Before reporting the game I want to point you in the direction of Roger's Matchbox game which is a really very brilliant Cowboy shoot-out, featuring thematic dice!! Please visit here.
The Game (see the last blog post for the rules)
The grid squares were shuffled (blank side up) and 9 picked and placed between the Reserve Areas
The two sides diced for ends. Red scored highest and chose North.
Simultaneous Artillery fire saw red lose an infantry unit on the first throw!
Army Blue attacked the town and moved up a unit from the Reserve Area. Army Red replaced his lost Infantry unit with a reserve.
Turn 2 saw another Red Infantry unit destroyed by Artillery fire!
Blue's attack on the town continued without success. Red brought his final reserves into action (not illustrated)
Blue's Artillery fumbled on Turn 3 allowing Red to rush out of the woods and attack them. The attack on the town saw a Blue success with a natural 6 rolled - Red were now down to two units!
Blue moved up more forces on Turn 4. Red was now attacking both the town and the hill, desperate to damage Blue somewhere!
Disaster for Red! Turn 5 saw the Red Army reduced to one unit which was looking likely to get surrounded!
The horror show was completed on Turn 7 - a complete massacre of Red's Army and a resounding success for Blue. Not at all as I expected things, mainly due to the powerful (rather too powerful) artillery that wiped out two units of Infantry at the beginning of the battle blunting Red's defence.
The playing pieces, in case anyone wants to have a go...
I really likes the way how you create randomized battlefields!! In this game it resulted in a 'logical' battlefield, with a town easy to defend, for 'Red' and troublesome terrain to pass between the lake and the hill for 'Blue', which should make the defense of town even easier. The 'Blue' had one major advantage though, and that was the artillery on the hill, and they made the very best of it.
ReplyDeleteThe finale reminded me of:
"Brave 'Reds'! You have done all that the honor of war demands; His Grace, the Duke of 'Blue', invites you to save your lives! Will you surrender?
'Reds': MERDE!
Great battle report!
Thanks Roger! This battle should have been a certainty, but then almost immediately it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteRed's said Merde indeed, and a few other things...
A fun little game. I play tested it with chess pieces half a dozen times, two of the games were very one sided. Another rules question: if a unit is surrounded, or moves into a gap between enemy units I'm assuming it has to fight each enemy unit in turn. Which one does it fight first? The unit to its front, or flanking/ behind units?
ReplyDeleteCheers Mark. I usually start with the facing unit when there's more than one to fight. I hadn't really thought of it in formal terms - there probably should be a rule!
DeleteA great battle report that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
ReplyDeleteI think that your ‘Wargame in a matchbox’ is a wonderful example of the genre and will no doubt get a lot of use out of it.
All the best,
Bob
Thanks Bob - it's certainly a very portable version of the PW!
DeleteBeautifully presented report there, MJT. Poor ol’ Red! Very unexpected, given their superb start position 😯.
ReplyDeleteCheers Martin - the Scorpio firing team got a case of beer!
DeleteA surprise victory for blue forces and I do like the random terrain setup.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter - I may try the random terrain setup in future tabletop games. There's something Featherstone about it!
DeleteThe 'outlier' results is what makes a system like this so great for solo play, and for generating a suspenseful narrative. Whatever the ostensible odds, one never quite knows how the action - the plot - will develop.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Ion
Ion - indeed; it all looked a bit inevitable at first and then immediately wasn't, which was great!
DeleteA very neat set up with much potential for many hours of impromptu play (away).
ReplyDeleteCheers Mark. For some reason I am no longer able to leave comments on your blog. I can't figure out why at the moment, perhaps its a WordPress thing...??
DeleteThanks - sorry about that - I too find that i am unable to comment on some other peoples blogs - haven't worked out why either! There is also a contact form somewhere.
DeleteThanks, I may just setup an account
DeleteCracking stuff - very impressive indeed. A strikingly effective game.
ReplyDeletePlease accept my apologies for crowbarring in a “match” related pun 😉
Cheers,
Geoff
Cheers Geoff - all puns are appreciated on this blog!
Delete