Armchair Dragoons Forums

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News

Connections Online 2024 will be held 15-20 April, 2024 ~~ More Info here

Recent Posts

71
The Modern World / Re: Fields of Fire III
« Last post by bayonetbrant on March 17, 2024, 10:59:33 AM »
From Pete V over on Mastodon

Quote
The new field manuals for Fields of Fire are looking good. I think they’ll help folks who bounced off earlier versions of game. Took a while for GMT to get to this point but they’re doing a good job getting the game up to the standards of their more recent productions.


https://gmtwebsiteassets.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/FoF_Deluxe/FoF_Deluxe-Field_Manual_Part_1_03062024.pdf
72
History and Tall Tales / Re: This Day in History
« Last post by besilarius on March 16, 2024, 08:42:40 PM »
597   BC   Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonians capture Jerusalem, destroying the First Temple

33 BC at the onset of the Roman Civil War, Julius Caesar had promised a lavish donative to his troops, amounting to about 102.9 million sestertii per legion, for a total obligation of over 3.7 billion sestertii, a sum equal to about 1060% of the total annual revenues of the Roman republic

37. Tiberius, 77, Roman general and Emperor (AD 14-37), possibly murdered

1582. Sultan Murad III of Turkey (R. 1574-1595), was so impressed by the performance of a troupe of entertainers at the circumcision of his son that he enrolled the entire company in the Janissary Corps, at that time perhaps the finest body of infantry in the world.

1913 German Kaiser Wilhelm II refused to sanction the activation of three new army corps on the grounds that there were insufficient officers of noble blood available for them, and that he would not permit the admission of non-aristocrats into the officer corps in such numbers

1914         Gaston Calmette, 55, editor of 'Le Figaro,' shot by Mdm. Henriette Caillaux, wife of France's finance minister, over some indiscrete letters he had published, initiating a scandalous trial that would preoccupy public attention until the outbreak of war in late July
  During the Campaign of 1914 a quarter of all the horses in the French Army died, 90-percent of them from disease or fatigue rather than combat.

1941         The Pennsylvania Railroad's Cleveland-Pittsburgh express was derailed near Baden, Pa., with 5 deaths, over 100 injured; German inspired sabotage was suspected, but no arrests were ever made.
  several Indian nations, including the Iroquois, Ponca, and Chippewa, joined the U.S. in declaring war against the Third Reich, a measure the Sioux did not have to take, since they had never ended the state of war they had declared against the Second Reich in 1917.
73
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by bob48 on March 16, 2024, 10:45:25 AM »
I'm not sure if that is strictly true. We are talking about July 1863, so its hardly 'early war'. I think its more a case that whilst much of the Confederate force were seasoned veterans, a lot of the Union troops engaged at that point were comparatively inexperienced. To a degree, this also applies to leadership at all levels.

74
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by JudgeDredd on March 16, 2024, 10:33:33 AM »
I think that appeared to be the case because their officers were far less "active" than the Confederate officers - especially early war from what I remember from Ken Burns series.

I'm going to butt out talking about the history of it though - before one of our US compatriots come on here and tell me off though  ;D
75
Intel Dump / Re: Wargame Design Studio News Thread + Latest Sale Titles
« Last post by bayonetbrant on March 16, 2024, 07:52:10 AM »
glad we're back up and running for you to share the news :)
76
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by bob48 on March 16, 2024, 07:32:40 AM »
I think we should also not overlook the historical fact that the Union was very much on the defensive.
77
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by JudgeDredd on March 16, 2024, 06:20:20 AM »
So The Whirlpool is the battle for the Wheatfield, Devil's Den and Houck's Ridge. I don't know if that means anything to anyone, but I know too little about the ACW for that to resonate with me.

As BC said, the rules are somewhat confusing. I do remember when I got this game I kept the rule book out to learn it and decided to leave it and went on to a different game.

The rules do leave barn doors open for ambiguity. They use terms like Close Combat, Fire Combat, Defensive Fire, Normal Fire Attack...when I read the rules, it was not at all clear to me that when I performed a fire attack and then moved (an attack order), that you could also perform Close Combat. Additionally, it's wasn't clear to me that the temr "Normal Fire Attack" meant I could use Close Combat...because I was getting Normal Fire Attack confused with Normal Fire Combat. In part, it's because of ambiguous terms I think but a large part is I don't think the rule book fully represents the Sequence of Play and you need to check both in order to get a grip of the sequence of play.

I think there is alot to like in here. It reminds me of the behemoth Fields of Fire. Not a complicated game at all - but the rules make it look like Everest. Once you're in though, you're in.

As for your post bob, I don't know what the point of the scenario is - there's no blurb with it. All I do know is the Union has terrible leaders who cannot activate...leaving them stationary at best and at worst, neutered. I pulled Humphrey's and his only brigade on the board is Burling - and two of those regiments are in the Broken track! The one unit left couldn't move (because Humphrey's wasn't able to activate) and he couldn't shoot. Activation over. And that's not the only time. As I said, I've pulled 11 divisional chits for the Union over 2 turns and they haven't once had a full activation.

As I said - I don't care who wins. I have no side. But steam rollering over another side just isn't really fun.

Having said all that - there are Union reinforcements coming (as well as some Confederates) and also the possibility of the removal of some Confederate forces. 2 turns isn't really anything in a 10 turn game and looking at the reinforcement schedule it does look like there might be some to-ing and fro-ing. Of course there's only going to be some to-ing and fro-ing if the Union player actually gets some Union units to move.

So I'll stick with it for the time being.

On the map - initially I loved the look of the map. Then I hates it when I started to play. It initially appeared to be busy and complicated to read...but actually it's turned out fine. So you have a great looking map with some great features.

Additionally, this map provides me witrh something I've alsways wanted in games and it's not always there (or at least not always there to a decent degree) - the movement rates. In so many games movement rates are set so generic and with very little in the way of terrain to challenge it, you are able to move units wherever you want and with relative ease. With this map - you HAVE to use roads to get anywhere. most of the terrain (or at least the stuff I've been fighting on) is rocky, trees, hills, steep hills...and they all help to keep movement down unless you're using roads.

Anyway - I guess I just posted yesterday because I was frustrated with the lack of ability for the Union to act...we'll see how it goes.


I should also point out - I am a bit irked by two things...
1. The 2nd Edition was not released incoporating the errata
2. The 2nd Edition rules are not available on the website - it's the first edition rules

I could forgive 1 given the reasoning supplied by Revolution Games (time and small team), but two is not forgiveable. You have an updated set of rules for the 2nd edition - get them on your website.
78
Intel Dump / Re: Wargame Design Studio News Thread + Latest Sale Titles
« Last post by rahamy on March 16, 2024, 06:07:50 AM »
Updates bringing the rest of the Panzer Battles series to version 4.02 have been released. Read more about it in todays post.

** Note ** Just like other recent updates, these require complete new installations to apply.

https://wargameds.com/blogs/news/panzer-battles-version-4-02-updates-released
79
Intel Dump / Re: The PODCAST now known as "Mentioned in Dispatches" !
« Last post by bayonetbrant on March 15, 2024, 08:34:12 PM »
Mentioned in Dispatches Season 12 Ep 6 ~ “Live” From GAMA Expo
We spent last week at GAMA Expo, and rather than try to set up a 90-minute chat with someone there, we tackled a handful of people to come talk to us.

https://www.armchairdragoons.com/podcast/s12e6/
80
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by BanzaiCat on March 15, 2024, 08:05:36 PM »
I echo your sentiments, JD. I had this game last year, but the rules didn't really make me want to punch the game and try it out. I sold it fairly quickly.