A Bad Day At Veripore

 It has been a while since I have played a game, so I decided to set up a Northwest Frontier situation for "The Sword and the Flame". It was also a chance to use the Solo Game Aid I've been developing. During the game, I found a few programming errors in the game aid which I was able to correct. First, I will describe the Solo Game Aid, then I will recount the action at Veripore.

Set Up Sheet - This is where all the units are defined. Aside from the Table ID, all of the items used to define a unit are accessed through drop-down menus.

You may have noticed that Side B (the Pathans for this game) have a number of incomplete entries. These are to accommodate the hidden unit markers that are used for them. Since the entries are only needed for movement, I left the other data off. Additional units can be added later, if needed.

Hidden Unit Module - Above is the hidden unit module. There is room for up to 60 hidden unit markers. To use this module, enter the number of hidden unit markers in the second field from the right and the percentage of markers you want to be dummies in the far right field, then click the create units button. The program randomly determines whether a marker is an actual unit or a dummy and writes that information to a hidden sheet. So, I don't know which markers are real and which are not. I lay out the markers after I've deployed Side A's troops. When Side A is able to view of a hidden unit marker, I toggle the Spotted colum's cell next to the spotted card's number to "Yes". Only then do I find out if that marker is for a real unit or not.

The Wattie-Hootie Roll determines a radius from the spotted unit that any hidden unit markers within that radius are also activated. This is to keep the player from maneuvering his forces so that they only spot one hidden unit marker at a time so as to only engage the one unit and defeat the enemy in detail. Wattie-Hootie is a term an old gaming buddy of mine would use when he sent his units into a charge.

Movement Module - This module determines the number of movement dice roll based on the factor that apply.  User input is required for Formation, Charging, on a road, or in rough terrain. The program also looks at the casualty roster to determine if a Leaderless to Move check is required. It then generates the appropriate number of random numbers and displays them on the selected unit's row.

Shooting Module - The Determine Shooter button randomly determines which side gets to shoot with one unit. Drop-down menus are used to assign the firing unit, number of shooters, target class, and target unit. Click the Take The Shot button to determine the number and figure types hit.

The results of shooting are transferred to the casualty roster (sheet Side B in this example). The Leader is always in column B. If you are using my unit roster generator, the casualties will have to be transferred to those by hand.

Melee Module - In the Melee Module you select the two units involved (Side A to the left and Side B to the right). Then press the Populate Units button. This marks off previous casualties or, in the case of cavalry, numbers 13 through 20 (to represent a 12 figure unit). Any charging stragglers are entered by the player. The player also toggles to 'Yes' any modifiers that apply for each side. Then click the Calculate Modifiers button to Show the dice roll modifiers. Click the Fight Round button to see who wins and who loses. Once a winner is determined, casualties are applied to the casualty rosters.

Morale Module - Here, you select the side and the unit that needs a morale check, the click the button for the type of test needed. The Morale Status column tells you the results (results are also displayed in a message box). And that's it for the solo game aid.

The Battle at Veripore

Veripore is a small village set up between the arms of an escarpment on the northwest frontier. And reports have it that the local tribes are behaving in a most ungentlemanly manner. So, Captain Will Gordon and a platoon each of the 18th Lucknow and the 42nd Bengal Infantry (Gurkhas) along with a troop of 12th Bengal Lancers were sent to investigate.

As they moved into the valley, they could feel eyes upon them.

(From the opposite end of the table, showing the placement of hidden unit markers.)

Lt. Jess Barker, of the Bengal Lancers, sends out a scout  to reconnoiter the copse of trees to the right. At first, he finds nothing.

Meanwhile, the 42nd, led by Lt. Wilson Taylor, scope out the trees to the left.

Taylor and his men spot a band of Pathans lurking nearby.

The Pathans charge straight away. The steady Gurkha reply with a volley, downing 4 of the tribesmen.

Continuing into the grove, the lancer scout spots another band of tribesmen.

The Pathans going against the Gurkha lost their nerve. The Gurkha followed them up with a charge of their own.

Back on the right flank, this band is not content with going after a single lancer and move toward the main body of troops.

After defeating the band on the right, the lancers move into the valley. They spot another band of Pathans to the left!

That band's Wattie-Hootie check activates all units on the Pathan end of the table.

Four Pathan units now join in the fray.

The 16th forms up next to the lancers as the 42nd rushes back to get into the action.

The Sepoys exchange fire with the Pathans, giving better than they received.

The Gurkhas get back to protect the right flank as the Pathans crash into the 16th.

The sepoys are bested by the wily Pathan.

The Gurkha fill in for the retreating 16th, while the lancers take on another Pathan band.

The Gurkha are hit by to units at once. They beat the first, but are too depleted to vanquish the second. Only one man survived.

The Lancers are forced to fall back and retreat off the field. The day belonged to the Pathan.

I hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy post.

Thank you for dropping in.

3D printed Soldiers for the early days in India

 Hi all, sorry it took a while since my last posting, but I was dealing with some health issues, which have been corrected, so I am now in a situation where I can get back to game stuff.

What I mean by the early days in India is the struggle between the French and English for control of the subcontinent. To be more precise, I wanted some figures to recreate the battle of Wandiwash in 1760. For the European contingents, there is a plethora of figures available. I chose to use models from Battle Cat Historicals which has an excellent collection of Seven Years War models. However, there are not many, if any, Indian troops available. So, using bits if found on Thingiverse from designers like Dutch Mogul, Earsling, Waynemc65, and others, I designed my own sepoys. So, here is what I came up with.

This is the inspiration for the first of my figures.

And here is my version of the above picture.

This is an image of  a regular soldier from the kingdom of Mysore.

This is my version of the above illustration.

This is another uniform of Mysore's regular army

These are my version of the picture.

This is an illustration of a French Sepoy from 1756.

These are my French Sepoys.

This is a Nellore Sepoy.

Here are my Nellore Sepoys.

The two above illustrations are of irregular cavalry.

These are my Indian irregular cavalry.

Here is my version of Indian irregular infantry.

This is a British Sepoy.

These are my British Sepoys.

The following photos are of  Battle Cat Historical's British Seven Years War infantry. Note that the British regulars are delivered with boots. I modified mine to be wearing gaiters.

That's it for this entry, I hope you like it. Thank you for reading.

Archibald, Certainly Not! - Playtest One of Observation Mission Rules

 Hi All,

I hope your gaming time and your holidays were full of fun and good cheer. Mine were, on both counts. Yesterday, I submitted the first draft of the observation rules I've been working on for 4 P Press' 'Archibald, Certainly Not!'. So I thought I'd give them a run through to see how they worked. So, here is how it went.

It was late in 1914, the maneuver war was over. HQ wanted to know what Fritz was up to, so they called on Mack Manfull to fly a reconnaissance mission over the lines in his Sopwith Tabloid.

The writing in the notes gives the location of the target to be scouted. This is measured from the right corner on the German side of the table. So, the target is 4" in along the short side of the table and 22" down the long side of the table. This location is not marked on the table until the recon mission is completed. The player must estimate this location and fly his plane over the target.

This is the battlefield, looking from the British side. The target location is measured from the corner in the upper left of the above picture.

Here are some game aids I put together for this game. On the left are Weather Condition cards. The four laid out will tell me the cloud cover over the 4 quadrants of the table. This will influence the success of the mission. The pile of counters on the right are used to mark possible anti aircraft units. There are four types of counters; Heavy AA, Light Machine Gun AA, Small Arms AA, and Dummy counters. In the pile are 1 Heavy AA, 5 each of Lt. MG and Small Arms AA, and 11 Dummy counters. These were placed face down on the table, so I do not know what the counters represent.

Mack starts out maneuvering over 'No Man's Land', lining up his first pass over the target.

On turn 1, I make a 2 and a half point turn left, using a newly designed turning circle. Each point costs the Tabloid 2 movement points, due to its engine rating of zero. The next three moves are straight. At the end of the third straight move, Mack has come into range of the first two Archie markers.

 

These are turned over and reveal a Small Arms and a Lt. MG AA unit. The Small Arms unit can do nothing as Mack is flying too high, but the light MG can shoot, which it does, but misses. I also turned over the first weather card and found this sector has clear skies.

Mack, ignoring the fire directed at him, turns on to his course and begins his recce run.

The plane turns parallel to the long table edge where I think 4" in is, then flies straight for 3 more turns. These moves reveal another Small Arms and a Lt. MG AA unit. The two Lt. MG units are both in range, but score no hits. At 3" into the last straight move, I place my first location marker for my recce run.

After another straight move, I place the second location marker, completing the first leg of the recon. The weather in this sector is light clouds, which applies a modifier to the mission success, making success less likely. More Archibald is also revealed.

As Mack slowly turns to line up his next pass, The Tabloid shutters as bullets rip through fabric and wood.

Discovering even more Ack-Ack, (where are all those dummy markers), Mack's plane takes a hit. I've modified the Archie rules here, counting Lt. MG hits as only 1 hit instead of 1D6 hits.

As Mack continues his lazy turn, another round of Archibald slams into his ship, still nothing critical though. He is about in line for his next pass.

The next 3 turns are spent trying to get in line for his next pass over the target area. A die roll determined that a crossing pattern was needed for this mission, which meant the plane would be in enemy territory much longer than a single pass would require.

As Mack was coming out of the turn, two more rounds ripped into his machine, this time with catastrophic effect. The Tabloid erupted into a brilliant fireball, as it plummeted into the lake.

Archie scored two more hits, this time both critical hit dice came up sixes. Both rolls on the critical hit table also came up sixes, and that sealed Mack Manfull's fate.

Though the mission ended in failure, I was curious as to how close I was to hitting the target for this observation mission. So I plotted the target location. My first pass went right over the target at the end of the run, while the second pass was about 2 and a half inches off.

All in all, it worked well (not so much for Mack), but I think I had too much Archibald on the table. Next time, I will cut it in half. As written, there are 2D6 Lt MG and 2D6 small arms worth of markers available. While the small arms did not play a role, the light machine guns got to fire many shots (the plane was under fire from at least two guns every turn that it was in enemy territory. I should have used the out of ammo rules for Archie as well. I think counting hits as single hits instead of 1D6 hits was the right call.

There are rules for interceptor aircraft showing up, but my die roll for that was stubbornly stuck on low numbers instead of the 6 that was required.

I hope you have enjoyed this account of my game development. I wish you all well, and happy gaming!