Retro gaming with the lads, Part 2

Turn 6

Fionn captured Salt Lake City and pushed me out of the Western Region entirely, but not permanently. I saw a certain weakness here, in his plan, but he did not notice it until after the game, when I pointed it out to him.

 Aidan finally captured Houston (and great was the rejoicing) and also rolled into Dallas. I just was running out of forces here, faster than I could replace them. He tried to grab Denver, but I was able to take out his heavy units and his light units failed to score hits. However, he moved into position so that he could hit me from two regions (there is a unit max of 5 per region, so multi-region attacks are important to victory).

 Liam took New Orleans without a shot being fired. He made a tremendous effort at D.C., but three light units failed to score a hit. Yet, I was very weak on the Eastern Seaboard, if D.C. fell without my receiving reinforcements here, or without a large shift of my troops, everything north of D.C. would be lost.

I was able to retake Phoenix, once again, due to reinforcements in the Rockies. I then shifted much of my defenders in the eastern Midwest to defend Philadelphia northwards. Luckily, I had gotten some tanks in Detroit, else I would have had no troops other than the 1 infantry in D.C. and a couple of air units. It was THIS close for me to take a loss at this point.

Turn 7

 Now that the Alliance were out of reinforcements (8 units a turn for turns 2 through 6), I just had to hang on and hope I did not lose many more cities...at least ones I could not retake by the end of my turn. Fionn moved up his forces in the West and began shifting reserves towards Phoenix, in order to help retake it. He did not move enough troops southerly, as it turned out.

 Aidan captured Denver, and was very excited about it. His next target was St. Louis and was rather put out by my having retaken Phoenix from him.

 Liam retakes D.C. and pushes my troops as far as he can. Yet, he left the bulk of his reserve infantry on the coast, which is what cost him the game on this end of the map.

Making a maximum effort, combined with well received reinforcements, I manage to retake Denver and San Diego, much to the chagrin of Fionn and Aidan. At this point, if I remember correctly, they had 17 cities captured from me.

Turn 8

 Fionn retakes San Diego, but no longer has the strength on his front to seriously contest me east of the Rockies. He had lots of troops in his rear areas, but was unable to bring it to bear against me, especially as I had more partisans and reinforcements pop up in the Rockies and West.

 Aidan had a good turn and took St. Louis, Denver, and Phoenix this turn. He really turned up the pressure against me, regardless of my units in the SW Rockies, if I couldn't kick him out of the heartland, I was done for.

 Liam retook Memphis, which I had gotten away from him the turn before, but luckily for me, he still had all those infantry in the mountains of the SouthEast and coast. I was barely holding on here and hoped for lots of laser hits, but I got less than I should have; the ones that did hit took out bombers and helos.

I ended up retaking Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Memphis, due to lucky placement of reinforcements. The lads wanted to call it at this point, but I kept them at the table, to finish out the last turn.

Turn 9

 

 Fionn attempted to retake Los Angeles, but really did not have the troops to do it and I held onto the city. He has more forces out of frame at the bottom right, but they were not in a position to force the situation to any degree.

Aidan captures New Oreleans as some partisans had shown themselves after the city was abandoned by Liam the previous turn. But, at this point, Aidan's forces were quite weakened, especially after losing so many at Houston. Still, he had done very well in spite of the early setback.

 Liam recaptures Memphis from me yet again, but now he leaves a strong force in it, preventing me from having an easy battle for it. Otherwise, Liam concentrated his forces where they would do the most good for him.

Combined with multiple laser hits and good reinforcements, my forces were able to recapture San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Antonio, and Denver, sealing the game for me as a US win. The lads were mighty disappointed, but in all honesty, they had done as well, if not better, than any of my previous opponents. For the record, I have not lost this game as the US player.

After thinking on this game, I feel the basic structure of the rules would work well as a campaign setting. One could easily transfer the action to a European or African setting, using a custom map, of course.

This game is long out of print and probably will never be printed again, as the PC police (the busybody persons with long noses) would frown on the "stereotyping" of the "enemy" forces involved. Lucky for me, I have two copies of the game, including two maps, full sets of units, and the reinforcement cards and player aid cards.

Retro gaming with the lads, Part 1

Years ago, I collected all of the special series of wargames by Milton Bradley, which included the original version of Axis and Allies (a game I loaned to my friends and haven't seen in over 25 years). Now that my sons are older, my old game collection is getting some use once again. Last weekend, we watched Red Dawn and then played Fortress America.

 I played the side of the victimized USA. Fionn took on the Western Association, Aidan became temporarily hispanic, and Liam suddenly looked a bit more Slavic than I had previously noticed.

Turn 1

 Fionn went for as many cities as he could take and, when aided by my mis-remembering the rules, he took Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles on his first turn. I had forgotten that only one round of combat is fought per battle per turn and during this first turn, we actually fought to a clear victory for one side. Thus, this first turn went very badly for me.

 Aidan came on strong in the south, going heavy on his left, so that he could link up with Fionn's forces and squeeze me out of the region. He took Phoenix and San Antonio, leaving Houston for the next turn...a tragic mistake as it turned out.

 At first, Liam was not really into playing the game at all. So, his heart was not into really thinking through his strategy. As the game went on, he got more involved. He captured Washington D.C., Tampa, and Miami and suffered minor losses.

The U.S. player must give ground in the West, contest the South, and really fight hard in the East. This is because of the density of major cities in the Eastern Region and that the victory conditions state that the US loses if the Alliance controls 18 cities at the end of any US turn. I placed my first laser tower in Milwaukee and fired it at D.C., but missed the bomber there. I received some partisan reinforcements in the South, but my other reinforcement card was a bust.

Turn 2

 Fionn pushed in and took San Diego and Seattle. There wasn't much I could do to stop him, really. I had retreated my troops from Seattle on my turn, so I was able to slowly give ground and prevent a mad dash for the heartland.

 Aidan began by attemptign to take Houston and was stopped cold. Houston proved to become a graveyard for many of the Latin American troops.

 Liam sat on his hands this turn, but reinforced his lines. Granted, there were not many easy victories for him here, so he chose to gain strength before attempting a breakout.

Both of my laser towers missed (need a 5+ on a D10), which was disappointing, but the highlight was my regaining Washington D.C., which was helped by Liam's poor die rolling. Otherwise, my forces were playing for time in the West and South.

Turn 3

 Fionn advanced his troops inland, but wanting to cover his rear areas, he did not advance with the bulk of his troops.

 Aidan again failed to take Houston, even though I did not have many troops there. I had one reinforcement card each of my past two turns which gave me troops in this critical region. Elsewhere in the South, I had to retreat.

 Liam attempted to retake D.C., and failed badly. With each city that the US player recaptures, he receives an additional reinforcement card, so my early recaptures saved me in this game.

One of my extra reinforcement cards was a Major Airlift and this allowed me to transfer all of my troops from one city to another city, even if already owned by the enemy. I moved my troops from threatened Atlanta to San Diego, which I recaptured. My lasers took out two bombers, finally.  Reinforcements in the West allowed me to recapture Portland and Phoenix.

Turn 4

 Fionn immediately retook Portland and San Diego and he because even more cautious after seeing how troops could pop up behind his lines.

 Aidan still failed to take Houston, but it was close and I did lose defenders. He retook Phoenix as well.

 Liam finally was getting into the game and pushed into Atlanta as I had left it vacant. He attempted to take D.C. again, but rolled really badly after I was able to take out three of his better units.

 Weather cleared for my lasers this turn (needing 3+ on a D10) and they performed very well, taking out three bombers and a helicopter. In Seattle, some guerillas were able to blow up a couple of enemy tanks.

Turn 5

This turn was critical for Fionn. He failed to capture Salt Lake City, because he rolled poorly, not because my defenders did any good. And his other battles in the mountains did not attrit my forces enough, especially since I had received some reinforcements here the turn previous.

 Aidan still failed to take Houston, my last defender narrowly escaping death. He linked up with Fionn's troops in preparation for an attack on Denver.

 Now that Liam was focused on the game, he did a lot better, exploiting my lack of troops near the Gulf Coast. He easily captured Memphis and advanced on New Orleans, which was undefended as I had pulled those units to Houston. He attempted to retake D.C. yet again, but my defenders were able to hunker down and ride out the wave of bombers.

My lasers malfunctioned and only two got hits, taking out more bombers. Otherwise, my reinforcements were slim because I did not have the units available. A point to make here is that there are only 60 units a piece for each player, all forces being exactly equal in unit strength and types. In order for the US player to receive any non-partisan reinforcements at all, he must have already lost those units in combat. So, during the first few turns, the US player has to decide weather to sacrifice high value units in risky, but perhaps profitable, combats, or play it safe...which means reinforcements may well be spotty.

To be continued...

Little General's Club: August Game

Well, this month's club game turned out to be chariot racing, put on by none other than Greg...the collector and purveyor of eclectic wargames. He did a great job, especially with all five of my sons and my nephew attending...he has more patience than I, I guess.

Two races were run, with the second being far more violent than the first...

 Man down...man down. This is before the chariots made the first turn. However, the driver was able to get up and catch his chariot once again.

 The first turn, the charior behind the center terrain didn't get much further...it smacked into the wall and the driver ended up afoot.

 Another unhappy chariot driver, again smacked into the wall and the chariot was destroyed.

The leaders nearing the end of the first lap.

Here, the winning driver runs across the finish line while his chariot races away from him.

2nd race

 After the first couple of turns, everything went downhill quickly, with drivers pulling out the whips and shortswords.

 The first two chariots have made the first turn on the first lap, and we have one driver dead due to being run over, by Brent, and a second dead from being stabbed by another driver (again Brent's centurion).

And yet another driver, my son Fionn's, is done to death by the bloody gladius of Brent's centurion, both drivers having been thrown from their chariots and fighting over the closest one. The other drivers were glad to be in front of the deadly action.

 Dead drivers and driverless chariots being pulled off the sand...

 The death dealing centurion is in the black chariot being drawn by black horses...and no, he easily avoids the busted chariot two hexes in front of him.

 The leader has just finished the first lap.

 Three chariots, including Brent's, all facing in different directions following a series of failed control checks....and the figure on foot, in front of Brent, is my son, Michael's, driver, but he was able to jump out of the way and get back onto his chariot.

 Two turns later, the field of competitors, reduced from 8 to 3, starts to break open, with a clear leader having the advantage.

We nearly called the game here, as my sons and I had to leave (took them to see the new and last Harry Potter movie). Yet, the game continued, with a substitute player taking over Michael's chariot. I have no idea how the race ended, but I expect it was not all touchy-feely goodness.

I spent the bulk of the time talking with club members about next month's game, a WSS game that I am putting on, and about our upcoming convention that we are hosting in November, so I did not play at all this weekend.

My sons and nephew had a great time, though, with much laughter, even by those who were knocked out early on (dad had conducted a pre-game sportsmanship tutorial and was proud his lads listened and learned).

Next month, I am putting on a game in preparation for my events at the November con. I am planning to run a scenario based on a portion of the action at Blenheim using Beneath the Lily Banners, using 28mm figures.