Battles of the Week, 24 April 2016

Batreps/AARs I enjoyed this week:

French and Indian War over at Big Lee's Place - Battle of the Week!  Great looking attack on a British outpost.

One Page 40k at Forkusprimordus - after giving up on the latest edition of the WH40k rules, a foray into the One Page 40k rules.  Gameplay didn't suffer, oddly enough.

Pulp Battlesworn at Stronghold Rebuilt, Fu Manchus Halls of Horror - Great mashup of old minis, old GW maps, and a new-ish game.  Scenario is posted separately here.

Frostgrave at Wee Blokes - Neat scenario of a treasure hunt (it is Frostgrave, after all) with the possibility of an angry Genie popping up to attack players' warbands.  If you haven't checked out this blog yet, do so.  I aspire to having so many cool campaigns posted, and hope to build my site up to something like this.

Flames of War D-Day Game at sediment's wargame blog - massive battle

Batrep/Review of Hail Caesar at Campaigns in Miniature - relatively negative review of Hail Caesar from a fan of the Ancients combined with a batrep of phalanxes clashing.  Worth reading if you are interested in the game.

GASLIGHT at Baron Von J's - good looking showdown between British and German forces.

Battlegroup Blitzkrieg at This War Without an Enemy - neat little WW II game

Other stuff:

Battlezone 1998 Redux at Delta Vector - Not a batrep, but if you enjoy more than one game and like to think about game design, go there and start reading the archives.  Join the Google Group.  Very intelligent thoughts collect at the website and the Group on homebrew rule sets and how to make games that make players make decisions.  Very cool.

Battles of the Week, 17 April 2016

Here's the batreps that I enjoyed the most this week:

Song of Blades and Heroes at Stalker 7 - Best looking game of the week.  Absolutely beautiful, great gameplay and pictures.

Epic Napoleonic game at Big Lee's - I've seen these games played, never participated.  Hope to do that someday.

Necromunda League at Fawcett Avenue Conscripts - Good looking game.  It's a shame that Games Workshop lost interest in supporting this game.

Fistful of Lead variants at Baron Von J's Blog - Cool scenery, and I believe that the downed "spaceship" is an old G.I. Joe toy.  Got one in the garage.

Battlesworn at The Stronghold Rebuilt - Great game that comes right down to the wire, as the scenario intended.  Definitely worth a look.

Naval Thunder at Campaigns in Miniature - Never played this game, but it looks good.

Fighting Sail at Bob's place - Another maritime game, this time pointing out a potential flaw in an Osprey set of rules.

Neil Thomas One Hour Wargames battle for McPherson's Ridge at Sound Officer's Call - Beautiful, detailed, and historically accurate game.

Xin's Lair - Two games of note that I've read at this blog:  (1) a huge convention Frostgrave game with an epic, multi-scale battleground that was put together, at least partially, at the last minute - very impressive; (2) an old-school Warhammer Fantasy Battle game.  Adding this blog to my reading list.

Finally, not a battle report, but cool nonetheless - the GURPS stats calculated for the M41 Pulse Rifle of Aliens fame, and a video of a working mock-up that someone made.  Pretty cool.

Battles of the Week, 10 April 2016

I'm starting a new series of blog posts on the battle reports/batreps/AARs that I enjoy.  As you'll notice, the blogs I read, listed to your right in the full version (sorry, won't see it on the mobile version) feature more than a few wargaming blogs that produce good reports on the games that they play.  That's a big part of why I blog - of all the wargaming content on the interwebs, I enjoy reading batreps/AARs the most.

So, without further ado, here's a few posts that caught my eye this week:

Epic 30k at Fawcett Avenue Conscripts - Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus go toe-to-toe over control of a government building complex, heavy casualties ensue

Arc of Fire at sediment's wargame blog - a modern game I've never played, but it seems to handle conventional forces relatively well.  Two games played - Game 1 and Game 2

Bolt Action at Craig's Wargaming Blog - reinforced US Paratrooper and German platoons face off

Frostgrave at Colgar 6 - A beautiful write-up with color-coded icons to indicate the multiple factions seeking treasure in the frozen city; just marvelous

Combat Patrol Playtesting at Buck Surdu's Blog - Unique opportunity to see a batrep/playtest report as a WWII game is adding supplements for other historical periods

Elves & Dwarves vs. Orcs & Goblins, Battle for the EverFrost

For the first battle of the Campaign for the Darkened Wood, a series of battles played with the Savage Worlds Showdown rules, a force of Orcs and Goblins will face off with a coalition of Wood Elves and Dwarves that seek to prevent the Orc Shaman from harnessing the dark energies of a place rich in magical power.

Deep in the heart of the Darkened Wood, there lies a mystical place touched by unknown and mysterious magics.  This place, the EverFrost, features three pillars of blue, frozen stone that stays frigid in spite of its placement in a lush and green forest.  A force of Orcs and Goblins, led by Chieftain Urg and Shaman Grimnobb, ventured to the EverFrost on the eve of the Summer Solstice, when the contrast between the summer heat and the cold of the EverFrost pillars will heighten the power that Grimnobb can direct into a devious spell.  Sensing a disturbance in the magical realm based on Grimnobb's dark designs, Dwarf mage Forgoth Greybeard and warrior Erik the Berserker lead a Dwarf warband that unites with a similarly-motivated band of Wood Elves, led by Chieftain Eofar and Swordmaster Turwyn, hoping to keep dark magics out of this world.

The goal of each warband is to have their mage standing on the EverFrost on the last turn of the game.  Now, on to the tale of the tape:

The Elf-Dwarf coalition.  Elves on the left, led by Chieftain Eofar and Swordmaster Turwyn.  Dwarves on the right, led by mage Forgoth Greybeard and warrior Erik the Berserker.

Orc and Goblin warband.  Chieftain Urg (still a work in progress paint job) and Shaman Grimnobb in the center.

Positions of the warbands at the game's outset.

Turn 1:
Orc and Goblin forces drew, on average, higher initiative and raced for the EverFrost pillars and into nearby woods to provide cover from notoriously accurate Elven arrows.

The fear of arrow fire was not irrational; Elven archers advanced and fired a long-range volley at the Goblins on the Green Horde left, connecting with one arrow.  The Goblins spent a benny to soak this damage and keep the unit moving at the same pace.  Another volley, this one aimed at Orcs, sent two arrows bouncing off of Orc shields.

Position of the forces at the end of Turn 1.  The two minis out in front of the Elven line are their Chieftain and Swordmaster.

Turn 2:
The Green Horde largely led the way with initiative again.  The Dwarven Mage fired a bolt of magic that hit an Orc but failed to wound.

The Orc shaman and his retinue moved forward to mount the rocks at the edge of the EverFrost, and the archer accompanying the mage fired an arrow at an opposite Dwarf that fell harmlessly to the earth.

The Elves and Dwarves continued to advance toward the EverFrost, with a number of arrows fired and failing to connect.  The Elven Chieftain and Swordmaster were able to mount the rocks around the EverFrost.

View from the Elven left flank as their Chieftain and Swordmaster mount the rocks around the EverFrost.

Turn 3:
In the Green Horde initiative draws, two Jokers came up.  On the resulting roll for associated random events, the Orc player designated a unit of Elven archers to suffer a -2 on all rolls this round.  This would prove fortuitous.

The Elven Chieftain, the best archer on the field, moved to a position of advantage on the EverFrost rocks and fired an arrow into the Orc shaman, causing two wounds to the mage.  He would recover one of them with a benny-driven Soak roll.  This critical shot threatened the Orcs' chances for victory - with no mage standing on the EverFrost rocks at games' end, they would lose those victory points.

Both sides continued to move toward each other.  The Orc chieftain moved to a place of partial cover between EverFrost pillars, and the temporarily hindered Elven archer unit took some shots at him.  The -2 modifier meant the difference between him hits and misses.

The -2 modifier applied this turn to this Elven archer unit saved the Orc chieftain from being wounded.

The Goblins on the Green Horde left moved all the way around a patch of woods to try to envelope the Elf/Dwarf right flank.

The Orc Shaman moved forward and cast a Blast spell with great success in spite of his lingering wound.  He inflicted one wound on the Elven chieftain, and two on the Swordmaster.  They both spent bennies to Soak wounds.

Blast marker of the Orc shaman's spell completely covered the Elven chieftain and swordmaster.

Turn 4:

Positions at the start of Turn 4.  Flanking Goblins on either side of the Dwarf/Elf line, seeking to find a maneuver advantage.

The Orc left charged into combat with the Dwarven hero Erik the Berserker and two of his brethren.

The Orc and Dwarf lines meet alongside the EverFrost.

The three Orcs managed to roll three 1s for their attacks.  An Orc charge against the lead Elven archer similarly failed.

The Orcs come up snake eyes.  And another 1.

On top of the Everfrost, an Orc spearman charged forward and stabbed Eofar, the Elven chieftain, inflicting two wounds, with one being soaked.  Eofar's counter-thrust missed the mark.

Turwyn, the Elven swordmaster, leapt forward and scored the first kill of the game.  Bringing his greatsword crashing down on an Orc, he killed the beast instantly, and its lifeless body fell from rocks around the EverFrost.

Turwyn, Elven Swordmaster, vanquishes an Orc that falls dead to the earth next to the EverFrost.

The Goblins' run around the patch woods on the Elf/Dwarf right brought them almost within striking distance of the Dwarven rear, but the Dwarven unit, led by Greybeard the mage, responded with a magic missile.

The closest any Goblin came to a successful flanking maneuver.

One of the Goblins fell to the earth dead, a smoking crater in its chest.

The lead flanking Goblin falls dead, breaking the unit's momentum.

Back on the Elven left, a flurry of arrows brought down one and shook another of the Goblins seeking to charge out of the woods and into the Elven flank.

Accurate Elven arrows repulse a parallel flanking attack on the other side of the field.

Turn 5:

The battle swung toward the Elves and Dwarves.  All Orc and Goblin units that took casualties failed their Spirit checks (morale rolls) and started their flight from the field.  The Orc and Goblin right flank, including their shaman, began to flee.  The two Orcs engaged in combat with the Elven chieftain and swordmaster fell to sword blows as they tried to flee, and Elven arrows rained down on the Orc shaman as he fled, inflicting more wounds on him.

The Orc Shaman flees the field as his retinue broke, only to receive harrying arrow fire as he tries to leave the battle.

Combat on the Elven/Dwarven right proved rather inconclusive, and we decided to call the game at that point.  The Orc shaman was going to either flee the field or be shot down in a hail of Elven arrows in the next turn, either outcome fatal to the Orcs' hopes for victory.

The Orc line breaks and flees the field.

Post-battle impressions:
1.  The Savage Worlds Showdown system works well.  I thought that the bennies (re-roll tokens) would be a nuisance, but the concept has grown on me.  I can see how strategic use of them can really influence the course of a game.
2.  Some models need to have stats adjusted.  The Orcs had a d6 fighting skill, which made hits on some models all but impossible.  Some or all need to be shifted to a d8 fighting skill.
3.  The game was fun, and, with a few more under our belt the system should play pretty quickly.

Beastmen vs. Wood Elves, Savage Worlds Showdown

We're back, and with a whole new take on fantasy skirmish.  After my somewhat less-than-satisfying experience with my Beastmen vs. Wood Elves in the Song of Blades and Heroes rules, I set out to try the matter again with the Savage Worlds ruleset ... more specifically, with their Showdown rules that take away RPG-useful stats and boil everything down more simply to a tabletop wargame.

Same as last time, I set out three treasure locations, with Elven and Beastmen forces squaring off opposite each other with the prospective treasure locations in between, and each location had a 1/3 chance of being the treasure's hiding spot.  

Layout from the Elves' perspective.  Three prospective treasure sites at the mid-point of the board.

The forces were balanced much differently.  Last time, the Elves were overpriced to the point of being more expensive than the Beastmen.  Not so this time.  A Beastman force of one chieftain and four followers priced out to 105 points.  For 118 points, the Elves had a chieftain and Swordsman (both Wild Cards) and eight archers.

The Beastman force.

The Elven force.  A whole lot more guys than were had under the SoBH system.

So, here goes:

Turn 1:

Beastmen won initiative overall.  I was using Minotaur stats for the Beastmen (which may seem like a bit much, but deal with it), which gave them a Pace (movement) of 8" each, plus a 1d10" if they run.

The Beastmen move distance put two of three of their groups already in contact with the three possible treasure locations.  The Elves opened fire with their bows at this point, all at -2 for their running, and needing a 6+ to hit.

Shooting on the Elven left put four arrows into one of the opposing Beastmen, but none proved effective against the beasts.  Arrow fire on the Elven right proved likewise ineffective.

Both sides advance to the three possible treasure sites.  The Beastmens' superior movement rates takes them up to the treasure sites in two of three cases.

Turn 2:

The Elven right took initiative, putting one successful arrow into a Beastman.  With an astounding series of damage rolls, the beast fell to the ground, out of the fight.  His compatriot (a unit of only two Beastmen) failed his Spirit check and proved Shaken.   The Elven Swordmaster moved forward to take advantage of this and lay the beast low, but was unable to.

The Elven left proved likewise ineffective - the arrows of all Elves (including Eofar, the chieftain, who stayed stationary to gain a +2 aiming advantage but rolled a 1) failed to connect to vulnerable Beastman flesh.

The Beastman chieftain advanced to the center position, while the Beastmen opposite the Elven left were comfortable enough under the hail of ineffective arrow fire to check their possible treasure position and determine that their objective did not contain the treasure trove.

Turn 3:

The Elven left took initiative and a hail of arrows brought one of the opposite Beastmen down.  The sole Beastman remaining opposite the Elven left passed a Spirit check and stayed on the field.

Elven arrows fell one of the two Beastmen on the Elven left.

On the Elven right, the Elven Swordmaster moved into combat with the Beastman at Treasure Site 3.  Using his Improved Flurry trait (two attacks, no penalty) he scored a well-placed blow and laid low his opponent.

The Elven swordmaster bests a beastman.  The battle clearly swings to the Elves.

Strategic view of the battle from the Elves' viewpoint.  Arrows on the Elven left reduce Beastmen while the Elven swordmaster charges forward on the Elven right and slays his remaining opponent.

Things were looking grim for the Beastmen.  Reduced now to 2 out of their original 5, they took a force-wide (if you can call it that) morale check.  I don't see that in the Showdown rules, but it seems a sensible house rule.  The Beastman chieftain passed his check, but the last of his  followers failed his.

At this point, the Beastmen routed and headed for the hills.  The lackey who failed his Spirit roll for a morale check recovered from being Shaken (I may have done this wrong - it may be that he was supposed to stay Shaken the rest of this turn) and rolled a 10 for his run roll, taking him all the way to the edge of the board.  The Beastman chieftain, however, only rolled a 3 and fell victim to a hail of Elven arrows as he fled.  Two connected, one wounded.

Turn 4:

The Beastman chieftain failed to get out of a Shaken state and shambled to the edge of the map while his compatriot successfully fled.  The Elves gave chase and fired arrows as they did so, and with an astounding chain of rolls managed to throw four more wounds into the fleeing Beastman leader.  Wild Cards (Player Characters or champions in Savage Worlds Showdown) only have four wounds, so he was down and out of the fight.  A sweeping victory for the Elves!

Strategic view of the Elven chase of the Beastmen from the field.  A hail of arrows pincushions the Beastman chieftain.

Reverse view of the field from the Beastman chieftain's (corpse's) view.

A few thoughts:

1.  The system is far more nuanced than Song of Blades and Heroes, particularly with regard to missile attacks.  The possibility of exploding dice means that, even with unlikely shots getting through the superior Toughness of the Beastmen, it did happen.  This is realistic and I like it.  

2.  I did the Beastmen a disservice by not placing patches of woods that blocked arrows entirely.  This worked greatly to the Elves' favor.  Will have to keep that in mind in the future, especially when one side is composed almost wholly of archers/missile troops.

3.  The Beastmen stats seem off.  By the math of the game, as I understand it, they should have a Toughness of 8, but the basic book lists them as having a Toughness of 11.  I don't know how it would get there, but it would make sense, as I'm using Minotaur stats.  I'm thinking of changing it back to the suggested numbers, even if they don't add up as I understand them.

4.  To run Savage Worlds Showdown "right" - by which I mean with balanced factions - there's a bit more effort than there is in A Song of Blades and Heroes.  This is partly due to the complexity of the two systems - SoBH is stupid simple, while SW Showdown is near-RPG complex by design.  And it's more complicated by virtue of the fact that the spreadsheet available at Savage Worlds websites is okay for calculating, in broad terms, the value of a full faction.  It isn't great for tableside gameplay.  This (using the provided formulas, with cells switched around) is much more useful:

So, that's where my fantasy skirmish is.  Hope you enjoyed.  I did.

Edited to add;  I didn't use any Bennies (re-rolls, each side gets 3 per 100 points and two per Wild Card).  Had I done so, the Beastmen surely would've used them to Soak wounds and charge into contact with the Elves, and this might have been a different battle entirely.

Cheap 28mm Miniatures

Been spending a bit of time on ebay lately, assembling some minis for future gaming endeavors.  I'm surprised to see the low prices on some Games Workshop figurines - you could pay less than original retail for assembled and competently painted minis if you are patient.

One thing that I ran across was sets of miniatures for a Russian game, Castlecraft.  They come in sets with buildings or in blister packs of eight, with four minis from each of two sides (the factions vary from knights to barbarians to others such as orcs, etc.).  Including the cost of shipping from Russia, the price comes out to about $1.00 a mini!  I took a chance on a couple of packs, and was able to amass the loot pictured below.

The original packaging.  A knights versus barbarians pack.

Four knights, good for Song of Blades and Heroes or other fantasy skirmish games.

Four Roman legionnaires.  I hadn't planned on going historical, but it would be a chance to teach the boys about history and have fun while doing so.

Two sets of slightly different barbarians (similar enough to be part of the same warband, though) from two different blister packs.  I've wanted to build a barbarian warband, and now I've done it for eight bucks!

The minis have some flash on them that I'll have to trim off, but a size comparison shows them to be on par in height (though a bit stouter) than LoTR minis, and a bit smaller than the 'heroic' scale Reaper Bones minis.  They'll fit in just fine and come with beveled bases to boot - no additional basing necessary.  I may give some of these guys to the boys to paint.  For a dollar a piece, you just can't go wrong.

Beastmen vs Wood Elves, Song of Blades and Heroes

I put the first game of the year in the books with a quick bit of Song of Blades and Heroes between me and my better half.  The scenario, Treasure Hunt, comes from the main rule book, with the opposing parties racing to check three possible locations where treasure might be located.  If (based on a roll) the first two come up dry, then the treasure will be found at the third.

I took a faction of five Beastmen, who all activated on a roll of 3+ on a d6, and have a Combat value of 4 (added to their roll in a contested d6 vs. d6 encounter).  No special abilities, save my leader, who had the (obviously) Leader trait.

The boys/beasts, in all their glory.

My special lady friend took a group of four Wood Elves, who activate on 3+, have a Combat value of 3, were armed with bows, and could move through the woods without penalty (Forester trait).

The fey lads.

The stock Beastman clocks in at 40 points, the Wood Elf with bow at 50.  As the encounter played out, you'll see that this was a mismatch.  The Elves needed more numbers, not less, to offset the Beastman toughness, and this game gives particularly short shrift to missile troops.

The Field:

I started from the near side.  Click to embiggen and enjoy my labels.  Do the same with the rest of the pics below.

Turns 1-2:
The Beastmen won initiative and race toward the three potential treasure spots.  They made better progress than the Wood Elves, in spite of the heavily wooded areas, on account of some good luck with the dice on activation.

The Beastmen take an early lead in getting to potential treasure spots 2 and 3.

Turn 3:
Two of the Beastmen and the Wood Elf leader arrived at Treasure 2, in the middle of the field, at nearly the same time.

The Beastman who made it to Treasure 2 first discovered that the treasure wasn't there, but he and his buddy stuck around to face off with the Wood Elf leader.

The lead Beastman moved into contact with the Wood Elf leader, so that at the least the Elf wouldn't be able to move out of combat to another possible treasure location without offering the Beastman a "free hack."

The Wood Elf leader prevails in the early combat, but only to the extent of knocking down the lead Beastman.

Meanwhile, over at possible treasure location 3, a Beastman has discovered that the treasure wasn't here, either, but moved forward to likewise engage a nearby Elf in combat and tie down the enemy.

Turn 3:
As both sides now know that the treasure is at treasure spot 1, they all shift forces toward that location.

The Beastman leader leads the charge, racing toward treasure site 1.

As the Beastman leader completes his move to treasure site 1, the Beastman previously knocked down has gotten back to his feet, and another Beastman rushes to his side to gain a group combat advantage over the Elf leader. The Elf leader succumbs to a bad roll and enemy numbers.

Though the Wood Elf leader fell in combat, his followers all retreated just one movement, just enough to avoid leaving the field of combat.  They resumed the push for the treasure in his name.

Turn 4:
As the Beastman leader gathered up the treasure, the Wood Elves proved unable to slow their enemies' momentum in the contest.

As the Beastman leader successfully spends two actions picking up the treasure, a Wood Elf moves into the copse of trees and fires an arrow at the Beastman leader.  It failed to connect, and the Beastmen moved closer to victory.  Out of the picture, other Beastmen continued to move toward treasure location 1 to screen their leader's exit from the field.

 Turn 5:

As the Beastman leader made a successful move out of the copse of trees that had hidden the treasure, two Beastmen moved in to engage the archer that had dared challenge their warlord.

The advantages of numbers and a higher Combat value again overwhelm a Wood Elf.

Turn 6:
As soon as the turn started, the Beastmen leader activated well enough to leave my starting edge, gaining victory.

Victory!

AAR:
1.  You'll notice a lack of Wood Elf activity in my report.  The Fey Folk failed to force a fearsome fight from their frail followers.  Seriously, the Elf rolls for activation and combat were awful throughout.
2.  Two key factors in the math supporting Song of Blades and Heroes really undermined the Elves here.
-  First, the expense of statting up the Wood Elves as archers meant that troops inferior in combat (Combat value 3) were more expensive than the Beastmen (Combat value 4).  This is one way in which missile troops are disadvantaged in SoBH.
-  Beyond close ranges, missile troops are not very effective.  They suffer beyond 1 x Shooter Distance (Short, Medium, Long).  Even though these were Long Range Shooters, look at how the numbers play out.  With a distance beyond 1 Long Range measure (7" - 14" or so) the shooter suffers -2 to his Combat value.  So a C3 becomes C1.  And this is fired against a C4 target.  So if the Beastman target rolls a 1 and adds 4 to get 5, the best the archer can do is roll a 6, add 1 to get a 7.  This fails to get a double on the defender, and fails to get a kill.  Even if you take the trait Unerring Aim (the Elves were already too expensive relative to the Beastmen, so I didn't), which reduces the distance penalty to -1 instead of -2, the best you can do is 8 versus 5, which still fails to double and produce a kill (and noting that rolling a 6 vs 1 is a 1-in-36 chance in happening).  So it's impossible to kill beyond close range with an archer, even one with a relatively high Combat value, against a C4-level target.
3.  So, as much as I enjoy Song of Blades and Heroes, particularly for its "play what you brought" ethos, there is still a certain amount of Army List gamesmanship that can be had.  I'll never again field a force made up of archers because of the structural disadvantages outlined above.

I remain undeterred in wanting to play Song of Blades and Heroes, but will definitely be mindful of the necessity of fielding a more balanced force for both sides in the future.  More to follow.