Category Archives: Sessions

Pursuit Of Glory – When All Else Fails….Read The Playbook

Boardgames, Sessions, World War I

Tim and I had an enjoyable session with Pursuit Of Glory (PoG) last weekend.

Enjoyable….PoG?  Oxymoron.  This game has a history of breaking my mind. So, why the change?  Great Weather and Bad Football (USC vs UW and Seahawks vs. Chargers).  We took significant breaks from the action.  That’s why we managed only six turns.  And, I must mention the always amusing and distracting banter generated by the Official Playlist Of Wargaming In Central Oregon –  Pandora’s 10cc Channel.

Here’s a situation photo after our last turn.

The Central Powers control the Balkans, the Allies are advancing in Mesopotamia, both sides are staring at each other across the Suez, with the Russians and Turks pondering what to do in the Caucasus and Persia.   The Allies can conduct invasions, and the Central Powers have opened a rail route between Germany and Turkey, so German replacements can be used by the Turks.

As usual, the stage has been set for some interesting gameplay….. right when we shut it down.

We had good discussion about the game the following morning.  I asked Tim to send me his thoughts on important strategies to employ.  I thought it would make for an interesting post.  The more I thought about it, I decided to look at the Playbook.  Never read or, if I did, I didn’t retain anything (as you will read).

The important points are summarized below, as our observations about the game.

Russians:  Be aggressive because you will probably lose.  Delay the inevitable Russian Revolution by getting Victory Points (particularly in Persia) and attrit the Ottomans, who have limited replacement points.

I did a bad job of this.  Passive with both.  Tim had a full complement of Turkish replacement points (25) at game end.  Not good for the Allies.

British Empire:  Protect Suez by moving divisions from other parts of the empire.  Invade Mesopotamia as early as possible.  Support the Russians in Persia.  Deny the CP Jihad points.  Invade Salonika early to support the Serbs and perhaps stop the railroad connection from Germany to Turkey.  Invade other regions to spread out the Turks.

Neither Tim or I were particularly aggressive in Egypt, although we both built Corps and were ready to assault across the Suez.

I invaded Mesopotamia in the first turn and subsequently focused on my play there…..at the expense of the Russians and other invasions. Tim observed that the Ottomans need to reinforce Baghdad and Jerusalem sooner rather than later, and perhaps wait until the Allies are “strung out” in their advance towards Baghdad before deploying tribes.

Again, we both avoided Persia.  Tim thinks he should have been more active there.

I did manage to clean out the Mesopotamia tribes as part of my advance towards Baghdad, despite my incredibly stupid play that allowed Tim to cut off and destroy (by attrition) an understrength Corps – a rare Allies asset.

I always shy away from Salonika.  Must be a product of my knowledge of what happened.  As the guidebook states, invasions take a lot of planning – especially reinforcements and accumulating cards to use for operations.  For me, that’s a distraction from the 10cc station.

Tim was aggressive – as he should be – in Bulgaria.  I was able to stall the advance, but did allow the Serbs to collapse, with the railroad line completed to further bolster the Ottomans.

Turkey:  Build corps, as they are much more powerful than divisions.  Use divisions to delay any advances.  Use entrenchments (easier to build than in Paths of Glory).  Garrison beachheads.  Get Bulgaria in the war as soon as possible.  Likewise, and most importantly, start the Russian Revolution as soon as possible.

Tim did a good job with all of these play suggestions.

My biggest “takeaway” is the realization that the Russians will lose and their role is, by being aggressive, supporting British efforts in other theaters.

I’m looking forward to our next game…..hopefully in November.

Never Disappoints

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Played Illusions Of Glory with Tim last weekend.  I had the Allies.  Probably the longest game we’ve had.  We made to 1917 with the issue definitively in doubt.  Previous games were shorter, with either Austrians or Russians committing a series of early fatal errors.

Here’s a quick shot of the board when we decided to stop.  Top of the photo is West.

Tim did an excellent job of keeping Austrian loses low, and letting the powerful German armies attrit the Russians to the point their troop quality was dangerously.

Stymied in the North, I resorted to joint British/Serbian amphibious landings in Salonika and Albania.

As usual, things were just starting to get interesting when we had to quit.

Good Decision(?)

Boardgames, Post World War II, Sessions, Skirmish, Solitaire

It worked out…..barely.  The Hostile Turn was interesting.

Since  no soldiers were in the location occupied by the hostiles, no reinforcements were drawn.  The still active Leader’s “Inspired” trait allowed each hostile to discard one suppressed marker, so the RPG Team took a shot at Minyard.  The result was two wounds to both him and Sietz.  Fortunately, Minyard’s hand contained a “Take Cover” card  cancelling the attack.  Whew!   The Martyr moved to the location occupied by the other hostiles, leaving the Objective card unoccupied.  Again, no reinforcements were drawn for the Objective because it was unoccupied.  The screen shielding the target had left.

The Team now had one 40mm round  left, so one chance to kill the VIP.  Since this would take a single action by Seitz, both soldiers refreshed/augmented their hand, hoping to draw a card or cards to enhance the attack.  No luck, so only a single Combined Fire card could be used, adding two to the attack role.

In Warfighter, any weapon attack involves both a six-sided and ten-sided die (D6 & D10).  The D6 determines whether the attack “defeats” the target’s cover, while the D10 determines if the target is killed or suppressed.

The Objective has a cover rating of four, with the M203 having a kill number of eight.  higher (the “0” on the D10 counts as a “10”).  A roll of four or more is required to defeat the cover, and eight or more to kill.  If only one number is rolled, then the target is suppressed.  If neither rolled, the target is unaffected.

I rolled a 3D6, and 8D10.  No kill!  Ugh and Oh Well, My My……But, walking away I remembered the M203 has a penetration rating of one.  This is added to the defeat cover roll.  Success!

Next…..On to Africa!

Back At It…..

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Home after three weeks in better weather.

Fired up my Vassal Panzergruppe Guderian (PGG) project.  Actually read the Simonsen article.  Discovered my initial efforts were all wrong.  According to Redmond, the Soviets were defending too far forward, and the Germans not moving east fast enough.

Chastened,  I finished up Game Turn 1 using (I hope) the proper courses of action.  Here’s some screen shots.  By the way, you have to rename the each Vassal photo with a .jpg suffix in order to view/upload.

Soviet forces have moved east from their initial positions at the west map edge(s), and are using rail movement to move reinforcements so as to build defensive positions west of Smolensk.  The Soviets initially placed in Smolensk rolled a six, and could not activate/move.

Germans moving at speed to the east, but attacking the Soviet rear guard threatening their supply lines.

Germans were able to ZOC kill the Soviets, but were lucky.  The blocking force (Soviet unit strengths not known until moment of combat) was strong – 13 total combat factors – but placed out of supply, so halved for combat.  The German armored divisions then exploited east, while the motorized divisions used their second movement phase of the turn to pin Soviet units posing a potential threat to the German right flank.

This is going to be interesting……

Way Way Back Machine

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Winter has finally arrived.  Gone are sunny skies and temperatures in the sixties.  Disorientation replaced by discomfort.

Home Alone, so wargames spread out all over the place.  As always, the problem is to avoid the avoidable distractions and just sit down.

One project is a solo Vassal game of the venerable Panzergruppe Guderian.  To make things fun/different, and to learn a little more about how to play, I dredged up an old copy of Moves Magazine #29.

None other than Redmond Simonsen walks the reader through what to do.  So, I’m following his guidance.

Here’s the game board (or most of it) after Turn 1, along with a shot of the first page of the article.

Kids!

Boardgames, Post World War II, Sessions, Skirmish, Solitaire

Now  playing this great solitaire game.  I had forgotten just how good it is.

Went over to its Boardgamegeek page and downloaded this mini-mat.  Saves so much space!  Now I can comfortably play it at my desk, with the Soldier Player cards and loadout on a small side table.

The usual re-entry fits-and-starts with the rules.  This narrative discussion really helped.  So, with this, the 2nd Edition rulebook, downloaded key terms and universal rules, I had all the resources required to play.

Here’s a quick snap of the first mission of my campaign game.

Notice the Refugee Card?  That ruined everything.  Damn Kids!!!  No auto bursts or explosives.  My M-203 – which I’m counting on to kill the mission’s VIP target and to kill multiple bad guys, is useless.  So, I became bogged down in a gunfight characterized by my die rolls that suppressed, but did not kill.  After one Player-Soldier was wounded twice and  my Mission Timer clicking down, I went into abort mode.

Granted, it is a tough mission with low (41) resource points. But, I’m sure an experienced player would have figured things out.  I’ll use this as a negative score, and do my usual reset.

Lots of fun, though.

Groza – Barbarossa Unleashed Rules

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II,

Tim and I both like the draft of this ruleset.

We didn’t use any of the optional or experimental rules, just the new Combat Results and Supply Effects  alternate rules.  We also found two changes to the basic rules that had an immediate impact on play.

The alternate combat results seem less bloody, and, according to Tim, simplify the replacement process. Units that are out of supply no longer roll for elimination (4th Turn), but continue to exist albeit in a very weakened state.

The  changes in airfield capacity and stacking had the most significant impact on play.

Full and Partial Hex Cities now have a maximum capacity of 3 air units.  With Minor Cities having a capacity of one air unit.  In the older rule sets,  the former had a capacity of six air units, with Dot Cities at three units and Reference Cities at one unit.  Apparently there will some changes in the categorization of cities when new maps are published.  We simply used a capacity of one for both Dot and Reference cities.

The total number of Regimental Equivalents remains at twelve, but in the new rules all twelve factors can be divisions.  The allowance for artillery remains the same.  This change allows for some very robust combinations.

I’ve sent my initial dispositions to Tim.  More on that later……

Groza – It Only Gets Worse

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II,

The remainder of this session report will focus on Romania.  There was  mutual nibbling up north, but the bulk of the action was to the south.

Here’s the situation at the end of the Soviet Exploitation Phase.

Not good at all.  Desperate Times…..

Here are my Desperate Measures……Strategic Rail Movement for German ground reinforcements and Transfer Missions for air assets.  Fortunately, Hungary is a benevolent neutral, so the Axis can use Hungarian rail and airspace, as well as trace supply through it. Unfortunately, Romania does not have many airfields, although I had engineers working diligently for more fields to be ready in the Aug I Initial Phase.  The supply access really helped withdrawing units.

Axis Movement…..

Up north, I tried to extricate units by moving west into the mountains.  Down south, the priority was to stop the Soviet advance from down the valley, while having German armor in position to move during the Exploitation Phase.  Some of the stranded units had no hope for a successful retreat, so they would buy time for the others.

These two shots show the situation after the Axis Exploitation Phase.  A cobbled together perimeter defense with the panzers providing some depth.

The big problem is the Soviet unit identified by the red arrow.  Couldn’t reach it and establish a zone of control.

When Tim diplomatically suggested a re-set, I took up his offer.

Next, some observations we have about the Barbarossa Unleashed rules.  Plot Spoiler……..we like them.

Groza….Amateur Hour

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II,

My previous post covered the scenario’s basics.  Now to the gameplay.

Here are shots of the initial dispositions (after the Soviet Jun II Special Turn) from North to South.  I discovered it takes four (4), not three (3) screen shots to cover all fronts.  This group is missing the southern tip of Romania.

For some reason, I never “captured” an image with Tim’s Soviets dispositions in Romania.  But this is pic of mine is damning enough.  Just wait……

The following show Tim’s Soviet onslaught.  Not much going on in the northern and central pictures, but in Romania……whoaaa!!!

They say we create our own Hells.  Yes, my Romanian Hell was a product of failing to comprehend the interactions of two  Special Rules.

For the first turn, Zones of Control (ZOCs) are reduced.  And,  Axis units must be placed so as to either occupy border hexes or have them in a zone of control.  Too much of the latter, and not enough of the former.  I needed a solid front in Romania, with reduced border strength, but without gaps that, literally and figuratively, could (and would) be exploited.

To compound this error, I did not recognize the implications of the enhanced exploitation capabilities of Soviet units.  Here’s Romania after the Jul II Soviet Exploitation phase.

Gruesome.  Enough!  I’ll cover the rest of our game after my return from W.C. Fields’ (not so) favorite city.

From Set-Piece To Re-Set

Boardgames, Sessions, World War I

Set up another Gaza scenario.  This one covers Allenby’s 1918 campaign.

Yes, more set-piece battle action, but with the enhanced possibility of a decisive  Allied breakthrough.

Why?  A special rule for one turn.  The Allies can ignore the effect of enemy entrenchments, and add a +2 to their D6 roll if supported by two factors of artillery,  to an attack using at least 20 factors.  Also, any cavalry not involved in the attack can “exploit” (after combat is completed) up to their full movement allowance and launch an attack (no special modifiers) of their own.

Later That Same Day

Reread the scenario rules.  The special rules cited above hold for any attack (with at least 20 factors) during one turn, just not “an” attack.

How typical.  An error of omission.  I will avoid descending into a public display of self-castigation.

So, here’s the result of my misguided efforts.

The breakthrough took place along the coast, with two cavalry units exploiting.  An opportunity, but probably not as good as one generated by two attacks with these favorable modifiers.

Also, an additional cavalry unit is hiding under a headquarters situated along the coast.  Jeez! Sloppy staff work!

I may play this one out for another turn or two, but will set it up again to take full advantage scenario rules to see if I can completely “unhinge” the Ottoman defenses.