Alan Snider - Jun 10, 2005 11:05 pm (#10116 Total: 10116) On the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada with a retail store of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/ CSWE GAMEDAY, June 10: Here's the update of my first gaming experience while at Monstercon. So far, Nathan Kilgore and I have had 2 starts with his game Iron Tide. I was experiencing some grave difficulties getting the German attacks going well after my first few playthroughs with the game after purchasing it. My goal was to learn to be a competent German player, and Nathan's excellent tutelage has allowed me to realize my goal. In our first game, Nathan took the Germans and I took the American defence. it did not take long for Nathan to completely dismantle the American capability to put up a credible defence. The speed at which this happened was simply startling (and embarrassing for me). After receiving a total trouncing, we reset the game and changed sides. the idea here was for me to take the lessons learned by watching how the German forces were run in order to get a better idea of how to best go at the task. The central strategy for the German side is to attack consistently with combined arms and artillery in EVERY attack (or else you be screwed). Typically 4-1 is the minimum odds one should accept when making an attack. This requires that one have made a solid estimate on what one thinks the minimum number of strength factors that will be drawn by those force who will participate in the battle (in addition to those already possessing a strength value. For myself, this was a very important key; otherwise, the Germans are prone to smashing themselves to death. In the second game, with myself as the German it was amazing to see how Nathan would sneak in a puny unit to force a soak off on a chosen attack; at times this would force a reconsideration of the choice to attack (as attack is voluntary when adjacent). I managed to have the best showing as the German side in a game of Iron Tide. I managed to get across the initial river in 2 spots fairly quickly, but that is when one's ability to co-ordinate combined arms gets very tricky and directly affects ones' ability to push forward. Infantry can cross the river without a bridge while mechanized units cannot. I managed to get the 1 VP for Monshau and began to head for St.Vith by turn 4. this may have been a bit of an error however; as the central corridor without rivers lies dead centre on the map and this is far and away the most important place to drive for. Moving sideways simply allows the American player to make all the necessary adjustments and bring in reinforcement to all the areas that need it. I also learned plenty on how to run the American defence. Turn 5 contains plenty of great units to help plug holes, and the US player really must drive toward this turn in terms of strategy and risk allowances. Nathan's defence was real solid and he managed to delay me quite well, such that new units coming on began to dig entrenchments around Bastogne, effectively making it impossible to penetrate. as NK himself puts it "if you see the American player start to build an entrenchment line in front to Bastogne- It's over!". This is surely true. I really had a good time with Nathan Kilgore, and I really appreciated his patience with my gameplay as I certainly did not provide him much competition (How much fun can that be?). I made tons of blunders and never really felt too sharp in my command. I did reach my goal of becoming a better Iron Tide player, and this was one of my goals this time around. Alan Snider - Jun 12, 2005 12:28 am (#10119 Total: 10127) On the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada with a retail store of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/ CSWE GAMEDAY, June 11: I started off the day bright and early playing a game of an old Wargamer magazine game, "Duel in the Desert" with Lou Manios. This game is quite small ("It's so Cuuuute!" each time Adam Starkweather walked by our table). The great part of this game is that it is double blind. It reminded me a lot of games of the old AH "Midway", as we tried to outfox each other to have surprise attacks..etc. We made it through the first year of 2 years, and the Germans were able to take both Benghazi and Tobruk. The final key to the game being Alexandria. The British made an all out effort to form a nice line runnning diagonal away from Bardia and toward the German positions. Lou really used his recce units a lot better than I did; and subsequently I had a hard time finding his real positions vs. simply projected ZoCs that gave the illusion of a solid front. This whole business reminded me of 7 Days of 1809 by OSG. An expert use of screening forces is necessary to get the upper hand in the cat n' mouse of it all. We plan on finishing up tomorrow AM, as Lou had some other commitments to move onto. Lou turned out to be quite a bit different than I thought he'd be. After seeing his scary photo on CSW, I was looking for a skinhead with a huge skull and frame to match. The guy is really subdued for the most part, and was really personable. My girl friend (who is Greek)will be pleased that the Greek wargamer held up the "national reputation" in such fine style. After lunch I got into a 4-player game of RHB's "Medieval". This game is certainly original in it's design; and has a interesting balance between possibilities and historical representation. I did have a tough time figuring out how all the mechanics fit together as a whole, but this is not a game one loses by having ones' first few turns go poorly. It's kind of like a long distance race, which in the last mile all the runners start to jockey for position for the home stretch of the game. Things can end quite surprisingly quickly if the last few Mongol cards are drawn back to back; especially if there are power cards left to be drawn. A fellow Canadian, Ian Schofield also played in this game, and he showed his superior understanding of the game almost immediately. The guy is very bright. On that note, I have found that here at CSWE, brilliant people are a dime a dozen (and I am NOT one of them). Lloyd Paxton, the best gamer in my group at home would have lofty company and solid competition. It might not be too much of a stretch to say that I am one of the most mediocre quality gamers at this con. Hell!, let's just admit it...It's true. I sure am learning a lot though, but at the price of my foolish pride. As Nathan Kilgore said upon seeing a long face on me from time to time (it is frightening easy to read my state of mind)..."It looks like your moral level has taken some major hits". All true. John Gibbins - Jun 12, 2005 5:43 pm (#5477 Total: 5491) ANOTHER great Con, John! Abundant thanks to John Krantz for another great Con, always superb yet always even better than last time! John, a deep lover of these games, gives up gaming for most of the Con so he can organize and facilitate the fun for the rest of us. Not only did he arrange an excellant snack bar, he made useful announcements reminding us of map-endangering beverages he'd observed, jogging us out of our strategic preoccupations and probably thereby saving at least one map from ruination. In the finest sense (humorously), he is trully the "Mother of All Battles!" John Gibbins John Loy - Jun 12, 2005 9:38 pm (#5478 Total: 5491) "The die has nothing to do with movement" Great Con Another great year! Sad it's over The best gaming as always. A terrific selection of games being played. Somewhat bigger auction than last year and a much bigger flea market. Auction was still a buyers market for the most part. I don't recall anything over $150, but I may be wrong. Already planning next year - an extra day!!!!!! Thanks, John for all the good times!!! Alan Emrich - Jun 13, 2005 12:25 am (#5479 Total: 5491) "A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are for." - John A. Shedd Yeah, I enjoyed the Auction, too, even though I didn't have a seat. Fantastic con, you guys. And thanks for being so nice to my son, James. You all made him feel very welcome. Alan Emrich Auctioneer sysop - Jun 13, 2005 1:56 am (#5480 Total: 5491) [John Kranz] ConsimWorld.COM. Thanks to all for a great CSW Expo! It's starts again June 6-11, 2006 I'm in recharging my batteries mode after another exciting time shared with many. I should start getting back up to speed on the newsdesk early part of this week and will do my best to get an expo recap posted soon. Thanks to all for attending, and see you all again in 2006! Richard H. Berg - Jun 13, 2005 5:03 am (#5481 Total: 5491) "I'll try to be nicer, if you try to be smarter" "RHB looks younger w/o his beard." I AM younger . . . I am really Merlin . . . Thank to Paul B and John for the pictures . . . and for Paul's help in playtesting that new WWII Battle System game, in the form of ROMMEL. Damn thing actually worked . . . and well . . . As usual, great to see everyone again ., . . and see some new faces (and some who need new faces). Steve Carey a most worthy winner of Star Performer . . . The restaurant "Ra" has descended into high decibel, meat market madness (granted some of the meat was "cherce" . . . altho, i was told, not as visually stunning as the waitstaff at "The Library", which seemed to be made up of those who tried out for "Hooters" but were told they were too slutty and obvious . . . .) 6 Pacific War games going . . . a bit too much of a good thing, but our hobby always seems to run down that road. EMPIRE OF THE SUN appeared to be the obvious fave, given the number of games going on at once. I, personally, was glad to see so many games of ALESIA ongoing . . .at one time, 4. Me? I playtested the above-mentioned ROMMEl 3x - Paul, Bruno Sinigaglio (always great to see Bruno again), and first-time con attendee Mike Lemick (the graphics man and good friend) - and got whomped playing two of my own games, MEDIEVAL and SUCCESSORS (whose rules appear to have morphed somewhat since I knew them . . . and wrote them ). Lots of WWII games whose maps looked virtually interchangeable, even if the subject matter wasn't . . . but not quite as many as in the past. Sold some BSO games, enough to pay for my upgrade to 1st Class (or what vaguely passes for 1st class on USAir these days) on the flight home. And, of course, a remarkably smoothly run, and enjoyable, gathering, thanx to the ceaseless energy of John K . . . who will have to do it at a distance next year, when he will be an official Beltway Bandit. RHB Paul Rohrbaugh - Jun 13, 2005 4:29 pm (#9709 Total: 9709) Basta imparare, comincia a morire! Had a great time at the Consimworld Expo! While there I got to meet with many gamers, designers and playtesters. I was able to demo Cactus Throne to a few folks, and Scott Holmgren and I traded blows in a very fun match of A Dark and Bloody Ground. Kudos to John Kranz for his putting on an excellent gaming event! You have to attend one of these as the focus is squarely on gaming and having fun! Gene Dickens and I also ran amuk with his game on Kadesh. This is a revised and enhanced version of the game on the same subject that appeared many years ago in Command. This new version of his is really neat! He had me charging in chariots within minutes and a real fur-ball was developing west of the Hittite fort when we had to call it quits. Scott Holmgren and I also had a very interesting chat about his game proposal for a Civil War game. It will very likely be geared for solitaire play, have some really neat design elements as well as nifty variants and "what ifs". I'm drooling just thinking of it! Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to hearing your comments and AARs as Chennault's First Fight lands in your mailboxes! Ding Hao! Scott Holmgren - Jun 13, 2005 5:13 pm (#421 Total: 421) Publisher of Blue Guidon Games CSW Expo 2005 Post-Game Show Wow. There aren't words enough to describe the great event that the ConsimWorld Expo has become. Day after day of non-stop gaming, storytelling, meeting, greeting, buying, selling, laughing, agonizing, eating, cheering, but very little sleeping! Having never attended ANY sort of wargaming convention before (no Origins, no WBC, nor FillintheblankCon), I had no idea what to expect. But suffice it to say, it was incredible. Just a few of the many, many highlights... Civil War Gaming - I finally got to play Summer Storm, which I've often set up and admired but never got very far playing, with the affable Bill Cooper. He showed me the ropes of the system, and we dove into the Ops Game, with its hidden maps and variable entry times and locations for forces on the Tac map. It was a blast. We decided to both drive toward Gettysburg, and he got there first with Heth's and Pender's boys quickly moving up Cemetery and Culp's Hills. And that was on June 30th. By the time we finished, the Union cavalry had earned their keep by keeping the Rebs at bay and harassing Ewell's flank. Bill's big push, a sweeping attack by Longstreet around my left, sputtered out of steam just as my final reserves were sprinting up the roads from the south. All in all, great fun. And around us were several other ACW games and gamers whom I enjoyed meeting: Kevin Melahn (Three Battles of Manassas), John Loy and Shannon Cooke (Seven Days Campaign), and the crew manning TGCACW. The Canadian Contingent - Kerry Anderson, of the former Microgame Design Group, roomed with me, and I enjoyed speanding a few of the breakfast sessions with him and Hjalmar Gerber, his wife Melanie, and Alan Snider, all hailing from the Great White North. Beauty of a week, eh? BMOC - The big men on campus: Mark Hinkle (New England Simulations), Dana Lombardy (L2, Last Stand Games), Alan Emrich (Totaler Krieg and a great auctioneer, to boot!), and Andy Lewis (GMT). I had the wonderful privilege to spend some time chatting with each of these gentlemen. Pillars of the hobby and all around great guys. Thanks for your inspiration. Patient Mentors - Thanks to Jack Beckman for piloting me through several dogfights via the Down in Flames system. He and Rob Robertson helped me get a better handle on this fun and quick game, which I'll be sure to teach my sons. And Wray Ferrell coached me through my first game of Sword of Rome. Too much fun! Wray's a great guy and a model game developer. The Blue Hair - What can one say about Todd Davis? He made me feel welcome the instant I stepped in the room. We talked games, DTP, and Photoshop! And did I mention Todd's maps? They're fantastic! If you haven't picked up a Cool Stuff Unlimited game, you don't know what you're missing! Great job, Todd. Beyond the Call of Duty - John Kranz. Nuff said. You are the man. Or Zark! And Steve Carey, the 2005 Star Winner, so glad to have finally met. These guys make the hobby a fun and friendly place to be. War Along the Ohio - I finally got to play Dark and Bloody Ground with Paul Rohrbaugh, with Against the Odds. A fun game with lots of challanges. And lots of background commentary. Made me want to read up on a chapter of American history that I'm woefully ignorant of. And a wonderfully creative guy! He got me thinking a lot about diffierent ways to attack my next game design. Anyways, there's probably lots more I could write and several individuals I forgot to name, but it was the gaming event of a lifetime for me. I'll try and get some pictures posted on the Blue Guidon site for everyone to enjoy. Here's to planning for 2006! Nathan Kilgore - Jun 13, 2005 6:29 pm (#5492 Total: 5505) Designer-Iron Tide- -- and soon ~Salerno~ Pledge #45 on the Decision Games pledge page.. Pledges needed...tons Consimworld Bulge Expo 2005 There was quite a showing there for the Bulge. Bruno Singaglio of BoB81' and DBW showed up, as did Joe Youst and the new WaRII along with two fully staffed games one 16AM and the other beginning on the 21st. Of course Iron Tide ran for two days with diffferent players and a few starts as people were wanting to learn the opening German moves and Allied defense. Deluxe BW was set up and playing on a couple of tables, Even the SCS Gamers Ardennes made a showing. A44 was played extensively with a multi-player game right behind me for at least 2 days. Mark Simonitch and Rick Young playtested Ricks blockhead Bulge design. .....Whew! Does it get any better than this?? sysop - Jun 13, 2005 10:25 pm (#5496 Total: 5505) [John Kranz] ConsimWorld.COM. Thanks to all for a great CSW Expo! It all starts again June 6-11, 2006 Still in recovery mode... Today has been a 'try to recoup day' after a fun-filled and action-packed expo. I hope everyone had an enjoyable time and this year truly marks the realization of my original vision 5 years ago of being involved with a gaming venue in which the greatest games are being played in one large, beautiful facility amongst a great bunch of guys (not to mention Larissa!). As I catch my second wind, I'll be immediately following up requesting feedback from attendees with a simple e-mail survey, and I'll be sharing some of the plans we are putting in place for 2006. Next year, we will officially be offering a Pre-Convention Day on Tuesday, June 6 (anniversary of D-Day), so the official dates will be June 6-11, 2005. The Tuesday pre-show day effectively allow folks to set-up late afternoon and get in an extra full-day of gaming (Wednesday) which seems to have been the majority feedback/request from those who know we can usually slide into the ballroom Tuesday already as it is. I want to acknowledge before signing off the Star Performer for this year's Expo. Steve Carey took the honors for his incredible support for GMT's Empire of the Sun, as well as the special Redmond Simonsen memorial that he set up during our Wednesday night welcome reception. While there will be many more to thank, I also am indebted to the great job Shannon Cooke did in producing the commemorative dice for the expo as a special gift to all attendees. A nice keep-sake, but please make sure you play a game in which a "1" is a good die-roll result so you don't start cursing the Expo Okay, back to recuperation mode Cisco Serret - Jun 14, 2005 1:34 pm (#5509 Total: 5518) I'll try to be smarter, if you try to be nicer Highlight of the convention - finally getting Sedgewick across the Rapahannock! But really - this was the, in my opinion, best Consimworld convention yet. We had alot of people coming over to watch War Between the States being played, and a few people - after watching the fun we were having - said they want to play WBtS next year at the con. We ended up with 4 people for the game - which is perfect because the theaters are naturally split into Eastern and Western theaters. Bob's "MegaHexes" (tm) were a big hit, and made playing alot easier. And thanks again to Todd for his "gratis" copy of Fall of Tobruk he gave me after I told him about how I accidentally threw away my copy when I was cleaning up the house. As for the pictures - unfortunately several of my *really* good pictures came out corrupted - I think it was because of weak batteries, or something is wrong with my camera. But ALOT of people were taking pictures, and I saw Pave surrepticiously videotaping the event, so we should be getting many more pictures soon. Ken Tee - Jun 14, 2005 2:34 pm (#5512 Total: 5518) Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord, about our enemies, ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to Hell. Amen. Hey, I voted for that guy! On that good note, I have to share something that was kind of a downer and later an upper to my whole experience (kinda like our campaign, Eric C.!). I absent-mindedly left some hand carry bags at the ballroom and Steve and I were too far to drive back to retrieve them. I called the hotel and both were located by security at lost and found. They sent it to me at the charge of your standard weight and overnight delivery and arrived here at work this morning. John, please extend the courtesy of thanking the wonderful staff at the hotel for helping me out namely Sue and Jennifer at the front desk and Mike and James at security. Now, I know I'd be coming back even if there was no Expo (perish the thought!) or maybe for a D-backs and Cubs game. Cisco, thanks for sharing those great pics (I see me!) and I do owe you a game of Downtown. We're both local SoCal gamers so maybe we can meet up somewhere sometime? Eric, you were a blast playing with/against. Your glee was matched by your frustration as much as your great strategy was matched by my great die rolls! Sincerely, Ken Todd Davis - Jun 14, 2005 10:48 pm (#5513 Total: 5518) CSU-reprinting old, oop games for fun and profit! Verdun 25.00 & Fall of Tobruk 29.00 (reprints of old CGC games)and Doro Nawa (1979, Paper Wars). Currently working on "Bitter End" (Hobby Japan, 1983) for Compass Games-Fall of 2005!! Don't miss it! MC5 I had The Best time at MC5. As always, John Kranz did his usual job in setting up and trunning a superb con for all of us. The hotel, again as always, was fantastic and even the weather was good-not too hot even though we were three weeks later than previous years. I wanted to say "Thanks" to Bruno Singaglio for sharing his experience and knowledge with gaming with Compass Games' Bitter End playtest. Bruno is incredible and his help is much appreciated and will make Bitter End even better. Also Thanks to Mark Hinkle, Joe Youst, Mark Simonitch and Scott Holmgren for their comments and ideas about my maps. Especially to Mark and Scott-you guys really helped me and I can't wait for the next project after Bitter End to put these ideas into practice. Always great to see Dana Lombardy again and hearing what he's up to. Dana and I had a long chat Friday evening and many things were discussed. I look forward to seeing Last Stand Games and what they have planned. BTW-Dana Lombardy has the Best wargaming stories bar non-great stuff and they are worth the price of admissionalone. Jack Greene at Dana's first wedding-what a story!! haha The Library still rocks-too bad Richard can't see the trees for the assumed forest. Also, I found next year's "place to be" for the not-too-dissenting viewer/drinker....!! Happy Birthday to Rick Fehrenbacher! What a good party-I'm So Suprised we weren't shut down (we were in the hotel). There's reasons I lose my voice every year! Congrats to my buddy Bill for being the DiF champ this year, edging out Jack Beckman as the pilot with the most kills. Bill got 12 kills with one pilot, beating the old record of 11. Way to go Bill! The game auction was interesting too-I got UP copies of Bloody 110th and Omaha...I now have a complete UP collection of Gamer's titles! Woo-hoo! Well, that's about all I can say without some more sleep. Well....one more thing: "I AM John Kranz!" hehe Charles L Ryder - Jun 15, 2005 1:21 am (#5516 Total: 5518) Fremont, California 3 Battles of Manassas AAR Our first game was the 2nd day's battle of Second Manassas. The Union attack on the railroad cut against Stonewall's divisions failed quickly but not before wrecking a couple of Union divisions. History repeated itself when Longstreet's entire Corps fell on the Union flank and blasted it right back to Bull Run. To make matters worse, Stonewall came out of the railroad cut and hit the other side of the Union line and pushed it back. What was left of the Union army fell back in pieces behind Bull Run. A decisive victory for the Rebs. We were able to finish up our 1st game by Friday afternoon and so decided to play the 1st day's battle of 1st Manassas. History repeated again with Stonewall pushing back 2 Union brigades in a rout (helps to roll "66" back to back) and retreating before being surrounded by more Union forces moving to surround Henry House Hill. The game ended in a draw with the Rebs taking and holding Centreville. Nick, Rick, Kevin and myself had a great time playing the game and a better time attending the convention. Paul Borchers - Jun 13, 2005 4:10 pm (#1453 Total: 1464) On the table: Lobositz (CoA) After-Action Report: Lobositz at CSW Expo Paul Gilliatt and I played the super-sized version of Lobositz at the Consimworld Expo. Paul took the Prussians, while I had the Austrians. Hans von Stockhausen participated in portions of the game, commanding the Austrian reinforcements who arrived on the board and offering some advice along the way on how the Prussians could upset Prussian plans. We both had experience with the system. I had played a few turns of Lobositz solo about six weeks before the convention, while Paul had not read the Lobositz-specific rules prior to arriving at the con. We set up the 6 AM scenario, and we were obviously a little rusty as things developed slowly. The Prussians got into a traffic jam and had difficulty extracting commands to take full advantage of wing activations. In a true bone-headed move I placed Wied’s Austrians in Lobositz (as per the set-up instructions), and although I planned to move them out to establish a line ahead of the village, I left them in march column instead of road column. After a number of disorder checks, they shook themselves out in line in a position similar to the 8 AM scenario starting point. Wied’s line extended south from the edge of the vineyards toward the middle of the board, and from there all of the at-start Grenadiers extended it three hexes more. Two of Wied’s battalions were in reserve, as were two Grenzer units. The remaining Grenzers were sent into the vineyards to prepare to support their comrades in their forward position on Lobosch Hill. The artillery went into adjacent hexes in the middle of the Austrian line, with Fuerstein in position to direct them. The armies took a long time to close due to the traffic jam and because we didn’t use the right movement point cost (1 instead of one-half point) for march columns in open ground. Additionally, when not screened or directly opposed, I had the Grenzers shake things up from their Lobosch positions, at one point taking out a limbered artillery increment and another recklessly popping out of the vineyards on the flank of a second-line cavalry unit. Paul eventually diverted enough units to deal with the Grenzers and found the right combination of assaults and firepower to start eliminating them and shoving them back to the east. I made the decision early on to bring all of the Austrian reinforcements on the board, and rapidly lifting fog soon revealed their off-board positions. The cavalry came on board first on the Austrian left. As this was occurring I advanced Wied’s command as I wanted more room between my front line and Lobositz itself, providing for a deeper defense. I brought the off-board grenadiers on next, using the eastern-most entry point. I kept them in march column and used the roads to bring them through Lobositz to the Austrian right. They would be in position to support the Grenzers or provide for an initial defense of Welhotta. In the meantime, the Prussian cavalry and infantry began to get itself positioned in front of the Austrians. The cavalry got itself organized first on the Prussian right and began to launch a series of charges on the Austrian cavalry on the left and left-center. In two turns, units on both sides were soon shaken and disordered, and Austrian leaders were chasing down some routed units. As the cavalry rested and reorganized, I started bringing in Austrian infantry on the far left, along with all of the offboard artillery units. I was planning on using them for the defense of Sullowitz, and hoping to use artillery to beat up any Prussian cavalry that got too close. We made another rules error in that we allowed all the cavalry to move even though some of the regiments represented with ”a” and “b” counters weren’t adjacent to each other. That probably contributed to the mayhem on that part of the field and what was eventually a lot of dead cavalry units. I used the newly arrived infantry as a bulwark (in square formation of all things) between the Prussian cavalry and my own as the latter recovered from disorder. Eventually more charges and counter-charges took place, and a lot of Austrian cavalry evaporated. Some of the large and hard-hitting Prussian cavalry end up eliminated as well, including one large routed stack that I was fortunate enough to charge with a lone 1-increment survivor - a worthwhile trade. Three Austrian cavalry leaders were stuck with units that were eliminated, while one command and one wing leader among the Prussians suffered the same fate. More Austrian infantry arriving from the sunken road managed to keep the Prussian cavalry off Wied’s flank and support the front line as the Prussian infantry started to enter the fray. Fortunately this took time and the Prussian artillery fire wasn’t very effective prior to the infantry attack. Once the infantry lines came into contact, however, the casualties really started piling up quickly. Wied’s front line was pierced in a couple of places, plugged with reinforcements, and pierced again by other Prussian infantry. On the far right, the Austrian grenadiers advanced and began to make contact with Prussians advancing on the clear side of Lobosch Hill. Few Grenzers remained. At the 11:00 turn, both armies rolled on the 100 column of the morale table, although both were just a few increments away from the 150 column. The Prussians suffered no morale penalty, while the Austrians had to add +5 to future checks. The next two turns saw the armies continuing to grind each other down, the lost increment totals climbing toward 200. We stopped near the end of the 11:20 turn, as I wanted to listen to Ed Wimble’s talk on casting cannon during the American Revolution and my opponent had to leave early the next morning. We did a “what if” roll on the army morale tables, assuming that both armies would have passed the 200 loss level. The Prussians would have had to add 5 to their morale checks, while the Austrians would have gone to 10. Who would have won? The Austrians would have been fairly brittle after noon, but the Prussians had yet to take any towns. If the Austrians got lucky on a few dice rolls and managed to get infantry from their left to the center, and if some infantry could have displaced from there to the right to support the defense of Welhotta, then they might have frustrated the Prussians. Still, the Prussians had some unscathed infantry with good morale and firepower, and their cavalry still outnumbered their Austrian counterparts. It would have been a tough fight for Browne. Paul Borchers - Jun 13, 2005 4:15 pm (#1454 Total: 1464) On the table: Lobositz (CoA) Perspectives on the Lobositz AAR 1. Is it better to stack cavalry for melee, or do you make smaller charges to keep more units fresh? You can definitely use the manpower (horsepower?) odds to push toward that more likely “surrender” result, but, regardless of odds, a zero on either die will cause a refight, and a failed morale check because of an “M” will rout any stack, regardless of its size or quality. On the other hand, an indecisive one-to-one odds cavalry fight in our game saw no less that five rounds of dice rolling because of the “M” result! Close combat is a dangerous and unpredictable business. 2. Aggressive use of the Grenzers can pay a good dividend. At worst, a Prussian command will get tied up trying to suppress and push back the little pests. At best, the Grenzers might score a few hits, make some Prussians attempting close combat fail and go to shaken, or make an unexpected stand and cause a few close combat casualties. I didn’t bother moving any Austrian leaders to put the Grenzers in command because, even out of command, their movement costs in the vineyard and inability to disorder make them more mobile than the formed troops. 3. If I had it to do over, I would have distributed the artillery among the offboard commands rather than have them all enter with one command. I wasn’t prepared to move the Austrian artillery leader from the on-board artillery stack to the reinforcement stack, and that ultimately limited the latter’s utility. Additionally, the Austrian infantry reinforcements would have benefited from having a firepower boost that a local supporting battery could have provided. 4. In a two-player game, use of the Austrian off-board forces as a potential threat to tie down some portion of the Prussians might be a viable strategy. I think the Austrians would have a difficult time holding Lobositz itself with just one additional command, but I don’t know about the tradeoffs between more commands and more towns to defend. The next time I play the game, I’ll try to make do with three or four additional commands and see what happens. From: "Mike " Just got back from MonsterCon in Phoenix. It was great. I plan to post more detail of the games I was in, but first wanted to say something about the convention itself. john Kranz puts it on and does a fantastic job. It's held at the Mission Palms hotel in Tempe, right next to ASU. Very nice rooms and the convention hall itself was quite large, with room to get aorund and see everything. Your convention fee is only $60, which inlcudes an full breakfast buffet ($12/day) and all you can eat afternoon snacks and drinks. Over four days I'm sure I ate my $60 worth! There was a lot of people there, over 200, maybe 300. I'd guess 40 to 50 full time monster games in play, and dozens of side games on a pick-up basis. The convention inlcuded a couple of seminars and an auction, all of which I skipped as our two tables of EuroFront played pretty much continuously. We came to play and boy did we! Phoenix in June does not sound appealing, but the weather was actually pretty nice. The convention hall has great air-conditioning so the temparture there was just fine. In the evening we'd walk through the university district to find a restraunat and there were plenty to choose from. Warm evenings are great for walking around and girl-watching.... I spent the whole time playing EuroFront II, which is essentially the final beta of the new version with the Artic and Middle East Fronts inlcuded on one comprehensive map. Game play is the same, the additional theaters increase the stratgeic options. I'll post more about how that went asap. Hopefully a few other list members were there and can post their experiences. I think for the true Grognard, somebdy who just wants a chance to get in four or five solid days of playing their favorite wargame, this is a great venue. Alan Snider - Jun 16, 2005 5:45 pm (#10178 Total: 10186) On the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada with a retail store of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/ June 12 CSWE Wrap up: I was not able to finish the game of Duel in the Desert with Lou Manios, but I will say that the game has some interest to me; and we may see my gaming group here in Vancouver take a crack at it. During a late night session started at about midnight (I think it was Saturday) was a 6 player game of Flying Buffalo's "Nuclear War". This is a lite game, but kinda deadly as one has to eliminate your opponents from play rather than outscoring them in points. Since I was the NEW guy at the con, it felt downright uncomfortable to eliminate the other guys... The game came down to Lou Manios and myself, but I drew a 50 kiloton payload and dumped it on him, winning the game. It was my only gaming win at CSWE. Todd D, Bill and myself got into a series of pool games at "The Library" late on Sunday night. No one could really sink more than 2 shots in a row prior to having at least 2 drinks. Bill's outstanding skill then began to emerge, and Todd and I bonded together in a "beat Bill" strategy (easier said than done). After at least 8 games, Bill was crowned the undisputed champ for the night. Bill can add that to the title as "Ace" in the DiF tournement. From: "Mike" I promised a report on my experiences with EuroFront II at ConsimWorld Expo (nee MonsterCon) in Phoenix two weeks back. EuroFront II is best described right now as the near final beta for the latest incarnation of the combined "front" series from Columbia Games. The designer, Craig Besinque, brought along two complete sets and we had about 10 different people playing as teams and keeping two full games going pretty much the entire convention. There is a new map which includes all of Europe, western Russian and the Med just like before, but adds Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Artic, northern England (North Front) and Turkey, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, etc. (Middle East Front) as well as units to allow fighting over all this new territory. Diplomatic events are modified to eliminate the now unnecessary ones (you want Norway, you have to occupy it) and take into account how the expanded vision changes things. Adds quite a few strategic alternatives! I personally played in three games, and enjoyed watching the other table, where they got in at least two full games. This is a playable "monster"! With a couple of days and a great venue like the Expo we were able to really open this game up. I'll describe one game I played in. We had three experienced players and Craig asked us to play fast and try new strategies, just so he could see how it all worked. We were happy to oblige. Germany attacked Poland and ran into the usual problems, that is to say not much. The Polish situation is desperate and about all the Allied player can hope for is to delay the Germans, make it a bit more expensive than usual. In this case the Germans simply swept through. The Soviets accepted eastern Poland as their due per the Curzon agreement, but then declined to garrison right up to the line as usual. Stalin pointed out that eastern Poland has no production and lacks good defensive terrain. Just in case the Germans attacked he wanted to be back a bit further. Soviet Generals protested that under the agreement, any unoccupied border hex could be occupied by the Germans without declaring war and if left undefended the Germans would be able to "creep" several hundred kilometers closer to Moscow before beginning any offensive they might have in mind. Stalin overruled them and several generalship positions became available. Then the Soviets invaded Finland. This used to be a diplomatic event which cost the Soviets a bit of time and quite a bit of production. Now it has to be done on the new map, which presents a couple of different possibilities. The Soviets tried an elegant bit of maneuver warfare, coming down from the Artic to knock the Fins out of National Supply. This failed miserably. A gracious Axis player allowed a second try, this time Stalin ordered a straight forward plunge into the forests around Leningrad. Bloody and expensive, but successful. And another colonel found himself prematurely elevated to General. Germany invaded France through the low countries. They ran into an experienced determined defense, but the Germans were likewise experienced and determined so the French soon had to sue for armistice. (This is not as likely to follow history as Poland. There are a lot more units involved, better defensive terrain and more opportunities for the players to change things. At the other table, the French held so strongly that the table finally agreed to return to start lines and let the Germans have another go. This sort of gracious play was much in evidence!) (Side note on France campaign. Craig mentioned to both tables that as tough as the Maginot line is, he does not think it is impregnable and we might want to consider staying out of Holland. EuroFront forts like the Maginot are tough but this got me to thinking. Typical play now sees both sides assume Maginot is a non-starter, so the Allies pack the French army and BEF (if committed) to the northern flank. A German player who threw everything at the Maginot line would probably be stopped, and the Allies would be able to reinforce it. An Allied best case scenario. But a German player who threw a say, half-serious, attempt at Maginot might put the Allies in a tough decision. If they reinforce the line, they weaken the low countries and the main German attack could fall there next turn. If they do not reinforce, then a second wave against the Maginot might just cave it in. Be worth trying!) With the newly established French Vichy government in place, Hitler felt confident enough to attack his previous favorite country, Russia. During the battle of France the Germans had used any extra Supreme moves to creep across the Curzon line right up to the Soviet units, so Barbarrossa opened a little further east than usual. The front line Soviet units were mostly strength 1, put there to simply absorb the first German blows and they were blown away quickly. But then the Germans hit the main defensive belt around Kiev and Minsk, which was usually two units deep and these were all at almost full strength. The Germans pressure was relentless, and the Soviets were forced back bit by bit. They ended up holding the Leningrad ­ Moscow line, kinda weak in the middle and a bulge to the west along the southern flank protecting Ukraine. The Germans, once safely east of the Pripat marsh, and enjoying lateral communications again, began shifting most of their amour south. The long range goal was the Middle East, with the plan being to slip around the extreme left flank of the Soviets, force them to give up Ukraine and fall back on Stalingrad, then, without necessarily attacking Stalingrad, head south into Iraq and Iran. Perhaps even turn west and hit the British still clinging to the Nile in the back. Meanwhile, the Axis showed a keen appreciation for diplomacy and strategy. Minor countries like Yugoslavia and Greece are brought into the war by rolling for diplomatic events. This possibilities are slanted towards the historical, but take into account the actual game situation. In this game, the Germans had a fair chance of getting Yugoslavia to join the Axis, or failing that to either stay neutral or possibly join the Allies. What was interesting about this was that with the Germans in Alexandria, an Allied Yugoslavia would be immediately out of national supply and it's units would have to attrition until the country surrendered. In the event, this is exactly what happened. Germany was able to conquer Yugoslavia for the very cheap price of a few diplomatic event rolls and their success in the Med. Back in the USSR the Germans got themselves into a bit of trouble, then a bunch of trouble. The rail net just west of Ukraine is not as robust as it first appears and the Soviets were able to launch a limited counter-offensive that messed up a key rail junction. Even without being able to take it, they caused a few of the southern most Germans to go out of Supply. This Soviet gambit thinned out their left flank though and the Germans decided to make another attempt to punch through in the extreme south while also clearing the rail junction. They were successful in the later, re-establishing supply, but just short of unhinging the Soviets in the former goal. And this, in turn, left the German line thin. The Soviets now disdained the defensive and went over to a massive offensive from Northern Ukraine aimed at cutting off all German units in the south. This worked. Even worse for the Germans, it bagged two of their four field HQs. Manfully the Germans tried to re-establish a line, but the Soviets turned north and, running almost unopposed in that direction, took most of the rest of the German army in Russia out of Supply when a second offensive from Leningrad broke through and linked up with the forces from the south. Nor was that all. The British forced their way across the Nile and put the Germans in Egypt to flight, cutting off several key units in the process. We called the game at this point. The German offensive in the Med exceeded history and their conquests of Poland and France went very well. The intelligent use of the diplomacy rules in the Balkans was interesting and fueled some good post game analysis. Allied and Soviet strategy was more conservative, but quite a bit was learned about how to fight in the Artic. Finland is not a minor sideshow at all. In the end I think we were all a bit disappointed about the sudden collapse of the eastern front, but it does show that while the game incorporates a lot of history and historically possible outcomes, there is also plenty of opportunity to change history, both on minor issues and on a very large scale. A great game and my appreciation to all who participated. _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l Bruce Howland - Jun 27, 2005 8:43 pm (#5559 Total: 5568) "Give each opinion the weight you find it deserves" As you can probably tell from the flurry of activity, I've finally got some time to catch up on my gaming and my correspondence. A little while ago, Paul O'Conner had requested a after action report for CSW Expo 2005 well, based on the stuff I saw the high-lights were: A rather interesting tribute to our host John Kranz, by some of the "in" folks. An announcement was made that the Phoenix Police were looking for Mr. Kranz at the front of the ballroom, after a moment an Expo attendee stood and announced "I AM JOHN KRANZ", a moment later another stood and made the same pronouncement, and another, and another, and then bunches, and so on etc. This went on for a good few minutes and generally left most everyone not "in the know" fairly well puzzled. Well it turns out it was a sort of homage to the scene in Spartacus were his remaining men all claim to be their leader to save him from the Romans. Read into it what you want, it was strange but a little touching at the same time. The welcome get-together was very informative. Each of the attending game companies had two to three minutes to hawk their wares and say whazzup! John K was honored as a Sacred Knight of Zark (dates back two Expos) and Todd Davis was recognized as MVP from Expo 2004. Lots of door prizes (I missed my second copy of "Empire of the Sun" by one lousy number) and most of them were pretty darn good games. John announced that he was going to work for Mark Herman back on the east coast shortly but that CSW Expo would stay in Phoenix, he said basically there's enough east coast cons we need Expo to stay where it is. Gaming: I would say the big winner in terms of actual playings was GMT's "Empire of the Sun", no matter where or when you were in the ballroom there was at least a couple of games going. On Saturday I walked the floor and counted 7 different EotS games going. Wacht am Rhein 2 had a large party going on with two tables being played throughout the Expo. The Down in Flames tournament was going strong the entire week, Mike always packs them in. Copies of Highway to the Reich and the new Devil's Cauldron were played throughout too and interestingly enough both games looked as if the Germans failed to show up in either game. Both had remarkably similar outcomes in that the Red Devils had their entire Division in Arnhem, the 82 cleared Nijmagen but at least in HttR, 30th corps couldn't seem to break clear of the initial German resistance. I understand Tim Wilcox spent some time with Adam S's new La Belle Alliance so I'm going to ask him to comment on how it went. Other notable games being played were GDW Operation Crusader (the big one) and Objective: Moscow - both got started fast and furious but after a day or so they were both stopped in their tracks and Ob: Mo disappeared; I found out later that the guys who tried Op: Cru just had a horrible time with it (they started to play Empire of the Sun and never quit) and the Ob: Mo team looked like they just got bored. Let's see, there was a full campaign of SPI Atlantic Wall it got to about day three or four where the Allies were just cleaning the German' CooCoo clocks and so it stopped there. There was an GMT Barbarossa: Army Group Everybody set up and to be honest I couldn't see to the other side of the board to observe what was going on, but there was a huge demarcation at the Pripyat Marshes and in the south the Huns were going great guns but north of there it looked as though they were still almost on the start lines. Of course someone had set up a D-Day invasion scenario using ASL - it looked as though they were trying to model an entire British beach but there were at least two airdrops in the rear and some other stuff was going on too, they must have been using upwards of thirty to forty boards it looked... interesting. There were games of Eurofront, and Decision's Advanced ETO and their new War Between the States (looked very nice and very familiar), lots of MMP OCS stuff (Korea, a couple of games of DAK), but one of the most impressive set-ups was the GCACW 1862 (I think) campaign with all the maps - wow! There were a number of Europe Engulfed games and so many others blah, blah, blah. Let's just say there were more games then you could shake a stick at. There are a number of excellent pictures to see for yourselves http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?7@39.TFKGbFqDgGA.1470216@.ee6d65b/5533 messages #5395 - 5552 & http://www.wargalley.com/consimworld2005.php. The auction is always an interesting event - very much a buyers market, in no way does it resemble Ebay. The auctioneers Lou Manios (think the Sopranos, you now know Lou) and Alan Emrich were excellent and very entertaining. Had my first introduction to "Pave"; interesting fellow. Todd Davis made a statement regarding how he feels about Critical Hit's Management by tearing up some significant coin in front of the assembled troops. Let's see what else, oh yeah the surrounding area! Had lunch with Andy Lewis and Wray Ferrell at a place called "The Library" good food but not a place you would be happy about if your daughter worked there. The surrounding area has a lot of "eye-candy" and stuff going on at all hours particularly on the weekend - lotsa fun if you're careful My time was spent playing two games of Freidrich with the aforementioned Andy, Wray and Steve Carey, all three real good guys and a lot of fun. Andy won the first game as Sweden when Wray (Prussia) got distracted for a moment. I got the second win as Austria when I bull-rushed Prussia (Andy). Also played some MMP Mighty Endeavor (very enjoyable but very "bloody") and Sword of Rome (playing against the designer is very cool) and spent a lot of time learning to play Empire of the Sun (very, very cool game) thanks Steve (even though you got the Inter-service rivalry stuff wrong ). I'm sure you're getting tired of reading all this so I'll close with: If you can make it to Expo 2006, do it. You won't regret it. I'm sure there are some minor inaccuraces noted here and for that I apologize Thanks for reading all this, hope to see you all again next year. Best wishes, Bruce Ian Schofield - Jun 14, 2005 9:57 pm (#157 Total: 223) Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H.L. Menken The Good Patience, Allan, mon ami, I just got back at 3:00 AM last night (see the ugly below). In a word, it was wonderfull. I enjoyed every minute of the con. Here are some of my favourite things - in no particular order: Meeting folks I had only chatted with online before: Alan Snider, Nathan Kilgore, Jack Beckman, Todd Davis (and thanks for sending greetings Allan). Playing Jena with Ed Wimble, John Kisner and Jeff Emde (AAR will be posted to Jena folder in the next few days) - Ed and I stuck to our intial plan as the Prussians and it worked, by god - nice to see a plan come together. The weather - can't believe it was cooler than normal - needed some sunshine after the winter and spring we had here. Going for dinner with different groups - whoever said a wargamer was a friend you hadn't met yet was right - enjoyed talking to all the folds at dinner (and thanks for the shooters, Mark). Just watching all those games getting played - many of which I had never seen before (since I don't really do much WWII gaming, particularly monster gaming). Being taught Iron Tide by Nathan - a good teacher who loves his games - obviously has thought about it lots and played it enough to be really good. Nice system and a game I shall likely play at some point in the future. Winning a game of Sword of Rome on the last die roll (not mine) because Bob brought two guys instead of three to an area he needed to convert and they both died from attrition. Playing Medieval for the first time (Thanks for teaching us, Juan). Playing Carabande on Sunday AM - lots of fun flicking things around the track. Talking to Mark Simonitch during the auction - I hope they actually do slow down production a bit as he said they plan - my visa can't afford to keep up with the current pace Didn't see much of the auction, but both the opening "reception" and the auction displayed much of the camaradarie I miss here in the sticks. The Hotel was great, the breakfast buffet was great, the afternoon snacks were great (more ice cream bars), the venue was great. The "No, I'm John Kranz" stunt. Special thanks to Jack Beckman for teaching me (and many others) to fly in the DiF tourney (and I got my first kill!) - and thanks to Jack for bringing computers so that I and others could check e-mail etc. It was great, and I am going back next year come hell or high water (the latter being unlikely in Arizona). Ian Ian Schofield - Jun 14, 2005 10:15 pm (#158 Total: 223) Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H.L. Menken More Good Stuff Watching the Pauls (Rohrbaugh and Gilliant) play Lobostiz and teaching me how to play as well . Thanks guys, I enjoyed the lesson - wish you could have got a bit further in the game, looked like it was teetering on the balance. Finding a copy of Lobostitz, mint, for $33 on the Flea Market table. Being able to pick up copies of Men of Iron and Lily Banners from GMT hot off the printer. The dice. Getting some of the GMT (and other) box cover posters for my gaming friends. Explaining Gollywogs to Alan Snider (you have to ask him). The Velvet Root Beer drink from the coffee bar across the road - only found them on the last day, will drink more next year. Ian Schofield - Jun 14, 2005 10:19 pm (#159 Total: 223) Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H.L. Menken The Bad I have told Ed Wimble I am mad at him, I am totally spoiled playing with giant counters and maps - how can I ever go back to 1/2" counters now. Not meeting Allan Rothberg - you need to come next year guy. Not looking like Alan Snider expected me to Not getting to do more than nod to Richard Berg - one of my favourite designers, would have enjoyed having a chat with him, or trying out a playtest of a new game. Not getting to try any playtest games - but there is only so much time. Not getting enough exercise (the pool looked inviting) - next year I will do more. PF Chang's - was actually rather dissapointed in the chinese food (and why can't I fold my own "Chinese Taco's" Actually, there really wasn't much bad, except that it didn't last long enough. Ian Schofield - Jun 14, 2005 10:28 pm (#160 Total: 223) Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H.L. Menken The Ugly Northwestern Air is now on my list of only fly on this airline if you have no other choice (along with Air Canada). My flights were from Regina to Minneapolis, and then Minn to Phoenix. I was supposed to leave on Tues. the seventh at 11:00 am and get to Phoenix around 6 pm, leaving me a good nights sleep before the con and a relaxing day on Wed. The 11:00 AM flight was cancelled due to mechanical failure, there were no other flights that day. I ended up flying out at 6:00 AM, necesitating getting up at 3:30 AM and arriving in Phoenix around 4. The flight from Minn. was two hours late leaving and they had to substitute a second plane due to mechanical failure (sound familiar?). Once I got to Phoenix everything was great. I was scheduled to leave Phoenix around 12 on Monday - the flight was an hour late leaving - we had to sit on the tarmac in the plane until the paperwork for the dangerous goods they were carrying was driven out to the plane. The flight out of Minn to Regina was supposed to be leaving around 9:30 - it left at 1:30 AFTER we had been loaded onto one plane, waited nearly an hour in the cue to take off, only to return to the terminal and be loaded on a second plane due to, you guessed it, mechanical failure. One poor guy in a wheel chair waiting for this flight told me that they had advised him in his point of origin that the Regina flight might be cancelled, but put him on the flight to Minn any way. In all of these cases very little information provided by NWA agents, no sympathy, no coffee, no customer service, no NOTHING. I shall be writing to the CEO directly, but I doubt I shall hear back. NWA sucks, I plan on telling everyone I know. The wheelchair guy had heard on CNN that they were likely going into Chapter 11 - gee, I wonder why. Ian Schofield - Jun 18, 2005 10:44 pm (#406 Total: 410) Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H.L. Menken Gloria Hohenzollern After Action Report - Monster sized Jena at CSWX French Napoleon - John Kisner, Murat - Jeff Emde Prussians Hohenlohe - Ed Wimble Ruchel and Brunswick - Ian Schofield Two major actions occured during the campaign. Late on October 12th the French occupied the east bank of the Saale south of Kala, with Hohenlohe and all of his divisions (excluding Tauentziens infantry which had been abandoned by its divisional commander east of Jena) strung out opposite on the west bank. Late on the 12th the French created one, then a second, pontoon bridge and crossed the river. The Prussians were too far back and the French crossed quickly and agressively. Most of the 13th was taken up by Hohenlohe extracting his divisions northward to the main Prussian army. This was accomplished with losses but no divisions were shattered (although the main prussian line had to advance a few kilometers to rescue the last few units). Ruchel had arrived near Jena on the 12th, with Brunswick arriving on the 13th (although I may have that backwards) [You do: Editor]. These two armies formed a close to solid line from Jena/ Burgau-Minzerte west to the River Ilm. On the 14th a major battle was shaping up between all of the French corps, except Bessieres (iirc) who was on the east bank of the Saale desulterily bombarding Jena. By this time Tauentzien's division was shattered, as the French had surrounded and destroyed the abandoned infantry on the east bank. The battle was begining to be joined heavily when the Emperor determined that he could not win this battle (believing that there was no way to outflank and the forces were too evenly matched to break through - as the Prussians still had the zone northwest of the Ilm clear and close to rebuild shattered divisions. Ian Schofield - Jun 18, 2005 10:52 pm (#407 Total: 410) BookmarkEmail to Friend Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H.L. Menken AAR - Part II During the 12th 13th a French corp had been heading up the east side of the Saare, but the arrival of Blucher and the Prussian cavalry caused this division to be disclosed as a rumour (it was the blank IIIrd division). Blucher was back in time for the main battle. Lessons Learned The French must ruthless harry the Prussians and must pin the Prussian infantry whenever possible. Shattering divisions must be key, since cavalry can be rebuilt easily. By the same token, the French should not worry about losses to the divisions initially appearing on the map, since these can be easily rebuilt after the later units arrive. Chasing and shattering prussians is more important. Hindsight is wonderful. Ed and I planned right from the beginning to concentrate near Jena and the French were not agressive enough to prevent us from doing so. John Kisner should have been playing Europe Engulfed, or some other game where sixes were key. Lannes spent an entire day, and half of a second day, not moving, because John kept rolling sixes. (must have been very frustrating to John and Jeff).IIRC, Soult wasn't much more active. This is a unique system, with higher combat odds producing retreat and losses only occuring on lower odds (and often resulting in several back and forth attacks). I believe this system gives a good feel for Napoleonics at the "operational" level. I know that term doesn't really work, but I don't have a better one. I loved the monster board and counters and am totally spoiled for 1/2' counters now. My gaming hobby could be expensive now that I have to have all my games blown up. Thanks Ed, John and Jeff - I enjoyed the game, your company and re-learning the system (I had only played once several years ago). John, I hope your dice luck was better in the other games you played. Ian oh yes; Eugene (of Wurttemburg) was still plodding his way from Magdeburg and had not hit the map yet.