"Horsie vs. Duckie (A Gaslight AAR)" Topic

Today's lesson is Infantry vs. Cavalry. The short answer? Cavalry is faster.

I set up a simple scenario. The invading force enters from the left, attempts to seize a small outpost in the center of the table, then presses on to silence the big guns in the fortress.

The defenders have a small group of sentries at the outpost…

and a full infantry unit with the guns, played today by my Sherman and Stryker models.

The attackers had two full infantry squads.

Shameless plug: Dice rolling is being done using the iPhone app "Pip." I would certainly recommend it.

Can anyone guess how the first battle turned out?

The infantry had a long way to walk. They were slowed right away by some rough terrain, which gave the artillery some free shots.

The blue ducks shot up the sentries at the outpost…

…war is hell.

The defender's other squad moved out to hold the entrance to the fortress.

The ducks couldn't close the deal, though. Green squad were blown to bits by cannon fire.

And despite an undefended outpost in reach, the Blue ducks were also chased off by the big guns.

For the second attempt, I found some Safari LTD. horses to serve as cavalry.

Again, the defenders deployed their troops toward the gates.

The cavalry crossed the rough terrain in no time, and charged into the helpless outpost guards.

The artillery that had wiped out the infantry could not keep up with the cavalry's speedy advance. Fewer shot meant fewer hits.

I was amazed at how fast the horses were. Granted, I'm playing on a table 1/3 the size of most battle reports I see, but in just 3 turns, they were knocking on the door.

Both cavalry teams had reached the fortress, having lost only a single horse.

I had seen enough. Brown Squad was outnumbered and surrounded. A smashing victory for the cavalry! Huzzah!

I think I'm really picking the basics up. I do have some questions, though.

1. If a unit passes the Charging morale check but doesn't roll high enough on the charge bonus to cover the distance to the Target unit, do they lose their turn, or can they just choose to move or shoot?

2. If a unit is charged, can the figures in the second "rank" fire at Charging models that are engaged with the front "rank?"

3. Page 29 says "all target figures that can be reached by figures from the charging unit must have at least one attacking figure fighting against them before the attacking player can double up on others."

Does that mean target figures blocked by terrain?

If horses A,B,C,D and E were in base contact with soldiers A,B,C,D and E, Could the rest of these horses be moved in to fight soldiers A,B,C,D AND E?

1) Not sure, let me check. My gut says that they still Move, and end up hanging out there in the open waiting to get shot.

2) It depends.

3) If the terrain would prevent the charging unit from being able to contact some of the target unit, yes. In other words, the extra Horsies in your example should be able to double up on Armymen A-E, since they are physically blocked by the walls from reaching Armymen F-J.

I am sure Chris or Buck will come along and 'splain better than I.

Where'd you score that odd Air Defense LAV from?

It came in a weird, mixed-bag set of generic "Army men" toys. It's got all sorts of goofy things in there in all different scales. (Like the black hand grenade, for instance.)

Yip, I can see that Gaslight will become the preferred rules for players aged 1 to 12 :)
On a0 serious note thanks for the AAR on these different scenarios, I'll be wanting to use these using "ahem" more conventional forces, thanks and cheers, hope Crete is treating you well.

Ha!

Be sure to post pics. I'd love to see that!

Sorry it's taken a while for me to get here, but the last couple days have been really busy.
As usual your games look like a lot of fun!

To answer our questions:

Q1. If a unit passes the Charging morale check but doesn't roll high enough on the charge bonus to cover the distance to the Target unit, do they lose their turn, or can they just choose to move or shoot?

A1) They must still make the charge and move the full distance that they rolled, and end up short of their target.

Q2. If a unit is charged, can the figures in the second "rank" fire at Charging models that are engaged with the front "rank?"

A2) No, there is no firng into melee. They can however move up to join the combat during their activation.

Q3. Page 29 says "all target figures that can be reached by figures from the charging unit must have at least one attacking figure fighting against them before the attacking player can double up on others."

Does that mean target figures blocked by terrain?

If horses A,B,C,D and E were in base contact with soldiers A,B,C,D and E, Could the rest of these horses be moved in to fight soldiers A,B,C,D AND E?

A3) In the example you show, with the limiting terrin on each side, the front rank of figures would block the movement of the atackers any further, so the attackers would start doubling up on the front rank of figures.
However, if the limiting terrain was not there, then the attackers would have more freedom of movment and would be allowed to contaact the rest of the figures in the defending unit, assuming they had rolled the movment to do so.

Just had a look at this; given the season, you could substitute 'peeps'.

All casualties will be eaten!

Given how too much marshmallow effects me, I'd be more likely to try and take prisoners. ;->=

Doug