Battle of the Starter Sea -- analysis and strategy for the Axis & Allies War at Sea 2010 Starter -- Part I: The IJN

The current Starter Set for the War at Sea Axis & Allies naval miniatures game provides an interesting tactical puzzle for the players as well as being a good introduction to the game system.

At less than 50 points worth of units per side and just a total of 8 pieces it's definitely on the smaller side, but there's a considerable amount of reply value as the Starter shows that you don't need battleships to have a good game.

Each side has its strengths and weaknesses but they're evenly matched and good play will generally prevail even in a game as dicey as WAS. Either side can win, but winning consistently will mean paying close attention to both sides' values and special abilities.

The Axis side is represented by a pair of surface ships supported by one sub and a patrol bomber, giving the Japanese player a wide variety of threats.

The centerpieces of the Japanese force is the Heavy Cruiser Haguro, which fought throughout the Pacific campaign and met its demise in the last surface action fought during the Pacific War.

At 18 points it's the highest valued unit in the set and it justifies that high value with a nice array of powerful attacks. At a range of 0 or 1 the Haguro will roll 10 dice with its main battery gunnery, which is the highest total available in the set. This is 2 more dice than the base roll of the Allied forces' counterpart, the USS Montpelier, and is enough to almost guarantee getting at least a hit on the Montpelier. The Haguro's advantage drops off rapidly with range, however. At range 2 the Haguro only rolls 9 dice, while the Montpelier still rolls 8 and may roll 9 dice if it's still undamaged and has its Radar Fire Control SA. At Range 3 both ships roll 7 base dice and an undamaged Montpelier actually has a 1-die advantage. The American cruiser, if undamaged, also has a Range 4 shot of 8 dice. So the Haguro generally wants to close the range if possible. The Haguro's secondary gunnery factors of 4-4-3 are adequate to pose a threat to either of the enemy destroyers, but its AA value of 7 is only enough to occasionally abort the American Avenger and it will take a very good roll to shoot it down.

The Haguro's nastiest punch rests with its torpedo battery. With 3 dice at ranges of 0-1 and 2 dice all the way out to Range 3 the Haguro threatens instant death to any Allies ship within range -- the Montpelier being just as vulnerable as the Allied destroyers because of the Long Lace's 3-point slam.

The Haguro's special ability of "Tough Cruiser" is useful, with two Allied DD's in the game. Most of the time DD gunnery will fail to damage the Japanese heavy cruiser.

The Haguro in the larger game: The Haguro is the third Nachi-class cruiser to appear in the game and arguably the best of the lot. The Myoko from the base set is vastly too expensive at 24 points to justify a competitive purchase, there being cheaper ways to get a +1 flagship. It will probably only be used in games with class restrictions or historical scenarios. The Nachi from the Task Force set costs 1 point more than the Haguro, which probably doesn't justify its "Cruiser Killer" SA. Overall the Haguro is one of the better values among the IJN heavy cruisers with powerful surface gunnery and a strong torpedo battery.

The Terutsuki makes a good consort for the Haguro, although it's a mistake to consider it an escort for the larger ship. It benefits from the Haguro's proximity much more than the Haguro does from the Terutsuki. Dispatching the Terutsuki off independently (perhaps to seize an objective) is nearly suicidal as long as the Avenger is around -- and the weak Japanese AA means that the Avenger will be around. A bomb attack from the Avenger is almost certain to at least cripple the Terutsuki. The Terutsuki should stick to Haguro like its shadow, providing an extra chance to abort the Avenger, an additional anti-DD gunnery shot and a extra torpedo factor or two.

The Terutsuki in the larger game: The Terutsuki is pretty comparable to other IJN destroyers, although its "Rapid Fire" SA may be attractive if you expect to face a surface-heavy build.

The I-25 submarine is actually the No. 2 unit on the IJN side and the Japanese player will face an early decision on employment. It's tempting to send it to operate away from the Haguro-Terutsuki pair, but a bit risky as the Allies have three units that can credibly attack it. I think it's better to operate within supporting range of the surface group to force the Allies to choose between ASW efforts and dealing with the Haguro. I think it's worth stacking the I-25 with the surface units the first few turns to keep the Avenger from scoring early on I-25 until the main battle is about to begin.

The I-25 in the larger game: It's cheaper than I-26 and has a better SA than I-19, so its worthwhile considering for IJN builds.

Betty is the weak sister in the IJN lineup, but the G4M1 is hardly useless. The key, I think, is to be patient. Resist the temptation to try for a potshot torpedo run in the first turn or two, as all this will probably do is cost you the Betty for no result. The Montpelier's Heavy Antiair and the decent AA values on the other ships, combined with the miserable defenses of the Betty, mean there's little chance of getting through. On the other hand, if the Allied player splits off one of the destroyers to hunt I-25 or try to grab an objective then the Betty should strike. A little luck and the Allies will be down a DD. The Excellent Endurance SA will give you another chance if, as is likely, you get aborted the first time.

The Betty in the larger game: This Betty is the same 6 points as the Base Set version of the plane and the SA's are comparably useful -- which is to say not too much given the short expectancy of the plane against USN AA fire.

So the basic approach for the Japanese is to maneuver the Haguro/Terutsuki pair as a unit, looking for a chance to combine against part of the Allied fleet is the split up to grab objectives or otherwise slug it out at close range with guns and torpedoes, with the aide of the I-25. The Betty should be used cautiously at first, saving it for use against an isolated DD or a cripple.

War at Sea Starter Set review

A successful starter set for a collectible miniatures games should hit a few marks: It should be affordable; It should provide a taste of the game system and It should provide a satisfactory game right out of the box before a player has to make any other purchases.

It's generally been fairly easy to hit these marks with starter sets for collectible card games. The relatively low production costs for cards makes it feasible to include two playable pre-selected decks with each starter kit. This has been nearly universal practice with CCGs since the beginning and even now, established games such as Magic: The Gathering offer products such as "duel" decks that are not exactly starters (being aimed at more experienced players) but provide a similar experience of a ready-to-play game right out of the box.

The higher per-unit costs of miniatures has made this much harder to do with collectible miniatures games. While a CCG starter will usually include a 100-120 cards plus ancillary materials for less than $15-$20, most CMG's starters only have 6-12 miniatures in them, which is rarely enough for a game. In some cases, such as Navia Dratp, the expectation was that each player would buy his "half" of a starter so that between the two of them a game could be gotten up. In practice, however, most players needed to buy both halves of the starter and recruit a buddy to play, which effectively doubled the price. Early starters for Wizards of the Coast and some other companies included a random assortment of figures in the starter, as well as in boosters. This was a problem because there was no guarantee that the randomized output of a starter pack would provide a balanced game.

Eventually WOTC hit on the idea of non-randomized starters with a specific set of visible figures, leaving the randomization to the boosters alone. This made it possible to insure that the starter was playable out of the box and it also allowed the rule book to use examples of play using the actual miniatures that the player had in front of him.

The current War at Sea Starter set is of this sort, which a specific assortment of 8 miniatures included. The miniatures are all exclusive to the Starter Set, which means there's no duplication with the boosters, but they are all repaints of miniatures that have previously appeared -- no doubt saving on design and production costs.

The 8 miniatures are carefully chosen to provide a chance for players to exercise most parts of the basic game system and also provide a good even match. Besides the 8 miniatures the box includes a rule book, two double-sided map sheets which join together to form the playing surface, a light cardstock set of die-cut markers and four dice.

The rules are a new "improved" version that makes some changes over the original rules based on player feedback. The game's sequence of play is straightforward. It starts with an Initiative phase to determine which player performs actions first in each subsequent phase. In this game "winning" the initiative allows you to go second, which is an advantage because you get to react to your opponent's moves. Next is a Sea Movement Phase where the players move all ships and submarines within their movement allowance. Next is the Air Mission Phase, where players alternate placing aircraft anywhere on the map. This is followed by an Air Defense phase where ships and aircraft attack enemy planes. Planes that are shot down or "aborted" now will not get to attack later. In the Air Attack surviving aircraft have their turn to attack ships and submarines, with damage taking effect immediately. In the Surface Attack phase, surface ships attack enemy surface ships and submarines with gunnery and torpedoes or anti-submarine attacks. In the Submarine Attack phase. surviving subs have their turn to attack enemy ships and subs. In the Air Return phase air units return to their bases (on land or aircraft carriers) and finally in the End of Turn step victory is assessed.

As with all collectible games, War at Sea is a "exceptions-based" game where special abilities can supersede the regular rules.

The "Axis" side is represented by four Imperial Japanese Navy units: The heavy cruiser Haguro, the destroyer Terutsuki, the submarine I-25 and a G4MI "Betty" patrol bomber. Under the game's point system this adds up to 46 points of units with variety of capabilities.

The miniatures themselves have no game-specific information on them, a feature which makes them easily usable in other games. Besides the eye-candy, all the miniature does in game play is show the location of the ship. All the game-related information is on the data card. The Haguro's card shows the ship's name, nationality, service entry date and point cost along the top.

The ship's speed is "2," which means it can usually move two squares on the battle map during the Sea Movement Phase.

The Haguro has four different attacks available to it. The first is its "Main Battery" attack, depicted by a turret icon with the letter M. The power of this attack varies, with the Haguro rolling a number of dice depending on the range in squares to the target ship. For example, if the target is in the same square or an adjacent square the Haguro rolls 10 dice, but if the enemy shp is 3 squares away the attack is made rolling 7 dice. The dice are standard D^, with "successes usually being achieved on rolls of 4 or 5, and a 6 counting as TWO successes. The number of successes is compared to the Armor Value of the target ship, so if the Haguro were firing at a similar ship and it got at least 4 successes it would inflict ONE hull point of damage. The Haguro has 3 hull points, so three hits will remove it from play. If the attack is so successful that it rolls successes equal to or greater than the Vital Armor value (10 in the Haguro's case) then the ship is sunk outright.

The Haguro also has a "Secondary Battery" (shown by a turret icon with a 2) that works the same way, but with fewer dice and a lesser range. Both the Main and Secondary gunnery attacks can only be used against enemy ships, not subs or aircraft.

The third attack available to the Haguro is its antiaircraft attack, shown by an icon of an aircraft in cross hairs. The Haguro can roll 7 dice to attack an air unit in the same square.

The final attack value for the Haguro is its torpedo value. Like gunnery attacks, torpedo attacks only affect ships, but unlike gunnery attacks torpedoes directly inflict hull point damage on the target with every roll of a 6 being a success. Normally torpedoes do 2 points of damage each, but the Long-Lance Torpedo special ability boosts this by one point to 3 points. This is enough to sink most cruisers and smaller ships instantly and is the forte of the Japanese fleet.

The Haguro has no ability to attack enemy submarines, although this will not be a factor in Starter set battles because the Allies player doesn't have a submarine.

As stated above, the Haguro's armor value is 4, which is the number of successes needed to score one hull point of damage on it, while its Vital Armor is 10, which means 10 successes are needed to sink it at once. It can take 3 Hull Points of damage, which is typical for cruisers in the game. The first hull point loss has no game effect, but the second one causes the Haguro to be "crippled" which reduces its speed, armor values and attacks by 1. The third hull point loss removes the Haguro from the game.

The destroyer Terutsuki is similar to the Haguro, except smaller and less capable in most ways, although it does have an anti-submarine attack value, depicted by the depth charge icon. This works similarly to gunnery, but only affects submarines. The Terutsuki also has Long-Lance torpedoes, however, giving it a dangerous punch despite its small size. Like most destroyers the Terutsuki doesn't have much staying power. It's easy to damage with an armor value of only 2 and with just two hull hits it's easy to cripple and sink it.

The third unit in the Japanese fleet is the submarine I-25. Although submarines are obviously vessels of war, in game terms they are not "Ships" but a separate category of unit. Submarines cannot attack planes and cannot be affected by gunnery attacks or most torpedo attacks. They also attack in their own phase of the turn. Like most subs, I-25 can use its torpedo value to attack an enemy sub in the same square with its "submerged shot" SA. This is the only way torpedoes can be used against submarines. Like all submarines in the game, the I-25 moves at speed 1, just 1 square per turn.

The weakest unit in the Japanese array is the "Betty" patrol bomber. It has an ASW value of 2, which it won't get to use in Starter set battle due to the absence of Allied subs, but it also only has a torpedo value of 2 -- and these are not Long-Lance . The biggest challenge for the Betty will be surviving long enough to get off a shot, however, as its defense of 4 and vital armor of 6 are low enough to cause it real problems. Damage to aircraft is handled differently than damage to ships and subs. All aircraft have just 1 "hull point." Achieving enough successes to match the Armor value "aborts: the plane, essentially canceling its attack for the turn. Matching the Vital Armor removes the plane from the game. On the other hand, like all aircraft, the Betty has a Speed of A, meaning it can be placed in any square. However, being land-based. after flying a mission the Betty acquires a "Rearming" marker which it takes a turn to remove, so generally the Betty can only be used every other turn. It does have a special ability, though, called Excellent Endurance, which allows it once per game to remove the rearming counter and therefor fly on consecutive turns.

So the Japanese starter squadron comprises a dangerous surface action group accompanied by an effective submarine but supported by a fairly weak air arm that will have to be used cautiously.

The Allied fleet poses an interesting counterpoint to the Japanese force. The lead unit is the USS Montpelier, a Cleveland-class light cruiser from the United States Navy. Compared to the Haguro, the Montpelier comes in at one less point. It has a flag icon with a number 1 which indicates it's a "Flagship" and gets +1 on initiative rolls. Compared to the Haguro the Montpelier's ,main guns are somewhat weaker while its secondaries are stronger, but its Special Abilities go a long way toward evening things up.

Extended Range 4 allows the Montpelier to fire an extra square so long as it's undamaged. Combined with the Flagship bonus, this means that there's a good chance to Montpelier will be able to shoot at Haguro on occasion without the Haguro being able to shoot back. Radar Fire Control allows the undamaged Montpelier to fire using an extra die as well, further evening the odds. Finally, the Montpelier has Heavy Anti-air, which allows it to affect aircraft in adjacent squares as well, making life even more difficult for the Betty. The Montpelier's edge is reduced when damaged, but its armor value is 5, better than Haguro and giving it some chance of avoiding damage even if the Haguro gets a long-range shot at it.

The biggest weakness of the Montpelier, and one it shares with almost all USN cruisers, is a complete lack of torpedoes.

Aiding the Montpelier are two Allied destroyers. One is the USS Taylor, a Fletcher-class destroyer, at 9 points, and the 8-point Australian destroyer HMAS Nizam. Both have very similar values, with the Nizam a little stronger in gunnery and the Taylor better attacking aircraft. The Taylor is a little tougher with an armor value of 3, but both ships are vulnerable. The Taylor has the same radar fire control ability as the Montpelier, and a Sub Hunter SA that makes it more likely to find an enemy sub to attack. The Nizam has an SA that lets it place a smoke screen which blocks line of sight and makes ships in the same square harder to hit.

The fourth Allies unit is a TBF-1 Avenger squadron. This plane is worth almost twice as many points as the Japanese Betty and is all-around a more formidable unit. It has an ASW vale of 3, making it a threat to I-25 and also a torpedo value of 2 making it a danger to surface targets as well. Once per game it can perform a bomb attack with 6 dice instead of its torpedo attack, which is especially threatening to the Terutsuki. Perhaps the most frustrating thing for the Japanese player is that it will be very hard to make the Avenger go away. Its armor value is a 5, making it hard to abort for either Japanese ship with average luck and its Vital Armor of 8 mean that even good luck will rarely shoot the Avenger down.

The total point value of the Allied force is 45 points, although the Avenger may be slightly overcosted because it's normally carrier-based (which allows it to fly every turn) but the Allied side has no carrier in the starter set so the Avenger is forced to fly every other turn instead. That said, the Allied force is a well-balanced and efficient force that will give the Japanese a good fight.

The mix of forces and the interaction between the two squadrons provides fodder for various tactics and strategies and the chance to exercise most parts of the game. In that sense I think this is one of the best starter sets ever designed because there's considerable replay value within it and it gives the purchaser a very good sense of what they're getting into. Even if the purchaser never buys any boosters, he still has a playable small board wargame with some cool bits.

OK, more hot babes!

This look interesting. Check out the lava lass or whatever she is.

Dead collectible games -- what are they good for? Part II

Part II of my pondering (pawndering?) on the retained usefulness of out-of-print collectible games.

Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures
I backed into this one, after picking up a few miniatures and finding out that that my stepson liked playing. It's a decent little skirmish-level wargame and has the added advantage of being usable for role-playing as well, should I ever decide to get back into that. I didn't go too far into the game, ending up with just about 200 figures, which is enough for my local purposes. The competitive scene was already winding down when I first got into the game and so that never played much of a role in my purchases. DDM doesn't take up too much space (a couple of shoebox-sized boxes and a map tube) so its relatively low-impact as far as space and trouble goes and I'll probably keep it unless I have to move out-of-town. Its probably not worth shipping off in that situation.

Navia Dratp

Another relatively low-impact game space wise, Navia Dratp is really an odd duck. It really is a good game, as the high ratings it gets from people on Boardgmae Geek who've tried it attest. But it was probably one of the worst-marketed games in history. Between the strange theme, the tongue-twisting terms and obscure names it's amazing anyone bought it. But the worst aspect of the marketing plan was making it a collectible game. It really wasn't necessary. Unlike the open-ended universe of D&D or Dreamblade, or even the finite but large potential of Axis & Allies , it's hard to see how the game could have supported hundreds of different figures or dozens of expansions even if it had taken off. It turned out to be a moot point, however, as the game bit the dust as the second expansion came out and in effect it turned into the expandable games= it probably should have been in the first place. It really is quite good, however, and because my collection is big enough to support two players with a wide variety of units this remains a keeper -- even if I move.

Lord of the Rings Tradeable Miniatures Game

I liked the miniatures and the theme, but the game was rather ordinary as far as fun and interest go, and since its been discontinued I've had a very hard time getting it on the table. While it was still a supported system there was a game shop that hosted some gaming in it but that dried up and despite multiple attempts since this one just can't provoke any interest. I'm probably going to give up and unload this one as not worth the space devoted to it. Over the years I've been pretty ruthless about culling wargames that can't make the cut of getting table-time and one thing I've learned is that once it's gone I rarely miss it. In the case of LOTR I do like the miniatures and the game system is OK, but I don't like them enough to stare at them unplayed. Better they find a home elsewhere. It's really too bad, because I did build up a pretty decent collection overall, with a few hundred figures. There's room in my game room for a handful of games that may not get played much or at all, but not much. None of my usual reasons of nostalgia, study or historical interest apply in this case and so these guys are eBay bound.

Back from break ... or is that bad break?

In my non-gaming life, as some may know, I'm a journalist working for a good daily newspaper here in Connecticut. These are not good times for the newspaper business as a whole, and while my paper is not doing worse than the industry average, that's not really a very high bar.

No, it's rather similar to that famous scene near the climax of the movie Titanic when Jack and Rose and a few other people were perched on the upright stern of the rapidly sinking ship. It was better than being anywhere else on the boat -- but they were still going down.

As it happens I thought I was a little closer to the stern than I turned out to be, as Monday I found out I was being laid off from the newspaper. This isn't the first time that's happened in my career, but the circumstances are quite different this time than from those earlier episodes where I was able to quickly move to another paper.

It's not in my nature to be either a Debbie Downer nor shrink from facing a challenge thrown my way by life. I'm still sorting through options at this time, but I'm confident that things will work out one way or the other.

I suppose a small silver lining is that this opens up my schedule a little bit for the short-term and there are some writing and gaming projects I've been wanting to get to that I now have no excuse to neglect.

Brief break from blogging ...

I'm taking a few days off while I digest a development in my personal life.

Dead collectible games -- what are they good for? Part I

With the possible exception of Magic: The Gathering, which seems immortal, there comes a time in the life cycle of every collectible game when it "dies." That is, it's discontinued by its maker, official company support comes to an end, tournaments and sponsored or "sanctioned" events are no more and the would-be collector/player is faced with the question of "now what?"

It's in the nature of collectible games that they're much more dependent on the continued support of the game maker, a steady flow of new material and some sort of tournament style venue for play. This is much less true for other types of games. Indeed, an ordinary boardgame can "live on" almost indefinitely once published. A good example are the old Avalon Hill games Dune or Up Front which, due to licensing and rights issues, seem highly unlikely to ever see print again despite proven long-term popularity. It's hard for new players to break in, sadly, but both games have a devoted fan base and the existing copies of the game (undoubtedly carefully treated) will see many more years of play despite the demise of official support.

On the other hand, collectible games that, even though popular, fail to meet market goals and are discontinued by their game maker leave the collectors and players who sank their treasure into the game in a quandary. While it's possible that demand for their collection will increase eventually (because, after all, no new ones are being made) over the short term so far the usual pattern has been for the bottom to more or less fall out of the market for most games.

The lack of official support means the end of tournament play, which is problematical for games that are highly competitive. The lack of official sponsorship means that playing opportunities will quickly dry up and opponents will be hard to find.

Finally, the end of the line usually means that the game is still incomplete in important ways unless it's had a long run. There may be pieces, powers, factions and aspects of the game that are left high and dry because the planned follow-ons will never materialize.

So what now?

The answer will vary depending on the game and the collector, but here's how I see what's in MY collection and how I answer that question.

Axis & Allies Miniatures:

This game system hasn't been declared officially "dead" yet, but there's been no announcement of when the next set (Late War) is scheduled to appear and in my opinion there's a good chance it will never come -- or if it does, it will be the last expansion. This game has had a good long runs, however, and there aren't too many critical holes in the lineup. This game is much less dependent on the tournament scene than most collectibles because a large part of its market is made up of purchasers who are buying it purely for collection or to use the miniatures in other games. Wisely, the miniatures are easily usable in other games and with the scale change in the second half of the run are mostly compatible with other military miniatures. I expect to keep these and find them useful while playing other games and for the occasional game of AAM, itself.

Axis & Allies War at Sea Naval Miniatures:

This is not dead yet and it looks to have several more sets of life in it, BUT as a history-based line there are natural limits on how long it can go on, as opposed to a fictional setting. There's already been some trouble filling out the Axis fleets because they simply weren't very big. As an expedient some what-if ships have already appeared and some ships that appeared earlier in the series are being reissued but at some point the well will run dry. Like its AAM, however, A&A War at Sea miniatures can easily be used with other wargames and while it's a unique scale, the line has gotten large enough that it includes nearly every important ship from th war and if it goes on for 2-3 more sets there's not going to be naught but odds and ends left out. This is a real keeper. The War at Sea game is a good lite wargame (rather better than the land game, in my view) and is always be useful for more traditional gaming as well.

Dreamblade:

Dreamblade is both quite dead and yet still pretty popular. While the plug was pulled a little early (after just four expansions after the base set) the existing universe of product is just big enough to make it a workable game for the long haul. This game has been hurt by the collapse of the tournament scene, so opponents with their own sets are scarce, but if you own a big enough collection (I have a few hundred figures) so that you can provide a drafting pool then you can get some reasonable gaming in. I've had some success getting people to play. It's really a pretty good game, fundamentally, so I expect to keep it for occasional play. The game pieces aren't really usable for any other purposes, though, which is limiting.

Heroclix:

This game was 'dead" and then resurrected in a new incarnation. From what I can see, there's less vitality in the new version, but there's still some life. It's no thanks to me, however. I bought and played the game when it was WizKids. largely because it was the most gaming action I could find locally for a while, but when that sanctioned game scene evaporated I cut way back on my collection. I now have about 200 or so, left, mostly DC and I can't see re-entering the tournament scene by buying new product. For me what I have will have to last me as fodder for casual play. The game isn't bad, but it's also not one of my top interests. It's another game where the pieces aren't really usable for other purposes and I haven't been ale to generate much interest in scenario-based play in my local area. Nearly everybody who plays this seems only interested in playing it competitively -- and I'm not getting back into that scene. So this game's future on my shelf is very much up in the air. I've been chipping away at the edges of the collection through eBay sales for a while and if I ever have to move this is probably the first or second collection to go en masse.

More to come .... .

And so it begins -- 150th anniversary of the Civil War

And so it began 150 years ago today -- The American Civil War -- variously known as the War Between the States, the War of Secession, etc. In a sense I am looking for to this 150th. I think anything that nurtures a sense of history in the public is a good thing, and public appreciation of the Civil War in particular is needed because it's not quite dead history yet.

Compared to just about any other war that Americans fought the controversy over the meaning, events and consequences of the war still reverberate. While there's some controversy over the wars we are fighting today in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even lingering bitterness over Vietnam, I'm confident that the 150th anniversary of those wars will be as little remarked as the anniversaries of the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War or the Spanish-American War. Indeed, the recent 20th anniversary of the First Gulf War passed with hardly a mention in the media.

Today I commemorated the opening of the Civil War with a Civil War Game day at Arkham Asylum where we played games from the centennial of 1961 (Avalon Hill's Civil War) and the 150th Anniversary edition of Battle Cry. Over the next few years, God willing, I hope to reprise that with other game days marking significant battle anniversaries from the war. Next up will be First Bull Run in July.

Interesting news from Rich Baker on Angels 20 and War at Sea Set VI

A new entry in Rich Baker's Hasbro blog has some interesting tidbits. First off, the Japanese carrier Taiho will be in the new set. This was probably the best-designed Japanese carrier of the war -- comparable to the US Essex class. But poor damage control led to its loss during the Battle of the Philippine Sea when fuel vapors ignited.

He also talked a little about a new type of unit, the Installation, which will be represented by Fort Drum, which was a heavily fortified island in Manila Bay. This is an interesting sculpt at least and may bring the game in some new direction. It badly needs some other kinds of scenarios besides the sea control and convoy battles.

He also talks about the new Angels 20 air game which is looking more tempting all the time. He reveals that one of the planes will be the I-16 Russian fighter and one of the models will be in Nationalist Chinese colors! So with I-16s and P-40s the Chinese actually get some interesting choices to play with.

Musings on modeling damage in skirmish-level wargames

I was looking over my Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures game today in preparation for a hoped-for game and I noticed an oddity -- it's almost impossible for a single blow to be fatal among comparable fighters.

For example, the Human Fighter, shown above, normally does 15 hit points of damage with a successful attack. But the fighter has 55 HP himself, so if he were fighting a similar warrior it would take at least three blows to defeat the foe. The first successful attack would reduce the enemy fighter to 40 HP, the second would cut him down to 25 and leave him "bloodied," which would set up the "Death Blow" attack action (if available) which would finish him off.

Now I don't have a problem with this from a game perspective. It applies to everyone equally and works well enough -- the same basic system has been used in D&D for decades.

But it doesn't bear much resemblance to actual sword fighting. I'm sorry, but if you get cut by a greatsword you're fighting efficiency will suffer. And often enough a single slash or stab will do some vital damage that will kill you outright or at least incapacitate you. But in D&D this only happens if you have some very powerful fighter matched against a very weak one. Many skirmish level games are like this, of course. It's easy to see why. I can hear the howls as some 15th level character gets nailed by a lucky shot from a random archer and is killed instantly. Yet just that sort of key blow plays a big role in fantasy fiction. Consider Bard's arrow that felled Smaug in the Hobbit, for example. Simply impossible under the D&D system.

The western gunfighter game Cowboys; The Way of the Gun has this effect, too. The Cowboy characters can't be killed by a single shot. Great for players but obviously absurd. The earlier wargame-like western gunfighting game Gunslinger was more realistic on that score. If you got shot, you were probably not going to be able to do much, and what you did get to do would take longer and be less effective. And there was always a chance of an instant kill.

I don't mean to pick on DDM, because the same thing is nearly universal among skirmish-level games, especially those with a fantasy or science fiction base. Occasionally there's a provision for quick KOs for ordinary run of the mill NPCs, but the more powerful characters can always take a licking and keep on ticking.

And then a hero arose ....

Game Store Tony and I continued our Grand Normandy Campaign, this time playing Pushing Through Caen -- although before long it looked like it would better be called Pushed Around Caen.

Yep, the initita going was grim for my British. Every attempt to push across the river was decimated and repulsed, and before long I was staring at the wrong side of a 4-1 medal count in the 5-medal game. My sole foothold remaining across the river was a single surviving troop figure hunkered down in some sandbags across the central bridge.

And then a hero arose.

Or at least that's my theory.

The first card that hinted at a turn-around in fortune was a Medica & Mechanics that restored the depleted unit to full strength. A subsequent shot from the Germans missed. Then a Behind Enemy Lines card allowed the rallied unit to charge close enough to fire upon and eliminate the German artilelry unit and then jump on the Verrieres Ridge medal objective!! Now it was 4-3 in the medal count.

A few turns of battling elsewhere left both sides weakened, with several units down to 1 or 2 figures, and the score tied at 4 apiece.

An attempt by a German infantry unit to retake Verrieres left it cut down to a single figure and Game Store Tony reluctantly pulled away to the shelter of a building -- and right into a Barrage card!

"That's it," Tony glumly noted as the four dice rattled across the table. After all , there was a 93.25% chance of getting at least once hit. A terrific come-from-behind win!

The dice rolled to a stop -- two stars and two tanks.

Oh, come ooooooooooooooon!!! Aaargh!

There was no second chance, as Game Store Tony's next shots scored that final hit for the final medal and a 5-4 scenario win, a 15-9 campaign win and brought the Grand Campaign to a tie. But worse, the dice quashed a great war story. Damn!

An Arcane Story Part III

Zhonghli Quan nodded and the battle began.

The Hundun Spirit let the Phoenis and Raven divisoons at the double time straight into the softly golden glowing ground that seemed blessed by the gods. Reaming there and keeping the opposing Daqin army out would hearten his own troops and slowly demoralize the enemy, Quan knew. Still, it was a transient advantage, because there was a similar blessed ground near the Daqin host that they'd undoubtedly seize as well. So in the end it would come down to hard fighting.

As Quan expected, the Daqin began their advance in the center, although he was disconcerted to see that the Daqin were leading with their archers, ratehr than the large-shielded infantry. He was even more disconnected when those archers let fly with a surprisingly devastating flurry of arrows that mowed down half of the Phoenix Division in seconds! This was unexpected, as the Daqin, known as Romans in their own tongue, were reputed to be indifferent archers. It was evident this was some outdated intelligence. It appeared that the Daqin planned to followup their success as a small body of mechanical construct infantry charged toward Phoenix Division.

This appeared to be a premature move, however, as the Hundun Spirit quickly noted the advance and fired, downing several of the constructs. The Phoenix Division regained its composure and dropped a few more and finally the crack Raven Division wheeled into firing position and finished off the constructs! First blood to the Han. Quan nodded again and the Dragon of Wrath began its advance on the right.

The Daqin archers continued to fire on Phoenix, although less accurately now, possibky due to fatigue and now some of the large-shielded infantry advanced as well, with some occupying the blessed ground on the left and others moving towards the Hundun Spirit.

Soon a swirling melee developed in right center and it became hard to make out the details. The Daqin fed in unit after unit, including some of their fearsome steam-armored infantry. Quan, too, carefully fed new troops into the fray.

Some minor affairs caused a momentary distraction. The Dragon of Wrath was pestered by another group of constructs, which were quickly reduced to a pile of parts. Quan's own constructs of the Honor Division came under effective fire from some additional Daqin archers. Losses were heavy, and some arrows fell close to Quan, himself, but he judged it was not the critical sector and kept his focus on the central fight. Eventually the Hundun Spirit, himself, fell under the rending blows of the steam armored infantry. He was, as a spirit, naturally impossible to actually slay, but without the coherence of his armored to confine the spirit in place, he dissipated. He would eventually regroup and rejoin the Crusade, but in days or weeks, not tomorrow.

Quan sent in the Lightning Division horse archers, the Thunder Division lancers and the fearsome Hizume horse. The fighting was hard, and the Hizume, especially, suffered heavily, but in time the Daqin had enough and Quan saw their line waver and then break. A pursuit seemed unwise, however, as his own cavalry was weary and the Daqin's still fresh. He noted that they expertly formed up to cover the retreat, so at least one Daqin leader seemed to have kept his wits about him.

As he surveyed the wreckage on the field, he noted that the human losses were remarkably low. Most of the units that had been wrecked were made of constructs, not living beings. Even the defeated Daqin didn't leave an extarordianry number on the field and indeed, it seemed both victor and vanquished lost about equally. Quan was impressed with the valor and stolidness of the Daqin soldiers, but was less impressed with their eladersm who seemed unimaginative.


Epilogue

Marcus Agrippus glanced over at the bloodied -- and chastened -- Titus. No doubt the defeated general dreaded what Agrippa might report to Augustus. And indeed, the battle might have been handled better, Agrippa admitted to himself. But Titus would get another chance. He had been valorous enough, right in the thick of the fight. He'd been trampled by Han horsemen and had to be rescued by one of his beloved Invictus steam-powered infantry. Still, the Han were a worthy adversary, the toughest Rome had met in more than a century, and this first encounter would provide lessons on how to deal with them in the future. Their foot seeemed none too impressive, although they were not really tested but their skilled archers, valorous horse and fierce Dracos would require more than the standard Roman steadiness to defeat. No, it might be time to ask the Druids for help ... .


A solitaire run through for familiarization purposes I pitted Han and Roman armies of abourd 14,000 points against each other. This is larger than the recommended forces, but I wanted to explore as many units as possible.

You HAVE to control the air in desert warfare

~ Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success ~
Erwin Rommel

Read more: http://www.finestquotes.com/author_quotes-author-Erwin%20Rommel-page-0.htm#ixzz1HkoVe7Lu

Rommel said that based on his experiences while fighting over the very same ground that's being contested in the Libyan civil war and if anything, technological developments in the six decades since his campaign have made the statement even more true.

Air power is not a panacea. There are many conditions (mountains, jungles, urban areas, insurgencies) where its power is muted to some degree or the other. But in the open desert, far from dense civilian targets, the fact is that no army can survive, let alone prevail, against an opponent that controls the air.

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is just the latest to discover this truth of modern warfare.
The latest reports from the front indicate that the government forces are in full flight after being pounded by U.S.-led air strikes. The rebels appear to be chasing them in pickup trucks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110326/ap_on_re_af/af_libya

This isn't the slightest bit surprising. There was never any question that Western air support would be militarily decisive -- all the questions about the long-term wisdom of the intervention rest on political grounds. Color me still skeptical about how we get out of this, but to the extent that we're in, it's good to see success.

An Arcane Story Part II

Arcane Legions

Titus Petronius wasn't entirely happy.

It was true that his co-commanders had brought welcome reinforcements, but Titus would have been much happier with just the additional troops. He suspected strongly that Marcus Agrippa and Diviciacus of Gaul were meant to keep an eye on him for Augustus, not merely aid him in battle. Titus hadn't risen this far by sharing his achievements with others, and with battle imminent with the strange easterners, he wasn't going to tarnish his Triumph by giving too prominent a role to either rival.
So he had posted Agrippa on the flank to lead some cavalry, which seemed to suit him, and likewise the Druid off on the other flank with a hodgepodge of units for a guard. Between them the two spies commanded much less than half the army, however. No, Titus kept the real striking force, his VIIth Legion and, most importantly, his prize elite Invictus, under his personal command in the center. There he planned to win the victory with brute force.

The opposing array was interesting, enough. One couldn't help but stare at the two great Dracos that they had. While wingless, the enormous beasts were clearly the creatures of legend, brought back to life by the mists that had so changed the world. One was a bright blue, while the other was a shimmering gold in color, one on each flank.

Still, Titus was too experienced a Roman soldier to be distracted by flashy "special" weapons. What were the Dracos but a bigger Elephant, after all. Victory always came down in the end to the soldier in the ranks. And here the Easterners didn't look so special. Across from him was a large body of shield-less infantry, most of it the clay soldiers that reports had indicated were more fearsome-loo0king than dangerous. On the left the enemy's true striking forces was apparent, some archers and cavalry. These would bear watching, but Roman soldiers had dealt with their sort before and Titus expected they could do so again. With a little luck they might slay that troublesome Druid, though.

Titus noted that the ground had begun to glow in two spots. There were many theories about the Night of Mist, but Titus thought the answer was obvious -- the Gods of Old had determined to intervene in the affairs of man again. And as was often the case, they seemed to bless this battle by consecrating some patches of ground between the armies. Claiming the consecrating ground always heartened the possessors and demoralized the dispossessed. Titus was under know illusions, however. The Gods played no favorites, rewarding valor and success only. The Romans would find favor from the Gods through victory, not merely for being Roman, and if the strange easterners proved more worthy then they would celebrate the Triumph, not Titus.

Ah, movement. The affray begins, then.

An Arcane story -- part I

Arcane Legions


"What remarkable times," said Zhonghli Quan to himself, as he had said daily in the five years since the Night of the Mists changed the world.
The Han Empires' premier general, known to all as the Immortal Tactician, pondered the opposing array as the last of his own troops took up their battle positions. The Crusade had taken his army far from home, and deep in to the vast steppes that formed the contested ground between the three empires of the world. He hadn't been certain until the night before which opposing army he'd encounter first, but scouts had reported during the evening that they'd discovered the camp of the Daqin Empire.
The sight across the shallow, almost imperceptible, valley between the two forces revealed that it was the Daqin, with their enormous shields and sturdy infantry, that would be the first opponent. In their own tongue they were called "Romans," Zhonghli Quan had been told, named after their city. A city that had conquered an empire! Remarkable, especially considering the conquest had been accomplished without the aid of the mists or magical beasts.
But now they were facing another empire that had also conquered its portion of the world without the aid of the mists, and Zhonghli Quan expected victory, even if hard-won.
The array of the Daqin appeared rather conventional, to Quan's practiced eye. In the center was a large mass of the huge-shielded infantry that formed the heart of a Daqin host, interspersed with some archers, a few magically mechanical construct warriors and some units of the steam-powered magical heavy infantry that the mists had made possible.
Off to Quan's left the enemy's flank was guarded by a couple of bodies of human cavalry accompanied by some giant wolves. On the right the flank was guarded more unconventionally with a few more magical mechanical constructs and a group of steam soldiers mounted on some giant bears. A small bodyguard of infantry surrounded a man wearing a conspicuous white robe. Clearly not a fighting man, Quan surmised he was a magician of some sort.
It appeared the enemy plan was to pierce the Han center and overwhelm them in hand-to-hand combat. It could work, if Quan gave them time.
But time was not what Quan planned to give them. On his left he posted a fearsome-looking detachment that should give the Daqin pause -- a luck Dragon and the Souls of Chance with a Great One brute and some magical Qilin. Quan doubted that the Daqin had seen them before. Zhonghli Quan, himself, would contest the center of the battlefield with his bodyguard, the human Tiger Division and the double-strength Honor and Glory divisions of terra cotta construct troops. An imposing, yet fragile force, Quan expected this to be the Yin, or ordinary force.
Quan intended the victory to be won by his Yang, or special force, on the right. Led by the frightening Hundun Spirit, this force would use fire and speed to overwhelm and roll up the flank of the Daqin host. The speed came from a Dragon and the Hizume and Thunder divisions of cavalry. The fire would some from the Phoenix Division of archers and the Raven Division of crossbows. Combining speed and fire was the Lightning Division of horse archers.
Quan cast his eye over to the Hundun Spirit and saw that he was ready. A nod of Quan's head was all the signal needed for the battle to begin.
He nodded.

The perils of war coverage in the media

Rebel MiG-23 shot down over Benghazi on March 19

Trying to get an accurate sense of what's going on in a combat zone from the mass media is not a new problem, as a moment's perusal of newspapers from the U.S. Civil War or World War II reveals.

To a large extent this is a problem without a solution. The inherently limited viewpoints available from professional journalists and the random eyewitnesses that pop up are guaranteed to miss the critical parts. Even historians working long after the fact -- or even actual participants -- can't know the whole story. This isn't an excuse for simply dismissing news accounts of a military crisis whole, but merely a caution that the inherent limitations are kept in mind. One hopes that the U.S. government's intervention in Libya relies on more than what's appeared in news accounts -- but recent history isn't too comforting in that regard.

But it does make it very hard for an interested observer to know what's really going on. To the extent that the news media could do a better job of explaining what is knowable about the situation they are failing miserably. Overall the quality of the military analysis of this conflict, just like Iraq and Afghanistan has been awful -- much less informative than it was during the 1991 war for example. It really seems like the vast majority of news people have no clue about the basic military facts on the ground.

For example, I have yet to see any cogent discussion about the logistics of organizing and supplying effective military forces in the midst of a civil war, especially won fought across vast desert distances. Interestingly, the current civil war involves fighting over the same ground as the World War II desert war -- so there's precedent.

My guess is that Gadhafi's forces will find it impossible to sustain any kind of offensive military potential in the face of Allied air power's ability to interdict his supply lines. But conversely, its hard to see how the rebel forces could organize and supply a counteroffensive that could dislodge the dictator in a time frame that's measured in anything less than months or even years. But this is just a guess. It would be nice to hear more details about what the reporters on the ground are seeing in order to judge.

70 years later a new battle of Benghazi

It's more than a little ironic that 70 years after Rommel's forces started moving against the British forces not far from Benghazi there's a new deset campaign shaping up on roughly the same battlefield.

While I think the politics behind this intervention are very problematical (yet another war?), militarily the situation is considerably simpler than either Iraq or Afghanistan in an immediate sense. Command of the air is vital in any land campaign, but never more so than in the desert. I don't think there's any question that Western aircraft can make it essentially impossible for Gadhafi's forces to either fly warplanes or mass heavy firepower like tanks and artillery anywhere near Benghazi. I'd expect the No-fly zone and associated "no-drive" zone to have an immediate and dramatic impact on Gadhafi's forces. While it's likley he could still try to take Benghazi with lighter forces (technicals and the like) it's also likely that these wouldn't be enough to root out the rebels who are similarly armed.

What's missing, of course, is a strategic context for all this and what's desired for an end state. It seems that the rebellion never mustered enough support from the key Gadhafi strongholds around Tripoli and I therefore doubt they can win control of the whole country anytime soon, if ever. History cautions us that these sorts of things can dra out for a very long time indeed.

Tiger Trouble -- 100-point Axis & Allies miniatures session

Played a quick game of Axis & Allies Miniatures with a budding AAM collector/player at the local game shop.

"Bud" doesn't have a large collection, yet, so I thought it best to keep the scenario small and we played without any year restrictions. It was a standard 100-point German (me) vs. British (him). I'd given him a spare Spitfire Ace plane after our last game and he wanted to use that.

I therefore knew he'd have a plane so I decided to field the Flak 88 with gun shield, figuring it could do double duty for AA and AT work. The bulk of my points were spent on a Tiger I, and I filled out my army with two Mauser 98kar regular infantry, one veteran paratrooper and a "Grizzled Veteran" German hero.

As expected, the Brits had the Spitfre Ace, an Inspired Lieutenant, two Vickers MG teams, a 6-pounder ATG and the following armor: One Cromwell, a Crusader and a Stuart.

The battle started off badly as the Tiger' shooting was poor. It could hardly fail to damage the light UK armor, of course, but there were no quick kills. Meanwhile the Spitfire Ace made short work of the 88 and the machine gunners took care of my infantry. The German Hero was also gunned down by the Spit, while he only disrupted the plane in return. By Turn 4 it was the Tiger alone, facing almost the entire British force. The Inspired LT was down, but that was it, although two of the three tanks were damaged.

But British Bud found out how frustrating dealing with a Tiger I is. The paratrooper arrived and shot down the Spit when it attacked, and then he took out a Vickers team before going down himself. Meanwhile the light British guns could make no impression on the Tiger, even at point-blank range, and the Tiger dispatched the Stuart and the Crusader in turn. Time was running out, however. The surviving Vickers was sitting on the objective, so the Tiger ignored the damaged Cromwell yapping at its heels and made for the objective hex. Luckily it made the movement roll to enter the wooded objective, disrupting the Vickers with its Overrun special ability and then killing it in the Assault phase.

Finally the Tiger turned on its tormenter and KO'd the Cromwell for the win. The sole surviving British piece was the ATG. It was a near-run thing, however, because it would only have taken one lucky combo of shots to change things around. The Tiger I is a tough egg, but my basket only had that single egg in it. The Flak 88 was a disappointment. Even though it got a defensive fire attack on the Spitfire Ace, which incautiously bored in for a close-range shot, it's roll wasn't even close. I doubt I'll take one of those again in a small battle.

It took about 75 minutes to play, including army construction time.

Oh wow! Drool, drool. OGRE 6th Edition!

So we're finally going to get it!

Check out the Open Letter to distributers.

Ivan's War and Fury of the Bear

This week I had several reminders of that unsung "Proletariat of Comrades" known as the Red Army. A colleague at work lent me a copy of a book called Ivan's War about the experience of Soviet soldiers in the Great Patrotic War and at the same time my copy of the latest Tide of Iron expansion -- Fury of the Bear arrived.

Both were thought provoking. To a large extent, of course, it's a common observation that no one who have not been in combat can understand it. The true experience of the combat veteran is probably beyond the ken of mere words to ever express. But even among the inadequate words written about World War II combat the experiences of the Soviet soldier are especailly egnimatic. Nearly all we know comes from their opponents and the official Soviet line -- neither of which is reliable. So Ivan's War, which is based mostly on interviews with survivors and wartime letters and documents, fills a much-needed niche.

It's a fascinating read, filled with compelling stories and unimaginable tragedy. Yet, in the end, it's an unfulfilling work in many ways. As the author admits herself, so much time has passed, too many didn't survive and the official Soviet line is a convenient narrative for too many, for us to be certain we've gotten close to the truth. It seems unlikely they'll ever be a "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers" for the Soviet side of the story, although "Enemy at the Gates" isn't bad.

As primarily a social and oral history Ivan's War is light on the nitty gritty organizational and tactical factors that affected the Soviet performance on the battlefield. It contains enough "big picture" to provide context for the overall narrative but few details. Although the book documents the appalling casualty differential between the Soviets and the Germans, it doesn't really explain how it came about. One wishes she had asked the old soldiers more about exactly how much training they received before they saw combat, for example, or how tactical "lessons learned" reached them.

One can glean from the book however, that many Soviet soldiers, especially the drafts in late 1941 and 1942 and the recruits swept up during the liberation of former Soviet territory probably got hardly any formal training at all. So it's hardly surprising that they had such diffculty matching the Germans (who, in contrast, were religious about maintaining the quality of training despite every difficulty).

Which make it interesting to see that on a squad-stand by squad-stand basis, the Soviet troops in Fury of the Bear are equal to the Germans. An interesting call and one I'm hoping to see the implcations of shortly.