We had thirteen players for playtesting, real-time ASW action, and a little something from Dan VIII's collection of odds and ends.
Bill, Smitch, Jim, Manfred, Mitch, Dan VIII, and Tenno opted for real-time
Captain Sonar. With the odd number, one team was short-handed, so celebrated radio operator Mitchell "Sparks" Stein joined Dan and Tenno on the three-man crew. Both teams neglected to name their subs, a grievous oversight that has been forwarded to the Discipline Committee for review.
Checking the plot As expected, this was a very different experience from last week's turn-based game. They surfaced much more often to clear damage, relying on the cover of chaos to protect them. It was interesting to see how differently the two teams operated. At one point the big team seemed almost dead in the water while the other crew banged out move after move. The small crew ultimately triumphed - I don't know if was due to better efficiency, an inherent advantage of a small team, or pure dumb luck. Fun session for all, though.
The same group followed up with
Secret Hitler. I don't know how all the roles split, but Bill-as-Hitler was elected to office with the help of Chancellor Jim.
Co-conspirators Nate sat down to teach Dave
Android: Netrunner. Dave took the corporate side, using Jinteki for all seven games. Natus ran with Shaper for the first five, before switching to Anarch. Dave learned quite a bit, taking two games, and expanded our pool of potential
NR players.
Anarchvillain Meanwhile, Hawkeye introduced Rich to
Up Front, with the traditional
Meeting of Patrols. Hawkeye took the dogfaces against Rich's squareheads. Rich picked up on the key tactics early, as Hawkeye seemed to be perpetually under wire. They went the distance, ending in a draw after a very cagey match. Rich is sold on the game and looking for more.
Another convert Scott and I opened with a playtest of Charles Vasey's
B1704, applying the
W1815 system to the Battle of Blenheim. The Duke of Marlborough leads an Anglo-Allied army against the Franco-Bavarian force of the Duc de Tallard. The French and Bavarians await the Allied attack behind the the Nebel (a marsh-bound stream), relying on fortified hamlets and counterpunching cavalry to withstand the assault.
Tallard's batteries speak For those unfamiliar with
W1815, each side is represented by a number of formation cards, each with its own CRT. Combat results are casualties, morale hits, or both, affecting either (and occasionally both) sides depending on the roll. The map is a schematic of the battlefield, and serves to hold the division blocks that represent the manpower of a given formation. Commanders typically have one-use special powers. Victory is attained by driving the enemy's casualty track to zero, or by breaking their morale. Morale hits reduce army morale, and casualties trigger morale checks.
Historically Marlborough demonstrated against the flanks to deny support to the French center, before launching his own assault against the heart of Tallard's line. In game terms, Colonel Cutts leads his brigade against Blenheim on the Allied left, with the possibility of 'locking' French reserves into the fight for the town. Eugene, facing Marsin and the town of Lutzingen on the right, doesn't have such a direct effect. However, if his units aren't activated at least once every three turns, Marsin can release troops to help Tallard in the center.
The Nebel ran red Eugene and Marlborough each have an infantry and cavalry card, but must first deploy pontoons before engaging the French/Bavarian line. In the meantime, the French heavy batteries pound Allied morale as they slog across the swampy approach. Once the pontoons are down, the French batteries are overrun and Marlborough and Eugene assault Oberglau and Lutzingen respectively. When a town is taken, the relevant formation cards are flipped with the Allies becoming more effective and the French/Bavarians less so. At this point the Franco-Bavarians are usually on the ropes, but Allied morale may be wavering; can Marlborough finish off Tallard before his army loses the will to continue?
We played four games, switching sides. In our opener, Cutts failed spectacularly before Blenheim but Eugene blasted his way into Lutzingen on his first attempt and never looked back. In the second, Marlborough grabbed Oberglau and settled into a long attritional battle with the French failing morale first. In the third, Clérambault got a division over to Tallard, allowing him to last long enough to destroy the Duke's foot. The Elector of Bavaria was flattened and both sides were reeling but the Duke's cavalry carried the day, forcing the clinching rout test. The last was our sole French win - Cutts seduced both French reserve divisions into Blenheim, but the French batteries scored two morale hits in the meantime. Casualties were surprisingly light but the Allied morale steadily sank until they finally failed a test two boxes short of routing outright.
Marsin wears thin I enjoyed
B1704, and feel it reflects Blenheim to the extent possible in such a small package. We had one blowout but the other three were quite close games. The onus is on the Allies to dictate the flow, but Tallard has choices with respect to reserves and the timing of counterattacks. The typical +1 die roll bonus for a counterattack is always tempting, but the eligible formation may be just one casualty away from elimination, which might stay your hand. I like the tension once Marlborough is across the Nebel - the
Gens d'Armes charge home again and again, hoping to force a fatal rout test before Tallard is swept away. A fun and satisfying little game, worthy of its ancestor.
The Allies lose their mojo We followed up with the short Kashmir scenario from
Next War: India-Pakistan, using the basic rules. Scott was Pakistan, trying to wrest Kashmir away from my Indians, aided by Chinese airmobile forces. The system is a highly polished expression of classic wargaming ideas - sticky (but not locking) zones of control, odds based combat, troop quality, reserve and exploitation movement, and so on. The sequence of play varies depending on initiative - if one side has the upper hand, the pace really picks up, with a given unit potentially moving and fighting three times in a single turn.
Unit class is very important in the
Next War system, interacting with terrain for both movement and combat. Perched on the western slopes of the Himalayas, the scenario's battle area has a broad range of terrain, mostly suited to mountain troops and light infantry. There are a couple valleys in which armor can can get its war on, including the Vale of Kashmir. Air support in the basic game is straightforward, with attack helicopters and fast movers providing die roll modifiers, though only after surviving anti-air defenses. Both sides have airmobile infantry, very useful but again subject to anti-air.
On top of the world In this scenario both sides collect VPs for eliminating enemy units, but the bulk of the scoring is for terrain objectives - five hexes worth five VPs each to whoever holds them at the end of the four turn game. My troops started near the borders, with three of the five rear-area objectives unprotected. Scott opened by attempting a coup de main against vacant Anantnag with a pair of PRC airmobile brigades. He had an 80% chance of success, but my ever-vigilant air defense forces sent the Chinese packing. The rest of his forces rolled up to my border outposts and proceeded to bash their way into the disputed province.
I garrisoned all the objectives at my first opportunity, and moved to reinforce the borders. I relied on my frontier outposts to slow the assault on Baramula, leaving my best unit to defend the city itself, protected by high mountains and a stream. In the north, Scott pieced together a large multi-hex attack against the mountain division facing Taobat, inflicting casualties but failing to dislodge the defenders. I reinforced, and a second attack saw a similar result. He abandoned that front and threw everything into the Baramula operation.
The Chinese lend a hand The Baramula fight was a grind, as I traded bodies for time. Scott had the initiative for the first two turns, but it shifted over to me at the end. He needed to crack my line quickly, and called for a Chinese air assault to cut my retreat paths. The Hips got through this time, but my mountain troops held on. With just one turn to go and initiative flipping to me, we saw no chance for a breakthrough and called it.
This is a tidy little scenario, limited in options as you'd expect for its size, but well suited to teaching the system. I liked the dynamic turn sequence and the unit class distinctions. The use of supporting assets is clean but the air defense component feels a little elaborate. Still, it's quite a jump to the involved air and detection systems of the advanced game. We'll save those for another day, but I think the appeal is strong and we will return to this. All three titles hold interest but I reckon we'll stick with
India-Pakistan for the time being.
Noted authority on mountain warfare Dan VIII reached into his bag of tricks for a suitable nightcap and emerged with
Junk Art. This is a dexterity/stacking game similar to
Bausack/Sac Noir. The basic stacking game is shaped by card play; City cards set the victory conditions for the current game, and Junk Art cards determine what kind of pieces you place next. Depending on the city, you might need the tallest structure, the most pieces, or simply be the last player standing. Tenno proved to have the steadiest hand, graciously accepting the
Junk Art crown to close out the evening.
Towering achievements
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