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Saturday, March 11, 2023

Flank Attack: The Rematch

graphic courtesy gridbasedwargaming
After seeing success in screening the right and bludgeoning my way forward to victory in the first playing of Neil Thomas' Flank Attack! scenario in OHW (see: Flank Attack!), Peter and I agreed that a rematch would be fun.  We would swap sides and replay the scenario. Rules in use are Peter's D3 OHW variant. 

With Peter in command of the Blue Army (notice in the following battle report that Blue Army is actually blue in this version!), he announced that Blue Army would stick to the strategy that brought success in the first outing.  That meant I needed to come up with a plan to counter this steamroller.
Blue's plan of attack
(same as first game).

Was I successful in stopping Peter's juggernaut?  Please read on to find out. 

Since the Red Army places three units into a blocking position at board edge, I placed two Red Ashigaru astride the exit road and a unit of Samurai foot into the village.  Blue Army packed itself into a square in its deployment zone with Samurai leading the way.  The remainder of my Red Army deployed into the flank position on the right.  

Initial deployments
Blue Army (Peter) leads off by playing an Initiative card and rushes forward with his Samurai cavalry.  The remainder of Blue advances up the road toward the objective with skirmishers filing off to the right to screen the main advance.  In its second activation for the turn, Blue Samurai cavalry charges into the Ashigaru astride the road.  The Ashigaru takes four hits but having not destroyed the enemy, the Samurai horse is compelled to retreat.
Initiative brings Blue cavalry within
 striking distance of Red defenders.
Blue Army advances while cavalry charges in.
Red Ashigaru suffers heavy casualties
but repulses the cavalry.
The Red flanking force steps off in motion toward the enemy.  Although a long way off, the goal is to attempt to intercept the attackers before the defenders at the exit point are overwhelmed. 
Red flanking force in motion.
As Red Army's flanking force makes a determined advance toward the enemy, the three Red units protecting the road exit, step forward to bring the enemy into range.  Fire is very effective causing three hits to one and four hits to another.  Red used one Initiative tactical card to get in a second round of shooting. 

The shooting was too effective, really.  Both of these Red Ashigaru units run out of ammo and will need to reload before firing again.  Running out of ammo is a problem since playing a Battle Tactics card to resupply is typically way down on the priority list of tasks needing to accomplish with these cards.  

The Red foot Samurai moves out of the village and attacks the Blue foot unit to its front.  While repulsing the attack, the Blue Ashigaru suffers heavy casualties.  Blue's foot Samurai slips into the woods to threaten the defenders and poised to bolt off table if needed.
Red moves out.
Firefight along the road with Samurai foot melee
Blue Ashigaru on the end of the line. 
Seeing Red units moving up from behind, Blue cavalry breaks off its attack against the Ashigaru and swings around to confront its adversary.  Blue Skirmishers move up to the hill crest and pour fire into Red's flanking force.  For now, half of Red's flanking force is effectively pinned by these skirmishers.  Red's foot Samurai having been repulsed and showing eight hits, uses a Rally Battle Tactics card to rally off some hits.
Blue Cavalry swings about to counter an enemy threat. 
Two of Red's flanking Ashigaru return the favor and pour fire into the enemy skirmishers.  Their aim is not good.  In the plain below, Red skirmishers dispatch enemy cavalry.  Is a path clear to the exit road?
Destruction of Blue Samurai horse!
Having scattered the enemy cavalry, Red cavalry moves up to threaten Blue Army's flank.  Blue brings up its last reserve and places it into a blocking position between the woods.  If the horsemen are going to get through, these Ashigaru must be destroyed.  On both left and right, firefights take lumps out of opposing units. One of Red's Ashigaru along the road is scattered.  A heavily damaged Ashigaru foot falls back to the road to protect the exit point.
Firefight heats up!
This turn witnesses great destruction across the battlefield.

First, Blue Samurai charge out of the woods and into the already heavily damaged Ashigaru.  The defenders melt away.

Second, Red's flanking force unleashes deadly volleys into the skirmishers on the hill. They scatter.

Finally, having rallied off just enough hits to launch one more attack, in desperation, Red foot Samurai plays an Initiative Tactics card to charge into the badly damaged Ashigaru foot in front of the viillage.  The first Blue Ashigaru unit hit evaporates.  On its regular activation, the Samurai continues charging into the other badly mauled Ashigaru foot.  It, too, is scattered.  The Red Army destroys three Blue units to losing one this turn.
Mayhem and destruction across the battlefield.
Blue loses three units to Red's loss of one unit.
With the battlefield thinned by quite a bit, Blue retaliates and takes out three badly damaged Red units.  Seeing that the three Blue units are positioned between the victory exit point and Red Army's flanking force and no way to catch them before escape off table, Red Army concedes. 

Victory to Peter and his Blue Army!
Blue counterattack takes out three units.
Unable to catch the enemy, Red Army concedes defeat.
Another close game in which the attacking force was able to bludgeon its way forward to make good its escape.  As Red Army commander, I was not able to stop the steady march of the Blue Army juggernaut as it fought its way off table.

Great fun and a challenging situation and match.  In post-game debrief, we discussed the use of Battle Tactics cards and the situation offered up in Scenario #6 Flank Attack.

While Peter ponders thoughts on slight amendments to the Battle Tactics cards, I am left wondering how the defending army can pull out a victory.

For Peter’s battle account, please visit A Repeat Remote Game.

54 comments:

  1. Thank goodness you remembered to take photos of the game.

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    1. Easier to remember for me since I am not moving figures, moving camera, and adjudicating.

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  2. Interesting to see the game played from two perspectives. Looks like the tactics cards might hold the key to victory.

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    1. Hi Mark! Yes, seeing a battle from both player perspectives and playing both sides is a useful exercise. Playing the Initiative card early and often seems to be one key to victory.

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  3. Great looking battle Jon, it’s quite effective having the red vs blue armies 👍

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    1. Ha ha. Yes, it helps not to confuse the reader too much, for sure.

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  4. Nice AAR Jonathan, and I suspect that Keith will be pleased it is now colour-coordinated. This looks like a nice even scenario given the closeness of the games.

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    1. Thank you! Yes, hopefully Keith has a; easier time with Blue Army being blue and Red Army being red!

      While the games are close, Blue Army is currently 3-0.

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  5. Great battle report. I like the use of the tactics cards, which adds another dimension to the game. May try and add something similar to my own games.

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    1. Much appreciated! The tactic cards adds an extra dimension to play. They may need a bit of refining as Peter and I discussed following the game so that all three cards are equally useful.

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  6. Another fine game with plenty of action. I can see why you thought this scenario and the one I played recently might seem the same. I feel the tactics cards are good but always tricky to get a balance so that they do not unduly affect the outcome. I'm not sure how Blue can be stopped, but I might try this on my 2'x2' table with HoW to see if the rules/period might make a difference?

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    1. Yes, the result was another interesting and challenging contest. This scenario and the one you recently played are very similar.

      How can Blue be stopped? Clearly, I do not have that answer having seen Blue when all three games. I look forward to reading of your scenario experimentation. Perhaps different rules may steer toward a different result?

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    2. I checked when I last played this which was 2 years ago! Interesting to re-read this in light of your game and all the comments here alongside my own post-game thoughts:

      https://wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com/2021/03/one-hour-wargames-scenario-6-flank.html

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    3. Steve, thanks for firing up the Way Back Machine for this old BatRep.

      Looking at your version of Scenario #6, you and Peter came up with completely different interpretations. You allowed the flanking force to deploy anywhere along the eastern board edge with a concentration in the NE sector. Peter required the four-unit flanking force to deploy wholly within the SE sector. Your flanking force was not really a flanking force but a ready support to the blocking force. Those differences, alone, may have driven the different outcomes. I wonder why Peter changed the scenario deployments to limiting the flanking force to the SE sector?

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    4. In the original scenario, the Red Flanking Force can deploy anywhere within 12" of the Eastern Table edge, with the Blue Attacking Force in column along the road. This can be seen in the maps I sent to Dave & Keith. Keith (Red) chose to put most of his flanking Force in the NE corner, which I think was somewhat dictated by the random nature of the forces generated for both sides.

      I'm not sure why Peter tweaked things, but this may be down to the period and the rules used. So if I played the scenario again with say Black Powder II as written (ie up to 3 moves and shoot), then my deployment might be different to that if I used Honours of War. Hope this makes sense?

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    5. It makes sense, Steve. Perhaps Peter can share his insight into the scenario modifications made?

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  7. Looked like a tight contest Jon, and given the destruction on both sides, a Pyrrhic victory perhaps for the blue army, having seen the bulk of its troops destroyed or scattered before the few remaining units managed to exit the battlefield .....

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    1. Contest was tight but I am unsure if the outcome was much in doubt. When Red conceded, Red’s remnants were battered and out of position while Blue’s survivors were nearly upon the objective and mostly undamaged. With no Army Breakpoint, a victory is a victory no matter how high the losses.

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    2. Hi Jon and Peter - I ahve tried to leave this comment on Peter blog about six times but there is some issue with the reCaptcha program and it always sayd the operation ahs failed - I even restrated my laptop but had teh same thing happen....so here is my comment for Peter!
      "Another lovely looking game Peter but it does seem to be very hard for Red to concentrate enough power to prevent Blue getting the requisite three units off the table. If I played the Reds, I might try moving the defending force forward to try and meet the incoming flanking force and also with the flanking force, try just screening the Blue screen, and concentrate on getting the bulk of the flank to join the three defending units as quickly as possible - of course, the terrain and distances may make this option hard or impossible to achieve?"

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    3. Thats weird - I get a message saying your blog is protected by reCaptcha too Jon (maybe it's a Blogger thing?) but the comment published fine - bloody IT!

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    4. Well, Keith, you message got through here! Hopefully, Peter will check back in and read it.

      If you noticed, I did move the Red blocking units forward so that I could close the distance and get in a volley first. This tactic did not promote any long term benefits. Outnumbered and outflanked by Blue cavalry, the two Red Ashigaru astride the road received repeated attacks. Finally, they both collapsed.

      I suggest you set this scenario up on your table, give it go, and report back.

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    5. Bloody IT, indeed! I have seen no issues on this end. Good that you were able to publish your comment, nonetheless.

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  8. Another great looking battle Jonathan!

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  9. I think the trickiest aspect to this scenario for the defending red force is trying to get the flanking force into the fray early enough to become a viable part of the battle. If say, the whole flank force was mounted, they’d at least have the mobility needed to make more of an impact earlier in the game as they seem to spend 2-3 turns just making their way to get in contact with the blue units.

    Hope that made sense? Yet to get my morning tea in…

    Regardless. That set up is a good looking game and it was enjoyable to follow Jon

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    1. Appreciate your comments, Dai!

      I think you put your finger squarely on a weakness in the scenario. That is, the flanking force is left in catch-up mode from the starting gun.

      What if Blue Army was not allowed to deploy at the leading edge of the deployment zone but back in the zone, itself? With one or two extra moves needed before contact with the blocking force, the flankers actually have an opportunity to intervene, meaningfully.

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    2. Definitely worth a try, though I then worry if that in turn might mess up Blue's momentum too much so that they in turn might not have enough time to make it north after dealing with the flanking force? Guess only more play-throughs would show us.

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  10. Nice looking game Jonathan. Nice to see your Samurai armies getting another outing.

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    1. Mark, the armies and game are Peter’s from Australia. He hosted me in another remote game.

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  11. Good to see the six units or so (Thomas type) armies giving such a good and challenging game - a bonus that they are so Zoom friendly.

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    1. Norm, it should not surprise any of us that armies of 6-8 BMUs can offer up very interesting games. A bonus, indeed, when they are Zoom friendly. Peter, being primarily a solo gamer, I think, has enjoyed having contests against a live opponent. This interaction helps in wargame development too. He adapted and adopted Zoom easily as well.

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  12. Thanks for the write up Jon. I have just read Peter's report and it is great to get both view points. A difficult scenario for the defenders.

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    1. You’re welcome, Ben! Thank you for the comment!

      Seeing the battle from the perspectives of both players offers a possibility to see interesting insights.

      Happy to see you make the effort to read both of our battle accounts.

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  13. A grand and challenging battle there making a fine and visually attractive read.

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    1. Happy you enjoyed the presentation! Add into the mix a terrific opponent and we get a complete package.

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  14. Another well done AAR. Not knowing the period well, my base idea for the scenario would be to have Blue start farther back, Red wings start a bit closer. Since exit by the road is a condition to win, an earlier choke point on Blue's path might work , not requiring too cute a restriction on deployment. Love the arrows in the photos, BTW.

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    1. Thank you, Joe!

      I think we are coming around to the consensus that initial deployments need a bit of rejiggering to give Red a equal chance at victory. Still, a sample size of only three trials is not much data from which to draw a conclusion.

      If you look at the original scenario as presented in Thomas, you will note that Peter has added in several wooded chokepoints. These features did not seem to play much of a role in choking the points, though.

      Glad you like the addition of action arrows. With them, I find it hard to follow the action from a series of still photos. Good to see that I am not alone.

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  15. Third time wasn't the charm in this case; looks like a tweak to the scenario is needed, as the two of you discussed. I agree with other commentators - looks great, and in contrast to my usual megalomania, a reminder of how good a game with a small number of units can be!

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    1. Well, third time was not the charm for Red, at least!

      Some of us (!) figure that since we painted them, we ought to get them all out on the table at one time, in one battle. You are not alone.

      I find it takes great restraint not to pull everything out of boxes and pitch them all into a large battle. Enjoyable and challenging battles can be presented without putting all of the stuff out onto the table. I know. Easier said than done...

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  16. Excellent and well written report as usual Jonathan. I can't help but think that the scenario plays against the defender. Perhaps, as suggested, a different rule set might make a difference?

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    1. Very much appreciated, Richard! Pleased to see you approve of the manner in which I recounted the battle.

      Using different rules certainly may change the nature of both scenario and result. Right now, it seems the defenders’s task presents a hard row to hoe.

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  17. I don’t know enough about the rules or the cards to have a meaningful comment about the game scenario.
    But I was rooting for you the WHOLE time. 😀

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  18. Very interesting and maybe I should look at the book for SYW scenarios.

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    1. Even if you never intend to use the rules, the scenarios are worth the cost, regardless.

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  19. Well it's a relief to this bear with little brain that blue is blue! Great looking game and any kind of close game is a good game!
    Best Iain

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    1. Sorry for the confusion last time! A game need not be even close be good.

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  20. I'm jealous that you can manage to regame your battles. I love your photos. Great report as always.

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    1. Thank you! The photos are actually screenshots of Peter's table as seen through the lens of his iphone.

      Replaying a battle has many benefits. I recommend it when possible.

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