First Look: Commands and Colors Ancients

Commands and Colors Ancients by GMT Games is a light board wargame recreating battles between the Romans and Carthaginians. The rules system by Richard Borg appears in his earlier ACW game Battle Cry and more recently in Battlelore by Days of Wonder. Whilst it doesn't have the production quality of the Days of Wonder product, with blocks and a rather thin board, it has been said to be the best implementation of the Commands and Colors system (BTW when will our colonial cousins learn that "color" has a "u" in it?). Not having played it I can't comment but with games taking around an hour I should be able to get a few in and post a proper review in the not too distant future. I have just finished applying the stickers to each side of each block which, whilst a bit of a chore, is strangely satisfying when you have finished. I'm not entirely convinced by the sticker approach to the battle dice but I understand they are considerably better than those supplied in the first edition. I am looking forward to giving this one some table time.

TotW: Flight From Smershk

Yet another Triumph of the Will game this week. This time a slightly less historic scenario from the Too Fat Lardies Christmas 2004 seasonal special. Quoting the Lardies:
Oh my Lord! Will evil Count Nikolai Vorskinski get the girl, or will she be saved in the nick of time by filthy oik Dimitri Urinovski. A bodice ripper for Triumph of the Will from the age of pulp.
We had a slight hiccup initially, largely due to my failure to proof read the email I sent to the chap providing the figures and hence the Reds were a little down on numbers but after a little reorganisation the game was rebalanced.
The Whites decided to dig in as close to the Red edge as possible to form a defensive line whilst the engineers fixed the damaged rails to enable the Count's armoured train to reach the ship. The Reds threw themselves at the line but took a substantial number of casualties; however, some of the cavalry managed a breakthrough on the left flank despite the intervention of the White's armour. Unfortunately the Reds didn't have enough fresh troops to exploit the move and whilst it held up that flank it didn't swing the game.
Meanwhile on the right flank the White defence crumbled before the Red onslaught with casualties minimised due to the cover reducing visibility for the MGs. More Red Cavalry broke through just in time to see the train steaming off towards Smershk. Comrade Urinovski led the advance crushing the Engineers which the Count had left behind but by now the breakthrough on the left flank had been crushed enabling the Whites to redeploy. The Reds didn't have enough troops to defeat the remaining Whites and were forced to withdraw. In his haste the Count nearly ruined it all by crashing the locomotive into the buffers and nearly into the sea! But he managed to unload his treasure and steam away with the girl thanks to his troops remaining loyal despite the fact he was abandoning them to their fate.

Salute - Does it still provide inspiration?

Ever since I have lived within reasonable reach of London I have visited the Salute wargames show hosted by the South London Warlords. From the cramped conditions at Kensington through the variable benefits of Olympia (who can forget that first show with the lift access fiasco) through to the aircraft hanger that is Excel, I have trundled along with my "wish list" and duly tried to buy enough lead that I thought I'd saved myself the ticket price in postage. They have yet to announce the entry price for this year but I doubt it will be much shy of £10 and that's a fair amount of postage! In any event I generally do meet up with a whole bunch of reprobate gamers I haven't seen in a good while (probably since the previous Salute) and few other shows allow that. But overall I've found the show less and less inspiring. I used to do a lot of impulse buying as well as picking up stuff from my list but these days I seem to spend rather a lot of time wandering around but not buying much. Not that this is solely Salute, when I went to SELWG at Crystal Palace last year (and bear in mind I like that show a whole lot better than Salute even though it is a little smaller) I had a similar experience. Am I just getting old, have I bought it all already or is there just less to get excited about out there? I'm not sure myself but it will be something that's on my mind when I shell out the cash to get into the rather soulless space that the Warlords have taken this year.

How do they do it?

Placed an order with Shire Games yesterday for Diamant and Escalation! to play with the family. The order went in at 16:15 yesterday afternoon and the games arrived at 11am this morning. How do they do it - do they employ psychics to predict your order or what? I can't believe anyone can beat that (unless they've got a teleportation device). Anyway top marks to the folks at Shire Games!!

Forlorn Hope

Managed to get a game of Forlorn Hope in this week at the wargames club. It has been a while since I have ventured into ECW and it has me thinking of sorting out my Redoubt Montrose and Covenanters which have been languishing in a cupboard for quite a while. It was the Umpire's first outing with the rules (and I'm not sure having one of the authors present helped his confidence level) but a fun game was had by all. Unfortunately, we (the Royalists) didn't carry the day but it was all going swimmingly when I had to leave early so I'll put it down to my fellow Royalists (OK chaps maybe it wasn't all your fault...).

Marked for dearth!

I hadn't realised how long it has been since I last posted. A nagging shoulder injury (not good for typing), work (encroaching on too many evenings) and other real life issues have left little time for gaming let alone blogging; however, this weekend has certainly started to put things back on track, gaming wise anyway.

5150, Antike, Bonaparte at Marengo (BaM) Luftwaffe 1946 and the naval rules from Rocket's Red Glare (RRG) all saw a first play along with a game of our old favourite Savage Worlds. A good mix of miniatures and boardgames along with air, naval and skirmish in historical, alternative history and SF genres!

Being from the Chain Reaction stable 5150 worked pretty much as expected with a Bug Hunt style game using random SF floorplan tiles. The Savage Worlds game was a pulp outing which owed a lot to both the Lost World and Indiana Jones with the descendants of Atlantis living on a jungle plateau inhabited with dinosaurs. Luftwaffe 1946 had B29s escorted by P51s facing off against HE162s and provided a good fun game but with little new (not that that is necessarily a bad thing!). RRG provided another use for my Wizkids Pirates CMG ships but didn't work too well (possibly not a surprise when many of the rules are based on the land game - though that works way better).

Despite losing BaM it turned out to be a great game and as the French I did only lose on the last turn after it looked like it would be a walkover for the Austrians after they got round my right flank so the game had plenty of interest. Whilst the combat mechanic is very simple the game gives you plenty of difficult decisions and a different perspective for each player. BaM will certainly be seeing some future play.

As a light civilisation game, Antike, works very well. A three player game demonstrated that conflict wasn't necessary for a win, although I'm not sure one of the players was really working to a plan (sorry dear!). With the game lasting 90 minutes, with little downtime and giving plenty of things to do I think this one will see quite a bit more table time.

First Look: Antike

Antike by eggertspiele and Rio Grande is a light civilisation type boardgame for 2 to 6 players. The game allows you to play various civilisations from the Babylonians to the Romans with the focus on securing various victory point cards rather than eliminating your opponents. There is combat but it is resolved very simply (and expensively!). The game has a playing time of between 90 minutes and two hours.

It is available from various sources but I managed to secure my copy at something less than the RRP on eBay. Look for a full review once I have had a chance to play it a few times.

First Look: Bonaparte at Marengo

Bonaparte at Marengo from Simmons Games is a two player Napoleonic board wargame. It allows you to recreate the Battle of Marengo, 14 June 1800, between the French and Austrian armies. The opposing forces are represented by wooden blocks and the game utilises an innovative polygonal area to area movement system. The combat system is diceless. The game comes with two sets of, for a board wargame, deceptively simple rules but appears to present plenty of tactical challenges for both the French and Austrian players.

The game is available from Simmons Games in the US, Histogame in Germany and both Gameslore and Leisure Games in the UK. It retails for around $49.95 in the US and £42.99 in the UK (rip off Britain strikes again!).

Not a Great Week...

I managed to injure my shoulder - hence the lack of posts as work on the PC wasn't the easiest. Fortunately, I seem to be on the mend now. Things did look up as I managed to secure a couple of boardgames for very reasonable prices on eBay - Bonaparte at Marengo (you'll probably be able to guess from the title what that one's about) and Antike (a civilisation style game) - so expect some first looks and probably reviews once I've had a chance to look at them.

Guards to Poltava

I have been running the Guards to Poltava Russian Civil War campaign for Triumph of the Will from the TooFatLardies featured in their 2006 Summer Special. The first two games went to the Whites but they took a bit of a beating to win the second game and it meant that they needed both a decent plan and good luck in order to win the third. Unfortunately they didn't fare too well with either and so the third game became the White high tide mark.

We all still like the Triumph of the Will rules, albeit they have a few rough edges which could do with smoothing, and they give a somewhat brutal but fast game. Given that we usually only have time for 2-2.5 hours gameplay we need rules that will work with multiple players on each side and allow us to reach a conclusion in the time available. TotW does both admirably.

We had a discussion after the game about the pros and cons of ladder campaigns and the difficulty of maintaining some sort of balance so they provide a challenge but don't end too rapidly. For a game to be fun it can't be dependent on one side making no mistakes whatsoever.

Whilst this campaign allowed the Whites to refight the scenario with the reinforcements they would have met up with at Poltava the conclusion was that they would still have had a tough time of it. It did provide an excellent example of the interesting aspects of the TotW rules with units being sized by their morale and determination rather than physical numbers. Also the need for control tests when a unit reaches five or less figures gave the Red Militia (starting with 6 figure units) plenty of worries. It did also show the need for proper consideration of counter battery fire too.

It looks like one of the chaps may try the rules for the Russo Finnish war next.

Nach Paris!

Managed to get a game of Nach Paris! (a Franco Prussian Fire & Fury variant) in on Thursday as the Prussians. A great game but it did reveal the issues around modifying one rule set for another period. Some of the key mechanisms in Fire & Fury work on the basis of equivalent ranges for musketry in the American Civil War. Clearly this isn't true of the Franco Prussian war where ranges and fire power differed significantly between the opposing forces. So do you introduce differential ranges and, if so, how do you deal with the "retreat beyond enemy musket range" results? The Fire & Fury mechanics clearly have a level of abstracting and thus introducing a new variable can create some problems which aren't immediately apparent.

As it was the game was great fun and the weapons issues have been taken away for a bit of tweaking. Unfortunately the result was relatively historic with a French "victory" but I'll put that down to a lack of aggressiveness on my colleague's flank (of course a lot fewer duff dice rolls on my part might of made a difference too!)

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

Sorry that there haven't been any posts lately - I have been down with the 'flu and hence haven't had much time for blogging or gaming. Having recovered I'm in the process of progressing a couple more reviews.

Review: Division Commander

Division Commander is a set of miniature wargames rules for gaming multi-day battles of World War Two from Bruce McFarlane published under his Complete Wargame Packages (CWP) banner. The rules are designed for multi-Division multiple day actions with individual stands representing a Battalion. The ground scale is 3 inches to the mile and the time scale is variable but a turn is roughly equivalent to between 90 minutes and 3 hours.
Presentation
Division Commander is only available as an Adobe .pdf download comprising the main rules, quick reference sheet, three scenarios, counters and Division cards for typical German, Soviet and Allied Forces. The rules have a colour front cover and some small colour photographs of miniatures but is otherwise in black and white. Other than the contents page it is laid out in a single column format in a relatively small font. The main rules run to some 21 pages. The rules are followed by four pages of FAQs. The three scenarios included are Counterattack at Arras, El Almein (sic): Operations Lightfoot and Supercharge and Mud at Mtsensk.
The presentation is generally poor with muddled page layouts, multiple fonts being used in single sections for no apparent reason, fonts which are uncomfortably small which combined with poor proof-reading and the rules/FAQ approach does not make the rules pretty or easy to navigate. Different terminology is used to describe the same things (e.g. dispersed/decimated) and the Quick Reference Sheet actually disagrees with the main rules.
Sequence of Play
Each day turn is broken down into around 30 steps with additional steps for the first turn but night turns have only 4.
Typically these are as follows:
Weather
Reinforcements
Corps Artillery, Air Support and Command
Initiative (an opposed modified d6 roll)
Phasing Player:
Commands
Recover from dispersed
Rally from disorder
Motivate deployed units
Engineering
Change orders (optional rule)
Air strikes
Move HQ
Defensive fire from non-phasing player
Offensive fire
Close combat
Momentum test (optional rule)
Reverse Roles and Repeat
Whilst this may seem lengthy each turn actually flows relatively smoothly once the rule kinks have been ironed out.
Forces
Players are either allocated forces using a historic scenario or can select them via a random or points based approach. Not all Divisions will be present on the table at the start of the game and a mechanism is provided to determine which will be available immediately and which will arrive later. Reinforcements can be rolled for from turn 3 onwards.
Corps and Army Support
This is represented through the allocation of counters or "chits" for artillery barrages, air support and Corps command and control. These are rolled for randomly to determine the number available and then may be utilised during a player's turns.
Unit Status / Command Radius
Units can be deployed (following firing), disordered or dispersed (as combat results). Divisional HQs have a 9 inch command radius outside of which things become nasty for units (e.g. they are unable to modify units' status).
Each Division also has a "Supply and Communications Centre" (SCC) which is a fixed position on the table for each Division and the Divisional HQ must be able to link to the SCC via the road network.
Commands
The issuing of commands is one of the key rule mechanisms. As the day goes on and units become deployed, disordered and/or dispersed the number of commands available to a player will reduce until eventually units will "Go to Ground". Commands are then utilised to motivate deployed units (to enable them to move forward), rally disordered units or recover dispersed units (if successful they reappear at your SCC). Additionally commands may be used to call in air support (if any has been made available), artillery barrages or allocate additional support to units in combat (represented by die roll modifiers). Divisions that have Gone to Ground receive only a single command per turn and when all units have Gone to Ground the day is over (hence days may last differing numbers of turns).
Movement
Units have both a fast and slow movement mode (the latter when they are taking advantage of the terrain for cover) typically 6 inches and 3 inches. Even if only individual units decide to move "fast" the whole Division will be deemed as "fast" for applying the effects. Road movement is also available at double speed provided movement on road is done for the whole turn and it is not used to go into close combat.
Units which do not move may be marked as having "directed fire" for the use of 1 command which will enable them to have defensive fire in the other player's turn.
Combat
Ranged combat is simply a matter of determining if a unit can be seen, is in range and rolling a modified d6 and comparing it to the unit's Effective Fire number. Ones are always considered failures whilst sixes are always considered successes.
Close combat is resolved in a similar fashion for any units which are in base to base contact; however, multiple rounds of close combat may occur until a decisive result is acheived.
Night Turns
Night attacks are catered for but typically night turns are used for recovery, rallying, motivation, engineering, reinforcement and reallocation of support units.
Optional Rules
These are provided for paratroops, hidden deployment and movement, strategic and other movement options and Divisional orders.
Summary
I really like the concepts that Bruce McFarlane has tried to include in these rules and the ability to play games in a reasonable time at this level is very welcome. However, the presentation is frankly appalling, the rules are poorly laid out, no examples are provided and the Quick Reference Sheet is inconsistent with the main rules in a number of places and in very substantial ways. In addition, the inclusion of the roll of a 6 always being a success frequently turns combat into a "6 and you're dead" dice rolling exercise which removes some of the feel from the game. If you have the patience to persevere, rewrite the Quick Reference Sheet and add a few home brew modifications these rules could be useful, of course none of this should be necessary for a set of rules you are being asked to pay US$23 for a.pdf download in this day and age. Similarly there is no excuse for the poor presentation.
Overall there is a reasonable set of rules here but they do not compare well for presentation or value to other rules for this period (albeit for differing levels).

A Game-Filled Weekend

What with card games, board games and wargames we managed to get 18 games in over the weekend. Montjoie! got a second outing, this time at skirmish level (and much better for it), Division Commander for the first time and Rackham's AT-43 saw the tabletop.

For less serious stuff WizKids' Rocketmen: Axis of Evil got a try and so did Heroscape (it may be a toy but it's definitely fun!) plus Ticket to Ride, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects along with Shogun.

So expect some reviews shortly!

First Look: Hölle auf Erden (Hell on Earth)

Hölle auf Erden (Hell on Earth) is a zombie supplement for Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames. It provides a simple Weird War 2 background to explain the alternate history for late in the war to allow zombies to be fielded.

It effectively adds some of All Things Zombie to the excellent Nuts! World War 2 rules which are based on Chain Reaction 2.0 which I reviewed back at the beginning of December.

Hell on Earth allows the zombies to be controlled or un-controlled and, as with All Things Zombie, the latter works well for solo play.

Hell on Earth is available in both .pdf and hardcopy formats at $5.00 and $8.00 respectively from Two Hour Wargames.

Figure Review: Mongrel Miniatures NATO Range

Due to the number of photos rather than compile another Video Review I've simply uploaded the photos to Picasa:

The Wargame Shed - Figure Review No. 3

Figure painting is by Lenin.

This is a superb range from Mongrel Miniatures with excellent sculpting and come highly recommended.

Happy New Year!

We welcomed the New Year in with some Days of Wonder games - Cleopatra and the Society of Architects and Pirate's Cove. I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for a booze fest anyway!

I hope 2007 is a happy and prosperous one for you.

Video Review: Pulp Figures' Weird Villains

Here is my second attempt at a Video Review this time it's of some 28mm Pulp Figures from their Weird Menace range:



If you have a google account you can see stills of these in my Picasa albums.

Merry Christmas

I hope Santa brought you what you wanted - he certainly did for me! Not much in the wargaming line but plenty of boardgames!

When did red lights become optional? (rant)

Is someone out there teaching driving by correspondence course? Is there an epidemic of colour blindness? Or has the Government changed the rules of the road into optional guidelines?

This morning I saw not one, not two, but five ... five drivers run red lights! Now maybe I'm old fashioned (and it wouldn't be the first time someone has said that!) but I always thought a red light meant stop. OK so maybe you get some latitude with amber but red? So maybe you could train monkeys to drive better than most people on the road (they might even use their indicators once in a while!) but I though people had enough sense to know to stop at red lights. Is it like speeding now ... you only obey the speed limit where there are speed cameras? So you only stop at red lights where there are cameras? Doh!

Maybe I'll keep a sharp look out when I come up to a green light - there might be one of these cretins coming the other way!