Monmouth Courthouse - Lee Attacks! at "The Weekend"

I travelled down to Lancaster, PA to put on a game using my computer-moderated rules, The Electronic Brigadier. The scenario was the same one I ran at Huzzah a couple of months ago, Lee's attack at Monmouth. It's an alternate version of the battle where Lee has the full volunteer regiments in his command instead of the hodge-podge units made from individual volunteer soldiers that doomed him to failure at the historical battle.
 

In this game, the British were very patient on their right flank and in the center. The Americans attacked more aggressively on their right, the western flank, and towards the end of the battle that's where the British units were failing morale and routing. Elsewhere the Americans were more deliberate which allowed the British to set up good defensive lines. American attacks late in the eastern half of the battlefield went in piecemeal and were handled easily with two and sometimes three British line regiments defending against single attackers - disastrous for the Americans.

The players all seemed to take to the computer interface quickly, both the younger players as well as those less experienced with the use of tablet computers. By turn four or so I was mostly only answering tabletop miniatures questions.

In the end, the stiff British defence in the center and on the eastern flank paired with the piecemeal attacks there by the Americans sealed the victory for the British. The post game statistics also support this conclusion:

British Rear Guard Army cohesion: 68.2% Total Casualties: 586 / 6640 (8.8%) 3 routed units 2 shaken units Honors to: 113 - 2nd Grenadiers

American Advance Guard Army cohesion: 70.1% Total Casualties: 609 / 7420 (8.2%) 4 units dispersed 5 shaken units Honors to: 221 - Grayson's Brigade

Thanks to all the players for their great game play, sportsmanship and feedback on the rules. Hopefully next year I can return to The Weekend with a new scenario, and possibly even a new historical period.

Photos From The Weekend 2016

I've been out of town the past 10 days, primarily to take an RV trip to Lancaster, PA to attend Otto Schmidt's "The Weekend". This is a invitation-only non-convention - a weekend of informal gaming with a bunch of your new friends - at least that's how I see it. Otto arranges for the hotel and conference space. There is a bring-and-buy table and everyone who contributes to the 'snack table' can enjoy munchies and drinks all weekend for free.

Otto does a great job of setting up a schedule of games. Then a bunch of us show up play and run and play in those games and a bunch of others. If you're looking for some good gaming on Father's Day weekend in PA, drop Otto an E-mail at sigurd@eclipse.net and he'll add you to the invitation list. I highly recommend it for people who like to game, meet new friends, and don't want the hassle of a formal convention.

These first three photos are of Otto's game which I spent considerable time watching. The rest of are other games that I thought looked interesting. My next post will contain photos and an after-action of the game I ran on Saturday at "The Weekend".

HATG Play Test Game

Last Friday six of us got together at my uncle's to play test some upcoming changes to Hanibal at the Gates. The changes are mostly in how warriors (Gauls) work and some fine tuning to how armor interacts with the combat tables. The game was a Roman attack straddling a river with a two reinforced legions on each side of the river. Mike and I pushed our half or the Roman army against Byron, who had the Carthaginian hoplites and cavalry from the Carthaginian army. On the other side of the river Rob pushed his force against Hanibal's Gaul wing commanded by Bob.

It seemed like all the changes were good improvements to game play and enjoyability.