What the last rules set you played in 2021

Started by Steve J, 06 January 2021, 02:15:30 PM

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Steve J

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - BKCII with BKCIV add-ons
2) What armies were confronted? - AVBCW BUF vs 5th People's Flying Column
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, but somewhat ring rusty
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, I've been playing them since they were published.
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - For a simple and quick game, with small forces, it provided a nice start to the New Year.
7) What could have been improved? - Both sides had their fair share of good and bad die rolls, but the BUF suffered more and this probably cost them the game.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

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Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

Glorfindel

I like the idea but we might have to revisit the question in a month or two !



Phil

Leman

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Square Bashing -Walter Schnaffs variant
2) What armies were confronted? - Imperial French v Prussian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, I've been playing them since they were published.
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - For a simple and quick game, with small forces, it provided a nice start to the New Year.
7) What could have been improved? - The French had a terrible start losing over half their units to the reserve and then failing to get them back on quickly enough to prevent outflanking and failing to hold on to a single objective.

This was a great way back in for me as the rules, once mastered, are very easy  to remember. Great to see the Pendraken FPs in action again.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

paulr

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - General Quarters I/II
2) What armies navies were confronted? - Japanese v Allied
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, just checked and it looks like I've been playing them for about 8 years :o Not long really as they were published in 1975/77 :o :o
5) How many players were in the game? - Three
6) What went well? - The scenario was surprisingly playable with opportunities for both sides
7) What could have been improved? - Approximately 80 torpedoes launched, one or more hits would have seemed reasonable ~X(

A good way to start the wargaming year :) :) :)

As part of my plan to make 'better' use of the forces I have and inspired by some of the narrative campaigns I've seen on the forum I'm developing a mini-campaign based on the historic actions of the New Georgia campaign (July-August 1943 in the central Solomon Islands).

This was a refight of the battle of Kolombangara (12-13 July 1943) which pitted a Japanese light cruiser and five destroyers against two large American and one Australian light cruisers and ten American destroyers

The scenario was balanced somewhat by the Japanese being skilled night fighters while the hastily thrown together Allied force was Green

The Japanese let the American destroyers get too close so that even their 5" guns could penetrate the light cruisers armour and together they sank the Jintsu. The five Japanese destroyers having launched their torpedoes made smoke and withdrew towards an approaching rain squall, preparing to reload their torpedoes.

The two leading American destroyers had broken off while the remaining three of the lead destroyer division closed on the Jintsu. The Allied light cruisers continued to try and close the range while providing some limited gun fire support. The second American destroyer division was still trying to close, not yet having the chance to engage.

At this point the Allies decided that they had blocked this Tokyo express and didn't press their pursuit into the rain squall



The 3 or 4 American destroyers had launched all their torpedoes at the Jinstu (Green forces must concentrate on the closest ship) and misjudged her course expecting her rudder damage to limit her maneuverability more than it did. Their embarrassment at missing completely  :-[ was reduced by their effective gun fire :)

All six Japanese ships managed to correctly judge the courses of four destroyers and the leading American light cruiser :)
Unfortunately my dice rolling was appalling, all ships rolled 5 or 6 on a D6 when low is good :-[ ~X(

If I had got the expected number of hits I would probably have sunk 2-3 destroyers and crippled 1-2 and also sunk the lead American light cruiser giving the Japanese a significant win rather than a loss

Overall a very playable scenario despite its one sided appearance. I need to finish the remaining scenarios and work up the links between the games :!!
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Steve J

As Will says, that is a nice looking naval game 8).

Steve J

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Warlord Games Pike & Shotte
2) What armies were confronted? - Blue vs Red but based upon the League of Augsburg stats by Barry Hilton on the rulebook.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Yes.
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - For a trial game to get a hang on the rules, it worked perfectly well. As the mechanics a broadly the same as BPII, the game flowed nicely and I mainly used the excellent QRS sheet.
7) What could have been improved? - Not a lot really, as I kept everything fairly vanilla so I could focus on the core rules and the game itself. Details to be added as I go along.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

HC, P&S and BP (both editions) are very similar, but with subtle differences. Means you need to read very carefully to play the right mechanism.
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Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

Steve J


Chris Pringle

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Bloody Big BATTLES! (BBB).
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
2) What armies were confronted? - Hungarians and Viennese revolutionaries vs imperial Austrians and their Croat vassals - Battle of Schwechat (1848).
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Fits like a glove.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Nope - staple diet for about a decade now.
5) How many players were in the game? - Four, plus two observers, all remotely
6) What went well? - The remote format worked even with 4 players. The scenario generated an exciting game. White battlefield helped players see what was going on.
7) What could have been improved? I should probably invest in a good webcam that I can move around the battlefield easily.

This was battle #2 in this year's project to refight the whole of the Hungarian War of Independence as a sequential campaign of the 15 or 16 biggest battles.
AAR here:
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2021/01/ah-vienna-schwechat-1848.html


FierceKitty

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? -Ten More Sons!
2) What armies were confronted? - Chinese and Burmese
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, no worries
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, I've been playing them since they were published.
5) How many players were in the game? - Two
6) What went well? - Flank march right where it was needed; Burmese elephants caught the Mongol allies too. Most Chinese shooting was far below average.
7) What could have been improved? - Fukienese tribemen overwhelmed my Siamese elephants, and a small party of Korean cavalry menaced my camp enough to ensure our morale broke in the same round as the Ming's.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

Last Hussar

15 January 2021, 09:11:20 PM #12 Last Edit: 15 January 2021, 09:40:12 PM by Last Hussar
1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Blood Sweat and Tears
2) What armies were confronted? - Wehrmacht vs British (fahsounds of 'em)(2 Platoons)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - I wrote it! But it was a play test with Sunjester to check the mechanisms
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - 4th game in this version (2 solo to test, the today 1 teaching game then 2 platoons attacking a German platoon)
5) How many players were in the game? - Me and Sunjester (Brits)
6) What went well? - It seems to work! It's got a number of unusual concepts. Firing is resolved only when the target activates, movement is by area, which are variable sized depending on difficulty. Ranges are dependent on the areas rather than cm or inches. As such there were a number of bugs to be sorted out about what counted as a valid move, or range band.
Some concepts were refined and/or improved, such as what happens if the defender loses close assault, and I need to rewrite some lines just to clarify what is meant.

A good choice I made was not to use tiddlywinks to track fire points, instead the tiny 7mm dice I use for Blucher Elan - I had 1 base that had 26 Fire Points placed on it! You've heard of bucket full of dice games? This is a bathtub full - when that base activated I had to roll 26 dice for fire effect!

BUT what went particularly well was that it did what it was supposed to do. It emphasises the importance of 'Leaders' (Lts and Sgts) being close to their men, especially as the only way you can close assault is ordered to do by a Leader. And close assaults are important, because its quite hard to get rid of enemy bases off the table by just shooting- you are more likely to pin or supress them.  To get them out of where they are you need to get 'up close and personal'.

7) What could have been improved? 25% How concepts are explained sometimes - hence the 'playtest' tag. But Mostly the fact that Sunjester's dice aren't lucky, they are bloody sentient (and apparently mine are in the wrong way)!

When you are calculating the fire points you want high rolls. When you apply the effect of those firepoints to your troops you want low (You roll when to calculate the amount placed when you shoot, but when they are eventually resolved the target player rolls).

So when SJ is rolling to fire - High. When he rolls to resolve the hits I have placed, low.
Me the opposite. 11 d6, 6 to hit. 6 HITS.
His dice are lucky THEY RUDDY KNOW.


Pics
Ground Scale is 1:200 - so fits 6 & 10mm - WYSIWYG. 1 base is 2-3 men

(My eldest still has my figures so counters are subbing)

Initial Layout The white bits are German sections - 1 MG with 1 rifle
20210115_123701 by Last Hussar, on Flickr

British attack from the left
20210115_145340 by Last Hussar, on Flickr
The partial bit of hedge top left denotes an area border- although that is one big pasture, for movement it counts as 2 areas.

Denoument (from other end of table)
20210115_170822 by Last Hussar, on Flickr

Unit in the middle wood with the green dots (dice) and the one near the top with the numbers on (Kill markers) are German, as is the one on the left edge. Right Middle number is the ONLY kill on the British (1 base = 3 kills). Kills on Germans were 11. This is more representative of the sheer weight of fire Sj was able to bring to bear (like I said, 26 FPs at one point, that represents 2 to 3 sections worth)



I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry

paulr

Good to hear they seem to work, there should to be some interesting concepts :-bd
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

sunjester

There were great fun to play, thanks for that LH.

I liked the way that the rules rewarded attempting to use real British small unit tactics (at least "real" as far as their training manuals went). Pin to the front with firepower, drop a bit of smoke to mask the German mgs, then close assault, ideally from the flank - worked like a dream!  ;D