Cant see the wood for the decision trees

During my planning for the current AWI campaign I realised that I needed some way to not only engage the opposing generals militarily but also to force them to make some of the political and moral decisions that their real life counterparts had to occasionally confront.

Can’t see the Indians for the trees either. Cherokee on the warpath.

A random event for each player every turn might seem like overkill but it’s certainly built an interesting narrative for only a little pre game planning.

There are ten random event subjects and each turn a 1D10 roll determines which subject my generals will have to deal with. The chosen subject generally presents each general with a decision, the ramifications of which may continue off in several directions over time.

Since both players are now aware of this one, here’s an example:

A snapshot of number 8 on my pre scripted décision tree.

On turn 2 I rolled an 8 for Chris (British General) which produced an encounter with some elders from the Cherokee nation. The Cherokee were historically allied to the British but if this result had come up for Graham I’d have chosen a different tribal grouping. Note the red boxes on the tree denote the end of the subject for this faction. If Indians are rolled again for Chris it’ll be treated as a « no event ».

The Indians offered to assist the British in one of three ways but claimed they needed to be armed by the British first.

Unwilling to pass up the chance General Parrott agreed to arm them and asked them to interdict enemy supplies. What he didn’t realise was that unlike appearing as auxiliaries in battle or increasing his strategic map scouting range the supply interdiction option would develop randomly next turn depending on a 1D6 roll by yours truly.

Next turn I rolled a 4. Obviously I didn’t tell Chris. Rather than attacking the American military supplies which I’m sure Chris had hoped for, the Cherokee started raiding the American farmers in the small settlement of Arrowhead. Not only did this shift them from their majority loyalist outlook, the raids destroyed supplies that Chris had issued promissory notes for. Mmm.

Since I asked both generals to think as their real life counterparts might’ve done I’ve been surprised on several occasions by the answers they’ve come up with to deal with ongoing problems. Issuing Promissory notes to make up a shortfall in supplies being one of them. It was so unexpected and ingenious that I had to allow it even though it was outside of the game rules. It just goes to show that even with extensive pre game planning you can’t cover everything - though it certainly makes for a more interesting narrative when the players engage with you like this.

Toodleooh.

The quick and the dead. AWI Campaign battle 3rd July 1777

The British and Americans blundered into each other on the morning of the 3rd July while both forces were travelling in opposite directions along the O’Higgins trail - roughly in the centre of the map.

The American force under Major General Pinckney consisted of three battalions of the Owls Head militia and they were heading east to establish where the British forces were. Their orders were to simply scout and fall back if the enemy was discovered. 

Because movement is simultaneous in the campaign and both factions covered the same amount of ground there was no end of turn scouting and discovery, no organised fallback…they literally ran straight into each other. 

The British had divided their forces into several columns and the American militia by chance bumped into Brigadier General Parrott his elite Grenadier battalion and a battery of light artillery.

I used a modified version of C&C Tricorne with die roll activations replacing the cards - just to see how it would work out in a smallish engagement.

As you may note from the story below the Americans had already suffered from a number of militia desertions, (occurring as a result of a random event « discipline and desertion » die roll for poor old Graham). 

Note : If I rolled the same event in a future turn the number of men buggering off would be higher, but Graham nipped this in the bud straight away by hanging 1 in 3 of those that were recaptured. (Not knowing the pre scripted outcomes of his actions he was asked how he intended to deal with the issue). Grim…but problem solved.  

Henceforth he shall be known as « hang ‘em high Cummings ». Lol. 

Because his avatar was actually present at the battle my PBEM British Brigadier General, Chris, received the following report to update him on the outcome, which I’ve copied and pasted into the blog because I’m too damned lazy to rewrite it in a different narrative form.

“Your lads are in column and following a winding track through thick woodland. What you are not aware of at this point is a long column of American militia coming in the opposite direction. It’s early morning and thick patches of mist have settled in the hollows of the low ground.

You are just about to instruct your fifer in the front rank to strike up a jaunty tune when the sound of approaching men (in some numbers) reaches you. Swiftly you order the grenadiers to deploy in line across the track. (I assumed that two forces would be able to hear each other within a couple of hexes even if they couldn’t see each other).

The Americans hear the shouted orders of your officers and men as the grenadiers deploy and in somewhat of a panic their lead unit also deploys in line across the road. Both sides stare into the mist and silence descends. The Americans will start this battle at less than full strength since there have already been a number of desertions from the militia.

The militia unit at the rear of the enemy column (who are still at full strength) struggle up the hill side on the left flank and deploy in line.

The waiting begins to fray everyone’s nerves. Aware that sitting on your hands will accomplish nothing you order the grenadiers to advance into the fog bank as your artillery heads into the cover of the woods slightly to the rear.

As the grenadiers emerge from the mist they run straight into the nervous militia deployed across the road. At such close range there is no time for a volley and instead the militia rush forward to engage in hand to hand combat. The grenadiers are startled but are rallied by your heroic good self riding to the fore. (The militia combat produced a single flag result which should force a retreat on you but can be ignored if there is an officer present - or the defenders are elite). Unfortunately for the Americans hand to hand combat is not a one sided affair and recovering from the shock of the encounter your grenadiers strike back.

A terrible slaughter ensues. Already reduced in strength by earlier desertions the leading militia are overwhelmed and their leader (Pinckney) forced to flee back down the track to the unit behind which is still in column. (The grenadiers get 3 dice in melee, with an extra one for being full strength and another for having an officer present).  

After redressing their ranks your men advance with levelled bayonets along the track against the unit in column unaware that the full strength militia unit on the higher ground is groping its way through the mist onto your flank. Your attack goes in and causes two casualty markers and a flag. With only 1 strength point left the enemy takes to their heels (militia retreat three hexes) There is an officer present who could have allowed them to ignore the flag but under the circumstances I judged it best for them to run.

The hapless militia on your flank rush into the attack but your men’s blood is up and they too suffer severe losses and run for their lives.

Well done. A stunning victory…albeit against very weak opposition.”

Brigadier General Parrott was now flushed with success and General Cummings slightly down cast at the loss of so many men.

Fortunately for the story this situation would not last long - for the random events die roll and General Parrotts ambition are about to throw a spanner in the works for both commanders.

Toodleooh.

AWI Campaign 1 - Warning orders

I got the AWI campaign rolling last week, and I’m now in a position where I can reveal a little more about the initial setup.

I’ve played in two PBEM campaigns over the years but never actually run one. Due to this relative inexpérience and bearing in mind the enormous scope and workload of Norm’s recent Napoleonic endeavour I deliberately chose to keep this attempt to a more modest size and format. 

The British are coming!

The British player received this briefing

To: Brigadier General Parrot

 

From: Major General Henry Clinton

 

Tuesday June 3rd 1777

 

Warning Order

 

Sir. 

 

I am preparing to move the army north towards Elizabethtown. To this end additional supplies and reinforcements are being brought by the Navy from Charleston and will pass up the Stone River to be unloaded in Coldstream harbour sometime around the 12th - when the tides next permit.

 

Of some concern is a recent dispatch from the Navy claiming that when south of Arrowhead rocks HMS Roebuck came under fire from American artillery emplaced upon the bluffs. I have indicated their approximate positions on your map with a red X. (Map omitted here - see previous post for a refresher.)

 

Though the Admiralty can be prone to flights of fancy it may indeed be possible that the rebels occupying the south bank of the estuary have transported guns across to the north shore and established themselves there. 

 

In summary, whether the news be true or false, the possibility of them engaging our unarmed transports cannot be stomached and I would desire that you take such a force as you see fit to learn the truth of the matter.

 

I would entreat you to be quick upon it and pray you keep me appraised of your progress.

 

Yours, etc

Brigadier General Parrott and his Grenadiers.

The American player received this one

To: Brigadier General Cummings

 

From: Major General Benjamin Lincoln

 

Tuesday June 3rd 1777

 

Warning Order

 

Sir. 

 

I have received intelligence that the British intend to advance upon Elizabethtown by the end of the month, their hand currently stayed by a want of supply. Patriots in Charlestown have observed a large convoy of enemy shipping departing the port, presumably to address this very lack. Given where such succour needs be unloaded they have little choice but to proceed to Coldstream harbour beneath the very noses of the battery’s you recently established on the north bank of the Stone River.

I cannot but think that the enemy may have some intelligence of your positions and would caution you to take all steps necessary to protect this, our only means to strangle the enemy design at birth.  Should the enemy transports arrive unhindered I have grave doubts that we will be able to prevent their subsequent onslaught.

 

I would entreat you to keep me appraised of your progress.

 

Yours, etc

Brigadier General Cummings and some of his rebel chaps.

I gave each player 28 « game points » with which to purchase units - and a range of equally important army support options. 

Actual fighting units cost 3 points for the best quality ones down to 1 point for the less reliable militia types but choosing the fighting force was the easy part because, out of the 28 points they also needed to consider purchasing some of the following:

1 Point per unit of supply. A unit of supply includes ammunition, powder, victuals, clothing, and other necessaries. 1 unit of supply is consumed for every day the force under your command is in the field, as a result of every battle, and for every one level of défense your units construct in a strategic map hex. Additional supplies might be obtained from random event outcomes…but dont count on it.

 

1 Point per level of intelligence gathering – to a maximum of 3. 1 point assigned to this will give you an approximation of the strength of any detected enemy units. 2 points will reveal their type and strength, 3 points their type strength and posture (column / line etc.) Enemy units are automatically detected when they occupy an adjacent strategic map hex.

 

1 point per level of influence. (to a maximum of two) with any Indians or Settlers that you encounter. The point or points will provide a die modifier in your favor in any interactions with the locals. Generally, settlers may provide additional supplies and Indians with an enhanced scouting range if the interactions turn out well. Be aware there is usually a price to pay for this help.

 

1 point per level of naval support. 1 unit of Naval support may transport 1 pre embarked regiment to either Indian Cove or Trappers Landing.

Random events. 

Random events add a little spice to a game and each player is subject to one every turn. The mechanism is a simple 1D10 roll for subject but from each subject a « decision tree » of outcomes is triggered. I’ll spare you the detail on this with the game still in progress - but it’s fair to say it’s already produced some interesting outcomes.  The ten subject headings include: 

Political interference, Terrain changes, Indian interactions, Weather, Settler Interactions, Supply, Sickness, Discipline and desertion, Command friction, and Spies.

Points spent on influence become positive die modifiers when determining which branch of a decision tree outcome is taken in interactions with Indians or settlers. The more points spent on this the more likely a player will generate a favourable outcome.

I have encouraged the two generals to use the game rules as an outline and to act and behave as their real life counterparts might do when the rules don’t cover a particular situation or they wish to pursue  a  particular course of action that I’d not considered in the game set up. This free and easy approach has already bitten me in the ass and in the interests of fairness I’ve allowed both players to free style on at least one occasion - with very interesting outcomes.

As I write we are on day three of a possible 12 with the first battle already under our belts. A number of campaign altering decisions taken during these turns will be revealed in the next post as will the initial battle itself. For obvious reasons my reporting will have to remain somewhat after the event to prevent revealing information of use to either player.

Will the helpless British transport ships be shelled to bits or will plucky General Parrott punish the feckless rebels for their impudence? 

Honestly I have no idea. 

Maybe we’ll find out when « hang ‘em high Cummings » and « Parrott the great emancipator » next clash swords. Lol.

This just in…

So I advertise an ECW PBEM campaign on my old blog about 3 years ago and got… <<crickets>>.

This time. Well this time the response was a bit unexpected.

Thanks to everyone who chucked their hat in the ring, (and to those that subsequently took it back out again to make room for others).

In the interests of fairness, I rolled a dice for each of those still in the mix and modified the scores by +1 if they were known to be really into the period and +1 if they’d sent me a bribe. Minus 1 was applied to all those deemed to be getting too much “gaming action” of late.

Two re rolls were needed to resolve a couple of ties and the eventual winners on this occasion were…

Drumroll…

Graham C and Chris / Nundanket.

The dice Gods further decreed that Graham will command the tax dodging sons of liberty and Chris the storm troopers of British imperialism.

Apologies to everyone else but I hope to run another campaign for the same period in late autumn and other interested folks will definitely get a look in then (mainly cos I’m going to bar these two). Lol. 

Thankfully it’s just a crappy game so it’s not like the rest of you missed out on a Nobel prize or something. 

Graham and Chris will be getting their background campaign info in the next few days and I hope to get started reporting on the campaign itself in the 1st week of September - ish.

This is the hexed version of the strategic map that both Commanders will be presented with. 1 hex on here will translate to an entire 6x4 table when fighting battles. Fair warning. Not all of the terrain will turn out to be as shown and units will remain hidden from their opponents until they occupy an adjacent hex or are scouted out at longer range.

Thanks again everyone.

Tut Tut

Yeah, tut tut, three parts of the way through the month and nary a post till now! 

In truth it’s been hell on wheels here for the last few weeks with various family members sucking on the hospitality teat of maison broom, followed by a stream of guests in our gîte. 

I know, I know, first world problems to have. 

The influx of guests did however give me a perfect excuse to lock myself away in the geek den and get on with some painting. The outcome of my uninterrupted labor has been several new AWI regiments and a sprinkling of British airships to pad out my forthcoming alternate history air war campaign. 

On the subject of campaigns I’ve been busy creating a brigade level AWI one to be played in instalments by a couple of volunteer generals. Orders would be issued via email, roughly one set per week, and any fighting played out on my table with the outcomes recorded on this blog. If anyone fancies a crack at it drop me a line and I’ll give you a few more deets (as the kids say). Players get to choose their starting units, supply levels, intelligence / influence based on a points value - and will gain and suffer from a bucket load of random events as things progress. Initially there will be complete ignorance of the opponents force composition and location. Players will be issued with hexed maps of the area with which to plot their units movement and the battles will be played out with C&C Tricorne rules.

I reckon I could still run it as a solo campaign but it would definitely be more fun with a couple of victims flailing around in the wilderness as they attempt to achieve their faction specific goals.

Anyone for tennis? One of these fancy pants 10mm Brigadier Generals could be you!

Here’s the totally made up area in South Carolina where it’ll all take place circa 1777. 

The Owls Head Peninsula, South Carolina, June 1777

Toodleooh.

Flap flap flap

The devil finds work for idle hands to do and unfortunately, in the ten days wait for a new batch of MDF bases, my gaming butterfly flapped its wings once more.

My love of Star Trek has been well documented on this site (too well documented for many) but my other main passion (both in and out of gaming) has always been airships. 

Airships…!  I know, right?

To be fair, I reckon if you’re going to be a nerd, you might as well go all in.

Anywhoo… I’ve been nipping in and out of the Brigades models Imperial Skies website section for a long now, time surreptitiously looking at airship porn, until, during the aforementioned ten day hiatus I thought …bugger it…buy some, man! I mean it’s the 21st century. It’s time I came out of the, ahem, airship closet.

I’ve only completed a couple of models so far, but I thought I’d brave your scorn and derision and post a few piccies…to test the water. I’m thinking of setting this new gaming genre in and around 1895, twenty years after the Franco Prussian war, in a world where a revanchist 3rd French Republic have doubled down on the one technology in which they currently lead the world. The balloon and the airship. 

First cab off the rank: “The Alsace” an Hercule class airship fielding medium and light guns in side mounted caissons. Powered by twin Serpolet flash boilers she entered service in 1887 and can reach a respectable 40mph. The production run of five was cancelled after the first two were completed, the vessel being effectively obsolete upon entering service. She is depicted in the standard French Aéronautique Militaire colour scheme of the time, the white upper works being necessary to reduce the effects of envelope overheating and excessive gas expansion at altitude. 

“La République” a Rochambeau class airship, sporting two heavy barbette gun positions amidships and a host of medium range guns which are able to produce a formidable broadside. Faster than the Hercule class and with a heavier load out they are the first of the French fleet to use the secret “C” gas, discovered in 1868 by a French scientist.* The gas is very expensive to produce but is not flammable and produces greatly enhanced lift compared to hydrogen.  In 1895 there are four other vessels of this class in service.

“Tigre” a Mistral class Aeroleve. Intelligence received on German aerial advancements suggested a need for a fast interceptor craft, but the small streamlined envelope that went along with this provided insufficient lift to carry any effective armament. The solution was to accept the limited buoyancy but enhance the lifting capacity of the vessel by attaching heavily braced “wings”. In this configuration the ship can reach an astonishing 60mph and is armed with six ripple fired short range explosive rockets.

Static defence balloon number 21. Aerial defences positioned in and around key French cities and along the Franco / German border. The first line of defence they are armed with medium range guns and four short range rocket launchers.

Now for “zee chermans”. Only two so far, but more on the way.

“Brandenburg” a Germania class airship of the Kaiserliche Luftschiffe Truppen. Eschewing the French approach to propulsion, they are powered by Herr Benz’s internal combustion engine and use hydrogen for lift. Armed with a gondola full of medium guns the Germania class ships are the workhorse of the German air fleet and have been adapted for bombing and aether torpedo launching duties.

“Wotan.” Lead and so far only ship of its class. The Wotan may carry marines or a bomb load in addition to its gondola based medium barbettes and dorsal heavy battery.

This model has been heavily adapted from Brigades original using beads from the wife’s craft drawer to make the engine pods and silver sequins for the propeller discs. Tee hee. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention!

I’m already back to producing AWI units now that the bases have turned up but it’s nice to have something else to tinker with and to break up the grind of production line painting, n’est ce pas?

Toodleooh. 

*”C”gas was an early term for Helium. Presumably all of my French crews will speak in amusingly squeaky voices. Lol.

For the want of a nail

AWI production has ground to a halt this week because I’ve run out of bloomin’ 3x3 mdf bases. Doh. Bit of a cock up on the stores front it seems. Fortunately my usually empty diary was filled with a giddy social whirl, which included:

Yet another AWI refight of Hubbardton - this time using Tricorne C&C rules

Plus the almost inevitable win by these lads. Is it possible to achieve a British victory I wonder? Three different rule sets would seem to imply not.

The arrival of «my son the doctor» (has to be said in a potentially offensive Jewish manner - for which I apologise in advance) and his lovely wife. He reaffirmed our old family tradition of him turning up, stripping the fridge, drinking all my favourite pop, then thrashing me horribly in a face to face game using troops that I’ve just spent many months painting. Ruddy smart ass kid. I blame the parents. Oh wait…

My son the doctor rolls up the centre of my line with his light bobs. My loss was so sudden, violent and complete that I somehow neglected to take too many pictures for posterity.

Being France I also had to suffer the agony of La fête des voisines, an annual social occasion in which the inhabitants of our hamlet gather to eat drink and be Mary (I might have got the last bit wrong). Two of the oldest members of the settlement never turn up since twenty years ago they ended up shooting each others cars over a land dispute that’s still not settled. Also not present was the Pradeix strangler -  but that’s a story for another day. 

The inhabitants of Pradeix lieu dit Saint Dizier Leyrenne, sans strangler. I’m on the right, three parts of the table down, next to the shaven headed fruit of my loins. Ughh.

You’ll be pleased to know that despite becoming fearsomely drunk, as an antidote to my crippling social anxiety, I behaved myself well and even sat through twenty minutes of Shamanic drumming by the yurt folks, without comment. 

I’ll give myself another pat on the back for that, I think. 

Toodleooh for now.