Dark Age Game

I've been watching a few programes on Discovery about the Vikings and their
warrior ethos. This got me enthused to play a good old Dark Age slugging match
with their traditional enemies the Anglo-Saxons.

Both lined up and looked pretty similar, however, the armies have subtle
differences. On one side the rush of the warband, more mobility and the
integrated bondi archers. On the other the shieldwall (which in this game proved
to be decisive).

The Viking charge was concluded with the huscarls crashing into the Anglo-Saxon
nobles, however, the bondi held off and performed some rather useful initial
fire on the Saxon fyrdmen which was designed to soften them up a bit to get the
decisive base removal in the first round and perhaps trigger a morale collapse.
As it transpired the initial luck on missile fire was not consolidated in the
close combat rounds that followed and the superiority of the shieldwall as a
defence grew as the battle raged on.

I modified my pushback rules which are now simpler - the difference in bases at
the end of a close combat is the number the lesser unit is pushed back in base
depths. Worked well and made that snake like ripple up and down the battle line.

Back to the contest despite the Vikings getting one of their bondi to the other
side and forcing the Saxon general to make some hard choices regarding the two
units to remove, the Anglo-Saxons still had a preponderance in active units to
defeat the remaining Vikings 5:2 in the next couple of turns.

Great game, nice representation of a rush and attack tactic vs a solid defence.
In future games the Viking mobility should feature more with strategems to flank
or use terrain better. This would seem to adhere to their style where they
weren't renowned for seeking pitched battles but preferred applying their
seaborne strategy of surprise and speed to their land operations.

Battle of Trimsos

I decided to put on a pet project of recreating the inspirational battle of
Trimsos, the one depicted in Wargaming which uses the Tony Bath derived Rules.
This I now played using the AMW Classical rules.

My Hyrkanians were based on a Persian Army, my Hyperboreans looked distinctly
Greek.

Both were deployed as per the photographs in the book and I used my reversed
borard and desert terrain to give the game an arid look and feel.

The game was great. I initially plumped to play the Hyperborean commander but as
things developed and the lines started to clash I decided to become a more
neutral party. The Hyperboreans fought some great set piece actions but didn't
seem to have the overall strategy right. In contrast the Hyrkanian general
exerted a steady superiority on his right flank and centre with the elephants
crushing the Hyperborean centre. The Hyperboreans sent two units to take the New
Bridge and this proved a wasteful use of the mobile elements in their force. The
Hyrkanian general had two static infantry units which helped to keep their
opponents out of the main battle where they would have proved very useful
countering the Hrykanian mounted threat.

As the game progressed the Hyperboreans were gradually reduced and encircled,
the chariots arriving too late to help their comrades now reduced to one
remaining unit.

The Hyrkanians had five units left and just like the Wargames battle shared the
same result of a convincing victory.

Great game and scenario - certainly got my Old School fix from this game.

War of 1812 Game

I used the Bank Holiday weekend to fit in a game using one of my period
adaptations. This time an escalating engagement between a defensively postured
American Force under the General Buckley against a probing assault force under
General Arnott.

The rules used were my AWI Rules based on NPW with War of 1812 lists.

I fully deployed my solo, command and control and incorporated some scenario
setup features, up to now restricted to my modern simulations. I'm also going
through the Charles Grant Programmed Wargames book to pick out features and
ideas to use. I picked up on the Chance card concept and built this into the
game. Taken together I had a very interesting encounter develop.

The British had the initiative and maintained this throughout the engagement.
Both sides started with three units deployed on table with a Reserve release
rule in play to allow units to appear on the baseline during the course of the
game. Throughout the British scored better rolls and had a steady stream of
reinforcements. The Americans in contrast had a dearth of reserve units until
the end. By that stage it was too late as their front line units were depleted
to the extent that they started a general retreat. With the British objective to
reach the American base line, this was achieved by a unit of line by Turn 7.

I deliberately proceeded at a slow and deliberate pace keeping note in my battle
diary of events, die rolls and following the sequence to the letter. This paid
dividends as a truly unique gaming simulation emerged. It had the pleasing feel
of watching a game being simulated where I was involved but not in control.

Russian Civil War Playtest

After a good session in the garden I managed to fit in a playtest I've had set
up in my wargaming room for a while. It was to try out my RCW amendments to the
WW2 Rules.

Lined up were nine units each of my Red and White army lists. Both were
beneficiaries of an armoured car. The Whites had marginally better cavalry and
were in a more favourable position, however, the Red general was better rated
which helped considerably with some of the tactical options and unit
activations. I was using my solo command and control rules to the full with some
additional enhancements I'd factored in over the past couple of playtests.

After a short time the Whites were retreating on several sectors and the Reds
followed up with a convincing win. The Whites were able to withdraw in
reasonable order but they had failed to reach any of their objectives while the
Reds were well placed to achieve complete success in the next couple of moves.

The rules like all my previous ventures into alternative periods using these
core WW2 Rules, worked very well and I was pleased with all the unit
interactions, the look of the armies and the impact of some one of my specials -
the commissar rules for example.

The rifle units were 12 figures which gave a punishing volley at short range.
The casualties were nicely balanced by the additional tactical options I
introduced with my prone and crawling rules and the greater emphasis I now have
built in for visibility, detection and cover. As this was more an open game of
movement the speed of advance and co-ordinated firepower were important
influences. The Reds had this well synochronised with good support weapon
deployment and flanking moves which constricted the Whites position.

Overall a good game.

I've spent a while away from the table to concentrate on a rush of rule, new
period and army list developments.

I've looked at:
- some alternative theatres in WWI - Eastern Front, Balkans and Italian Front.
- The Balkans War 1912-13
- The Russo-Japanese War 1904-05
- The Spanish Civil War - can't wait to try out these early war Soviet and
German tanks
- Operation Barbarosa Army lists - again some interesting early Russian tanks -
bit obsolete but fun to roll out and play with
- Korean War 1950-53
- Vietnam 1965-72 - developed some helicopter rules I'm looking forward to try
out
- Falklands War - again a pet interest - I was 16 or so when this broke out and
it left a deep impression.
- I've also done a stack of lists for the Ancient & Medieval Rules -
particularly focusing on the Medieval Eastern Europe: Teutonics etc., the early
Italian period of the Etruscan League, Carolingian Europe and some early Feudal
armies - English, French, Scottish and Welsh.

Now to find the time to get around to gaming these!

Mexican-American War Playtest

I tried out my period rules for the Mexican-American War this evening with a
line-up of my 1846-48 lists.

The Mexicans were in the more defensive position but decided to take the fight
to the Americans with a rather rash commander dictating the pace. This strategy
seemed to work at first and put the Americans under quite a bit of pressure,
however, as the units engaged and the superior American firepower came to bear,
the Mexicans were worn down and cracks started to appear along the line.

More importantly this depleted their ability to amount an assault of any
significance. Losing their lancer units, which struggled with the colt armed
American dragoons and volunteer rifle units, the Mexicans were reduced to one
unit and conceded. The US were left with five - most a bit mauled but still
functional.

These rules worked very well. I think the colt armed dragoons were a bit
overpowered in melee so I might tone their advantage down a bit to give the
lancers a greater chance to beat them. Cuirassiers might have been a better
choice to take these horsemen out. The game also looked good with a visual
effect of Napoleonic meets American Civil War which was really quite pleasing.

I've also developed lists for the Texan War of Independence included in this
rules extension. I've been creating some very basic fortification rule
conventions, with sections of fortification equivalent to a town for firing and
defensive effect and with an extra dice to the defender, frontages shrunk to two
bases for units etc. All in aid to do an Alamo style re-fight. Mexicans should
do better here as the US don't have as many period advantages although maybe I
should inject a special Alamo factor for morale throws!

Victory to the Republic!

New World: Conquistadors vs Aztecs

Gave my modifications to the P&S Rules a road test today. They worked great
although in future Spanish v Native games I'll give the indigenous population
more units to make it a bit less one-sided.

The Spanish under their rather rash conquistador general had an impressive
line-up of four sword and buckler units, a unit of arquebusiers, one of
crossbowmen, artillery and the glamour unit of lancers.

Facing them was a massed Aztec army of four clan warriors units(hordes under my
modifications - behave much like medieval peasants in close combat), a couple of
suit wearer warrior units, some slingers and a unit of Cuachic shock troops
(warband classification).

I fully deployed my solo and command / control rules and they worked well giving
me an interesting twist to the initial confrontation which I assumed to be an
Aztec rush but instead the Spanish gained the initative and mounted their own
charge along the line.

The special rules added a lot of period colour and made things distinctly
awkward for the Aztecs.

Superior technology (iron weapons and armour), Spanish ferocity and native
dislike of horses all conspired to scythe through engaged units. The only units
that put up a credible resistance were the suit wearers and shock troops. Used
with overlaps and in volume is the way the Aztecs can tackle the Spanish. On a
one to one they are hopeless and the clan warriors melted under the sword and
buckler onslaught.

That said there were a few times that the Aztecs did eliminate some stands and
they expertly swamped the exposed arquebusier unit on their right flank but by
then it was too late and the Spanish held the field largely intact.

Overall I really enjoyed it but it was rather one-sided. Taught me plenty of
lessons for future games and native v native games might be interesting. The
lists I've drafted have a lot of variation between the combatants.

The Aztec have swordsmen, warband and hordes, the Tlaxcalan rely on archers, the
Mixtec on atlatl dart throwers, while I can also employ mass warbands with a
fair compliment of missile troops for the Mayans.

All in all a fascinating sub-period. Looked good aswell. The Spanish only
fielded four bases to their infantry units, while I allowed the Aztecs six. This
gave a realistic representation with the lean Spanish line facing a massed
native opposition. Looked big in figure terms but regarding units I think I need
to have a ratio of 1:1.5 to get a fairer fight.

Some More Alternative Periods

I've been doing a lot of work recently in exploring some alternative periods I
hadn't looked at in detail the first time I tried to go through all the period
adaptations I was interested in at that stage.

This has thrown up quite a number of interesting sub-periods that I've created
alternative rulsets based on AMW, NPW and Introduction or additional army lists
with Special Rules.

Great Northern war, American-Mexican War, Jacobite Rebellion, Dutch Wars / Nine
Years War, War of the Austrian Succession, War of 1812, American Plains Wars.

One that I'm particularly involved with now and am trying to organise some
figures to play a few test games is the New World / Conquest of Mexico time
period. I've created a number of period specific rules which I'm quite pleased
with and Army Lists for all the Mexican area combatants in the Renaissance
Period adaptation in Introduction, including Conquistadors, Spanish Colonial
etc.

I was wondering if anyone in the Group has experience of this period and could
recommend some good sources, resource sites on the net, blogs etc.

I already have Ian Heath's book dealing with these armies on my Amazon wishlist.