The Battle of Salem Cemetery (4)

Turn 3.

First, the Confederates have to take morale tests, and one infantry unit on the right flank had to retreat 2 hexes.

So the first job was to restore the advancing front on the right flank, no problems. We're advancing slowly towards the Union position near the cemetary:

The centre brigade immediately failed its first command roll, so no action there:

On the left flank, more movement so a slow advance was ordered:

The Union kept firing away on its left flank. Almost all command rolls successful, so the advancing infantry units took some hits:

The centre wanted to fire as well, but the 2nd command roll failed. Luckily, we decided to use a (useless) chance card and go for a reroll.

But the reroll failed as well (a 7+ is needed for a succesfull command roll):

On the right flank, the approaching cavalry is too good a target not to charge:

All charge responses worked out fine, so we needed to roll some dice. Union: Strength 7 unit ==> 3 dice + 2 for charging + 1 for first melee of the game = 6 dice. Confederates: Str 10 unit ==> 5 dice + 1 for first melee of the game ==> 6 dice. So we rolled them and paired them up. The charging Union inflicts 5 casualties!

The 2nd cavalry unit wants to charge as well, but for the charge response we rolled a 1! Let's not waste our last chance card on a reroll, so lets's see what happens ...

... and we roll a 17! Luckily, our unit is still at Str 10, so no problem.

Situation at the end of turn 3, as seen from the Confederate side:

To be continued ...

The Battle of Salem Cemetery (3)

Turn 2.

The Confederates start, and it's a good opportunity to play a chance card on the battered artillery unit trying to occupy the central hill. Bringing up the artillery and pounding on Union units near Salem Cemetery is part of the mission.

 

The central brigade commander gave an immediate fire order to that same artillery unit ...

... and brought up the 2nd artillery battery while deploying the cavalry reserves.

 

On the right flank, the advance across the open plain proceeded, making use of a "Forced March" chance card.

The left flank remained mostly stationary due to failed command order.

Now it was time for the Union to react. First, the left and central flank started firing at the approaching rebels.

The right flank failed a command order, so this was the battlefield situation after two turns:

The Battle of Salem Cemetary (2)

The summer holidays are always a mixed blessing. You think you can spend some time on gaming, but with all the things to do in the house and garden, gaming time is a scarce resource.

But anyway, I did manage the first turn in my solo ACW game set up on the wargaming table.

I gave the Confederates the initiative, so they got to move first. The have 3 brigades, each with a commander, and ouse rules say you can keep on activating units in each brigade till the commander fails his command roll.

Here's the dyployment as seen from the Confederate side. Salem cemetary is visible in the distance, and the artillery has to be positioned on the small hill to be able to maim the Union infantry lines.

 

I opted to start with the centre brigade, trying to move the artillery in position. The command roll went ok, and the movement roll was a "4", allowing the artillery to deploy in a firing position on the small hill . The other units didn't move as far.

On the right flank, the infantry started moving forwards. The plan is to move them within firing range, start firing at the troops on the hill, and force them to make morale checks every turn. The cavalry is kept on the far right.

Then we have the left flank. DIfficult terain to manoeuvre, but we expect not to do mucht there, except to keep the enemy busy. Although I moved the cavalry on the farm grounds.

Now it's the Union's turn. Their troops all started at a strength of 7 (as opposed to 10 for the Confederates), and their best plan is to stay put and fire at the approaching enemy, while keeping the cavalry ready to hit some juicy target if the opportunity presents itself.

A couple of succesfull firing orders from the centre onto the deployed artillery unit ...

 

Shuffling the cavalry around on the right flank ...

The left flank didn;t do much due to a failed command roll ... But then the Union played one of its three chance cards to further diminish the artillery in the Confederate centre. The red marker indicates it should take a morale test at the start of the next turn due to casualties.

To be continued ...

The Battle of Salem Cemetary

We're slowly approaching the moment when all in gaming group will have received their 2nd vaccination shot, and a few weeks after that, we can consider getting together again. It will be nice to do some "real" games again after a hiatus of a year and a half.

But we haven't reached that point yet, so there's still room for a solo game. I decided to use the scenario published in Wargames Soldiers & Strategy 114, an ACW game "The Battle of Salem Cemetary", using our house rules for fighting ACW battles.

The terrain

One of the challenges of setting up a published scenario is to transfer it to the dimensions of your own gaming table. Since our ACW rules are hex-based, the terrain also has to align to the hexes. This is always fun to do, since by setting up the terrain, you also get an idea of how the game will develop, whether there's enough room for manoeuvre, enough opportunities for troops to take cover, etc.

The images below shows the final layout. The scenario is easy enough: a hill ridge is defended by the Union (closer end of the table in the photos), while the Confederates are approaching from the top-right, also bringing along some captured Union artillery.

The table as seen from the Union side - the ridge to be defended.

Another view of the table, from the same side.

The Troops

When using a published scenario, you always have to adapt the troops listed to your own table and rules. After all, troop density, movement ad firing ranges are important to judge how the scenario will be played. So I always pay close attention to the intent of the scenario, and then select troops to match the tactical idea.

Below you see the deployment for both the Confederate and the Union armies.

The deployment as seen from the Confederate side. The mission is to drive the Union from the ridge near the cemetary in the upper right.

... and as seen from the Union side.

The Commanders

I use characteristics for commanders in my games. Each sides draws a number of cards equal to the number of commanders, and can choose to attribute the cards to the commanders of each brigade. Some commanders are better at giving movement orders, others at giving firing orders, or ordering infantry etc. Some have a somewhat larger command range. I find it an excellent way of presenting the player with a tactical challenge and dealing with the resources at hand. And yes, sometimes the commanders are less than optimal :-)

The Union right flank. This flank has a lot of terrain, and we have the cavalry here. So a commander with a bonus for charge orders will do fine.

The Union centre flank. These troops have to defend the ridge, and the plan is not to move them at all, only give firing orders. So they got the "leftover" commander. The Union doesn't have artillery in this game, otherwise this commander could prove useful.

The Union left flank. An open field, so some movement and firing is expected. If the enemy will approach, it's most likely on this flank. Hence the commander who's good at firing.

The Confederate left flank. Lots of cavalry, so any bonus on charge orders is a plus.

The Confederate centre and reserve. The mission states the artillery needs to be brought forward and hammer the Union ridge, so some good movement for artillery is in order.

The Confederate right flank, facing an open field. So some movement and firing is useful.

As you can see, sometimes the commanders have somewhat "neutral" characteristics, sometimes they are well-suited for the job. But as they are drawn at random from a deck of 8 commanders for each side, it's always a bit unpredictable.

Random Events

I also use random events for my games - again a random draw of 3 cards. Some cards can only be played prior the game, others during the game. But a player has also the choice to use an event card for rerolling a command roll or a combat resolution roll. So no event cards is "useless".

The Union draw. The 1st card is always useful to weaken an enemy unit at a weak spot in the line; the 2nd card is of no use in this scenario (except for rerolls), and the card on the right can claim cover that wasn't on the battlefield from the start (e.g. some ditches or hedges that were not on the maps ...)

The Confederate draw: the left card is useful for a boost in unit strength; the 2nd card will come in handy on the right flank; the 3rd cards allow enemy fire to be deviated towards a friendly unit for the firer.

On to the game!

 

I bought new dice!

The last year has been very detrimental for overall gaming. Many people might think that during the successive lockdowns there has been plenty of time to do all sorts of gaming-related stuff, but not for me.

But anyway, for the first time in a long time I visited my FLGS. I dropped off some old games (the shop has a second hand shelf, you put your games for sale at a fixed price, and if sold, you get store credit), and bought a new boardgame. But I also bought a new set of polyhedral dice, just for fun.

Back in the day I had a habit of buying a new set of dice at every convention I visited, as a memento. I hadn't done that for many years, but suddenly, these brightly yellow-green dice were staring at me! There's always room for more dice!

Poppies

The poppies are blowing again ...

New Post ...

 A new post on our sister-blog, Wargaming Mechanics.

Repairing an old building

Roughly 30 years ago, I bought the "Warhammer Townscape" set from Games Workshop. It had a set of cardboard buildings, very usable for a beginning wargamer. I still have all the buildings in that set (you might see them in some of the photographs on this blog), and still use them. Although there are many more high-quality buildings available these days, the Townscape set is still a favourite of mine, tapping in the nostalgia of my early wargaming days.

Anyway, the set also has a windmill, which is very fragile. The sails (or blades) regularly snapped off and I had to repair them many times. But I never did it in a good way, but with the clearing up of Lowenheim, I finally made a decent repair, with the sails detachable for easy storage.

The windmill, roof detached, sails all loose.

The separate sails. The idea is to make a more sturdy axle (using a nail), and some paint brush protectors as a shaft.

Gluing the sails on a piece of balsa wood.

Sails put together.

Nail attached.

Nail and shaft together.

Gluing the shaft inside the windmill.

Test 1.

Test 2, now all that remains is to glue the roof back together. Ready for another 30 years of service.

More car mayhem

The local 2nd hand/recycling store is always a good source for cheap toys for new wargaming projects.

Two-and-half euro for a bunch of 9 cars is not too bad for my upcoming car wars games ...

Chronicles of Lowenheim (10)

It took a while before I found the time to wrote a new installment of my ongoing narrative fantasy campaign, but as usual, real life intervened. January is exam time at my university, February sees the start of a new semester with new courses, and before you know it, we're at the end of March!

But anyway, let's continue!
Last Post: http://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/2021/01/chronicles-of-lowenheim-9.html
Campaign page: http://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/p/chronicles-of-lowenheim.html

The last event we rolled for was the following: "A fire is erupting in the city. Which building is affected? Was the building set on fire deliberately? Who could have done it?"

So we need to decide on various things: location of the fire, was it deliberate, what's the effect on the city, etc.

First, let's roll for a random location. Our overview map already laid out the city in various quarters, so we can easily attribute some probabilities and roll a die. I assigned some higher probabilities to denser populated areas.

• 1-2 Slums
• 3-4 Merchants Quarter
  
• 5-6 Middle Class
• 7-8 Government & Wealthy Quarter
• 9 Scholar's Quarter
• 10 Guard Barracks
• 11 Trigonometros Area
• 12 Wall & Towers

Let's roll a D12: 11! A fire in the area of the Wizard's tower. This is certainly unexpected. If the fire would have happened in one of the other areas, it could well have been the wizard's themselves trying to raise more unrest in the city against Lamoraal van Egmont. But now the plot thickens. Who could have done it. Let's list a few possibilities ...

• 1 The Trigonometros started the fire themselves, so they could blame the Scholars in their struggle for influence with Lamoraal van Egmont.
• 2 The Scholars (or someone hired by them) started the fire, in an effort to eliminate the Trigonometros.
• 3, 4 The fire was a mere accident, caused by lighting.
• 5 The fire was an accident, caused by a magical experiment gone wrong in the tower.
• 6 Hans De Jonghe, the demagogue and agitator from the slums, started the fire, in his effort to cause more chaos in the city. After all, the wizards are still seen as the counselors of the Landvoogd by the bigger population.

Let's roll ... a 5! A fire in a tower populated by wizards? That must have involved summoning a fire elemental! So let's say one of the wizards tried to summon an elemental, it went horribly wrong. It would be fun having one of the other wizards (or the same wizrds?) put out the fire with a water elemental. We also need to decide how much damage the fire has caused.

• 1-2 Only superficial damage to the tower.
• 3 The tower is burnt to the ground.
  
• 4 The adjoining area (garden of Ents) is destroyed.
• 5 The adjoining area (magical garden with beasts and plants) is destroyed.
• 6 Only superficial damage to the wizard's area, but the fire spreads to the guards barracks (1-2) or the graveyard. (3-4) or the middle class area (5-6).

 Let's roll our D6 again. A 2 ... only superficial damage to the tower.

As a last random event, let's roll to see if one of the wizards died. 1-3: yes; 4-6: no. We roll a 4, so yes. And a further random roll indicates it is Verdal Balok ...

So now we have enough elements to continue our story ...

==========

The Trigonometros is looking for ways to stop the rising influence of the Scholars. Those guys are getting too much influence on the Landvoogd, a role that has for ages belonged to the Trigonometros! But what to do ... ?

Verdal Balok - who has long dabbled in the magical arts of summoning elemental powers - is brooding on a plan. Using his arcane knowledge of the fire spirit creation, he will summon a fire elemental and send it to the Scholars' quarter. Given the recent riots, it will be easy to put the blame on Hans De Jonghe, the demagogue from the slums. The citizens will be too easy convinced the resulting damage will be due to his anarchistic tendencies ...

A Creo Ignem spell of sufficient power is needed to summon a fire spirit, followed by a Rego Ignem spell to control the spirit and send him on a path of destruction ...

Verdal Balok summons the fire elemental Udûn on the roof of the Wizards' Tower.

But alas! The Rego Ignem spell, needed to control Udûn, fails horribly and the elemental escapes the magical bond of Verdal Balok. Soon, the tower is erupting in flames.

Verdal Balok fails to control Udûn.

Fire spreads along the tower ...

As seen from below ...

Kerwyn Mandragora is aware of the mistake made by Verdal Balok, and rushes to the river to summon an elemental himself. A succesful Creo and Rego Aquam spell, and Lycorias rises from the river. 

Lycorias, a water elemental, rises from the river flowing through Lowenheim.

 

Soon, Lycorias and Udûn are battling it out ... Udûn is not powerful enoguh against the watery might of Lycorias and the fire is extuingished.

The fight between Lycorias and Udûn.

Luckily, only minor fire damage is caused overall, but Verdal Balok has paid dearly for his mistake ...

========== 

Let's roll our event for week 7. As usual, I have amended our list of events based on the story so far.

1. The Trigonometros wants to regain their influence, and start looking for allies. They try to make contact with Hans De Jonghe, the leader of the riots. Will they succeed? How can both parties benefit from this unlikely alliance? [6]
   Did people witness the battle of the elementals? Can the city still trust the Trigonometros? Does this mean the end for the wizard's influence? [7]
   
2. A trade caravan arrives. Who is the trader? What does he or she hope to sell or trade in Lowenheim? What news does the caravan bring? Are there any strange creatures part of the caravan? [1]
   
3. Grombo SuykerByck still feels he should be rewarded for his efforts in putting down a revolt in the city. What would be a proper reward? Will he become an influential friend of the Landvoogd? Will he get more money and/or influence? [4]
   
4. The guards (along with the tax collector) go out collecting the new taxes, but a fight ensues. In what quarter of the city? Why is there a fight? (==> skirmish wargame) [1]
   
5. The Trigonometros plans an attack on Mercator's tower. How will they do this? Night or day? Ground, air, tunnels, spells? Using their magical creatures, or do it more stealthily? Who will come to the help of Johannes Mercator? (==> skirmish wargame) [3] 
6. A fire is erupting in the city. Which building is affected? Was the building set on fire deliberately? Who could have done it? [6]
   What happens to the physical remains of Verdal Balok? He is a wizard, after all. Does he come back as a lich? Another form of undead? Something else entirely? [7]
   
7. There are 4 statues at the crossroads (and a few more in the city). What is their meaning? What do they tell about the history of Lowenheim? [4]
   
8. A murder takes place in Lowenheim. Who is the (important?) victim? Will there be a trial? What's the judicial system in Lowenheim? [1]
   
9. The recent riots around De Groene Draak and the fire in the wizards' tower lead to heightened patrols by the city guards. What will they do to restore order? Impose a curfew? How will they do it? By force or not? (==> skirmish wargame?) [4]
   
10. There's a coven of cultists hiding in the city somewhere. Who are they? What do they want? What is their secret temple? Is there an important figure part of the cult? [5]

A 7! "There are 4 statues at the crossroads (and a few more in the city). What is their meaning? What do they tell about the history of Lowenheim?" 

So, still not another game. Perhaps I should increase the odds of rolling a skirmish game (now at 3/10) somewht. But anyway, the city layout still has a snow cloth underneath, and it has been like that since Christmas. With spring now coming, it's perhaps time to give my table lay-out a little overhaul.

To be continued ...