Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Final casualty shots and tallies for Erigon Valley GBOA 42-0 the final score

Final casualty/score shot and map shot #gmtgames #wargaming #hexandcounter #tabletopgaming #gboa

A photo posted by Gamer Hudson (@gamer.hudson) on

A Macedonian Phalanx smashes and routes a Illyrian HI unit and King Phillip gets momentum. He will issue 6 more orders 



King Phillip mops up the Illyrian left

King Phillip mops up the Illyrian left and smashes it scoring a whopping 32 points making the score 37-0 Macedonia. King Phillip is 3 points from a win.



Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Next War: Taiwan a little simple combat

The next system I am diving into after Great Battles of History will be Operational Combat Series by MMP but last night I couldn't but help to dabble with Next War Taiwan just to see how hard the basic combat was.

I setup a hypothetical attack with identical units in easy terrain and gave the attacker some helicopter support. Overall the BASICS were not that bad but of course nothing will even be laid out as simple as that in a real game.

I posted a simple video on my Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BG8cnMULuh-/

Did I do it right? Not really sure. But here is a synopsis:

The Taiwan 107th attacks the Chinese 179th with 2 points of nearby helicopter support from Neikang Airfield (helicopter counter is rotated to show it has done one combat air mission).

Prior to the battle the air defense of the Chinese guns down 1 point of helicopter support per the ADF table (superiority in the air is contested). This means one point gets through which is a -1 to the attackers die roll (lower the better for attacker).

The ratio of attack to defense is 1-1. This means the roll will be on column 7 of the CRT (1:1 flat or flat woods defenders terrain).

Efficiency ratings are both 5 so no modifiers there. The roll is made and its a 4, but minus one for helicopter support so a 3.

That's 2 step losses for the Chinese infantry and one for the Taiwan forces. The Chinese unit is 2 steps and is eliminated. The Taiwan unit is flipped over to its reduced size and must advance after combat.

More GBOH to come this weekend. After that OCS and The Blitzkrieg Legend.

http://www.multimanpublishing.com/tabid/58/CategoryID/7/ProductID/214/Default.aspx


Thursday, June 16, 2016

Part Two of Samarkand on Vassal: GBOA

PART TWO

After the last post and the start of the game it was time to resolve some actions caused by the heavy cavalry of Spitamenes charging into the light cavalry of the Macedonian Caranus.

The units involved were as follows (the heavy cavalry of Bactria has take a hit from the reaction javelin fire of the LC)


The pre shock TQ check die rolls were as follows: 2,3,3 and every unit cleared their check. The Clash of Spears chart puts us on column 9 of the results table (HC frontal on LC). There is no position superiority so weapon chart will be used. The Bactrian Cavalry will be Attack Superior for this combat (optional rules not being used). The size ratio difference will hurt here as the size comparison is 8 to 2 so thats a 4-1 advantage. Thats a 3 column shift to column 12. The column is FURTHER adjusted to 2 more to the right for the heavy cataphracted cavalry. The column is 13. The roll is a 9. That is 1(6) result. With the heavy cavalry attack superior that is TWELVE hits on the light cavalry, one on the Bactrian attackers. With rule 9.17 the Light Cavalry is technically at a whopping 14 hits. They rout immediately moving two hexes backwards


Due to the special scenario rules there is a chance that Pharnaces will flee that battlefield (the Macedonian general fled in real life). On a 0-7 he flees but the die roll is 9. He stays. Last game I play he fled. The last general up to bat is the 3 initiative Caranus who has some interesting options. With 3 orders he must try to provide the majority of the work. Due to scenario rules he can only command cavalry units. For his first order he will attempt to rally the light cavalry unit. The roll is a "0" and Caranus has rallied the unit. The rally roll is a 1 so the rallied unit only takes one hit. Not bad rolling at all in fact the best rolls you could get. 



For order 2 Caranus moves his light cavalry up and into attack the Bactrian heavy units from the rear. For his third order he moves the last light cavalry unit to block the northernmost Scythian light cavalry. 

Now we go to shock combat but just before that the Greek Ally Light Cav hurls their javelins at +2 to the roll. Another 0 and the javelins hit for 1 cohesion damage. The Bactrian HC gets a free vertex facing change and clears the die roll to avoid cohesion hits with a 1. This prevents a rear attack for now. 


Light Calvary on the flank of Heavy is only column 6. The light cavalry will get attack superior however due to a flank attack. The size ration is 3to4, or 1-1. There is a 2L column adjustment for the heavy cavalry defending so we go to column 4 and roll the die. A 9 is rolled which is the best possible result putting 4 hits on the Bactrian unit and only 2 on the attacker. This may have paid off as the Bactrian unit is now at 6 hits with a TQ of 6. It was a risky gamble with a lucky roll. The Bactrian unit has met its TQ and now routs! The Macedonian Light Cavalry advances and turns one vertex for free. This puts him right in the rear of the next Bactrian unit. 


Caranus is not done he decided to go for Momentum and rolls a 8. Unfortunately he has failed the momentum roll and since he is the last leader the turn is about to end. A shame...another orders phase could have been huge. The ROUT AND RALLY phase follows and the rally markers are removed. Meanwhile the Bactrian heavy cavalry moves its full movement 8 toward the north edge of the board. That unit may be long gone. Units are marked unmoved and leaders are flipped back over. TURN TWO later this week! 

The final board view at the end of TURN 1 is as follows:



GOBA - Samarkand take two: Vassalized

PART ONE

Trying to get used to Vassal I am replaying the battle of Samarkand this time against myself.

The initial setup was as follows:

The Macedonians have made their initial entrance into the map and avoided using column formation since I hate it. Caranus leads the light cavalry, Andromachus controls the hoplites and the overall leader is Pharnaces. He is stacked with the hoplite unit.

The Persians under Spitamenes, Mithridates and Arsames have split their forces into a 3 pronged attack. The Bactrian cataphracted HC approaches from the right flank of the Macedonians. The Scythian cataphracted HC approaches from the Macedonian left and ahead the light cavalry plans on harassing the phalanxes.


With an initiative of 1 Pharnaces will be the first activated leader for the Macedonians. He is able to use a total of 1 order. He orders the Thracian light cavalry to move forward and spread out. There are FOUR leaders with a Initiative of 2 so the Persians will have to pick since they break all ties.

Mitridates goes first ordering the Scythian light cavalry forward. He has two orders and orders each one to move up. Arsames goes next and orders the Scythian heavy cavalry forward. Spitamenes activates last and sends in the Bactrian heavy cavalry. He immediately notices the overextended Thracian LC and attacks! The Macedonian LC cannot use withdrawal because the movement allowances are equal. Two heavy cavalry units slam into the Macedonian light cavalry scouts.The Macedonian light cav hurls its Javelins and scores a hit rolling a "0" (no small feat. The modifiers +1 due to the HC CAT defender and +1 due to them having moved).


We will return to this battle a little later on this week in part two! Shock combat in the next post!

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Indians get smashed in Arigaeum as Macedonians prove to be too much

 
Got smashed in Arigaeum scenario in Great Battles of Alexander.

We used the Alexander elite commander rule and man what a difference that makes. The scenario warned that to preserve realism not to use the Elite Commander rules but being the curious war gamers we are we had to use Alexander to his greatest potential. His elite commander rule allows him to take a first turn before anyone else is activated and it proved to be disastrous for the Indian army.

I played said Indian army and really never got that many turns it seemed. We did learn the routing rules quite well however as my front lines folded and most of my army fled off the field once Alexanders phalanx hit me. My left flank is the only flank that survived. Ptolemy slowly crept his way up the right side of my defenses and Alexander smashed my front.

The left flank was not really tested however as disaster was crawling toward them. All of my infantry was light and none of them could be attack superior or even launch attacks for the most part. I did not have enough archers to do any damage and the Macedonians singled them out anyway. All in all it was a total route....but fun.

"After slaying the Aspasians to a satisfactory capacity to put his lines of communication to a point of security beyond peradventure the Macedonians marched towards the Indian oppidum of Arigaeum—which hearing news of Alexander's capacity as a general and besieger—they had burned.[57] It was at this particular point that Craterus returned from settling the affairs of the Aspasian valleys—specifically having left Andaca in a state that Alexander was satisfied with"





Friday, June 10, 2016

Prepping for Arigaeum - GBOA

My first solo test battle of Great Battles of Alexander will be Arigaeum. I played Samarkand face to face and lost horribly so why not take a battle where the Macedonians should overwhelm the Indian opponent?

After Alexander finally defeated Darius in 330 BC at the battle of Guagamela (aka Arbela), he slowly traveled east towards his victory at the Hydaspes river over King Porus in 326 BC. On his way he subdued many different tribes and nations. In 327 BC he had just captured the town of Arigaeum to the east of modern day Kabul in Pakistan when he learnt that the local Indian chief had gathered a large force on a nearby hill. 

Alexander approached the hilltop position over open ground and enticed the Indians to leave their position and attack his small force. When they did so, two flanking forces commanded by Leonatus and Perdicas, that Alexander had previously positioned, pounced on and eliminated them.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Great Battles of Alexander Samarkand

Crushing defeat in Great Battles of Alexander today I didnt even get to turn three before my opponent had me on the ropes. I had forgotten everything about how to play properly and left gaps in between my lines and they were easily flanked. More to come soon

My two heavy infantry units routed giving him 20 points and add a leader that fled off the field it was a quick game over



GBOA: H&D tutorial

Great Battles of Alexander tutorials continue on Instagram

TUTORIAL FOR HARASSMENT AND DISPERSAL PART 1: This is a tactic/rule that allows skirmishers, light infantry and missile armed units to run up, attack and return to the same hex without expending movement points.

It uses all of a units movement allowance. To use the ability light cav must be within 4 hexes all other within 2 and line of sight. It requires a move order.

https://instagram.com/p/BGYYdPTLugA/

The rest of this tutorial is on my Instagram at the above link



Monday, June 6, 2016

Great Battles of History tutorials all week on my Instagram

Want a simple easy tutorial for combat in Great Battles of History by GMT Games Alexander version? Follow my Instagram account this week! https://www.instagram.com/p/BGVe8_ILuns/
TUTORIAL PART 1 If two leaders have the same initiative a die is rolled to see who activates first (in scenarios with Macedonians the non Macedonian player goes first) Here both leaders have initiative 3 and Barsaentes wins the roll with a 9