Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Hamburgum - 16 September 2009
Three of us tackled Hamburgum again this evening. Well Londinium anyway, the English annotated side of the game board. A complex game that feels quite simple when you're playing. Each turn is quick and works with the rondel mechanism from Antike, so the game flows really well. Kieron played well at trading and building but didn't make as many church donations as James and Orhan, who ended the game just one point apart. Final score was Orhan 104, James 103 and Kieron 89 (ish). A really good game we should aim to play relatively soon before we've forgotten the rules again.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Colours - 12 September 2009
Andy and I spent six happy hours at the Colours games show at Newbury Racecourse. There were some nice demo games, notably a big Zulu game (with players wearing pith helmets or fur headbands), a Cops and Robbers game based on The Sweeney, and Ghostbusters UK - complete with amended Ghostbusters logo with top hat and monocle, and an ungrammatical but amusing Anglicised slogan - "Whom is One Going to Call?".
Andy bought terrain and 10mm scale tanks for use with a ruleset called Blitzkreig Commander. I got a chapel and bridge in resin for 25mm skirmish games, and completing my set of Railway Rivals variants, I bought the German version Dampfross. It was only a fiver in the otherwise disappointing Bring & Buy and provides us with 8 new hardboard maps - Eastern USA, Western USA, France and Germany from Dampfross, and Southern Italy, Northern Italy, Switzerland and Austria from Dampfross 2 - the later version which also introduced the leap-frog rule, or "Laubfroschvariante" as I think I may call it from now on!
I also bought a cardboard case containing four pre-cut foam layers for storing my 25mm figures, from a company called KR Multicase. Definitely a good day.
Andy bought terrain and 10mm scale tanks for use with a ruleset called Blitzkreig Commander. I got a chapel and bridge in resin for 25mm skirmish games, and completing my set of Railway Rivals variants, I bought the German version Dampfross. It was only a fiver in the otherwise disappointing Bring & Buy and provides us with 8 new hardboard maps - Eastern USA, Western USA, France and Germany from Dampfross, and Southern Italy, Northern Italy, Switzerland and Austria from Dampfross 2 - the later version which also introduced the leap-frog rule, or "Laubfroschvariante" as I think I may call it from now on!
I also bought a cardboard case containing four pre-cut foam layers for storing my 25mm figures, from a company called KR Multicase. Definitely a good day.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Java - 9 September 2009
After a trip to Andoversford to discover Orhan was away in Paris, James, David and Kieron returned to James' house. A visit to the loft uncovered an old 2-4 player game we hadn't played for a long time - Java. This is a tile development game building up cities and palaces. Lots of fun and head-scratching trying to work out the best set of actions each turn. The King of Optimisation trounced James and Kieron. Final scores: David 129, James 107, Kieron 87.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Medici - 2 September 2009
A gang of 6 descended upon K's house this week for a catch up after a summer of holidaying (well for some of us!). Luckily, James had predicted the large turnout and had brought another favourite, Medici. Unluckily for the rest of us, Andy was playing so the evening's result was written in the stars. Everyone else went for the sensible option of opting for perhaps two strong strands whilst keeping an eye on the big points available at the end of each round. Andy went for his tactic of bidding on seemingly odd combinations and won. I must avoid saying here that it must have been luck as Andy seems to know something about this game that the rest of us don't! The blog has only recorded 2 other games of Medici, both won by Adrian. Surely this can't be true?
Final points: Andy 80, Adrian 78, Orhan 68, Kieron 63, David 58, James 57 (yes 6th place for James)
Final points: Andy 80, Adrian 78, Orhan 68, Kieron 63, David 58, James 57 (yes 6th place for James)
Friday, 21 August 2009
Field of Glory, 20 August
This week Orhan travelled to Mesopotamia (oh alright, Adrian's house) with a different Graeco-Bactrian list to take on Adrian and David's Seleucids - now all finished. Orhan won the initiative and the battle was fought in reasonably open terrain with only some uneven ground in the centre and a bit on the wings. Orhan deployed with a very heavy cavalry, light horse and cataphract right wing, a phalanx in the centre, light foot screening the whole front and some more reserve cataphracts at the rear. Adrian and David kept their cataphracts back, with 2 groups of foot (phalanx, blades and medium foot) in their centre and on their right, and again a light foot screen.
The battle was one of manoeuvre. The Seleucids redeployed their mounted to counter Orhan's right wing attack. The lines of light in the centre shot lots at each other. Orhan's Cretan archers and one lot of elephants got shot up and retreated and Adrian was lapping round his left flank and encircling his phalanx when time was called. A big clash on the left saw both sides' elephants attack each others' cataphracts, other cataphracts hit medium foot bowmen (ouch) and cavalry and light horse slug it out. It was a good and thoughtful game. Orhan suffered some unlucky dice rolls and his army never quite (in his words) got it together. Although at the end I think the Seleucids were only up by 1 GB unit fragged, it was pretty clear that with another 30 mins play the Seleucids would have racked up a few more points.
Lessons? On our side the key learning point was that, when engaging in shooting and being shot at, it is really crucial to have a general in command range plus rear support - to give a fantastic +2 on the cohesion rolls. Orhan's Field Commander really came into his own here, his 8" command range allowing him to stop several units from going disrupted by his +1 bonus. Where Orhan's units broke from shooting it was in each case because they didn't get the +2 factor. Adrian, who had this bonus on all his light foot units didn't suffer a single one disrupted. (Cleary being lucky on the dice helps, but +2 is a big deal). Given also that Orhan noted that in many ways he had too many good units and not enough filler, we concluded that our future army design will probably have a Field General and be based around groupings of units that can provide each other rear support. But we won't mess with the Seleucids now that I've just finished painting them all....
The battle was one of manoeuvre. The Seleucids redeployed their mounted to counter Orhan's right wing attack. The lines of light in the centre shot lots at each other. Orhan's Cretan archers and one lot of elephants got shot up and retreated and Adrian was lapping round his left flank and encircling his phalanx when time was called. A big clash on the left saw both sides' elephants attack each others' cataphracts, other cataphracts hit medium foot bowmen (ouch) and cavalry and light horse slug it out. It was a good and thoughtful game. Orhan suffered some unlucky dice rolls and his army never quite (in his words) got it together. Although at the end I think the Seleucids were only up by 1 GB unit fragged, it was pretty clear that with another 30 mins play the Seleucids would have racked up a few more points.
Lessons? On our side the key learning point was that, when engaging in shooting and being shot at, it is really crucial to have a general in command range plus rear support - to give a fantastic +2 on the cohesion rolls. Orhan's Field Commander really came into his own here, his 8" command range allowing him to stop several units from going disrupted by his +1 bonus. Where Orhan's units broke from shooting it was in each case because they didn't get the +2 factor. Adrian, who had this bonus on all his light foot units didn't suffer a single one disrupted. (Cleary being lucky on the dice helps, but +2 is a big deal). Given also that Orhan noted that in many ways he had too many good units and not enough filler, we concluded that our future army design will probably have a Field General and be based around groupings of units that can provide each other rear support. But we won't mess with the Seleucids now that I've just finished painting them all....
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Field of Glory, 12 August
Firmly into Anderida practice season now, with David and Adrian taking on Orhan's Seleucids at Orhan's house. The Seleucids were up against a Graeco-Bactrian army (already chosen by one team for Anderida) which had maxed out on cataphracts and elephants.
Team GB lost the initiative and deployed first with a Light Horse screen that more or less covered the table width. Their elephants were on each flank accompanied by Light Foot and their cataphracts held back in the centre, waiting to see where the Seleucids would put their cavalry.
Orhan deployed with phalanx and cataphracts in the centre, his Galatian cavalry on his left wing and his elite Companions on his right. The phalanx started off in uneven going with their elephants for company.
The GBs attacked on the wings, Adrian's Light Horse and Foot sweeping away Orhan's Tarantines (unit broken in successive turns from shooting alone), David's Light Horse and Cataphracts taking out Orhan's Scythians and Galatians. The Seleucid Companions bravely charged a Light Foot unit only to realise that they were in range of Adrian's Elephants, which charged them and broke them (although they did kill the general fighting with the Elephants). Adrian's Light Horse also broke two units of Light Foot. 90 minutes in it looked bleak for the Seleucids with Orhan noting that his poor dice rolls were costing him the game - was it worth playing on?
But we did. And the struggle in the centre turned the story around somewhat. Orhan's Elephants, Cataphracts and Phalanx broke out of the rough to maul 2 units of Cataphracts, and, on the Seleucid's left a Light Horse group was taken out. The other Seleucid pike block pinned and then engaged the Elephants on their flank, which wasn't looking pretty by home time.
We played for 3.5 hours, by which time Orhan had lost 5 groups broken, Adrian/David 3. The centre was Orhan's, the wings ours. Using the official tournament scoring system this provided 13 points (where 25 points is the maximum and an equivalent of a 10-0 victory in DBM) to the GBs and 7 points to the Seleucids.
Learning points for this game: Elephants kill Cavalry and Cataphracts. Anything in column is very vulnerable to shooting (coz you only count 3 bases in the targeted group). Cataphracts really need generals to double move them for them to get anywhere early on. Light troops don't have to charge headlong into heavy stuff - they will generally stop 1" short of them (which means you can clear out Light Foot by charging them with Light Horse). Having small (4x6") pieces of terrain is useful if you want to get them on the table as the defender. You need 2 players and you need to plan your moves during the opponent's turn and move quickly during your turn to get a game finished and grab more points. Too slow and you simply won't rack up enough points coz there is no sudden death in FoG (ie. whereas you could play slowly in DBM and win a game 6-4 and still get 60% of the points of someone winning 10-0, playing slowly in FoG and getting, for example a credible 12 points, would get you under 50% of the points of a maximal victor - hence to come high in the comp requires quick play I would suggest).
Team GB lost the initiative and deployed first with a Light Horse screen that more or less covered the table width. Their elephants were on each flank accompanied by Light Foot and their cataphracts held back in the centre, waiting to see where the Seleucids would put their cavalry.
Orhan deployed with phalanx and cataphracts in the centre, his Galatian cavalry on his left wing and his elite Companions on his right. The phalanx started off in uneven going with their elephants for company.
The GBs attacked on the wings, Adrian's Light Horse and Foot sweeping away Orhan's Tarantines (unit broken in successive turns from shooting alone), David's Light Horse and Cataphracts taking out Orhan's Scythians and Galatians. The Seleucid Companions bravely charged a Light Foot unit only to realise that they were in range of Adrian's Elephants, which charged them and broke them (although they did kill the general fighting with the Elephants). Adrian's Light Horse also broke two units of Light Foot. 90 minutes in it looked bleak for the Seleucids with Orhan noting that his poor dice rolls were costing him the game - was it worth playing on?
But we did. And the struggle in the centre turned the story around somewhat. Orhan's Elephants, Cataphracts and Phalanx broke out of the rough to maul 2 units of Cataphracts, and, on the Seleucid's left a Light Horse group was taken out. The other Seleucid pike block pinned and then engaged the Elephants on their flank, which wasn't looking pretty by home time.
We played for 3.5 hours, by which time Orhan had lost 5 groups broken, Adrian/David 3. The centre was Orhan's, the wings ours. Using the official tournament scoring system this provided 13 points (where 25 points is the maximum and an equivalent of a 10-0 victory in DBM) to the GBs and 7 points to the Seleucids.
Learning points for this game: Elephants kill Cavalry and Cataphracts. Anything in column is very vulnerable to shooting (coz you only count 3 bases in the targeted group). Cataphracts really need generals to double move them for them to get anywhere early on. Light troops don't have to charge headlong into heavy stuff - they will generally stop 1" short of them (which means you can clear out Light Foot by charging them with Light Horse). Having small (4x6") pieces of terrain is useful if you want to get them on the table as the defender. You need 2 players and you need to plan your moves during the opponent's turn and move quickly during your turn to get a game finished and grab more points. Too slow and you simply won't rack up enough points coz there is no sudden death in FoG (ie. whereas you could play slowly in DBM and win a game 6-4 and still get 60% of the points of someone winning 10-0, playing slowly in FoG and getting, for example a credible 12 points, would get you under 50% of the points of a maximal victor - hence to come high in the comp requires quick play I would suggest).
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Field of Glory - 5 August 2009
Alexander (Andy, David & James) vs the Romans (Adrian & Orhan). A good slog on Alexander's right flank with Adrian's Legions breaking several of Andy & James' Medium Foot, but some progress made by the Macedonians when they brought in Alexander and a pike block from the centre and chased off a legion and its general.
On the left flank, David's cavalry engaged with Orhan's mixed command. Although Orhan broke through and took out our baggage, David used another of the central pike blocks to support his pincer movement and broke several of Orhan's battlegroups (BGs).
Final scores were 4 BGs broken and destroyed baggage (4*2+2=10) to Adrian & Orhan, and 4 BGs broken and 1 fragmented (4*2+1=9) to Andy, David & James. Since the Roman army was smaller than Alexander's, the latter achieved a minor victory - 9 points against 13 BGs beating 10 points against 16 BGs.
Key learning points were about timing the moves of commanders from BG to BG to maximise their effect at different points in the turn sequence, getting the right distance with BGs providing rear support so that they aren't over-run when a victor bursts through, and avoiding fighting uphill against better troop types(!).
On the left flank, David's cavalry engaged with Orhan's mixed command. Although Orhan broke through and took out our baggage, David used another of the central pike blocks to support his pincer movement and broke several of Orhan's battlegroups (BGs).
Final scores were 4 BGs broken and destroyed baggage (4*2+2=10) to Adrian & Orhan, and 4 BGs broken and 1 fragmented (4*2+1=9) to Andy, David & James. Since the Roman army was smaller than Alexander's, the latter achieved a minor victory - 9 points against 13 BGs beating 10 points against 16 BGs.
Key learning points were about timing the moves of commanders from BG to BG to maximise their effect at different points in the turn sequence, getting the right distance with BGs providing rear support so that they aren't over-run when a victor bursts through, and avoiding fighting uphill against better troop types(!).
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