Developing A Scenario (part eight)

AFTERTHOUGHTS

I do not know if my report has conveyed the excitement we had playing this scenario, but the fact that the result was in doubt to the very last rifle-shot helped make the game a heck of a lot of fun.

Perhaps there being nothing remotely serious at stake only added to the enjoyment.

Certainly it was a relief to me, as the scenario designer, that the game should pan out in such a nail-biting way.

When the rancher riding shotgun was killed early on, and the wagon's horses were slowed by taking a hit, I feared the cowboys would have little chance. But in the end they won with very little blood spilt on either side.

Was the scenario too lacking in blood? I have to admit the number of casualties would have made for a disappointing Wild West movie, at least for a movie of the old school.
But then again a wagon escaping an ambush would only take up one very small part of a movie, the scene lasting under five minutes. 

And I like to think the low mortality rate - except, perhaps, among the horses - is more like how the West really was.

If every wargame I played were this much fun, I would have no complaints.

Developing A Scenario (part seven)

TURN FIVE

Overview at the start of turn five

I send as many Indians as I can to close in on the wagon, except for my spear-armed mounted warrior who I order to turn around and attack the rifle-armed cowboy in hand-to-hand fighting.

Up close and personal

We decide to resolve the melee before the firing - mainly because it is our first melee in the scenario. Ricky rolls a 4, which becomes a 3 after my warrior's shield is taken into account, so well short of the needed 5. I roll a 6, which is enough for a hit even without my +1 modifiers for being an Indian and for having a spear. The hit turns out to be on the horse, which is killed, but the rider can fight on, albeit on foot.

Ricky's man is down but not out

Unfortunately for me, my partial success in the melee turns out to be my only success of the half-turn as my firing at the wagon is ineffective.
Ricky manoeuvres his one remaining mounted cowboy to charge my spear-armed mounted warrior from the side, and moves his other cowboys to clear a path for the wagon along Pitchfork Way.

The wagon has almost reached safety

Ricky's charging cowboy soon regrets his decision, suffering a hit while not inflicting one, but he only has to fall back a square.
Firing by the cowboys is as ineffective as by my Indians, with just my bow-armed mounted warrior suffering a hit, and that only makes him fall back a square.
TURN SIX
There is no doubt the Indian cause looks desperate, but there is still hope because one rancher has been killed - the only human fatality so far - and the cowboys will have to run away and abandon the wagon if the second rancher, which is Ricky the Kid himself, is downed. Accordingly I order my braves to target Ricky as much as possible. This entails charging him from the side by my bow-armed mounted warrior, as well as hoping to shoot him.

Ricky the Kid is wearing green in the square directly north of the wagon

I ask for this melee to be resolved first. My warrior gets +1 for being an Indian in hand-to-hand fighting and +1 for attacking from the flank, but no bonus for being mounted as Ricky has another cowboy with him in the square. Ricky and his ranch-hand have no modifiers. The dice roll 6-1 in my favour, meaning I get a hit. It turns out to be on Ricky rather than the ranch-hand, but a further roll shows it has no effect! A rifle-armed brave in the square immediately in front of Ricky fires and scores a hit, despite having a -1 modifier for moving. The hit is on Ricky, but again it has no effect - he must be one tough hombre. A bow-armed warrior also in the square directly in front of Ricky shoots but misses.
Elsewhere, the only incident of note is when my spear-armed brave on horseback charges the cowboy whose horse was killed last turn, scoring a second hit, but it only forces the man to fall back a square. My brave chooses to follow-up and occupy the vacated square.
Ricky, deciding discretion is the better part of valour, pulls the figure of himself as far from danger as possible while leaving the ranch-hand who was with him to face my angry warriors alone.

Ricky the Kid skulks nearest the camera, while the wagon, or at least the horses pulling it, pass through the gate to the ranch

My bow-armed mounted warrior is forced back a square by firing, and then has his horse shot from under him, and another of my warriors is twice forced back a square.
In his excitement, Ricky forgot to move his remaining mounted cowboy, but the omission looks academic unless something amazing happens in turn seven.
TURN SEVEN
All depends on whether I can kill Ricky this half-turn as his wagon cannot otherwise be prevented from entering the ranch and giving him victory. I get a chief and a warrior, both armed with rifles, to rush along Pitchfork Way to within two squares of the rancher.

Lining up for the Indians' last shot at winning

That means just a 3 is needed for a hit, but there is a -1 modifier for moving. The chief misses, but the warrior scores a hit ... but to no effect.
With the wagon sure to enter the ranch in Ricky's half-turn, I concede.

Developing A Scenario (part six)

MY opponent is my usual wargames opponent, and as the guest he will have choice of sides. As usual I will write up the game as we go along.
He has chosen to be the cowboys.
TURN ONE
The wagon enters from the east. Although it can normally move three squares when on Pitchfork Way, it has to stop at the ford because the ford is rough terrain, requiring two movement points to enter, and the wagon only has one left after covering the first two squares.

The situation after the wagon arrives at the ford

I immediately notice that my opponent, who is calling himself Ricky the Kid, is using a pistol-armed cowboy as the driver. Riding shotgun is Ricky's co-rancher.

Close-up of the wagon at the ford

A quick count of the cowboys in the ranch tells me there must be two other cowboys hidden in the back of the wagon. Ricky has placed his mounted cowboys out of range of my my Indian on horseback that has a bow, presumably because the Indians get to start the game-proper. But note that the same Indian is within the longer range of the rifle-armed mounted cowboy.
I have placed the maximum six Indians, including the rifle-armed chief, in the wood, as Ricky can work out by counting the number of Indians left in the village. There are four of them, including the spear-armed chief who represents me, and they are waiting in the canoes ready to launch themselves as soon as the ambush is sprung.

Poised in the village

I have decided to wait for the wagon to draw alongside the wood before leaping into action. An interesting alternative strategy, however, might be to send the whole tribe in the direction of the wagon from turn one, although this would give the cowboys in the back of the wagon time to remove the tarpaulin and be ready to open fire.
TURN TWO
The wagon crosses the ford, and I have a bit of a think. Should my braves open fire from the wood now, when the wagon still has some way to reach the ranch?

Now?

Or should I wait for the wagon to pull parallel with the wood? This will maximise my shooting, but the wagon will be much nearer the ranch.
I decide to wait.
TURN THREE
The wagon trundles along and my Indians spring into action, with the mounted warriors charging down to join their brothers who emerge from their hiding places in the wood. Meanwhile the Indians back in the village launch their canoes, landing on the far bank one square further south. That requires one movement point, and they use their other point to climb out of the canoes.

Ambush!

The two rifle-armed Indians in the part of the wood nearest Pitchfork Way fire at the front of the wagon. The range is two squares (in the Portable Wargame, distances are always measured through the sides of squares, never the corners), meaning they need a 3 to score a hit, but they have a -1 modifier because they moved from their hiding places. Only one succeeds in scoring a hit, and a further roll shows this is on a horse, reducing the wagon's speed to two movement points.Of the four Indians further back in the wood, two do not have line of sight as they are obstructed by the trees immediately to their front. But the other two, one armed with a rifle and one with a bow, fire at the front of the wagon. Again the range is two squares: the rifleman needs a 3, the bowman a 5; both have a -1 modifier. Surprisingly, while the rifleman misses, the Indian with a bow, no doubt happy to be using a traditional weapon rather than a new-fangled paleface invention, scores a hit. This turns out to be on the rancher riding shotgun, who is killed.
My mounted Indian with a bow is effectively unable to fire this turn as he has two -1 modifiers: one for moving and one for being mounted.
TURN FOUR
The cowboys in the back of the wagon pull off the tarpaulin as the wagon continues along Pitchfork Way. The wagon, thanks to one of the horses being injured, it is now only able to cover two squares. The men in the ranch rush through the gate and over the fence, and the cowboys on horseback also do their best to gallop to the wagoners' rescue.

Counter-ambush! The tarpaulin has been ripped off the wagon

One of Ricky's riflemen in the wagon fires at the mounted Indian with a bow, hitting his horse and forcing a one-square retreat (he has to fallback diagonally to the only empty square available). My mounted rifleman then fires at the same Indian but a roll of 4, which would normally suffice at a range of three squares, is nowhere near enough as there are -1 modifiers for moving and for being mounted. The two men from the ranch armed with rifles - one is myself, the other a cowboy - also fire at this Indian, but neither scores a hit. Two other cowboys armed with pistols are within extreme range (four squares) of the same brave, but cannot not fire as they need a 6 and they have a -1 modifier for moving. Finally, the second rifle-armed cowboy in the wagon fires at the same Indian but again misses, meaning the warrior has survived five shots.

View from the wagon at the end of turn four

Developing A Scenario (part five)

SETTING UP

At least one cowboy must be driving the wagon. As previously stated, he can be joined by a cowboy riding shotgun (but possibly only armed with a pistol) and by up to two more cowboys in the rear.

Both mounted cowboys are riding the range and must be placed in two of the northernmost squares west of the cacti. The rest of the cowboys can be placed anywhere inside the ranch fencing.

Southwest is nearest the camera

Up to two Indians on foot can be hiding in ambush in each of the three wooded squares, but do not needed to be physically placed there. The Indians on horseback must be placed in any of the northernmost squares between the cacti and the river. Remaining Indians start anywhere in the village.

The players should take turns in placing their men until the only ones left are those hidden from view, ie Indians in the wood and cowboys in the back of the wagon (their positions should be noted on paper, to be revealed once the game-proper starts). 

The game begins with the wagon entering along Pitchfork Way from the east. No one else can move until the game-proper starts, which is when Indians in the wood spring their ambush (if there are no Indians in the wood, it is going to be a short and uneventful game), or an Indian leaves the village or one of the Indians on horseback moves south.

Developing A Scenario (part four)

THE WAGON
The horse-drawn wagon is the key to the scenario.
It is travelling from Farmerville to the ranch with vital supplies, including dynamite.
Farmerville is to the east of the table, and the route the wagon takes is called Pitchfork Way.

My excuse for the unimaginative names ... they are on a signpost that came with one of the playsets

I have added timbers to show the route of Pitchfork Way on the table.

The timbers are lawn edging from a pound store

The wagon can move three squares while on Pitchfork Way and  while inside the ranch. The horses are used to the route and so will stay on it unless steered off, at which point each square requires two movement points.
One cowboy must be assigned to be the driver. He cannot fire a  weapon while driving but can melee if attacked in hand-to-hand fighting.
A second cowboy can ride shotgun and can fire forwards or sideways from the same square as occupied by the wagon's horses.
Up to two other cowboys can be placed in the wagon itself. Their presence is only revealed when they strip the wagon's canvas covering (this can be done by two men in one turn or one man in two turns) or fire straight backwards through the rear of the wagon. Once the covering is removed, occupants of the wagon can fire sideways or to the rear.
Anyone firing at the wagon must specify whether firing at the occupants of the front or rear half. Hits are determined in the normal way.
If a hit is scored on the front half, roll again with a 50:50 chance of the hit being on a horse or a man. If a horse is hit, the wagon's speed is reduced by a movement point; a second hit on a horse halts the wagon for the rest of the scenario. If a hit is scored on the rear half, roll again: 5 or 6, occupant hit; 1-4, no effect.
When a man on a wagon has been hit, roll to see what happens to him: 4-6, killed; 1-3, falls off the wagon to an adjacent square as far from the shooter as possible. There is no difference for being a rancher or a chief (in the event of the Indians capturing the wagon but later coming under attack).
The wagon can ride down any figure in its path on Pitchfork Way. Dice for the figure: 4-6, killed; 1-3, jumps to the side (if side square unavailable, can jump diagonally - is killed if no square available).
Any figure in its path but not on Pitchfork Way automatically jumps out of the way and is only killed if no square is available.
MORALE
The Indians flee to their village if both chiefs are killed (the wagon, if it has been captured, is abandoned).
The cowboys flee to their ranch if both ranchers are killed (the wagon is abandoned).
VICTORY CONDITIONS
The cowboys win if the wagon safely enters the ranch.

Developing A Scenario (part two)

The cowboys have a horse-and-wagon, two men on horseback (one with a rifle, the other with a lasso), five men on foot armed with rifles and four on foot armed with pistols.

The cowboys

The Indians have two men on horseback (one with a bow, the other with spear and shield) and 10 on foot - three with bows, three with rifles, three brandishing a tomahawk and knife, and one with a spear.

The Indians

For terrain I have used as much of the two playsets' scenic pieces as I reasonably could.

All scenery is from the playsets, apart from the river, which is made from tissue paper, and a footbridge made from coffee stirrers

In the top-righthand corner - let's call that the north-east - is an Indian village, which has two canoes, the river being otherwise uncrossable except in the southernmost square, which has a footbridge and is also a ford.
The three squares with a tree represent a continuous wood, there is rough terrain to their northwest in the squares containing cacti, and in the southwest is the edge of a ranch, which has a gate and a sign pointing to the town of Farmerville.
The scenario I am planning will be set around an Indian ambush of a supply wagon that is coming from Farmerville, which is off the table to the east.
The key to making this work will be the rules ....

A Knight To Remember - the aftermath

A toy-soldier pack well worth looking out for

ONCE again, playing with toy soldiers produced a fun scenario that neither of us took too seriously.
My opponent said, given the same circumstances, he would choose to defend the river crossing rather than picking the Black army.
He had correctly realised the rules make mounted knights very powerful - more powerful than I expected - but that was not enough to overcome the disadvantage of having to cross a river to get to grips with the enemy.
Of course there was a lot of luck involved, as exampled by the eventually wonderful dice-throwing of my crossbowman compared with the worse-than-mediocre results of his opposite number.
The one thing that surprised both of us was the relatively poor shooting of the engines. We were expecting them to dominate the battlefield, but instead they turned out to perform much more like their real-life counterparts. I guess it is a case where pre-battle practice would have made a big difference.
All in all, excellent value for money since the only new things I bought for the scenario were the playset itself, which cost well under £5, and the £1 pack of willow edging from Poundland.

A Knight To Remember - the battle concluded

Turn Seven
The catapult tried yet another over-the-heads shot, and again with success - killing one of my knights around the bombard and knocking down the remaining walls of the ruined building. But in a shocking development, Lord Hall's bannerman turned to the seemingly easy melee prey of my crossbowman, only to fall to what must have been a quick thrust of the archer's dirk.
One of my knights tore down Black's now-unguarded banner, and my crossbowman followed up his meleeing success by shooting dead another Black knight crossing the bridge.

Looking along the river, which Black's knights are starting to wade across, having been cleared from the footbridge

Turn Eight
A quiet turn for Lord Hall. His men made slow work of crossing the river, and both his crossbowman and catapult missed their shots.
My bombard, at last able to shoot again, downed a knight in the river, and my crossbowman killed yet another Black knight crossing the bridge.

Carnage on the bridge

Turn Nine
A Black knight mounted the riderless horse, but the catapult again fired harmlessly into the riverside logged trees.
I engineered a pair of 2v1 battles, but lost both of them, fortunately only being forced back rather than suffering casualties. However, my bombard killed another Black knight.

Lord Hall personally leads a charge across the bridge, driving back two Grey defenders

Turn Ten
The finish came quickly as I engineered three 2v1 fights and won them all, including killing the courageous Lord Hall. With his remaining forces heavily outnumbered, my opponent graciously conceded.
to be continued

A Knight To Remember - the battle

Turn One
We diced to see who would go first, with Lord Hall winning.
He ordered a general advance of his infantry and cavalry, and fired the catapult - but missed.
I left my forces in position and fired the bombard at Black's mounted knights. I missed them, but laid low a foot soldier advancing from further back.

Lord Hall's right flank...the first casualty can be seen lying prone to the rear

Turn Two
Lord Hall continued his forces' advance. His catapult fired again ,but the force of the shot was absorbed by the logged trees by the river bank.
His lordship could be heard distinctly mumbling about having ended up on the wrong side of the battlefield.
The Black cavalry were now within range of my crossbowman, but he needed a 6 to score a hit, instead of the usual 5 at long range, as there was a hedge between him and his target. In the event, it did not matter as I rolled a lousy 1.
I also muffed the bombard's firing, with its shot rolling harmlessly along the top of the table and off the end.

Horsemen close in on Baron Spital's bombard

Turn Three
The cavalry plunged into the river and the rest of Lord Hall's forces did their best to keep up.
This time he fired the catapult with extra vigour, but only succeeded in hitting my sitting-room radiator. We have not been able to find the shot ball - I guess it will turn up in due course.
I moved some of my knights forward to support the bombard which, firing at almost point-blank range, brought down one of the mounted knights. The force of the shot threw the horse and rider into the westernmost hedge, bringing that down too.

Close-up of the bombard's second success

Turn Four
Showing a little desperation, Lord Hall fired a catapult shot over his men and into the ruined building. He did not hit any of my knights, but brought down my banner, meaning it cannot give any melee bonuses.
His surviving cavalryman crossed the river and rode down one of the bombard crew (rolling a 5 and a 1 against my man's 3).

One of the bombard crew is ridden down, while you can just see my downed banner in the ruined building

My bombard could not fire as its crew were being meleed, but I moved some knights in position to hopefully pair up against the cavalryman next turn.
My crossbowman successfully fired at Lord Hall's banner carrier, but could only roll a 2 on the follow-up kill throw.
Turn Five
Lord Hall's catapult returned to its previously dismal record of misses, but his cavalryman rode down another of my knights (just: 3+2 v 3) and his bannerman bravely started to cross the footbridge.

Lord Hall's bannerman charges the footbridge

My crossbowman, apparently getting nervous at the approaching Black forces, missed his shot. But there was a better result for me when I was able to get two knights to simultaneously melee the remaining cavalryman. They won the battle, killing the rider.
Turn Six
Lord Hall's bannerman charged into a knight I had sent forward to hold the bridge. Both men threw a 6, which meant my man was forced back 3" as the Black knight received a bonus of 1 for being with his army's banner.
The catapult crew tried another risky shot, aiming over their friends' heads at my bombard, knocking over one of my two-handed pikemen.
I could not mount the riderless enemy horse as the Grey figures have no riders, so instead I moved my victorious knights to man the bombard, ready to fire next turn.
Two of my knights confronted Lord Hall's bannerman, but their 3+1 was easily beaten by his 6, even without the banner bonus, so one of my knights was downed and the other forced back 3".
But my crossbowman raised his game, shooting dead the next Black knight that tried to cross the bridge.

A bird's eye view of the battle for the footbridge. Lord Hall is winning, at least for now, as Black's knights control both sides of the bridge

to be continued

A Knight To Remember - part two of a medieval WINTER skirmish scenario

Lord Hall won the dice-off and chose to command the Black army. That left me with the slightly outnumbered Grey forces, but having only to hold the footbridge until the end of turn 15.
As the defender, I had to set out my forces first, and we soon discovered an unexpected problem - stability, or rather the lack thereof.
The figures had stood up perfectly well on the table in my hotel room in Olomouc, but they showed no such desire to do the same on a green cloth, no matter how flat it appeared to the naked eye.
We tried using small blobs of Blu-Tack under each figure's base, but this did not make much difference.
In the end we agreed to dispense with the green cloth, which is why this has become a medieval winter scenario.
The battlefield is much the same as in my previous post, but the ground is now considered to be covered with snow - enough to hide any signs of grass, but not enough to affect movement or combat. Also, there is no high ground to the north.

The Grey forces, with the figure of Baron Spital, holding a pennant, in the right-foreground

I placed the bombard west of the ruined building, so its crew would have a largely uninterrupted view of the Black forces' advance. An engine needs a minimum crew of two to fire, but I have given it three so it can continue in action even if one man falls.
I put the crossbowman in position to cover the footbridge, and spread out the rest of the men to try to minimise casualties from the Black catapult.
Then it was Lord Hall's go to lay out his troops - anywhere north of the larger pile of logged trees.

Looking from behind the Black forces, with Lord Hall of Vaux holding a pennant bottom-left

He put the catapult on the eastern side of the battlefield, with the figure of himself well to the rear. His cavalry were placed directly opposite my bombard.
The Rules
Movement
Knights on foot: 6"
Knights mounted: 12"
Engine: 3" (minimum crew of two)
Crossing the river slows movement by half
Engine Shooting
An engine can fire one shot in any turn in which it has not moved and its crew are not involved in a melee. It can be pivoted 45 degrees right or left before firing.
Crossbow Shooting
A crossbowman can fire in any turn in which he has not moved and is not meleeing. He can pivot 45 degrees right or left before firing.
Range............Score needed for a hit
Under 12".....4 or more
12-24"...........5 or more
Target behind cover: -1
If a hit is scored, roll a second die, needing a 4 or more for a kill.
Target 0-6" away: +1
Target 18-24" away: -1
Target has no shield: +1
If a mounted knight suffers a kill, roll a die to decide if the horse or the man is out of action. A riderless horse can be mounted by another knight, taking half a turn to do so. A mounted knight can continue on foot if his horse is killed.
Hand-to-Hand Fighting
When enemy figures come into contact, each rolls a die. A difference of two or more is needed for a kill. A difference of one means the loser falls back 3". An equal score means the melee continues next turn.
Modifiers
Two-handed weapon on the first turn of a melee: +2
No shield: -1
Behind cover on the first turn of a melee: +1
Meleeing while in the river: -1
Meleeing within 3" of own flag or banner: +1 (this takes the place of any other morale rule)
A mounted knight rolls two dice if fighting a dismounted knight. Similarly, two dismounted knights roll two dice if fighting one enemy (larger odds are not possible). Two dismounted knights versus one mounted fight on equal terms.
To be continued

A Knight To Remember - medieval skirmish scenario

IT has been more than a month since I bought the Knight Playset in the Czech Republic, but we are at last ready to do battle with it.
I am taking on the persona of Baron Spital, while my opponent, who is my regular wargames adversary, has sunk his identity into that of Lord Hall of Vaux.
The Battlefield
One army will defend a footbridge over a river. It runs through what was heavily wooded land, but has been cleared.
On the south side of the river is a ruined building and a pile of logged trees. The northern bank of the river is partly hedged, and there is another pile of logged trees at the bottom of higher ground to the north, which is where the attackers will come from.
The river is fordable by foot and horse at half-speed; the hedges are made of thick thorn and are impassable.

The battlefield viewed from the south

The Armies
You may recall from an earlier post (http://timspanton.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/czech-out-these-knights.html) that the two armies, Black and Grey, are unbalanced.
Black has 16 dismounted figures, two mounted figures, a flag depicting a lion or (gold) rampant on a field of gules (red), two mounted figures, and a large catapult.
Grey has 16 dismounted figures, a flag depicting a lion vert (green) rampant on a field of or (gold), and a bombard.
The Set-Up
The two players will dice for the right to either a) defend the river crossing, or b) choose which army to have.
Victory
The attacker has to capture both ends of the footbridge by the end of turn 15.
Technical Information
The table is 6ft by 2ft 6in.
The river is made from blue tissue paper from Ryman, the logged trees are Charlie Dimmock willow edging from Poundland, the hedges are from the 4D model shop in Tower Hamlets, and the footbridge is a 10mm-scale wooden bridge from Pendraken. The ruined building is the remains of the deer park I built from model bricks for our refight of the Battle of Chotusitz.
To be continued