Fun With Shako Rules

During last week's game, we rekindled our 3/4 love - 1/4 hate relationship with the Shako 2 rules (or, more like Shako 1.5). Leaving aside the rather unfortunate production values - the book quality is disappointing for the price, but then, maybe I should publish my own book or shut up - Shako 2 still has a lot going for it, namely the ability to play out a reasonably sized battle at the battalion level without needing a whole weekend just to play one turn.

Well, of course I'm exaggerating. Not a whole weekend for a turn. But some of those other battalion rules can take a long while, meaning a whole weekend for a battle. And, unlike General de Brigade, you can actually hope to assemble enough painted figures to play a game in one lifetime.

Alright - I'm ranting again! Obviously, if you wanted to play one of those General de Brigade scenarios, you could do it in 15mm, and maybe paint enough figures in your own lifetime to play a game....but I'm digressing. Back to Shako.

Shako is nice and reliable, and relatively simple. And yet, and yet....one topic that came up for debate was the penalty for a failed volley inflicted on a unit that is being charged. Is a unit compelled to always fire? You would think that would work out - generally, I would want to try and shoot anyone, or any group of people, running at me with a bayonet and shouting. But in Shako 2, it's a real roullette if your unit is "staggered" (disorganized slightly from the effect of previous musket fire or artillery). Basically, you will be a disadvantage already in the melee because you are staggered. If you miss the volley (which you will be likely to miss, because you are staggered) your disadvantage becomes even greater, so much so that it was often worth it NOT to shoot the people charging at you with bayonets fixed.

Following some research and email discussion, over the weekend, Brian provided the clarity that alluded us last Thursday. Basically, in a firefight situation (i.e. nobody is charging), units must shoot. In a melee situation (i.e. you are getting charged) you have the option to shoot.

I think for house rule purposes though, we will find some way to pants the failed volley modifier. You should, generally, always want to shoot people who want to stab you. Any rules mechanism that perverts that for some sense of "reality" (when so much else is abstracted - after all, that one cannon is representing something like 10 guns) I think is a bad one. As if getting stabbed in the face isn't enough of a penalty already!

Thanks to Brian for sorting it all out for us. Too bad he was not able to make it out last week!

Meanwhile, I am waiting to peruse a copy of some new rules - "LaSalle", by Sam Mustafa (creator of the incredibly awesome Grande Armee rules) and "Black Powder" (I forget who wrote those).

On the down side, if I want to use these rules for 25mm, I might have to rebase the stuff I have already painted (OR do Austrian units with 36 figures!). On the upside, I really like Grande Armee, so I hope "LaSalle" will live up to the high expectations.

After Action Report - Note To Self: Paint More Grenzers...

Last night we assembled at Dallas' place for a game of Napoleonics, using the Shako II rules. The scenario was based on the battle of Teugen-Hausen in April 1809, when the Austrians, during their invasion of Bavaria, had an opportunity to knock out Marhsal's Davout's 3rd Corps.

Dallas, Cam and Mike F. went with the French side, while Dave V., Bill and myself rolled on the Austrian side. The game was set on a 6'x4' table, with Teugen on one side, Hausen on the other, and hills and forests dominating the middle, and a road and a clearing being the most direct rout between two towns. The objective for each side was to capture the the town on the other side.

The Austrians had an advance guard and two brigades moving down the road starting almost on top of two of Davout's brigades. One French brigade in particular was loaded with experienced batallions who enjoyed elite morale ratings. Head on collision ensued right from the start of the game.

An Austrian brigade moves through the high ground in a snail-like flanking attempt

The French side was quite concerned at the fact that the Advance Guard for the Austrians, run by Dave, was almost on top of them at the start. The Advance Guard had two regiments of light cavalry, some Landwher (poor quality infantry) and some Grenzers (average conscripts drawn from border marches toward the Ottoman empire).

Although the French were griping, I figured the Advance Guard would be lucky to be a speed bump in the face of the French vets. On the Austrian side, we hoped Dave would die gloriously (or failing that, at least die in place) while we moved up and flanked the French with our massive field battalions.

And indeed, although they had no cavalry on hand, the French units ventilated the Austrian cavalry and defeated them in two turns, at the cost of a few skirmish stands. Even though Bill's brigade moved into the gap to fill in for the empty saddles, I was concerned, because my flanking brigade was taking a very long time to move to its objective.

The French flank - I never got there...

Bill's brigade started to get lit up as well at this time. But Dave V impressed everyone (well, on the Austrian side at least) with an incredible performance by his Advance Guard. Although the history books indicate the Grenzers were conscripts drafted from the border area of the Ottoman region, based on Dave's rolling last night, Grenzers appeared to have been an elite formation armed with machineguns.

Revised artists rendering of Austrian Grenzers from the battle of Teugen-Hausen

Dave V rolled "6" after "6" for his musketry witht the Grenzer unit. They ventilated two elite French infantry battalions, and halted the charge of a third, basically stalling the advance of the elite French brigade, even as Bill's brigade of regulars began to waver. For the French side, Mike and Cam had a tough time hitting the broad side of a barn, much less the "Croation Sensation" Grenzer battalion that was in the way.

To add insult to injury, the Landwher battalion defeated a battalion of French regulars in melee!

Austrian grots hold the line, while regulars eat cannister and start to fold

Even with this heroic effort, by turn 8 the French were starting to punch through, so while we had to call the game at around midnight, it was definitely tilting toward a French victory, even if it would be one with a bloody nose.

It was great to play Napoleonics again, and a lot of fun to roll out with my Austrian figs. These games are always a good spur to finish some long dormant projects, and it was great to add some units again to my Austrian 15mm collection. I hope to add some more.

Thanks to all for coming to play, and to Dallas for hosting once again!

Painting Update - 15mm Austrians

As covered previously in the blog, my 15mm Austrian Napoleonic collection has been short of reinforcements for quite some time. I tidied up a few loose ends over the weekend and last night during Monday night football to try and give them SOME new blood.



In addition to the Landwher from last week, I finished off a unit of skirmishers, for starters, so at least one Austrian brigade can get a skirmish screen. I also added some artillery pieces, including one base that can stand in as horse battery.



The other unit I finished was a unit of Cheveauxlegers - Austrian light cavalry. Oddly, I had started the unit 8 years ago, but not finished it. So I added the command base, and one more base, to round out the unit.

Hopefully they'll see some action this week!

After Action Report - Secret Agent "Lands" Successfully

One of the top secret OSS pilots in action last night

Last night Kevin H, Brian, Bill and myself successfully fought a "Check Your Six" mission where Kevin's pilot, an OSS secret agent, was succesfully inserted into Nazi Germany using the ruse of getting shotdown in a dogfight. Dallas, Cam and Dave, playing the pilots of a top German protection squadron escorting an experimental Luftwaffe aircraft, were the unwitting dupes to our brilliant ploy.

Using brilliant advanced flying tactics, Brian, Bill and I were able to leave Kevin isolated on one part of the board, so Cam could "shoot down" Kevin. Of course, by counting on Cam, we were taking a big risk, and it was close run thing, as Cam, despite being armed with two cannons and two heavy MGs, did nearly no damage to Kevin's plane through an initial round of firing.

The Luftwaffe side, convinced the dogfight was legitimate and that it was critical to "protect" the Luftwaffe prototype that would have zero outcome on the war, didn't suspect a thing!

We were awesomely successful in the end. We also managed to avoid shooting down any of the Luftwaffe pilots, who would have suspected something when they bailed out and landed close to Kevin....

Thursday Game

"Papagei flock, this is Papagei Eins. Climb behind me and call out when you spot Falke. Over."

Leutnant Heinz Sachsenberg turned his head in the cramped cockpit, his eyes scanning methodically for the aircraft code-named "Hawk". It was an experimental plane, a wunder-waffe, one of the new jet aircraft designed by the egg-heads and guaranteed to win the war. What hogwash, Sachsenberg thought to himself. I'll never trust anything without a propeller... in any case, if rumours were to be believed, the pilot of the Falke was at least as important as the plane itself, for it was being delivered from the factory to JV44 by Hannah Reitsch, one of the Reich's most accomplished test pilots and a favourite of the Führer.

Staffelkapitan Sachsenberg was jolted from his reverie by a crackle of static on his headphones. "Heino! There's Falke -- seven o'clock low -- and watch out for the Indianer up high!" Sachsenberg cranked his head nearly all the way around and spotted the Mustangs closing on his formation.

"I see them! All aircraft attack! Verkaaft's mei Gwand 'I foahr in himmel - sell myclothes, I'm going to heaven!!"

Thursday's game will be (you guessed it) Check Your 6! - late war action.

8-Year Wait for Reinforcements...

One of the fun things about collecting and painting the Austrians for the Napoleonic era is that by neglecting your collection, you are kind of acting in the character of the parsimonious Hapsburg family and their shoddy overall treatment of their otherwise stoic soldiers.

I have not added a unit (not even a STAND) to my Austrian 15mm force for 8 years - last figures I added were in 2002! Truly a gold-standard neglect of the Austrian army. And it's not like I didn't like the collection - I display them happily in the living room, complete with the nicks and dents they have acquired over years of use. Like that school paper from Grade 10, I just never got around to doing more work on them.

While rummaging through my pile of stuff in recent weeks, I encountered my pile of Austrian stuff. Much unpainted. And I was still out of the same stuff I that halted my progress back in 2002. But one bag was un-opened - Landwehr.

I painted these over the weekend, and based them up last night. Just need the goop to dry, and they'll be ready to get run over by Napoleon's finest.

So after 8 years, my Austrians have some reinforcements. A battalion of Landwehr! Not glamorous, but at least we're moving again. I hope to add some odds and sods, like finishing a unit of Cheveauxlegers, a couple of formations based as skirmishers, a horse-artillery base, and one or two more line units.

As for the Landwehr, I will need to add quite a few more units to make them actually a viable part of a given scenario. But I may use them as part of advance guard etc. for some 1809 games. While the figure packs come with standard bearers, I'm going to leave them without a flag for now. I'm not even sure if they had them - "Vienna Retired Armed Constabulary" or something like that?

After Action Report - Dallas Saves the De

Last night the Conscripts assembled at Dallas' place, expecting a game of Napoleonics. However, it was not to be, because of some bad luck for me at the office - a meeting going until nearly 9pm (lame excuse, I know). Thankfully, Dallas deployed Formula De, the F-1 racing board game, and a good time ensued.

Dallas (M. Schumacher, Ferrari), Cam (J. Trulli, Panasonic Toyota), Bill (D. Coulthard, West McLaren Mercedes), Brian (G. Fisichella, Sauber Petronas), Dave V (M. Webber, Jaguar) and Mike F (Michele Burcholini, Red Bull 3rd World Racing Team) took to the race track - Interlagos, in Brazil. Cam and Mike built huge leads, and were so confident, they took the liberty of a pit stop to restore their cars ("so, you need the tires, right?"). Dallas, sensing an opportunity, ditched "operation bronze medal" and sped past them, gambling that his car could hold up.

As Dallas raced by, Cam fired up and chased. Mike F had leave at that point, so I took over his car, pledging to drive as recklessly as needed in order to win. I lived up to the first part of that, shredding most of the new tires in the first turn out of pit row. But Dallas and Cam pulled ahead, neck and neck through the final lap. It was a great race, and we were all concerned to see Cam rolling hot. And I was shamelessly rooting for Dallas' car to fall apart...but turn after turn, Dallas held it together.

It went to the final dice roll, but Dallas beat Cam for first place. I was so sure Dallas' car would get wrecked, but it was not to be. Dallas repaid my taunting with a cheap little Schumacher victory dance, which he performed with eerie effectiveness (and rightfully so).

Bill and I contested for third place, but his car was pushed just a bit too far on the second last turn, and he ended up in the cheap seats. Dave finished fourth, and Brian's car was retired by his pit crew.

A great race! Sorry about the third place finish Mike...that will teach you to maintain your car.

My apologies again to all for the timing not working out. I definitely hope we can get the Shako game rescheduled.

[Final comment from Dallas: Cam... you learned many things at Interlagos. Mainly, you learned that the board can be wrong, and no amount of counting squares can replace pure driving skill and winning spirit. And that Toyota will never win a Grand Prix.]