This is the latest battle in the Imagi-Nations 18th Century campaign.
It was fought out at "The Weekend" convention of June of this year, 2015.
This Battle is one of a series of engagements engendered in an 18th Century Imagi-Nations Campaign going on right now in my home group. It was brought about by a series of orders and intentions of the players in the game. In this Mike Lorenzo, King of Spam, has convinced other players to make a crusade against the Empire of Ikea, an imagi-nation based on the Ottoman Empire. That position is a non-player run country so its defensive options are limited, but mitigated by the provision that the Umpire (me) makes all the decisions for that land. I don't like four and five on one pile-ons so the predatory crew will pay dearly for any of their ill-gotten gains.
I shall not go through the whole system, suffice to say that in the course of play three battles were engendered and this one, the second, sees a large army of Bad-Zu-Wurst under the military genius Faustus the Grump attacking the Ikeans as part of Mike's "crusade." The Bad Zu Wurstians heavily outnumber the Ikeans having an army and a brigade, while the Ikeans, but two brigades. In the previous battle, Palaver, the Spammies of Mike, took on an Ikean army and won a bare victory. In this the outnumbered Ikeans are helped by the terrain which is quite defensible and offers a narrow constricted front. The map on the previous page shows the situation at the end of turn 1. The Little Phlegmatic river is unfordable below the bridge.
The forces were Dave Doty and Peter Frechtling on the Ikean side, and Rick Masse, Norm Thime, and Mark Zaslavsky on the Bad Zu Wurstians.
The game began with the Bad Zu Wurstians having the initiative and they masterfully crossed the bridge at the town of Izod in the center and moved directly against the Ikeans. It could be said of Rick that "he moves his cannon with the lightness of a pistol" as he massed his attacks against the enemy center, which shortly paid dearly for it. Retribution came however when it was realized that the lodgement area on the far side of the Little Phlegmatic was too constricted for all the troops pushed in, and a real brutal slog set in.
It was a bloody battle and in the end a near run thing. The match up of an army and a brigade against two brigades is a ratio of about 4 to 2, and both sides had covered their victory point spots well (the small magenta and blue squares with stars and letters). Both sides got significant victory points from destroying enemy units, but perhaps the most dramatic move was when Mark Zaslavsky was able to flank march the Bad Zu Wurstian right wing cavalry around the Ikean flank and take one of their critical units, the line of retreat. In the end the Bad Zu Wurstians won by two points, one of them being that line of retreat but they should have been able to do much better. The next game in the series could have been fought at the Weekend, but everyone was interested in other things, and it will continue back home. It will see an army of the Neverneverlands engaged in a fight against two Ikean brigades in the Battle of Ishkabibble".
That is the "short form" of the battle as it appears in the 48 page full color "After Action Report / Keepsake Booklet" we publish for "The Weekend." You can get a copy of this if you like by sending me $12 USD for postage and printing. Space is limited in that booklet and I do not want to hog the pages for myself. The aim is to have a battle report of EVERY battle that is presented at "The Weekend". This complete with pictures and maps if we can get them.
To elaborate on this battle a little more though will be instructive. The disparity of forces between Ikea and Bad Zu Wurst was large. It was mitigated by the givng to the Ikeans some more defensive terrain than a straight up fight. This helped but did not throw the game the other way.
To understand the battle, the central point was the village of Izod which was almost in the exact center of the battlefield, but a little to the right edge. Below the town which had the only bridge the Little Phlegmatic river was allegedly unfordable. This might not have been true and I allowed any unit which touched the river to "search for a ford" to roll a die and if it was a 1 a ford could be found. In the event no fords were found. Above the town the river was completely fordable where it made a few bends through gentle pasture land. The whole river ran from the upper right corner to the lower left. This obstacle would of course prevent easy access to the Ikena positions by the Bad Zu Wurstians. Each edge on the left and right was dominated by a large woods, of about six hexes (I use large hex-based terrain for the scenic effect only, the hexes have no effect on fire and movement) of forests. There was one on each side. Behind the hills on each edge for each side were a few hills. All sides of the table top were "open" in that flanking moves could be made against that edge if the sides wished to.
There were three general strategies open to the Bad Zu Wurstians.
1. They could shift their forces to the northward (to their left) and cross the Palaver where it was fordable, mass against the forest on Ikean right (The Nattalie Wood) and either attack them there, or press through the narrow gap between the wood and the town, or make a wide flanking movement from that edge, sort of ala Leuthen and attack the enemy flank.
2. They could shift their forces southward of the Phlegmatic, occupy the wood on their right (Call it the Evelyn Wood) and from that cover force a crossing of the lower phlegmatic, if they cound a ford, or use it as a cover to make an off the board movement to the south. As theyd id not know fur sure if there was a ford, and in the actual event, there was not, this would hav led to a lot of reshuffling later and probably a draw. They did make a turning movement with cavalry on this flank which was successfull, but only after the Ikean left had pretty well been denuded of troops.
3. They could take the battle as they stood and attack across the Phlegmatic, funneling everythihg through the town and making a heavy attack on the Ikean center. This was risky as most units would then have an unfordable river in their back and if forced to retreat, would be cut off. This was the general Strategy Rick the commander of the Bad Zu Wurstians would adopt, and it worked for a while.
With this strategy, from turn 1 onward the Ikean forces were always pinned or locked in combat and largely engaged in simply holding on by their very white knuckles and fending off the Bad Zu Wurstian blows. About mid-game when the Bad Zu Wurstians began to lose initiative and the Ikeans could pick it up, they could move their troops and reserves around to start to counter-attack and they were able to isolate, using their SCUM and the unfordable river in this part of the field to isolate and destroy several enemy units. Of course the enemy had been destroying their units too, and it was bad fortune that the rolls for the destroying these units, on BOTH sides did not often give them a victory point.
What is interesting about this to me is the way "Oh Giod!!! Anything But a Six" always allows and keeps in play the idea of flanking and large scale movement and gives opportunities to eaither side for an upset. Mark Zaslavsky, who had the Bad Zu Wurstian right flank consisting of most of their light cavalry had been the "refused" flank and meant simply to entertain the Ikean left, but when he saw the game slipping to a draw, he tried the outflanking move, failed to return for two turns, and finally got it on the third and not only took one of the special units of the Ikeans (their line of retreat) but in getting it eliminated an Ikean unit and rolled the 1 which gave them the extra victory point. In the center the Ikeans continued to hold their own, and even eliminated a unit or two, but only got a point for one of them. Dave Doty, commanding here, was desperately, with Pete Frechtling trying to get loose a few cavalry units to screen their left, or have some reserves, but the demands to the front were too pressing.
The game of "Oh God!!! Anything but a six" is a game that is set up so that the umpire never has to call it. Whenever the game ends, victory goes tot he side with more victory points. These can be from "strategic spots" of which each side picks three, which can be on any hex of the board except an open hex. Three more are from "special units" your camp, headquarters, and line of retreat (I am presently making pretty little dioramas to represent these rather than bland cards, and the elimination of a critical enemy unit. How this is handled is if you eliminate an enemy unit you roll a die and if you get a "1" you get a victory point.
One of the effects this system has on the game is that the larger the army on each side the less likelihood of a major victory. If each side has an Army and Abrigade, the maximum you can have in any table top battle, there are a LOT of troops and that usually means more than enough troops to cover your strategic points or your special units, and victory points usually come from the eliminated critical units, of which you might get one or two. An the other hand smaller sides means less units on the ground and hence you have to be more careful about deployments so that one side doesn't slip through a gap or roll up a line.
One of the byproducts of the campaign was the use of resources. In the campaign turn BEFORE this battle, Bad Zu Wurst had used the "Personality" of Faustus the Grump to attempt to gain a victory point in a bit of role-playing. Thus he was unable to be used in this game. He also used in the previous battle (That of Fleu DeCoup in which in conjunction with a brigade of "the Neverneverlands" he had attacked flounce. In that battle he used one brigade and his special ability of superior troops which gave him a +1 to his stand and +1 to his rally rolls. These resources therefore were sent to the BANK and could not be revived till the end of THIS turn. As he had used Faustus it mean't he could not chose the entry sides and start up points for the two sides because Faustus is a Military Genius, NOR could he use the +1 abiltiy, so he used his Army and one brigade for the fight, which mean't he had a heavy superiority but no special kickers which could have allowed him to dance rings around the Ikeans. This means that he has his soveriegn, his special ability, one army and two brigades "in the bank" and he can only revivive one per turn. It will be interesting which one he will revive. This PRESENTLY leaves him with two brigades and one Fortress as his only available resources. If someone decides to attack him while he is off on his "oriental adventures" he only has two brigades to face him with, or he can use his fortress to be an essentially "get out of an attack free" card.
For Ikea the situation is even more dire. In the battle of Palaver, this "Crossing of the Little Phlegmatic" and the future "Battle of Ishkabbible he has used his army, and four of his normal brigades. He has his "Barbarian Allies" Brigade which he can use as a regular cavalry brigade, or send it on a raiding or plundering expedition to decrease victroy points from his assalants. He too has a Fortress which can give him a "get out of an attack free" and the Native Levies Brigade which gives him almost TWO brigades of perfectly crummy battle field units.
The Ikeans have one powerful card up their sleeve. This is the "Bank Loan" resource" which will allow him to get EVERY resource he has in the bank back in one turn. However if he plays this he will never see it again most likely as it goes into the bank and is allocated usually to NPC players. It would restore him to full power but if his assailants keep on, they will grind him down again.
Others of these "special resource cards" "The Pirates"can force an enemy to send one resource of "HIS" choice to the bank, another , Masked Ball "Sends one resource of an enemy of YOUR choice to the bank, "Papal Nuncio" is used as a superfortress, acting as a "get of attack free for ALL attacks made on you in a turn, and "World Wide Disaster " where EVERY player has to send one resource of his choice to the bank.
