I discover that I can not be relied upon to follow through on my undertaking. Late last year I played out an exciting Shambattle action on my square grid table. I was supposed to play out a similar action/ campaign on my hex-grid table, but somehow, that never happened. It whilst looking up the game that didn't happen that I discovered it didn't happen. Here is the map to remind readers...
I'll see if I can't bring this one on in the next few days.
Oh yes: today arrived the final consignment of Samurai infantry. These will become the Light Blue Clan, with this lot...
It's easy for time to fly by and you forget battles you had planned, thought you had already played etc. My latest OHW scenario was about a year since the previous one, which I thought I had played not that long ago! How the mind plays tricks on us all.
ReplyDeleteThe Samurai look good and I'm still waiting for my order to arrive, which is probably a good thing, as it allows me to concentrate on other projects...
Steve J -
DeleteThose Zvezda figures really do look good. I have an idea, though, that a lot of the Ashigaru sets come with the 'Art of Tactic' game set. I'm very tempted to get one.
As for concentrating on 'other projects', apart from the sengoku, I have an array of plastic WW2 Soviets laid out to become the soldiery of Nimruz - a nation casting covetous eyes upon the rich, but barely touched, natural resources on the other side of the Tchagai border. Naturally, a certain Great Power, the Confederation of Collective Collaborative Peoples (CCCP) is funding and arming the Nimruz Army with surplus WW2 kit - T34s, IS2s, ISU assault guns...
This is to be the sequel to the earlier 'Long Live the Revolution' project begun in 2019, and finally finished last year.
Cheers,
Ion
Ion, campaign / battle maps interest me, especially ones with a symmetry. Look forward to whatever falls from this.
ReplyDeleteNorm -
DeleteThe prep work has been done - it's just a matter of getting the thing on the table. I'm thinking the next day or two.
In general I try to avoid symmetrical battlegrounds and forces, but such games do have their points. Same in chess - I prefer, even at some risk, to create imbalances that offer winning chances.
Thinking about this one, though, I might have to work out an 'attacking' stance and a 'defensive' one - and then roll for the invasion. Or maybe both will attack...? Who knows?
Cheers,
Ion
Great map Archduke; the game should be fun, whenever it's played.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack -
DeleteThe other one, on the square grid table - certainly was fun; the more as the result was so unexpectedly decisive.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo,
ReplyDeleteI love your hexed version of the ShamBattle map … and look forward to seeing it in use soon. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy following your Samurai project.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteIt's all 'go' at the Mouse Factory! I think the hex map a fair representation of the original. The forces are of course a little larger than they were for the 'square-grid' game.
On the 30YW front I have just about decided to abandon the multi-hex unit idea, though my tercio - shot/pike/pike/shot in column - won't look very much like a tercio. The battalia will be just 3 stands - 2 shot and a pike. This will be a subject for a posting soon.
Cheers,
Ion
I like the campaign map. Reminds me of the one from Studies in Minor Tactics 1915 in which Maryland is Red and Pennsylvania is Blue. (US Army tactical exercises, of course!)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous ...
DeleteThe 1915 minor tactics exercise looks like a possible blueprint for one of my RED (Ruberia) vs BLUE (Azuria) games - the forces I'll be using in this Shambattle game. The shape of Maryland looks pretty awkward to defend, though. They'd probably have to shed the appendages west of Hancock and east of the Susquehanna River.
Is there any on-line material on this?
Speaking of army exercises, this post from last year might interest you...
https://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2023/05/another-map-game.html
The battle narrative goes for a further 3 postings.
Cheers,
Ion
Sorry, been having issues logging in to comment lately. The book is freely available on both Google Books and Archive.org. While it's basically a method to teach proper order-writing, it also recreates Gettysburg with the tactics and weapons of 50 years later.
DeleteJennifer -
DeleteI had a bit of a read of the Studies in Minor Tactics - most interesting to see the details of a unit, upon receipt of as report of enemy in some strength located nearby, moving gradually into contact with patrols, lookouts (''cossack posts" - never seen that expression before), screens and build up of force. The decision making process is as interesting.
This is not something to which we give a whole lot of consideration in our war games, perhaps being 'below the grain' of our scale. I have occasionally given thought to 'der kleine krieg' but only with my BMC Yorktowns - not that I've done much with them, lately...
https://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2011/01/ambush-at-conrads-creek.html
Thanks for the heads-up!
Cheers,
Ion
It’s certainly a very colourful map Ion, in more ways than one.
ReplyDeleteWill you be (re)fighting the battle with the same forces as before, or will you change the forces? Either way, I look forward to reading how you get on.
Happy Easter,
Geoff
Geoff -
DeleteAws the board is larger and contains 170-odd cells compared with the 100 of the square-grid table, the respective forces will be commensurate. They are outlined here...
https://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.com/2023/11/shambattle-maps.html
Main task now is to set the thing up for an interesting battle!
Cheers,
Ion