2025 Hammfilade Saturday - GDC Battle of Logovo (pt 2 Left Spano-Russian Flank)

 James and I had brought troops as suggested by Doug. Hilariously we both decided to bring our Spanish as we don't get to use them much. Thus the Spano-Russian intervention was created. 

 

The spanish anchored both flanks for some reason. On my flank I had Gazan and Bagration pushing on one side of the river to cave in the French right. It was held by a token force of poles and two small french cavalry corp. 

Across the river Gortchacov held the river line and fired cannon (where line of site permitted). He would soon realize he need to push toward the Centre Right to help avoid the collapse of our forces in the centre and right flank. 

Poor command die rolls (pips) made for a slow advance on this side. Cannon are particularly hard to get moving foward on the attack, and the Poles were well played by a new player, Garret, constantly giving just enough ground and launching local counter attacks to prevent overly aggressive advances. The Cavalry was able to hide behind the tree line from Gortsachov and made for difficult opponents to hunt. 

The flank was largely a side show for the game but very late in the game this flank was busted open and left a (long) march towards the french LOC, held by a small but credible force.

 More pics after the break...

2025 Hammfilade Saturday - GDC Battle of Logovo (pt 1 setup)

 Saturday had us setting up for the semi annual General du Corp game. It's a convention fast play ruleset (not published). Bases are roughly a division, commands are corp. Turns represent 30min. Each player commanded 2 corp (roughly). Since we have done most of the historical battles Doug decided to make up a roster of 12-15 corp. The two teams then were able to select 10...both sides having an option to sacrifice a choice to get a benefit (Russians took some fleche/redoubt fortifications and a large artillery reserve). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The teams split up to make their choice, and then decide a rough battle plan and setup  blindly. The table was split down the middle plus the left flank(s) were also open for placement (i.e. both sides could immediately be subject to a flank attack on their right). A stream (crossable but disordering) was roughly diagonal across the whole table).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We positioned cards in alternating fashion to denote the start point of the leader of each corp. The cards were flipped and placement of the troops happened alternating in order of the cards. It was fun and different and we ended up with some interesting match ups. 

 

 

 

The Russian plan (my side) was to  go artillery heavy on the left in a crossfire to give the french a problem to solve. We dropped our fortifications on the right, assuming an attack there, created a battle line across the front, and left a strong reserve of cavalry and elite infantry. 

 

 

 

 

 

The french overloaded their left flank and refused the right. A token force was left there. The centre had a reasonable force to push. Roughly 60-90 minutes after 'starting' we were all setup and ready to start fighting. 

 

2025 Hammfilade - Bad 6s cavalry game

 Another August rolls around and Doug hosted another weekend of gaming at his lovely basement set up. Friday  we started off with some napoleonic cavalry fight. Originally the rules began as a riff off of dragon rampant, but they have evolved quite far towards a system that is descriptively called '6's are bad'.

 

 

 

Units are 12 horse (we experimented with some small units of 6 as well). Generally speaking you try and activate your unit to do an action by not rolling a 6. As you go on you will accumulate BAPs (bad action points) which increase your friction, you roll extra dice and 6's are bad (a 6 is not only a fail but also increases your BAPs). There are opportunities for rallying/recovery to get rid of BAPs. The units have 2 actions a turn.....assuming they pass the first action. 

 

Movement into contact is a fight. After a fight the loser has to rally off all his BAPs before they can reform. Getting hit while unformed puts you at substantial disadvantage. 

 

 

 

 

The game was largely French vs Anglo-Allied. There was very little balancing. There are some unit characteristics but they don't do a whole lot (light, heavy, armored, hussar, lancer). We were play testing leaders (which were OP and the french had a bunch) and a cannon (which needs some tuning).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Game play was fast and free wheeling and it was very common to hit the opponent and then have to deal with a counter charge for long enough that the original opponent was able to pull themselves back together and start moving again.  

 

 

 

 

We all had 2 units. Doug had one of his units chased off the board, and then finally (FINALLY) managed to get a shot off with the single cannon on the game (roll to, limber/unlimber, move, load, fire, accurate hit, and then........a bucket of dice).  

My largely intact hussar unit disintegrated. Naturally I rolled something like 10 or 11 6's out of 24 dice, but I think even with more predictable rolls the gun is a one hit to cripple a unit. 

There was much hilarity at this result including from myself, it was just such a terrible example of rolling.  

 

 

 

My other unit kept the barn between the gun and itself as we started to think about how to hunt the gun down. Eventually it got late and it had been a travel day for many so we retired.  

 

Salute 2011: Bob Murch China Station

 Vagabond posted some pictures of 'China Station' the (somewhat) famous table of Bob Murch (sculptor and proprietor of Pulp Figures ). He is/was hoping to do something in the same feel....colonial, edge of empire, heart of adventure aesthetic (If I'm groking his post correctly). I casual mentioned in the comments that I had played a game on the table before and he asked me if I knew where any more pictures were......

 

 

 Trumpeter Salute (Vancouver BC April) often sees Bob Murch visit/come out (he lives a couple hours away). I'm not sure how often he hosts games but he certainly has his stall with an awesome display of figs to tempt your spending cash. In 2011 I was lucky enough to sign up in time to play. He game each of the players a hat corresponding to the command. Damn there were a lot of them. Also the secret objectives of every player sometimes overlapped and sometimes completely opposed other players. 

 

What I recall is I was a British commander of a small column of colonial troops (sikhs) and an armored car. We needed to escort some civilians (science types and ladies) safely to the ships. There were some Germans in our way, I forget their exact mission (maybe find some science maguffin in a crate), but VERY USUALLY we joined forces to march on the town. The Chinese Warlord wanted to extract as much money and goods from anyone coming into town (the combined force was able to stare him down well). The science types (suspected of having the maguffin) wanted to sneak a crate containing a poorly sedated giant gorilla to the ships. The zepplin troopers, a radical german outfit, needed to hit the other germans for something but didn't feel confident to do it with the combined brit/german column. The Tong were somehow duplicitous to the Chinese warlord (maybe wanting to steal equipment in town). And there was some sort of two fisted larger than life Hero character also trying to achieve something (possible related to the scientists, the gorilla, or something else in town). 

Hilariously the British-German truce finally broke down in the alleys of town very close to the ships as the British opened fire with their machine gun armoured car on the Germans (it only seemed prudent). It's possible I wasn't a total jerk in that the Germans may have triggered something (The gorilla, now in a frenzy, escaping from his box)....but I can't quite remember. There was hilarity all around. I think the Zepplin trooper was the only person who had quite limited game options (I really was hoping to see the flying zepplin trooper models hit the table). 

 Here is the eye candy pictorial essay to follow.  

Hammfest 2024 - GdC Battle of Friedland (pt 3/end)

 

 The Russians have been surprised by the timely arrival of the Corsican Ogre. What looked like defeat in detail for the French has turned into a bit of a pell mell dash for the safety of the far side of the river. While this initial picture makes things look well in hand for the Russians, it's a bit more nuanced. The crossing goes through the town of Friedland, which restricts the speed and capacity of movement. There's going to be bunch up and the French will have time to engage. Furthermore, despite there being fixed movement, units moving anything other than mostly forward, do move slower so that it's possible to have them be caught. 

The Russians are down to 2 cavalry units (1 fresh) versus at least 3 fresh french ones in a unified cavalry corp. Once the Russian infantry are forced into square it's a safe bet that formation is doomed. Morale is brittle so there are real risks to sacrificing units.

To the Russians benefit, their cannon emplacements across the river have been doing great work. To avoid cannon fire entirely would delay the pursuit, so the French have been forced to weather the storm. If I recall correctly the Russian artillery dice were a bit hot.

We know see the rush hour traffic building up at the bridge. French are in close contact with the Russian rearguard.

Not great, but probably manageable. Doctorow's reserve corp is doing exactly what they need to be doing.

Ah crap. The continued fallback of General Peter (RU) on the right and general attrition of cannons there has freed up the French under General Kevin again. 

The pressure is developing for a move across the river into the rear guard flank. Stress!

 

Command ranges and low rolls for pips to move troops I think stymied the french a bit. The hot russian cannons didn't do them any favours. It's possible they failed a morale check and fell back for a turn (about 30 minutes real time). 

That breather essentially cinched the rest of the game.

The forces consolidate back towards their lines. I believe we called this one a minor or marginal win for the Russians. Mostly as Napoleon failed to deliver a punishing blow to the Russians when given an opening.

 

 

Another fun game of GdC. While we keep thinking the rules are in their final shape there is some contemplation of having units that go to 0 strength not leave the table. This would mean

1/. they would continue to be traffic problems. 

2/.they would require commands to evacuate (so command of the corp doesn't improve as you lose troops, which is kinda a thing that happens right now....I'm not pip starved when I have no troops to command!)

3/. Exist on the table to continue to use as a punching bag for the enemy to incur further moral losses and tests (so it's more likely for the whole corp to go poof. Currently it can be hard to attrition the corps enough and force enough tests to make that happen).

2+3/. They are a liability to have around and thus make a more interesting set of decisions for the players.

UPDATE: Play testing has shown that keeping troops on the table is less fun. There's a proposal to requires some PiPs to make them disappear, so that they are still a (more limited) liability, but won't be a continual fun draining hassle.

Hammfest 2024 GdC - Battle of Friedland 1807 pt 2

In our first instalment we saw the Russians aggressively move on the 'isolated' French corp and attempt to destroy them in detail (on the Russian Left). The Russian Right demonstrated in front of the French Left while slowly moving back behind the river (because general Peter is wise). Our cliff hanger moment sees the arrival of some French on the Russian Left.....the cavalry (also infantry) riding to the rescue of the beleaguered french corp under General Seth. 

 

 Indeed there are so many french it's going to take some turns for them to march on . We dickered a bit about the teleporting french and just how close to the Russians they could arrive. The Russians felt it was unsporting to have them be within one move (i.e. move into contact on arrival). This was acceded to. 

The main challenge we see is the Russians are grossly outnumbered now, and have a long CIRCUITOUS route to return (the ford is the town in the bottom left, and the river to the left is otherwise unfordable. Thankfully the Russians have some covering artillery from the safe side. My scant command of grenadiers and some cavalry moved up the middle to support General James. We have a classic Napoleonics traffic management problem, under enemy pressure, and needing to choose who to sacrifice. Don't run men, there's plenty of bridge space for you all (cough cough).

Hammfest 2024 GdC - Battle of Friedland 1807 (part 1)

 The main event on Saturday for Hammfest 2024 was a General du Corp (fast play corp scale convention rulseset) game of Friedland. Historically Friedland sees a Russian force under Bennigsen spotting an isolated French force (under Lannes) and deciding to beat it up. Sluggish command sees a slow/poorly developed attack which is well held off by the french while the Corsican Ogre marches to relieve Lannes. Then a great smackdown of the Russians ensues as they have (the opposite of) cleverly placed their forces with their backs to a river. 

 

James, Peter and I played the Russians and decided to attempt the historical attack...but better. With 20/20 hindsight (and warning at the start of the game) we knew that a kickass level of French were going to show up. We were hopeful we could break the French corp quickly. The Russians had a number of static artillery batteries stuck on the East sides of the Alle river....perfect to offer us good covering fire when we decided to conduct a fighting withdraw. As we would. Seth, Ron and Kevin (and eventually Doug himself with the Imperial Guard were our perfidious opponents.