From: Markus Stumptner Subject: [consim-l] Landships Yesterday, about 4 1/2 years after trying it for the first time, I finally graduated to the full Landships rules. Actually, it was more the full Infernal Machines rules as we applied pretty much all of the new ones that we could, including the Running/Prone ones. We basically decided to go through the Landships scenarios though before trying the Infernal Machines ones, so we started right at the start. (Unlike Panzer Grenadier, the number of scenarios is limited enough, 20 in the original game, that such a plan might actually succeed.) The first scenario lived up to its reputation, it proved totally unbalanced, as I had heard it would be. It showcases German cavalry (about 15 units or so) that has to overrun some Allied infantry, take and hold some terrain, and then exit the other side of the map, while being simultaneously attacked in the flank by eight (8) Rolls Royce armored cars. The map setup (two maps are used) is lengthwise so that the armored cars (20MP) can actually cross from one side to the other in one turn. As a result, a sort of shell game developed where the cavalry dismounted on one side of the map to be less vulnerable while it kept moving on the other side of the map. This proved eventually unproductive as the armored cars kept killing cavalry platoons while the cavalry had not even managed to reach the infantry at all when 2/3 of the scenario was over, much less kill it, take the terrain it held, and exit. (One armored car broke down due to tire damage.) Supposedly the designer's comment when queried on the scenario was that it was supposed to show that cavalry couldn't do much against armored cars. Well, yes, but I suspect it could have been made less boringly (bleedingly) obvious. The second scenario has the Germans launch their first ever gas-supported assault (against Algerians on the other side). This uses one map, which after setup has grey and blue lines of units running across it. The Germans have to cross the trenches and exit on the other side of the map. After the initial gas barrage (with special rules since there are no gas masks on the other side), the blue side was very thin on the ground (there is a 2/3 chance of a platoon covered by the gas barrage to be eliminated). However, the Germans have to cross minefields between the trenches and the German player proceeded to roll sixes (which eliminate German units in the minefield) in about 30-40% of cases. Also, the Germans tried running, but since most were killed or Pinned in their first minefield hex that did not carry them further and only ensured that they had to rest the next turn as well. Some more suffered from the initial French artillery barrage, and what was worst, the minefields and barrages killed all the German Forward Observers. In the meantime, French reinforcements came up, and with the Germans, slowly and under losses pushing forward in the French trenches, unable to release their second gas barrage, it was clear that they would not manage to bring the required number of platoons out into the open on the other side (much less to the map edge), so the German player conceded. There was not all that much strategy evident in our play, but it was interesting enough to be tried again (in particular since the Germans can probably find some crossings where there is less of a minefield than elsewhere). In particular, calling in artillery barrages on later turns is a quite laborious process (appropriately so). It seems advantageous to start artillery barrages somewhere behind the enemy lines, because keeping up Standing Fire is much more likely to keep the artillery going than calling for new hexes on later turns. (Of course if you eliminate almost everyone in the trenches on the first turn, that will not help you as your fire will have to fall further back.) The game is pretty involved (and the sequence of play is amazingly involved) but still tends to move relatively quickly, presumably in part since we have not had a scenario that actually had lots of infantry, artillery, tanks, and aircraft together. The main drawback we found is the lack of markers - one needs Fired and Moved markers and we used some TCS markers for the former purpose. We also used some TCS smoke markers (since barrage markers hang around till the next turn, but there are only four for both sides in the whole countermix). The next two scenarios feature a German flamethrower attack and then the British using gunboats on the Tigris at Nasiriyah (where have I heard that name recently), so they promise to be interesting as well. Markus Last 3 games played: Up Front, Orion, Landships ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Was it not bully the way the Japs begun the fight?" -- Elihu Root, US Secretary of State, commenting on the Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur