Category: AARs

12/11/14

Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas… Entering Its 3rd Decade

When they talk about marathon games, this is what they had in mind…

In Part 29 Benvenuto left the field of battle over the Duchy of Apulia and province of Bari to his minions, in order to manage affairs of state at home. Once there he set about a plot to marry his son to Flandina, the beautiful heir of Apulia, imprisoned in the di Parma dungeons. It turned out that her brother, the Duke of Apulia refused to consent to the marriage. He was removed from power, di Parma style, now Flandina resides over the Apulia duchy and awaits our proposal. In this part, I honestly have no idea how to explain it

CKII - Pic 290

Turns out Flandina thinks she’s too posh for the di Parmas too – it’s a no from her

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Having chosen the dress, the flowers, the horses and the fancy honeymoon Benvenuto broke off the previously arranged marriage to the di Luccas having seen Flandina’s perfect CV. Now he goes back cap in hand to get a wife for his son. Continue reading →

11/27/14

A Tank Battle 1944 AAR

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Michael Eckenfels, 27 November 2014

 

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A NOTE ON THIS AAR:

I used the game Tank Battle: 1944, from Hunted Cow Studios, to write up this piece. It’s a rather intense game of simple, quick, and fluid combat, on a tactical level. Unit scale is not given, but it feels as if infantry are in their own units. The game does seem to indicate, however, that tanks are individual units, which I don’t see them as. Each unit has a maximum strength of 10 (think Panzer General), and once that’s reduced to zero, they’re eliminated. There is no ‘carrying over’ of units from one mission to the next, so there’s no experience, promotions, medals, or anything like that. One must defeat the scenario to continue to the next one.

With that said, let’s get on with it!

 

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Continue reading →

11/20/14

Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 9

CHAPTER NINE: YOU CAN’T UNSEE IT

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The last time I saw anything that disgusting was when a dancer named ‘Wolf 359’ bent herself so far over, she turned into a singularity and disappeared. I will not watch movies about people eating people any more. I have people to do that for me. The idea is sound, but there’s no reason the leader should be exposed to such trauma.

I’m staring at a pretty decent fleet, though it’s very civ-heavy. Meaning, more Troop Transports and Colony Ships than actual ships that can ‘bring the pain.’ Since we’re all flower children more or less, having a gigantic fleet-in-being is not only not conducive with Federation aims, it’s also a huge drain on the economy. It’s still early yet and I need to do some more colonizing so I can do some more taxing and graftin’ (daddy gotta get HIS) to support a large fleet. For purely defensive purposes, of course. And so far, my expansion is small, though that will change soon. I don’t like the idea of being spread out and having no good ships to defend myself should big ol’ greenie meanies come sniffing around my people like they’re sides of beef (Soylent Green was MY idea, after all).

Thing is, in Birth of the Federation, the Federation gets huge penalties for being war-like. Doing things like bombing planets into dust will piss off the population at large, so a little alien cleansing…IF we actually find aliens, that is…is not on the to-do list. But, I like to bring it up during the staff meetings every so often, just to see how many shades of pale I can make everyone sitting around the table.

God, it’s good to be the king.

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Continue reading →

11/13/14

Campaign: Leipzig – The Two-Sided AAR, part 1

13 November 2014

Cyrano and PanzerDE face off in the age of muskets and sabers, and find themselves on opposite sides of an Eastern German battlefield, in the first of a series of AARs that give you both sides of the action.

I first met Doug (panzerde) at Origins in June.  Despite finding him an all-around fine fellow, I am now tasked with driving him from the field of honor in this scenario from John Tiller Software’s Campaign: Leipzig.  I picked the battle (all my fault) because I’d never played it and thought it struck a reasonable balance between variety of forces and size.  Leipzig can, after all, become ridiculous at the farthest end of things.

I’ve been playing the Tiller Napoleonic games for well over a decade.  I’ve been involved with the Napoleonic Wargame Club for just about as long and am therefore aware of all the theology concerning its alternative rulesets, homerules, optional rules, &c.  I offer only that I generally try to play the game as given in the hope of being able to play with the widest range of opponents.  I do, however, typically play with a standard set of optional rules given to me long, long ago by my most regular opponent (who thrashes me with unnerving regularity).  The rules are these:

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I’d be happy to take questions and hold forth at length about why I prefer these rules, but it seems unnecessary here. I’ll only observe that deciding whether to play with “No Melee Eliminations” on or off is a choice that fundamentally alters the flow of the game and its outcomes.  With it off, units required to retreat that have no ZOC-free hexes to which they can retreat are eliminated.  This can lead to casualty rates far closer to those of the first day of the Somme rather than 1813.  I will admit, though, as someone who long lobbied for this rule to be included in the series, that, when this rule is on, the system’s lack of morale collapse above the level of the individual battalions, can result in the very best units hanging about far longer than they ought.

To the battle itself, then.  Lowenberg is one of those “extra” scenarios typical of a type Dr. Tiller’s developers have worked to improve their offerings.  It’s an early fight in the Leipzig campaign and the scenario description is a simple one:

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11/6/14

A Distant Worlds AAR – Part 6

By Brandon “Kushan” Johnson, October 9, 2014

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I have a minor problem I didn’t notice until now: my fleet range is atrocious. That cuts down on the options I have for targets. The only viable ones are the Gulrath Territory, Grand Iskabar Authority, and the Yirphunea Supremacy. The former two would stretch my fleets’ fuel limits. The Yirphunea are closer, but I would be going up against their home world defenses.

 

For now I’m going to run covert operations against all three focusing on the Yirphunea. If I can catch them while their fighting someone else I might be able to catch their homeworld without significant troops or ships to support it.

 

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  Continue reading →