Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Triumph and Glory Castiglione round 2: Results

The battle picked up on Wednesday as we attempted to finish our Triumph and Glory battle. You can read the first part here: http://hudsonshideout.blogspot.com/2013/07/triumph-and-glory-castiglione-round-1.html

Today my main goal, as the French, was to trap the Austrians and prevent him from getting off the board. Everytime he did he scored points. I had to eliminate him or have him stuck with a bunch of routed people left on the map to end the game.

At first my terrible luck persisted. The Austrians fell back and I continued to roll poorly for battle commitment or get really bad chit draws where he would get two or three commands in before me.

As the game progressed however I started to collapse his flank and the French took the town of Solferino. This allowed me to get French Commander Messina through that gap and into the Austrian back area. I started to ignore the routed units and go for disrupts and more routs. I wanted to cause as much havoc as possible in his lines.


Back near the bottom of the map I was still having trouble catching up to his withdrawing units and getting close enough to cause casualties. He was backing up quite well.


Finally however I had an excellent string of chit pulls and managed to force him out of San Cassiano. This allowed the bulk of my bottom armies to link up and start to close the circle around him.


At last...due to many disruptions I had caused and the fact that he was in my ZOC's the bulk of my bottom French army caught the main Austrian retreat force and I started to lock him up in combat. Not all combats went my way and I took many risks but wanted to get anything on him I could. Some of my attacks flat out ended up in myself being disrupted but I kept throwing units at him and pressing from the north with Messina.


At last the game was drawing to a close. I had only one unit of his that was not routed and he was in the very corner of the map. He had pulled back as far as he could. My artillery was firing now but doing poorly have no effect.


Then the last Austrian unit that was left in normal condition on the board was routed. With him locked in my ZOC's he could not rally and we called the game. I gained points for all the eliminated units as well as all the routed units left on the board and won the game 68-41.

Another close game however. My opponent performed a great withdrawal and gave me fits at every turn. He even eliminated two French units during the course of the game.


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

AGEOD uploads new Civil War 2 videos

Matrix Games and AGEOD were quite busy last night uploading a lot of new videos covering many games announced at Historicon. The videos are the same on each company website and were cross posted so you only need to visit one. Some of these may have been up on the Matrix YouTube already.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AGEODvideo?feature=watch

Rather than linking to every one I have embedded a few below. There are about 6 in total:


Monday, July 29, 2013

War Movie Monday: Hamburger Hill

Last week's entry: Troy (7/22)

This week we bring you Hamburger Hill and the best use of "We gotta get out of this place" ever. Everytime this song comes on I go to this shot of Hamburger Hill in my head. Enjoy.


Saturday, July 27, 2013

Triumph and Glory Castiglione round 1

So two turns of Triumph and Glory down, the rest to be concluded Wednesday. We were a little delayed due to hours of pre game jibber jabber. 

End of Turn 2 and the main goal of the Austrians is to exit units off the board while avoiding casualties. Unlike Napoleon I have not garnered the services of Pascal Antoine Fiorella's brigade. Continuous bad rolls for my reinforcements have kept him off the field of battle and have allowed the Austrians to escape my pincer movements. 

Further north near Solferino I am doing much better. In fact the French have take the town. Meanwhile artillery from both sides has failed to land any shots.

I managed to eliminate two Austrian units outside the town and I am driving them back however his reinforcements just entered the game. The final turns of the game will be played in the middle of next week.

I am loving the activation in this game and the fact that artillery can be moved and fired and used like it should be. There are some restrictions in this scenario that make it less than meaningful. I had a cavalry charge fail outright as well that may have sealed the southern flank but instead the Austrians escaped my trap.

I also like the mechanic where routing units can stop in a town and recuperate. This game is great.






THE END OF TURN 2

Friday, July 26, 2013

SPQR: Getting there

Today I attempted my first game of SPQR in about 2 years and for the most part I still do not know what I am doing. I have however made progress. I think the things that still trip me up are the myriad of activation rules and the special rules for Romans. I am fairly certain that had I started with Great Battles of Alexander I could have picked it up a lot faster. We played the practice scenario in the playbook and I started out using Hannibal's elite command option and marched my elephants straight ahead. During the Roman turn he charged his Legionaries straight into my elephants. On the charge check I took so many cohesion hits due to bad rolls that I routed when he charged into me. Both my elephant units rampaged and slammed into my slingers then were eliminated. That is all we finished on the day as we spent the majority of the time at the local store looking at games.

I am actually at this moment doing a complete and total reorganization of the SPQR rulebook.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

HPS Waterloo PBEM Turn 7 AAR

Well much like I expected another French force was approaching from the east and luckily I had some cavalry up there to meet them. However I feel the odds are against me. On the road south I have an entire cavalry unit wiped out as they are cut off and run down. I quickly fall back and try to reform my lines. I am still attempting to sneak one unit through the town up north to at least try to surprise the French forces. It is looking semi grim at the moment.


Unboxing: Avalon Hill's Flight Leader

Year Published: 1986

FLIGHT LEADER was designed by fighter pilot Captain Gary C. Morgan for U.S.A.F. training and is a highly realistic, yet easy and fun-to-play game which depicts modern aerial combat.

I picked this up rather cheaply on EBAY and will add it to my list of games to play solitaire more than likely. 



Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Close Combat review through the years

If there was ever a video that summed up what Close Combat meant to us wargaming fans growing up this one would be it:
Tacticular Cancer is proud to present our very first combined retrospection article and accompanying video retrospective. Sser braved the ardeous trip to his attic and gaming history to bring us his thoughts on the Close Combat series and its arguably best installment; A Bridge Too Far.

Mr Madison's War: 1812

Finally got this game punched and laid out on the table last night. The components are quite nice and thus far from what I am reading I like the mechanics.

The game has a long title: Mr. Madison's War: The Incredible War of 1812 so I like to refer to it as Mr. Madison's War and then drop the latter part. You can read more about it here on the GMT site:

http://www.gmtgames.com/p-348-mr-madisons-war.aspx

Leaders when activated have a maximum number of units they can command and they game allows for naval and land leaders. All leaders are based off of historical people so it is nice to be able to look them up online and do a little research.

For some reason I have always been intrigued by the War of 1812...no idea why. I just find it interesting.
The game also has three decks of cards separated by year. Once 1812 passes for example those cards are no good in 1813. There are also rules for sheltering in the winter, supplies, burning towns and control of lakes via naval clashes.

The combat is basically add up strength points, consult a table and add or subtract modifiers to the die roll. This results in retreats and step losses.

As I dive into the game further I will post more but for now I wanted to break out the components and get to look at it a little more.


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

GW's 80's Classic Chainsaw Warrior is Back!

Chainsaw Warrior, made by Games Workshop back in 1987 is set to return this year in a digital form.

The original game saw New York balancing on the precipice of darkness as twisted forces from another reality attempted to rip the city from this world into theirs. Standing between them and the destruction of the city was a lone figure, the brutal and mysterious Chainsaw Warrior. As the eponymous hero, the player had to delve into a zombie infested New York tenement to locate the source of the evil spewing through the spatial rift and destroy it before he was destroyed. The game is being created by Bristol based indie developer Auroch Digital for mobile and desktop platforms.


Auroch Digital's Design & Production Director, Tomas Rawlings explained why they are resurrecting this mutant and zombie infested classic; 

"It's a game I played as a kid and loved. I see it as the pre-cursor of First Person Shooters when video games technology could not really do the first person or the shooting. For me this is not only a great game, but a classic of board game design - a solo shooter that really challenges the player. When we spoke to Games Workshop about developing a game this was the top of my list. I loved the 80s style of the game and we've kept much of that in our design as well as faithfully translating the gameplay. Don't expect to win the game easily. This was the Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy of its day. Players didn't want to buy the game and run out of challenge at first play. The game has many ways to kill you and is unafraid to use them - which makes it all the sweeter when you finally win."
The game is due to release on iPad, iPhone and Android at the end of summer at a price point and date to be announced soon. The PC and Mac versions will follow soon after. To keep in the loop with the project you can like Auroch Digital on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. The game's information page can be found at chainsawwarrior.net

The original game in all its glory:




New cover art:




Chainsaw Warrior © Games Workshop 1987, 2013. Chainsaw Warrior, Chainsaw Warrior logo, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo and all associated marks, logos, illustrations, images and materials are either ® or ™, and/or © 1987-2013 Games Workshop Ltd. Variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All Rights Reserved. All Games Workshop property used under license


Monday, July 22, 2013

War Movie Monday: Troy

A new feature here on the Hideout. I will be posting a small clip from a war movie for all to enjoy and talk about. The first one is TROY: the beach scene where Brad Pitt, playing Achilles, single handedly kills 25 or so people at my count.

Maybe you can verify the count? Have at it.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

HPS Sims Waterloo PBEM: Turn 4 Cavalry Clashes

The cavalry has now clashed head on. I attempt a few charges while avoiding the French infantry that has placed itself in square formation in the middle of the road. The results leave little to be desired. I suffer a disorder but manage to disorder his southern most cavalry unit.

In the meantime I sneak a cavalry force behind my main line and south along the tree line to discover his artillery and another French infantry unit forming a square. It appears the battle will be joined early on this stretch of road.

Further north I hold another 400 or so men on horseback in reserve in case he has another force coming from the east


Saturday, July 20, 2013

First game of Saratoga went great...for the wrong side

So the monthly meeting of my wargaming club happened today and while 3 of the members fought to decided the fate of Germany in World War 2 I took on Crabby Old Gamer in a game taking place during the birth of our nation: GMT's Revolutionary War game Saratoga. As history would have it this battle was the turning point of the war. The Americans win and France decides to help us out and actual recognize us as an independent country. This Saturday however things did not go quite as planned. Right off the bat the British were further toward Freeman's Farm than I thought they would be as I skipped my first two turns. Even with the fog rules the Brits moved fast. Needless to say the battle of Freeman's Farm never really took shape. I played the game like a WW2 game rather than forming lines and watching the odds like I should have and was easily driven back by the Redcoat onslaught.


So falling back I had to head toward higher ground. However on the right flank the British were pressing and I lost initiative 4 turns in a row. As such I was on my heels the whole game. With some key retreats I had to make the British gained the easy side of Mill Creek and after that I was being pressed on both sides.

Even with Gates released he couldn't do much. Benedict Arnold actually had the most success in battle driving back some Hessians but by then the game was well over and I conceded. Now that I know how artillery and the combat works a little better I will be better prepared for the next match. Overall I really like this series of games as they improve with each outing. The tactics chits are fun but would be better as cards.

Here are some pics of the devastation:




Elsewhere our gaming group played Battle for Germany the old SPI game:





Friday, July 19, 2013

HPS Sims Waterloo PBEM Turn 3

Turn 3 of my HPS Sims Waterloo Mons scenario play by email.

On turn 3 I commit some of my cavalry to the charge on my right flank (facing south). The attack did not go so well as I suffered nearly 3 to 1 casualties against the French. He has the sides of the road blocked off and the terrain is already bad enough off the road. It looks like the battle will be taking place along this road area.

Further north my reinforcements are slowly moving down toward the conflict.


Thursday, July 18, 2013

HPS Sims Waterloo PBEM Turn 2: Mons

Part two in our PBEM of HPS Sims Waterloo Mons 1 scenario. I am playing the Allies.

The French have managed to get their artillery setup down the road and have started blasting my cavalry. I decide to move fast and try to envelope the enemy. I have to have a distraction and hope that the off road movement does not catch me going too slow. I really want to take out those guns however. I may have waited too long and he may be able to see everything.

I do get reinforcements from Mons however so I move those south.


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Unboxing GMT Game's Panzer...holy rulebook Batman

Well it is finally here. GMT Game's Panzer has arrived at my doorstep. The rulebook is a bit...larger...than I expected. This may take a while. I have it now so on the shelf it goes while I still prepare to play other games.

Still it can't be as bad as Advanced Squad Leader now can it?


HPS Sims Waterloo PBEM Turn 1

Didn't take me long to get into the swing of things. I have joined the a wargaming club that specializes in play by email titles and started a game of HPS Sims Waterloo. You can find the details here:

http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/Products/NapBat/waterloo/waterloo.html

Surprisingly Waterloo is the fourth installment in the series. The scenario I picked is Mons 1 where I will be playing the allies. The optional rules we are using are as shown below:


The situation is as follows:

June 15, 1815 - Napoleon has decided to begin the campaign in the west. He plans on advancing through Mons and then hopefully on to Brussels. Wellington has been alert to this possibility and should be able to respond effectively.
Never one to settle for the scant scenario information I did a little research.
Wellington's initial dispositions were intended to counter the threat of Napoleon enveloping the Coalition armies by moving through Mons to the south-west of Brussels.[10] This would have cut Wellington's communications with his base at Ostend, but would have pushed his army closer to Blücher's. Napoleon manipulated Wellington's fear of this loss of his supply chain from the channel ports with false intelligence.
Turn one came to me last night so I am now up. For an overall view of the situation please see the map below:


I can already see some French cavalry heading north up the road to scout my locations. I am very strung out and have to consolidate fast. Only thing is I am not sure where the final battle lines will be drawn. Time to pick a line in the sand and dare him to cross it.

I bring three commanders down and back up a little to take up positions along the road and on slightly higher elevated terrain. I start to spread out. Now I just have to wait and see what the French do. Not much to report for Turn 1. More to come later.




Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

An interesting look at this new game from GMT brand new as of this year. Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a Civil War naval game which is a topic that has been taking off recently. Apparently every aspect of history will one day be covered and Civil War naval actions can now have its moment in the sun.

Mark McLaughlin's blog "Mark G. McLaughlin's Games and Novels" has been covering this game extensively so why not head on over and take a read of his thoughts and experiences with the title. Oh yeah not sure I mentioned but he is also the designer :) Go show him some wargaming love. Add this game to Iron and Oak on my wishlist. One day I shall just order them both at once and do one mega review.

The components look great, the time period is very interesting and the gameplay looks to be really taut and exciting.


You can read more over on Board Game Geek. Quite a concise AAR is posted there.

http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/48378/rebel-raiders-on-the-high-seas/sessions



Sunday, July 14, 2013

Men of Iron by GMT: Battle of Crecy recap

Victory today for me at the Battle of Crecy! At last I finally won a game.

Today's game was Men of Iron and we re fought the Battle of Crecy. I played the English and my gaming buddy played the French. We used the historical rules so it was an uphill fight for the French during the game. Literally as well as figuratively. I even killed King Philip of #France.

Men of Iron is the first in a series of "lighter" wargames that focus on the medieval battles of civilization and beyond. The first in the series is Men of Iron then comes Infidel and next is Blood and Roses. The more complicated games in this genre that GMT makes are their Musket and Pike series but I am not ready to tackle those yet.

He had a disastrous charge attempt on my left flank where I managed to unhorse the majority of his knights through continuous good rolls. I always tried to have pikemen near where I thought he may charge up. My main goal was to unhorse his knights then pick them off as they tried to move around the base of the hill

A very aggressive move by me saw some crossbowmen foray off the hill and into the woods, killing King Phillip who was left undefended.

Mud, rain, and overzealous knights plagued him all game and never gained a foothold on my hilltop. Despite his outflanking attempts and my near loss of the right side I held in there and won the day by routing his army at the end due to losses. We used the historical rules so the French had -2 crossbow fire and had to pay 2 MP in the clear to slog about in the mud at the base of the hill.

The center was never really challenged but the French made every effort to come around and flank me. I scurried all over with the units under direct control of Edward the III while at the same time keeping mobile reserves to rush and plug up any potential gaps that may have formed. In the end it was a long battle but well fought by both sides.

It should be noted that the living rules on the GMT site have been updated and are newer than the ones in the box so make sure to print out an updated list.








Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Boots on the ground: Squad Battles Tour of Duty AAR

Now for something completely different. A Squad Battles AAR this time using Tour of Duty. Tour of duty is the mega follow up to the award winning Squad Battles Vietnam which was a title that really earned John Tiller some kudos.

I decided to get used to the game again by simply playing the tutorial scenario. This one was fun as I recall and featured a lot of helicopters and fast air cav gameplay.

Not much data in the scenario except this:
This scenario is based on the historical battle of Hoa Hoi and represents a classical air cavalry engagement.
Not enough data for me so I did a little background searching. Thanks to HistoryNet.com:
Hoa Hoi was located at the base of the Hung Lac Peninsula between the Mieu Mountains and the South China Sea. Sweeping toward the South China Sea, in an effort to pacify Binh Dinh province, was the 1st Cavalry Division. By October 1, 1966, the Cav's 1st Brigade was north of Hoa Hoi, fanned out across the coastal corridor between Highway 1 and the South China Sea. To the west of the village, generally along the highway, was the 3rd Brigade. Inside the cordon were assorted local VC elements and the 18th NVA Regiment, believed to be in the Mieu Mountains.


Ok no more delays lets begin shall we?

I am using the options listed below. I like the Helicopter Hover rule since it forces more realism. You must move your choppers or they will be tagged with hovering and really easy to shoot down.


The situation is pretty basic at first. I have one OH-13 Sioux from the 11th Cav Division and obviously this is meant for recon.

I don't take any fire until I get near Hoa Hoi. Uncovered is an unknown unit of about 1-9 men. I quickly get the Sioux out of there. I don't need the VC getting cheap points for shooting down a scout chopper. I cant help but to resist taking a few shots however.



On turn 2 my UH-1C Huey Attack specified choppers enter the board and now it is game on. I decide to head toward the town unload some of my rockets and guns at a safe range. I send one Huey south to come around using the trees for cover and he starts taking fire from a VC unit in the woods. They are dangerously close the the choppers if forced to peel off.




On turn 3 of 9 the 11th Air Cav sends me Huey Choppers loaded with Army troops and now I have some ground forces to fly in and drop off. I send one chopper off toward the 20 point VP spot in the road and the rest will all go south. The earlier choppers will provide cover from a safe distance.


Huey 1 drops off 9 men near the first victory point and we have BOOTS ON THE GROUND!



I sweep the rest of the transports choppers south and hide in the trees. They take sporadic fire but nothing is hit.


Suddenly on turn 4 we have movement everywhere. I spot at least 4 VC squads coming out of cover and racing to cover my target spots. There are small amounts of men crawling out of the high grass but nothing the US AIR CAV cannot handle.



I open fire but my rocket Huey takes fire from the VC on the south forest line and is shot down. There are no survivors! I am down a chopper now and need to move fast. All over the sounds of gunfire can be heard exploding through the woods.



The 9 men of Blue 4 move up and take the first 20 point objective. They hug the ground and open fire on the 2 VC that came out of the hut to the west. The VC become pinned.

To the south Blue 1,2 and 3 as well as the Platoon leader wait until the choppers hit a clearing and they are unloaded. All the choppers safely disembark their men and then lift again under fire, zooming north to provide air cover as the men move toward Hoa Hoi.



On turn 5 I lose another Huey to the east along the forest from a well place shot. 2 choppers down now. I need to get into the village fast and silence those rifles.

My men march into the village from the SE and take some heavy fire. Blue 1,2 and 3 secure the town. One Victory point spot left. Now to avoid casualties.

Blue 3 loses 3 men advancing toward the VC hut and another Huey gets shot down to the East of the village trying to get away into the treeline. I am taking a lot of casualties now.




On turn 8 several VC units make a run for it allowing me to catch them in the open but I am also one VP spot short and that could cost me. I have to send some men for the last Victory Point this turn or it is likely I wont have enough points. By the end of turn 8 all VC have been cleared north and east and the choppers sweep in toward the town. I send Blue 4 south down the road as fast as possible to capture the last Victory Point spot. Can they make it?


During my part of turn 9 I gun down and kill the last VC unit that was demoralized and making a run for it. The game has ended and all resistance has been swept off the map. However I lost a lot more helicopters than I would have liked. All that is left to do now is end the final turn and see the score.


Well it was as I feared. The loss of the helicopters ruined everything else and cost me a WHOPPING -48 points which easily reduced most of the 60 plus I earned. The key to this scenario is really not to lose more than one chopper if you can help it. A draw on my first game back. Not too exceptional but better than losing I guess.