Video Games

Way back when I started this blog, I intended on writing the occasional post on video games.  I haven't written anything about electronic gaming recently, not because of any kind of wargaming purity, but because I haven't really played any in awhile.  Until now.

I bought Star Wars Battlefront when it was released.  Basically it's Battlefield for Star Wars.

For some strange reason there are people who the above description isn't enough.  I've read and heard some negative reactions to the game.  Not really panning it, but more like, is this all there is?  I admit, being able to play a mutiplayer shooter set in the Star Wars universe is enough for me, period. Beyond that, I think that Battlefront is a great game in it's own right, if you like multiplayer shooters.  Or if you like Star Wars.  And if you like both, it's great.  So I think it's great.

Right now though I can't stop playing Assassin's Creed Syndicate.  It's actually preventing me from playing the other game I got for Christmas, Fallout 4.  I played about 1/3 of the way through the original Assassin's Creed, and played Brotherhood's multiplayer, but neither of those games hooked me like this one has.

Part of the reason is the setting, Victorian era London.  You play as Jacob and Evie Frye, and outside of the main story, you do missions for the likes of Dickens, Darwin, and Marx.  How awesome is that!

But the main reason I'm liking the game so much is how it's the best "feeling" one of the series, at least of the ones I've played.  The game's controls are only minimally frustrating, which is a compliment.  And having two characters makes for a nice split between the stealthy, hide in the shadows and slit everyone's throat approach compared to the going in, guns blazing, er, slit everyone's throat approach.

The game revolves around three axes:  The main story sequences, the aforementioned side missions, and the conquest of London.  Each sequence has a series of missions, ending in an elaborate assassination of a Templar (the main enemies in the Assassin's Creed games).  Each of the side mission's characters could be seen as sequences themselves, without the final assassination.  Finally, the conquest aspect of the game has you wrenching control of London borough by borough from the Blighters, a criminal gang under the dominance of the Templars, by completing various tasks in each borough.

There's a lot to the game.  I've played close to 25 hours or so by now, and I'm guessing there's at least 10 more hours of play left.  That's not counting all of the collectibles.  Might be awhile until I get to Fallout.

All Green Alike, Segue

Ok, going to wrap up the solo play-through and then transition into a PBEM recap.

Basically the Confederates pulled back across Bull Run, so it was looking like a victory for the Union except...

I had forgotten that one of the ways you score victory points is by killing the enemy.  The Union had made one last attack on Centreville before Longstreet withdrew, and the Confederates rolled high and the Union rolled low.  The ensuing casualties swung the balance of victory in favor of the South.

Which actually seemed like what would have been the case if this battle had been "real."  The North had suffered a lot of casualties but hadn't really driven the rebels back away from the Manassas area.

I've just begun a VASSAL game of the All Green Alike campaign game (scenario 6) with Paul Franklin, of The Noise Before Defeat fame.  Below is the map after three or four activations per side (I'm the Confederates).

Not sure what I'm doing really.  I'm sending my cavalry forward to try and disrupt the Union movement.  Anything else will have to wait for my reinforcements to show up, starting on turn 3.

All Green Alike part 3

Ok, going into the last turn, this was the overall situation:

In the center, the Confederates had captured Centreville but were in a precarious position.  While this scenario does not have any supply rules, clearly the South's spearhead was in danger of being cut-off.  Though with so many Union brigades taking part in the attack on the Confederate's left perhaps they thought there weren't enough troops left to make a serious effort to dislodge them from Centreville.

Still, Beauregard knows he can't stay there forever and will have to retreat eventually.  But he would love to blood the Union army before he withdraws back across Bull Run.

In the New Market-Gainesville area, the strong Union force had seen off several Confederate attacks and were in firm control of the situation.  Taking Gainesville and possibly pushing Southeast towards Manassas were well within their grasp.  However, the Confederate capture of Centreville might draw off much of their strength in order to either drive the CSA out or, more decisively, sweep in behind them and capture the bulk of the Southern army.

On the Confederate right, neither side had committed much.  Several Union regiments marched from the Washington vicinity to contest the crossings, but didn't really have the strength required to force the issue.  Their presence did draw out the Confederate cavalry, which made several interdicting attacks along the road from the District, and both sides seemed content with a standoff in this region.

All Green Alike part 2

The Union has pushed five brigades around the Confederate left.  They currently occupy Groveton and all but have Gainesville as well, both major objectives.  All of those units are at fatigue level four however, so they're done fighting for the day.

More accurately, they're done attacking for the day.  Johnston has moved the units under his command around from the right to reinforce the Confederate left.  If his men hurry, they could be in position to counterattack the Union brigades before the end of turn one.  More likely and the safer option would be for Johnston to concentrate near Gainesville and try to initiate an assault on Wilcox's brigade first thing during turn 2.  This would be enhanced by the arrival of Elzey's brigade by rail on the morning of July 20.

So far the Confederates have been forced to just react to what the Union has done.  Most of the initiative rolls have been won by the Union, which is the main reason they've managed to be so successful so far.  Even though most of the northern units are now too fatigued to continue operations, their superiority in numbers will make it difficult for the Confederates to dislodge them from Groveton/Gainesville.

One setback for the Union has been Miles' attempt to force a crossing at Mitchell's Ford.  Earlier in the turn Bonham's brigade crossed Bull Run at the ford but after suffering losses in attacking the Union holding troops decided discretion is the better part of valor and recrossed the river.  The Union saw this as an opportunity for a double-envelopment of most of the Confederate army.  However, Miles was unable to concentrate all of his command for the attack and instead conducted two piecemeal attacks which were bloodily repulsed.

All Green Alike

All Green Alike is the name of the "bonus" game included with Stonewall Jackson's Way II, Multi-man Publishing's reprint of Avalon Hill's Stonewall Jackson's Way, the second game in the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series.  The original game dealt with the campaign around the battle of Second Bull Run.  All Green Alike features the 1861 battle fought in northern Virginia.

Both "games" feature a number of scenarios, divided into basic and advanced.  The advanced ones (including the long campaign scenarios) incorporate the advanced rules, while the basic ones either eschew the advanced rules altogether or only use certain ones, and are generally shorter in duration.

Above is the set-up for the 3rd scenario, "McDowell's Opportunity," which is a hypothetical scenario that has the Federals attacking the Confederates at Manassas Junction two days before they did historically.

The game provides Force markers that you can use to keep big stacks off the main map, as shown below.

Each turn there are a number of initiative phases.  Both sides roll a die and the high roll wins the initiative (generally the Confederates win ties).  The initiative player either takes an action or passes the initiative to the opponent.  If both players pass the turn ends.

The basic actions a player can choose from are march, assault, and activate leader (you can also burn a railroad station or entrench).  Marching is both moving and attacking, though you can only attack with a single unit.  Assaults are the only way you can have more than unit attack at a time.  Activating a leader allows you to move several units at once, or at least sequentially, and these movements can also include an attack just like a regular march.  But you can't assault unless you initiate a "grand assault" with a leader activation.

The movement is random.  You roll a die and that's how many movement points you get (generally the Confederates always get a bonus).  These movement points are what you spend to attack when marching, and the cost of those attacks depends on what kind of attack you're launching.  I won't go into the details of combat, other than to say so far it seems to give reasonably accurate results.

Below is the general Union plan.  The divisions already engaged will try to march around the Confederate left, while additional Union troops to the Northeast will move up and hold the center, mainly Centreville, which is a Confederate objective, all the while trying to minimize their losses.

ECW Cavalry

Finished the Warlord plastic boxed set of ECW cavalry finally.  I still can't believe that it was so easy to fix the humidity caused haze that I thought had screwed these figures permanently.

I painted half of the figures with red sashes to denote their allegiance to Charles, and the other half "tawny" in honor of Parliament.

I admit it's hard to tell the difference.  But that's kind of the point.

Bridges and Buildings

Bought these buildings at Historicon, 10mm Southern Europe.

Airbrushed some basic colors on them, then just picked out the doors, shutters, and foliage.  After that brushed on some stain and then sprayed on a matte coat.

While I was painting the buildings I dug out these bridges that I've had for over a year now but had only undercoated.  Painted them up more or less the same.