My final game at Fall In was my only theme-centered game (this year it was "Vehicles of War: Trains, Tracks and Trucks"). The players would be taking command of Soviet and Russian forces during Barbarossa, with both sides clashing during the Orsha Counter-Offensive. There were four Soviet players (of which I was one) that controlled a division each, facing off against two German players with two regiments each. Our plan was to strike on the left side of the table where we had a distinct advantage in numbers, while the other two divisions would hold back a little longer. The Germans had the initiative and began to move out along the roads from town to town. Meanwhile, the German player on my side of the table roared forward to engage, leaving the Soviet forces on the backfoot. To prevent them from having an open access to the Soviet rear, the bridge on the nearby stream was blown. The Soviets had two problems to deal with: numbers and terrain. With so many units on the table, they could only squeeze so many men and machines in an area small enough to engage the Germans, which gave the Germans an advantage with their better stats. The river in front of my division also required an entire turn to cross, apart from the temporary bridge that an engineering unit set up. So when my troops were forced to fall back across the river, it took two turns to bring them back (and that didn't account for disruption markers gained from their poor leadership). Seeing that the left flank was stymied and holding on, the other two Soviet commanders charged their divisions forward, engaging the more strung-out German forces. A "turn" in Breakthrough represents 8 hours of real-time combat, so every third turn is a night (which I've represented through a vignette filter). Usually this is a good time to halt your advance and rally your units to prepare for the next day. Yet again, however, the Soviets were on the back foot. Our opponent had played a night fighting card (Breakthrough uses decks of cards for each national for some additional flavor that gives bonuses), and so could ignore the negatives of fighting at night. And as Soviets, we couldn't change our regiments postures from Attack to Defend, but had to shift to Reorganize first. Which would be fine, if there weren't two relatively fresh German regiments ready to pounce on any Soviet regiment that stopped its attack. I was pretty involved over on our side of the table so I wasn't entirely sure of what was going elsewhere. But from the picture, I see a lot more disruption tokens on the Soviet units than I see on the German. Notice, however, that the Soviet 17th Division had gotten a regiment of tanks over the river... The dawn of the new day started with a German offensive directed at the command to my left. Through a series of absolutely incredible dice roles and some nerves of steel, the German attack was foiled by the Soviet player. This forced the Germans to fall back and, over on my side, move into a more defensive position and give me some breathing room. Through the open terrain on the other side of the table, the Soviets launched a new attack, forcing the Germans further back. By the afternoon, both sides were fairly beat up on the Soviet left, and I had brought my reserve infantry regiment over the river to try and take the remaining Germans. But the real action was happening in the Center, where the 17th's commander had manage to surround one of the German regiments. Caught between two tank regiments, the Germans crumbled. While the Germans had given the Soviet forces a beating and formed a decent defensive line, they were now split in half with the Soviets able to concentrate their forces as they wanted. We ran out of time here, and the game was declared a minor Soviet victory. Both sides were bloodied, but taking out an enemy regiment had given the Soviets a slight edge. Breakthrough was an interesting set of rules, and certainly the large "scale" of battle I've played yet. I think I'd like a second chance with them before solidifying my opinion. I did have a great time during the game, however, and that's what really counts.

My first game of Saturday was a chance to play Little Wars TV's "Age of Hannibal" rules, which were recently updated to a second edition. The scenario was recreating the battle between Alexander the Great and King Porus of India, along the banks of the Jhelum River. Carl, who was running the game, had come up with a very clever pre-battle mini campaign to help randomize some of the game's setup. The two players commanding the Macedonian forces had to pick an area to cross the swollen Jhelum. Alexander's crossing was one of four king cards, placed at points A, B, C, or D. The Macedonians also had four noise cards, which represented Macedonian forces causing distractions. The Indian players (myself included) could use our lighter cavalry to scout Alexander's position. If we found him, the Macedonians would have to deploy first. But the Indian players also lost any units they used to scout the enemy's crossings. The Macedonians placed a lot of noise cards at point D, and a few at points A and B. We decided to have three cavalry units scout points A, B, and C, figuring that the noise at D was just a distraction. Our guess turned out to be right, and Alexander's crossing was revealed to be at point A (which included King Porus' camp). So the Macedonians set up first, and had limited cavalry reinforcements for the battle. The battlefield was wide open with some fields scattered around that didn't impede the armies' movement. The Macedonians set up their phalanxes in a long, thin line, with the river anchoring one flank and the Silver Shield hypaspists on the other. Alexander took personal command of his Companion cavalry, and some mercenary light horse ended the Macedonian battleline. The Indians had more troops of lower quality than the Greeks. We set up our main force in three lines; the elephants, covered by skirmishers, followed by two lines of archers. A group of Indian nobles took up the center with Porus, while charioteers and mercenary cavalry squared up against Alexanders' cavalry. The two lines of infantry (and elephants) slowly ground towards each other, with skirmishers unsuccessfully exchanging javelins at range. The cavalry (which I was commanding for the Indians), however, quickly got stuck in, to predicable results. While the chariots had bows and charge bonus, their poor combat modifier meant that the Companion cavalry had a massive advantage in combat, especially with Alexander in command. At best, they would act as a roadblock while the mercenary cavalry moved in from the flank. Which they needed to do in a hurry as the Companions gave out DMZ tokens like candy on Halloween. The elephants continued to surge forward, crushing the Macedonian skirmishers without taking any damage and only slightly losing cohesion. And then, pachydermal mayhem! The phalanxes were much stronger against the elephants than we reckoned, and while the first grey tide forced the Macedonian line to bow, it certainly didn't break. As any good ancients rules should, damaged elephants in Age of Hannibal panic and move randomly until they can be rallied. They can go anywhere; back into your lines, into the enemy's lines or, like we had, directly into each other! And then, a miracle. A lucky die role saw Alexander captured after the Companion cavalry unit he was attached to was routed. If King Porus' army could hold out, Alexander's captivity could mean a bright future for his kingdom. The first wave of elephants had pretty much petered out without much damage on the phalanxes, who could recover fairly easily thanks to their good morale. Worryingly, another unit of Companion cavalry seperated from the line of phalanxes and started moving towards Porus' camp with the intent of rescuing Alexander. The second wave of elephants charge in, with similar results to the first. Those phalanxes are tough! But at least the rampaging elephants between the two armies kept the Macedonians from advancing, and the Indians could launch arrows in the gaps. The Indiana lines began to shift with the hope of creating a shooting gallery that might stop the Companion cavalry from getting to their commander. In the center, the Indian nobles clashed with the Silver Shields. While the Macedonians were better trained (like everything else in their army), the Indians had the numbers advantage. Unfortunately, it wasn't going well for my commands. Even surrounding the Companion cavalry couldn't stop them, and I was collecting DMZs left and right. The fight between the nobles and Silver Shields was a little more even. In Age of Hannibal, once an army's morale clock (which also determines how many moves their force can make) gets down low enough, they have to give out a number of DMZs to units on their side. We had quite a few, and used them to remove the elephants from the table, reasoning that they were as likely to charge into our lines as the Macedonians. However, the Macedonians were just as bloodied and also on the verge of collapsing. I managed to knock out another unit of Companion cavalry and brought in a fresh line of nobles into combat with the Silver Shields. The Companions along the far back were also caught by the Indian cavalry and took a hit in combat. With time running out, Carl decided to call the game here. Both sides were battered, but Alexander's capture had tipped the scales in the Indian's victory. This was another great game. ADLG had put me off of non-grid based Ancients rules, but Age of Hannibal has brought me back. I will pick up a copy of the rules for my collection, and I could imagine using these if I wanted to start a Successors campaign with some other willing players.

This if the first of three posts about my games at Fall In. Wars of Ozz takes place in a post-post-apocalyptic Earth that has ended up resembling the Oz of Frank Baum's imagination with a slight twist, like introducing 18th century technology. Two brigades of Winkies with Skeleton and Dire Bear allies marched on the walls of the Emerald City. The defenders, two brigades of Munchkins, waited for the assault. Behind them, the perfidious Gnomes (or Nomes?), allies of the Winkies, had blown a hole in the walls of the Emerald City and came pouring out. Luckily, the Munchkins' allies, the Quadlings, had been garrisoned in the city and would counter the Gnomish ambush. I was commanding one brigade of Munchkins for the game, consisting of the named Zoraster’s Guard regiment, a Munchkin Landwehr regiment, a Heavy Cavalry squadron, and a light gun. I was facing off against a Winkie brigade which had a regiment of Skeletons, a regiment of close-combat infantry with spears, a regiment of Marksmen (the only Winkie regiment with guns), and a heavy gun. The Quadlings quickly advanced against the Gnomes, with two musket-armed regiments and a unit of Tin Woodsmen. To keep the Gnomes contained in the city, the Munchkins diverted a cavalry squadron to attack the Gnomish rear. The cavalry charge was successful, and the artillerygnomes were chases off. Meanwhile, the Winkies had moved their Marksmen to their far flank while their close-combat infantry concentrated on the center of the Munckins' defensive line. My Heavy Cavalry seemed reluctant to get stuck in the Marksmen, but they were at least keeping the musket-armed Winkies out of the fight. The Munchkin forces on the other side of the table were much harder pressed, dealing not only Winkie infantry but Dire Bears as well. The Quadling brigade was holding firm in dealing with the Gnomes, who had decided to continue pushing into the city rather than try and break out into the Munckins' flank. After taking a beating, the Gnomes began to rout back into the hole rather than run into any more of the Quadlings musket fire. My personal MVP for the game was this regiment of Munchkin Landwehr, who not only defeated the undead Skeletons but also held their nerve in the face of charging Winkies. Wars of Ozz uses a very clever set of reaction charts that are different for each faction. A unit of Munckins, for example, is likely to fire upon a unit that fires at them, while Winkies are likely to surge forward into melee. This can be modified by the number of bases lost, or if a commander has joined the unit. There were several occasions when engagements (like the above) seemed to take a life on their own as units reacted to each other, devolving into a mess of melee, musketry, and eventually failed morale checks. The game ended with a victory for the forces of the Emerald City. While the Munchkins had been bloodied, they had rallied back into a defensive line while many of the Winkie units were routing. And the Quadlings were just waiting for the Gnomes to fully retreat before they could march out of the city to reinforce the Munchkins. I had a great time while playing. The rules were easy to pick up and interesting to play, and the miniatures and table were fantastic. Chris ended up winning the "Pour Les Encourager Les Autres" award for the best game in the Friday night time slot, which was well deserved! As no one plays in my local area, I only ended up buying a regiment of Munchkin Landwehr to paint for fun, in honor of the brave troops that served so well during the game.

Three American squadrons are ready to take to the skies!

This past weekend the crew gathered together at Ted's to finish our refight of Corunna. From last week, the British were on the back foot, with the French pressing hard up the hill and advancing from Elviña. A round of poorly conducted charges, however, saw Steve repulse both French brigades commanded by Ted and me. Près John and loin John continued their advancing, exchanging fire with Chip's Guard brigades. I was supporting their attack with long-range fire from the artillery brigade. A poor Destiny roll forced Chip's Guards brigade to retreat. He rallied the brigade, but the British were stuck in a poor position, overlapping and unformed. One of Steve's British Battalions also routed after taking continued fire from Ted's horse artillery, but the other battalion in the brigade not only held, but advanced in the face of my French brigade. The game ened with two French retreats. Près John's charge against the defending Guards battalion failed, and Steve brought his Highlanders down from the hill to hit one of my infantry battalions that was in poor form. We decided to call it there, as GdA's timescale would place sunset (which ended the historical battle) at around turn 14. After some deliberating between the players, we decided the game was a draw. Both sides could claim a victory from the battle; the French absolutely battered the British units defending the retreat, but were still kept from sweeping down onto the transports. We'll be picking GdA up again in a couple weeks with another scenario that looks like a lot of fun! And in the mean time, I'll be sure to pick up a copy of GdA for myself.

Having had our fill of nautical combat, Ted and Chip brought their Napoleonic collections together with General d'Armee. The scenario was based on the Battle of Corunna, which saw the British retreating after a French campaign to force their enemies out of Spain. The scenario starts with a massive French advantage; three infantry brigades, an artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade lined up against only two British infantry brigades. The British do have two more infantry brigades in reserves, but had to wait to bring them on. One of those brigades consists of two elite Guards battalions. The British also control the BUA of Elviña. The French do face one complication, however. Their cavalry brigade is on the opposite side of a river, and can only cross over once a ford is found (by rolling doubles on a pair of average dice). Originally the scenario was set for 10 turns. Post game, we discussed carrying on a few more turns as the rules the scenario was meant for has faster movement rates overall. Steve and Chip took command of the British, while Ted, the two Johns (whom I'll call près John and loin John) and myself commanded the French. Most of our ADCs went towards loin John's brigade to give them extra movement. Unfortunately, près John's brigade halted on the first turn, opening a gap between the two brigades. Loin John's brigade continued to press onwards at the French's far right flank, with four battalions in columns steamrolling directly towards one of Chip's battalions. Près John had gotten his own brigade moving, looking to close the gap and put more pressure on the British left flank. Over on the British right, Steve had followed history and moved one of his battalions into Elviña, directly opposing my own brigade. Seeing the tide of blue coming his way, Chip had his own infantry step off down the slope to meet the French columns. My own brigade managed to chase Steve's defending battalion out of Elviña as my artillery hammered another British battalion (we did later realize that this should not have happened, as battalions defending BUAs ignore discipline tests). And Ted's cavalry squadrons were continuing to search for a ford to cross at. The first of the off-table British brigades made its way on, march columns quickly moving down the road to reinforce the British right flank. At the same time, Ted's cavalry had discovered a ford, and moved their artillery battery up to cover the crossing. Chip and Steve were hard pressed by the French attack, but the Guards had finally arrived. These massive battalions of elite infantry were going to be a massive obstacle for the French, as difficult to dislodge with fire as with bayonet. With Ted and I moving around Elviña, this did leave a gap in the French lines that potentially left their artillery vulnerable. But with no cavalry and attacks on both flanks, the British were stuck repelling the French infantry instead of going after their artillery. While the Guards moved up into position, Chip had to deal with a faltering brigade after losing a battalion. Less eager to charge into combat against the fresh Guards battalions, the two Johns began changing their battalions from column into line. After taking turn after turn of artillery bombardment, one of Steve's battalions broke and routed. But his Highlanders were still fresh, and neither Ted nor I were in a position to really push yet. Steve did lose his artillery to concentrated skirmish fire, which gave the French a monopoly on big guns. After wavering for a turn, the British line had solidified along the hilltop. I did managed to put a dent into one of the Guards units with a decent Artillery Assault order. Chip demonstrated how deadly the Guards can be by removing one of près John's weakened battalions in a single volley. While the rest of près John's battalions were in relatively good order, loin John's infantry was shakier (since he had been the spearhead of the attack). In loin John's favor, however, was the fact that another of Chip's battalions broke and routed. While he managed to keep the last battalion of the brigade in place Steve's position was doing better (he wasn't outnumbered as much as Chip was), but the French brigades he was facing were much less haggard. As we ran out of time, we put the game on hold and decided to continue next week with a few more turns. It wasn't looking good for the British, but they didn't need to break the French; just hold on until sunset ended the battle.

This month's SJGA meetup saw a new gamemaster step up to the table - Chris! He was running a somewhat home-brewed set of rules based off of Fire and Fury: Brigade meant to work as a fast-play alternate for group games. We used his 1/72 scale plastic collection, perfect for recreating that 'toy soldier' feel! As befits a playtest, the best scenario is the simplest! So we had three identical brigades on both sides; an infantry brigade, an artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade. The infantry brigades were headed by Sam and Sam, one veteran club member and the other new to the scene. I'll refer to them as Rebel Sam and Union Sam respectively. Union Sam sent his troops up the left flank, looking to block Robert's Confederate cavalry. Brandon's artillery was backing him up. I took the Union cavalry for a spin, trying to find a decent spot to slip past the Confederate lines. Rebel Sam was aiming for the fields in the center of the table, sending his three infantry regiments sprinting forward in column. Robert's dismounted cavalry was the first to engage the Union infantry, with both sides trading somewhat desultory fire and minimal casualties. Rebel Sam's infantry continued to push up the table, engaging with Union Sam's infantry and guns. My cavalry were having to deal with all of the fences along the road, slowing their movement. Meanwhile, Tim was bringing up the rest of the Confederate artillery and a reinforcement regiment of infantry. Fully set up in the field, Rebel Sam ordered his infantry into line, just as my cavalry was starting to get away. Unfortunately, Rebel Sam also discovered just how horrendous artillery fire was in these rules, as an entire regiment was wiped out. Union Sam and Brandon did a little switch at this point, swapping an infantry regiment for an artillery battery so they could concentrate on their respective arms. Rebel Sam's infantry was catching fire from multiple angles as my cavalry continued to rush towards the Confederate rear. Tim and Robert had linked up, with Tim beginning his own artillery barrage against Union Sam's infantry. After a couple lucky shots from Brandon's guns wiped out another of Rebel Sam's regiment, Sam moved his infantry back into column and started moving them to flank the Union artillery. Union Sam saw one of his infantry regiments retreat after being pounded by Confederate artillery. Both sides were being whittled down at range by the other side's artillery. My cavalry had finally swung around into a decent position when... A Confederate tank showed up?! Well, it seemed we'd gone from a historical battle to steampunk. My cavalry charged and routed the last of Rebel Sam's artillery, while his last infantry regiment was wiped out by Brandon's guns. However, Tim's artillery had mostly seen Union Sam's infantry off, and the last remaining Union infantry regiment wasn't about to move into the open where they would be run down by Robert's cavalry. With Sam's tank now outflanking my outflankers, I decided to resist charging into Tim's infantry regiment and retreated back towards the Union artillery. With both sides battered, it came down to an artillery duel between Brandon and Tim, and with a 2:1 advantage, the Union was heavily favored. Some decent dice rolling from Brandon destroyed two Confederate guns. We decided to call the game, as a draw. While we were working out some of the kinks in the system (artillery fire being far too deadly overall, for example), Chris did put on a great game. I could see these rules being used for fast group games at either the club or convention, maybe with a little more chrome to make them feel more period specific.