficult in my virtual tabletop. Actually, moving is not a problem but it is a paint to rotate the units. Because I used shapes, I have to go to the image menu and select rotate to change directions. I think it may not be a problem if I use pictures.
• I love the look of the battlefield but the units are lacking. I'm thinking of photographing actual miniatures.
• I am slightly dissatisfied with my grid. A 6 x 8 grid works great for my skirmishes, but I much prefer my portable wargame's 6 x 9 grid for larger battles. I break it into 3 sectors of 3 squares each then randomly allocate units to a sector.
• Nevertheless, the experiment has promise and will continue.

On Virtual Skirmishing

Over the last month I have been experimenting with sci-fi skirmishes. I don't currently have figures or terrain so I have been playing the games on a virtual board, like this:

However, I stated that I wanted to transition to a real board. To that end, I recently purchased a cork board and gridded it for use in skirmishes.

I have a bunch of sci-fi paper miniatures files. I planned to print them out for use on my new board. But then I discovered that our printer is on the fritz so I have no way of printing them out.

Interestingly, I'm not that disappointed; I am actually enjoying the virtual board. I tried a virtual board before for horse and musket battles but was not satisfied. Yet these skirmishes seem to work great on a virtual board. It's easier to set up (in fact, I usually set up the scenario during the week and then play the game on the weekend). Furthermore, I don't have to worry about painting, printing, or storage. I am so satisfied that I now plan to continue these virtual skirmishes for the time being.

In fact, I am considering converting some of my miniatures projects to a virtual board! I've been thinking about it and am wondering if my aversion to the horse and musket virtual game was due to the units. I either used blocks or front facing figures. Now I think that top-down blocks may work best. I started putting together some medieval top-downs. We'll see how that goes.

Does this mean that I am done with miniature wargaming? Who knows where my GADD will take me? I just know that the virtual board has increased the number of games I've been playing.

Virtual Fantasy Dungeon Crawl

I've been having so much fun with my sci-fi skirmishes on a virtual board that I have been pondering extending it to other periods. Today, I started messing around with a virtual dungeon crawl.

Here is the dungeon map. I kept it small on purpose. My characters have only discovered 2 rooms so far. The Templar cross identifies where the party is.

Here is a small room. Rowan (a paladin) and Jacor (a cleric) have just defeated 2 goblins.

Here is a corridor. Again, they tangle with goblins. The beam coming from Jacor is a holy power that allows him to smite enemies. It acts like a ranged attack.

And now they are in a large room with acid-spitting worms. Jacor has taken a hit. I changed how I represented his holy smite, making it easier to position on the board.

So far so fun. I'll ultimately post the game report on Tales of the Templars.

Grayrock and Zamunda and Three

Grayrock
The last battle of the Grayrock Revolution was a little anti-climatic so I've been wanting to do a final pitched battle to decide the fate of the nation. Last weekend I had a little time on my hands waiting for my wife to wake up so I decided to play it out. However, I was at Disney and did not have any minis with me. Instead, I found a site that had a virtual Portable Wargame board so I used that. Here is a screenshot:

Battle of Hemlock - initial set-up

Due to the campaign situation, I decided to handicap the Bluderians with only 4 units. They do have a general on their side. The Grayrockians (represented by the red army) have 6 units, but 2 are militia.

Unfortunately, there was just something lacking about the game.so I did not do a write-up. Instead, I replayed it with my 2mm minis this morning. A battle report will be forthcoming this weekend.

Zamunda
My experiment with block armies is continuing. I have nearly completed enough units for the first battle of the Lumbago Expedition. Here are some pictures:

The Redgravian Expeditionary Force

From left to right: 2 (short-handed) units of skirmishers, infantry in line, an artillery piece, and 2 units of infantry in columns. I still need to make some cavalry.

Initially I was going to use several bits of thin craft sticks to represent individual skirmishers but it seemed too time consuming. Instead, I used small blocks representing clumps of troops.

The Zamundans

From left to right: 2 units of spears and 3 stands of skirmishers.

They are not the most artistic but to my eye they do the trick. From a distance they do look like blocks of troops.

Three
However, my progress has slowed on my block armies because I am waiting for more figures. I mentioned earlier that I was interested in Magister Militum's 3mm horse & musket range. Well, I placed an order and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Starfighters on a Virtual Board

Early in 2013 I posted about a neat little solo WWI air combat game called Eindekker. Later in 2013, I started playing around with a starfighter game. At the time, I considered working up a starfighter version of Eindekker, but I never got beyond pondering.

This week, inspiration suddenly struck and I finally jotted down some rules. I also created a virtual board in PowerPoint so that I could play on my computer.

The virtual board.
I need better graphics for the starfighters.

Like Eindekker, games are 10 turns. Every turn, the player's flight may move 1 zone (tracked on the left). Random tables determine events, including encounters with enemy ships. Combat is based on opposed die-rolls, with the winner inflicting damage on the loser. The virtual board includes tracks for monitoring damage.

There are 3 types of missions available (determined by random roll):

• Scramble - where the starfighters must defeat waves of attackers
• Patrol - where the starfighters fly to the disputed zone (DZ) and scout for enemy ships.
• Offense - where the starfighters fly to the enemy base (EB) zone and attack a target.

I am developing a victory point system to keep track of successes and failures.

I played a game last night and the game has promise.

Boardless Francesia

After months of putting it off, I am making plans for the next battle in the Grayrock Revolution. I decided I would do it using my latest boardless system. As part of the new system, I wanted some e-flats that I could paste onto the board. Over to Junior General I went, where I found some generic 18th century top down counters. With a little effort, I had the beginnings of forces for Grayrock, Bluderia, Greenglade, and Redgrave.

Here is my handiwork (adapted from Junior General):

 

When I started setting up the battlefield in Excel, however, I realized that the stands were too big but when shrunk the figures were not visible. Oh well, they weren't going to work. Instead, I just used basic shapes to represent differing terrain and troop types, which were pasted onto the shaded grid.

Here is the battlefield in Excel.

The long, thin rectangles are infantry; the smaller, fatter rectangles are cavalry; the rounded rectangles are militia, the four really small rectangles are light infantry (it's actually a dotted line); circles represent generals (the black circle is General "Black" Bart Blackwell reunited with the army after his escape from Grayrock City); triangles are artillery; and the stars represent reserve points. The Bluderian center is a camp (complete with buildings and a fence) while woods and a hill lay on the flanks.

I decided to expand the battlefield slightly. There is now a space of no-man's land between the armies; the attacker will have to risk an artillery bombardment while approaching the enemy. I also added a square on each side to allow for flanking maneuvers.

I'm dabbling with rules based on the game Viktory II. Here is an outline of my version of the rules:

Sequence of Play

Initiative - roll D6 per side. Winner can attack or pass Command - roll D6 + Command Rating (-2 to +2) for attacker 1-3 may only activate 1 wing  4-5 may only activate 2 wings 6 may activate 3 wings Movement - may move 1 space into a square without enemy troops Combat - adjudicate per wing Bombard - roll D6 per artillery unit. Hit on 5-6 (may fire 2 squares) Skirmishing - roll D6 per light inf unit. Hit on 5-6 (may only fire 1 square) Check casualties - roll 4-6 to shake off hit (+1 if general in square, -1 if militia).  Remove 1 unit per remaining hit Assault - roll D6+mods per unit. Hit on 4-6 Pursuit - roll D6+mods per cavalry in open. Hit on 4-6 Check casualties - roll 4-6 to shake off hit (+1 if general in square, -1 if militia).  Remove 1 unit per remaining hit Advance - attacking wing may move into square if enemy eliminated

Notes -1 to roll if attacking defensible terrain May expend 1 reserve point to re-roll an attack. I won't get a game in this weekend but I hope to run it soon.

Board-less Experiment

This morning I did a quick experiment using the board-less wargame rules. The idea is to create a quick wargame that can be played on a computer or even on paper without having to set up a board with terrain. For this experiment, I created the game in Excel, complete with a dice-roller.

My boardless wargame Excel tracker.
The "board" on the left merely tracks Morale Points (there is no maneuvering on the board).
To the right is the dice-roller

I ran a simple battle to see how it worked. Both armies are identical and they meet on flat terrain (no mods). I randomly determined that Blue would be the attacker, although it did not make much difference in this game as there is no defensible terrain.

For simplicity, I am referencing left/right based on the direction on the screen (essentially from Red's point of view).

Battle Report:
I stood upon a hill to the rear of the Redgravian army as it met the Bluderian invaders on Flatbottom Valley. The Bluderians advanced quickly, determined to come to grips with their enemy. The two sides clashed. On my left, there was only desultory skirmishes. On the right, the Bluderians began making headway, but the center was an absolute disaster for their attack. There, the Redgravians stood like a stone wall, unwilling to give an inch. Their steady fire poured into the Bluderians, scything through the ranks. The Bluderian general tried to stabilize his attack by sending in reinforcements, but they were equally unsuccessful.

[Blue won on the right, but were doubled in the center. I spent a reserve point to re-roll but the result was the same - 2 morale points lost in the center.]

The Bluderians continued to push forward on the right and began to make progress on the left. In the center, the Redgravians smelled blood and began to advance. It looked like the Bluderians would collapse, but timely reserves staved off utter defeat, for the moment.

[Red won in the center again, but this time the re-roll resulted in a tie.]

The Redgravians counterattacked on the flanks and repulsed the Bluderians. A massive melee ensued in the center. With a final massive push, the Redgravians broke their opposition.

[Red initially won in the center. Blue used its last reserve point to re-roll and won. Red countered with its own reserve point and swung the fight back to its favor. With the loss, the Blue center was down to zero Morale Points. The center was lost]

The victorious Redgravian center turned upon the enemy on the right. Their arrival was just in the nick of time; the Redgravian flank was worn out and ready to break. The reserves turned the tide of battle, and the slowly but surely ground down the Bluderians. Meanwhile, neither side was able to make any progress on the left. Finally, the Bluderians on the right broke. Defeated, the Bluderian general called for a general retreat.

The Redgravians pursued, but the unbroken Bluderians on the left performed a skillful fighting retreat, preventing any further damage to their reeling army. Realizing the futility of further bloodshed, the Redgravian general called off the action, well pleased with his victory.

[Once Blue lost its second wing, they were forced to retreat. Red had a reserve point left so I allowed it to be used to pursue the enemy. Red got one shot at Blue, but lost, allowing the remaining Blue wing to escape unscathed].

Notes
The game is essentially an exercise in dice-rolling, but the use of Reserve Points to force a re-roll added an interesting bit of strategy to the game. As you can see from the battle report, there was a lot of back-and-forth, despite Blue's opening disaster in the center.

Nevertheless, the game felt a little off. Perhaps because it was over so quickly. I'm toying with ways to extend it. I have the sides roll initiative. The winning side gets a random number of command points (1-3) and can order that many wings. That way, not all wings will be rolling every turn. It will also introduce another decision-point.

Another issue is the lack of distinction between infantry, cavalry, and artillery. I'd like to add some rules that would take the different arms into consideration (e.g. preliminary bombardment, etc.)

Finally, I received some interesting suggestions in the comments to the original board-less wargaming post and I'll have to consider using some, even if I don't do EWC games.

Board-less Wargaming

Lately, I’ve been playing quite a bit of Quick Play “Soccer” (although I’m calling it gravball). I put the tables in Excel, created a dice roller, and have been playing it almost exclusively on the computer. I noticed that I will pop in and play a game or two in odd spare moments when I would not have time to set up a board game. This got me thinking – I wonder if I can create a board-less wargame.

I have experimented with “board-less” gaming before; actually it was more like a virtual board. I created my virtual board in Excel, using shapes as units and shading the squares to indicate terrain. The idea just never went anywhere. I guess that moving shapes was not as much fun as pushing miniatures on a board.

Now, however, I am thinking of developing an extremely quick-playing, board-less wargame that can be played using dice or on the computer. This will allow me to get some gaming in during the brief windows of spare time.

Here are my ideas so far:

• Each army is formed of 3 wings (right, left, center).
• It is assumed that the wings consist of combined arms.
• The game assumes that the armies have completed their maneuvering and have come to grips. 
• The 3 wings will engage (right vs. left, center vs. center, and left vs. right).
• Each engagement will be resolved via dice – probably using De Bellis Antiquitatis style opposed die rolls.
• Each wing has a combat value which is added to the die roll
• Each wing has a certain number of morale points (typically 3).
• Losing an engagement reduces morale points.
• The wing routs if morale is reduced to 0.
• Each army will have a certain number of Reserve Points. These can be used to re-do a die roll (simulating the arrival of reserves at a critical point).
• An army loses when 2 of the 3 wings are routed.
• Terrain:
• I will probably add some pre-battle “maneuvering rolls” to determine if one side or the other receives favorable terrain
• Attacking an enemy in defensible terrain will result in a negative modifier to the die roll.