steve rupar - 09:50am Jun 23, 2000 PST (#7475 of 7502) Hjalmar, I had a chance to play another turn of Bittereinder yesterday. Game ended with a Boer victory as the first siege check against empire morale resulted in a British surrender, which in turn further lowered morale and resulted in every other siege ending in surrender. The empire can't afford to lose any sieges. I indeed played stupidly as the British. This was my first run through playing solitaire and I was not nearly agressive enough as the Brits. It seems very important to maintain empire morale above 5 going into the first siege check turn 3. Also, I stupidly positioned some of the British garrisons such that they were in position to be besieged...won't make that mistake again. I started to notice on Turn 3 how quickly the Boer War commitment can drop. In order to maintain the siege at Ladysmith the Boers committed up to 40 sp, attacking and defending in turn against Bullers' relieving force. This eats up a lot of commitment pts and can't go on too long, the Boers at best get 35 sps back each turn. The Boers use War Commitment pts to determine their total strength in each combat, which may be a portion of the total strength actually in the area. Thus, if attacking, there is no need to spend more commitment pts then needed to get to 4:1 odds. In the other direction, attacking at low 1:4 odds will usually produce an attacker retreat result. A useful Boer tactic when confronting a larger empire force may be to attack first, at 1:4 odds, and hope for an attacker retreat result to allow the Boers to run away before the Empire forces can attack. I think the game mechanics are clever. I'll post more on my next game in the Microgame Co-op folder. Hjalmar Gerber - 12:39pm Jun 23, 2000 PST (#7481 of 7502) steve rupar - 09:50am Jun 23, 2000 PST (#7475 of 7478) I had a chance to play another turn of Bittereinder yesterday. Game ended with a Boer victory as the first siege check against empire morale resulted in a British surrender, which in turn further lowered morale and resulted in every other siege ending in surrender. The empire can't afford to lose any sieges. I indeed played stupidly as the British. This is what often happens the first time around, which is why, at the insistence of Markus Stumptner, I included the player note (16.0) in the game. I shall repost them here in a later post in the Microgame Co-op folder. The second time around is usually quite different. Still, it's not quite as bad as that ol' sucker-punch opening vs a novice in chess. This was my first run through playing solitaire and I was not nearly agressive enough as the Brits. It seems very important to maintain empire morale above 5 going into the first siege check turn 3. Also, I stupidly positioned some of the British garrisons such that they were in position to be besieged...won't make that mistake again. Placing the "free" garrisons requires some thought, and accepting a siege should also not be taken lightly. On the other hand, one does not have much choice along the frontier during the opening moves. The best solution is to sit tight, and to move aggressively and forcefully to relieve the sieges as soon as the ample reinforcements show up. I started to notice on Turn 3 how quickly the Boer War commitment can drop. In order to maintain the siege at Ladysmith the Boers committed up to 40 sp, attacking and defending in turn against Bullers' relieving force. This eats up a lot of commitment pts and can't go on too long, the Boers at best get 35 sps back each turn. The Boers use War Commitment pts to determine their total strength in each combat, which may be a portion of the total strength actually in the area. Thus, if attacking, there is no need to spend more commitment pts then needed to get to 4:1 odds. In the other direction, attacking at low 1:4 odds will usually produce an attacker retreat result. A useful Boer tactic when confronting a larger empire force may be to attack first, at 1:4 odds, and hope for an attacker retreat result to allow the Boers to run away before the Empire forces can attack. The Boers don't even have to make the low-odds attack if there is a hinterland (not occupied by Empire forces) to move/retreat to prior to combat. As the game progresses, a Boer attack will become an increasingly rare phenomenon. I think the game mechanics are clever. I'll post more on my next game in the Microgame Co-op folder. Thanks, Steve. I'm looking forward to it. Austin Lange - 09:54am Jun 23, 2000 PST (#7476 of 7478) asks: Does this Boer war game have anything to represent the German meddling in this war? Sorry Austin, the limited scope of the game does not allow one to go there. Anyway, what material influence did the German meddling have on the Boer War ? Yes, it and other monumental German diplomatic blunders caused bad blood that aggravated that little scuffle in Europe in 1914 and beyond. There were some German and other European and Irish (what did you expect?) volunteers on the Republican side who had stong passions against British Imperialism, but they were not involved with the sanction of their respective governments - sort of like the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Hjalmar steve rupar - 10:52am Jun 26, 2000 PST (#431 of 437) Got a chance to play part of a second game of Bittereinder this weekend. Playing solitaire. My first game ended quickly in a British defeat thru morale collapse after several bad siege morale checks. In this game I did not make the same mistakes as the British, playing them more aggressively, and not leaving so many vulnerable garrisons. I am through to Turn 8 and the Boers look to be in trouble. Roberts large column of several strong infantry brigades is plodding one area per turn from Capetown towards Bloemfontein, the Free State Capital, which will fall next turn. Most of the relatively weak cavalry reinforcements went ahead to relieve the siege of Maefking. Several 1-2 cavalry units are zipping through the undefended portions of the Transvaal and Free State picking up control of Boer towns, which reduces the number of Boer War Commitment received each turn. In Natal, Bullers is leading an even larger column of infantry plodding its way toward Pretoria...should reach there by Turn 10 (July 1900 I believe). The Boers do not have the manpower or the War commitment points to stand in the way of either Roberts or Buller, so the fall of the Boer capitals seems to be only a matter of time. A unit can always move one area each turn. Fall of either capital causes a large loss in Boer War commitment points, and an increase in Empire morale. At this point the British are accepting sieges as the anticipated increase in Empire morale from the fall of the capitals will guarantee that each besieged city will not surrender. As the Boers I neglected to realize how big a drop in commitment points comes with the fall of the capitals. The Boers should be able to hang in but will need to be strictly defensive for a quite some time, to build up whatever commitment points they can. I think the Boers need to stop whatever major offensives they are doing by Turn 6, after that, it seems that competent British play should be able to take both Boer capitals fairly quickly. On turns divisible by three the British check the morale of each of their besieged towns, so the Boer player probably has about two shots per city. I'm looking forward to developing Boer strategies as the game goes into a guerilla phase. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hjalmar Gerber - 12:48pm Jun 26, 2000 PST (#432 of 437) steve rupar - 10:52am Jun 26, 2000 PST (#431 of 431): I am through to Turn 8 and the Boers look to be in trouble. Roberts large column of several strong infantry brigades is plodding one area per turn from Capetown towards Bloemfontein, the Free State Capital, which will fall next turn. Have you used the Roberts double-move yet ? (See leader capabilities.) Most of the relatively weak cavalry reinforcements went ahead to relieve the siege of Maefking. They're not all that weak. They cover a lot of ground, and, unlike the Boers, they show up for the fight every time. In Natal, Bullers is leading an even larger column of infantry plodding its way toward Pretoria...should reach there by Turn 10 (July 1900 I believe). Historically, Roberts took Pretoria in early June 1900 (100 years ago). The Boers should be able to hang in but will need to be strictly defensive for a quite some time, to build up whatever commitment points they can. This is the transition from conventinal to guerilla warfare. It is also in the Empire's interest to capture and occupy all Republican towns as soon as they can, and to force the Boers to fight as many battles as they possibly can. . . even at unfavourable odds. I'm looking forward to developing Boer strategies as the game goes into a guerilla phase. When the Republican Armies disappear (they cannot retreat as a result of combat, but are instead eliminated), they are replaced by leaders (De Wet and Botha). You may also want to pay attention to Empire strategies and tactics to hunt and corner the Boer commandos. Have you read Pakenham's 'The Boer War' yet ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hjalmar Gerber - 02:49pm Jun 27, 2000 PST (#439 of 441) steve rupar - 10:28am Jun 27, 2000 PST (#438 of 438): Both Boer armies are still in play but are on their own at this point without any supporting units, and they have been steering well clear of the British infantry columns. Nailing down a Boer Army (cf. Paardeberg) is good for Empire Morale. You can generally eliminate units only through surrounding them by holding the adjacent areas, although the Boers can retreat in this instance by paying war commitment points. Music to the Empire player's ears: "paying war commitment points." British units can avoid combat by choosing to be besieged up to the counter limit (5 sieges), provided their morale situation allows it. . . . but why would you want to avoid combat if no brigade is threatened with elimination, or no garrison is in any danger at all ? If the Boers attack, they are burning WCPs. The result so far in this game is no Boer units killed, and maybe 3 or 4 British units. The latter should be back in action quite soon (max. 6 turns). Is this normal in the game through this stage or is it my game tactics? Yes. It's difficult to get rid of Boer units (unless they're stupid enough to defend against high odds) . . . until the WCP pool starts dwindling. After that happens they'll start surrendering in droves. British units when they get a chance have always been attacking, even at low odds, to force the Boers to use war commitment points. Perfect. The Boers may need to sacrifice a few units (pay no points) in order to preserve their dwindling point reserve. Hey! You've got it figured out. :-) I don't find any restriction on movement through tribal areas for Empire units - correct? The Empire cavalry has used this to linger along the east flank of the Boer republics and to dash in where possible to sieze Boer towns. Yes, this is true; and it is as it was intended. Some may quibble about the history, but it works in the game. steve rupar - 07:14am Jul 3, 2000 PST (#452 of 454) Got a chance this weekend for more Bittereinder play. Bloemfontein fell on Turn 9 to Roberts, and Pretoria on Turn 10 to Buller. Although the loss of both capitals put a heavy hit on the Boer war commitment points (end of turn 9 = 104, turn 10 = 23, turn 11 = 29), the Boers are still very much in the game, with almost their entire force still in play. Boer casualties so far are two kommando units and one of the two large field armies. The Boers gain war commitment points by hanging onto their towns. Turns 9 thru 11 saw the Boers holding steady at about 13 to 15 points each turn. I have generally been retreating the Boers away from any combat except defensive actions where the Boers already control a town and are being assaulted by a 1 point British cavalry unit. The Boers "pay" war commitment points to determine their combat strength in each combat, and generally on the defense I have been paying 1 point for a strength in combat of 1. The Boer kommando units fight full strength at a cost of zero commitment points if in their home town area, so I have also been moving Boer units towards their home towns. The Boers have staged one offensive attack, on Winburg, succesfully taking the town and controlling the main rail line. The Boers also are maintaining control of four towns in the Cape Colony in hopes of eventually reducing Empire morale. For the British, the policy has been to move cavalry units into whatever Boer controlled areas they can reach each turn to hopefully force combat and burn up commitment points each turn. So far the Brits have been frustrated. Next turn Kitchener should be in a good position to start razing towns, and on Turn 16 the Brits can begin building blockhouses. Both sides are feeling frustrated and as each side I feel as though I need to relearn strategy and counterstrategy almost every turn, so this has been interesting. Turns are fairly quick, about 20 mins to 30 mins each. A question for Hjalmar: How did the war end historically in game terms? How many kommando units were left and what was the war commitment point total down to? Hjalmar Gerber - 10:39am Jul 4, 2000 PST (#457 of 458) steve rupar - 07:14am Jul 3, 2000 PST (#452 of 456) Got a chance this weekend for more Bittereinder play. . . . Both sides are feeling frustrated and as each side I feel as though I need to relearn strategy and counterstrategy almost every turn, so this has been interesting. It's most gratifying to hear this. Do you miss the hexes ? . . . or did you even notice ? A question for Hjalmar: How did the war end historically in game terms? How many kommando units were left and what was the war commitment point total down to? As it ended as a guerilla struggle, the jury will forever be out on this issue. The Boer leaders estimated that they could still call on about 22000 men as the need arose, whereas the [notoriously inefficient] FID (Field Intelligence Division) thought they were facing about half that number. The problem is that it's very difficult to distinguish between a civilian and a guerilla fighter. To qualify as a "civilian", a resident of the former Boer republics had to swear allegiance to the Crown, whereafter being caught in action against Her/His Majesty's forces was a criminal offence that could end in front of a firing squad. Regardless of how many guerillas were still around, and how many units they were divided into, the gauge on the Republican War Commitment Points pool was pretty much on "empty" when the Peace of Vereeniging was signed on May 31, 1902. It's not the number of men available, but rather their willingness and their ability to fight that counts. Hjalmar ________