Keeping Abreast Of The Russian Revolution

I suppose we’ve all endured those awkward moments when an opponent points out that the epaulets on your guard battalion are painted the wrong shade of blue.

Well, last night I experienced an interesting variation on the theme. I’d just set up my 15mm Russian Civil War HoTT army (Reds of course!) when my opponent John quipped: “Ah, you’re fielding mixed sex units then are you?”

I was bemused by his comment, so he elaborated: “Well, half of them appear to have breasts…”

Dear Reader, I was shocked. I know that my eyesight is becoming a little less acute with the passing years, and that sometimes purchasing ready painted troops on eBay can be a recipe for disaster. But it was a bit galling to realise that I’d mixed up the regular infantry with some doughty members of the Women’s Shock Battalion! Ah well. I can see that I’m going to have to spend an hour or so with a magnifying glass and my rebasing kit. Although I’m sure some of those women have moustaches…

A Different Arthur…

I haven’t exactly been an avid reader of historical novels. Apart from the odd dip into sci-fi (mainly the outer fringes – writers like Philip K. Dick) I’m not a big fan of “genre” fiction. I wasn’t particularly inspired by the “Sharpe” TV series either, so the works of Bernard Cornwell have pretty much passed me by. However, last year a wargaming friend suggested that I might like the Warlord Chronicles trilogy. I was sceptical, but I went out and bought a copy of the first instalment – The Winter King. I’ve been hooked ever since, and I’m currently half-way through the final book (so if you comment on this article don’t give the game away by telling me how it ends!!!).

Cornwell presents a unique take on the Arthur legend and on the Britain of that period. A gritty and detailed realism is interwoven with many of the characters from the mythos. He generally – though with some exceptions – presents them in their Celtic rather than French incarnations, sticking mostly to Welsh names. All the favourites are there – Merlin, Nimue, Guinevere, Mordred, and of course Arthur himself. The world they inhabit is riven by constant civil war, and the ever present threat of Saxon victory.

The story centres around the life and struggles of Arthur’s friend and warrior, Derfel Cadarn. Elements of the story we’ve all come to know from films and books are skilfully blended with a gripping account of the struggle for Britain. War, politics, and the minutiae of everyday life are described in convincing detail. Cornwell has described this trilogy as his favourite creation, and the writing is of a high standard throughout. Dark Age Britain fairly springs off the pages.

The trilogy is a veritable treasure trove for the wargamer, and would provide marvellous material for one or more campaigns. There is a wealth of material for both the historical gamer and for the adherent of rulesets like HoTT, which allow for semi-historical armies where Heroes fight alongside the Shieldwall. I would highly recommend these books to anyone who hasn’t already discovered them.

À Bas Les Rosbifs!

It’s been a while since I’ve bought a wargames magazine, but finding myself at a loose end on a journey back to Bristol from the far north (Doncaster to be precise), I decided to treat myself to the latest issue of Miniature Wargames (March 2011). Just as well, because otherwise I would have missed Chris Hahn’s hypothetical account of a battle between the Spanish (recently landed from the successful Armada crossing) and Elizabeth’s English levies. This “what if” scenario got me thinking, and inspired me to try out a similar speculative scenario set a few decades earlier. This time it’s the French who have successfully disembarked a landing force on English soil, and it’s Liz’s dad Henry who has to face them in battle as they move inland.

The English force consists of the usual “bills and bows”, a sizeable contingent of German mercenaries (including a large rearwards reserve), some border horse, three artillery pieces, and a handful of heavy cavalry. Somewhere off the table a small force of English volunteers (indifferently armed and trained) are marching to the sound of the guns – they will arrive at some point in the battle, but precisely when and from which direction remains to be seen. The English are very much on the defensive, and will hold their positions unless and until the French (controlled by me) take the initiative; at that point each wing of the English army will have its course of action determined by “percentage probability” dice throws, having weighed up the chances of a good officer taking one or other of the available courses of action.

The French have landed a strong, well balanced army, but have not had time to bring up their artillery. They field the more modern pike and shot combination, as well as their usual strong force of gendarmes and well-trained light horse. They are aware of the possibility of English reinforcements, and have therefore every incentive to attack the English positions as soon as they are able.

This is the layout of the battlefield once the two armies have deployed:

Turn One: My line advances, contracting at certain points to avoid the enemy artillery positions as far as possible. The English hold position, apart from the Heavy Cavalry in the centre, who move to reinforce and extend the central line of Bills and Bows.

Turn Two: My French continue to advance, though a split starts to appear in the centre where the centre-right begins to lag behind. The English respond by mustering their troops into a single line on either flank, and two units of Landsknecht pikemen come down off the low hill nearest their right flank to threaten my Shot.

Turn Three: I continue to advance, but the split in my centre widens further. The English left (Landsknechts and Border Horse) advance slowly towards my gendarmes, somewhat against the odds, reinforced by an additional pike unit from the adjacent hill. On my own left my advancing Light Horse now face a solid line of mixed English troops. Meanwhile the English guns on the hill to the right of their line are moved to provide better cover to the infantry.

Turn Four: My advance on the left halts as I attempt to bring up my Shot. In the centre too I hold while the stragglers catch up with the main line. The gendarmes continue to canter forwards. The English and Germans facing them continue their advance, though the additional pikes that moved last turn grind to a halt. In the centre the English continue to adjust their lines, while on the English right the main force halts. The Landsknechts that advanced down from the hill, however, have ideas of their own – and charge towards my lines!

Turn Five: On my left, I turn my attentions to screening the advancing English and cutting off the detached Landsknechts. As the English centre continues to hold its position, I advance with the majority of my troops but still have problems with a large split in my battleline. On my right flank, my gendarmes and the mixed English/German force facing them are almost within charging distance now.

Turn Six: With troops about to engage on both flanks, the English centre finally advances…

Turn Seven: The two flanks move into contact. The ensuing combats are indecisive, with both sides taking minor losses. The English centre continues to advance as I attempt to form up my troops to face them.

Turns Eight & Nine: My gendarmes are slowly getting the better of it on my right flank, seeing off the English Border Horse. But it’s stalemate on my left flank, where the English and my Light Horse and Shot have fought themselves to a standstill albeit with the loss of the wayward Landsknechts that came down off the hill! There is still no sign of the English volunteer relief column. The two main masses of infantry in the centre will soon clash…

Turns Ten & Eleven: The English centre crumbles as the Bills and Bows face but fail to stop the state-of-the-art French infantry. Meanwhile my left flank has all but disintegrated, while my gendarmes are grinding out a narrow advantage over on my right flank. With the English Landsknecht mercenaries still advancing in the centre rear, the game is still finely balanced.

Turn Twelve: The English finally succumb on my right flank, their ragged German pikemen and arquebusiers being surrounded and cut down by my gendarmes. In the centre, the Bills and Bows have virtually been annihilated. On the English right, the rosbifs have the advantage, and only a few of my mounted units and shot remain intact. And it is precisely at this moment that the English reinforcements arrive, appearing on the baseline of the English army on their right flank!

Both sides now have troops scattered across the battlefield, and the situation is indecisive. The unengaged Landsknechts and the reinforcements mean that the English are far from beaten. My left flank has disintegrated, and my right is a little ragged. While my centre remains strong and has taken few losses, I don’t much like the look of the situation and decide to retreat and re-group. The English commanders opt to do the same rather than press home with an immediate and rather risky counter-attack (a decision determined by dicing for percentage-weighted options), and draw back to reform their own lines and integrate the newcomers. The battle appears to have reached a stalemate.

This is a simplified diagramatic representation of the situation at the end of the first phase of the battle:

Once the two armies have reformed, the fight will no doubt continue…

New Blog On The Block!

Solo Nexus is an excellent new blog dedicated to solo gaming, covering everything from miniatures games through boardgames to RPGs. As it says on the “About” page:

“Solo Nexus is a blog dedicated to promoting the pursuit of solo tabletop gaming. Tabletop games include board games, card games, war games, and role-playing games (RPGs). These games may or may not have been originally designed to be played solo…

Players are enthusiastically invited to share their personal stories, philosophies, reviews of new products, solo rules adaptations, actual play reports and pictures, or observations on solo play on the blog as contributed postings.”

Sections include a “Soloists Bookshelf” and a “Soloists Toybox”, and main blog articles include interviews, resources and tools for the solo player, and news about forthcoming releases.

Solo Nexus is a good read and a very welcome addition to websites catering for the solo gamer. Highly recommended!

Click here to go to Solo Nexus.

FoG Bound

Every once in a while a computer game comes along which promises to be a panacea for the solo wargamer. In the early days there were the low-res charms of  Ancient Battles, the Wargames Construction Set and the Universal Military Simulator for the Atari and the Amiga.  With the rise of the PC we were treated to a plethora of complex hex-based games, alongside the simpler pleasures of Age of Rifles and the Great Battles series. Finally, in the last few years, we’ve found ourselves with a wide choice of ‘real time’ games, not least the thoroughly enjoyable Total War series (of which Rome: Barbarian Invasion is a personal favourite).

The initial impact of each new generation of computer games often raises the question of what kind of future exists for tabletop wargaming, particularly for those of us who primarily play solo. I’ve found this to be the case again recently after buying Slitherine’s Field Of Glory PC game. Despite the limitations of the AI (which have been partially addressed in recent updates), I found the game impressive enough to buy the first three expansion sets, covering the ancient world in the eras of Greece and Rome, and the Middle Ages. With the ability to create custom scenarios, an easy-to-use multiplayer function and a substantial community of online players, FoG seemed to offer itself up as the latest Holy Grail for the solo player.

Having immersed myself in FoG, I’ve noticed a familiar pattern beginning to emerge. The more I play the game, the more I find that its inherent oddities and limitations seem almost designed to annoy and frustrate. Let’s leave aside the clunky AI, which can be offset by selecting a lower points total for one’s own army (though that in itself is hardly an elegant solution). Even in the multiplayer game there are serious issues which the game designers seem unwilling to address. First and foremost there is a lack of basic documentation, which means that even a moderately experienced player will find him/herself sending units into combat with a rather vague notion of how that combat will pan out. Secondly, chance seems to play an inordinately important part in combat resolution, such that ‘common sense’ historical outcomes can rarely be relied upon once battle has commenced. The game’s designers have defended this as representing the fortunes of war and the fog of battle, and many players are happy to go along with this. But for others, myself included, the lack of a decent manual (even in electronic form) combined with an excessive reliance on chance factors, takes the shine off what would otherwise be a very fine computer game.

And there’s the rub. With computer games, the focus of attention always seems to shift, in the final analysis, to the limitations of the package. Whether it’s bugs and program crashes, or eccentric games design and programming, or just a straightforward lack of documentation, the peculiarities of the software invariably end up taking centre stage. Of course, there is always the promise that the next upgrade, the next release, or even the next generation of games, will fix all the problems and answer all our prayers. That perfect computer game is always, tantalisingly, just over the horizon.

Worse still, however good the game may be, it’s longevity is always limited by the survival of the operating system that it’s tied into. While it’s possible to find emulators for old operating systems, or even to hang onto that old Win95 PC just in case you fancy playing a retro game or two, once the Microsoft gods have decreed the dawn of a new age in computing (something that seems to happen with depressing regularity), then you know that the days are numbered for your favourite computer wargame.

As with other less-than-perfect games in the past, I will probably continue to use Field of Glory to fight out some of the battlefield encounters within my broader solo campaigns. And once I’ve got over my present sense of disappointment, I may even return to the multi-player version of the game. But, as with other generations of computer software, it’s simply not good enough to replace the tabletop wargame. And in the final analysis I suppose that’s really not such a bad thing.

English DBA Open 2010

Just a quick heads-up for this report on the recent English DBA Open, held in Southsea. A nice report with some good pics:

http://soawargamesteam.blogspot.com/2010/10/10th-october-portsmouth.html

With a bit of luck I may even manage to get there myself next year!