Parallel to What?

 I have played a third turn, and here are a couple of photos. It would probably be appropriate to share a few words of wisdom, but I'm not sure I have any.  I am getting a better grasp of the rules, which is good, but have a feeling that both the initial set-up and the tactics followed by the besiegers were wrong, which is obviously bad. 

The main action once again revolved around trench raids (the rules of which I have been playing wrongly, although the garrison's dice rolling was so terrible that I don't think it made any difference) and the fortress guns firing at the sappers as they pushed forwards. Having said that, the garrison deputy commander has died of disease, which seems a bit harsh considering that the siege has only been in progress for about ten days, on top of which a lucky shot destroyed some of the garrison's powder.

I'm going to play at least one more turn I think before reviewing lessons learned. The besiegers are just about to move their siege guns into position from which the walls can be effectively bombarded and I'd like to run through that aspect.

Not Quite To The Second Parallel

Firstly, "Sláinte Mhath!" to you all.  

I found the turn of Vauban's Wars which I played to be rather bland. However, a brief reflection left me unable to think of any wargame that I have ever played in which the first turn was terribly exciting. It would perhaps be an odd design that placed the best bits into the first fifteen minutes and after that left the players with the prospect of a couple of hours which they knew were going to be an anti-climax. I therefore re-read the rules and pressed on with the second turn. A couple of small changes:

• I rerated the leaders so that they are both the same. The difference between them was making it more difficult for me to gain an understanding of how the game works.
• It turns out that the besiegers, being Napoleonic French, should have had an advantage in the composition of their deck. I hadn't done this, because I had missed it, and have left it that way, for the same reason as above.
• I have decided to be more proactive on behalf of the garrison; this would seem to be the designer's intention.

Much of the friction in the game is exogenous to players' actions or decisions and this aspect started to kick in more this time around. On the turn of the first card it started to rain and some of the besieging forces deserted. I won't go through it in any detail - even more boring for you than for me - but I think that the garrison has had the better of it and through a combination of trench raids and artillery fire they have destroyed one unit of sappers and driven off two others for the time being. The garrison themselves have suffered no losses, although my initial disposition of their forces is doing them no favours. 

Slightly Forward From The First Parallel

 Being a Piquet game, Vauban's Wars uses cards to determine what can happen when. The decks are about half the size of those used in standard Piquet (at least the version which we play) and, for the first time that I can recall, players get some flexibility in the make up of the deck for each turn.

I rolled up for the various starting attributes and the different size dice in the picture reflect the besieging commander being superb and the garrison commander being abysmal. Having played one turn I realise that this isn't ideal for a first game and so they will wake up tomorrow substantially more equal in ability.

I quite enjoyed playing through the turn, although probably more because I was getting to grips with the rules rather than because anything actually happened. There is a espionage aspect to the game - which I can't really use because I already know exactly what both sides are doing anyway - that would probably occupy the players while these early engineering works are going on. I have so far chosen to conserve powder on behalf of the garrison (the supply rules are abstracted rather than paperwork heavy, but it is certainly possible to run out), but when the saps advance slightly further I think it will become worthwhile to have a pop and maybe try a trench raid as well.

I did fire the besiegers' mortars into the town, but achieved very little. They need to be moved further forwards, but that requires gun emplacements in the second parallel to be built. It's all down to the sappers at the moment.

Don't Let The Door Bang Your Arse On The Way Out

"High though his titles, proud his name,
  Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;—
  Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
  The wretch, concentred all in self,
  Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
  And, doubly dying, shall go down
  To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
  Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung."

                      - Sir Walter Scott

“If we could learn to look instead of gawking,
  We'd see the horror in the heart of farce,
  If only we could act instead of talking,
  We wouldn't always end up on our arse.
  This was the thing that nearly had us mastered;
  Don't yet rejoice in his defeat, you men!
  Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard,
  The bitch that bore him is in heat again.”

                      - Bertolt Brecht

The First Parallel

“A human being is a being who is constantly 'under construction', but also, in a parallel fashion, always in a state of constant destruction.”― José Saramago

Apart from my psyche the thing under construction in the Casa Epictetus at the moment is a siege game, which is perhaps a somewhat bigger undertaking than I first allowed for. Anyway, here's what I have so far:

The town walls are still not painted. Far from there having been any suitable spraying weather we had a whole heap of snow, during which I had to abandon my car and walk several miles home in a blizzard. Given that I'd been visiting the dentist it wasn't the greatest of days. Currently, courtesy of Storm Christoph, it's hosing it down outside and we're on flood alert. 

Also, as you can see in the photos, the fortress guns, siege guns and mortars don't yet have any crew. They do exist - indeed they were recently augmented via the Newline Designs January sale - but I haven't painted them; no meteorological excuse is available for this one.

The reason for setting it up in this shockingly incomplete state is to play out a couple of turns and see what bits and pieces I need that I haven't thought of yet. My conclusions will no doubt appear here in due course.

The game starts with the besiegers having completed the first parallel, and poised to press forwards.

Exodus Chapter 23 Verse 2

                                "Our shouting is louder than our actions,
                                  Our swords are taller than us, 

                                  This is our tragedy. 

                                  In short

                                 We wear the cape of civilization

                                 But our souls live in the stone age."

                                                          - Nizar Qabbani

Never Confuse Movement With Action

 "If you board the wrong train, it's no use running along the corridor in the other direction." 

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer