I WAS AT ….HAVOC!

Havoc is a small local convention - now being held at Maironis Park, Shrewsbury MA – that has been in continuous existence for 28 years! I have not missed this Friday evening to Sunday afternoon venue but 2 or 3 times.
I usually put on one game, at least, and this year was no exception as I ran a slightly different version of the BUNA Cross Fire battle that is described earlier in this BLOG. The changes were a reduction in the strength of the Japanese from 4 sqds/platoon to 3 and a loss of 2 bunkers. I think that this was a more balanced game. Among the attendees signed up for BUNA I identified two to play the Japanese and American commanders and e-mailed them the necessary info so that they could pre-convention plan their defense and/or attack. Mike Tribou of NH took the Japanese command and Cory O’Connor took the Americans. A first for me, was a mother-son team on the Japanese side. When asked , Kim Caren told me that she was the wargamers and her son, Alfred was her support. This was the opposite of what I expected Both played an excellent game. Bob Yates was the other US commander and won the award that each game master was given to pass out as best player. He did very well for someone who had never seen the CF before.

BUNA II

The US won by 1 VP but a small win is still a win and many kudos go to Cory for his well thought out plan and execution under what were, at time, some trying conditions.

Mike Tribou took several photos of this game as well as of others that I will publish here.

Kim and Alfred ponder the next move

The highlight of the convention for me was to play a couple of Day of Battle Medeval battles against the author, Chris Parker. I was defeated in the first game but won a crushing victory in the second, having thrown 9 hits against him vs. his 3 in the final melee! I hope that puts an end to my dice curse at the club.

Chris Parker' awaits Bryant's onslaught

The Final Melee

The low point of the weekend was to discover that a long anticipated Seekrieg game that I had signed up for on Friday night had been changed to Sunday morning by its game master without any notification by either him of the convention organizers – they probably didn’t know about it.

I don’t know how many attended – its usually small, in the 300 range and I found that the Friday night events seemed more sparsely attended than in previous years. But Saturday was crowded with some 20 games going on and several dealers present.

DAY OF BATTLE: BREEN'S FARM

THE BATTLE OF BREEN’S FARM

We had our second try at the new Day of Battle IV. The two sides were French Feudal (Dick Bryant and Dick Messier) and English Feudal (Dick White and Jack Breen). Dick White (Baron Foley) and Dick Bryant(Baron Maldemer) chose their armies as below and decided the terrain placement earlier in the day of the game. Go to Chris Parker’s website and follow the demo game and a synopsis of the rules. We find these rules to be an excellent re-creation of the period and a fun game can be had in 1.5- 3 hours. See: http://www.dayofbattle.com/

THE ENGLISH ARMY
Great Baron Foley

Baron Breen
SR=3

THE FRENCH ARMY

Great Baron Maldemer(Dick Bryant)

FUEDAL FRENCH
SR =4 Esteem=3 Household = 7
MOTIVATION = RAID
4 CARDS: Ace, 10, 9, 8 = 25+7(HH) = 32
32/3 = 10 2/3 = 11

SUMMONS

      1 Retinue                           1 Noble Knight            C/H/E                Free Upgrade to E

      5 Mounted                        1 Noble Knight            C/H/V

                                               1 Feudal Knight           C/H/V                Free Upgrade per Domain

                                               1 Feudal Knight           C/H/A

                                               1 Feudal Knight           C/H/A

                                               1 Feudal Knight           C/H/A

         3 Missile                         1 Crossbow                L/H/A     Upgrades 1 and 2; (P-A) and M-H

                                               1 Crossbow                O/L/A     Upgrade 3

                                               1 Breton Javlin            O/L/A

       3 Foot                              1 Militia Spears(Tr)    C/M/A    Upgrade 4

                                               1 Men at Arms           C/H/A

                                               1 Feudal Foot, Sp      L/M/A

Baron Messier
SR=3

The Coats of Arms pictured are the actual family Coat of Arms of the participants. We research these for all the new players. – Dick Bryant

THE GAME

overall view of game at the start

As there were two players to a side, each side was allowed an additional leader of one social rank lower than the side commander. Thus, Dick Messier and Jack Breen were each SR3 level Barons able to have 3 command cards ea. Dick White and Dick Bryant drew cards to determine the random terrain. Bryant had a wood and a field, while White had a hill and a field. The placement is shown on the map. Both armies choose terrain, by card draw, from the “mixed” list of terrain which can result in pieces ranging from a marsh to a buildt-up area(small town, castle keep, etc) with a variety of woods, rivers, and fields as well.

Initial Placement and First Moves

The sides were each divided into two “Battles”, the strength of which is discernable from the map. Great Baron Maldemer (Dick Bryant), won the initiative and though the attacker decided to advamce toward the hill to try to seize it as a better defensive position than the open terrain in which he found himself. Baron Messier’s Battle kept up on the left, except for his feudal foot which had tough going in the wood. This move was too cautious and, arguably, cost Great Baron Maldemer a win. Maldemer could have advanced a double rate (16”), being reduced to 12” as he crossed into the “near” range band of the enmy. He chose to advance only 8”, which had a cost later in the game. Maldemer’s opening bow fire was ineffective.

The advance. Maldemer's unit retreats

Great Baron Foley’s bow fire, from 2 units, was effective, however, causing enough hits to force Maldemer’s left most knight to fall back, slowing the advance to the hill even further. Baron Messier’s troops were able to continue on into the English line on the French left, While Maldemer was again halted and discombobulated by the English fire, with more retreats among the Knights. Maldemer recovered somewhat, having to use his prized Joker card to reorganize his 3 Knight units and his 3 retainer cards to continue the advance. The Militia spears moved through the ineffective crossbows, took the hill and drove the English archers away, finally opening the English for an attack by the French knights. The French left was locked in indecisive combat with the English right . But with several hits on his Knights and no retainer cards left, Maldemer decided that the possibility of a major defeat loomed large and decided to save his army for another day.

The Final Moves

Had Maldemer moved more aggressively would he have pushed the English bowmen away sooner? Would he have been in charge reach with fewer casualties? One can never know – he vows to do better next time.

The French Right
Note the unit on the left has turned around in retreat
The red markers indicate 2 hits on the Elite Kinghtly unit - getting close to breaking!

 

CHRIS PARKER DEMONSTRATES DAY OF BATTLE RULES TO THE KINGSTON IRREGULARS

Chris kindly offered to give our group a hands-on tutorial of his new DOB rules at the club this past Thursday. We had played the 3rd edition many times and enjoyed it but had some major problems  in trying to play the 4th edition on our own. I think that it was because of us unconsiously reverting back to 3rd ed interpretations.

Chris Parker, center, explains a fine point to Spencer Clough, left, and Dick Messier

The 4th edition has simplified the game considerably and makes for quicker determination of a winner. We had two players (Dick White and Dick Bryant) who had played 3rd a lot, two players(Jack Breen and Spencer Clough) who had played 3rd 2 or 3 times and one (Dick Messier) who had never played the period in any manifistation.

Chris played a spot in the game to balance it 3 to a side and we played to a conclusion in 2.5 hours - in a learning game!

Spence Cloug and Dick Messier remain engaged in a tough series of melees on the German Left

I highly recommend these rules to anyone who wants to game the Medeival period from Vikings and Fuedal England/France to the 100 years war and the Crusades. Once you have learned the tactics and the play of the game, you can get into campaigns where one's ranking, and thus the size of the army he can field, changes with his fortunes on the battle field. I especailly like the individual feel that the 28mm figures and the inclusion of Pages, Heralds, Squiires Champions and other features give a "you are actually there" feel to the game.

The Germans escort The French King and his banner into ignomonous captivity

The game was especially satisfying as I (Dick Bryant) managed to capture my opponent, Dick White - The French King, and his banner. We decided that out of respect for his bravery we let him work in the stables, pending his ransom, rather than cleaning the chamberpots.

For more info see the DOB Web site at http://www.dayofbattle.com/