When Life Gives You Lemons

Otherwhen in its Current Full Glory

This year has tossed me several unprecedented changes one of which is having my eyes rebuilt. For the most part this is a wonderful improvement allowing me to see better than I have in over a half century, but it came with a major unforeseen issue that I can not see up close the way I have in the past, even with corrective eye wear. What this means is I must relearn how to paint. Complicated figures or painting patterns are outside my skills for now, so I went back to the simplest figures I had to recover with, these being my Toy Soldiers.

New 12 Figure Otherwhen Unit in Line

Having made this decision there are two unexpected effects with which I am now dealing. First is this painting will increase my “Collection.” I chose this word deliberately as I discovered that my formally “Practical” force, which being enough figures to play normal size games I host, was going to become larger purely for my own gratification, thus changing from being just gaming to collecting. The second was if I want to ever use this many figures in games, I needed to simplify the rules I use. Neither of these is a bad thing, but both require me rethink goals.

New Otherwhen 12 Figure Unit in Column

Organization: I am now looking at going from games of three to four players per side to ultimately nine players per side. The new organization for this is going to be in steps, the beginning being to switch brigades from four regiments down to only three, then adding a Light Cavalry Brigade of six squadrons of lancers and hussars and rearranging where artillery was allocated. This would bring me to three full infantry brigades and a light and heavy cavalry brigade along with Corp artillery for six players per side.The full future expansion was to bring all six infantry brigades up to four regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery, with each division adding a light cavalry squadron. A Light Cavalry Brigade of four squadrons, which would go from six figures to twelve and a Heavy Cavalry Brigade of six squadrons. Both cavalry brigades would also be gaining a Flying Battery of horse artillery. The Corp Reserve would go to three batteries of heavy artillery and two flying batteries of horse artillery. Commanders would increase to ten with six infantry, two cavalry, a Corp artillery, and a Commander-in-Chief.

Nodd 3 Regiment Brigade With Artillery and Hussars

Rules: These need combat simplification and command restructuring. Combat will likely combine with morale something like Command and Colors systems, while command will likely change to limited unit activation per turn with players still having a reserve order pool to improve results. C-in-Cs will likely add command improvement cards that they can assign or hold to implement themselves. I have many general thought but few actual rules right now. Critical to my thinking is that players will still be able to do more rather than less as I retain my view of game design being that players want to be rewarded, not penalized in their game play.

Otherwhen 3 Regiment Brigade With Artillery and Lancers

New Nodd Division

New Otherwhen Division

Mid Nineteenth Century Campaign - A Beginning

Part of the Hildorien Maethor Army 

 Early in the Spring I decided to run a campaign for my local game group. The goals were simple tactical rules and small force to have games conclude in 2-3 hours, area point-to-point movement and well defined objectives for the map part. Previous control of an area and the movement into that area would determine the type of battle based on cross referencing each armies posture. This would give a short time spent on map moves and focus the game on the tactical level. 

Flag of the Principalities of Mutts

I have eleven players for the game and while it is an ImaginNation setting I wanted it to feel like the historic period. I therefore have 3 major nations, each run by two players, to represent the powers of Austria, France and Prussia. There are two players directly opposed to each other that represent Italy. The remainder are all independent. The general goals are for Austria or Prussia to build and run the German state, while France seeks to prevent this. The Italians are looking for a single unified state and remain independent from the big three powers. For the independents the goals range from being on the winning side of Greater German and having a voice in its future, or retaining their independence from all other states. There are plenty of neutral/small states on the map to conquer, or control to allow the smaller states to negotiate terms with the larger ones. These will simple require occupation to obtain control. 

Flag of Hildorien Maethor

An unusual feature of the campaign is ending it in phases based on the total loses of all nations. I want to represent the short duration of most of the wars and I felt this would accomplish that and make players more aggressive. Once the loss limit is reached all controlled territory can be traded, and all armies will return to their starting levels for the start of the next phase. 

Flag of Lupuslignum

Each player begins the game with two full armies and a half strength one that is used to replace loses in the main two. The initial size of each army is based on its type, of which there are four different ones, Aristocratic: cavalry heavy, Educated: artillery heavy, Quality of Quantity: large but an abundance of green troops, and Small but Elite: having no green troops, the largest amount of veterans, but the least numerous. The tactical rules are base on Bob Cordey's Portable Wargame with a number of tweaks of my own. 

I will provide more details on rules in future posts. 

Back From the Dead...Kind of

19th Century ImagiNation Army

 After nine month of fighting with it I have finally convinced Google that this is indeed my account.

So what have I been up to these past months? I just returned from Gen Con and what a strange show it was. I don't think I have seen this level of attendance in over 25 years. Still waiting on official numbers but my estimate is 20,000 per day and 25,000 unique. That's way down from the 60,000-65,000 of 2019. Despite that, it was a good show. I especially enjoyed seeing old friends again.

The rest of the year was work, personal issues and some gaming. The biggest part is working to start up a Mid Nineteenth Century Unification Wars Campaign. I have the tactical rules done, a good deal of the campaign rules and a few of the armies complete. Now that my schedule is open again progress should move quickly. More detailed reports will follow soon.

Detail View of Line Unit

New Scenario: C-in-C’s at Work

I ran a different sort of scenario for my Toy Solders game on Wednesday. The goal of this was to test out an idea of reserves. I wanted C-in-C’s to have a broader job than just moving from crisis point to crisis point adding the command points. I worked out rules to activate and attach reserves for the game that required them to be within command range of the divisional commander they were attaching to. We played through it twice and while it worked, it still lacked the crises point issue that I had hoped for. The scenario both times went well, so all is good on that front.

Game 1 opening moves

In the first game both sides shifted forces to attack/reinforce the town road exit. This led to a weakening of the central road position that the forces of Otherwhen succeeded in taking. 

Reinforcing the town

Cavalry battle on the town flank

Assault on the central hill line

In the second game cavalry was sent to the high hill flank while the main assault came straight up the central road. Devastating fire from the Otherwhen forces had the Nodd defenders reeling. Even with this the Nodd defenders were not pushed off the hill until the last turn. 

Game 2

The cavalry battle near the town, while the key assaults approach the hill line.

Otherwhen assault advancing up the main road

Otherwhen's assault on the big hill begins. 

Nodd's infantry stand ready on the central hill 

Cavalry face off in the valley below the big hill.

Otherwhen cuirassier and lancers in the foreground. Nodd hussars to the left. 

The cavalry battle near the town road.

Last of Nodd's cuirassier defending near the town await the Otherwhen charge.

Otherwhen's Queen's Guard lend their weight to the assault on Nodd's Royal Foot Guard. 

At battles end the field nearly empty of Nodd defenders 

At near days end Nodd's Royal Foot Guard still holding on to the main road right to the end

Out of Left Field

Union Forces Approach the Confederate Line at the Battle of Barnett's Bluff

A few weeks back I agreed to join my group of Longstreet players for another campaign. The talk had been about starting in the spring, which works great for my schedule. That would give me plenty of time to repaint my missing cavalry, destroyed by me in a tragic slip on the ice moment. As I wanted to play an Eastern force this time, I would also have time to get a few new command stands done and add a new unit or two.

 Well, things got moving faster than I expected and the first game has been played. My Union forces lead by Ebenezer W. Pierce, composed of the 4^th Massachusetts, 3^rd and 7^th New York, 4^th Massachusetts Artillery, and the 2^nd US Cavalry (formally the 2^nd US Dragoons) battled Carnot Posey and his Mississippians.

The Battle of Slippery Springs

Yankees Pour Fire into the Faces of the Rebs

As this was the first battle of the campaign both sides had mirror image forces. We fought an Outflanking battle with me as the attackers.

 My trait cards, Artillery & Engineering Officer give me a nice +1 boost to a single artillery battery per turn, and the ability to start with an extra bridge across either a stream or river, or to start with a good section of fieldworks. I also get a +1 to digging in my troops during the game.

 Carnot Posey has European Veteran and Personal Physician giving him a +1 boost to his infantry shooting with a risk of losing cards (1-3 loose that many cards, 4+ no effect). The Personal Physician reduce the risk to only being affected on a 1-2, plus be immune to the most deadly card in the game that removes 1-6 cards from your hand at the start of your play, (you only have a 6 card hand).

 Both sides started the battle headed for the open flank, me to exploit it, the Rebs to fill it. Both of us where lucky and had bonus movement cards, but the Rebs played a card that kept my cavalry from moving for a turn and that would have left my infantry vulnerable if it advanced.

 Having lost my advantage, I forced a Reb infantry unit into range of two of my infantry units, with the intention of shooting it to pieces. The Rebs had the right counter and turned my shooting into crap. So much for best laid plans. 
The battle then turned into a series of charges and counter-charges (Charges gain Epic Point (EPs), and EPs are what the campaign is about). We both made headway, but the Rebs broke through my center, while I only pushed back their flank. The game was close with my failure to cause any casualties on my last turn, despite having four rolls of 50% to do so, being the difference in winning and losing. I lost the real battle of EPs 4-to-9. In the end a moment of hesitation on my part of not launching a charge cost me.

 

Rebs Launch a Massed Attack on the Yankee Line

The other forces of the Army of the Potomac fought in a 3-on-3 game. In The Battle of Barnett’s Bluff, the Union troops were soundly defeated by the Rebs. A combined force of Virginians lead by Charles S. Winder, North Carolinians lead by J. Johnson Pettigrew, and Louisans lead by Harry T. Hays, first stalled the Union attack, then launched a major flanking assault to break the line. The New York Zouaves lead by Romeyn B. Ayres, held the Union center, supported on the left by Israel B Richardson’s Michiganders, and Thomas Francis Meagher’s 2^nd Irish Brigade. It was the Irish that suffered dreadful losses from the Louisans assaults on their exposed flank.

 

Confederate Assault on the Irish Brigade's Flank

This is only 1861 and there are another six battles to go. The Confederates start with all the advantages, but over time that swings to the Union. My big problem is I am in last place with 4EPs with most of the pack way up at 8-12. Time to teach my boys bayonet drill and hope for some great press.

Emptying the Bucket

Carthaginian Plastic Pile

Taking the bit between my teeth I am starting to work on the bucket list projects. Today I picked up a pile of figures for my Carthaginian army. I already have a lot of the Pyric and Romans figures, so this is the next force. I have never had a Carthaginian force in any scale, which is very odd since this is my favorite ancient’s army. Once I get around to this project they will be first on the painting table. 

Perry Union Artillery Battery for Longstreet

I have already painted a full Union force for Longstreet, so adding the Confederates is simple project, especially since I have had Perry plastic figures to do just that for years. Of note is the first figure I ever painted was of a Reb. I never have played the southerners, as my personally family history is all about the “Boys in Blue”. Seems natural from a group of folks that lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. 

Fireforge Archers and Spearmen

The third group is the big thing in my gaming world now. At the beginning of May I started work on my Medieval project. I have a goal of 200 figures painted by September and have made a start. This is all for a campaign I plan to run in October. With that said, it is time to give the keyboard a rest and get back to my painting.