Amiens

It's been a few days, so it must be time for some photos of a wargames table that look very similar to the last lot I posted. Although, as promised, the tanks are making their first appearance:

We are going to have a try of the August 1918 Amiens scenario included in the Square Bashing Army List Book. Normally at this point I would complain that it is badly written and difficult, or even impossible, to put on the table. However, while I am not suggesting it is a masterpiece of clarity, I think on this occasion I may have misinterpreted what they were getting at and made things somewhat worse myself. I'm not sufficiently certain of anything to go to the effort of changing things round so we shall go with what we have.

As usual the players will have a chance to rearrange their forces, the defenders will be depleted by some of their forces being moved off table as reserves and then they will be able to place some defences, in this case covering five squares.

Last week we finished the game within the requisite three hours so it can be done. Aside from getting to grips with the rules for tanks this week should be even quicker because the countdown is from 16 rather than 21, to reflect the British need for a quick advance. I suspect that the German's main hope is for the game to be over quickly. Neither side has as much as usual in the way of off table artillery support so we should also get a chance to better understand the value of the other asset options (morale, extra oomph in attack, yet more defences) and the timing of calling in the barrages may be critical.

Another view of the tanks. I made the red and white markings a bit larger than they actually were just for a bit of visual impact; I'm sure that the lines were straight when I painted them. I left off the rails for the ditching beams which were so fragile that they would have snapped off immediately anyway. The black beads are strength points for tanks, field guns etc. The other beads mark the quality of infantry units: blue for professional, green for regular, red for reservists.

In the trenches

Three or four weeks ago I posted about a Seven Years War game we were playing and said that because it looked inevitable that I would win that it was therefore pretty much a certainty that I wouldn't. I seem to have not bothered to write up the conclusion which was indeed that I lost, having failed Major Morale twice in quick succession. We had something similar last night, when James had thrown in the towel, only to triumph at the last gasp. Square Bashing has its faults, but it provided an entertaining evening for us.

Sadly the photos aren't going to get any more exciting than the one above. The Great War really isn't a colourful period; never mind - tanks next week. The trenches came about because it had been observed that the attacker had won very easily the week before in a period where defenders are generally considered to have the edge. A quick thought led to the realisation that perhaps that was because we hadn't given them anything to defend, and so we did. They proved very hard to take, especially with machine guns in, and overall it's hard to fault the logic of that.

Gas in the trenches

I was keen to play a game through to a conclusion and to implement the victory conditions as written, hence not letting James give up. I find the scoring method overly complex and doubt that there is any particular science behind it, but felt it deserved a look see. As in other Peter Pig rules there is a countdown mechanism so that you are never sure how long the game will last, although in this particular case we all knew for sure when the last move was. I don't find that any more artificial than, for example, the Major Morale rule in Piquet mentioned above. It is just a question of assuming that the dice rolls, card draws etc represent an exterior narrative to do with time, or the strategic position, or something like that; basically one has to go with the flow.

As I said we knew when the final turn was, so Peter as the attacking Germans took his last chance to try to seize two of his objectives (sections of trench) and then James as the defending British took his last chance to throw him out of them. In essence Peter lost because he chose to attack in a manner which gave him the best chance of winning the melee, whereas it turned out that he should have attacked in a way that gave him the best chance of moving troops into and holding the objective assuming that he did win the melee. It's just a question of finding the nuances in the rules. But overall it gave a game that went backwards and forwards and which until the end either side could have won; whatever else may be wrong with Square Bashing, that is a tangible positive.

Splitters

"The only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judean People's Front." - Reg

If you ask me - and I completely accept that you didn't - the decision of seven MPs to leave the Labour Party owes far more to thwarted ambition than it does to principle. The only one of them that I have ever met is Chris Leslie, who at one point, when he was MP for Shipley, I knew quite well. He was among the youngest of those elected in the Labour landslide of 1997, and when I first came across him was very humble and overtly conscious of how much he had to learn. However, just a few years later at the time of the Second Iraq War he was to be found holding forth on the geo-political issues of the day as if he was Winston Churchill reincarnated. You will recall that it was self-evident at the time (and indeed has been subsequently proven) that Bush and Blair were lying through their teeth and so Leslie's support for them could only be interpreted in one of two ways: either he was an idiot unable to understand what was happening, or he was happy to go along with the invasion because he thought it would be better for his career. As I knew him and you didn't, please take it from me that it was the latter. With hindsight it is no surprise that there was a spontaneous, completely disorganised, but not insignificant attempt to deselect him in which your bloggist played a prominent role. 

The other noteworthy thing about him - and I ought to say that he is actually an extremely personable and pleasant chap - was that he always described himself as a Social Democrat. Now this is a subject of such an arcane nature that even I don't really give a toss. If pushed I would probably describe myself as a Democratic Socialist, but I'm not so bothered. The thing is that notwithstanding anything that the MPs said this morning, the Labour manifesto at the last election wasn't particularly left wing. Both it and Jeremy Corbyn are pretty much in the mainstream of Western European social democracy. I touched on this subject recently, but it's worth pointing out that it is actually Leslie and his fellow conspirators who hold a Leninist view of the role of political parties. According to them, we the members should bow our heads, touch our forelocks and agree with whatever our leaders tell us. I have never taken that view, and now nor does the wider Labour Party. There is no way back to power for top-down, control freak apparatchiks like Leslie, and that is why they have left.

Mit Honig glasierte

OK, so the table in the annexe is set up for another game of Square Bashing. We're going to try the Trench Game pretty much as written in the book, although without the potential for a mine explosion, the rules for which are far too arbitrary for my taste. Given their love of complex pre-battle set up routines you would think that Peter Pig could have come up with something slightly more sophisticated than an opposed die roll.

Whilst I rather like the basic structure of the game there are problems. As with seemingly every set of rules ever published they are badly written, edited and proofread and have ended up full of inconsistencies, bits that are unclear and missing whole chunks of information. Still, I think they are worth another couple of games trying to play them as written before changing anything major. The game after will be the Amiens scenario included in the rules; it requires four British tanks and work is underway to build two more.

One change that we will make this time is that the German player will have to secretly decide where the stormtroopers are going to appear prior to the British depletion roll. It's all a bit too easy for them otherwise.

Or else my sword...

"Or else my sword with an unbattered edge

  I sheath again undeeded"

                   - Macduff

And so to the opera. I have been to see Verdi's Macbeth. I may well say this every time I see the opera or the play, but that Lady Macbeth is definitely a wrong 'un. The singer playing her made the most of this and stomped around the stage like the villainess in a silent film, emoting wildly and upstaging her sap of a husband behind his back while he sang. I don't know whether it was that which unnerved him, but towards the end, when he is about to get his comeuppance, he accidentally let go of his sword while Macduff was telling him all about his being untimely ripped. The blade flew across the stage and into the pit where had it not been made of cardboard wrapped in tinfoil it would have decapitated the timpani player. I am pleased to report that, just like the band on the Titanic, the orchestra played on.

Lloyd George's boys go from bad to worse

We had another game of Square Bashing last night, which ended up posing more questions than it answered. I'm afraid that the British, defending this time, got creamed again. The overall impression one has of the Western Front is that it favoured the defender, but these rules seem to do the opposite. In particular, once a unit starts winning assaults it seems very hard to stop them. In that sense it reminds me of "For, Lords, Tomorrow is a Busy Day", although from memory archery fire in those rules is more effective than machine guns appear to be here.

Traditionalists will be pleased to learn that the units taking to the table top for the first time - the German flamethrowers - achieved nothing and were destroyed as soon as they came into contact with the enemy. In fact (realistically?) an awful lot of things were destroyed. I was a bit concerned that the game was taking a long time, but I suspect that had we carried on then the remaining moves would have been quicker simply because there was nothing left to move or shoot with.

I rashly promised that we would have a British attack using tanks next time, but have changed my mind already. I have ordered some more tanks, so will leave things until I have built them and we can field a worthwhile number. Instead the next game will be pretty much a repeat of last night's, but this time the British will be defending trenches.

Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae

Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine
There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;
And I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
    Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat,
Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay;
Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
    When I awoke and found the dawn was grey:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind,
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
    Yea, all the time, because the dance was long:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I cried for madder music and for stronger wine,
But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire,
Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! the night is thine;
And I am desolate and sick of an old passion,
    Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

                      - Ernest Dowson

Flammenwerferen

We had a run through of the Square Bashing pre-battle sequence, and I can't say that I was especially taken with it as a process in itself. I understand that at the annual Square Bashing day events they use a different method to achieve the same result, but the description of it here is so obtuse that I have literally no idea how it works. I have my own idea of an alternative, which would also allow the nomination of which side is to be the attacker. On this occasion, in a very one sided exchange, it was the Germans who the dice decided would be on the offensive. They will do so with the aid of stormtroopers and flamethrowers, in the latter case for no better reason than that I have some.

The table looks like this, although these won't be the final dispositions:

The black, vaguely aircraft shaped things are my current temporary method of marking where aircraft are; they are meant to represent their shadow as they pass overhead. I have decided that the Red Eagle models are too much like hard work, and haven't yet thought of a better way.

I have restated the aircraft rules, with the intention of expressing them less ambiguously while retaining what I believe to be their original intent. We shall also use the flamethrower rules as written for this time at least, although I don't think they reflect how the Germans used the weapons in practice. However, and in the finest traditions of wargaming in the lower Wharfe valley, I am going to change a couple of things relating to non-barrage assets.

To Keep the Body in Good Health is a Duty...

"I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen

Over the years this blog has charted its writer's various experiences with illness, physical injury and dental emergency. Last Thursday I managed to achieve all three in one day. I suppose it saves time.  I am mostly recovered - ongoing physiotherapy aside - and the only lasting impact probably comes from something my GP said to me. "Don't worry," he reassured me "this has nothing to do with your ticker.". Naturally, I had never previously given a moment's thought to the possibility that there might be anything wrong with my heart. Cue hypochondria on a heroic scale. 

T-Gewehr

I wrote the other day that the German WWI anti-tank rifle wasn't very effective. I found an interesting video that either confirms or refutes that point depending how one interprets it:

At least part of my interest comes from wondering what their shoulders look like after that recoil; firing a Lee Enfield always left me bruised enough. The Early War Miniatures model comes being fired prone, which is correct, and the separately cast weapon is rather good, with the bipod at right angles to the model rather than flat on to the mould, an inconvenience that one often gets in plastic models. And it is pertinent to mention plastic models because it turns out that I already have a shed load of these things from the Hat German Heavy Weapons Set; so add that to the reasons why it was a waste of money. The EWM set comes as a two man team, but the second chap should be an ammo carrier rather than the observer with binoculars supplied. If the firer can't see a tank at a close enough range to shoot at it then I would suggest that he probably isn't the right man for the job. I could easily add rules for them to Square Bashing; indeed there are a whole host of little chrome tweaks I could envisage. Whether they would improve the game play is another question entirely.

While I'm discussing my Vapnartak purchases I should mention that the other model I bought was a 6" Heavy Howitzer rather than the 4.5" Field Howitzer that would actually have been on table at the scale we are playing. My logic for this was that the EWM 20mm models are somewhat smaller than the plastic 1/72 equivalents available from other sources which I already use for field guns. The 6" is very similar to the 4.5", but larger. It will substitute passably.

So, Vapnartak then

A trip to Vapnartak in the days when I was married meant that my wife would drop me off at the racecourse and drive into York with the kids and the au pair of the moment. After an hour or so looking around I would walk in to the city centre and meet them for lunch. For those who don't know York, it's a good couple of miles and, given the time of year it was always perishing. You basically walk along the river towpath and the wind comes whistling along. I was reminded of all that this morning because it was once again several degrees below zero as we arrived at the Knavesmire.

The reason an hour is sufficient to look round the show is that despite the excellent, well lit location, there isn't ever that much to see. I took a camera this year and couldn't be bothered to get it out of my bag because most games looked exactly like they did last year, notwithstanding the fact that the displays claim they are different scenarios. And if one has an idea what one wants regarding purchases then they can be completed swiftly, always assuming that three fat blokes haven't chosen the front of that particular traders' stand to have a chat. However, it's always a pleasure to bump into people one knows and there were a few things of interest.

There was a Cruel Seas participation game and I spent some time listening to the explanation of the mechanics. Peter is keen on this, indeed so keen that he mumbled something about having a game before he had painted the boats; that would be radical. Apparently Warlord Games didn't have much by the way of stock on hand, which is perhaps surprising. Then there was a Lion Rampant game featuring Romans vs Celts of some sort (including chariots). What interested me was the fact that the figures were grouped on stands rather than being individually based, showing that it can be done. I enjoyed our couple of goes at Lion Rampant, and perhaps when I have finished with the Great War we'll have another play. I also looked at a demo of a forthcoming game from Peter Pig about pirate era ship to ship battles. It was on a hexed mat, but I couldn't work out whether it needed to be. I suppose I could have asked, but that's not very British is it.

I picked up a small Kallistra order: slopes and some forest base hexes to replace the green felt that I have been using on a fairly long lasting temporary basis. In addition I bought a British WWI howitzer, really just to give a bit of variety to the field guns on the table. While I was at the Early War Miniatures stall I also bought a German anti-tank rifle team. There don't appear to be any rules for them in Square Bashing, and they weren't very effective anyway, so I thought that was pretty good value for money. For the first time at a wargames show for many years I didn't buy any trees from the tree man. I have to reluctantly admit to probably having enough already.

Thy Will Be Done

I'm going to resurrect the monthly post about boardgames played, partly because I have for the first time in a while played enough to make it worth doing, partly because I haven't played so many that I can't be bothered to write something about all of them, and partly because I played a new one that wargamers might like.


7 Wonders: Armada: I've always liked 7 Wonders without ever being any good at it. One of its strengths for me is that it is very scalable; you can play with up to seven people and it's just as good and doesn't take any longer. The various previous expansions never did much for me, but I rather liked this one wherein one sails little boats up various tracks in addition to all the usual stuff. There is more interaction than with players other than one's immediate neighbours, but it still doesn't seem to slow it down.

Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done: And this is the one. It's not a wargame, but its theme of wandering round Europe biffing infidels of various types and building castles, cathedrals etc, while taking every opportunity to dick over one's opponents, may well appeal to readers. It has a very clever structure combining mancala and rondel mechanisms with individual player tweaks supposedly based on the historical crusading orders. On top of all that we played our first game, including rules explanation, in an hour. As you can tell, I liked it.

Cryptid: This was explained as being a thematic version of Zendo; it's rather more like Cluedo with bears and abandoned cabins replacing the Reverend Green and the lead piping. A tad ho hum.

High Society: Excellent little filler which involves bidding to win various cards except when they're bad, in which case one bids not to win them.

Illusion: More of an activity than a game this one. It involves trying to rank patterns in the correct order of how much of a particular colour is in them. Despite my colour blindness I was rather good at it; the colours used are quite distinct. The problem with it as a game is that one's success or otherwise depends pretty much entirely on the player to one's left. If they are not very good at it then you will win. Still, it was an interesting way to spend ten minutes or so.

NEOM: One of many games where one builds cities based on tile selection - via drafting in this case - with various constraints and scoring criteria. It did nothing to stand out from the others, although I did build a pretty impressive park.

Terraforming Mars: This is currently number four in the Boardgamegeek rankings of best games of all time. I confess that I don't see it myself. I enjoyed this play more than the last time I played it about eighteen months ago, but it still goes on far, far too long. I've only played one other game in the geek top ten - Great Western Trail at number nine - and I didn't like that either. It's everyone else that's wrong, not me.