Lost in Bigbazangaistan!! Chapter 1

Lost in Bigbazangastan-Chapter 1!

Situation:
Her Majesty, the Queen, received correspondence from the British ambassador to Bigbazangastan via the wife of H.G. Wells; the distinguished Alexander of Macedoniaologist Emeritus telling her that Wells' head would be separated from his body if the Queen did not recognize the territory as a free and sovereign nation in one month.  You have received orders from the War Office to find and rescue Mr. Wells and his gifted sidekick, Jules Verne.  The Russians are quite interested in finding Mr. Wells as the continuing dispute between Britain and Russia over the source of the Bagwan River is a constant ulcer between the countries.  You've had a cold breakfast on the border between the Raj and Bigbazanagastan.  Time to move for glory, the Queen's favor and promotion. Or....not.

I played the mysterious opponent Mr. Babbage today. His forces moved as a programmed and random option.  This is a GREAT part of the rules set. I can actually finally play a solo campaign, keep good notes and Mr. Babbage will never play my forces the same way twice! 

Nogs from the Northern Star was present to record today's events. You will be reading from his dispatches and my game notes.  This game went FAST! It was quite bloody and decisive. Just don't roll low...

Turn 1 was uneventful for the British regulars as their leadership was suspect at best. No gallantry was to be found on this day.  Mr. Babbage immediately deploys a unit of "shooters" and a unit of "chargers outside of short rifle range in response to two British units moving forward.  The rules do have "free actions" (standing to and firing). Anything else takes a successful Leadership roll. The British started the game with a bit of a sour stomach.  Sour at where they were and why they were there.  The first sounds of musketry brought them to their senses.

Turn 2 was fairly routine for the British with Platoon A going into close order to face a unit of "shooters" and the Gatling successfully rolls to shoot the "chargers" in their front.  Mr. Babbage was no shrinking violet as he brings on two (2) units in the front of the main British force and charges the Gatling gun.  I allowed the Gatling gun to shoot defensive fire (experiment) and it pinned the chargers. The Black Flag spearmen charge at the double (random roll), lose badly and retreat.  Yellow flags fail to activate. 1 unit "slinks away" and another unit gains the "same idea/different place" option. This is a cool part of the game as well. 

Martini-Henry Fire

Turn 3:
One Bigbazangastani unit was destroyed by combined fire by two British platoons.  A platoon (British) lost 8 casualties and immediately was pinned.  This is not good as units get 1/2 dice for firing and fighting until unit is unpinned.  Mr. Babbage was in contemplation mode as no units showed up this turn.  The score was tied at this point. 2 units for each for both sides are gone or have "slunk away".

Turn 4:
Platoon A is shot away and is taken off the game table.  Platoon B fails their leadership roll and "Stands To",  the Depot Platoon C sees off some tribal cavalry and itself becomes pinned. 

Mr. Babbage is becoming rather petulant as another unit "slinks away" due to random action roll

Turn 5:
B Platoon fails leadership and stands to. The Gatling gun passes leadership, shoots and PROMPTLY jams. (One has to roll more 1s than number of figures shooting so do the math...I sucked at rolling).
Mr. Babbage continues to twist the knife; moving more units into charge range but suffering a major loss when General Jambox and his unit "slinks away".  The game is getting to a critical point. 

Turn 6:
Depot platoon is charged by Tribal Cavalry, pinned for a third time. The cavalry follows up and wipes out the depot battalion.  The Gatlling gun fails leadership and does not shoot. Mr. Babbage is becoming rather moody at this point as another unit "slinks away".

The sole remaining platoon and the temperamental Gatling gun moved forward toward the village.  Where is Mr. Wells? Our story continues at this point.

Lessons learned:
1. Smaller games of these rules are similar to Lion Rampant. They should be played on a smaller game table.  I put together an 8x6. It was way too large.  6x4 would have been just fine.

2.  Playing Mr. Babbage was a blast! I will do this again. Highly recommended.

3. Know the game gets into high gear on at least turn 2 when the opponent is Mr. Babbage.  

4. Increase minimum size of games to 48 points when playing human opponents.  24 points just is not large enough.  

5. Would I play it again? H-2-the yes!

Black Powder Pike and Shotte Last Gasp of Summer Break Game

It's back to school for me. Our break from students started May 28. It ends tomorrow, July 21. I needed this break a little more this time than others. I'm just getting older I guess and the "bounce back" is taking longer than usual.  We played a Black Powder Pike and Shotte game.  I've got two full orders of battle-infantry, artillery and cavalry. One for each side.  We did what I call a "normal sized game".  Here's a little bit of an AAR. The photos tell the story much better than I.  

Bird's eye view of the center and a bit of the right

We played 6 units of infantry in two battalias, 6 regiments of horse on the wings, 2 arty batteries per battalia.  I wanted to see how some of the cooler stuff played so I brought in F'Lorn Hopes for each side (commanded shotte), clubmen (for the Royalists), a sharpshooter, and Firelock artillery guard elements for both sides.  That pretty much sums up my ECW collection.  12 regiments of foote, 12 regiments of horse, 2 Dragoons, 8 pieces of ordnance, clubmen, and associated cool stuff like the sheep and surgeon from Warlord.

The game went south for the Parliamentary side from the beginning.  My left wing of horse decided to not show up and retreated off table in a "blunder result.  That's fitting and rather fun.  One of the things I like about this game system.  My esteemed opponent took that opportunity to gain the high ground and waited for my Commander of the Horse to quit drinking and get to work.

The left flank horse eventually passed command test to come back on table.  My opponent launched his horse and stopped my advance around Smith's Mill.

The center was a hard fought area throughout the battle with clubmen actually able to stand to pike and shotte units for a bit.  I will need to paint some updated clubmen figures. My units are old Minifigs, Hinchcliffe and Old Glory figures I scrappled together from the "gonna' paint someday box.  I'm sure modern figures are probably cooler but there's just something about a load of older figures in mass.

Clubmen

The right flank was a bit easier for my right flank commander.  He picked up the rules quickly. Black Powder Pike and Shotte lends itself to this due to its flat learning curve and some basic gaming concepts that go "way back" and are common to most games.  The Royalist horse and foote were pushed back by a hard charging Scott Clinton.  I'm thinking he enjoyed the game. He sure did enjoy smacking down the Royalists!

Who 'dat?

I lost my flank in error because I didn't read the rules about "hedgehog" and fought it straight up against Royalist horse instead of doubling the dice. Dumbass move of the day! I just played on and my flank crumbled quickly as the rest of the infantry battalia melted away.

The center dissolved into a slugfest with the Parliamentary forces getting the worst of melee. Some days you win.  Some days you lose.   Most days, it's just best to drink MORE Guinness!

 

What did we learn from this game?

1. Bring more Stout!
2. Expand the table from 8x6 to 12x6 
3. Reduce the amount of crowded terrain to facilitate play.  Sure, I could have reduced the amount of toys on the table but who the hell ever does THAT? 
4. RTFM. We spent way too much time reading the rules for little things we should have remembered. Just need to play more.
5. Black Powder Pike and Shotte is definitely unpredictable due to its die-ness.  That's a good thing for us.  Predictable outcomes are not what we want in a game. If we wanted that, we'd be at work.
6. Time for the campaign! Everything's in place. 

Here's a small gallery:

Warlord Ordnance

Artillery Guard Firelocks

Right Flank horse

Royalist horse smacked down the Rebel Horse

Hedgehog!!

The real reason this battle was fought....

Old Glory ECW Commander I painted several years ago

Notice the center has advanced toward Rusty. What happened to the left flank?

Horse finally get to the battle

Why I don't like bases for artillery!

28mm Napoleonic Battle at Chateau Mouton

We finally dusted off some of our 28mm Napoleonic collections today.  Had a great game! We used Clay Smith's homeconstructed rules called "Le Baton". (available on his website).  The rules are short, sweet and pretty much devoid of ancillary bs.  They follow a "step by step" system much like Died For Glory.  I like these rules because they're easy to learn, easy to play and very difficult to master.

We decided on playing French vs. Russians. Why? I guess because my Russians were in the display case and Clay didn't bring his Austrians.  That's how our group rolls.  We don't take much seriously.

The objective was the farm of Chateau Mouton.
It is the larger building on the bottom of the photo.  It was an older farm with outbuildings you can see on the top of this photo.  The French were on the attack.  The Russians on the counterattack and/or holding their position in true Russian fashion.

The French began the battle with an artillery bombardment of the Russian heavy batteries sited in the walled yard of Chateau Mouton.  This game thrives upon historical tactics. One must reduce unit efficiency and/or put gun batteries out of commission to even think of a successful assault.  Combined arms attacks are definitely encouraged as well as aggressive play.  The first phase of the battle revolved around the French assault of the Chateau. and the tough body blows given by both sides in "the farmyard".  The assault chewed through multiple French and Russian units and did not succeed until the latter stages of the game.
The Russian commander continued local counter attacks across the battlefield in an effort to stem the French advance.  The Russian flank commander succeeded in not only stopping the French but pushing their forces nearly to their initial deployment zone.  The Russians did not get to dice on their Heavy Cavalry Kurassier Brigade as their dice rolls were "run of the mill" (per Jack Young-old DFW Irregular gamer).
The right flank (from French perspective) was turned and swept by a Light Cavalry Brigade and associated Horse Artillery.  These figures are from the Limited Edition Dave Alsop box sets from Old Glory.

We ended the game as "generals" needed to depart. The Russians left the field in good order to the French.

This is just one of the many periods and collections owned by team members in our group.  If you would like be a part, drop me a line by clicking pilum40@sbcglobalnet

Here's a gallery of today's game.  You will see many manufacturers and some old friends such as Hinchcliffe, Foundry, Old Glory, Minifig and Front Rank.  You will also see some minitures painted by the late, great Peter Guilder.  This is our favorite period as a group. 28mm just rocks for scenic appeal, eye candy and pure "sex appeal".  Come join us and let's throw some dice!

French Heavy Battery in action

French Chasseurs ride through Russian Arty. The Arty did manage to get away
by rolling a 4+ on "The Heroic Action Card"

Hinchcliffe French Officer painted by either Peter Guilder
or Ed Phillips 

Dave Alsop Limited Edition French Light Cavalry Brigade 

Limited Edition Dave Alsop French Light Cavalry 2

Hard action at Chateau Mouton Grenadiers are vintage
Hinchcliffe painted by Peter Guilder or Ed Phillips

Heavy action in the farmyard

Classic Hinchcliffe French Lanciers riding to their doom up the road

French Brigade advancing on the Chateau Mouton farmyard

Russians stop the French cold at the old chapel

Second shot of French Lanciers. I really LIKE these miniatures!
Exquisitely painted and sculpted way back in the late 1970s-early 1980s

French Brigade wearing out some shoe leather 

French Artillery in action

Steve's Light Cavalry Brigade finally gets onto the table. Must
have been the Blue Moon!!!

Second shot...yep...it definitely was the Blue Moon! My gaming
priorities are in the RIGHT place!

Clay, Justo, Rusty "into the fight"

Preston and Justo organize the French

Classic Hinchcliffe French Line Infantry-late 1970s-early 80s

pre-game 1

pre-game 2

pre game table for Battle of Chateau Mouton

My table doesn't use felt nor wedding cake hills. No doubts
where the crests of hills are or are not 

Steve's Russian Dragoon Brigade

Steve's Kurassier and "Crabs" Hussar Brigade...ok sue me...that
didn't come out right did it?

In this game, all are engaged. No waiting around for anyone
any time!

Russian Heavy Battery at Chateau Mouton

Grenadier Brigade, Light infantry, Heavy Gun
Steve's Russians

More Russians...they still keep on coming forward!

Maybe I should cut a base to make it easier to make a "square"
Nah...I'm a triangular player

Russians spread out to minimize effects of pass through fire.
You can't clump up in this game. Do it at your own peril!

Hero Russian unit smacked down the French at the windmill

Heavy action in the farmyard

Moutons! Why we fight!

Steve's Russian (I think Tsarina's) "Crabs" Hussars Old Glory figures

Russian Infantry.  Can't believe I was painting all these guys
with two cataracts.....guess they'd look better if I took more time right?

Overview of Russian initial position at Chateau Mouton