Tag Archives: Irregular Wars

Campaign Game – Initial Encounter – What A Difference A Day Makes

Now that my rule gaffes have been corrected, I fought a brisk 60-minute action this afternoon.  Scenario and set-up were the same as described earlier.

The Portuguese were able to hurt the Zanj with missile fire before stopping their charge (the result of some consistent lucky rolls).   On the other hand, some poor die rolling contributed to a general weakening of the Zanj units locked in melee, with the Portuguese able to withdraw one crossbow unit, and plug its gap in the line with charging targeteers led by Lord Rolando.

This charge caused two Zanj units to scatter (one as a direct result of melee), with others’ resolve dropping to “one” (wavering) leading to a controlled withdrawal from contact.

A final volley by the (now) disengaged Portuguese muskets and bows caused the withdrawing Zanj to flee the field.

However, Sultan Jabir Efe was able to rally the bulk of his army withdrawing south towards Mwenye.  It is rumored  he intends to redouble his diplomatic efforts to enlist the help of the inland natives, as well as contact local Ming merchants to explain the catastrophic effect the mercantile policies of the Portuguese will have on their business interests.  He hopes the  merchants will ask Imperial forces located in Yemen to intervene

The Portuguese leader, Lord Ricardo Nicolau Rolando, must now decide whether to pursue Efe’s forces, or turn north and take the (now) isolated port of Behefe.  It is rumored that the town has only a small garrison augmented by a civic guard of uncertain size and quality.  Regardless of decision, Rolando is confident that another Zanj defeat will cause the inland natives to ally themselves with Portugal, providing supplies and troops.  And, a treaty with the natives promising gold, ivory and other exotic items, should convince his government to provide greater assistance.

Rolando’s decision will not be long in the making…..

 

Initial Encounter……Well, Never Mind.

After a break, I continued playing the initial encounter between the Portuguese and Zanj.

The battle turned into a real slug-fest, with the Portuguese Crossbowmen able to extricate themselves from melee, and the Targeteers, led by Lord Rolando, charging into the Zanj tribesmen.  On the left, the Zanj had enveloped a Portuguese Musket unit.  But wait…..there was something very, very, very wrong…….Take a look at the picture, which shows a real pounding in progress, but then read the caption.

Hey...All You "Ones", You're Wavering......Get Out Of There, Now!
Hey…All You “Ones”, You’re Wavering……Get Out Of There, Now!

Yes, I completely screwed up the rules (Shocking!).  Once resolve drops to a “one” a unit must withdraw 1d3 movement units directly to its rear, maintaining its facing, and cannot initiate melee until its resolve increases.  And, if this unit was in melee (as are all of these), its foe can attempt to pursue.

Oh My…….kind of changes the dynamics, doesn’t it?

Reset!

Campaign Game – Opening Moves & Encounter

The Portuguese completed an unopposed landing, without loss, and advanced along the coastal track towards the northern port town of Mwenye (I used a random name generator which is found here).  Since the inland natives’ relations with the coastal Zanj are bad, the Portuguese inland flank is secure.

A Zanj force moved to block the advance, with the two sides meeting at the forest/oasis of Ejiro.  This would be  a set piece battle with the Zanj occupying a fairly strong defensive position.  However, some Zanj units were effected by an cholera epidemic.  As a result, their resolve was lowered, while skilled medical care kept the Portuguese healthy.

Here’s a pictorial overview of the initial stages of the battle.

Flanks Anchored By Rough Ground And Ridge, Zanj Tribal Warriors Await The Portuguese Advance
Flanks Anchored By Rough Ground And Ridge, Zanj Tribal Warriors Await The Portuguese Advance
Portuguese Advance Begins
Portuguese Advance Begins.  Grenadiers On Left
Zanj Advance In Response To Portuguese Fire
Zanj Advance In Response To Portuguese Fire
Another View Of Zanj Advance
Another View Of Zanj Advance.  Interpenetration Not Allowed By Rules.

Campaign Set Up Moves Forward

Rolled for leader qualities and other parameters.  Rather than insult you with another scan of scribbled fragments of index card, I’ll post up a “clean” copy of the tables/charts used.  Tried to link the variables to the Irregular Wars Chance Cards, with outstanding aspects allowing for good DRMs, and poor aspects leading to bad DRMs.  Normal is just normal, with no DRMs.  Card use has been difficult to implement solitaire and I hope this is a viable alternative.

Ming Chinese:

Lei Qiu:  An inexperienced leader, but bold.  Staff includes a skilled logistician and physician.

Portuguese:

Eduardo Nicolau Rolando:  Experienced and inspiring leader.  Staff also includes skilled logistican and physician.  Also, the Portuguese have good local knowledge, which negates many effects of unfavorable terrain.

The Portuguese, facing hostility from the Coastal Arabs, have to decided to invade before the Ming can establish a military presence.  At this time, only Chinese traders are allowed in the area, and the Coastal Arabs will resist any attack by the Portuguese.

Zanj:

Relations with natives are bad.  They will fight if attacked.  There is internal dissent, and government support is weak.  This weak support limits their army to 10 elements.

Their leader, Jabir Efe, is inexperienced but bold.  Being the home team, they have good local knowledge.

Neither side was able to recruit any natives to augment their forces.

The respective armies are based on both Irregular Wars and DBR lists, given what I have available.  Oh My!  I’m not following an army list.  After years and years of therapy I’ve finally made the jump of just putting something together that has some historical basis and works.  Thank Goodness for that.

 

Start Up

Used the cards shown in my Zapped! post to get the East African Renaissance Campaign off dead center.

Worked fairly well, but the results were mundane.  Had been hoping for a civil war situation, which is the result of both colonial powers being supported by the Zanj or Inland Natives.

Here’s the results:

Ming Chinese

Natives are helpful neutrals, and will provide access to their cities and supplies.  The Zanj are neutral but open to other offers.  Government support is weak, and their initial troop strength is 10 bases.  Their primary objective is a port, with inland towns as their secondary and tertiary objectives.

Portuguese

The Natives are neutral, but open to others.  The Zanj are uncooperative and will fight if attacked or territory occupied.  The Portuguese also have weak government support, and only 10 bases.  Their primary and tertiary objectives are ports, with an inland town a secondary objective.

I’ll start using the Irregular Wars rules to set up some operational parameters.

 

Zapped!

Finally back at the Pine Cone Lodge, and have spent the past few days setting up projects for the Fall gaming season.

My IPad locked up over the trip and required drastic measures to return to operational condition.  And yes, I had not backed it up.  Stupid.  In a flash, I lost all my back issues of Miniature Wargaming and lots of other stuff.

Stung and motivated, decided to plow ahead with my Renaissance East Africa campaign game without notes and resources.  Set up a solo-decision making chain for the initial scenario.

The overarching concept is that the Ming Dynasty continued their ocean going voyages when proposed in 1477.  They encounter the Portuguese as far north as Malindi, Kenya circa 1510.  The Chinese had visited this city back in 1417, with the Portuguese arriving in 1498.  I don’t have Kenyan native figures, but I’ll make my other Sub-Saharan forces do.

The rough/beta decision making chain shown here involves the reaction of Inland Native and Coastal Arab Zanj trading cities.  Will they ally themselves with one group, cooperate, or remain strictly neutral?  OK, it’s backwards, but the scanner is cranky.

Other considerations to be worked on are levels of government support, and reactions of groups that might lead to a civil war.

More to follow.

 

Irregular Wars

Finished up my last game of Irregular Wars for awhile.  Another dust up between the Portuguese and Arabs.  This was a followup to an initial game, with the addition of chance cards and disease/mishaps.

The card draw effected the Portuguese.  They drew a weak leader, which is a -1 DRM to any rally rolls.  The disease and mishaps die rolls that take place for each unit right before the start caused a few units on each side to lose one resolve point.

This time the Arabs used their camel units to attack the crossbowmen manning the Portuguese right flank.  The crossbow fire was ineffective, and the camels closed with a +2 DRM for charge.  So, contrary to the  lessons learned in the initial game, camels can be effective.

The big take-away from this game was how an entire wing of your army can collapse after a series of melees.  This is a function of the game’s resolve (morale) mechanics.

When a unit’s resolve reaches one (1), it wavers.  A wavering unit must withdraw 1D3.  The opponent rolls for pursuit.  If allowed, it can contact the wavering unit again, receiving a charge bonus, if applicable.  If the wavering unit  contacts a friendly unit (no interpenetration in these rules), the contacted unit has an immediate loss of one (1) resolve.  When a unit’s resolve reaches 0, it scatters.  Any unit within two (2) movement units (2u in game terminology), suffers an immediate loss of one (1) resolve.  This can be quite a chain reaction, with waverers withdrawing into friendly units or being hacked at by pursuers.  Take a look at what happened to the Portuguese right flank.

DSC01187

In the top photo, several Portuguese units have already scattered.  In the next photo, the entire wing is gone.  However, you’ll notice the Arab center is in very bad shape, also.  Quite a game!

DSC01190

As reported earlier, Irregular Wars will come off the bigger table to make way for Red Actions!  However, it will be played this Winter, because it’s just too much fun.

Irregular Wars Chance Cards

Chance Cards were not used in my first play-thrus.  I was not familiar enough with the game to come to grips with how to use these cards playing solo.

I’m too artistically incompetent to put together a deck, and I missed out on the opportunity to request a custom made deck from the game’s designer.  So, I put together a numeric listing of each of the cards. The listing is divided into the 26 cards that are revealed right after being drawn, and the 26 cards that are held, and played when deemed appropriate.

For solo play, the cards  immediately revealed are not an issue. However, cards drawn and held for later play are problematic. How to incorporate some uncertainity/randomness?

My inital plan is to use a random number application (one that a range of numbers can be set) to “pick” the cards.

Step 1) Generate 3 numbers for 3 cards.

Step 2) If numbers are 26 or less, cross index from list to card description contained in the rules.

Step 3) If numbers are 27 or higher, that side has a random draw at the beginning of a turn whenever it chooses. This random draw will be from the cards to be played when appropriate list.  Again, use the app to make the draw.

While far from perfect, I’ll see if this solo fix “works”.