BA v3: Large desert battle

Early war batle in the desert.
2 reinforced armoured platoons each sideplatoons each side.
Germans: SeveJ: 1000 pts: 4 MkIII with supports.
Italians: Jim: 700 pts: 1M14, 1 Autoblinda with suports.
British: Chris: 850 pts 2 Matilda, 1 Crusader with supports.
British: Mike: 850 pts: 3 Matilda with supports.
Objectives: 1. The village.  2 killing enemy units.

Command dice system for multi-polayer game: 
The Brits had 10 units each, the Axis 9 untis each.  The dice bag had 10 Brit command dice & 9 Axis command dice.  When a Brit command doce was drawn, both Brit platoons got a command dice to action.  Likewise for the Axis.  This system sped the game up as both players of each side could action a unit simultaneously.  
All units excpet the Italians were motorised.  The transports did not have their own dice.  They were moved with their passenger's command dice, then removed when their passengers dismounted.  This saved having a lot of useless comand dice in the bag.

Steve's Germans started in far RH corner, Jim's Italians in near corner. Chris' Brits centre right, MIke's Brits far LH corner.

The starting position draw allowed the Bbrits to sieze the village at  the start.
The Italians tried to distract as mich of the Brits as they could to allow the Germans to attack.

The main feature of the battle was how ineffective the armour is in early war.  The 2 M14's plus a anti-tank gun engaged a Matilda & a Crusader for the entire game with no damage to either side.  Likewise on the other flank, the 4 MkIII's engaged 4 Matildas & the only tank destroyed was 1 MkIII.  The Italians lost their Autoblinda to a 25 pdr.

By the end the Germans had lost 1 unit, the Italians 3 & the Brits 6, so the Axis won the kill criterion, mainly due to their medium mortars.  But the Brits held the village. 

Comment on v.3:
The change to saving throws requires another round of dice throwing in each shoot.  In a big game, thr exce extra time this takes up became much more significant than in a normal one-on-one game.  While the change does address the problem of going down making it too easy to get out of trouble in V2, reverting to -2 for down would have solved the problem more simply.  The saving throw sustem is not  an improvement over v.2
The ineffectiveness of armour in early war was the same in v.2.  The reduction in vehicle MMG fire makes tanks even more inefffective.  This was the wrong solution to the issue of vehicles with multiple MG's being too good. 

The change to having 4+ to hit at all ranges other then point blank where it is suddenly 2+ to hit is too crude.  It was better before with 4+ long range, 2+ short & 2+ PB.
Conclusion:  While V3 addressed many of the issues with v2, the change hasn't always been done in a smart way.  Our v2 house rules fixed the issues much easier than v3 does.

Dreadnaughts

The simultaneous movement system we have been using in land battles was developed from our naval rules.  That gave me some ideas for improving the naval system & we fought a WWI naval action today to try them out.

Brits (Chris): 2 BC, 2 CA, 3CL & 5x2DD
Geramns (Jim): 1BC, 3CA, 3Cl & 5x2DD

The battle starts with the DD screens in sight of each other .  The cards represent the head of squadrons of BC, CA or CL so at the start the players don't know the enemy's exact deployment.

When the ships are close enough they are put down on the table.  The smoke is just the inexperienced British being over cautious.

The Brits turn to starboard behind their DD screen.
The Germans turn their CA & CL to port while von der Tann turns to starboard to engage Invincible.

The DDs of both sides lauch torpedoes as crusers turn away.
von dert Tann has ranged in on Invincible.

The torpedo attacks resulted in a Brit CA being sunk & two Geram CA's badly damaged.
The two British BCs have cauued minor damage to von der Tann, but she has made real mess of Invincible.

After more torpedoes hit the water, the German CAs & Brit BC's turn away.  The Germans get away but a the Invincible is finished off.

When von der Tann immediately ranges in on Inflexible the Brits decide they have had enough & order general retreat laying smoke. 

German losses: 2 badly damaged CA.
British losses: 1 BC, 1CA & 2x2DD.

The refined simultaneous movement system (controlled by chits as in M2M) worked really well.  Several moves of indecisive maneouvering suddenly turned onto chaos when the DDs of both sides avoided the CLs & got into torpedo range of bigger ships.  The best part of the game is the command phase where the players have to make a judgement on what the enemy might do then commit.

Modder Fokkers

 Six players with one plane each.

On the left: Albatros (Chris), Albatros (Mike), Fokker DVII (SteveJ.
On the right: Spad (Jim), Camel (Mark), Camel (Renfrey).

The dog fight started bad for the Brits when the Spad pilot was wounded on the first exchange with Chris' Albatros.  The Spad pilot then used his speed to avoid further fighting & scoot around the main dogfight to escape back to base.  With 3 to 2 odds against them, the Brits were in trouble.  Renfrey was also wounded, but he used his climbing ability to get out of the pack & head for home leaving Mark to his fate surrounded by a Fokker & 2 Albatrii.

Napoleonic Naval

French (Chris): 1 1st rate & 3 3rd rates. Regular crews.
Spanish (SyeveD): 1 1st rate & 3 3rd rates. Raw crews.
British (Jim): 1st rate, 1 2nd rate, 4 3rd rates. Veteran crews.

The wind is blowing down the table towards a lee shore.
The Brits are on the right.
The allies are on the left, Spanish in the windward colomn.

The Brits start beating to windward.  The Spanish initially did likewise, but have now turned away to follow their allies.

The Brits responded by immediately turning to starboard aiming for the head of the French squadron.

The lead ships of the French & British fleets opened fire at point blank range. as they cleared the island.  The French made a shambles of the Brit's rigging with chain shot, but the Brit's double shot seriously damaged the French ship.  The British admiral used his ship's momentum to collide with & board the French flagship quickly taking it.

The 2nd Brit squadron turned to port to add their firepower against the French.

The 1st Brit squadron is mopping up the French as their 2nd squadron engages the Spanish. 

The ships of 1st Brit squadron put prize crews board the French, then one by one join in on the attack on the Spanish.

The Spanish fleet is mopped up except only the last ship in the line which actually held its own against  the British ship at the end of their line & was able to peel off & run for home.

The Allies made a wrong turn & the Brits exploited the opportunity to gain a decisive victory with 7 ships captured for no loss.  

Bolt Action v.3

 Another double two game afternoon with our visitors.

Game 1: Renfrey's Brits v. SteveD's Japanese

A slow game as the two players learned the rules.  The Brit's two Honey's were the decisive pieces sweeping down on the Japanese right flank.

Jim's Italians v. Chris' Soviets

The Soviets got an early advantage taking out the Bersagileri with a heavy mortar & inflicting serious casualties with long range LMG fire.  But the Italians went down, regrouped & fought back, & about turn 5 the game suddenly turned around into a decisive Italian victory.

More comment on v.3
I've warmed to the saving throws.  They make the maths work well & we are mitigating the killjoy aspect for vehicles by doing the save before the to-kill throw when shooting at vehicles.

I still don't like is the proliferation of command figures & today we house ruled them & Snap-to out.

The minor damage table is an unnecessary complication.  More work for no real gain.  

American Civil War

 With visitors from Canberra & England we had a good turnout for an ACW battle.

The battle started with 2 Union brigades camped on the table.

The actions started with a Confederate Division coming on the near end of the table, another Confed Division coming on at the middle of the RH edge & a Union cavalry brigade on the middle LH edge.

The two Confederate Divisions immediately moved to attack the Union brigade at the railway station.

The Union brigade tried to make a defensive line as it was attacked from two sides.  The other Union brigade & cavalry are moving to try to support them. 

The Union brigade is being overwhelmed before their comrades can get up.

The 2nd Union brigade has pushed back the rear guard of the 2nd Confederate Div, but too & the Union cavalry is holding onto the railway station, but too late, the 1st Union brigade has been destroyed.

The Union counterattack has run out of steam & the Union conceded the battle.

It was a tough scenario for the Union, but their 1st brigade should have deployed falling back to the station rather than deploying forward to meet the attack.  This would have bought them a bit more time - maybe enough for their comrades to save them.   


   

Bolt Action v3: Second trial

 We set up two games on the big table with a divider down the middle.
Game 1:  Jim's Grenadiers v.  SteveD's Brits.

Game 2: Renfrey's Italians v. Chris' Soviets.

Both games were free for alls.  The Axis won both battles.

After two goes at V3, I have some  ore comments to make:

In the main the changes are good.  The less good bits IMO are:

Saving throws:  I dislike saving throws because it's frustrating to throw good dice to hit, good dice to kill, then the enemy throws good dice & suddenly you've got nothing.  It detracts from enjoyment of the game.  

Going Down:  In V1 Down gave you -1 to hit. V2 made it -2.  This was a bad change then as it made it too easy to get out of trouble.  The change to saving throws is similar in effect to going back to -1 for Down, so in this respect good.  

Snap To:  Snap To is gamey device that allows smart aleck manoeuvres that can turn a game.   It masquerades as skill, but mostly just magnifies the luck factor in who pulls the first dice out at the start  of a turn.  

Multiple platoon leaders:  These are mostly just a waste of time.  It increases the number of command dice to the extent that you often have nothing useful to do with them after the first few.   It also makes using the Mickey Mouse Snap To more necessary to speed up the game.

Halving MMG fire from vehicles:  The problem with vehicle MMG fire was vehicles with multiple MGs being too powerful.  This fixes that a bit, but knackers vehicles with just 1 hull & 1 coax. 

Panzerfausts: Cost has gone from 5 to 15 pts.  5 was too low, but 15 is too high.  Should be 10. 

No short range:  I'm not sure I like the sudden jump from 5+ to hit moving firing at 7" to 3+ at 6".  It also makes extra range if weapons less an advantage as on most tables fire is less than max anyway & you lose the possibility of gaining advantage by being in close range yourself while the enemy is still at long.

Wars of the Roses 6 players

 Each player had a small battle of mixed arms witht heir starting zone decided by lot.

Lancastrians:  Chris near LN corner.  Renfrey near RH corner. Mark middle RHS.
York: SteveJ far LH corner. SteveD middle LHS.  Mike far RH corner. 

Lancs:  Chris & Renfrey advanced towards SteveD while Mark fell back across the river.
York: SteveD formed a defensive line on & to the left of the wooded hill while SteveJ & Mike march down the table to support him. 

The Lancs are assaulting the wooded hill from 2 sides while pressuring the Yorks right flank & forming a defensive line behind the stream on their right.

The battle has turned sideways across the table resulting in a compressed front.
On the left SteveJ has reinforced SteveD & Chris' attack is petering out.
In the centre Renfrey & Mark broke the first line, but are now making very slow progress through the wood as SteveJ supports SteveD.

On the right, Mark has fallen back behind the stream & there is bit of a stalemate.

On the left both Chris & SteveD's infantry are almost destroyed.
Indecisive heavy fighting continues in the wood.
Mike has forced a crossing of the stream with his extra heavy cavalry, but the Lancs are counterattacking.

The brutal fight in the centre has resulted in mutual destruction.
Both sides are pretty much spent & the battle is declared a draw.

The Lancs seemed to have the upper hand at the start when they took the corner of the wood witht ehir first charge, but SteveJ arrived in time to stem the tide & neither side could find a breakthrough on the narrow front.