Lusitania ADLG World Team Championships

Last Weekend I was in Lisbon playing in the ADLG Lusitania World Team championships. A fantastic turn out with 28 teams from all over the world including Australia, USA , Greece, Finland and even Yorkshire. For the second year running I was in the Foreign Legion team that was designated as a USA Team (I still need to brush up on my accent). I took my Medieval Scottish Army this time and had quite a decent result with 2 wins, 2 draws and only one loss finishing mid table in my period Medieval, although as a team we finished towards the bottom. Still, it was a very enjoyable tournament. The organisers were fantastic and an excellent venue in Lisbon's Navy Museum surrounded by loads of historical vessels and aircraft.

The Foreign Legion Team,  Mark(Captain) , me, Carl and Nicholas

Bird's-eye view of the tournament

My first game was against Jao from one of the Portuguese teams. He had a Tuareg camel army. Unfortunately I lost the initial dice off, so my Scots found themselves fighting in the desert.

My Highlanders were surrounded on the hill and slaughtered to a man with Mel Wallace being the last unit and man to go down with the dismounted Scottish and French Knights looking on. However their sacrifice meant that Jao's flank attack was held up saving my main army and ending in a draw.

Some of the other games being played, a nice touch was having all the flags hanging down of all the countries that were participating in the tournament.

                 A view from the other direction showing all the historical sailing and rowing vessels 

After a fantastic lunch that included cans of Superbock and Pasteis de Nata, my favourite Portuguese beer and pudding. I played against Mark from one of the English teams, he had a Spanish medieval Army. As a side note, the plane in the background is called the Lusitania and was the first plane to cross the South Atlantic.

Although there was no flank attack to contend with this time, Mark's pike units were properly trained unlike my Scottish rabble and he won most of the rounds of combat. This meant in the end I lost enough units for my army to break.

For our last game of the day we were on the bottom table, number 14. We were playing another Portuguese team and I was playing Rui with a Italian Medieval Army. For the first time in ages I actually managed to be successful dicing for a coast. So at least one of my flanks was secure. I was able to advance aggressively and even though it was a bloody battle with both of us losing many units, Rui's smaller army reached his break point faster and broke first.

With a couple of wins in the team we moved off the bottom table to the next table 13th. It was an early start in the morning with us having to be there at 8 and we were playing the Irish team first

I played Padraic with his Vlach and Moldavian army. These were mainly horse archers which would be very hard for my lumbering Pikemen to catch.

However my Longbows actually did there job for once and actually destroyed 3 or 4 of his units and Mel and his Highlanders chopping up his bowmen meant that he had lost enough points to break his army and I gained my second victory of the tournament. With two wins in the team we were sure we were rising up the tables to play one of the other English teams that were all languishing in the bottom half of the table.

So it was a surprise after another dinner of sandwiches and beer that we were told that we had sunk to the bottom table again and were playing the German Team (a repeat of our final game last year) . Although last year I was playing in the early period with my Chinantecas pike horde against my old adversary the excellent Bodo . I think the game against all my pikemen last year had scarred him enough that he had changed his period to late medieval. Not knowing I had changed as well . 

I'm not sure if the game last year had any influence on Bodo's choice of army for this year but he had a Swiss army with lots of trained and Elite pike which were going to be more than a match for my mediocre lot. Also I rolled a 1 for the second time in the day for Mel and his Highlanders who after being sacrificed in the first game on slaughter hill, seemed to be more reluctant to fight on the Sunday.

His pike made holes in my pike block line like Swiss cheese and my Knights had to fill the gaps. Once again my larger army break point saved me and I was able to hold out for a draw.

Super Bock for a euro?, go on then.

So after 5 games the results were in, and we couldn't even win the wooden spoon because we came second from bottom  well done to Greece who came first, Italy cane second and Spain 2 for coming third.

All the results from the tournament, 28 teams 112 players. With quite a few surprise final positions.

The individual results from the period I was in, at the end of the tournament I came 13th out of 28 players. I would like to thank our Team captain Mark for organising our team and just a pity his lovely colourful army had managed to stave off victories in any of his games. Also thanks to Nicholas and Carl for flying all the way over the pond to take part. I hope to see you all once again next year to improve our position. As the famous philosopher, Yazz, once said (many times) 'The only way is up'.

 

Bolt Action: Tercera Edición - ¡La Fase de Disparar!

 Bolt Action: Tercera Edición - ¡La Fase de Disparar!

Traducido por Phil Acko (Hackney)

A continuación se muestra una traducción que he hecho para el último informe de inteligencia de Warlord sobre la versión 3 de Bolt Action. Ver el enlace de abajo para la publicación original en inglés.

https://bit.ly/3YiccRI

Tanto si eres un veterano de Bolt Action como si es la primera vez que te unes a nosotros, lo más importante que debes saber es que disparar en Bolt Action es muy sencillo. Tiras para impactar, tiras para dañar y luego tu objetivo se pone a cubierto - no podría ser más fácil, ¿verdad?

PROCEDIMIENTO DE DISPARO

Cuando una unidad dispara, siga el procedimiento siguiente

1. Declarar un objetivo                              5. Chequeo para infligir daños

2. Reacciòn del objetivo                            6. El objetivo se pone a cubierto salva

3. Medir el alcance y abrir fuego               7. Bajas infigadas en el objetivo

4. Chequeo para impactos

Espera, ¿qué? ¿Acabas de decir ‘cubre salva’?

Así es. Uno de los mayores cambios de Bolt Action: Tercera Edición es la introducción de las salvaciones por cobertura y la renovación de la mecánica «para impactar». Veámoslo todo con más detalle.

MODIFICADORES PARA IMPACTAR
Criterios	Modificador
Disparar en movimiento	-1
Marcador de suprimido en el tirador	-1
Novato	-1
Disparo quemarropa	+2

La primera cosa que podemos ver es que hay significativamente menos modificadores potenciales a esa tirada que en la Segunda Edición - esto ayuda enormemente a acelerar la fase de disparo, ya que sólo tienes que tener en cuenta la situación de la unidad que dispara para calcular la tirada de impacto, pero no elimina ninguno de los detalles cuando se utiliza junto con el sistema de salvación de cobertura. Durante el desarrollo de Bolt Action: Tercera Edición simplificar las reglas siempre que fuera posible, sin comprometer la profundidad. Las salvaciones por cobertura son un excelente ejemplo de este enfoque, y puedes ver muchos otros toques similares a lo largo de la nueva edición.

¿Cómo funcionan los cubre salva? ¿Qué significan para nuestro querido juego? No temas, te lo explicaremos... ¡inmediatamente! En esencia, las salvaciones por cobertura son muy sencillas e intuitivas: si tu unidad está a cubierto, tendrá la oportunidad de «salvar» las heridas que reciba de los disparos. Esto representa que los proyectiles impactan en el terreno o no alcanzan a tus tropas cuando se esconden detrás de cualquier cosa remotamente sólida. Naturalmente, un arbusto no protegerá tanto de las balas como un muro de ladrillo o un búnker de hormigón -¡hay grados de cobertura! - y tus unidades también pueden usar una orden de Abajo para aprovechar al máximo cualquier protección disponible, incluso cuando parezca que no hay ninguna. Veamos los tipos de cobertura disponibles en el tablero:

CUBRE SALVA
Tipo de cubierta	Resultado necesario o modificador
Cobertura Ligera	5+
Cobertura Pesada	4+
Cuerpo a tierra	5+ (o modificador de salvación +2)

Bastante sencillo, ¿verdad? Básicamente, lo que se ha hecho en comparación con la Segunda Edición es dividir la antigua tirada «para golpear», con sus muchos (muchos) modificadores, en dos tiradas mucho más sencillas. Aunque podría parecer que dos tiradas llevarían más tiempo que una, cuando estábamos probando descubrimos que se tarda más o menos lo mismo, y se reduce la cantidad de tiempo dedicado a calcular el resultado deseado. El jugador que dispara sólo tiene que preocuparse de lo que hace su unidad, y las salvaciones de cobertura las calcula el jugador cuya unidad está siendo disparada. Al simplificar las tiradas, tendrás más tiempo para concentrarte en tu próximo movimiento.

Ahora te estarás preguntando: ¿por qué hacemos salvaciones de cobertura después de tirar para dañar? ¿No debería ser al revés? Os contaremos un pequeño secreto: lo hemos probado muchísimo y, matemáticamente, no tiene ninguna importancia. Al final, decidimos que las salvaciones de cobertura fueran después de la función de daño, ya que está más en línea con la convención clásica de los juegos de guerra de «golpe-herida-salvación», y proporciona una progresión clara en la que el jugador atacante tira sus dados, ¡y luego el defensor tira los suyos! Cuando abras tu libro de reglas, verás que hay una pequeña sección que trata exactamente de esto, y proporciona una regla opcional para los jugadores que prefieran tirar sus salvaciones de cobertura antes que el daño.

Ah, y hay otra cosa que deberías saber: cuando recibas tu libro de reglas a finales de septiembre y vayas a la sección «Tiro», notarás otro cambio: ¡la tirada «base» para impactar es ahora un 4+!

Entonces, ¿qué significa esto en términos de jugabilidad de Bolt Action? Bueno, lo primero que vemos es que con la eliminación de muchos de los modificadores, es más fácil golpear a las unidades en general, lo que significa que sin el beneficio de la cobertura las bajas pueden acumularse rápidamente, y los puntos son un poco más fáciles de conseguir (¡notarás en el libro que los puntos se aplican después de los impactos pero antes de las salvaciones de cobertura!) Esto significa que el campo abierto es un lugar peligroso -como lo era en la vida real- y recompensa el juego táctico y el uso de toda la cobertura disponible en lugar de una carga ciega a través de la mesa. Recuerda que la regla de «equipos pequeños» de la Segunda Edición ya no existe, así que asegúrate de que tus oficiales tienen algunos amigos más y mantén esos equipos de bazookas y lanzallamas a cubierto hasta que los necesites. También hay algunas armas que ignoran la cobertura por completo -perfectas para desenterrar a una unidad obstinadamente atrincherada- que tendrás que vigilar.

Rorke's Drift 2024

                                                      Battle of Rorke's Drift 2024

         The battle of Rorke's drift has been a passion of mine for a number of years after seeing the film "Zulu" as a kid. Although I missed half the film the first time as my mum wanted to watch the bloody musical "Seven brides for seven brothers" which was on the other channel. However I have forgiven my mum a long time ago, as now I have probably watched it more times than any other film over the years. Every year I put on the game for my friends at my house (Actually this would be the third time I had played it this year.)

With moving to a different area of Spain in a few months (Anyone want to buy a house with its own self purpose wargaming room, I'm your man) this game would be a final farewell battle to some of my Spanish wargaming friends from Alicante, that have made me so welcome fifteen years ago. 

Over the years I have played the game in 15mm but I've always wanted to do it in 28mm and when Warlord has a special offer on their Rorke's Drift set (Pre-Brexit) I took the plunge. So four years and over 520 painted Zulu and British figures on, I think I have reached the level that I had in 15mm. 

Although the buildings are quite nice in the Warlord set, I feel they are a little small when placing figures in them. Therefore over the last year or so I have been using a "dungeon and dragons" style floor plan to show the layout and fight the combat inside. A picture of the floor plans from the last game can be seen below.                                  

I wanted to add walls to the floor plan to make it look more like a building. So a week ago after finding some foam board in the local Chinese store, I decided I would set myself a task of building the walls before the game. This became quite a mammoth project because I decided to replace the flooring, window and door frames and getting it all painted in time. Not forgetting that I had to build  the storehouse as well!

The walls didn't take a lot of time, but adding the frames, floors and painting them all was the main task.

The two buildings were finished and basic painted the night before. More detail and finishing off will be added before the next game.

So to the game itself, we had 3 Zulu players, Salva, Miguel and Toni. The British was  split into three commands, Jose Angel was Lt Chard, Pedro was Lt Bromhead and Juan Marcos was Commissary Dalton.

Each British Player had a command divided equally with Hospital Patients, fit for duty soldiers and named soldiers that had performed bravely in the actual battle and had either earned a Victoria cross or some other distinction. All the Victoria cross winners were able to suffer 2 wounds before being killed and also classed as tough fighter so had a +1 in close combat.

A few of the VC winners in the game.

Also depicted are some of the notable soldiers that may not have been awarded a Victoria Cross but played important roles in the battle (even if they were omitted from the film). They had their own special rules

The Zulus were in their 4 regiments surrounding the mission with one regiment on each side. The regiments were in divided into groups of 12 figures that were assigned a section of the defences that they would attack that were each outlined by a line of sawdust on the table. Once one wave of Zulus had been killed and removed they were placed back in their starting positions, to be recycled for their next attack.  

"Zulus to the South west Sir, thousands of em"

Overhead view, thanks to Jose Angel's drone.

 To activate the Zulu regiments to charge they had to complete 4 stages,  rest, stand, sing and the last, charge (Usuthu).  To progress through the stages the Zulu players had to throw a dice to get a high number depending on the time of day. This mechanic of randomness was to ensure that the Zulu players could not attack all four sides at once, also it gave the British players an idea of which side the attack may be coming from next so they could have a chance to reinforce the threatened side.   

Zulu Activation cards

Also the Zulu players could place their commander, Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande, with one of his regiments to give them a little encouragement (+1 on the activation roll) to charge the garrison.

Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande

Unfortunately for the British, instead of just a small attack so the Zulu Indunas could count their guns, the Zulus were singing on the North and South side of the garrison with the two larger regiments.  Then with high dice rolls from Salva and Miguel, they both charged at the same time.

The first Zulu charge comes from both long sides

The British have three chances of firing at the charging Zulus before they reach the defences. The chances of hitting improve as the Zulus pass each range marker.

The British fire their last volley before the Zulus hit the defences and engage into hand to hand combat.

 The mechanic for hand to hand combat I have "borrowed" from the game risk. Basically the British have a greater chance of success if they are behind the barricades etc. The Zulus have an advantage if they manage to breach the barricades and fight the British in the open. Any successful win or shot by the British  automatically kill a Zulu. However if the Zulus are successful then they just wound the British soldier, which means the British soldier has a penalty in any proceeding combat. If the wounded soldier gets a further wound then they are killed and removed from the table. 

One of the weak points of the defences is the corner by the hospital although the British were able to fight the Zulus back, this time.

Usually for how much time the Zulu attacks lasted, I would have a chart that would give a random amount of time between 5 and 30 minutes. Then any soldiers that were assigned to build barricades or the redoubt would be calculated to see if they have completed part of their task. The clock starts at 4.30pm and the British have to survive until 7.30 a.m. 

However for this game I decided to try a different method for counting time to get a satisfactory result when the time runs out to play the game. Therefore playing in the morning before stopping for lunch (a lovely BBQ cooked by my Lynn my wife)  would be the same time as when it was daylight on the day of the battle (4.30-7.00pm). When we returned after being sufficiently fed and watered we would play until 5.30pm, this would be the night and early morning part of the battle. If any British were left alive by the end of play at half five, then they had won the battle, due to Chelmsford's Column coming to relieve the beleagured garrison.

The well built Kraal was defended by Bromhead's troops, although they were a little vunerable, due to the Zulus being able to attack them on three sides. However their advantage was that they were able to give enfilade volley support on to the Zulu flanks attacking the storehouse and barricades..

The British players need to finish the barricade, before the next wave of Zulus hit. Due to using a different system for time keeping. I decided that on every British turn for each British soldier assigned to make the barricade or redoubt, the player needed to roll 1D6 and then add up the score, I would take that away from the total needed to make a section of barricade. It seemed simple on paper, but all my maths ability seemed to leave me that day. So I decided to wing it and just tell the players when they had nearly built a section and then what they needed in their next turn to complete it, sorry lads.

My brain on Saturday Morning

 Lt Chard's (Jose Angel) men holding the line between the hospital and storehouse, were keeping up a stout defence. 

 

After the first attack, like in the film, the 10 Zulu snipers on Shiyane hill were able to fire on the garrison. Although not accurate they still caused a few casualties on the soldiers working on the barricades.

British casualties began to mount on the North wall after repeated Zulu attacks from the unmarried iNdluyengwe regiment  trying to prove their bravery with individual Zulus that had broken through causing mayhem until they were finally killed. This caused serious gaps in the defences 

The British players had made a serious error in deployment (although I may have forgot to remind them). They had only put the walking wounded hospital patients with the immobile and bedridden patients and had not bolstered it with fit able soldiers. (even Hook was outside). when the error was discovered, it was too late as the soldiers in the immediate area were fighting for their lives or were retreating to the newly completed barricade.  



To stop the Zulus attempting to set fire to the thatch roofs, a section of soldiers were deployed on them, who were able to defend their position very well, until the hospital was fully taken over by the Zulus who then were able to concentrate on taking the roof finally overpowering them. 

With most of the British behind the new line of defences, Chard and some of his wounded men were still in the open. Although a couple of the wounded soldiers were killed Chard was able to use his revolver to kill the last remaining Zulus  from the South side attack and get the other wounded soldier and  Pvt Williams  back to the barricade

Lt Chard and Pvt Williams earning their Victoria crosses

Chard and Williams and the other wounded soldier slowly make it to the biscuit box barricade as the Zulus surge over the undefended abandoned barricades.

With only half of the redoubt built, now the east side of the defences were under pressure from the Zulus with a new breach to worry about in the Kraal.

Zulus enter the Kraal

With no chance of joining his comrades the last redcoat is killed on the hospital roof. With all the Patients are already dead inside the Zulus decide not to set fire to the hospital because with the sun setting, the light of the fire would aid the defenders shooting ability (or they forgot to bring the matches). 

, 

The British players look on as the Zulu players begin to apply pressure to the inner defences

The Zulus break into the Kraal on all sides  and begin slaughtering the British in there. Lt Bromhead brings troops out of the storehouse and wants them to charge into the Kraal but Chard and Dalton advice against it as they will be needed for the final defence. 

The Zulus from the west side charge across the abandoned outer defences and although losing a few to the British rifles they start reaching the Biscuit box barricade.

Lt Bromhead has 3 men still trying to complete the redoubt, he needs to get 9 or more with 3D6 and gets only 8. So the redoubt remains uncompleted.  With the fighting getting desperate the men pick up their rifles as they are needed now to man the defences.

 With the Kraal now in Zulu hands the British try to defend the inner wall

      

But with only wounded soldiers to stop them the Zulus breakthrough the Biscuit box barricade.

Now with the Zulus from the south side finally charging, all the Zulu regiments are involved in the last attack but there is less than half an hour left to play. The British players are counting down the minutes.

Lt Bromhead joins the others in the redoubt. 

The Zulus begin to attack in strength over the storehouse roof pushing the British (including Colour Sergeant) back.

          Lt Chard is surrounded by Zulus and unable to retreat to the Redoubt but manages to kill two of his attackers with his revolver.

Despite their best efforts the Zulu players could not get enough of the Zulus over the barricades and the Relief column was sighted coming over the drift by the Indunas on the hilltop in the early morning light.

Just as everything seemed lost to the British players the Zulus suddenly break off their attack and skulk away into the early morning shadows. 

Juan Marcos, celebrating the win by getting into character with my new helmet, although his character Commissary Dalton was killed on the ramparts.

So Lt Chard and Lt Bromhead survived the battle, also Sergeant Bourne  (still on the storehouse roof), Pvt Williams and Yankee Dan the ferryman. Unfortunately Dick the Dog was killed defending his master in the hospital. 

Another fantastic game and day enjoyed by all, also my friends left me speechless when they presented me totally unexpected with a card and present (A new book about the Zulu wars). I will miss them all but will be sure to visit when there is a tournament in Alicante.