OF FLIP PHONES AND UN-CONVENTION REPORTS (BARRAGE 2019)

My Flip Phone--Deployed for Action!

As the above image attests, dear readers, I am among the rearguard of those who still think of their phones (even of the mobile/cellular variety) as "phones." Thus, when "upgrading" my phone a few years ago, the only non "smart" phone option was the above, a "ruggedized" flip phone for outdoorsy types: shock proof, waterproof, and small profile to fit in pockets.  Minimalist thing that it is, I happily took it--I must add that it does have a rather clunky ability to do texts and it does have minimal Bluetooth capability.  I only found out the latter when setting up my new car's hands-free calling thingy (which requires a connection to a phone, ostensibly a smart one). 

Now, working at a University in the US for the last decade or more, I have seen lots of trends arise, some passing, some becoming the new norm (motor scooters, for instance, are ubiquitous and here to stay, wheras they were few and far between when I first hit campus).  Nowadays, I witness scenes like the above on a daily basis--only magnified by about 10.  The few students I see in view who aren't walking in supplication to their phones have them, appendage-like, extending from an arm (in a hand that is now useless except as an accessory to said phone).  Whilst I'm walking across campus, or anywhere for that matter, my flip phone is not only not in-hand, but it is usually tucked away in a bag (sometimes a pocket); quite often, I may even venture forth sans-phone entirely (gasp!).  Needless to say, although I am reasonably comfortable with Information Tech and things digital, I have no intention of joining the smart-phone processional.  But I digress (meander?).

 Image from Giphy

Those few rugged individuals who have the stamina to still be reading this (bless you!) may at this point be wondering what all this has to do with our beloved hobby--and this blog in particular.  And I'm glad that you asked.  What this retrograde individualism on my part means is that I still must use an actual camera to take hobby pictures.  I have two, actually:  a portable Cannon PowerShot N for when I'm on the road and a Nikon Coolpix L340 for home use.  I might add that both of these are digital.  

BARRAGE T-Shirt

This, friends, brings us to the Un-convention(al) convention report.  I recently attended the most excellent 2019 Barrage Convention.  Here is my rump-report.  This small convention was held in Maryland, some distance from my current abode in New Hampshire.  I made the trip based on nostalgia: I used to live in Maryland and had attended this convention then (when it was held in the cafeteria of a high school in Baltimore).  I had always thought about taking in the convention again, and this year I took a day off and acted on it.  Despite the convention having grown to two days, and being years on from my last experience, I can say that the convention still maintains its wonderful "family" feel from before (right down to the home-made chili served up on Friday evening).

A Baroque Battles Game

This year, I ran my Baroque Battles Battle of Lutzen Game on Friday evening.  Despite Saturday really being the main convention day, my game was filled with six spirited players (several of whom had made the trip from New Orleans).  The convention staff were superb: one couldn't ask for better support as a game master.  Now to the nib: although I had packed carefully and had all the necessities for the game, I had failed to pack my camera! (Hey, I had my phone, though).  There you have it: the payoff--no camera+no smart phone=no piccies. 

In the absence of any pictures taken by me, I can only link you to this posting on the convention on The Miniatures Page  and suggest the Little Wars TV report on last years Barrage Convention (I believe they were in attendance at Barrage this year, so there should be another convention report forthcoming).   Thanks to the HAWKS for running this excellent small convention and thanks to the players (whose names I failed to record--sort of like forgetting my camera). 

I suspect that some day, sooner rather than later, I may be obliged to get a "smart" phone simply to maintain functionality (more and more things are coming out that require an "app" to operate, and there are even starting to be processes at work that require a workaround to access via means other than smartphone).  I'll try to look on the bright side when that day arrives: at least then I'll always be equipped to take pictures of toy soldiers.

Excelsior!

BLOODY MONGOLS II--ANOTHER SAGA BATREP

Seizing the moment, my friend and fellow bloggist AJ and I found ourselves free on an evening a few days ago and decided to do a rematch of his Eastern Princes Russians vs my Mongols in a SAGA, Age of Crusades game. The first match went to AJ and his Eastern Princes, as reported earlier. We were both interested in applying lessons learned from that game as well as giving new force combinations a try.  I wasn't taking photos during the game: All photos here come courtesy of AJ, who graciously shared his with me (and you may read his excellent batrep on this game on his blog). As usual, in this report, you may clix pix for BIG PIX. 

Once again, we did the Clash of Warlords scenario.  This time around I wound up being player one.  During the terrain placement, I once again plopped the large open hill prominently on the battlefield to facilitate my mounted force. AJ was more mindful of the relative mobility of the Mongols vs his mainly infantry force this time, placing the large wood and rocky field to create a bastion in one corner of the table. 

This was a 6 point game. AJ's Eastern Crusader Russians consisted of 2 points of warriors (in 2, 8 fig units), one point of hearthguard (in 1, 4 fig unit), 1 point of levy crossbow (12 figs), a mercenary horse unit, the black hoods (8 figures), and a legendary leader, Alexander Nevsky. Among Nevsky's special abilities is that units keep generating Saga dice, regardless of losses. A cagey move on the part of AJ that would negate one of my guiding aims, which is to hit hard and cause one or more opposing units to drop below the figure threshold for generating a Saga Dice: there would be no cheapo gains via that tactic this time. I'd have to work for it!  Setting up, he bulwarked his position by starting his crossbows and a warrior in the woods, with his other warrior poised to take up position in the rocky ground. Nevsky and the hearthguard were in depth.

Wanting to try more warriors than last time time, I took 2 points of hearthguard, but I concentrated them in one big 8 figure "hammer"  unit. I took 3 points of warriors, deploying them in 2, 8 figure units and splitting the 3rd into 2, 4-figure units, which I deployed on the flanks.  The rest of  the units I put in a group.  I again took the War Drummer (costing 1 point) and the standard Warlord. This combination generates 7 Saga dice, and the War Drummer's ability to activate all horse mounted units within L is the equivalent of having another  4 or 5 Saga dice, depending on how you're deployed. In this configuration, the Saga Dice differential is almost certainly in the Mongols favor. The key for the Mongols is that you don't have to divert many Saga dice to movement but can load up on battleboard dirty tricks. I also took a warbanner and deployed it with one of my warriors.  This lets them recover 1 fatigue at the start of each turn for free (wheras normally you would need to burn an activation to rest).  In this particular game, the banner really didn't come into play. I think it would be of more use in a situation mixing movement and combat as opposed to the close-in slugfest this game wound up being.

I went first. In Saga, the first player is limited to 3 Saga Dice, but by my War Drummer allowed me to move my entire force. So, I advanced and poised the hearthguard and warriors in a line opposite the wood, ready to go into action in the next turn.

AJ's countermove was to pull his units in the woods back from the edge so that I couldn't hit them in melee on 1 activation (cagey fellow!). He brought his black hoods up to fill the gap between the wood and the rocky terrain, and slipped his Warriors into the latter. He shifted his hearthguard and Alexander Nevsky to a supporting position. 

On my next turn, I again used my drummer to send a solid wall of units into action. Once again, I used the "Predator" ability to give my big hearthguard unit composite bows, so they would be generating 8 fire dice (before adding specials). I then pulled out the "Scorched Earth" ability, which blasted the woods, causing it to no longer provide light cover (for the rest of the game) as well as putting a fatigue on AJ's warrior and levy crossbow who occupied it. Although the woods would still be a movement obstacle, it had suddenly lost its value as a bulwark vs mounted and missiles.  I then unleashed composite bow volleys from my hearthguard and warriors into the levy crossbow...

...I had learned in the last game how dangerous these lowly fellows can be and so negating them early was job one. This combined attack managed to take them down enough so that they would not be a factor in the game  (and not worth spending the Saga dice to activate). 

Unfortunately, bv focusing on the crossbows, this left their neighbors hale and hearty.  Recovering quickly from the nasty shock of the Scorched Earth, AJ's warriors assaulted my hearthguard with excellent results (well, not so excellent from the Mongol perspective!).  My warriors paid the price as well, taking some effective fire from the Black Hoods....

...the Dead pile at the end of the turn attested to the effectiveness of AJ's counterpunch.  For the loss of 3 warriors, he had reduced my big hearthguard unit by half, taking out 4 of 8 figures (ouch!).  At this rate, it would be a short game!

The next few turns saw more mixing it up. I continued pushing my hearthguard to finish off the crossbows.  The black hoods evaded a charge by my warriors, who then wound up behind the woods: there was more back and forth there, with both sides getting reduced. Meanwhile, AJ's hearthguard made their way around the woods and tangled with my right wing warriors, both suffering.  Alexander Nevsky swung into the Mongol rear--in Saga, the warlord is a formidable melee unit in itself, so this was becoming serious.  Now those losses to my hearthguard were coming home to roost. I was running out of options for countering this threat!

The growing dead pile attests to the fighting in this "middle game" phase of the battle.

Running out of options, I send my warlord in to fight Alexander Nevsky before he can recover exhaustion and run amok...

...despite the favorable exhaustion situation, Nevsky proves to be no pushover, rolling 5 hits on my warlord: this could spell mutual annihilation! For those not familiar with Saga, figures get to try and save melee hits (need a 5, 6) and on top of this, Warlords can convert hits to exhaustions, but can only do that for 3. Thus,  Alexander had no more exhaustions to give and would need to save all hits.  My warlord, on the other hand, wound up being saved (literally) by an equally sterling save roll: I saved 3 of the 5 hits, and put 2 exhaustions on my warlord, thus just surviving the onslaught. AJ wasn't so fortunate with Nevsky's saves, though, and he wound up in the dead pile: high drama, for the warlords to clash like this!

...at that point, we were at something like turn 5 (out of 6), and all I had left were my warlord, drummer, and two small units of warriors, opposed by 1 of AJ's warriors and a few figures (out of the picture) of Black Hoods. Discretion being the better part of valor, I beat it out of range of the warriors and let night arrive to end the battle.  This time, the points favored the Mongols, so the match between the Mongols and Eastern Princes is now tied at 1 win each.  A very well played game by AJ and a learning experience (once again) for me. I'm already looking forward to the next practice round!

Uukhai!

BLOODY MONGOLS!--OR--A SAGA BATREP

In this post, dear readers, I am happy to relate the story of my newly fitted out SAGA Age of Crusades Mongols in their first game. I had previously played them in another configuration on two or three occasions with winning results.  This would be the first time, however, where I would be fielding bonafide Mongol Heavy Cavalry figures as Hearthguards and proper speciality figures for the Camel Drummer and Warlord . Surely, the results would be more glorious than ever!  Coming over to play the game was club-mate, friend, and fellow bloggist AJ (who has an excellent report on his blog as well).  In this post, as always, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

AJ brought along his Eastern Princes Crusader army, and we played the bog standard Clash of Warlords scenario from the back of the Age of Crusades book. Above, the terrain consisted of two fields, a woods, and a large open hill.  I plunked the open hill down in the midst of the table, which forced the other pieces to be pushed to the sides and left a "gate" through which my mounted force could flow. Above, AJ, as player one, has done his partial deployment and my Mongols (at the bottom of the picture), have been fully deployed.

Down to business!  AJ has completes his deployment: a compact array centering on the crossbows in the bad terrain supported by the warwagon.  This latter was a specialty unit that would oblige me to attack it vs anything else in range--a distraction but one that did cause me to spend an extra turn shooting vs closing, and diverted some of my momentum away from my primary thrust, which I do think contributed to the result (but more on that in a nonce....)

Seeing AJ's deployment, and based on previous successes with my Mongols, I hatched an ingenious plan!  I would advance aggressively on my right and hit hard with everything early on.  As in the past, my Mongols enjoyed a SAGA dice advantage to begin with, magnified by the War Drummer's special ability to give an activation to every mounted unit within L.  This  allows the Mongols to bring up multiple units to do a coordinated attack that can take out an enemy unit in turn one or two, which in turn reduces the opposing side's SAGA dice further...growing the SAGA dice differential ever more in the Mongols favor. This, then, was my BRILLIANT plan: it had worked before...

With the "Predator" special ability, I equip one of my Hearthguards with Composite Bows. This is particularly nasty given that Hearthguard, if missile armed, shoot with an aggression of 1 (meaning one for every figure), whereas warriors and others have a shooting aggression of 1/2 (one for every two).  Adding a few other specials to this kind of shot can push the number of dice fired up to 10 or 12.  I push my Predator Hearthguard forward to within composite bow range...

...and I bring up the rest of the Mongols using the Drummer's activation ability. I then target the left most Eastern Prince warrior unit...

 ...and then bring up my main, 8-man Mongol Warrior unit (composite bow armed) to take another shot at it. Although I succeed in reducing the warrior to below the 4 figure threshold for generating a SAGA dice, I do not succeed in eliminating it outright, so partial success....

....AJ then shifts his wagon over and the survivors of his Warrior unit back (in SAGA, you gain points for eliminating individual figures--and extra points for eliminating a unit, so AJ has safeguarded those points by keeping these last two figs on the table).   AJ brings up his Warlord with accompanying lifeguard figures to thump my (now) vulnerable Warriors...

 ...He also swings his Eastern Horse wide around the flank to get a shot in at my Camel Drummer (these guys would be flitting about the table harassing me all afternoon).  I hadn't known about the mobility of the Eastern Horse, so hadn't thought my Drummer was at risk.  This could prove to be a costly turn of events, both for my Warriors and the Mongol side if  the Drummer gets picked off this early...

 ...however, in these early stages of the battle AJ's dice were "cold" to say the least...

....thus, not only were his potentially damaging early counterattacks blunted,  but his Warlord suddenly found himself in a most vulnerable position facing my Hearthguard and Warrior. Meanwhile (not pictured), I had taken out the Wagon with my second Hearthguard unit using a "Hell for Leather" charge, which allowed it to hit the wagon and then retire a full "Long"move back, away from the crossbows...

...Following up, I managed to send the Eastern Prince Warlord off to the Dead Pile (albeit at the cost of a few Hearthguard due to a combination of melee and some crossbow pot shots). Meanwhile, AJ's Eastern Horse Mercenaries, having evaded a charge, return from the wing and shore up his center (damn nuisance, those fellows!)....

....An overview of the battle at that point. Things are looking good for the Mongols, thinks the Warlord.  Except, for one nagging thing....

...he finds himself alone and in range of AJ's crossbows: who enjoy a bit of target practice at his expense!

With both Warlords in the Dead Pile, things are still looking good for the Mongols, who still have the Camel Drummer, a four and a one figure Hearthguard, and three Warrior units left that are all still viable enough to generate SAGA Dice. Time to pull back out of missile range and regroup, thinks I...there are only a few more turns left; perhaps it's time to use my mobility advantage to evade and delay against a decidedly less mobile force (Eastern Horse aside: nuisance that they are!)...

 ...AJ, seeing these developments, contemplates plans for my demise...

...and he advances! This was too much! With my Camel Drummer in support, I push forward my viable Hearthguard unit in the an attempt to crush those puny crossbows in the open, hoping to scoop up points for figure kills and a bonus for eliminating the unit--and a bit of payback for killing my Warlord--unfortunately, AJ pulls the Band of Brothers special ability for the crossbows, which adds bunches of defense dice to these benighted fellows...

...who survive the onslaught (albeit still reduced).  At this point, I notice that my reduced Hearthguard and Camel Drummer seem a bit vulnerable...

 ...and the payback is swift in coming!

...End of game: result to the Eastern Princes! Well played, that man, AJ!

 

So much for another of your humble correspondent's Ingenious Battle Plans! 

Still, it was  a grand afternoon playing with toy soldiers in good company. Watch these pages for a rematch in the near future!