Ten Years Ago - September 2016

Ten years ago I did a trip Out West to go to the Priscilla Festival in Broken Hill. It was a lot of fun and as well as the festival itself we did some tourism. As part of this I collected some photos about the infamous 1915 attack on the Broken Hill Picnic Train, which is often regarded as the first terrorist attack on modern Australia. 

So for this look back in time you get a little bit of history and a few nice frocks. 

The Picnic Train And Priscilla

Holiday Hunting

I fitted in a short game of Palaeo Diet whilst I was on holiday. I'd loaded up my terrain because I'd planned to play HOTT with my son, so sticking in the Palaeo Diet rules and the two small boxes with hunters and beasts in was no great hardship. 

It was a basic no-frills hunt. I had four hunters - one each of the basic types. There were two large grazers and four herd grazers. So a win would be one of the rhinos or a couple of horses. 

I sent most of my hunters to the left, whilst the fire-wielder went to the right, upwind of the beasts. The aim was to use fire to drive the animals into the hunting party. 

As it was, the bow-armed hunter took a shot at a horse and killed it instantly, so that was 50% of their target achieved with virtually no effort. 

The animals panicked as a series of fires started by the fire-wielding hunter raged towards them. Interestingly beasts still base their moves on hunter proximity, so although fire dictates a reaction outcome, the move is still driven by the nearest (or active) hunter. This does mean animals will try and run towards (or around) fire. You have to position your hunters carefully to use a ground fire to move the animals in a specific direction. Panic is panic, I guess. 

Anyway, the horses (which were now the primary target) moved towards the hunters.

They managed to wound one, which caused the three horses to race off past the fire. The hunters set off in pursuit. 

The bowman brought down the wounded horse. When hunting herd grazers someone with missile weapons is worth their weight in meat. 

The rapidly spreading fire also scared a couple of critters out of a thicket, but the hunters elected not to chase them. They concentrated on moving their first kill out of the path of the fire. 

A nice game that whiled away an hour at the end of a long day of being on holiday. 

Ten Years Ago - November 2015

Deciding on a post to showcase from November 2015 was pretty easy. For a start I didn't make that many posts. And the best one related to our first camping road-trip when we spent two weeks travelling across New South Wales and back again. We went with friends who had a lot more experience of such trips. A good job as a few things went wrong that needed their help. But it was a great adventure, and we've done a couple more such trips since then.

Anyway, in the far west of New South Wales we stayed in Silverton, and in Silverton they have the world's only Mad Max II Museum. So we went there.

A Visit To The Mad Max 2 Museum

We really should head back out that way again.

The Puebla Campaign

I have very much enjoyed playing around with Dominion of Pike & Shot and thought that it would be fun to try some kind of campaign. However I was also going away on a short holiday and didn't want to take my pike & shot armies with me. So I decided instead to buy the colonial rules, Dominion of the Spear and Bayonet, because I knew that they had lists for both the South American wars of Liberation and the Mexican Adventure. I sorted out a variety of figures from my 6mm armies for the latter and was able to pack them in a small box with necessary dice, markers and other things I'd need for a game.

I decided to base my campaign around the French advance on Mexico City in 1862-63. As part of this they decided to capture the key town of Puebla, and since the first battle for that place is very famous I made that the objective. The campaign merges a number of historical elements and is more about the vibe than any kind of accurate representation of what happened. The French are trying to capture Puebla without losing too many battles (and therefore international prestige), whilst the Mexican Republicans are trying to hold them off for as long as possible. The French may have to contend with guerilla raids, whilst Mexican forces sympathetic to the French may attack Republican armies.

The holiday was mostly about relaxing, so I was able to spend the first afternoon and evening writing up some rules and drawing a map. The campaign rules are based on one that Mark Cordone posted to the Portable Wargame Facebook Group for refighting the Peloponnesian Wars. I thieved the basic mechanisms and then reskinned it for 19th century Mexico. He used the Portable Wargame to resolve battles. I used the Dominion rules.

Here's the setup. The bull is a work thing. It has nothing to do with the game.

And here's my accurate map of the French advance to Puebla. The word 'accurate' is working very, very hard there.

And these are the campaign rules.

Victory

Mexicans: Defeat the French in four battles.
French: Capture Puebla without being defeated four times in battle.

Turn Sequence

On each campaign turn both players roll a D6 for initiative. The highest score goes first and takes their turn, then the other player takes their turn. If the scores are equal then there is a random event:

Double 1 - Disease or Disaster. Determine a random area. Neither player may activate an army in that area or move an army into that area on the next campaign turn.

Double 2 - Guerilla Attack. Select a random French army. It is attacked by guerillas. See below for the makeup of their army. If the French lose their army is destroyed and it counts as a loss.

Double 3 - Conservative Allies. Select a random Mexican army. It is attacked by a force of Mexican Conservatives. See below for the makeup of the Conservative army. If the Mexicans lose their army is destroyed. If the Conservative army loses then it is not counted as a French loss.

Double 4 - Supply Concerns. If Veracruz is unoccupied then the French must immediately move one of their armies into or towards it if possible. If it is occupied then the French player may not move the army out of it on their next turn.

Double 5 - Orders From Mexico City. If Puebla is unoccupied then the Mexican player must immediately move an army into or directly towards it if possible. If it is occupied then the Mexican player may not move the army out of it on their next turn.

Double 6 - Reinforcements. The next player to win the initiative may choose to build a new army instead of moving.

If a player rolls a 6 for their initiative and there is no random event then they may chose to build a new army instead of moving. New armies can be built in one of that sides' deployment areas and then only if it is vacant. The French may only build new armies if they currently hold Veracruz. If they don't, and they are eligible to place a new unit, then place one in the Gulf of Mexico which then immediately attacks Veracruz. 

If they don't build a new army, a player may move an army they currently have in play. Armies move one space. Only one army may occupy a space. If any army moves to a space occupied by an enemy army a battle takes place. The moving army is considered the attacker. After the battle the losing army is destroyed. Use Dominion Of The Spear And Bayonet to resolve all battles.

Armies

French - Use army 56 from the rules

Mexican Republicans - Use army 57 from the rules

Mexican Guerillas - 1D3+1 Ambushers. The rest of the army is Skirmishers.

Mexican Conservatives - 1 x Cavalry, 1 x Line, 2 x Skirmishers, 2 x Ambushers

If the Mexican Republicans are defending Puebla or Veracruz, they may drop an Ambusher and add Defences to any two units of their choice.

If the French are defending Veracruz, they may drop one unit (not the elite infantry) and add Defences to two units of their choice.

After a morning walk, coffee and lunch I was able to set up the campaign on the second afternoon. I played it outdoors on the verandah of our cabin.

Here's the initial setup. The blue blocks are French forces. The red blocks are Republican armies. The green dice shows the campaign turn.

Turn 1 - The French win the initiative 3 to 1

They advance an army from Orizaba to Tehucan and attack the Republicans there.

The first battle of the campaign is set up. In all pictures the attacking army is at the bottom.

The battle was quick with the Mexican's regular cavalry riding down all before it to give them the win.

So the French now had one loss against them.

The Republicans moved an army from Huamautla to Xalapa and attacked the French there.

Another battle.

And another Republican victory as their line advanced with bayonets to drive the French from their positions.

So at the start of Turn 2 the French were now confined to Veracruz and the Mexicans were halfway to a win.

Turn 2 - The Republicans won the initiative 5 to 3, so went first.

The Mexicans attacked the French in Veracruz.

The French get defences, and occupied them with their elite line infantry.

Skirmishers vs cavalry on the flank.

Republican infantry attack the French defences.

A French victory!

After their victory the French advanced their single army from Veracruz to Xalapa

Turn 3. The French won the initiative 6 to 1. They used the roll to build another army in Orizaba. The Republicans advanced from Tehuacan and attacked the new army.

The Republicans ambushed the French force on the march and utterly destroyed it.

Turn 4. The Republicans won the initiative 2 to 1. They moved into Veracruz to stop the French getting any more reinforcements

The French moved from Xalapa to Huamautla.

Turn 5. The Republicans won the initiative 3 to 1. They could have attacked the French but chose to sit tight and defend Puebla. 

The French advanced and attacked Puebla. This was going to be the end of the campaign one way or another; if the French won they'd capture Puebla. If they lost then it would be their fourth defeat and the weight of public opinion back home would see them withdraw from Mexico.

The battle set up. The Mexicans relied on their skirmishers and cavalry to break up the French attack on their line infantry in their defences.

French troops drove off the Mexican cavalry and advanced on the first fort.

Another fort comes under attack.

Victory on the right flank put the French one roll away from a win. And they made it, capturing one of the forts to reduce the Republicans to one unit.

So the French won a narrow victory. Whilst the Mexicans occupied Veracruz they'd now be obliged to withdraw to defend Mexico City. The next stage of the Mexican Adventure is about to begin.

The campaign rules above were actually tweaked a little after this game, and a couple of other undocumented playthroughs I did afterwards. There were no random events in this one, for example. In some later games the French fought guerilla raids, whilst the Republicans found Conservative forces coming to aid the French.

This was a great little holiday project and it was nice to create a frame work around which to play some games. The whole campaign took less than an hour to run.

HOTT On Holiday

We have just come back from a long-weekend camping out at Bungonia National Park near Goulburn. The weather was extremely hot, with some brisk winds, but that didn't stop us having a nice and mostly relaxing time. Here's our camp; ours is the tent to the left and the silver trailer in the centre. The setup to the right is that of our friends. It's a lot more sophisticated, but it's designed for extended road-trips (several months).

Anyway, when I go camping I usually take a pile of games, if we have the space. And, if possible, I take figures and try to fit in a miniatures game at some stage. So on Sunday afternoon, whilst everyone else was dozing or reading, I set up a couple of games of HOTT.

I'd packed three armies - Mound Builders, Maya and Hawaiians.

In the first game the Mound Builders attacked the Maya. 

Mound Builders - Blade General, 1 x Blade, 1 x Behemoth, 1 x Dragon, 2 x Hordes, 5 x Shooters
Maya - 1 x Hero General, 2 x Shooters, 8 x Warband

The Maya got the best of the defensive terrain and were content to sit tight.

The Mound Builders massed their shooters on their right looking to overwhelm their Mayan equivalents by sheer weight of numbers.

The Mound Builders were lucky and got their dragon (a shaman-summoned Thunderbird) on early.

The Mayans had been reorganising their right flank in response to the advancing behemoth, so were badly positioned to fend off a dragon attack.

The Thunderbird attacked some warband and drove it back.

The Thunderbird kept up the pressure, destroying a warband. The Mound Builders were advancing steadily.

A first exchange of archery on the other flank saw both sides with elements driven back.

The Maya took the initiative and charged.

Their hero led the way, pushing back the Mount Builders' giant.

In fact the Maya were very successful all down the line, pushing back or destroying an number of enemy elements.

The Mound Builders tried to organise an attack on their right, but the woods and a lack of PIPs slowed this.

They brought out the Thunderbird to support their failing centre, and it did help destroy another warband.

More shooting on the right. The Maya had the advantage of the woods which offset the Mound Builder numbers.

The Mound Builders lost some archers.

Meanwhile the Mayan hero brought down the giant with the help of some warband.

The Thunderbird destroys another warband, whilst the archers close to hand-to-hand combat.

On the Maya right their hero attacked the Great Sun on his litter

The Great Sun was destroyed and the Mound Builder army collapsed.

The Maya won 11g-8. So it was a closer game than it looked.

I kept the Maya on for the second game and this time they fought the Hawaiians. The Hawaiians are an awkward army to play, as they have a lot of elements that start off-table.

They defended, and their on-table forces was: Hero General, 2 x Spears, 3 x Warband

Off-table is: 1 x Dragon (Mo-o), 1 x God (Pele), 2 x Lurkers (Menehune)

The Maya arrayed and ready to go.

The two armies, ready for battle.

The Menehune popped out on a Maya shooter element on a rocky hill on the flank. One element was destroyed and the other driven off.

The Maya advanced quickly. They needed to overwhelm the Hawaiians before their god and/or dragon turned up.

It was quite sunny now. Also 32 degrees C.

The Hawaiians stood firm, and rolled a 6. They opted to bring on Pele.

The Mayans switched their hero to the flank Pele had appeared on to try and hold her up.

Pele was obviously intimidated by this and immediately fled.

This left the Hawaiians in trouble. In a bold move they swung one of their warband onto the flank of the advancing Maya. They were down a point in the combat, but a win would see two Mayan warband destroyed.

The brave Hawaiians were destroyed.

The Mayan army hit the Hawaiian line.

The Hawaiians lost some spears and a warband, and were elsewhere pushed back.

Only their hero general came good, destroying the warband he was fighting.

The Mayans mobbed the Hawaiian general. He drove them off.

But another spear was destroyed, and that broke the army.

The final positions.

The Mayans won 13-4, so it was a crushing defeat for the Hawaiians.

Bringing on their god was probably not a good move that early; the dragon would have probably been a safer bet and equally as likely to have disrupted the Mayan advance. But the Hawaiians have always been a tricky army to use.

So that's another lot of holiday games out of the way.