Wednesday 29 March 2017

Blood and Plunder: Learning Game 2, Spanish raid with a Brigantine, structures and artillery

After our first game went fairly well due to the ease and straightforward nature of the land game and the mechanic interactions, Chris and I decided to up the action and include more cannons, structures and the Brigantine Chris has done a good job of painting.                                                                                      
We played on a 6 x4 board, using Chris Sea FAT mat and a 3x3  for land, to represent the Buccaneer village of "Frenchwood" (after the social club where the Ribble Warriors meet). My Guarda costa force were looking to exact revenge on the English following their defeat last outing.

The despicable English force consisted of the following:

Experienced Captain, 2 x 8 Freebooters, 2 x 5 Sea dogs with a pair of light cannon, 4 Forlorn Hope

The heroic Guarda Costa consisted of an experienced Captain, 2 x 6 Marineros, 4 Lanceros and 9 Milicianos, all sailing towards glory on a  Brigantine with 8 Light cannon. ( I also had to boats in case I needed them)

Spanish deployment below


Plenty of room on board: The Milicianos occupied the fore deck, the lanceros and Marineros with captain amidships, with the second unit of marineros aft


Frenchwood village: GW Laketown provided the 3 grey houses and all the jetties.
   

The Seadogs set up looking to use their light cannons to defend the village. (ignore the rider, he was just there to look good)


The two units of Freebooters set up behind the buildings, and the forlorn hope did likewise, the English Captain joining the left side Freebooters


"READY TO GO ASHORE, CAP'N!!!"


TURN 1

With the wind in our sails, the Spanish at full speed headed towards the village, straight into the cannon fire of the seadogs unit on the left. Chris was less thrilled than I to discover how cannons worked v structures/ships at 20"-24", he only needed 5+ to hit. Then adding in the Brigantine fortitude, 9+. Such a simple and well balanced method, as the light cannons bounced off the hull at long range. Obviously, the closer you are with cannons (and ships with cannons firing at other ships) the more effective they are.


The Freebooters and Captain advanced to assist with the reloading of the guns in the distance, only the Seadogs had hit the deck after firing expecting return fire. They therefore couldn't reload


The Spanish Marinero's in the centre prepped the guns and took aim at the Freebooters...


As a dedicated action, the  bonus allowed both cannons to hit home, with two additional dice also hitting, killing 4 of the English defenders.


However, Chris's stiff upper lip kicked in and he passed all 5 resolve tests. The Spanish ship closed in on the shore line and reduced sail movement from 4" to 3"... Just to note, a ship moves three times during a turn (As I had 4 activating units, the ship would move on 1st activation again, on either my 2nd or 3rd,  and again on my last)

TURN 2


The Marineros on the aft deck bide their time and hold fire (as the Lanceros activated instead) as the Freebooters have advanced behind the shacks and the seadogs have gone prone...


The Sea dogs get back up and labour to reload...


The Forlorn Hope advance to support the other sea dog unit, with the Spanish passing on an activation (as they have fewer units, they are allowed to skip an activation) so the sea dogs second unit fire one of their cannons, again failing to damage the Spaniards lovely ship...


The aft deck Marineros target the sea dogs trying to reload, taking 3 casualties, and 3 fatigue, becoming shaken and going prone, again...


Turn 3 & 4

It's an ill wind... Pulling two jokers caused two "Event rolls"  The the wind to change, frustrating my landings as I couldn't sail into the wind and also the sun came out, making any move more than 4" take a fatigue point...


Having had fate stymie my plan, I was glad I had the two boats, and had already slowed to 3" move...

I spent the whole of the turn panicking and trying to slow the ship, with my so called sailors taking a dedicated action and blowing fortune points... Needing 3's, I twice rolled 1's.


Chris found this highly amusing, pointing out the scenario rules that I need to have a unit within 4" of the treasure marker or take a strike point. I called "No Quarter" and tried to stop the bloody ship! These two turns allowed the English to take their time and prepare for my landings, with the Sea Dogs damaging the riggings, which also have fortitude and aren't easy to hit.  Chris said he was trying to help me stop, but I just figured his gun crew were bored waiting and laughing at my dice... I eventually dropped anchor, and my Lanceros managed to pull up a boat, my last activation in turn 4...


I figured the Captain and his sea dogs should also go ashore...


Plenty of room...


But I was going to hit the beaches in the face of this little lot...


The Milicianos were next up, while the aft Marineros moved amidships to man the cannons there


TURN 5

The Lanceros hit the beach first, looking to get stuck into the nearest sea dogs


Unsurprisingly, the 4 Forlorn Hope got to come and play with 3 Buccaneer guns and a grenade, killing 75% of th Lanceros and the two fatigue they took caused the lone man to rout



The Captain and his Marinero's loosed their pistol shots at the Forlorn Hope. Another fortune point gone not a single hit...


A nice view of Chris's rigging... Far better than watching the iminent bloodbath on the beach!


 So good I took it twice...


The Milicianos try a different route ashore, ducking in the low profile boat as the Seadogs fire cannon overhead...


The freebooters ran up and fired, taking a fatigue point but also dropping two Marineros...

Also seems the English casualties from earlier had been disposed off at sea..

As they were close too, my Marineros on ship dropped 4 Freebooters with cannon fire. But the English resolve was pretty impressive, shrugging all potential fatigue off...


Turn 6

With my card winning first activation, who should I go for?


The 4 freebooters seemed least worse, but their side arms defensive fire reduced me to tears (or a man and a captain)


Again, the Freebooters weren't fussed and my beach assault was pretty dismal...Forlorn Hope charged in and put paid to my Captain and his buddy!!!


The Milicianos  had doddled onto the jetty, the small sailboat screening the carnage inflicted on their comrades...


Turn 7

They advanced and missed all their shots against the Forlorn hope...


The Freebooters dropped two, the Forlorn Hope 4 (with a grenade). A grenade works verynicely. 1 in 4 Forlorn Hope gets them. The Grenade armed models roll a D10.On a roll of 1 or 2 it blows up and hits the Forlorn Hope. A grenade rolls 3 D10 dice, needing 7+ to hit with no save.


With 4 fatigue, the Milicianos two remaining men were auto broken as they had twice as many fatigue points a men...


Aftermath: Well, the first few turns worked well as we figured out that cannon balls bounce off structures at long range and bounce through infantry in the open... The Jokers were great, triggering events that they changed the game in some respects in that I had to rethink my plans. Events are NOT common, and generally aren't that bad. e.g unruly means the lads ignore the captain (Captain lose a command point for that turn). So don't be put off by it. My inability to roll above 3 when I had to reduce sail was just bad dice, as was the damp sea air knackering my powder as I couldn't hit a barn door with small arms...

All in, it was a good game, we learned how ships moved, how structures/ships take damage and also the effectiveness of cannon fire at close range...

All the mechanics make Blood and Plunder a great well balanced game two games in... Next up, ship to ship!!!

Saturday 25 March 2017

Merseyside Anzio Campaign: Game 2 German Heer attacking Yugoslav Partisans in Point Defence



Game Two seemed like a tricky proposition, as I've only faced Partisans twice before and both times my elite Fallschirmjagers got decimated. Added to the fact the that the central objective (Carrocetto Station) of the three they'd be defending was worth 3 VPs opposed to the other 1Vp for the two flanks, meant I'd have to capture it.



I opted for a Geman Regulare Heer force comprising of the following:

1st Lt plus 1, 3 x 9 Heer with SMG and LMG, 1 x 9 Veteran SS fanatic cavalry (now they aren't as filthy as V1), flamethrower team, sniper team, Goliath AT team, Heavy Howitzer, BMW 75, heavy field car and  Sdfkz 7 artillery tractor. With everything due on in first wave, I opted to outflank with my SS horsemen.


My opponent Luke went for a dual platoon list, comprising of the following: 2 x veteran Lt's, 2 x Allied Forward Air Observers, 2 x Veteran Snipers, 2 x MMG's, 1 x 10 Veteran partisans with 1 SMG and LMG, 1 x 10 regular partisans with 4 SMGs and LMG, 1 x 10 regular partisans with 10 SMGs (outflanking) and a 5 man partisan group with an SMG and LMG.

On my right, the hill had an objective held by 10 reg partisans with an SMG and LMG and an air observer. It would also have a booby trap in front of it.


The Station objective had an MMG on each floor, 5 partisans to the left of it behind the embankment, and air observer behind to the right and 2nd Lt behind to the left. A booby trap


The third objective was on my left flank with a 2nd Lt adjacent, veteran partisans on upper floor of nearby house and the pair of snipers upstairs in the two houses forward on my left. Luke opted to put many units on ambush, but not his snipers or Air observers... My sniper went on my extreme right where I would be out of range on Luke snipers but had two air observer targets.

With the set up complete, I rolled for the Preparatory Bombardment, which came in (I often roll a 1 for that). The end result was quite horrific for Luke, with eight units having two pins, one on one pin, and the officer and air observer behind the Station dying. The only partisans unscathed were the outflanking force in the hills, being hunted by the SS cavalry...


TURN 1 With many Partisan units ambushing but out of range or sight and heavily , I had the pick of the dice. The Cavalry went down, then I brought on the filed car advancing up the road on my left with the Goliath team and flammenwerfer in it. The flamethrower team then advanced out and liberally doused the top floor immolating the sniper team there...


I opted to move the Goliath team out a bit but not launch it yet, my three Heer squad came up left, centre and on the right, while the heavy gun and tractor took the small hill on my right corner. The Sniper put a pinon the surviving air observer, who shrugged of the effects of bombardment and sniper pin off to call in a strike against my right flank Heer unit (as more by luck than design, the building ruins on the right obscured the artillery from the observers vision... While some Partisan units rallied, most remained on ambush despite their pins.


TURN 2
                         The air strike came in and the German target hit the deck. Nice that in V2, there is a slight tweak in that every unit within 6" of the plane marker (up to18" from target unit) and D6" of the target unit take D3-1 pins... Hadn't noticed that before. Sadly for Luke, the artillery escaped with no pins, and the target Heer unit only lost 3 men to the strafing fighter..



My first activation was the Goliath team, who lost a man to the veterans in the targeted house...


However, it lost a track crossing the railway...


The blue discs represent the Partisan Booby traps/ If you haven't faced them before, any enemy unit that move within 6" requires a dice roll. On a 1-3, the booby trap is a dud. 4-5, it doesn't activate yet, and on a 6 the unit that activated it takes  heavy howitzer hit.. In other words, they can be very nasty, as my Fallschirmjager remember!

My two Heer squads on left and centre left were supported by the flamethrower, 1st Lt and Goliath with the field car. On my right, the heavy howitzer and tractor are covered by the sniper in the ruins, a Heer squad and the BMW75. With so much open ground in front of the station, I had opted to try and pincer the partisans...



As below, the partisans had a good mutually supporting centre...


However, they still had pins from the prelim bombardment which hampered any return fire towards my troops.


The Heavy howitzer missed the partisan unit on the hill, but the BMW 75 and sniper added pins...


TURN 3     
                       The first activation say the heavy artillery switch targets to the MMG team in the Station, and scoring 15 hits  levelled the building, razing it to ruins and taking out both MMG team...  Luke was down to 50% of his dice, and understandably gutted, but he persevered, killing one member of the flamethrower team with the veterans on my left who had ran into the building the previous turn.


I advanced the field a car and goliath team towards the last sniper, the Goliath team ironically setting off the mine and dying, while the 4" template clipped the filed car but only rolled a one on the damage chart...


The flammenwerfer operator who had held firm previously promptly fubarred, fortunately running away... Or unfortunately, as the partisan sniper took him out...


On the right, the sniper killed a partisan and BMW75 advanced, fortunately the booby trap there proving to be a dud and took 4 of the communists down.



The Partisans shrugged of the pins and advanced, but didn't damage the BMW 75


The 5 man partisan squad advanced into the ruins to maintain the objective and bring fire to bear on their left... Sadly for Luke, his outflankers failed to show up despite them ignoring -ve modifiers as he rolled 11.


Even worse, tired of chasing shadows in the hills, the SS galloped to the sounds of the fighting, running on ready to overwhelm the right flank...


TURN 4

With the first activation coming up in my favour, the SS charged in from under 6"... With the V2 rules meaning I had a respectable one attack each rather than an absurd amount, I still felt confident against peasants in the open...


So that would be two kills, with 6 SMG attacks back at me....



Until Luke pointed out they have tough fighters now...



That's better, though I still lost a man to the solo Bolshevik leader... I didn't consolidate towards the right objective, as wanted to pressure the Station and moved 9" towards that... The centre left was looking good, though the sniper was still a pain, with Luke adamant he'd take down the fascist officer.



Alas, he rolled a 3 and due to being a solo sniper (as Id clipped his wingman earlier with two units of Heer pockmarking the building) missed.


TURN 4

Turn 4 and the Partisan veterans took a direct hit from the heavy howitzer, obliterating the building again. The Germans certainly weren't worried about taking the town intact!



The next dice went to Luke. His outflanking SMG squad came on behind the SS cavalry, but the veterans only lost one man as they were at long range. The BMW dropped a few and the sniper took one out.


The centre squad stormed the snipers building, jackboots tramping in downstairs while the left squad went after the hiding Lt by the left flank objective, by the fence, alone with the veterans gone. The vehicles and howitzer all went down, the howitzer having done its job.

TURN 5  

The Germans had the first dice, and the SS advanced, dismounting and despite the shelter of the ruins, the pointblank firing killed all 5 partisans in the remnants of the station.


Despite 5 pins and no NCO, the hill partisans successfully assaulted the BMW 75 and destroyed it...


The Heer squad charged upstairs taking out the lone sniper, while the German officer ran over adjacent to the Station. The left flank Heer squad peppered the partisan officer killing him.


TURN 6

The Partizans only had one dice left, but it came out first and they failed their order test. The SS moved onto the Station objective, with the officer


The left Heer unit took the left objective by the rail crossing, giving two objectives to the Germans


The lone partisan unit left kept their objective, appropriately enough, the hills the Yugoslavs left to take the town...


Afterthoughts: Not really much to say, the Preparatory bombardment was simply lethal and Luke was up against it from then on in... By start of turn 3 he had lost half his dice and I'd not lost anything. The heavy howitzer hit two buildings and took out three units, and the partisan booby traps weren't as bad as last time out. One thing to point out in fairness to Luke, his forces didn't have the manpower due to a dice restriction of 12 for the 1000pts force, but we're rethinking that for the campaign. Partisans and Soviets suffer adversely from such limits, even if well intentioned (In our last campaign, a lot of the guys were still new to Bolt Action)... At the minute, after two rounds, the Germans are winning the campaign by a good distance, a couple more rounds and they'll be back on the beaches at Anzio