Pub Battles Contest

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Command Post Games is giving away 1 FREE Pub Battle game (your choice either Brandywine, Little Bighorn or Marengo) to 3 wise and lucky contestants.  You can find a copy of the Quickstart Rules and Tutorials on how to play on the Brandywine pages but you do NOT need to know the game to participate or answer the question.

Pub Battles is a fast, simple, musket era game that emphasizes command decisions. It can be played in teams with only delayed, written communication during the game between players.  This question is based on a real situation that came up in one of our games!

Situation

The beginning of the battle of Antietam, Sept 17, 1862, 5:30am. Assume historical starting positions. 

You are in command of Hooker’s I Corps with 1 battery of artillery:  The Blue Union Army, the 4 right most blocks.  No one else has moved yet.  Your Corps is first up to move. 

You are playing in a team game. The only communication allowed with other players is through written messages that suffer a 1 turn time delay before you can read them. 

Your starting orders read:

“March SE down the road to attack the enemy at Mercerville.”

The Question

Mercerville is to your right and directly West. Marching SE is in the opposite direction.  What is your best course of action?

Answers

  1. March SW and attack the 2 Confederates to the West near the river. (far left)
  2. Write a letter to President Lincoln, asking him to remove McClellan from command for incompetence and give the Army of the Potomac to you.
  3. March West into Mercerville and then await further orders.
  4. Release the Hounds.
  5. March SE and attack the Confederate position just south of the East Woods. (far right)
  6. Invite your staff to join you in a relaxing game of croquet.
  7. Make no moves. Send a written request for clarification of your orders & hold your position until you hear back.
  8. Give the messenger your personal compass and tell him to take it to McClellan.
  9. March SE and attack the Confederate position in the West Woods. (center)
  10. Advance and attack all enemy positions at once.
  11. Sigh and open a new bottle of whiskey.
  12. Other?  -describe

How to Enter

Simply email your answer to:   god[AT]commandpostgames.com

Rules

You may only answer once.

Employees and relatives of employees may not participate. 

Answers will be reviewed by an independent panel.  All best / correct answers will be put in a pool and randomly pulled to determine winners. 

International contestants are welcome.

We will send the winners a FREE Pub Battles game.  The games do not include measuring sticks.  We do ask you to pay shipping.  We will send you a PayPal invoice for this. 

Entries must be received August 11th through 31st, 2017. 

 

 

Top 3 Amazing things about Iron Bottom Sound III

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Short Rules

I’ve spent years playing monsters like ASL and World in Flames. I’m not afraid of a long rule book and complex rules.  That said, I have been trending more towards shorter, simpler rules these days.  I must admit, I was a little reluctant to take on a game as detailed as Iron Bottom Sound.  I was expecting 60-100 pages of triple column, fine print. 

Amazingly no!  The rule book is only around 30 pages and half of those are scenarios.  Double column.  Big font size.  Easy to read with lots of space.  The actual rules only come in around 15 pages.  The rules make sense so they are easy to remember.  Very clean. 

Written Orders

What?!! How could that be?  Sounds like a mess.  It’s not.  It is amazing.  I love Columbia Games and Kriegsspiel because they bring in hidden and unknown features of war.  This game does the same thing only without umpires and blocks. 

Now at first I thought this sounds like a big hassle. You have to write out where each ship goes?  Who wants to sit around, hand writing orders.  Their system makes it painless, quick and fun.  How does it work?  You ships face hexsides.  Want to just steam dead ahead?  Fine.  How many Movement Factors does you ship have?  Five.  Ok, just write down “5” on your log.  That simple. 

Ok, then how do you turn? Easy.  Let’s say I want to move ahead for 2 hexes, then turn 60 degrees (that is the next hexside) to port and continue.  That would be:  2P3. 

Making a hard 120 deg turn costs an extra MF. So in that case you would write 2PP2.  All stop?  Just write: 0.  How hard it that?

These little order notes are easy to track on each ships log.

Fog-of-War

That’s pretty sleek and painless but still, why bother with all this writing? Because it is incredibly fun and realistic!!  All the ships move simultaneously.  So you have to try to guess what the enemy is going to do.  Where is he going to be?  Where do you want to end up?  Both players try to anticipate this and plan accordingly while writing down there moves. 

What happens when the enemy doesn’t move like you expect? I can easily imagine all sorts of tricks, maneuvers and mishaps.  Be careful because if your ship ends up in a hex with another ship, they can collide!  All the fun of Kriegsspiel without an umpire or teams in a straightforward 2 player game. 

 

This game is a gem!

Marengo in Minis

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Pub Battles is a mixture between wargame and miniatures.  I’ve been meaning to get set of minis to use for Pub Battles, just to see how they look.  Somebody beat me to it!!

Check it out.  They are all set to Pub Battles scale and everything. 

 

Austrian Strategy for Marengo

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1) You have a 4-1 advantage in artillery. The problem is going to be keeping it up near the front where they can do damage. In many ways, this is one of the biggest weapons of the French: Run! Run fast enough that the Austrian artillery can’t hit you. Starting out, you can deploy your artillery along the river. This does allow you to pound the French right from the get go. The down side is that it will take a turn or two to march them out to the roads and then cross. 


2) Don’t get cocky. Just because you outnumber the French, doesn’t meant this is going to be a cakewalk. Be wary. Especially after the French Cavalry and Guard show up. –Until then, advance as rapidly as possible and push as hard as you can. 


3) Just because the French Cavalry and Guard to show up, doesn’t mean you just sit back and go turtle. You must still attack and be aggressive. You just have to be more… selective. Keep a close eye on the French Cavalry and Guard. You should know where they are at all times. Notice where they are not. In places out of there range, you need to push with your usual zeal. In areas they can reach, be more careful. Always spend the extra time to dress your lines (Rally) before you attack. All of this assumes of course that the French Cav & Guard haven’t moved yet. If they have, then you can be a little more bold. Just keep in mind that they can move first next turn also. 


4) You are going to get ‘out timed’. That is not luck. That is a given. You have to assume the French will get the timing they want. Act accordingly. 


5) If most of your army ends up spent in the opening turns, that’s not a big deal. Late in the game you will want to tidy things up. Try to keep your units organized then. Spent units make easy targets for French charges.

Marengo Errata

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We are usually really good about Errata.  We try very hard to keep it to a minimum.  A few last minute changes with Marengo resulted in a few glitches.

The most important is the French reinforcements:

Reinforcements should come in 1 turn later than listed. 

You can find the Errata at the bottom of the Marengo page:  here. 

Tube Box

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Why the new tube boxes?

Price wise, they are about the same.  We could use the smaller cardboard tubes on Brandywine because it fit.  We can get longer cardboard tubes made but they are going to  be a problem.  When pieces get wedged and stuck in the bottom, there is no way to get them out!  It is too long and narrow to reach with your hand and you can’t remove the bottom.  Huge problem.  This is going to be a bigger problem with bigger battles and more pieces.  I’m thinking we are going to need bigger bags to fit all the Gettysburg pieces in!

 

It’s not just Marengo either.  Gettysburg will have huge maps.  Chancellorsville.  Waterloo if we include all the matching campaign maps.  Our Pirate game.  Dracula.  Our strategic game in Europe. 

 

It will greatly streamline production and inventory if we have 1 system that is versatile and works for everything.  There are other advantages as well:

 

  • Air tight, helps prevent yellowing with age
  • Water tight, helps prevent damage
  • Lighter, decreased shipping & packaging costs.  This is a big deal for our international orders.  We’ve been trying to absorb most of the extra charges but it really adds up.
  • Bigger diameter which reduces the rules ‘curl’ effect.  That helps.
  • Virtually no shelf wear on the box because everything is protected on the inside. 

 

This type of storage is nearly bomb proof.  The game should look virtually brand new in 50 years with this.

 

The downside is that it looks more modern.  Not period like the cardboard and metal.   …but then we got to thinking.  Industrial cardboard tubes with pressed metal caps aren’t really ‘period’ either.  They couldn’t make those back then. 

 

That got us thinking about what would be period?  Probably something leather or wood like these.

So maybe it would be better to go with light and efficient and then offer the fancy tubes as extras for the people that want them.  We might be able to get them in bulk from India / China.  What do you guys think?

 

Bigger is Better -Marengo

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Design Notes:

Compared to Brandywine, the Marengo map is huge!  There are pros and cons.  This was our assessment. 

Pros

Wide Open Feel

My favorite games are usually strategic.  Why?  I always wonder what is past the edge of the map?  Why can’t I go there?  I know.  I probably wouldn’t go there anyways but still. 

We started play testing on the full big map.  We figured at some point we would crop it down to a more manageable size.  What stood out to me most about Marengo is how fluid the battle was.  This is a battle of maneuver over a wide field of mostly clear terrain.  Refreshing!  I loved that feel.  Very spacious.  Luxurious.  Very Napoleonic.  Cropping it down would cut costs and save space but it also makes you feel more boxed in.

Beautiful Artwork

One of the most striking and detailed parts of the map was Alexandrie.  The problem is, that wasn’t really part of the battle.  Still, it seemed a shame to just hack that and the river off.  We noticed that by leaving it on, it opens up several strategic options for the Austrians.  They could attack straight up the center.  They also have maneuver options to the north and south.  Even combinations of the three.  There we go.  Now we have some justification for beauty. 

Historical

If that wasn’t enough to convince you, consider the historical value.  This is based on the real French map of the period on the battle.  It felt wrong to cut off and just provide part of the historical map.  Wouldn’t it be more historically accurate to have the full map?  This adds extra value to the game.  A minor quibble perhaps but it is kind of nice to be able to tell people that this is the real map from the real campaign!  Full size in all its Napoleonic glory. 

In fact, we’ve had people ordering extra maps.  One to play the game and one to frame and hang up. 

Cons

Increased Cost

The maps are more.  About twice the size of Brandywine.  We also need bigger tubes.  The small cardboard format won’t work with this size.  Shipping is more. 

True, true, true but it felt wrong to skimp when it comes to Napoleon.  We decided to just absorb the extra expense.  It’s worth it preserve Napoleonic glory!   

Playing Out

This battle still plays fast but can you fit that huge map on the bar?  Well, this is a downside.  It won’t fit on the bar.  It does fit on a normal sized booth table.  We tested it at several different bars.  (just to make sure!) 

It is easier to accommodate this than you might think.  The French can just setup Victor and Lannes.  Let the east edge of the map hang over the table edge for turn 0.  The French can’t move anyways.  The Austrians quickly cross the river and deploy on the field.  For turn 1, you can slide the map over and let the west edge drape over the table edge.  Now you can setup the rest of the French and fight out the rest of the battle normally. 

Conclusion

Lots of good pros.  We took care of 1 con, so all you have to do is be willing to slide the map once on turn 1 IF you are playing on a small table.  That’s not too much to ask.  In the end, this seems like a small price to pay for all the great advantages. 

  

 

Computer Assisted Wargames

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Computer games vs board games.  Which is better?  They both have their strengths and weaknesses.  I always like the “idea” of a computer wargame but I usually don’t like them.  All my favorite wargames are board games.

   

Computers excel at video and live animation graphics.  This is great if you are playing tactical or first person shooter but my favorite games are operational / strategic.

Board game ‘graphics’ win hands down on this.

 

You can instantly see the entire map.  No zooming or scrolling around.  You can instantly inspect stacks of units and move all the pieces.  No fuss.  I can’t explain it but there is something important about being able to touch and move the pieces by hand.  

Is it possible to marry the two?  Use the best of both formats, combined into 1 system?  It would be ideal if the computer could handle limited intelligence, complex combat, logistics and order delays.

What is your experience with Computer Assisted Wargames?  Does it work?  Have you ever seen an example of it working well?  Is this an impossible pursuit?