First Look: By Savvy and Steel

By Savvy and Steel is the latest release from Two Hour Wargames and is obviously intended to capture the spirit of the Three Musketeers.

The rules are 90 pages can be purchased as either a pdf or in hard copy.  As you might expect By Savvy and Steel is built around the Two Hour Wargames' reaction system but with a few extra elements in keeping with the genre and combined with a campaign system based around the fictional country of Edenstein.

Character generation is somewhat more detailed than many of the other THW rules - largely as these are based on having a much smaller number of characters.  In addition to the usual Reputation, players have to determine their character's Birthright, Social Standing, Age, Nationality, Class and Attributes.

Once you have your main character you can then try to recruit some Grunts to help you on your adventures - this can actually form part of your adventure.

The core rules will be very familiar if you've used the reaction system before; however, you can supplement the standard melee mechanism with a special more detailed duelling system if both participants are of sufficient social standing.

The rules are about half the book and are then followed by a campaign and scenario system which takes up the remainder and provides plenty of variety of genre appropriate situations and encounters.  It includes everything you need to generate non-player characters and PEF (possible enemy forces) rules which will allow players to play against the system or for the game to be played solo.

Given that I have suitable figures for the Musketeers, Cardinal's Guard etc. I could hardly not try these rules out and I'm looking forward to getting them to the table.

Punish the Village

Our second pre-SELWG game was a medieval skirmish.  The Peasants are revolting (aren't they always?) and the Lord is taking his retinue to punish them for their temerity.  I had command of the vanguard and gleefully charged my knights over the bridge with our surcoats flapping and the sun glinting off our armour - straight into the pits which had been dug on the far side!

Two of my knights went down and whilst the others managed to pull up before the pits they then cam under a hail of crossbow fire.  Obviously the villagers were not only prepared but had some help (from seven mercenaries it transpired - I think you can see whether this might be going...)

We advanced into the village with one of my rather impetuous knights trying to charge down some of the villagers.

He turned the corner to be faced by a barricade - which he jumped majestically - only to find himself alone and cut off from the rest of my troops.  Of course he was then mobbed, pulled from his horse and came to a sticky end.

The Lord and remainder of the retinue followed across the bridge somewhat more cautiously.

My remaining mounted knights rode on through the village and found some carts blocking the other main thoroughfare.  These were easily pulled apart and they advanced.

The villagers scattered once again and my knights pursued them into an alley where they tried to make a stand (somewhat more successfully than I was expecting!)

The remainder of my men on foot advance to the first barricade and encountered some rather better armoured and skilled opposition than we had been anticipating.  Meanwhile the villagers attempted to ambush my soldiers who were starting to fire their houses.  One of the villagers attacked one of my knights and was almost cut in half and the remainder were soon chased off and a couple of houses set ablaze.

With the Lord and his knights advancing on the left flank and my knights having pushed through the alley the mercenaries were near to being surrounded.  With a couple of their number having been killed they decided to withdraw and the day was ours - although with rather more casualties than we would have liked!

The Second Relief of Fort Kosheh

Fort Kosheh is once again under attack.  With the previous attempt to relieve the fort having resulted in the relief column being decimated and barely reaching it a second attempt has been launched.

Realising that another attempt across the desert was probably equally doomed a riverborne scheme was hatched.  The steamer Lotus has been sent packed with detachments from the Royal Marine Light Infantry, King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Naval Brigade - so much so that the RMLI had to be relegated a barge towed alongside.

Having successfully repulsed the earlier attacks the Fort remains under the command of Captain Cyril “Barmy” Fotheringay-Phipps and his detachment of the 1st Cameron Highlanders supported by the 9th Soudanese although both units have suffered some casualties.

The relief expedition is commanded by Captain George J. "Fruity" Biffen supported by Captain George “Boko” Fittleworth of the RMLI and Lieutenant Alexander “Oofy” Prosser of the KRRC.  Leaving a small force from the Naval Brigade along with their Gardner gun on the steamer the remaining troops marched out.

Meanwhile, the fort came under fire from a captured Egyptian artillery piece and its captured crew.

The Naval Brigade spotted movement in some nearby rough ground and advanced toward it - they had second thoughts once they identified what it was!

With the relief force engaged the Mahdists assaulted the fort.  Many were cut down in the rush to the wall but a scaling ladder went up and a melee ensued.

With the Naval Brigade forced to withdraw it was down to the KRRC to hold back the enemy.  A couple of volleys and some cold hard steel soon had them on their heels.

But the RMLI were facing their own threat.  But a cool head prevailed and Boko formed them into a line and poured fire into the advancing mob.

But still they closed - bloody hand to hand fighting ensued and the Mahdists were thrown back with heavy casualties.

The remaining Beja emerged from the ruins near the fort - one party to renew the assault and the other to hold up the relief forces.  The advancing Naval Brigade detachment took up defensive positions in another ruin ready to bear the brunt of the assault.

Whilst the Lotus steamed up and down the river bank engaging the Mahdist riflemen on the shoreline.

In the end the last assault on the fort was repulsed and the attack on the relief force petered out and so the fort was finally relieved!

Gettysburg - Lee's Grand Attack

A couple of weeks ago I managed to get away and play a big game of 15mm American Civil War using Fire and Fury with a few of my old gaming buddies.  The game was taken from the scenario in the rulebook covering the second day of the battle.

I had command of V Corps under Sykes and planned to advance up to secure Little Round Top whilst III Corps under Sickles delayed the Confederates.  Unfortunately things didn't quite go as planned with Johnny Reb cutting through Sickle's Corps like a hot knife through butter (not least as a result of some rather interesting dice rolls!).  I just managed to get my advanced units onto Little Round Top and threw back the first wave of the Rebels; however, I wasn't so lucky with the second and I was then on the back foot throughout the rest of the game.

There was a fascinating ebb and flow in the fight for Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill at the other end of the table but the collapse of our wing rather swung the battle in favour of the Confederacy.

Here are a few photos from the game:

SELWG 2013

I managed to brave the torrential rain to make my way to the SELWG show at Crystal Palace yesterday.  As with the other shows I attend it was more social than anything else, although more so this year as I realised that adding to the lead mountain now or at Salute next year was going to make precious little difference!

We made a bit of a weekend of it with Lenin popping over and meeting up with a couple of old friends to play a couple of games (which will be the subject of a couple of separate posts - once I get the photos organised).

I bumped into a couple of other bloggers - Ray from Don't Throw a 1 and Fran The Angry Lurker himself - both splendid chaps!  I also caught up with a few club friends.  I didn't actually buy much though - a couple of supplements (The scenario book for Regimental Fire & Fury and Myths & Monsters for 7th Voyage) and a few bits of scenery.

The games were interesting but nothing inspired me to embark on an ill advised spending spree though.  And I didn't like the trade stand layout which created a rather crowed alleyway on the ground floor level.  But other than that it was worth the slightly scary drive up the motorway (I was, at one point, wondering whether I should have brought a boat rather than the car).

The Battle of Susangerd, 16 January 1981

For the final game of the weekend Lenin rolled out his extensive 1/300th modern collection for an Iran-Iraq engagement.  The scenario was originally for GHQ Micro Armour and can be found here.

I took command of the Iraqis - despite being moustache impaired (something which would have severely limited my progress in the Baath party I suspect!) and Lenin the Iranians.

Lenin has chosen Modern Spearhead as, whilst we know it has some weaknesses (not least as a result of the limitations of a d6), we haven't found another set which works.

We both drew our maps and our command arrows and unleashed our armoured forces onto the table.

We both had the advantage of helicopter support - in my case some Hinds - which I managed to use to good effect on their first turn.

And then the Iranians countered with their helicopters!

The game was mostly one of attrition with my T62s and T55 holding their own against the Iranian M60A1s but their Chieftains were another story entirely - they went through my tanks like a hot knife through butter!  Only my single regiment of AMX30s could stand up to them and they didn't last too long.  In the end I had to fall back with my remaining tanks but then the Iranians called in some air support!

In a last ditch effort I eventually managed to call in my air support but it was all over bar the shouting...

First Play: Muskets and Tomahawks

Our next game was also a first time outing for a set of rules - this time Muskets and Tomahawks - and also for my Northstar British and French Wilderness Forces.

Lenin took command of the British and I took the French.  We then set about putting together two forces of equivalent value (200 points) from the army lists using the figures.  Once this was done we generated a scenario from the rule book.  Our rolls determined that, in a reversal of the expected roles, the British were raiding and the French defending (it should have been protecting but this wasn't going to work when I don't have any civilians!).  In addition to raiding the British officer had to take a prisoner as his side plot and mine had taken an oath to bring his militia home safely.  We set out the table and determined out starting positions.

Lenin began to advance across the table with his Rangers and their indian allies on his right flank.

I deployed my militia around the homestead and had my indians over to my left.

The Rangers approached the homestead and exchanged musket fire with my men.

The two indian parties clashed.  I let him get off a shot with his muskets and then rushed into melee (not least as I had given my indians the Savage trait) and the enemy came off worse.  They fled towards the Rangers but I caught them and cut the remaining ones down.  Now my indians were in the Ranger's rear!

The Rangers turned to face but they were now caught between my militia and my indians.  The Ranger's musketry felled a couple of my braves but the others moved in with their tomahawks and a bloody struggle commenced.

In the end my indians were wiped out but not before the Rangers had taken quite a few casualties from melee and musket fire and decided to retire and fight again another day.

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We both got to grips with the rules pretty quickly and learned a lot from this first encounter.  I like the card driven activation; however, as we both had irregular forces we didn't see it to its best effect I suspect (cue me buying some regulars?).  The varying objectives and side plots add just enough interest to the remaining relatively standard rules to keep them interesting and I'll certainly be getting these rules back to the table.

First Play: Dead Man's Hand

For our first game of Dead Man's Hand we decided to try one of the scenarios from the rule book - in this case The Good, The Lead And The Ugly.  Lenin was The Law and I took Outlaws.

For the opening scene The Stranger, we set up a town called Malice using my mixed collection of 4Ground and other buildings.  Lenin played the part of the newly arrived Marshal (the Stranger of the title) and I had three dudes from my gang who had just rolled out of the saloon after a hard afternoon's drinking.

The stage was set for a showdown...

Three members of the Weller gang stumble out of the Saloon and run into the new Marshal.  He tells them to go about their business but they're spoiling for a fight.  Guns are being waved around and so the Marshal draws, he wings one of the gang but the others gun him down and he crawls, bleeding to the Sheriff's office.

So we moved onto the second scene - This Town Ain't Big Enough.

With the Marshal out of the picture the Weller gang decided to stamp their authority on Malice but underestimated the anger of the townsfolk.  With gang members swaggering around town in little groups the Sheriff and some upright citizens decided to put the Weller gang in their place.

Small fights broke out all over the town.  Brave townsfolk we cut down but some gave a s good as they got and the notorious Wild Bill and his sidekick Catastrophe Jean were cornered, hit and had to run with their tails between their legs.

And so onto the final scene - We Will Be Waitin'...

Wanting a final showdown the Wellers walked up the main street of Malice towards the Sheriff's office.  The Sheriff and the Marshal, who had recovered from his wounds, moseyed on out to meet them.

Hot words were exchanged followed by hot lead!  The Sheriff and the Marshal had to take cover behind some barrels as the Weller's numbers started to tell.

But a Deputy had snuck up behind the gang and opened fire.  One of the gang fell but another turned and engaged the Deputy.  Men fell until only four remained, the two lawmen and two of the gang, including their Boss.  The gunfight raged on but it was the gang who managed to concentrate their fire and the lawmen fell.  But given the casualties to the gang it was something of a pyrrhic victory...

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The game was a lot of fun to play and moved along at a good pace.  The cards provided some interesting decisions and game effects but d20 based system meant that despite the modifiers luck was the major factor in the combat.  As a result I think playing a campaign would require some serious thinking or people might not see it as worthwhile investing too much time into individual characters.

First Play: A Few Acres of Snow

A Few Acres of Snow is board/card game covering the French and Indian wars designed by Martin Wallace - a man whose name will be familiar to anyone who is interested in boardgames.

At its heart A Few Acres of Snow is a deck building game - which is a genre I haven't particularly been interested in - with the board being used to show links between locations and who controls them.

The game cleverly uses the deck to simulate the logistical problems of fighting in wilds of North America and Canada (as they became) at the end of a long supply chain which stretched back across the Atlantic.  If you want to settle or attack somewhere you need to plan it carefully in advance!

Lenin and I had a first game of A Few Acres of Snow in between miniatures games with Lenin playing the British and me the French.  It took a little while to really start to see which cards to select and how best to put them together to best advantage.

The game went back and forth with both of us settling new locations but Lenin concentrating more on developing his locations and me on raiding.  It wasn't clear who had actually won until the end of the game and I think both of us would like to play it again now we have an idea how best to put our plans together.

If you would like to know more about the game here's a video review by Marco Arnaudo:

First Play: Chain of Command

Given that both Lenin and I have decent sized collections of 28mm World War 2 figures it was only a question as to which of us would put on the first Chain of Command game.  In the end it was Lenin with his Panzer grenadiers and US infantry in a scenario set in Italy.

As normal I played the Germans and we selected our platoons and support.  Selecting support was tricky given that neither of us had played before but I can see it presenting some interesting challenges once we really understand how best to use the various options available.

We set up the terrain and decided on the standard patrol scenario from the rulebook.  Then we began the first novelty of the rules - the patrol phase.  This certainly made both of us think and I can see that with more games under our belt it will be a very interesting part of the game.  We had both diced for the initial starting points for our patrol markers and I ended up in the centre (which proved somewhat fortuitous for me) with Lenin over on his right flank. With the farm complex having been set out in the centre of the table this meant I could move my markers into it more quickly and easily than Lenin which with my preponderance of MG teams would prove to be a significant game influence.

Having completed the patrol phase (rather quicker than I had wanted - leaving one of my markers further back than I was hoping) we placed our jump off markers (I hadn't had a chance to paint the resin ones I got with the rules - although I wouldn't have had enough as we needed 3 each) so I used some oil drums I had handy.

We both ended up deploying our forces relatively early on in the game and I suspect this might not be the best approach in quite a few circumstances.  It suited me as I could get two of my MG teams into defensive positions in the farm house and my other sections ready to move up to take positions in the farm yard.  As it was the windows in the farmhouse didn't give me the coverage I would have liked and Lenin managed to deploy his men in my blind spots.  He then began to advance on my position.

I began to move my men up but we ended up exposing one team to one of the US squads and they didn't enjoy the experience!  Lenin moved up into what he though would be a good position but exposed himself to my MGs and came under a hail of fire.

Lenin tried to advance another two squads under cover of some mortar fire (he was desperately trying to justify having smoke but apparently the Americans didn't issue those rounds at this time).

Meanwhile I moved one of my sections around the farmyard in order to flank his retreating first squad.

Whilst Lenin managed to do some serious damage to one of my MG teams which was trying to redeploy, I managed to catch two of his sections in crossfire and as a result won the game.

We both enjoyed playing the rules and they are certainly worth trying again although I think we both need to learn from this experience and also do a bit more reading just to make sure we're getting everything right!

First Look: Ronin

Ronin is the latest offering in the new Osprey wargame rules line - this time skirmish in the Age of the Samurai.

I wasn't sure whether to pick up a copy of these rules as I had been somewhat disappointed with A World Aflame - the previous one in the series I had bought.  But having read some interesting descriptions of the combat system on line I thought I would take the plunge.

The rules are produced in the standard Osprey Men-at-Arms etc. format softback with 64 pages in a single column format.  I'm still not a fan of this format as I think it doesn't suit rules but I suspect it allows them to produce them more easily and less expensively than creating a new layout.

After a brief introduction the background is covered in a couple of pages before moving into the rules themselves.  These take up around 14 pages with a further four pages of special rules and are then followed by the faction lists.  There are 7 scenarios, a campaign outline, a short tournament section, a couple of advanced rules and an appendix with information about translating the rules to other periods (Kamakura and Late Edo); some further suggested reading, a couple of counter and reference sheets along with a roster sheet.

 The game itself is broken into turns each of which has 5 phases covering priority (initiative and morale), movement, combat, actions (including missile fire) and an end phase for housekeeping.  The rules themselves are fairly basic but an interesting action pool system has been included within the combat system which looks like it should lift this to a might higher level of interest (if you would like to see a run through I would recommend reading the outline in the post of the Lead Adventure Forum here).

Essentially these are another of the gang level rules that seem to be popping up at the moment but the period and the interesting action pool mechanism were enough to pique my interest and the figures which Northstar are producing to accompany the rules are rather nice too...

Flying Lead through the Stargate

Lenin decided to give his Stargate figures an outing and put together a game using the Ganesha Games' Flying Lead rules.

I took the part of SGC team and Lenin played the Goa'uld System Lord and his Jaffa bodyguards.

My team arrived through the Stargate to find the Jaffa on the far side of some ruins attempting to reach a ring transporter with the "device" they had discovered and escape from the planet.  Our job was to stop them!

I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the Songs of Blades and Heroes activation system which is part of the engine for the Flying Lead rules but despite that the game trundled along at a reasonable pace.

The SGC team arrive

The Jaffa advance to counter the threat

The Jaffa secure the ring transporter

The SGC team's fire takes its toll and the Jaffa fall back

In the end I managed to take out most of the bodyguards and the System Lord at which point the morale of the remaining Jaffa broke and they fled allowing me to recover the "device".