---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:50:23 +1030 (CST) From: Markus Stumptner To: consim-l@mailman.halisp.net Subject: Vae Victis Sphacteria Replay & Observations Well, with John keeping up the list traffic in such a stalwart manner over the last months, I guess it's time for me to post a replay again. Last weekend, I played the latest Vae Victis game, on the campaign of Sphacteria, 425 BC. This was one of the first reverses for the Spartans on land during the Peloponnesian War. Historically, the Athenians managed to trap some Spartans on the island of Sphacteria and starve them out, forcing their surrender. The game is interesting because it captures the combined arms nature of the campaign on both land and sea, and also because it's quite small and quick. Vae Victis reinvented itself last year, shifting to a different format with a distinctly smaller game than in the past (typically the map is A4/letter sized, with a similar sized countersheet). They also moved to a much more sombre magazine cover design which makes it fairly easy to distinguish the "old" from the "new" issues. At the time I let my subscription lapse, but I've come to conclude that this was a mistake - I'm playing the "new" games more often than I did the "old" ones, since they require less time commitment to mount the counters, read the rules, set up and play. So I'll eventually back order the issues I missed. The Sphacteria map shows the bay of Pylos on the Peloponnesian where the Athenians had esablished a small fortification on the entrance to the bay. The island of Sphacteria blocks most of the entrance, leaving two narrow straits to the north and south. Whoever controls the straits can block supply for the Athenians on land, or the Spartans on Sphacteria. The rules are 4 pages long, the same CRT (odds-based) is used for land and naval combat (and, though with some groaning in the joints, works for both). There is some interesting chrome (such that the beach area adjacent to the port of Pylos can be used for beaching ships, the distinction between the Athenians and their Messenian allies, or the Spartans and the helots) plus a set of stratagem markers that can do varying things. Some of these I'd rank in the "silly" category (such as deciding between a tempest and retiring an opposing leader - weather control is something where I draw the line) but overall they provide significant variability to the base scenario that essentially revolves around two or three ground and naval areas. Every turn, both sides dice for Action Points (APs) with 2d6, and then alternate spending them (starting with the side that got more) to activate stacks for move and combat. A stack with a leader costs 1 to activate, one without a leader costs 2. Combat always costs 1 extra. A "total victory" requires starving out the enemy. A "decisive victory" requires ownership of Pylos and Sphacteria. Otherwise, victory is decided by the comparative level of losses of both sides. So, on to the fighting. I did play two rules wrong (they are ambiguous and later clarification indicated I made the wrong choice). The first of these is that combat odds are not computed beyond the table. You find the column on the table (3:1 is the highest, so 5:1 attacks are wasted!) and then you apply any shifts. The other one affects retreating fleets through the straits. (More on this later.) ---------- 1st turn: Sparta 5 Action Points (APs), Athens 4. Sparta gets "Messenes desert" and "Reinforcements #1". Athens gets "Tempest at Sea" and another marker I don't remember. The Spartans decide on the immediate attack. They bring in their optional reinforcements at once. Their two bonus leaders (Brasidas and Epidatas) take two Spartan and two Helot units and assault the Pylos fortification. The attack at 5:1 which ends up a 1:1+1 with the fortifications and difficult terrain, the bonus leaders, and the helots. The Spartans roll a 6, the Athenians take a step loss and have to retreat. Well, that was quick. Only retreat by naval transport is an option, and only 3 units can be retreated, as there are only 3 Athenian squadrons present. The Messenians take the hit, and of course they are also the ones that are not retreated. The Athenians now cannot really do anything except wait for reinforcements. (At this point I concluded the game was essentially over but I'd play it out anyway.) The Spartans now have 1 PA left and spend it for doing nothing. Turn 2: Sparta 4 AP, Athens 3. Athens gets "Kyklos" and "Archers" and Sparta gets "Recoup losses" (and another one that was not useful). Sparta's Turn 2 reinforcements arrive: lots of ships. They transport the units that were stationed outside Pylos and drop them on Sphacteria, blocking the exit for the Athenians (except possibly by naval transport to the beach. If they clog the beach, the Athenians will be dead). The Spartans also take position in the southern strait and attack the Athenian ships in the northern strait. This is a 1:1 attack turned into 2:3 by the Athenians playing the Kyklos stratagem, DR4 - the Athenians win. The Spartans take some losses and must retreat. (I actually played this wrong - I have now been told that the narrows can actually not be retreated through by forces in excess of the stacking limit there. So attacking a fleet in the port with a large fleet is as dangerous to the attacker as defending in it is - neither side can retreat!) Unfortunately the Spartans now have only 1 AP left, so they cannot move into the northern end of Sphacteria and attack. The Athenians there are safe until next turn. The Athenians get the last action and move their single naval unit to the port area. The Spartans refurbish their damaged trireme unit back in the adjustment phase, and wait for whatever comes next. The Athenians decide to play the Tempest chit. Three Spartan trireme units are reduced. (Because the Spartans had initiative and had their adjustment phase first, they cannot now refurbish their units until the end of next turn.) At this point, the Spartans are very much in control. They hold Pylos, they have the Athenians hemmed up at the northern end of Sphacteria, and they are hold at least the southern straits, so the Athenians will have to dislodge them there before cutting off Sphacteria. Turn 3. The Athenians come up with two stratagems: Diekplus for naval combat (only useful on the attack) and the Burning of Sphacteria. The latter is rather ironic as it is they who currently subside on defensive on the island, so they are not going to use it. The Spartan stratagems are Epibates (Marines - which should help them given that the Athenian triremes will turn up this turn) and again Reinforcements 1 (now useless). The Athenians get 4 AP, the Spartans only 1! The Spartan command, obviously believing they have the matter under control, stands down and is not prepared for offensive operations as the Athenian relief force arrives. The Athenians consider collecting all their Triremes for an attack on the Spartan fleet west of Sphacteria. This would require all their APs as they need to get the Triremes from the port to reinforce the fleet to get to 3:2 odds. They could then use the Diekplous to get to 2:1. Interestingly enough, this would be nearly useless in attrition terms. At worst, 3/4 of the Spartan units would be reduced but would be refurbished at the end of the turn. However, it would make the path free to reinforce the troops on Sphacteria. The other option is to *not* bring on the trireme unit from the port and attack directly with only the reinforcement fleet half the AP cost. This would allow a follow-on attack. The Spartans would not be able to attack the ships in the port this turn anyway. So the Athenians decide to attack the Spartan fleet with the Athenian fleet only. Final odds with the Diekplus are 3:2, and the Spartans use the Epibates to counter the +1 Trireme quality modifier. A dieroll of 4 means equal damage to both fleets, but the Athenians have to retreat. They decide to try again, this time at 1:1+1. A dieroll of 1 forces the Athenians to retreat again. The Spartans would like to concentrate their fleet but can't bring the main force into the southern straits, and the force from the straits cannot be recalled with 1 AP. So they sit. One of the Messenian hoplite units decides that there's not much chance in this mission and deserts. (The Spartans played the Desertion stratagem.) The Spartans ditch the reinforcement stratagem and the Athenians the Burning Sphacteria stratagem. Turn 4: The Athenians come up with Diekplous again and a Recover1 chit, the Spartans come up with Combined Attack and the Epibates again. Both sides get 2 APs. The Spartans get the Initiative as they win ties. The Athenians still can use the archer stratagem first on Sphacteria so as to prevent a Spartan attack this turn. The Spartans decide to use the APs for the fleet. They move it to the port and attack the Athenian squadron there. At maximum odds +1, the Spartans roll a 1 but this is still sufficient to win the battle. However, the Athenians are merely reduced and can retreat through the northern straits. Now it is the Athenian fleet's turn to move. They attack the Spartans still milling around in the port, 45:37. The Athenian use the Diekplus to shift the odds to 3:2 and their quality advantage implies a +1. A roll of 4 or more would destroy the Spartan fleet. The Athenians roll a 1. Both sides reduce a squadron and the Athenians retreat. The Athenians still block the northern straits so a repeat attack against the port would again threaten the Spartan fleet's survival. In the adjustment phase, everyone is refurbished. Turn 5. The Athenians again get the Burning of Sphacteria which is no use to them, and "Delayed Reinforcements". The Spartans come up with a double recover and the Helot supply/Kyklos event. The latter should be useful. Both sides get 5 AP. At this point, the Spartans have more naval strength points on the map, so they win initiative. The obvious Spartan goal now is to get their fleet out of the port before the Athenians attack. They will also immediately attack on land on Sphacteria so they declare they will spend 4 AP. They attack into the northern straits. Unfortunately their only combat bonus squadron is at full strength (10) so they can only advance one of their normal squadrons into the straits (which can only accept 5 strength squadrons). Slightly weird this. They attack at 1:1-1 and roll a 1. This becomes a 1/2-R and their squadron is reduced. There is now an interesting decision to make. The squadron could retreat into the bay and escape from the blockade, but then the rest of the fleet would be weakened and without a leader if it wants to escape next turn. So the Spartans decide to retreat back into the port. The land attack on Sphacteria goes in at 21:6 (3:1). It is shifted to 2:1 for the difficult terrain and to 3:2 since most of the attackers are helots. There is a -1 modifier for the archers and -1 for the bonus of Demosthenes leading the force. The Spartans roll a 6 which turns into a 4. Half the Athenian units are reduced and they are forced to retreat. They manage to evacuate by naval transport and are moved to the Athenian ground base by naval movement. The Spartans rejoice, though if this had happened a turn earlier, the Athenians would have been destroyed. The Athenians have been waiting for their reinforcements. With Cleon in the lead, 20 additional ships have arrived, and the Athenians sail into the port again. The Spartans quickly use their Recoup losses stratagem to bring their weakened squadron back to strength and get to 40 SP but it turns out there is no difference, it's now. 65 ships+3 versus 40+1. The Spartans also use their Kyklos stratagem. At 1:1 the Athenians roll a 1 which is turned into a 3 which weakens both fleets but forces the Spartans to retreat. As the straits are blocked by the Athenians, the Spartan fleet is destroyed. Brasidas escapes to the Pylos fortress. The Spartan rejoicing stops. The Spartans spend their last AP doing nothing as they can't attack with one, and can't move anywhere sensible without attacking; their position now is difficult in the extreme. The Athenians spend their last 2 AP moving Cleon and the 20 best ships into the southern straits. At 1:1+3, they attack the Spartan squadrons there. Cleon is wounded (by Spartan stratagem, which removes his bonus), but they roll a 6 which turns into an 8 - R:1/2. One Spartan squadron is reduced and both retreat out to sea. The Spartan supply marker is dropped by 1 in the adjustment phase as their troops on Sphacteria are now cut off. Turn 6: The Athenians draw Diekplous and Combined Attack. The Spartans draw Epibates and Diekplous. The Athenians get 3 points, the Spartans 4. The Spartans decide that sitting around is all they can do and spend 1 AP. The Athenians spend 3 AP to move Cleon and most of the rest of the Athenian fleet into area B to do battle with the Spartans. At 2:1+2, they roll a 1, changed to a 3. They take losses, but win the battle and the Spartans retreat into their base. The Spartans again do nothing, and the Athenians bring ground units on the map adjacent to Pylos. Spartan supply is again reduced, to 1 now. The Athenians burn the vegetation on Sphacteria in preparation for a potential landing now that they have the initiative again. Turn 7: The Spartans get the Combined Attack and Epibates markers. The Athenians get the Departure of Brasidas and the Recoup 1 loss marker. Brasidas has to leave the battle for urgent business elsewhere. As he steps on the deck of the PT Boat... oh sorry, wrong battle. The Athenians get 5 APs, the Spartans get 4. This likely removes the last chance the Spartans had to clear the supply route to Sphacteria. The Athenians move first, and spend four points. Two are spent for Cleon and most of the fleet to attack the Spartans again. 50:20+2 turns into 2:1+1 when the Spartans play the Epibates marker again. The Athenians roll a 2 which turns into a 3. Both sides take losses, but the Spartans must retreat. Next, the Athenians spend two points to move Demosthenes into Pylos, and assault it with a Combined Attack. The attack goes in at 52:28 3:2. The leaders (Epidatas and Demosthenes) cancel each other out. There are three shifts for the fortification and difficulty, 1 right for half the Spartan units being helots. At 2/3, the Athenians roll a 5, and win the battle. The Spartans are overwhelmed and destroyed. The Athenians retake Pylos. There is no chance for the Spartans to break the blockade of Sphacteria (even an attack against the Athenian ships guarding the approach would go in at 1:3-2. The Spartans have a Diekplous marker but at 1:2 the dieroll modifiers would still guarantee a defeat. At the end of the turn, Spartan supply drops to 0 and the Spartans on Sphacteria surrender for a total Athenian victory. Certainly an unexpected outcome after the first turn. Have to try this one again. Markus Last 3 games played: Sphacteria, NBS Vimeiro, Lodz: First Blitzkrieg --------------- http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/user/mst/games/ --------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942