Another 2mm Midnight Madness Wargame

The two armies drawn up. Red is the aggressor.

End of turn two. I decided at this point to take a photo at the end of each turn, more for my own pleasure than for blog.

End of 4. First blood to blue army.

End of turn 5: red has lost 3 infantry and 1 cavalry to blue's loss of 1 infantry and 1 cavalry.

Turn 6, action picks up. It's a bad turn for red; they lose half their cavalry 

Turn 7 for red: I do something I have never done in a game. I spend red's turn consolidating their line and try to bring up reinforcements.

Blue gathers their forces to launch an attack on their right.

Turn 10: blue's attack on the right is devastating.  Red loses three infantry units.

Turn 11: Red launches a counterattack on the blue cavalry on their left. The red battery eliminates one cavalry unit, another is force to retreat.

The blue's artillery fire on the strong red artillery and infantry with great effect. 2 infantry units eliminated and the 2 artillery batteries are forced to retreat.

The beginning of turn 12. Red has lost over 50% of the army. I had decided a turn 8 to have 12 turns in this game (so I could go back to bed!) Red could continue to fight and maybe do a little more damage to blue, but then would've been exposed to blue's return fire. They chose to retreat.
This game has me thinking of starting a campaign game. I have already started to work it out in my mind: now to start putting it to paper.

 

Another Late Night 2mm Wargame

Once again I woke up in the middle of the night. I thought of my 2mm games and Horse & Musket 2.0 rules.  I started thinking of different ways to deploy the armies, based on the results of the last game.  It was worth getting up and trying a couple of ideas. 
The red army grouped the arillery into two batteries and the cavalry  was grouped towards the center.

The blue army spread across the entire army, with their cavalry grouped on both wings.

Both armies moved their artillery forward to bring their artillery into action.

In this game, the early part of the game was maneuvering units and artillery trying to find weak spots in the opponents line.

Eventually the blue cavalry on the left charged forward and pushed back the red army's rightmost units. This action started both armies battling in earnest.

Eventually the blue army pushed back the red army. The red army could have continued the battle. While the blue army had more units, they were spread out. However, the blue army still had all their artillery and they could have held back any attack by the red army. The red army chose to retreat.

I have really enjoyed the last couple of games. I've been thinking through the moves ( unlike my "No Brain Wargames!) and want to do more work  on the 2mm armies. And while I haven't used any terrain features, I also thought that people will spend a lifetime playing Chess, and still be engrossed with the game. 

 

Midnight 2mm Wargame

A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep.   I got up and set up a wargame, using Chris Salander's Horse & Musket 2.0 rules. In this game some units were mixed arms. I also played the rules as written (mostly), trying not to use my own house rules.

In this game some interesting  (to me) events happened. In this particular photo 2 red cavalry (the unit marked by white dice) attacked a unit of 2 blue artillery.

The red cavalry gets to roll 4 dice. They kill one of the artillery units, and force the other to retreat 2 spaces. The artillery retreats to it's baseline, where there is one infantry unit. Next to the baseline where the artillery retreated can be seen 2 wagons; to capture the wagons and hold them one complete turn is the objective of both sides. However, as the rules are written, an infantry stand must be present to win the victory.

Next move the red cavalry (marked by the red dice) charges through the gap and attacks the blue infantry and artillery...

...and eliminates both units. The next move the red cavalry could attack the wagons, but would still need an infantry unit to come up to secure the victory.

A strong force of 3 cavalry and 1 infantry (the lower black dice) hits the red cavalry 's flank. Unfortunately for the blue, out of 7 dice thrown, not one kill or retreat result comes up!

On the red's next move I did something I rarely do during games; I had the red cavalry retreat, so it wouldn't be cut off in the next blue move.

In the end, the blue army got the better of the red army, and closed in on the red's headquarters (represented by the wagons). 

The red army at this point decides to retreat and live to fight another day. 
I found that by mixing the units up instead of grouping them by arms,  made for a more exciting game. In this game artillery actually played a more decisive roll than in previous games. One blue artillery piece was a thorn in the side of the red army. It was finally eliminated, but the red army was distracted by it and misused units trying to eliminate it.

The armies were returned to their cigar box. Hopefully they will see action again soon.
(By the way, this report is being written in the middle of the night. Once again I couldn't sleep!)

 

2mm Wargame

In the last month I not had any time to work on the hobby. Last night I made time to get in a quick 2mm game using my cigar box wargame set up. Terrain was set up randomly, and both armies had 4 infantry and 2 cavalry units.

In the end the red army captured the village, but lost 4 out of 6 units: first side to lose 2/3 of their army loses.

Battle of Braddock Down: Battles of the English Civil War

   I recently played a game from Mike Lambos' Battle of the English Civil War using Irregulars Miniatures 2mm ECW blocks, backed up with some ACW blocks. The blocks are mounted on plastic bases with yellow dots painted on front to show which direction the base is facing. In this game units are demoralized, and must try to rally. If they fail on their rally roll, they continue to retreat until they pass their rally check, or flee the field of battle. 

With these rules the AI gets to move every turn. The AI forces in this game were very aggressive and closed with my army quickly.

My army was in the beginning successful at driving the enemy cavalry off the field. However, that brought my infantry within range of his musketeers, which broke three of my infantry units, which in turn fled the field. After that the battle went downhill for my army.

 

2 Wargames and a Break

     I have done little in the way of gaming. I have tried to start several projects, without success. I also was going to try out Travel Battle, but once again couldn't muster the interest in prepping the figures for the game. I did try a game using the Travel Battle board for gaming, using Risk figures. It didn't play out well. My fat fingers kept knocking the figures over.
     I started reading Osprey's "The Men Who Would be Kings". It sounds like a good set that one could have individual heroes.  I was thinking of using my Peter Laing Colonials for this, but realized that I don't have enough Colonial cavalry or Native troops (save Zulus) to play the game.
     I found myself going back to my 2mm figures, which I managed to have an enjoyable game.

  I find myself in a situation where I have accomplished nothing with my gaming, and what games I play are enjoyable to me, but offer nothing to my blog. I therefore will take a break from my blog until I have something that might be of interest to the few followers of my blog.

Using Risk figures with Travel Battle board.

The 2mm game using my ACW armies. The game is in the advanced stages. I wasn't going to take any photos of this game, until the Confederates manged to cut off one Union unit (in the foreground).

The Union unit in the foreground managed to hold off the Confederates attack.

The surviving Union unit takes shelter in the woods. Meanwhile the rightmost  Union unit launches a bayonet attack to try to reach the cut off Union regiment.

The Union regiments link up.

However, the Confederates launch an all out assault on the woods.

They wipe out the Union regiment in the woods, and drive back the Union reinforcements.

At this point the Union has lost 50% of their forces, and concedes the battle.

I have been thinking of doing more work with my 2mm figures, if for no other reason to keep some interest going with my gaming. I have also thought of possibly buying some more 2mm figures.