Keith, one of my good gaming friends had his birthday this past weekend so we dared a small, masked and no contact game day in Brian's well appointed gaming room. Brian's lovely wife Pam made tea and snacks that involved bacon.
The last time I played in Brian's game room it was still exposed wall studs, so it has been a while. But they do live 2 hours away. After this Covid nonsense is over I think I might pack my toothbrush and make the journey to get a game in with those guys.
It was a stormy drive in both directions including the first snow squalls of the year, but worth it. Brian always puts on a well thought out game.
Yesterday's offering was a 6mm ACW game during the Valley Campaign. A better quality Union force engages a larger Confederate sortie from Winchester. Brian used the computer moderated rules Carnage and Glory. These were pretty interesting since you had very little idea of how the troops were until they stopped doing what you asked.
Keith and I ran the Union and we ended up fighting two separate battles in different directions as Rico, David, Pete and Kevin used their superior numbers to try and envelope our flanks.
Keith's cavalry brigade shot off all it's ammunition facing 2:1 odds and was withdrawing when the Confederate army morale failed. I was meanwhile fighting a hot battle in some woods against similar odds having to turn 90 degrees to face the 3 brigades of Rebels trying to get around us.
Anyway, here are pictures.
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| Coming onto the battlefield |
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| 6:1 odds!? No problem! |
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| Keith us hotly engaged on our left |
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| My right flank cavalry regiment tying up 4x their numbers. They got pushed over the bridge but earned their whiskey ration. |
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| Making a new front |
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| I've had to curl my line back to avoid being outflanked but all those yellow markers show Reb morale is flagging |
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| Over view towards game end |
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| Keith's cavalry brigade withdrawing after a lot of hard fighting against superior numbers |
Try as I might I couldn't get a picture of Brian's 3D printed corn fields which are super cool.
After that Keith ran a quick game of Check Your 6! to scratch my air game itch. I got an early kill but Fw190s shot both of my Spitfires down.
Keith uses 1:300 scale aircraft, which are lovely and even have squadron markings. But I need a better camera to photograph them.
It was nice to see everyone, or at least as much as you can see with a mask on. I'm glad you enjoyed your day despite the drive
ReplyDeleteThis an explanation of the game outcome by the Rules author/programmer.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the game army initiative is determined based upon the relative army morale of the two opposing sides. Army morale is calculated by using strength, fatigue and morale of the engaged units. This provides a reasonable determination of the victory status of the two sides during the game, and typically, as one side drops below 75% it is reasonable to conclude that the game can be called for the side holding the initiative advantage.
The next day results, however, are based not on the comparison of army morale, but solely on the physical casualties (as a percentage of original strength) incurred by each side.
During the game, army morale counts those units broken and indicated as off-table, and those losses influence the victory result at the end of the battle. But, overnight, those broken units recover and consequently count towards active strengths on the next day. This adjustment in losses can, on occasion, alter the outcome from the one delivered at the end of the game. This is often seen in the case of pyrrhic victories. For example, blue force may have shown an initial pyrrhic victory, having driven the enemy from the field at great loss to their own strength, and that result may be reversed as a red minor victory on the next day. In this case, the actual casualties incurred by blue exceeded the casualties incurred by red. Consequently, red can claim an operational victory, even though they suffered a tactical defeat.
Thanks for taking the time to explain that Brian.
DeleteSo because the Union were such a small force they couldn't afford the casualties and would gave to retire the next day?
I suppose that's true. Or starting a pursuit of the Rebels to increase their casualties/captured statistics.
ReplyDelete