Napoleon at Bay, January-March 1814

Played OSG's Napoleon at Bay with Aaron, Chuck and Kurt. Chuck and Kurt were the French.  Aaron was the Army of Silesia and I was the Army of Bohemia.  We played just about in real-time, over the course of several weeks in January-March 2013 (almost the 200th anniversary!).

Aaron and I didn't really coordinate, other than generally keeping an eye on one another, and agreeing that the lessons learned in Germany in 1813 should be adhered to (specifically the one about avoiding battles with the emperor, and advancing when he reveals himself to be SOMEWHERE ELSE).  The opening moves saw Blucher and the to-be-avoided-Napoleon sparring North of Vitry le Francois.  Aaron fended off a half-hearted attack by the emperor (who withdrew along the north bank of the Marne to Chalons-sur-Marne, before disappearing behind a cloud of vedettes).  Meanwhile, I plodded my way Westward, keeping south of the Aube, towards Troyes.  I tried to come to grips with Gerard, who managed to avoid destruction, slipping North over the river toward Sezanne.  The French army concentrated at Sezanne throughout February, grouped roughly in an arc between the Marne and Seine.  Napoleon didn't show himself as Aaron slowly crept West and North and I captured Troyes and pushed a large column under Barclay hard for  Nogent-sur-Seine.  Barclay crossed to the North bank of the Seine in mid-February, where he was discovered by French vedettes (I have to imagine to the Emperor's surprise, given his subsequent reaction).  Within a few days, Napoleon, Murat and the bulk of the French army was at Nogent-sur-Seine and battle was joined.  Barclay withdrew over the Seine (losing enough men to provide Napoleon with a critical victory), and burnt the bridge.

With the knowledge that the French concentration was in the South, Blucher shifted his supply to the North and surged Westward, capturing Reims and Soissons.  The French hovered around the Seine for a few days before resuming their central position screening Paris.  General Wrede's Corps from the Army of Bohemia captured Pont-sur-Yonne, but otherwise the Austrians stalled out, moving their center of operations West to Bray, covering the bridges over the Seine, and advancing with 80,000 men under Schwartzenberg to Sezanne.

Blucher, aware that Napoleon was marching North to confront him, nevertheless kept up his westward momentum, eventually closing on Paris from the Northeast and causing a panic (7+ strength points within 7 movement points of the city).  Napoleon struck Winzengerode, in the van of the Silesian column, on the 5th of March with the bulk of his army. Blucher made a forced-march to support his lieutenant and a pitched battle ensued that saw roughly 16,000 Prussian casualties in its opening rounds (French artillery was lethal, and Chuck committed the Imperial Guard on two attacks).  Aaron showed a lot of nerve, revealing Pitched Battle twice and taking a horrendously one-sided beating.  Fortunately for the Prussian cause, Blucher had a 3-2 advantage in overall numbers and he was able to absorb the losses without breaking.  The second French attack saw Blucher's patience rewarded (Chuck rolled a 6, the only number that could have resulted in a French loss).  With the Guard staked, Napoleon's "pitched" choice switched to a retreat plus a morale loss.  The battle was a critical one, and caused Paris to surrender.  Aaron's Prussians were victorious!  My Austrians could only shake their heads in consternation... they would be facing a resurgent Prussia soon, culminating in 1866.  Napoleon, however, was put on a ship to Elba.  Never to be heard from again (*coughwaterloo*).

This was my first time playing NaB, and it was every bit the treat I had expected.  The Army of Bohemia was perfectly frustrating to play:  large, dangerous but very unwieldy.  The Prussians were hell for the French.  I think that Napoleon has to bloody them right out of the gate, unless the Austrians expose themselves prematurely.  With all the reinforcements the Army of Silesia gets, it cannot be allowed to march unmolested for too long (whereas Schwartzenberg can be allowed to creep along for a while with only token resistance at the Seine bridges).  Chuck and Kurt had a strategy of slowly withdrawing westward, keeping between the Allies and Paris.  That's not a winning strategy.  The Allies have too much power, and can outflank any "line" the French try to establish.  The French have to challenge the Coalition lines of communication, and any force, regardless of size, that reveals itself.  Napoleon can whip any Allied army he meets, almost casually.  He'll need the critical victories to win.

The Campaigns system is a real work of art.  Can't wait to revisit it (though we're off to Leipzig next, returning to OSG's Library of Napoleonic Battles).

Black Day for the German Army, August 8-9, 1918

Kurt and I played the first day of this fine Pacific Rim classic. Kurt's Entente forces (England, France, Australia, Canada and the 33rd U.S. Division) banged away at my trenches with all they had, until, at the end of the day I was pushed back into my reserve fortifications, with gaping holes in my line, much of it held by regiment-sized speed bumps.

The game is a nice, tight, division level WWI game. I like the way the tanks are represented: they roll over trenches, give an odds shift in battle, and advance at speed, but have to roll a d6 to avoid breaking down every time they move (including during an advance). By the end of the first day, all but 4 of the Allied tanks were destroyed or partially immobilized. I look forward to playing it again. Here's a detail shot of the tip of the German salient, with the Bavarians holding on tenaciously and the British tanks pushing in from the North (right side). The one in orange has been reduced. The german 124's are regiments.

PAINTING: 8th August, 1918 (oil-on-linen, 107 cm x 274 cm, 1918-1919) by Will Longstaff, Australian official war artist. Depicts a scene during the Battle of Amiens. The view is towards the west, looking back towards Amiens. A column of German prisoners of war being led into captivity. Meanwhile horse-drawn artillery are advancing to the east.

Death of 1st Panzer #3, Wittman's Ghost

Eric was the Germans, I was the Soviets. Victory depends on the Soviet player controlling both hexes of Wittburg at the end of turn 8.

OPENING: I deployed in Wittburg with my Soviet Paras, hoping to fend off Eric's Panzergrenadiers and Leopard II's long enough for 1st Tank to arrive from the East. He charged his Marders up onto Wittburg Hill while pounding Talen with HE fire from his Leopards. I cut down an infantry platoon that he'd pushed across open ground, but little else.

1st Tank arrived on turn 2, but was hit hard as it broke out of Eben. Three T-72 platoons were disrupted, then burnt up, from Leopard fire at extended range. He caught several more before they were able to get safely behind Wittburg Hill, then blew up a few more with Milans from his Marders as I reached the hilltop. 1st Tank had taken around 50% casualties by this point without firing a shot.

MIDGAME: The T-72's got their revenge, as they overran his infantry and assaulted (and destroyed) his Marders. With the infantry routed, 1st Tank swept down off the hill to take up a defensive position screening Wittburg. They were protected from his Leopards in Talen, but would be able to hit them with opportunity fire if they advanced. The Germans seemed to have no intention of advancing, however, as they cheerfully reduced downtown Wittburg to rubble with High Explosive fire.

ENDGAME: The Germans destroyed everything in Wittburg, and threatened the more of the same to any survivors who ventured back into it. On the final turn of the game, however, I raced my final three platoons from 1st Tank back into town (two of them exploded en route, under his overwatching tanks). When the third "end-turn" chit was pulled, ending the game,I could boast a disrupted BDRM-2 on the hilltop part of town, and a reduced T-72 platoon with 1st Tank's HQ in the lower part of town. Glorious Victory!

RATING: B+ to A. An interesting mix of units. Fast and bloody. The Soviets have a mortar and an odd little AT gun to complement their high-morale paratroopers. 1st Tank, though down to 8 platoons and a BDRM, is a force to be respected. The German Leopards, once again, completely dominate everything else on the board. They are ferocious opponents, rolling 4 dice out to 18 hexes, hitting on 4's. With an HQ, they roll 6 dice. A T-72 saves by rolling 4 dice, looking for 6's. No contest. At 9 hexes, it's even worse, and at 4 hexes, they hit on anything but a 1. That said, there are only 3 Leopards, and 1st Tank gets a designated formation marker, allowing it to activate as many times as the Germans do. In the end, it was a close game, coming down to a final chit-pull (just like the last game with Aaron!).

Test of Fire: July 21, 1861

Played at Uptown with General Kurticus commanding the South and yours truly commanding the North. We used an enlarged map with Battlecry pieces. Very nice looking game. Not a big fan of the pieces that come with the published game, but they're generic so you can substitute almost anything for them. The map and cards are very nice.

PLAY: I plunked a ford down on the Stone Bridge and spent the rest of the game slamming my head into the stone wall of Henry House Hill. In retrospect, it would have been better to have put the ford on one of the river sections beside the bridge, allowing me to get in around him to cut off the hill and allow my boys to cross the bridge in peace. As it was, I was only able to wrap around him very late in the game, and ran out of time.

DESIGN: The defense is very strong, as is appropriate for a Civil War game. I think it's important, as the attacker, to sequence your movements and attacks to stop simple retreats and convert them into kills, otherwise, frontal assaults are more or less useless if your opponant has 3+ men defending. I'm looking forward to playing again, to try to crack the code.

The Untold Stories #2: Sideshow, May 29, 1985

Aaron was the Dutch, I was the Soviets. We played on Map B instead of Map A which made for some interesting choices. I set my Marines and improved positions in Witzhave, south of the east/west river. Aaron attacked across the fields north of Grande, driving half-way in, then coming the rest of the way on foot. My Sagger unit got disrupted by artillery and stayed that way, allowing his forces to close in on the east side of town. He managed to force his way into the improved positions with waves of infantry assaults, until I was left holding the bridge with one dug-in, disrupted Marine platoon. By mid-game the T-80's of the Kiev Guard were arriving from the north and, despite the mild pecking they took from a Dutch F-16, took up position in the northern suburbs. Aaron's Prins Bernhard Stoottroepen stormed over the bridge, suffering heavy fire from lines of T-80's, but managed to get into hand to hand combat with them. In the towns, the lack of infantry told on the Soviet units. All T-80's were forced into the fields north of town and were unable to fight their way back in. At the last moment, Hero of the Soviet Union Sergei Platov launched a desperate charge along the southern bank of the river, breaking into the town just east of the bridge. The Dutch recoiled, and the Soviets began to dig in again.

Great scenario. Really tense, and victory came down to a chit-pull. There were four chits in the cup, one of them would end the game, the others would give Aaron a chance to chuck me out of town and win. The game-end chit was pulled! We pulled again to see what would have happened, and he did push me out, which gives you a sense of how close the scenario was. Infantry vs. unsupported armor is super tough. Awesome.

Death of 1st Panzer #2: Speed Bumps, May 15th, 1985

Solitaired this scenario twice more, trying to settle on a winning Soviet gambit. The Leopard II with HQ is an instant-kill every time it fires, and the rest of the german force can expect four disruption/reductions per activation (against BMP's).

SOVIET STRATEGY: The best I've come up with is to have the infantry enter the map on foot, and march towards Wittburg, accompanied by the HQ and one or more T-62's. That protects them from Milan fire from Talen (the HQ will draw fire, but hopefully it will survive or just be reduced). Second, have the full BMP force enter separately, moving out into the wedge-shaped piece of open country East of Talen. One or two will die, but the rest can sit patiently, threatening all moving german vehicles with a barrage of Saggers.

MID GAME: both Marder platoons will be destroyed, a handful of BMP's wrecked or disrupted, and a bunch of soviet infantry on the hilltop, ready to assault Wittburg. The BMP's will be out of command for most of the game, but they're mainly providing opportunity fire. Over time, a few of them will make their command rolls, so the soviets will have some direct fire.

END GAME: will feature the Leopard II sitting in Talen, plus a german infantry unit in the fields nearby, peppering helpless BMP's with Milans twice a turn. The Soviets will have most of their surviving units disrupted or reduced or both. The BMP force will be only partially in command, and odds are that that part will be unable to rally. Using those unreliable assets, the USSR has to march its infantry into the teeth of the German death-trap, more or less unsupported by what BMP fire there is (the forest to the East of Talen blocking their LOS). The game will end with the Germans holding Talen and the Soviets holding Wittburg.

VARIANT: I've played around with one variant so far: Give the Soviets one BDRM (another option for calling in artillery fire), and one Sagger (allowing soviet infantry to threaten the Leopard in the end-game). In my game, the BDRM drew immediate fire when it poked its head out, but assuming it survives, it can sit quietly, remaining in command, calling in artillery fire. In my game, this was a very minor advantage. The Leopard II shrugged off the infantry's Sagger fire (Sagger is 3 dice hitting on 4's vs. the Leopard in town at 5-6 dice saving on 5's).

RATING: Soviets will lose without some sort of force enhancement. Another idea is to add the 87th Motor Rifle, and get rid of the (admittedly cool) radio jamming SSR.

Death of 1st Panzer #1&2, Blind Sided & Speed Bumps, May 1985

We played the first two scenarios of World at War: Death of 1st Panzer tonight.

BLIND SIDED: Me (USSR) vs. Aaron (Germany). He managed to get his Jaguar up onto the hill in the backfield as I crested the large hill on the other side of the valley. So I charged my tanks into the shadow of Talen and assaulted it. I lost several stacks of T-72's before taking the town, and realized that there was no way for me to reach Walkerburg through his enfilading fire. I fled with two platoons of tanks, conceding the game to Aaron.

SPEED BUMPS: Second up was Kurt (USSR), vs. Aaron's germans. Kurt split his assault on both sides of the east-west river. Aaron dropped mines north of the river and set up a crossfire from Wittburg, Talen and his Leopard II, lurking behind Talen. That fire finished off the BMP-1's. Kurt's half-hearted attempt to rush Wittburg from the reverse of the big hill petered out as well.

GRADE: Both games are good teaching situations, but very difficult for the Soviet player to win without lucky chit-pulls. On the other hand, both were also great examples of what to avoid as the Soviets: exposure in the open, and dispersal of focus. The soviets, on the attack, have to mass overwhelming numbers in a safe spot, and wait for the right moment to perform a wave assault on a portion of the defender's force. I tried to change direction mid-game and instead found myself in a cul-de-sac with fire coming down on me from all sides anytime I tried to move. Kurt divided his forces and watched each of them get picked apart as he approached the german positions. Aaron had teams of Marders and Milan-equipped infantry in advanced positions (in towns) and in both games, they managed to use multiple activations to rip the heart out of the soviet formations.