Issue #23

Nile Gunboat Battles

Spring 2009

Several issues Sudan period the money it’s simply not

ago I reviewed where our worth what you get. I’ve
the Boilers & group uses the seen pictures of the Peter
Breechloaders Battles For Em- Pig version of the Safieh
rules from TVAG pire rules. The and while it looks good, the
(The Virtual one huge prob- $75+ price tag drove me
Armchair Gen- lem is that there away.
eral), giving my is little to no
If you’re going to do
thoughts about information, so
25mm, then you are going
the presentation, the design of
to need a lot of space to do
layout, some the gunboats on
a gunboat battle and ships
things I though both sides is
in that scale aren’t cheap.
that could be pure speculation
Building in 25mm scale
improved and more. I had except for the few artist
also can take a good deal of
gamed a few solitaire ac- drawings of the period.
time, so this is something
tions to test out the move-
WASATCH FRONT HISTORICAL GAMING SOCIETY

So, what did it take to that needs to be considered.

ment and firing systems,
make the game come to-
but had not had the time to Getting a flotilla of gun-
gether? First, the gunboats
play a large game with boats ready is certainly half
had to be built and that
several players. the battle and the second
took awhile. I was origi-
half is getting everything
Although there were nally going for three on
from the rules prepared for
never any gunboat battles each side for my first
a game. After going
on the Nile during either of game, which I thought
Warning Order

through the rules several

the Sudan campaigns, the would be good for 4-6
times, it’s my opinion that
possibility did exist as the players to have a fun out-
the rules aren’t really de-
Mahdi had several captured ing. Although there are
signed for large scale gun-
Egyptian ships. I was also companies who produce
boat battles. Rather, I think
inspired by the series of some 15mm boats, my
that they are designed for
articles in The Courier personal opinion is that for
ship to shore ac-
during the Sudan
tions, boarding
series where they
scenarios, or land-
had a large gunboat
ing forces in sup-
battle at the end of
port of ground ac-
the series.
tions. However, the
I previously rules will work for
wrote about building gunboat vs. gunboat
my 15mm gunboat actions, but for the
flotillas, so we won’t 15mm scale I
go into that here, but needed to do some
I chose the 15mm modifications, such
scale as I have large as ranges. (cont. on
forces for the early page 7).

Inside this issue:

Special points of interest:
Warmaster Ancients Tournament 4
• Nile Gunboat Battle Report
Nile Gunboat Battle Report 9
• Renaissance and Napoleonic Battle Reports
Memoirs of a ... 11
• Game Reviews
Blast From The Past 12
• Warmaster Ancients Tournament
Renaissance Clash 13

Editorial 14
• Regular Features

Age of Eagles Battle Report 16

Road to Ruin 3: Drive on Kursk Game Review
If you’ve been reading this fortifications, conditional those. This is simpler in theory as the
magazine for awhile, you reinforcements (this one has Russians will keep retreating to new lines
probably have seen reviews caused the most problems of fortifications and more of them con-
on the two other games in judging by comments on tinue to arrive. This is basically a battle
this series, Drive on Stalin- Consimworld), and keeping of attrition and if the German armored
grad and Drive on Moscow . track of victory points. forces start to take a beating then it will
Drive on Kursk is part three be over with fairly quickly.
The set up isn’t too bad
of what is called the Road to
as many of the Russians are By the end of the game there is a
Ruin series by Decision
in large reserve stacks to the pretty good sized stack of Russian units
Games. Since I’m an East
rear of the fortifications. in the dead pile, but the German forces
Front fan I quickly picked
The Germans are stretched have suffered a lot of step losses as well.
this up, punched and clipped
thin, but have several stacks The last few turns will see a desperate
the counters, then eagerly
of powerful panzer forma- lunge to take the big victory point objec-
got started.
tions. As with the other two tives with the Russians counterattacking
The first two games in the series had a games there are a lot of Russian rein- in certain areas to distract the Germans or
common theme, namely large stacks of forcements waiting off board that are threaten lines of communication. My two
panzers roaming at will through the Rus- triggered by the extent of the German’s games I’ve played so far bear out that it is
sian wastelands, crunching large numbers success. pretty tough on the Germans, but no im-
of Russian units! Both games had a time- possible.
Here is where the Germans have
line where the Germans needed to keep
some real decisions. Where to
moving at all costs, making those games
strike and with what? There’s
very tense and close affairs. This, how-
not enough troops for a broad
ever, was clearly going to be something
attack and the combat results
different.
table is extremely bloody, so the
The components from all three games precious panzers need to be pro-
are similar, however Kursk, unlike the tected by sacrificing other units.
other two, only has one map. The maps The problem is that the other
of all three days are a throwback to the supporting units are too slow to
glory days of SPI in the 80s, with only a keep up with the armored at-
few colors, but the maps are functional tacks! This is what makes the
and work well. The Kursk map has a game a great solitaire effort as
series of Russian fortifications running the Russian player pretty much
throughout the map, so obviously this plugs holes and decides when to
isn’t going to be a smash and chase affair counterattack near the end of the
like the previous games. game, so if playing solo you can
concentrate on the German attack. I would say, however, that this is my
The counters are similar to the first
least favorite of the three games in the
game, although I liked the iconic counters When the German attack comes, it is
series. It’s not that it isn’t a good game,
in the second game. The rules use the led by the panzer stacks, usually on turn
as it is. However, it is a struggle of attri-
same system as the other games, so you 2. The Russians are trying to move up
tion, endless banging your head against
can quickly get into this if you’ve played units to plug potential holes as they can
Russian fortifications, and against good
the others. The big changes deal with a begin to tell where the hammer is going
Russian play it will be a tough slog for
new Combat Results Table, the extensive to fall. The Germans pick a few points in
the German side.
the line and dive in, quickly killing
the Russian forces in front of them. There is an optional set up using Man-
But here is where the real problem stein’s Gambit that puts a lot more forces
begins. Which direction should on the board earlier for both sides and I
you attack towards? Do you ignore plan on exploring that in the future.
the Russian reinforcements coming
Overall, this is a good game and I
in? Who will protect the flanks of
really like the series. Is it the best game
the armored attacks?
on Kursk I’ve ever played? Probably.
The German player quickly There’s not much competition in this area
finds that he simply doesn’t have and the few others I’ve tried usually fo-
enough forces to do a broad effort cus on certain points of the battle. Again,
and will have to pick one or two for $25 or so it is worth the money and
objectives, then go all out for you should try the entire series of games.

Page 2 WARNING ORDER

World at War #3: The Bulge Game Review
World at War is a new ef- to that in that in many Bulge and a ton of airpower shows up on turn 8,
fort from the creators of Strat- games once the Germans have so either you win early as the Germans or
egy & Tactics. It is a series of exhausted themselves the sec- you’re postponing the inevitable as the
magazine type games similar ond half of the game is usually Allies build up and start grinding you
to S&T, but focusing entirely the Allies mopping the floor down turn by turn.
on the WW2 period. The first with what’s left of the German
I do like the touches with the German
issue, Barbarossa, did very forces.
commandos, the air supply, bridge inter-
well and now goes for double
The second unusual thing diction, and the designers have done a
its price on Ebay. I missed out
about the game is that the se- good job with the terrain costs and defen-
on that one, but did buy the
quence of play has a pre-move sive effects of the terrain. An Allied unit
second issue which featured
combat phase, the movement in a town behind a river is going to be a
the Solomons campaign.
phase, then a second combat phase. The tough nut to crack, especially since DR
Now, with the third issue they have de-
combat table harkens back to the old SPI results can be converted in towns to a
cided to do yet another Battle of the
days with the standard Attacker Stalled, step loss and you get to stay there. The
Bulge game.
Defender Retreats, and the Bloodbath game also plays pretty fast, as there are
First, the components are not bad for result. The Bloodbath or BB result can only 10 turns and not that many pieces to
a magazine game. If you’ve bought any be devastating in this game, particularly move, so both players won’t get bored
S&T issues over the past few years, then early as it can open up huge holes for the and the game moves along nicely.
you pretty much know what to expect. Germans.
The map is functional, but not spectacu-
There are several special rules for
lar, and covers the area of the initial Ger-
Turn 1, with the Germans unable to use
man attack and the main objectives. The
their artillery, no road movement, and
others which assures the Germans of
some strong initial attacks, but not being
able to go anywhere, which is kind of
what historically occurred. By the end
of turn 2 it could be panic time for the
Allies as the Germans only need to get
to a road with a mech unit and they
could win a sudden death victory.
So, is this the best game on the Battle
Here’s where I think the game has
of the Bulge? Umm...no. Is it the worst
some issues. First, if a German mech unit
game on the battle? Umm...no, again. I
exits along the top edge of the map it is
think that this game is somewhere in the
an auto-victory or they can seize twelve
middle. It’s the type of game where
counters use a series of icons with the points worth of towns/villages. If the
you’re looking for something to game
combat value on them, which aren’t too Germans can get a few bloodbath results
solo on a weekend or when you and a
bad. Finally, the rules are in the center of then the game can end pretty early as
friend have an urge to play a Bulge game,
the magazine and follow the usual S&T there aren’t enough Allied units to guard
but you don’t want to break out some-
format. Overall, for around $25 it’s not all of the roads. If this proves impossible,
thing that will take 2-3 hours just to set
too bad, especially since there are some then the Germans must take and hold a
up! I did like the sequence of play, the
good articles on the Bulge in the maga- lot of the towns and villages, which isn’t
two sets of counters, and the game plays
zine. easy as the Allies build up after turn 4
quickly. However, in my last playing the
Now there are a lot of Bulge Germans got three bloodbath results in
games out there and I’ve played sev- the first two turns and a hole the size of
eral, so I was interested in what the New Hampshire opened up and the game
designers came up with here. There was over!
are several differences from the stan-
Overall, this is a good effort, espe-
dard Bulge game which many gamers
cially for a magazine game. The maga-
have seen. The biggest difference is
zine is very similar to S&T and the Bulge
that this game does not attempt to
article was good as was the Solomons
portray the entire campaign. In fact,
game in the second issue. It remains to
it covers the initial German attack and
be seen if this is a worth companion to
the first Allied responses to it. The
S&T, so time will tell as more games and
Germans either win in the first few
issues come out.
days or that’s it. There is some logic

I S S U E # 23 Page 3
1st WFHGS Warmaster Ancients Tournament
We’ve really enjoyed using all of these archers. Again, this was to be a theme all
the historical version of things the games day as the Seleucid pikes and cavalry
Warmaster and after were set up in a performed well, but the supporting troops
several battles with Bib- remarkably short got taken out quickly in each game.
lical armies several amount of time
The Vikings hit the Seleucid cavalry
members of the group and play began
hard, but with no cavalry of their own
decided to branch out. quickly.
they were unable to follow up their ad-
This naturally led to
The first pair vantage. The Seleucid pikes once again
some ideas about possi-
of games had the plowed into the center of the enemy and
bly having a tourna-
Seleucids did a lot of damage, but some poorly
ment! So after a few
against the Hit- timed command failures doomed the Se-
months of on and off
tites and the leucids. The Vikings kept coming and by
discussions a date was
Romans against the Vikings. Since I the last turn there was a god sized pile of
set for shortly after Christmas, people
played the Seleucids most of the com- dead stands for both sides. The Seleu-
ordered figs, then started painting. It was
mentary will focus on those battles!
close, but everyone got enough done for a
1,000 point army plus a few units that get The Hittites got off to a good start
awarded through the campaign system. as the Seleucids had a number of
command problems (something that
In the end we had four armies; Seleu-
was to plague me all day!). The Hit-
cids, Vikings, Romans, and Hittites. We
tites had taken four units of chariots
decided to use the campaign system in
and quickly attacked the Seleucid
the second book and each player received
right flank. In the center the Hittites
three randomly generated territories to
and the Seleucids both had problems
add units to their starting forces.
moving up their main battle
lines, but the archers and skir-
mishers began to snipe at each
other from long range.
Finally, the Hittite chariots
attacked in force, hitting the Seleu-
cid cataphracts, but rolling very cids,, however, were unable to get going
poorly in combat. The Seleucids in the last few turns and the battle ended
counterattacked, knocking out the as a Viking victory on points.
chariots and following up against the
In the other battle the Hittites fought
Hittite infantry. In the center the
well again, but the Roman legions kept
Seleucid pikes finally came to grips
coming and broke the Hittites on the final
with the Hittites and began driving
turn of the second round.
them back. On the final turn the
Hittites broke, giving the victory to So after two rounds there was a three
the Seleucids. In the other battle the way tie for first , so the last round would
It was also much easier to set out the
Vikings and Romans, after a slow start, decide things and everyone was aware
terrain for the tables beforehand, then
had a series of wild and
through a series of die rolls allow the
bloody combats with the
players to pick which table they wanted
Vikings barely coming
to start on and then which side to deploy
out on top in points.
from. This saved quite a lot of time and
allowed everyone to set up and get the The second round saw
tournament started quickly. the Hittites vs. the Ro-
mans and the Seleucids
Once the tables were chosen the op-
vs. the Vikings. This time
posing players rolled again to decide who
both sides were able to
would set up first, the length of the game,
quickly close the gap in
and pick which side to start from. Al-
the center and combat got
though it sounds like a lot it went by in
started right away. Some
under a minute. To speed up the set up
good rolls by the Viking
time again we had each player deploy
archers decimated the
their armies in groups of four units. By
Seleucid skirmishers and

Page 4 WARNING ORDER

1st WFHGS Warmaster Ancients Tournament (cont.)
now ready to make a deter- We had played a three round cam-
mined attack on the Roman paign in six and a half hours, including
line. set up and take down, which was pretty
good! Afterwards there was a lot of talk
The Seleucid pike now
about army list choices and how everyone
charged in with the cataphracts
would have done things differently if
and guard cavalry supporting
given the chance, which is one of the fun
on the right flank. The initial
parts of the gaming hobby. The cam-
attacks were devastating,
paign did let everyone get in several
knocking out two legions and
games against opponents that you would
pushing the Romans back to
not ordinarily be matched up against and
the crest in the center of
the board. The Romans,
however, counterat-
tacked, and despite a
slow start, were able to
that they needed to cause as many casual-
cave in the Seleucid left flank.
ties as possible in case that needed to be
Both sides were getting danger-
used as a tiebreaker. The third round
ously close to their break point
featured the Vikings vs. the Hittites and
with many units down to a single
the Romans vs. the Seleucids. We had
stand!
just done a good sized battle over
Thanksgiving with the Romans and Se- The Seleucids came on again,
leucids, so we both knew that this would but by this time were down in
be a fight to the death. numbers and the attacks fizzled
out. After figuring out points it
For the third round the terrain was
was determined that the Romans
changed slightly and again there was a
had won, but not by much. It had
series of die rolls to allow the winning
been the bloodiest battle of the day by on terrain that for the most part was not
player to choose which battlefield they
far. The other battle was a Viking victory of your choosing.
wanted to use.
as the Hittites had come close to defeat-
The important thing is that it was a
The Romans advanced quickly, but ing the Vikings, but could not press their
huge success and everyone had a lot of
the Seleucids again had serious problems advantage at critical times in the game.
fun. In fact, we’re already talking about
with the sub-commander and most of the
The final standings were: doing another campaign with 1500 points
hard hitting cavalry sat still for the first
over two days! Also, Normans and Indi-
few turns. Massed volleys by the Roman 1st Place: Vikings-Dave ans are being painted, so hopefully next
auxiliary archers wiped out the Indian
2nd Place: Romans-Gary time we’ll have some new armies to go
archers and drove the camel unit back.
up against and perhaps some new players
The center of the Seleucid line did how- Mayhem Award: Seleucids-Matt to expand the tournament.
ever, continue to advance and they were

I S S U E # 23 Page 5
Storm Over Stalingrad Game Review
Although I am a huge The rulebook is another cards that can be used for air attacks,
WW2 East Front fan, I outstanding effort and simi- overruns, engineers, snipers, etc., and you
have surprisingly few lar to A Victory Lost and really have a lot of chaos developing on
games on the battles in Warriors of God. The rules the board!
and around Stalingrad. are in color, with numerous
Combat is done by adding up the
Drive on Stalingrad and examples of play and after
strength of all of the attacking units, roll-
A Victory Lost are both one reading I was ready to
ing two D6, then comparing it to the best
more operational in na- start. The few questions I
defense strength of the defender plus the
ture and John Hill’s Bat- had were answered by read-
area defense strength. The result is the
tle For Stalingrad from ing the forums on Consim-
number of casualty points that the de-
SPI, while it is a good world, but were nothing that
fender must spend. This can be in terms
game, takes a commit- would prevent play of the
of units spent (flipped over to their
ment of quite a few hours game as is.
“used” side where they are done for the
to play.
If you’ve played turn), eliminated units, or retreating units.
I’ve liked some of the Monty’s Gamble, then you You can use a combination of the three to
recent area games, most notably Warriors will find some similarities in the combat satisfy the combat result. Now this is
of God and Monty’s Gamble, plus the and movement systems. Basically, the where you can over analyze things!
recent MMP games have been great in Germans have arrived at the gates of Sometimes there are a variety of options
terms of components. After the first re- Stalingrad with several divisions backed that can have a critical impact on your
ports of this game came out I was inter- by armor. The Russian defense is in strategy later on in the turn.
ested, so sent off an order to Bunker Hill good shape, but they must hold out while
Games (which by the way has out- an endless stream of reinforcements
standing prices and service). crosses the Volga to take up posi-
tions in the city. Both players bid
The recent trend with MMP is out-
for the number of +3 areas that the
standing components and this game is no
Russians will control at the end of
exception. The map consists of two sec-
the game, with 3 being a good aver-
tions, covering the approaches to the city
age, especially for first time players.
and the city itself, broken into areas for
movement and combat. There is a turn The German player can look at
track, a place for the combat cards, and the defenses, then look at his forces
the area information is clearly displayed. and the standard opinion is that this
The maps are well done and it gives the is going to be easy. Unfortunately
gamer a good representation of the area for the German side, that isn’t the
in which the battle took place. case. First, deciding what to attack
where and when is critical to the
The large counters are also well done,
success of both players. Attack too
with standard NATO symbols and the
early and fail risks a counterattack that Choosing which units should attack
German formations are color coded for
can push you out of desperately needed and which should move in to assault the
ease of setup and play. There are plenty
area. Move units into an enemy held area next turn can be challenging. The final
of markers for area control and more than
for an attack next turn risks counterat- few turns can be pretty tense as the Ger-
enough units to fill the map, so gamers
tacks that could prove costly later in the mans launch a number of desperate at-
will have plenty of pieces to push around.
turn. I found this aspect of tacks and the Russians try to forma series
the game very interesting of defense lines to protect the last +3
in sequencing what to at- areas they need for victory.
tack, with how much, and
Although the set up is fixed, the num-
when in the turn to attack.
ber of starting strategies can be numer-
Play proceeds in im- ous. Each side will have a wide variety
pulses, with each player of options each turn and the combat cards
picking an area, then mov- add to the uncertainty. The good things
ing or firing with selected about this game are that it is a simple
units, so there’s quite a lot game to teach others, there are a lot of
of interaction between options, the components are well done,
players and virtually no and you can easily get in a game around 3
down time. Add to that hours. I now have a new favorite East
each side gets 5-7 combat Front WW2 game!

Page 6 WARNING ORDER

Nile Gunboat Battles (cont.)
I first went with halving all ranges for that is that the rules don’t cover every-
moving and firing, but that didn’t work. thing and some things aren’t clearly ex-
By halving the ranges the forward guns plained. For example, there appears to be
couldn’t reach the back of the boat with no limit to damage control or the num-
some weapons! It made it so that the bers of crew that can help with it. This
boats were way out of scale to the ranges means that in long games you could take
and while that works well with some a number of hits and fix all of them up! I
periods (ancients, Napoleonics, etc.) it could see that for WW1 or 2 naval ac-
doesn’t look right with 1:1 scale games. I tions, but when plywood boats are getting
finally resolved this by keeping the holed by 9 pounder guns it’s going to
25mm ranges, but halving the movement. take some port time to fix those holes!
A few experiments with some hastily set
Still, these are only minor annoyances
up one on one battles confirmed that this
and can be fixed with the addition of
is the right approach and it worked well.
some home rules, which all of us have
The second thing that would need to been doing with TSATF for eternity any-
sheet that listed all of the available op-
be changed is that in 15mm it is impossi- way! I definitely think that these are a
tions for each player, which would save
ble to have the crew figures go every- fun set of rules and provide the kind of
time from having to go through the rules
where that they are supposed to. The mayhem that any colonial gunboat battle
every minute of the game. I went over
game is designed for 25mm figures and should be. Although there was a lot of
the rules for the 6th or 7th time, then we
players are supposed to position them work that went into doing a game, in the
were ready for our first try.
where they actually are, especially for end it was definitely worth it and I am
boarding actions, assisting gun batteries, The game went surprisingly well for a already planning on building a flotilla of
etc., but in 15mm there simply isn’t suffi- first effort. Everyone had a lot of fun native dhows to try to swamp the British/
cient room. The solution? Players write with the movement and firing
down where important crew members are systems, plus the card activation
on the laminated ship control sheets and I adds a bit of chaos along with the
created some round wood disks that were critical hits. The combat system
painted in different colors to help with with naval artillery worked really
boarding actions. If there was a boarding well and the shore bombardment
action we would simply move everything table also did a good job of por-
to the side and fight it out using the disks traying the era accurately.
to represent both sides. For example, if
The one thing that threw us off
20 Dervishes boarded a Egyptian gunboat
were the machine guns, which we
I would use 20 yellow disks for the Der-
thought were too powerful. We
vishes, one blue disk for the first officer,
were playing with some of the
three black disks for the black gang, and
older Nordenfelts and Gardners, so
10 red disks for any marines or soldiers
I could only imagine what Gat-
trying to repel the boarders. Simple and
lings and Maxims would do! We
effective. Egyptian gunboats with numbers!
solved this by saying that unless a boat
The individual ship logs were created was carrying passengers in open spaces, If there is a second edition it might
and laminated for use, the wind vane was that all targets were class IV, meaning help to have a sample gunboat page filled
made, and I designed a turn sequence that you needed low numbers and face out (using a historical gunboat) which
cards to hit. That seemed to work would give gamers a good example to
well, but it again told me that the follow. Also, a reference sheet with all of
system was primarily designed for the actions allowed in a turn would be
ship to shore actions. I think if we nice (I’ll send you the one I created!). I
had not have done this modification also think that this system could be used
that the battle would have turned into with ACW vessels and with smaller scale
a floating machine gun battery duel! ships by merely providing generic floor
plans and crew counters. That way you
The rules are very similar to
could do 1/300 or 1/600 gunboat battle
Sword and the Flame, and in fact are
and still move your crew around on floor
designed to go with them hand in
plans off to the side of the game board.
hand for boarding combat, firing at
The possibilities here are limitless and
shore targets, etc., but they also share
I’m hoping that more can be done for this
one other common thing. Namely,
system as it’s a lot of fun.

I S S U E # 23 Page 7
Encounter on the Nile Battle Report
This was to be our first actual game of machine guns. All of the boats had
Boilers & Breechloaders, played on our crews of around 15 men and little in the
annual Friday after Thanksgiving way of actual armor. The Mahdist gun-
gamefest where we get together and play boats, Korti, Ariab, and Hafir were like-
either a large game or two smaller games. wise converted steamers armed with
I had built three Anglo-Egyptian gun- whatever was available at the time. The
boats and three Mahdist gunboats for the Mahdists also had a shore battery con-
game, along with preparing some turn sisting of two Krupp guns in an en-
sheets and ship logs for all of the players. trenchment outside of a village along
the shore.
The scenario was for the Anglo-
Egyptian force to clear the Nile in
this area in preparation for a larger
closed with the enemy gunboats. At this
operation in the near future. The
point everyone was getting the hang of
shore battery would also need to be
the turn sequence and how to move their
silenced for the mission to have been
ships. In the next few turns both sides
deemed a success.
continued to close the range and the first
After a brief overview of the rules few shots from each side’s main batteries
and how to use the ship logs, we were were exchanged with negligible damage
ready to start. B&B uses activation to any ship.
cards, so when a ship’s card is drawn,
The Abbas and the shore battery now
the player commanding the ship goes
began to exchange fire. One of the
down a list of options such as movement,
This has been mentioned in previous Krupp guns was knocked out and the
increasing speed, moving around the
issues, but there is little information machine guns were taking a toll on the
crew for damage control, etc… . Al-
about the gunboat fleets of both sides crew. A lucky hit by the remaining
though it sounds like a lot, it really plays
during the Sudan wars. The Anglo- Krupp, however, damaged one of the
pretty quickly. Once players get a feel
Egyptian forces operated up to 30 steam- Abbas’ sidewheels, causing it to lose
for the movement, turning, and how to
ers/gunboats during the early and late movement at the worst possible time.
fire the weapons the game proceeds at a
Sudan campaigns, while the Mahdists The ship moved to close to the shore and
better than average pace. Although we
captured and used several Egyptian boats. ran aground! Also, one of the Abbas’
did not have any boarding actions, that
Although they never fought each other, it guns was knocked out on the next ex-
could take some time to resolve. Players
is a great “what if” type of game. change of fire, but the Mahdist shore
use to playing TSATF will recognize and
battery was finally silenced by a combi-
The Anglo-Egyptian force consisted grasp onto the combat system fairly
nation of machine gun and cannon fire.
of three gunboats, of which all were con- quickly.
The Abbas then spent the next few turns
verted steamer. The Abbas (from the
The game opened with the Abbas trying to get back into the Nile and into
movie Khartoum), Sennar, and Alexan-
moving to engage the Mahdist shore bat- the fight. Luckily, a few good rolls got
dria were all armed with a variety of can-
tery while the Sennar and the Alexandria the Abbas back into fighting form.
non and early Gardner and Nordenfelt

Page 8 WARNING ORDER

Encounter on the Nile (cont.) Battle Report
The Korti and Ariab returned fire as A few things that we thought would
well, scoring several hits on the Al- need fixing before a second game. First,
exandria and Sennar. The Hafir was the machine guns were pretty powerful
able to control her steering, but the and we came up with the house rule that
fires were still out of control and all crew (except if they are in an exposed
spreading. The Hafir turned back space or loading/unloading something)
towards the enemy ships with the were classed as artillery crew in TSATF,
goal of getting back into the fight. thus needing a low hit number and face
cards for hits. If we hadn’t of done this
The machine guns of both sides
then it is doubtful that 50% of the crews
had by this time killed off most of
would have survived the first few min-
any crewmen who were on deck and
utes. Second, it seems as if there are no
several ships had
flooding and hull
damage. A few
The Sennar and the Hafir charged in at
more turns of firing fol-
each other, with the Mahdist Hafir com-
lowed, then the Haifr
ing off the worst of it. The Hafir was on
began to sink, still with
fire and several of the topside crew were
fires raging out of control
killed by the Sennar. After several ex-
all along the length of the
changes of fire, the Hafir went out of
vessel. Now outnum-
control (due to a critical hit) and began to
bered 3:2 the Mahdist
wander out of the battle area, still on fire.
gunboats decided to break
Meanwhile, the Alexandria had taken off and head for home,
several hull hits and two critical hits for giving control of this area
flooding. Damage control teams were of the Nile to the Anglo-
able to resolve the problem, but the ship Egyptian fleet.
lost a few valuable turns trying to get
The game had
back into the action. The Mahdist Korti
proven to be as much fun
and Ariab went through the enemy for-
as we thought it would be
mation and began to violently turn back
going in. The random card movement, limits to the number of people that can
to bring all of their guns to bear.
the firing, critical hits, current speed, etc., assigned to damage control and no limits
The Abbas by this time had freed her- all made for a pretty chaotic game. You on how much damage can be repaired!
self from running aground and was rais- definitely have to make some decisions We’re going to work on some kind of
ing steam to get back into the action. She about movement, where to place the First system where every other hit (or some-
still had one gun available and began to Officer, how many crew to use for dam- thing to that effect) cannot be repaired
take long range shots when opportunities age control, and more. All of the effort to during battle or no one will ever get sunk!
presented themselves. The Alexandria make the gunboats, prepare a reference
Overall, a very fun game on an unusual
and Sennar continued to turn and deliver card, markers, etc., was well worth it to
topic and we’ll do this again soon.
accurate fire at the Mahdist gunboats. try out this highly unusual subject.

I S S U E # 23 Page 9
Memoirs of a Miniature & Board Wargamer Pt. 10
The Star Fleet Battles and massive battles. It was paign maps, plotting strategy, then having
definitely a lot of fun and a large battles that served a purpose and
Experience very exciting part of my gam- influenced events in the campaign. How-
ing memories. ever, it was at this stage that we began to
notice that something was wrong.
I can still recall getting off
“Back in the day” there was of work on a Friday at around I think it was the release of the Cap-
this little known game from Lou 6pm, then a large group of us tain’s Edition rulebook that finally did it.
Zocchi about Federation cruis- going out to dinner, then stop- Back in the summer of ‘83 or ‘84 when it
ers fighting Klingon ships using ping off at a store for bags of came out there was a lot of excitement
miniatures. There were very sodas and snacks, then going to and all of us rushed out to get one. Here
few variations in terms of ships someone’s house and playing was the holy grail that would unite all of
and the rules were popular with the sci-fi Starfleet Battles until 3 or 4am! There the rules, clarify all of the questions, and
crowd, but there was no large scale fol- was no Internet, Sony Playstations, and restore balance to the Star Fleet Battles
lowing. video stores were in their infancy, so universe of gaming. It was not to be…
Well, that changed dramatically with gamers had time to devote to the hobby
The rules had grown so much and had
the release of Star Fleet Battles from and Star Fleet Battles had a tendency to
so many exceptions that it was almost
what at that time was called Task Force get people involved like few other games
impossible to play. The running joke was
Games. There wasn’t much to talk about I’ve ever seen.
that it was Squad Leader in space, and
in the way of components as there was a In fact, there was an Air Force guy this was before ASL came out! It got so
map with small hexes, counters with who played with us who did graphics bad that you almost swore that there were
bland colors and no artwork to discuss, work. He made each of us our own di- rules like, “On Thursdays after 4pm in
plus a rulebook and what were called ship gest sized SSD book, complete with a the Spring months, Romulan ships have a
SSDs. You have to remember that back professionally done cover and every SSD +1 power rating, except if they are fight-
then (the early 80s) it was all about func- laminated and punched! When the minia- ing Hydrans who are using the exceptions
tion and not glossy, attractive covers and tures came out our group painted entire noted in section 18.17.114 paragraph 3,
rulebooks which dominate today’s gam- fleets and bought several giant hex mats 2nd sentence…”.
ing. for our fleet battles.
Interest began to waver and then it
What there was in that first game was You could see that the game was suc- died completely. Most of the group
a very fun set of rules that gave sci-fi fans cessful in terms of stores carrying prod- moved on, friends took on new jobs, went
what they were after, namely large scale ucts, gamers in the area playing games, off to school, got married, or new games
ship combat set in the Star Trek universe. the discussions in the stores, and more. came and took its place. When the Cap-
On that level the game far exceeded its The series reached its zenith with the tain’s Edition boxed set came out in the
expectations and became a phenomenal release of the second expansion (drones 90s I bought one and tried to rekindle the
success. There were enough ships and were the big news here) and the third fire, but it was obviously gone. I looked
scenarios to play the game over an over expansion, which had carriers and fight- through the rules, which were by now a
without getting bored, and it was fun. ers. We would stay up all night, reading good sized technical manual, and thought
When the first expansion came out the and re-reading the new rules, fixing exist- to myself, “We really used to play this?”
game really took off. This showed that ing rules with the errata that was sent out, I haven’t tried the new incarnation that
the game was not only just a one shot trying out new tactics, then discussing all has come out recently and I doubt I ever
deal, but like D&D, there were going to of it endlessly over dinner and at the local will as the passion for Star Trek space
be more supplements and the company stores. It was definitely one of the most combat has all but gone.
was in it for the foreseeable future. fun times of gaming that
Will anything ever come
I’ve stated this before in previous col- I’ve ever had.
out that could be like Star
umns and it deserves mentioning again, Naturally, by this Fleet Battles back in its hey-
but back in this time period gamers had a time everyone was tired day? I think not. Gamers
commodity that they don’t have today; of one off battles or big don’t have the time or the at-
time. We also had something that you slugfests, so the era of tention span to give to a game
rarely see in today’s gamer and that is the Star Fleet Battles like that anymore. But ever so
passion. Combine those two and it cre- campaigns began. Our often I think of the fun that
ates a powerful driving force in terms of group played in several was Star Fleet Battles, the
the hobby. Everyone crowded around the and although we never many friends I knew, the long
UPS guy when he dropped off the boxes finished one of them, nights playing the game, and
that held the latest supplement, minia- everyone had a great the passion that went into it all
tures, or Captain’s Log. There were cam- time and spent many bring back fond memories.
paigns, long discussions about tactics, hours poring over cam-

Page 10 WARNING ORDER

Blast From The Past Pt. 9: Rules That May Live Forever
I thought it might be a good idea to Fire & Fury for the period, although
look back at some popular rules that have the change from 1:20 to
This brigade scale
been played for a long time and that are 1:30 put off a large
ACW set off rules
still around. Yes, even though many of number of fans. Still, it
will go on for quite a
the rules that have come out recently remains one of the best
long time due to the
which have glossy covers, color pictures, tactical level horse and
popularity of the core
web sites, forums, etc., there are still musket rules with many
system. It has al-
those that were produced with the bare loyal supporters.
ready been adapted to
minimum and are still being used today.
Napoleonics with Volley & Bayonet
The Sword & The Flame Age of Eagles and its influences are seen
One of the first sets of
in sets of rules such as Battles For Empire
Still considered to be the rules to depict regi-
and many others in magazines such as
premiere set of colonial ments and brigades as
MWAN for a variety of eras.
rules after 30 years! I one stand of minia-
started playing this back in Warfare in the Age of tures. A second edi-
the early 80s and although Reason tion just came out, but
its gone through some the popularity of the
Still probably the most
changes over the years, it is still loved system has spawned a
popular set of Seven
and adored by a large number of gamers. large number of home
Years War rules with a
rules for other periods.
General large and dedicated
following. Although Warhammer
Quarters
many other rules exist
for the period, these Ancients
Although a new
version of this rules are still very successful and well I can recall playing
has come out, thought of. the first set of these
this set of rules rules when they use
DBA
still has a de- to be strictly for Fan-
voted set of followers. For around three This set of rules probably tasy back in the early
decades it was the most popular set of holds the distinction for 80s. Who would
WW2 naval rules and will continue to go ushering in a new era of have known that al-
on for quite some time. simpler rules. It broke most 30 years later
down huge barriers that the system would still be going strong
Starguard
saw a wave of rules that with thousands of fans and numerous
This sci-fi set of ground featured playability over supplements?
rules that came out in the complexity that was long
While I have not played many of these
70s still has a loyal legion the mainstay of the 70s and 80s. DBA is
rules in a long time, they all have several
of fans. I can remember still very popular, with world wide tour-
things in common. First, they have stood
playing it in my early naments and a large following of gamers.
the test of time and look to be able to go
years and the sci-fi figures
Command Decision on for at least another 20 years. Second,
that went with the game bring back fond
the fans of these games are dedicated,
memories. The game concepts still work Now in it’s fourth edi-
with most of the rules having active Ya-
well after all these years and hopefully it tion, this set of rules has
hoo groups, additional materials, scenar-
will soldier on. proven to be one of the
ios, and more. Third, and here’s the in-
most popular large scale
Mustangs & teresting part, the gamers who use these
set of rules for WW2
rules feel no need to change to another set
Messerschmitts combat. Noted for its
of rules for the given period. That by
platoon scale and com-
Definitely one of the itself is a topic worthy of discussion, but
mand system, this rules
oldest air combat there’s no room left here for that today!
set has a dedicated following and will be
games in gaming and around for quite awhile. There are others that could be added
still going strong to- to this list, namely Empire, Ogre, and a
day. The system was Johnny Reb few others. Hopefully in the future I can
novel in using 1/72nd do a second article featuring the ones I
Created by John Hill of Squad Leader
scale models with rolling stands to simu- left out! In the mean time, I need to pull
fame, this was THE set of ACW rules for
late 3d air combat. I spent many hours in some of these out of the “stack of rules”
many years. Now in its third edition it is
my early days playing on garage floors! and re-read them!
still one of the more popular sets of rules

I S S U E # 23 Page 11
Clash of Pikes Battle Report

• Three units of German pike their forces consisting of the following:

The Renaissance era is definitely one
of our favorite periods to game, generally • Two units of Italian pike • Three units of Swiss pike
because of the chaos on the battlefield
due to the varying troop types and ran- • Two medium guns • One unit of German pike
dom qualities of those troops! This battle
• One light gun • Two units of Italian pike
was no exception either, as it saw some
wild swings of fate during the game. • Three units of light cavalry • Two heavy guns
An Imperialist army camped near an • Three units of heavy cavalry • Two light cavalry units
Italian town is moving up to do battle
with a French army encamped outside the • Two units of arquebus • Three heavy cavalry units
town. The Imperialists had the following
troops: • Several units of skirmishers • Several units of skirmishers
The French meanwhile, had assembled The light cavalry on both sides were a
• Two units of Spanish pike
combination of Stradiots, mounted cross-
bowmen, and mounted arquebus. The
French had more heavily armored cavalry
and the few units of Swiss more than
made up for their numbers in terms of
quality. Most of the Imperialists were
morale grade 2 (average) while the
French also had mostly grade 2 units, but
the Swiss and two of the heavy cavalry
forces were grade 4 (the best).
Both sides deployed in three
“battles”, each with their own com-
mander (a player) and with the deploy-
ment system as laid out in the rules (we
use Warfare in the Age of Discovery),
with this time the Imperialists deploying
two battles before the French deployed
their first.
The French were obviously going to
try to smash the Imperialist center with
their Swiss pike units while trying to hold
on the other flanks. The Imperialists
were hoping that their strength in num-

Page 12 WARNING ORDER

Clash of Pikes (cont.) Battle Report

Unfortunately for the French, that’s turn 8, which was the signal for the
bers would be the deciding factor. exactly what happened. The Spanish and French to pull off the field as they were
The battle began with both sides Germans held their ground, trading blow being worn down by numbers. The
quickly moving their light cavalry and for blow in the push of pike. When addi- French quality had not proved itself this
skirmishers out in front of their forces. tional Imperialist pike units attacked the day and the victorious, but severely
The Swiss heavy cavalry moved out on Swiss had been weakened and were in no bloodied Imperialist army was left in
the French right, seeking a decisive en- shape to continue the fight. They wa- command of the field.
gagement with the Imperialist cavalry vered at first, then began to fall back,
pursued by the remaining Spanish and Another good Renaissance battle
force. The Imperialist pike, meanwhile,
Germans. which saw wild swings of fate that char-
moved to the center and the right to try to
acterized battles of that period. We’ve
overwhelm the Swiss. Meanwhile, on the French left the found that the Age of Discovery rules do
The action got going with the French light cavalry of both sides had pretty an outstanding job of simulating that and
heavy guns opening up on the advancing much wiped each other out, so both sides now it’s back to painting more Swiss as I
German and Spanish pike. On the second could expect no help from that area. The need to finally bring out my 128 fig
turn one of the French guns rolled bad remaining French heavy gun blew up on Spanish Tercio someday!
and blew up! This naturally created a
small hole in the French lines and the
Imperialists headed directly for it.
On the French right a wild cavalry
melee developed with skirmishers from
both sides intermingled in the mix. One
French cavalry unit got shot up by the
skirmishers, but then those same skir-
mishers were run down by a French unit
of gendarmes. The heavy cavalry
crashed into each other, with the Imperi-
alists coming off the worst of it, although
they did some serious damage to the
French horse.
In the center the Swiss came to grips
with the Spanish and Germans. In these
rules if the Swiss can deliver a knockout
blow in the first round they usually tri-
umph in the upcoming push of pike con-
test, but if they can’t then it becomes a
battle of attrition which they will still
probably win, but be severely weakened.

I S S U E # 23 Page 13
Time to Retrench? Editorial
There is an interesting much fun it will be once eve- point some of us are saying enough is
development in the hobby rything is ordered, then enough. If you have 3,000 15mm Napo-
that I thought I would com- painted for a future game. leonics, masses of colonial figs, books,
ment on. As the economic rules, boardgames, etc., when do you
Now even up to a year or
downturn picks up steam, reach the saturation point? Well, I’ve
two ago I would have already
as jobs are lost, gaming determined and I think many others as
sent in the first order and
budgets get a little tighter, well that we’re there now. It’s time to
been on the way to budgeting
etc., you are beginning to dump stuff, focus on what we like to do
the second and subsequent
see gamers “dumping” in the hobby, and continue to support
orders for more stuff for the
things on a large scale ba- those projects that will at least have a
project. But lately I find
sis. chance to actually get on the gaming ta-
myself doing what a lot of
ble.
This has been going on other gamers are doing, judg-
for as long as I’ve been in ing by many of the threads Now by this time many readers are
the hobby, but this time it I’ve seen on TMP and other probably breaking out the torches and
is a little bit different. As forums; retrenching. pitchforks, trying to determine where I
the gaming hobby has ex- live so that they can set this heretic
By definition the word
ploded over the last five or straight. Figure and game manufacturers
retrench means to cut off,
so years, the amount of will offer new deals or sales to show the
pare away, curtail, to lessen,
“stuff” that each gamer has futility of this approach, and local store
to limit, or to restrict. And
accumulated has reached owners will be heard saying, “Don’t lis-
that’s exactly what I did. I’m
unprecedented heights! ten to the crazy guy” when he comes in.
already painting up 10mm
People were literally buy-
ancient armies for WMA Will this cause some problems in
ing figs for the sake of
The Miniatures Page offers (I’m working on Indians-my some clubs? Yes. There are many gam-
buying figs, getting their
weekly or monthly “fix”. a marketplace area for their 4th army), Saxons and Poles ers for who the hobby is more than paint-
members to sell or trade for AOE, the occasional colo- ing and gaming with figs. I’ve known
Now, many need either
gaming items. nial unit in both 15mm and many over the last 30 years who get as
money for real world
25mm, plus several other much enjoyment talking about new pro-
things such as clothes, gas,
odds and ends. Not to mention all of the jects, figs, past games, etc., as they do
or food, or they need to fund additional
terrain projects I need to continue for form the actual gaming itself. To all of
gaming purchases and don’t have the
those periods. sudden say that you can’t be counted on
funds available that they used to.
to assist anymore or you’re not interested
So, I was faced with a choice. On the
The big difference is that this time could be problematic. You may also feel
one hand I could go ahead with the pro-
there is an emerging reality that is going at some point that you’ve been stuck in a
ject and continue to add onto the pile of
along with dumping large quantities of rut, working on the same projects for
things that will never get done or start on
gaming stuff and that is the fact that most quite awhile and the urge to go back to
it right away and put off other projects.
gamers are never going to finish every- the old ways could get to the point of
On the other hand I could forget that pro-
thing that they’ve bought. Yes, I know being unbearable.
ject, retrench, and continue to work on
that gamers love to daydream about new
my current projects to get them com- But remember, this is a hobby, not
projects, picking up a new range of fig-
pleted. I chose to retrench and not do that life and death. Each gamer is free to
ures, planning out purchases, etc., and
project. choose to do what they want so as to give
that’s part of the fun of the hobby.
them the most enjoyment out of their free
We’ve all done it at one time or another Did it hurt? You bet. There’s noth-
time. I have chosen to retrench, but not
and I do it sometime more than once a ing quite like opening newly arrived
abandon the hobby. I am still painting
day! packages of gaming stuff! But at some
figs, reading rules, picking up terrain for
I’ve been reading about some of the existing projects, and gaming with my
East Front battles during the fall and win- club. I have just chosen to say no to the
ter of 1942-3 and got enthused about the vast amounts of new stuff that continues
period. I started planning out purchases to arrive on the scene each day. Will I
of GHQ and CinC micro-armor, how I buy a new company’s figs ever again?
would dry brush the trees white, creating Yes, if it is something I’m currently
a white cloth mat for battles in the snow, working on and need them.
and bookmarking Ospreys I may need
Meanwhile, I will continue to resist
from Amazon. As a gamer you live for
the temptation to do 25mm Crusades,
this stuff and you can feel the energy and
6mm anything, etc., but it’s tough!
excitement building as you think how

Page 14 WARNING ORDER

Product Reviews
I know that there are a lot of podcasts counters for rubble, Russian units, and
out there currently, but one of the more Romanians. There are around a dozen
interesting ones that you should know scenarios, including a campaign, which is
about is called Noisemaker’s Podcast well done. It is similar to the Paratroop-
([Link] ers battle pack in that for under $30 you
The thing I like the most about it is that it get new components and new scenarios
sounds like your talking to one of your which continue to add life to an existing
gaming buddies. The presentation is ings, tents, and an extensive line of forti- product. Well worth the money if you’re
done in a friendly manner where rules, fications. The shipping time is a little into WW2 small unit actions.
books, and gaming items are discussed in slow, but it is definitely worth the wait. I
I’m helping my group out on a Napo-
a very positive manner. I’ve listened to a purchased the cemetery pictured above
leonic skirmish project and received
few of the episodes and the author should (their stuff ships unpainted) and it was
some of the new Old Glory re-sculpts that
get kudos for at least attempting to keep very nice for around $20 + shipping.
are now sold in sets. I got two sets of the
this interesting series going. Most items are in the $5-8 range and are
revised 1812 Russians and I must say that
well worth the money.
I love terrain and I’ve been pretty they are pretty good. Although the poses
happy with my new brown and green With the wave of plastic miniatures are a bit limited (almost all are in the
terrain mat from The Terrain Guy. The coming at us fast and furious I had the marching/shoulder arms pose) you do get
only problem is that it isn’t very photo- opportunity to try officers, drummers, and flag bearers in
genic and comes out pretty dark in my out the new the sets. The faces, clothes, and equip-
Wargame Factory ment are sculpted well and these would
British for the Zulu do great for basic troops. I know that
Wars. This little everyone says to buy Perry as they are
box contains sprues the best and I agree with that for the
to make 20 British most part. However, if you don’t like
and has separate taking out a second mortgage to afford a
heads and arms. For Perry army these revised Old Glory
the price (around figures are a great alternative and paint
$15) it’s hard to up well.
camera images. I blundered across one of complain and they
Finally, I picked up the last two
the new GW green terrain mats in a local look pretty good
issues of Wargames Illustrated
store and decided to try one. For $30 it’s painted up. My
(December 2008 and January 2009 over
a pretty good deal. The mat is green, but criticisms are minor, such as there are no
here) and they were pretty good. WI has
not too bright, with a good backing and officers or NCOs in the set, the arms give
been doing a good job lately of having
when laid out it looks pretty good. you little choice in poses, and I wish
some very nice and inspirational color
Again, for $30 it’s tough to beat and I there were separate rifles, packs, and
spreads in their magazine. Naturally, the
hope they do some desert ones. other accessories. Overall, for the price
huge problem is still that the articles are
they are good basic troops for an army.
Back in the day, CinC was a great about the same battles over and over
alternative to GHQ micro-armor if you I reviewed GMT’s Combat Com- again, but the editor has to print what he
only needed a few things and although mander awhile back and have had many has. I know that this subject has been
the figures are clean, the prices are pretty enjoyable games since then. Much sim- endlessly debated on TMP and I’m not
good. For a long time they were being pler than ASL, you can play a game in 2- sure that there is any definite answer
sold through an Ebay store and the selec- 3 hours, plus the card decks add a lot of here.
tion was pretty limited. However, they chaos to the
The other news is that Battlefront has
have an online store and I recently sent game. Not eve-
now acquired WI,
two orders which were processed ryone’s cup of
so this should be
quickly and shipped to me inside of a tea, but it’s
interesting to say
week, so I was pretty pleased. Not as pretty good for a
the least. I think
detailed as GHQ’s stuff, but if you only wargame.
after about a year it
need a few of a certain thing, such as
The second will turn into BF’s
howitzers, they are a great alternative.
battle pack, own version of
Speaking of 1/285th scale, a great Stalingrad, has White Dwarf, but
place to get scenery is Wargamer Prod- just come out. it’s their money and
ucts out of Poland. You can find their You get plenty they can do with it
stuff on Ebay as they have a good sized of new map- what they want. I’ll
store with roads, railway sections, build- boards, extra reserve judgment...

I S S U E # 23 Page 15
Russian Counterattack AOE Battle Report
I think that I’ve mentioned that when
the first scenario book came out for Age
of Eagles, the thing that caused the most
astonishment in our group was how com-
pacted the battlefields were. You had
well over 100,000 men packed in a very
small area for most of the major battles.
As with most gamers we love to have big
tables with endless flanks and lots of
maneuver, but obviously we were doing
something wrong!
So lately we’ve been packing in the
figs on smaller tables and have liked the
results. This would be another of that
type of game, as we played this on a 6x4
and had planned it to go for one night, but
everyone had so much fun that it went for
a second!
The scenario was set in early Spring Initial deployments showing the Saxon VII Corps covering the bridge and hill, but with
of 1813 and was slightly modified from more Prussians and Russians arriving every minute.
an actual historical battle based on the
troops that we had available. The Saxon
VII Corps, with one Saxon and one first turn! Obviously this would require However, their artillery continued to
French division has approached a Prus- more troops and fortunately there was a decimate the VII Corps, causing at least a
sian held village across a river. More French infantry corps moving up the side one stand loss each game turn.
French are arriving from both roads and road to assist.
Things were not looking good at this
this will be used as the main crossing to
Then the first of the Russians began point for the French and Saxons. A ma-
get to the enemy on the other side. The
to appear on the Saxon left. First one jor enemy force had arrived on their flank
Saxons deployed for an attack on the
division, then another, then another, then and the French infantry corps was having
village while screening their left with
another, all backed by lots of artillery. difficulties in moving up. The other con-
some light cavalry and a battery of artil-
The Saxons desperately began to turn sideration was that the defenses that kept
lery.
around to meet this new threat while try- the Prussians bottled up on the other side
The village, however, was not just ing to disengage one of the French bri- of the river were beginning to crack and
lightly held, but strongly held by a divi- gades to form a link with the brigade the French had to send two brigades over
sion of Prussians backed by artillery. directly across from the Prussian held to help on the river when they were des-
They opened up on the French and Sax- bridge. The Prussians counterattacked perately needed in the middle of the
ons, causing some serious damage on the across the bridge, but were thrown back . board.

Page 16 WARNING ORDER

Russian Counterattack (cont.) AOE Battle Report

The Saxon light cavalry charged into Prussians crossed two brigades and began
the Russian light cavalry that was screen- to exchange musket fire with the French is where the first night ended.
ing their deployment in an attempt to buy along the river. When the second night began, the
time. Although they were wiped out, Russians renewed their attack in the cen-
The first Russian attack against the
they did give the Saxons and French one ter, again driving back the French and
French and Saxons went in. The defend-
additional turn to move their forces over Saxons, who were by this time getting
ers rallied and although they gave ground
to the middle of the board, forming an down to almost 50% strength. A strong
slowly, they were being ground down
“L” shaped defensive line. The Russians French counterattack stabilized the line
ever so slowly. A second attack pushed
had by now deployed their infantry and for a few minutes and gave time to rede-
the French line back a bit further, but
were advancing toward the Saxons in an ploy some of the artillery batteries to
there were several continuing melees that
effort to break the center of the line and better positions.
prevented the French and Saxons from
win the battle quickly.
disengaging and strengthening the line. One of the highlights of the game was
Then a Prussian corps appeared on the the heroic defense of the linchpin French
The Prussians now attacked over the
Saxon left and began to move towards the infantry brigade attached to VII Corps. It
bridge and despite some casualties,
main road in an attempt to cut off the was the center of the line that held the
gained a foothold on the other side. A
Saxons. Fortunately, the third French French and Saxons together and although
Russian cavalry corps appeared and be-
corps along with a division of cavalry it had been pushed back from the bridge,
gan to look for some operating room, but
arrived to square off against this new it was still full of fight! The Prussians
since there was none to be found, they
threat. The French and Saxons were now charged it again and were repulsed, then a
acted as a reserve. All of the French
obviously pulling back all along the line, Russian brigade charged it from the front
forces and their allies were firmly com-
even giving up the river defenses. The and that, too, was repulsed. (cont. on p19)
mitted in action across the board and this

I S S U E # 23 Page 17
Inside Story Headline

Several pictures showing how the battle progressed. We use 15mm figures from various manufacturers along with terrain that is also
from a variety of suppliers. The markers were custom requested from Litko and they have proven invaluable.

Page 18 WARNING ORDER

Russian Counterattack (cont.) AOE Battle Report

The French brigade then counterattacked

a Russian brigade in the flank, routing it
and causing severe casualties! Finally,
after being isolated for two turns it was
overwhelmed by combined attacks from
the Russians and Prussians. Near the end of the battle and the French are under pressure all along the front.
On the extreme French left the Prus- They have formed a defensive line, but are being ground down in a battle of attrition.
sians were still attacking, but the attack
possible times for the French. The next tion. They knew that the Saxons would
had stalled and the line was in good
attack shattered the second Saxon brigade break before other troops could fill the
shape. Several cavalry charges and coun-
and one French brigade was decimated gap, so they came on the attack without
tercharges had not produced a decisive
after being hit on two sides. At this point regards to their casualties.
result for either side. The river line was
the French line was shattered with Rus-
also in good shape as the French had a Again, the success of the scenario
sians pouring through and the Russian
division of good troops along with artil- showed that fun game scan be played on
cavalry moving to exploit the gaping hole
lery to face the Prussians. The main prob- a small table with a lot of troops. I think
that had opened up. The end was in
lem was still in the center, where the Rus- it gives gamers a good chance to experi-
sight, so the French and what remained of
sians continued to attack. ence what real commanders of the era
the Saxons called it a day and the game
had to deal with, namely passage of lines
The Russian infantry hit the center was deemed an Allied victory.
and frontage problems. For large forces
again, this time wiping out one of the
Both sides fought well and there was you simply can’t bring everything to
Saxon brigades and forcing the French to
a dogged determination in the center by bear, so you must focus on one point and
stretch their line even further. The next
the Saxons and Russians to control the keep hitting it, sending in fresh troops
attack was repulsed, but there was no
hill in the center of the board. The Rus- when necessary. Regardless, it was a fun
time to reform the lines as the Allies con-
sians had numbers and were not squeam- little battle that went a lot longer than
tinue to gain the initiative at the worst
ish about using them in a battle of attri- anyone would have thought!

I S S U E # 23 Page 19
 I know that I’ve complained a lot in the past about the large number of rules that
WFHGS keep coming out, which can be seen as good or bad, depending upon if you are a
“rules junkie” or not. However, there has been a recent surge in new rules an-
nouncements where hardly any information is given about the rules! You go to some

WASATCH FRONT HISTORICAL of the links and there’s not much there either or you have to join yet another Yahoo
GAMING SOCIETY
group to learn more. Who, besides the authors, are playing these rules? I realize
Meets every other Friday night in the SLC, Utah that the hobby is a grass roots, mom & pop, cottage type industry, but this is the 21st
area. We play Age of Eagles, Age of Discovery,
Age of Reason, Flames of War, Blitzkrieg century after all. Here’s an idea; get these things called computers, make some sam-
Commander, Sword and Flame, F&IW, and too
many other s to list here! ple PDFs that describe the combat systems, scale, etc., and put up a web site or blog

Email comments or suggestions to: that has pictures, additional scenarios, and more. Yes, this was hard ten years ago,
mirsik1@[Link] but not now. Is it because gamers are inherently lazy? Do they think that just be-
cause they produce a set of rules that people will buy them? Gamers fail to under-
The best in historical miniatures stand that there are already a lot of rules out there in the marketplace with some
wargaming having been played on a regular basis for more than 15-20 years. For someone to
invest in a new set of rules they need to know why they should. Marketing is a big
part of selling the rules and a lot of gamers fail to understand that. You could have

Visit our site at: just created the best set of Renaissance rules in gaming history, but if your an-
nouncement doesn’t say much, your web site is broken or has no information, and
[Link]
you have to join a Yahoo group for more material, guess what? You’ll probably end
up selling 10 copies of your rules!

Warmaster Medieval Rules Review

I’ve long thought the Warmaster hopefully other rules little strange.
system must rank as one of the most authors will follow suit.
There is also a full section on sieges
innovative sets of rules to come
As always the pic- that has an interesting twist in that you
along in the hobby. It has been so
tures of the various determine how long the siege has been
successful that it has spawned a
painted armies are a nice going on before the game. This influ-
series of ancient rules, WW2, Mod-
touch, but there is a big ences the set up, points, and more, which
ern, and now Sci-Fi based versions.
difference in this supple- is an effective and unusual approach.
The historical version has been very
ment. There are a few The siege rules are well done and can be
well received and after the second
full page images show- used with the earlier WMA rules.
supplement the rules have proven to
ing literally hundreds of
be one of the most popular sets of There have been numerous discus-
10mm figs arrayed for
rules for the period. sions on the Yahoo group that revolve
huge battles. If you
around points values and while I see the
With the release of Warmaster Me- weren’t inspired to get started in this era
merits of some of the arguments, I don’t
dieval the rules now move out of the an- before, the large pictures will definitely
think that one army or another is too
cients period and into the medieval and push you over the edge!
heavily favored. With the amount of die
early renaissance eras. The book mainly
There aren’t too many rules changes, rolling in the game it would be pretty
consists of a large number of army lists,
but the biggest one is how archers can difficult to cut the luck factor out of it
covering everything from the Crusades to
support frontline troops (think Agincourt and trying to make everything as fair as
the early Swiss army when the Renais-
or Crecy). I think it is a good rule that is possible is a lost cause in my book.
sance truly begins. The army lists con-
pretty easy to get used to and WMA play-
tinue the trend from the first supplement Overall, this volume is definitely
ers should have no problems adding it
where not only do you get the list, but a worth the price. Lots of good army lists,
into their games. Most of the additional
page or more describing the units from a a full set of siege rules, great pictures,
rules seem to be reprints from the second
historical perspective. I really like this and it should prove popular with WMA
supplement, so their inclusion here was a
style of presentation for army lists and enthusiasts.