Archangel Clint!

 Yesterday at the club I had my first ever game of "Square Bashing" a WW1 Era Game by Peter Pig. We were actually playing Russian Civil War. Graham supplied all the figures terrain and rules knowledge and both Tim and Myself were given a rules briefing and pre gen armies. I Tim was given a Russian Red Army Early RCW (list no 40 if you have the army book). I was given (army list 45) an Archangel Field Force 1918-19, slightly more technologically advanced as I had both a heavy tank and an armoured car. The Pre-game went badly for me and well for Tim, I feel sure Tim would not agree, but the only advantage I received from the pre-game was that my professional troops would get an extra d6 when they were assaulting to balance this massive advantage I started with 6 units off of the table and the total loss of a machine gun. Ah poor me!

Objective 2 (Middle Left)

The first turn saw Tim's horde move forward and seize one of the 4 objectives straight away. Curse him. He also was able to threaten taking 2 other objectives. My turn saw a counterattack on this seized objective. A professional Battalion and a regular battalion supported by a machine gun against 2 reserve Red army battalions.  Abysmal dice rolls on my side meant that they were repulsed with heavy casualties. Not broken but decidedly unhappy! I was able to advance into one of the objectives in the middle of the board and drop a Suppression Barrage right where I wanted it, (Thank goodness)My turn ended and Tim attacked the two objectives he had threatened last turn. My Barrage had stopped him getting all his troops involved on my right flank but not on my left. The right objective held out thanks to my field artillery hold up there and a unit of French Regulars
On my left Tim launched a two pronged attack on another objective aided by his own light tank. My troops were forced out of that objective as well. Rats. At this stage I was saying to my self that this is a rubbish game I will never play it again.



Objecvtive 1 (my far left)

Back to my second turn I passed all morale checks and managed to bring down, with total accuracy, a pin point Barrage. This was devastating for Tim's troops.  I launched two assaults again and did mange to retake the first objective with my battered Professionals and Regulars which had failed to do so the previous turn and pushed Tim's reservists troops back out of the objective into open country. Where my barrage hit I was able again to push his troops out of the second objective. This time though because of the stacking limits and the barrage his troops had to retreat back to his own base line, and one unit of off the board altogether (it came back in his next turn).

Objective 3(middle of the board)

 So suddenly I am thinking this game is actually pretty good. And then the dice changed again. Again Tim launched another assault, this time supported by Cavalry and Objective 1 was taken. Objective 3 was also taken as he used all the troops I had forced back to focus on it while pounding it with all his own field artillery. To make matters worse He had punched a hole in my line and had some cavalry loose in the rear. My options were to loose another objective by not moving into it or to leave a gap. So I left a gap. If I had had more troops from the pre game I would have been OK. But that is the price you pay in the pre game sometimes. Oh well. We did run out of time to finish the game because we had a late start, needed to learn the rules and as such Tim did get an extra turn than me. So I might have turned it round and retaken an objective, I did have a heavy tank and an armoured car along with a professional battalion right next to objective 3. As it was the victory points were added up and it was a minor victory for Tim. Like I said I will never play those rules again. EVER! Actually I think I will play it again in 2 weeks, just so we all can learn the rules.

Things I did right: I kept retaking the objectives and continued to put pressure on Tim to Re-take them. I also got my artillery barrages spot on.

Things I did wrong: I did not use my heavy tank to it's best advantage. I mucked up the pre-game and tried to get bigger and better results as opposed to accepting small advantages. This seriously affected the pre game and how many troops I could start with. I also could have place the objectives better and the terrain before Tim had a chance to move the terrain.

Overall I did not do too bad. It could definitely have been played better or worse. Live and Learn I suppose.

That's it for today. Catch you all later. Cheers Clinty