At the time, I didn't know this was a test and that I was a lab rat in his diabolical scheme. I thought this a fair and balanced fight. Nope!
Given that, I asked if we could replay the scenario again on the following Monday (yesterday). Graham agreed suggesting I was a glutton for punishment and that doing the same thing over and expecting a different result bordered on insanity. Well, we will see about that!
Following is a brief summary of the Battle for Ebresa wherein I commanded the attacking Republicans and Graham commanded the defending Fascists. Each photo is annotated so viewing this series as a slide show is recommended. White arrows show movement, red arrows show attacks, and yellow arrows denote retreats.
Graham's battle account can be enjoyed at Re-Running The Rat Run.
Tonight's contest stays in the Spanish Civil War with a return to a scenario fought a couple of months back. Up next, Guadalajara.
Nice explanations, a real pleasure to follow!
ReplyDeletePhil, I am glad to see the battle report was easy to follow!
DeleteWell done Jon - unlike many real life generals, you were able to learn from the previous battle and come up with a different plan to change the result in the second action, Looks like it was good fun for you too, maybe not so much for the Nationalist/Fascists!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keith! At this age, it is good to see evidence that I can still learn and adapt!
DeleteFrom a plan of double envelopment last game to a concentration of attacking from one flank this time, my tactics are evolving. The game was good fun because I enjoy trying to solve an interesting puzzle.
Good to see someone who learns from his mistakes. Is this the table top game as video game? Live, die, repeat. Very Edge of Tomorrow. As the rule and game designer it was a real pleasure seeing someone use the correct tactics, and getting the correct outcome.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Graham! These have all been enjoyable exercises especially satisfying to see the evolution of my tactics.
DeleteGood return visit! Wonderful when plans work, especially combined arms plans. Very easy to follow the report, graphics were very useful.Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen plans work, it brings great joy. Good to see that the BatRep presentation is suitable for easy following and interpretation.
DeleteAnother good looking table. Interesting to see how much the artillery is allowed to fire, there must be a good balance between the pace rate of fire and the results.
ReplyDeleteArtillery can fire up to three times per turn, but that uses a lot of command points. Once you start firing you have to keep firing at the same target until you order the unit to cease fire. You then have to wait until next turn before trying to acquire another target. Artillery is really good for pinnng units and denting your opponent's mobility. Unless you are caught moving in the open it isn't crushingly deadly. However the tricky bit is you don't know what damage has been done until you stop firing, and the unit is activated. You could end up with a lot of smoke and rubble, then have the enemy crawl out to confront you when you close assault.
DeleteNorm, Graham summed up the artillery processes very well. Not much for me to add. Keeping barrages going consumes a lot of resources that may be better used in other efforts. There is a trade off but an interesting one that nudges the player into some times difficult decisions.
DeleteThe idea is that players have to make choices, rather than just push lead about in a mindless fashion.
DeleteWithout choices and the ability to affect or at least influence the outcome, we play a mere random game of chance. What fun is there in that?
DeleteThat was very well planned Jon. Well done!
ReplyDeleteIt was a good plan. Jon had a little bit of luck in that I was unable to fire my off table batteries as often as last week, but he got all the moving parts working well together. Had a while tank battalion he didn't even bring on.
DeleteThanks nundanket!
DeleteMy little bit of luck centered on my needing to expend so many cards to keep my artillery barrages active that I emptied my hand before you could play all of your cards!
DeleteI suppose if we'd been in the same room I'd have kept an eye on where you'd got to and not been caught out. I was holding back a barrage, waiting for you to expose a juicy target. Serves me right.
DeleteWhile I gave fair warning that I had one suit left to play, it would be easy to overlook when you, as host, are busy multi-tasking on several fronts.
DeleteA nicely-executed plan Jonathan. Looks like the lab rat took over the laboratory with that one.
ReplyDeleteThank you! "Lab rat taking over the laboratory" is a funny comment and reminded me of the movie the Secret of NIMH. You made me laugh.
DeleteOr is that what the owner pf the lab wants you to think...
DeleteIndeed!
DeleteNice little game there Jonathan, always fancied a bit of SCW, looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteThere's lots of good books on the SCW, and the range of figures and models is excellent as well. Plus there are some awesome rules due to be published in the next month.
DeleteThanks, Hendrid! All credit goes to Trebian whom wrote the rules and hosted the game.
DeleteThat's a nice game, with the annotated photos making it very easy to follow the action. A nice scenario with a good plan and a victory for the Republicans:)
ReplyDeleteSteve, I am very appreciative for your feedback on the embedded photo annotations. For me, it makes the action easier to follow since I cannot see captions when viewing the photo alone.
DeleteGetting the correct plan took two tries but eventually I settled upon a workable solution!
Great game Jonathan & Graham. SCW is such an intriguing and uncommon period to play.
ReplyDeleteThe pictorial commentary is very easy to follow btw. My compliments!
Thanks, Mike!
DeleteGraham's arid table looks simple, elegant, and perfect to my eye.
I appreciate your vote of confidence on the embedded annotations.
Fun looking game, nice result, interesting and tempting period and good clear annotations on the photos, all round excellent!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you so much, Iain!
DeleteGive in to temptation. That's what it's there fore.
DeleteUnlike me, Iain is capable of showing a modicum of restraint!
DeleteWhy should he deny himself? It's a great period.
DeleteIt's a really interesting period, we did it at school, how we won the Spanish civil war, what a great leader Franco was, how Benito Mussolini was the best leader Italy ever had,of course this was before the national curriculum, I've also just picked up Anthony Beevors Spanish civil war book and I have the Bueno book ,I just need some plastic figures in 28m and I think they might be around the corner!
DeleteBest Iain
That's great, Iain! I enjoyed the Beever book on the conflict. Next, Graham will be suggesting a ruleset for you!
DeleteMake sure you have the most recent Beevor. Esdaile's recent "SCW - A Military History" is briefer in length, but very good as a wargamer's primer. The rules will have a bibliography when they come out in the next few weeks. Each to their own, but I fear 28mm will reduce you to skirmishes, rather than the more typical brigade actions. Anything at a lower level doesn't really allow for capturing the tactical development that was going on. The 15mm ranges are very good, as are the 10mm.
DeleteIs that you getting face to face games in Jonathan, if so good for you. We will be lucky by the end of summer at this rate. Excellent report.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement on the battle report, George! Sorry to disappoint but this was a remote game hosted by Graham in the UK.
DeleteIt was well done, I was going to hold off on remote gaming but if the rumours are true I will need to as face to face could be as far off as July!
DeleteMy advice on remote wargaming is just roll your sleeves up and get on with it and find out what works for you. There are quite a few battle reports - at least once a week - of online games starting in late Sept 2020over on the Wargaming for Grown Ups blog, before Jon joined us, so yo ucan follow our halting steps to our current level of sophistication.
DeleteHilarious. Well done overcoming the off board artillery. Maybe sent Graham back to the drawing board? 😀
ReplyDeleteI won't let it happen again, I can assure you.
DeleteStew, the off board artillery was not so funny when it first landed! Still, when it lifted and my artillery remained operational, I was much relieved.
DeleteI take Graham at his word...it won't happen again.
Yes, Graham comes across as rather sly...😀😀
DeleteAre you suggesting Graham would rig the scenario?
DeleteI think sly is a bit harsh...of course the scenario is rigged. It's for playtesting certain aspects of the rules! For the record, the attackers outnumbered defenders more than 2:1 in infantry, 2:0 with armour, and had two artillery units (one being mortars). Taking the tank guns that's 4 bombarding units that can pin units every turn. The defender gets, on average, one artillery stonk in the turn of up to three activations, that then lifts. The important thing with artillery is to find the target, pin it, and keep firing to pin it. The off table artillery doesn't do that, so it's an inconvenience, and not something you can factor into a plan.
DeleteIt's rigged in favour of the attackers, as Jon proved in the second run through, where he rolled the defences up comprehensively.
Nice write and comeback, Jon!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Delete