An Unholy Alliance

For 250 years the Ottoman vassal state of Vaneria has existed on the borders of other (Imagi-) Nations.  Disputed lands between Odessinau and Latveria being a constant source of friction.

Now Nazir Wafeer has dispatched troops and hirelings to test the mettle of rival powers.  Rising to meet the threat is a conglomerate army.  Rules as always for our Imagi-Nation games are "Batailles de l'Ancien Regimes" by Bill Protz.  Click to enlarge pictures.

The allies right is held by forces of Procland, a traditional foe.

Each "army" was composed of approximately 300 infantry and 60 cavalry figures with a smattering of artillery.  Besides the Vanerians, Latveria provided mercenaries.  The allies comprised a Prussian and Proclandian contingent.

Prussians deploy in depth next to the empty fortress.  Cavalry is
all in the center.

As part of the occupation, one Russian vassal unit
was present.

Light cavalry, medium guns, regulars, Janissarys and lights.

The Duke of Alten and the newly raised Pzormyal Wespe regiments.

BAR is card driven.  Cards are flipped and the appropriate commander picks a command to move.  After all movement it is repeated for firing purposes.  If you are awarded a joker, you may "trump" another unfriendly turn of card.

The Varnerian army steps off aggressively, the allies less so.

The Latverians try to contain the Prussians before they can clear
the fortress.

The Prussians, with four new cavalry squadrons and their Polish friends were charged by the Latverian cavalry and Vanerian Spahis.  In all the melees the allies were successful, with the Polish Winged Hussars breaking and dispersing the Spahi unit.

Having ridden the Spahi to extinction, the Poles are deep in
the enemy ranks.

Having pushed back the Latverian heavies, both sides prepare to
feed in fresh cavalry.

A third Prussian cuirassier squadron and Latverian dragoons impact.

von Kleist Jagers and Croats protect the flanks.

The Latverian infantry begins to tear up the Prussians.

Janissary and line against von Kleist lights and Prochland infantry.

A fresh Prussian unit advances and is routed before firing a single shot.

Von Kleist horse grenadiers hit the Janissary flank.

Figuring out the best way to finish off the stubborn Prussians.

The battle begins to go the allied way on the right.

Failing to break the Janissary unit, the horse grenadiers retire.

The Russian vassals have run off from flanking fire.

All the Prussian infantry have routed and rallied.  Much weakened.

Prochland forces getting the clear upper hand over the Vanerians.

Prussian heavies have re-ordered and are ready to pursue.

The Vanerians had lost two of their (smaller) units and the rest were in a bad way.  The light cavalry had expended itself in running off the Prochlandian artillery for a time, but were now gone.  The battered remnants of the Latverian cavalry had rallied and re-ordered but were just going to cover the retreat since one of the line regiments had finally routed away.  All three Prussian units were technically on table, but any losses would trigger increasingly difficult moral tests so they were pretty much a spent force.

A good, tight game that had lots of ebb and flo as units went forward and back and forward again.  I sense an arms race starting since although numbers were even the smaller Vanerian units didn't fare well against the larger Proclandian units.  And more importantly to me, my four new Prussian cavalry units all performed well.

Oshkosh Game Day

Just for our group, the Fox Valley Wargamers.  We had different gaming interests last Sunday so we went to our favorite shop, Adventure Games in Oshkosh, WI and used two of their tables.  One for a Russo-Japanese War game and another a mid-war Flames of War North Africa game.

The RJW game was the historic action at Port Arthur immediately following the Japanese "sneak attack."  Rules were Naval Thunder: Rise of the Battleship.  The Flames of War had slightly less than 100 points of Germans and British squaring off.

An "annihilation" battle, much of what you see wasn't on table yet.

Battleships leading, cruisers following.  Russians at zero movement.

The action was the Japanese attack on Port Arthur the morning of their destroyer attack on the anchored Russian fleet.  While the Japanese did not immediately know, two of the battleships and one armored cruiser were "hors de combat" and could not fight.  The others had steam up and could begin moving on turn 1.  Historically Togo formed two columns of major ships and ran in close before the Russians could make much speed, daring the shore batteries (marked on the table with thumbtacks).

Russians slowly getting underway.  Advantage lost.

We quickly found that outside of 20" it wasn't practical to shoot.  So the long range plan of Togo would be for naught.  It also negated the Japanese range advantage with main guns.

Battle is joined.  Game mat is gorgeous.

Both sides had recon to do an initial move forward, but soon came under heavy fire from large numbers of tanks on both sides, particularly the British as their tanks are much cheaper than German.

Wasting no time starting fires.

The British pushed on their left and tried to hold in the center.  The Germans had no trouble hitting the British armor, but had a lot of trouble blowing them up (fire-power test).

Closing the range, Japanese AC prepare to attack.

My command was the three Japanese armored cruisers.  Six Japanese battleships squared off against five functional Russian, three armored cruisers and the shore batteries.  I left off a Japanese cruiser division for play balance.  I thought the shore batteries would have a significant effect, but I was wrong.  Historically Togo was very concerned about them.

Germans can't buy a firepower test.  Lots of hits, little destruction.

The Germans began to be whittled down as the British made critical dice throws when they really needed them.

Taking evasive action while trying to close to torpedo range.

I had considered giving the Russians a -1 to hit due to their historic abysmal record, but nothing was needed today as the Russian dice were colder than a glacier.  Only the Japanese damage control rolls were keeping them in the game.

An engine room hit forced one AC to fall back, but the Russians
are all tangled up and masking each other.

And then they were over.  The Petropavlosk got a second severe list result and rolled over and sank.  The rest of the fleet began to run for the inner harbor.  On the other hand, as we rolled out the damage results even though the game is over, both the Mikasa and Fuji succumbed to flooding results.  This information would not be known to the Russians immediately though, so they would likely stay in port.

The Germans were cleaned off the table in the other game.  I didn't witness the end but one turn they were fighting and the next they were picking up.  Both players seemed satisfied however.

Seven players gathered to roll dice and Adventure Games were fine hosts as always, providing the tables.  Till next time!