07/29/17

Reflections on Gettysburg – The Tide Turns

Developed by Shenandoah Studio and published by Matrix/Slitherine

Boggit reflects on the Battle of Gettysburg while playing “Gettysburg – The Tide Turns” ~

Boggit, 29 July 2017

“I have bin in one battle, and that satisfied me with war, and I would beg to be excused next time”

Private Haban R. Foster, 34th Virginia Infantry, 1862.

 

I’m playing the First Day scenario. My view is that if Lee can’t get an easy win on Day 1, then he’s going to be facing an increasingly worsening attrition battle, one that even if he does win the battle itself will mean the end of his campaign and any prospect of actually winning the war due to excessive, and hard to replace losses.

 

Gettysburg – The Tide Turns is a game reconstructing the strategically decisive battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War (1861-65) between the Union (Northern) and Confederate (Southern) states in America. In many ways it was the first modern war where weapons development and tactics presaged the carnage that would be seen a few years later in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) and the early months of the First World War (1914-18) where modern weapons met Napoleonic tactics with predictable results.

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07/26/17

Outpost Gamma – A GrogHeads AAR, part 3

The legionnaires are far from home, and facing impossible odds.  Still. ~

Michael Eckenfels, 26 July 2017

AAR: PART 3 (TURN 2)

Just a note – if the map or counters look different from this point forward, it’s because I’ve moved to another format. The VASSAL module is awesome for pure play-through, but when it comes to writing up an AAR and needing more finite control over the pieces, it’s not meeting my needs.

The differences are minute, and hopefully you’ll see it as an improvement for the purposes of this write-up. I encourage you, if you’re a fan of VASSAL, to go click on the link above and check it (and other DwarfStar products) out.

We’re one turn in and we’ve only managed to pop two of the Irdan Rebel units, but this should hopefully change as they come within range of more weapons.

Of course, that means THEY have a chance to hurt the Legionnaires, too…

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07/19/17

Outpost Gamma – A GrogHeads AAR, part 2

The legionnaires are far from home, and facing impossible odds.  Again. ~

Michael Eckenfels, 19 July 2017

AAR: PART 2

We’re playing the first scenario, “The Last Outpost.” There are 12 turns in this scenario, and each turn is divided into ten phases. The object is for the Legionnaires to be the last side to occupy at least three mesa-top hexes, and/or destroy all Irdan attackers. The Irdans win if they destroy all the Legionnaires, and/or clear all mesa-top hexes of them. If neither of these occur, the game ends in a draw.

Each turn’s phases are:

  1. Energy Storm Phase
  2. Disruption Fire Phase
  3. Irdan Movement Phase
  4. Irdan Combat Phase
  5. Irdan Stun Recovery Phase
  6. Imperial/Miner Movement Phase
  7. Imperial/Miner Combat Phase
  8. Remove Disruption Markers
  9. Imperial Legionnaire Stun Recovery Phase
  10. End of Game Turn

I mention all of this to give you a feel for how the game flows.

Now, back to the action.

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