We had a very interesting situation come up in last nights game.  It is a great example of turn sequence strategy.  The starting situation looked something like this:

Washington got pulled to move first.  Ok.  We are on the last turn of the game.  This is our last best position to hold to block the main road.  (worth 3 VPs)  I decide to move up the artillery to support Sullivan.  If I do this, I can’t Rally them.  No big deal.  They are just supporting anyways right?  So that is what I do:

My left is threatened but Greene did have a Brigade on Roundelay Hill, so I thought I could cover that. Who get’s pulled next?  Cornwallis!!

Greene rolls to jump ahead to cover my left flank.

He fails!!!

Washington was already spent.  He already had to roll to move 1st to block a critical hole elsewhere.  So he couldn’t roll for Greene again.

Ok.  Not too big of a deal if I get hit in the flank.  I am on a hill with artillery support.  Once I Rally and turn Sullivan about, I’ll be fine….

Now I realize my peril.  If Cornwallis really does move first, then it’s going to end up like this:

If that happens, Sullivan CAN’T Rally because he is already in contact with the enemy!  Now I have 2 spent pieces being flanked.  I’m likely to lose that fight.  Even worse, if the lead piece (Sullivan) dies, the supporting artillery automatically dies with it!  That means 2 extra points for the British plus another 3 for clearing the road!!  That 5 point VP jump on the last turn will mean a British major victory.

Ok, no problem.  Sullivan hasn’t moved yet.  When he does, I’ll just run away.  I won’t fight there.  Normally this is an advantage.  If you move last as a defender you can just pull back and withdrawal.  Guess what?  That trick won’t work here.  The artillery already moved this turn remember?  Sullivan can run away but the artillery can’t!  The artillery will still be in contact with the British attacking it’s flank.  -Because Greene failed to cover it.  Lone artillery in contact with the enemy is automatically destroyed at the beginning of combat.

So I can’t run away.  If I do, I’ll lose 4 VPs.  3 for the road and 1 for the artillery.  I can’t stand and fight.  If I do, I will most likely lose giving up 5 VPs.  I have 1 chance to get out of all this mess:

Roll for Sullivan’s HQ.

He rolls.

Success!

This allows Sullivan’s Command to jump ahead of Cornwallis and move first.  Before all of this…. unpleasantness occurs.  Problem solved right?  No.

Now Cornwallis rolls for his HQ.

 Success!

 I mean:  Calamity!!!  (for me anyways)

My bacon is back in the fire once more.  There is no way out now.  Washington is already spent.  My worst nightmare becomes a reality.

Next up to move?  Sullivan.  A day late and a dollar short.  I could be safe and abandon the artillery for a 4VP loss.  Or I could risk a 5VP loss for the chance at actually holding this hill and running the British off for a draw.  I decide to go for the draw.  It is a long shot but after all of this, I’m due for a break right?

Sullivan can’t Rally.  He can at least turn to face the attack so he isn’t getting hit from behind.  With artillery support, I get to fire first!  I need 2 hits.  1 to flip the British, a 2nd to send them running.  Then all I have to do is deal with the flank attack.  I roll.  I do get 2 hits.  Except it is Abercromby’s elite troops.  Curses!!

Elites absorb the first hit.  The 2nd hit flips them.  Abercromby fires back.  2 hits will destroy everything.  He gets 1.

Ok, so I catch a little bit of a break but not enough.  Sullivan must retreat.  I did save the artillery.  They retreat with me.  No lost VPs for pieces but we do lose the road now -3VPs.

A major British Victory.

Well, you can’t win them all.  Considering the crazy twists of fate, I think I did pretty well over all.  What do you think?

Leave a comment below!

John and I had a very interesting game of Pub Battles –Brandywine last week. We played it Kriegspiel style with formal written orders. What??!  How can you have a 2 player Kriegspiel game?  With our  Umpire-less format and mixed commands.  It actually worked really well.

We randomly rolled to see who commanded which side. John got the British (Howe) I got the Colonials (Washington)

We used the early start optional rules. John wrote initial orders to both wings before we setup.  I wrote orders for how to setup the Colonials.

Next, we pulled for Commands at random. We each got 1 command on each side.

So John was:

Howe (British Commander)

Knyphausen (British Wing)

Sullivan (Colonial Wing)

I was:

Washington (Colonial Commander and Wing)

Cornwallis (British Wing)

Confused yet? So I execute the orders for Cornwallis and control those troops, while John runs Knyphausen’s Wing.  I control Washington and John runs Sullivan’s troops.  So we are both on the same sides playing against each other?  Yes.  This is actually pretty easy if you are used to playing solitaire.  Who wins?  It doesn’t matter.  It’s not a competitive game.  We play for the experience.  To hang out together and learn a little something about command.  It’s all about fun.  We each play each command to the best of our abilities given the situation at hand.

It was a lot tougher setting up the Colonial defense. You can’t just setup anywhere.  You have to write instructions.  The instructions need to be simple and clear.  I didn’t have time to personally place every piece perfectly.  The result?  Trouble.  John covered Jones’ ford with Sullivan.  I covered Chadd’s and Brinton’s Fords and held back a big reserve.  Everything else was pretty much left wide open.  Not good but it is about all we had time to plan and write orders for.

I entered at Parkerville with Cornwallis’ wing. These were my orders  from Howe:

“Crosse the river on the N West major road as a concentrate group + disperse troops on Brimington Lill + the forest on the other side of the toad. Take out any enemmys in the way.  Hold the hill + forest to maintain road.”

This was a quickly scribbled hand written note. Some of the words and letters I couldn’t even make out or had to guess at.  Welcome to Kriegspiel!  🙂

(To be fair, I’m sure poor John had just as much trouble trying to figure out what my orders meant.  My hand writing is even worse!)

I’m assuming that Brimington Lill is supposed to mean Brimingham Hill.  If I didn’t want to attack, could I have used this a valid excuse to delay my orders?  😉

I have no idea what the forest is.  There are clumps of unnamed forests all over the map!!  Other side of what road?  (I’m assuming it’s not a toad)  Then I’m supposed to sit on the hill and some unknown forest while I do road maintenance?  Fill pot holes?  What does “disperse” mean?  Am I supposed to attack and disperse the enemy or am I supposed to disperse my troops and advance along a broad front?

So what do I do? It does seem clear that I’m supposed to attack up the main road to the left and take Brimingham Hill.  I’ll go with that until I get further clarification.

Wistar’s Ford is wide open.  I could shoot my dragoon’s across the Brandywine on the first move and follow up with an awesome flanking attack.  There are no Colonials at all NW of Jones’ Ford.  The problem is, I can’t.  It’s not in my orders.

I feel a little vulnerable to my right. Lots of Colonials across Brinton’s and Chadd’s Fords.  They could attack and flank me if they wanted to.  My orders say nothing about protecting my right.  For all I know, Knyphausen might be coming in there later.  I wasn’t told what he was doing.  I can’t really move in force to my right.  That’s not in the orders.  I do think it prudent to send at least 1 Brigade over there to the right to screen and delay any enemy advance.  I can’t get into much trouble over that.

So compared to a regular ‘god like’ game, there are a lot more ‘mistakes’ here. Lots of vulnerabilities that could hurt us.  Lots of missed opportunities that can’t be exploited.  Why?  Orders.  It is easy to see how a sharp commander with a quickly responding command system could exploit these weaknesses and do a lot of damage.

Normally this is played as a quick and simple 2 player game. Even with 2 players, you can have a very ‘kriegspiel’ type experience.  Not much added complexity.  How much time did it add to the game?  About 15 minutes before the game to decide who is doing what and write initial orders.  After that we used a 1 minute timer to write orders at the beginning of each turn.  We used the early start option, giving us 7 turns.  We didn’t write anything for the last few turns.  Everything was already done by then.  Nothing left to do but fight it out.  So about 20-30min all together.  Not bad.

One other quick comment about the written orders: What did we write them on?  I had some old defective parchment paper scrap.  We cut that up and used it for orders.  I used my black and gold fountain pen.  John wanted to use it too.  It is a simple thing and kind of silly.  It doesn’t really matter what you use but it was also kind of cool.  It makes you feel immersed in the period.  We felt like real officers in the period writing orders to the troops!

I could see taking this a step further: using real feather pens with ink bottles!  Yes, a little over the top but it would be fun.  It would slow us down.  Be harder to read.  Will the ink run?  What if it rained and it got wet during delivery?

One more random observation about written orders:  time.  We used a 1 minute sand timer to write orders.  That is pretty quick.  A good amount of time to write 1 set of short orders if you are quick AND you already know what you want to write.  That is the tough part.  Theoretically, you have time to think about what needs to happen next throughout the whole turn.  So when it comes time to write orders, you should be ready to go.  The problem is you are very distracted doing everything during the turn.

We wanted to take about 5-10 min time out to just stop and think about the game and our orders first. We decided to not allow this and instead hold ourselves to this strict time.  I’m sure real commanders were constantly distracted and interrupted during a battle.  When did they get time to think alone clearly?  Something needs to be done now and time is of the essence.  Isn’t this another important command skill to practice?

So how did the actual battle go?

On the Colonial side, I could see that Sullivan was about to get creamed. He only had 3 Brigades.  No reserve and his right was completely exposed.  What did I do as Washington?  Nothing.  What?!  Yep.  I think that was the best thing for me to do.  I sat there and patiently watched Sullivan getting crushed by Cornwallis’ best:  Grenadiers and the King’s Guards.  I didn’t dare move.  Why?  I still didn’t know where Knyphausen was!  What if this was just a ruse and Knyphausen came in on the other end of the field?  On my left?  I still had to guard the New State road.

John (Sullivan) was requesting help and needed it badly but I didn’t respond. So now he is mad.  He thinks I’m trying to make the British lose but I reminded him there is no winner.  The only thing that saved him was that he was rolling really good as Sullivan.  I rolled really bad as Cornwallis so the assault stalled.

After 2 whole turns of this, finally Knyphausen arrives but we still don’t know where yet. I (Washington) got picked to move first.  I roll to delay the move and am successful.  Knyphausen get’s pulled next.  The Brits roll to delay but miss.  Knyphausen has to come in.  He comes in on the right!  Right on top of poor Sullivan.  Cornwallis pounds away and Washington moves last.  I don’t have to write any orders to myself.  Thank God, or that would delay my response another turn.  Washington is in command of his own wing.  I put just about everybody in road column and rush over to help what is left of Sullivan.

Next turn. Knyphausen was held up by the awful terrain:  woods, hills, stream crossings.  He made it up to Osburn’s Hill.  Still, the door is wide open.  If he can move first, we are toast.  He can get pretty much the whole Street Road from Darlington’s Corner to Jones’ Ford, including Birmingham Hill.  Who get’s pulled to move next?  Washington!

John rolls for Knyphausen to jump ahead. He is successful!  Now I roll for Washington to jump ahead of Knyphausen.  I’m successful!  John rolls yet again for Howe to jump ahead of Washington.  Fails.

This turns out to be a disaster for the Brits. This basically gives Washington 2 turns in a row.  One more move puts all his troops into the good terrain blocking the British advance.  Now the battle is going to be a slug fest.

Sullivan’s Wing took a beating but fought well. They became ineffective from the losses.  He only had 1 block left.  I didn’t want John to feel bad so I detached 3 brigades to him so he had something to do.  A bad move for the game because there is a delay while those pieces switch commands, but you don’t want your buddy just sitting there with only 1 piece to move for the game unable to attack right?  Do you think things like that happen in real war?

It really disrupted our defense. It was a confused mess.  I had pieces on the right.  John had some of his newly attached pieces in the middle with his original piece.  I had some in reserve in the middle with more piece holding our left.  John controlled my pieces that I detached to him but they still moved when my command chit was pulled.  So he had more brigades but couldn’t coordinate their moves with his old brigade well.  This hampered our defense a bit as we gradually fell back.

At nightfall, the Brits were able to reorganize for 1 final assault on Brimingham Hill. The Royal Artillery was finally able to bombard. It was a spectacular barrage. Stirling’s New Jersey was shattered and ran leaving Knox’s Artillery exposed! Lord Grey charged up the hill and would have overrun them but that wily Washington was able to pull off yet another delayed move. –This allowed Knox’s artillery to move last and therefore escape. He also rushed up Nash’s Brigade to defend. They were spent but again rolled hot and were able to barely hold the hill.
I think we ended with 6 total dead Brit blocks vs 3 Colonial. Which gave Washington a Major Victory.

Our lesson learned: The timing of the move sequence for the first 2 turns the flank attack hits is critical. Howe and Knyphausen could have rolled a few times to counter this but didn’t realize how big of an impact it would have.

After our play test last week, we’ve decided to add in more confusion!

The true compass heading on the map points at a 45 deg angle to the upper left.  This makes things confusing.  Which side do we setup on?  Which side do they enter at?  Which direction to they attack or withdrawal?  People were getting confused on all this.

We made a slight change to keep it simple and clean:  we rotated the compass 45 deg to the right.  It was incorrect historically but it did make the rules cleaner and more easily understandable.  No confusion.  A good mistake to make right?

After our play test last week, we decided to change this back to the more confusing, true compass heading.  Why?  Because more confusion is better.   :what:

We played with formal written orders and mixed commands.  Complexity and confusion in rules is not good.  Complexity and confusion in communication with written orders is FUN!  That means there are more opportunities for miscommunication, mistakes and confusion.

Guess what?  That is what real commanders have to deal with.  Writing clear orders in confusing terrain compass headings.  It’s messy.  Leads to many problems.  It is also a big part of what makes it so fun with live players.

I recall an earlier play test we did on Antietam.  Emily ordered Gabe to “Attack down the road to the SW and take town x.”  The problem was Gabe sat at a fork in the road.  Town X was down the road to the SE. Town Y was down the road to the SW.  What is he supposed to do now?

There aren’t any good options.  He delays the attack and wastes 2-3 hours while he asks for clarification and gets a response back, or he guesses and runs the risk of messing up the battle plan by going the wrong way and colliding with or blocking another friendly Corps axis of advance.

Now we are talking about real command.  SNAFU

The new Pub Battles Brandywine game (now on Kickstarter) is catching the attention of the military. Command Post Games has been contacted by military instructors from the Army War College.  They like what they see in the new Pub Battles design.  They are going to be reviewing the new Pub Battles system for possible use in the classroom.  Why?  Training for military officers!

Though Pub Battles is designed primarily for entertainment, it is realistic enough to teach basic leadership and military principles.  Military officers can also benefit from better understanding some of the constraints their 1700 predecessors dealt with:   Things like communications and navigation before radios and GPS.

What makes Pub Battles different? Rather than focusing on the minutia of weapons, terrain and game mechanics, Pub Battles instead focuses on command, timing and friction or fog-of-war.  In traditional wargames, players often have God like knowledge and control.  You know where everybody is.  You can control each unit and each attack.

Pub Battles was developed around Prussian Kriegspiel ideas. In real battles, you can’t be certain where your units are, little lone the enemy.  Not knowing exactly where the enemy is or if your attack will even be carried out can be unsettling and frustrating at first to players used to traditional wargames.  The Pub Battlefield is always changing and unpredictable.

Does that make this game a random, chaotic mess? No.  The uncertainty is manageable.  Players instead must learn to plan strategies based on missions, with contingencies.  They also need to watch the random movement sequence to exploit critical opportunities that open up.  Timing can be huge.

Players can influence this sequence of moves by rolling their HQs rating or less. Some HQs, like Stonewall Jackson or Napoleon Bonaparte, are good at shifting the timing.  Some, are notoriously bad.  With planning, patience and a little bit of luck, a player can engineer a double move on the enemy:  You move last this turn but you move first the next turn.  At the right time and place this can be devastating.

You can learn more about the Pub Battles Brandywine game at:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1743441977/pub-battles-brandywine-washingtons-last-surprise

GGS with Marshall Barrington from Command Post Games

That is an unusual name. What is Pub Battles?

(Chuckle) Yes, that is the name that stuck.  The main idea is that we wanted a wargame that could be played out.  I remember playing backgammon at the beach, restaurants, bars etc. in the 80s.  I just thought, “What a great pr tool!”    Wargaming needs to grow.  Most people don’t even know what a wargame is.  Our industry is in the closet!  How wonderful would it be if wargamers started playing out?  At the park.  At the beach.  At restaurants, cafes and even pubs.  What would a ‘backgammon’ style wargame look like?

It has to be something cool looking. It can’t look like a little kids toy.  It has to be quick.  Few pieces.  Quick play time.  It has to be simple.  –“Wow, that looks cool.  What is it?  How does it work?  Can I play?”

That is the vision. There are many other games we would like to design for ourselves as gamers.  We thought this was more important.  We need to design games that increase exposure and grow the hobby.  Easy ‘gateway’ games.

It reminds me of the Simmons Games.

Yes, this was part of our inspiration as well. Simmons and Kriegspiel:  the original wargame.  We ran further with the idea of making it look real.  Something authentic from the period.  That’s part of why we play games:  to relive history, to imagine what it would have been like.  What better look than to immerse the player into the look and feel of the times.

The map is amazing. It looks so real.  There are no hexes.  Not even areas.  How do pieces move? 

Kriegspiel style, or mini style. Most of this decision came from the design parameters:  1 page rules.  How do we fit all this on 1 page?  Cut out all non essentials.  We started analyzing game rule books.   It is incredible how many words and pages are dedicated to hexes, or areas.

It is kind of ironic really. I imagine the original intent of using areas and hexes was to make things easier.  The result seems to be the opposite.  If you define a hex, then you have to describe how to move through them.  ZoCs or not?  How and when?  Facing?  Spine or side?  What about multiple terrain types in the hex?  Is the river on the hex side or in the hex.  And on and on and on.  Is that more simple?  Here is an idea!  How about we just move the piece?  How far?  This far.  Done.

We had a lot of resistance to this at first. We gave it a try.  The more we used it, the more we liked it.  It feels much more like what real commanders (or staff) did.

That’s interesting. I also notice no CRT.  So it’s bucket-o-dice?

Essentially yes. We did a lot of testing with kids and noted what they perceived as complex or simple.  Numbers = Complex.  Charts tables and odds calculations = Complex.  As wargamers we don’t think much about that.  It is simple to us.  We are used to it.  What does that look like to the average person?  -Highly Complex.

Again, this goes back to our design parameters: Simple game that even more importantly, APPEARS simple.  If it doesn’t look simple, people won’t give it a try.  We wanted this to look like checkers or backgammon.  –well at least somewhat.

Is this going to be too simple? Are regular wargamers even going to play it?

Great question. This was very important to us during the design.  Some games are so absurd, I find it hard to play them as an advanced gamer.  Risk comes to mind.  Don’t get me wrong.  It is a great game in many ways.  You can’t argue with numbers.  It brings tons of new players into the hobby.  That is all good.  It just has so many ‘silly’ mechanics that it is hard for me to enjoy.

We didn’t want this Risk effect in Pub Battles. Yes, the rules and mechanics are very simple.  It isn’t a monster game with hundreds and hundreds of pieces.  We also took care to make sure it plays right.  Plays like it should.  Some game results are so random you might as well be playing tic-tac-toe.  Our results are tied pretty close to real historical engagements at this time.  We based our movement and combat off of the original Prussian kriegspiel.

More importantly, we worked in subtle things like combined arms effects, initiative, timing, chaotic battlefield friction and of course terrain effects for movement and combat. All the critical things that advanced wargamers will appreciate.  These are all worked into the system but without lots of rules.  We were shooting for a game that was very simple in rules but much more complex and deep in strategy and play.

Is it I-GO-YOU-GO?

No. Random chit pull.  This is done by formation.   In this battle there are only 2 wings.  For Civil War or Napoleonics it would be by Corps.  During development, we also play tested this system on Antietam, Little Bighorn, Marengo and Gettysburg.  We wanted a universal system  that could be easily applied to engagements of the period.

So it’s very exciting. You never know exactly who is going to move next.  Sometimes you want to go first.  Sometimes last.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter too much.  Sometimes it is absolutely critical!  This is where the leaders come into play.  The HQs can attempt to move first or delay their move.  This gets even more tense!

Also, which formations are actually eligible to move? With this we can simulate some of the kriegspiel effects of orders.  For example, at Antietam, only 1 Federal Corps starts active:  in the cup.  The Army HQ can add them as the turns progress.  –slowly, like McClellan.  So in the bigger battles later on,  you won’t be sure if they can move, when they can move, or why they aren’t moving.

Does it really play in an hour? I never seem to be able to play a game in the stated time.

Well, (chuckle) I guess it depends on how much you talk. Or maybe how much beer or coffee you drink!  We kept close watch on this in testing.  We averaged 45-60min.  That includes setup time.  Barring the first learning game, you should hit that time pretty consistently.

Sometimes players will capitulate early if the game opens terribly.

What was the biggest challenge in designing this game? Or games in general?

I’m pretty strict about keeping the design within the predetermined parameters. I think this is really important.  You have to set goals and know exactly what kind of game you are making and why.  If you have done that, then the design is actually pretty easy.  You just follow it.  Or at least I do.

I think the problem comes when you start designing but haven’t quite nailed that down yet. Everybody has lots of neat ideas but which ones do you use?  Which fit the game?  What is this game exactly? Throwing a bunch of fun ideas and rules together is not a game.  Often times what you don’t put in the game is more important than what you do.

After we finish one game, I often feel we have enough material to make about 10 games! I think sorting through all that and keeping it together and focused on the goal is the hardest part.

We had a fun game last weekend.  Some interesting rules issues came up I’d like to clarify.   I posted these on the rules page also which is another great resource to check on how things are supposed to work.

• Can you give away money and resources?  Yes but only during the Private Trades part of the Trade Phase.  You cannot give away or work deals during the Combat phase.
• Can production/income of Terrorist controlled Companies be blockaded?  Yes, the same as regular companies.  You might be able to smuggle some out on roads but this is very slow and expensive.  Same result.  Ask Iran.
• If you give a player an ICBM can they produce them on their own after that?  No, they must still research them as usual to build on their own.

Here is another interesting situation that came up.  Japan invaded Taiwan.  They succeeded but left Japan vulnerable to invasion.  China took advantage and conquered Japan.  Japan didn’t have enough remaining strength to take it back.

The US came to the rescue.  The US Navy sailed over the Sea of Japan and destroyed the Chinese navy.  They then attacked and destroyed the Chinese armies in Japan with their fleet.  They didn’t actually have to land US armies there, just clear out the Chinese.

This resulted in saving Japan.  Conquest happens at the end of Combat.  What was the situation then?  Japan was vacant.  No forces at all.  This means control of Japan reverts back to the Japanese player because it is an unoccupied home area.  Japan was able to build new armies there and is back in the game.

The Chinese player (Curt) was not happy but used the same tactic when Russia (me) almost conquered him the next turn.  China counter attacked my forces in Shanghai with his navies.  With all my armies destroyed, control of Shanghai reverts back to China.

This is where an ICBM comes in handy.  I didn’t have one yet but the US (clint) did!  😉