Roy K. Bartoo - 10:59am Mar 31, 1999 PST (#75 of 78) Having a little time the other day, I soloed another game of Caseros 1852 (with my water-damaged, unsightly but playable copy). Rosas set up on his extreme left to try and help Lagos' cavalry. Everything promptly went wrong for him. Urquiza, as usual, piled into Lagos troops at full speed, while beginning a sweep with his entire army to try and turn Rosas' left. Naturally, the commander whose chit was left in the cup was Chilavert, commanding the center of Rosas' line. Rosas' right began to move south after the departing rebels, but badly slowed by the terrain (swamp and slope). Next turn, first chit drawn is Urquiza, and his off-map cavalry BOTH make their 1/6 chance to enter. Lagos' cavalry is crunched from before and behind. Rosas heads for his right flank, to try and get that moving. This time Lagos' chit is undrawn, and he doesn't move. Third turn and fourth turns, Urquiza's infantry finally catches up and helps demolish Lagos' division, demoralizing it on the fourth turn. Amazingly, NONE of Urquiza's cavalry have charged off in hot pursuit. Chilavert's left flank is also turned by Urquiza's onrushing horsemen, pinned as he is by Souza approaching from in front. Meanwhile, at the other end, Rosas has finally gotten Pinedo's troops into contact with the rebels (Diaz' division, Virasoro having taken his three units on a ride to attempt to get up and help Urquiza). Diaz' troops are beginning to suffer, especially as they are only 4-5 hexes from the map edge (little room to recover before routing off the edge). Virasoro does a U-turn to try and prevent the collapse of the rebels' left flank. With Lagos demoralized, Rosas fails his poltroonery roll at the first opportunity and departs for Europe. With Rosas departed, Lagos demoralized and Chilavert already compromised, it doesn't appear that Pinedo can demolish Diaz fast enough, and I call the game as a rebel victory. The optimal rebel strategy seems to be to turn the loyalist left flank. The Loyalist right flank is covered by some fairly difficult terrain, overstacked in buildings and strongly supported by artillery. The Loyalist center contains some mediocre troops, but a fair amount of artillery, and a frontal assault on artillery in this system is a Bad Idea. This was the first time I had tried sweeping the entire rebel army around Rosas' left flank, but it seemed an effective strategy. There is nothing on the rebels' left flank worth defending, and Rosas' artillery on the right flank has a movement allowance of zero, encouraging the rebels to walk away from it. The appropriate Loyalist response is less apparent. Rosas' ability to give some of the Loyalist units an extra activation is the Loyalists' ace in the hole. If Rosas sets up on the left, to help Lagos slow Urquiza's advance, the rebel left can walk outdistance Rosas' right wing - meaning that Urquiza's and Souza's divisions, possibly Diaz' as well, will come crashing into Lagos and Chilavert's left. On the other hand, if Rosas sets up on the right to help hustle Pinedo's troops in pursuit of the rebels, Lagos risks getting demolished even faster. Plus, Chilavert is likely to find it quite difficult to pivot his division in order to face the rebel sweep - especially if he wants to keep his slow artillery. One possible Loyalist response is two-pronged. Send Pinedo in pursuit of the rebel left wing (which of course means unstacking them and leaving the cover of the buildings, but that position is so strong nobody in their right minds will attack it). Meanwhile, Rosas sets up with Chilavert's left wing, and attacks Urquiza. This would take advantage of the rebels' main weakness - Urquiza is commanding something like 40% of all the rebel units, and is likely to be at the front with his cavalry in order to use his combat modifier, so his infantry gets left behind, out of command, to follow as best it is able. Rosas, commanding the left wing of Chilavert, might be able to get between Urquiza's infantry and cavalry. Interesting little game - a fair amount of manuever and strategy despite the basic situation of two lines facing off. Now, a few questions about Caseros. 1. A Disorganized unt receives a Rout result - is it Routed or eliminated? (I assume Routed). 2. A Routed unit receives a Rout result. Is it unaffected, Routed again, or eliminated? (I assume Routed again). 3. May a commander who is stacked with a supporting unit (but not with the actual unit involved in a combat) add his modifier to that combat? I assume not. Roy. ------------------------- Randy Moorehead - 11:43am Mar 31, 1999 PST (#76 of 78) [ Mark ] Last played: Rus', Rus', and even more Rus' Roy, 1. A Disorganized unt receives a Rout result - is it Routed or eliminated? (I assume Routed). Correct, it routs. 2. A Routed unit receives a Rout result. Is it unaffected, Routed again, or eliminated? (I assume Routed again). Correct, it routs again. 3. May a commander who is stacked with a supporting unit (but not with the actual unit involved in a combat) add his modifier to that combat? I assume not. Correct, it must be stacked with the actual unit attacking or defending, not just supporting. Thanks for the play by play! The Free Set-up allows you to "correct" the flaws you find in the historical deployment... ------------------------- Roy K. Bartoo - 03:22pm Apr 1, 1999 PST (#77 of 78) [ Mark ] "The Free Set-up allows you to "correct" the flaws you find in the historical deployment... " But where's the fun in that? One last Caseros question. At the start, the rebels get an activation to start the festivities. I assume this means they get to choose one of their activation chits rather than drawing it randomly from the cup, or does it mean they activate a formation, and then the chit drawing begins with ALL chits in the cup. Roy. ------------------------- Randy Moorehead - 09:43am Apr 2, 1999 PST (#78 of 78) [ Mark ] Last played: Rus', Rus', and even more Rus' For the historical game, they get a free activation of their choice, then the chit draws begin with all chits in the cup. The historical result can be interpreted as Urquiza gets the free activation, then his chit is immediately drawn from the cup. Rosas flank is gone, with most of Urquiza's cavalry off in pursuit, then the rest of the battle begins. Then again, since one chit is always left in the cup, it _could_ be Urquiza's. The point of the freebie is to show Urquiza's initiative, and Rosas' lack thereof to open the battle.