AAR ACW Riverine (Hammerin' Iron) 10 June 2018

Ian and my diaries finally coincided and we managed to play a game at the club. This was the first opposed outing for my ‘new’ ACW Riverine fleets using the Hammerin’ Iron 2 rules from RFCM (2011).

We diced for sides and I got the Rebels. Next we diced to see who would be the attacker (the Union has more chance to be the aggressor) but it turned out to be a (rare) raid by the Confederates into Union territory! The Union fleet has to lose one random ship, and much to my relief Ian lost the formidable USS Benton. He deployed the USS Indianola on table and I started with 2 of my casement ironclads (CSS Arkansas and CSS Tuscalosa), aided by the weak CSS Planter. I planned to steam the CSS Planter down the flank to attack the Union transports, whilst my other ships would fight the USS Indianola.

Things started to go wrong for the Rebels early in the fight. A long range shot took out the forward gun on CSS Planter, meaning its attack on the transports would be ineffective. A Union torpedo boat also did major damage to CSS Tuscalosa. I had to divert a newly arrived CSS Manasas to aid the crippled CSS Planter, but another shell KO’d the only gun on the Manasas, rendering it useless as well! By now both fleets were fully on table and a major clash erupted in the main channel of the river. Both my casement ironclads were getting battered but they did manage to sink the huge USS Blackhawk. The USS Choctaw inflicted a hit which reduced CSS Tuscalosa to battered status, who then rolled ‘1’ and struck their colours. My tinclad CSS Gov Moore did manage to reduce the USS Indianola to battered status but they held on, and also destroyed a couple to Union depot buildings. At this point the game clock reached 8 and the action finished.

The Union fleet had lost 1 ship (USS Blackhawk) with another battered (USS Indianola). The Rebels had 1 ship captured (CSS Tuscalosa) and 2 battered (CSS Arkansas and CSS Planter). In the post game procedure it turned out that the CSS Arkansas sank before it could return to its base. The Rebels did little damage to the Union shore facilities, but both warehouses destroyed turned out to be valuable (max. points value possible). The final points score was +7 to the Union, giving them a ‘Narrow Victory’.

Overall I feel the game and rules played well, taking 3 hours to complete. I think I should have tasked a more powerful ship to attack the Union transports early in the game. A couple to key critical hits effectively nullified this threat and rendered 2 Rebels ships useless. We also found light guns, both on shore and aboard, to be largely ineffective. Ramming is potentially very dangerous (CSS Arkansas did significant damage to USS Blackhawk by this method). Ian’s torpedo boat worked well for him whilst I never managed to get my submarine on table. To conclude, I can see us getting these toys out of the box again fairly soon, and judging from comments from other gamers, I can see others joining us in future games.

On a side note, I would like to ‘pimp-up’ the battle mat a bit; adding some shore scenery and buying some mdf hex tiles to replace the islands and sandbars. Anyway, the next planned game will hopefully be ECW using For King and Parliament rules.

Thoughts on Hammerin' Iron ACW Riverine rules

So, I have invested in the ACW riverine period as my next project using the Hammerin’ Iron 2 rules from RFCM (2011). I have the rules, two fleets from Peter Pig, a game-mat, and a set of markers. I intended writing a review of the rules, but I first checked some already out there and found an excellent detailed review (https://misternizz.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/hammerin-iron2-rules-review/) that almost exactly matches my own views. So rather than duplicate these opinions, I have decided to simply add a few of my personal thoughts about these great rules. Please note I have played a couple of games before, plus a demo game at Salute a couple of years ago. So I have some experience but would still class myself as a novice player, and I don’t claim to have any detailed historical knowledge of the setting.

As with all RFCM rules the pre-game procedures are a core feature producing an attacker/defender set-up that is balanced in the victory conditions at the game end. The defender has control of the terrain but this can be modified by the attacker. The defender starts with a significantly weaker force, but re-enforcements arrive with the passage of time, plus there is a fort to aid the fleet. The attacker force is stronger and more compact at the start, but to win they have to progress across the board and destroy shore targets as well as enemy ships. When designing the fleets, both have exactly 6 ships and comprise 6000 points (including a fort), so if you want a powerful ironclad then the other ships will have to include small weaker vessels, and there is a risk that the ironclad may be delayed or not arrive at all! I really like the differing pre-game ideas offered by RFCM rules, and I think those in Hammerin’ Iron are amongst the best to date. The use of non-point assets is a good way to introduce those unusual period elements such as mines, torpedoes and submarines into games without players having to cost them into their fleets.

Command and control utilises an unusual card selection mechanism. Ships each start with 5 five cards randomly drawn from either a ‘Smoke’ or a ‘Ports’ deck (no mixing of the two). The decks differ in the spread of results and reflect whether the ship is concentrating on moving or firing. A player then has to play a card per turn from those available to him, until a single card remains, at which point he can refill his hand from either of the two decks. I like the constraints this mechanism places on a player (e.g. you don’t have the card you really want) and the ‘signals’ you pass to your opponent by the choice of deck you are drawing from.

The gameplay mechanisms are straight forward and use a ‘bucket of dice’ style of combat resolution. I know some players don’t like the randomness involved, but it is important to remember these rules are very much designed with fun, rather than historical perfection, in mind. I recall the demo game played at Salute where a young player constantly threw box-cars for critical hits he achieved, resulting in successive enemy vessels blowing up! The game ended very quickly, all the players were gob-smacked and trying to calculate the odds for what had just happened!

The game length can be manipulated by players and the victory points/conditions are balanced to reflect the initial disparity between the forces. This type of procedure will be familiar to players of any RFCM rules, and they add another layer of randomness to the game; you think you’ve done well but the ‘dice gods’ let you down in this final stage, and the clear ‘victory’ now only scores as a ‘draw’. I’m fine with this because I’m not an especially competitive player, but I know others who dislike this aspect of the rules; they want clear, definitive victory points, so they know they have ‘won’ a couple of turns before the game ends.

Finally, the rules provide a selection of non-standard scenarios which look like fun (I’ve not tried them) and some optional/advanced rules, which look interesting and which I can see myself using in future. To, conclude I highly recommend Hammerin’ Iron if you want a fast, fun, enjoyable game on the rivers of the ACW using the hotch-potch of weird iron/tin/cotton-clad vessels that the shipyards of the time cobbled together.

AAR; ACW (Longstreet) 9th Battle

This was the final battle of our Longstreet campaign. I had an unassailable 4EP lead, so I volunteered to take the attacker role in our final game (Walled Farm) because, to date, no game has been won by an attacker. In previous games Ian tended to mount ‘balanced’ attacks, using a combination of firepower with limited charges. In this game I decided to ‘go all in’, no stopping to shoot, and to charge at the first (and every) opportunity.

Union attack to the flank of the farm

We both opted for fairly open terrain although Ian did add some walls to the farm. I stacked my forces against Ian’s left flank, with a screen of small units out front supported by my larger ‘Eager’ Coloured units behind. I planned to pass these through the screen for a decisive charge, turning the enemy flank and take the objective. I stuck to the plan but lost heavily on my approach. My charge had mixed results; I forced a unit of Texans back, but was repulsed by the rebel artillery battery. I did force Ian to re-shuffle where he lost +4 cards due to my ‘Sabotage’ campaign skill and another 3 cards due to my play of ‘Rebel Shortages’ card. Ian did look shocked to discard 11 cards, but it was too little too late because my losses resulted in a clear Victory for Ian.

Texans forced back

So, the final score for the campaign was Union 33EP versus Rebel 29EP. I had 6 wins versus Ian’s 2 wins (and 1 drawn game). Both commanders reached the 4 Eagle rank, and Ian achieved this goal a couple of games ahead of me, due to his ‘Political Savvy’ characteristic. In every game, the defender won! I was able to pick to be the defender in most games due to my ‘Indian Wars Veteran’ characteristic, and this single card effectively won the campaign for me!

Depleted Union forces try to press home

To conclude, I think we both enjoyed the mini-campaign and the games it generated. Neither of us could figure out what to do to win when playing the attacker. The balance seems to favour the defender, but we cannot put our finger on why this should be the case. We both like the card draw and play mechanism, and it certainly makes you think about your actions each turn. I do feel a few cards are a bit over the top; for example, I don’t like the frequency of the surprise appearance of marshy ground right in line with the attack you have planned! The rules themselves are nice and simple and give a playable game in the afternoon timeframe of a club setting. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed using Longstreet in the mini-campaign format, I cannot see me using these rules in a pick-up, stand alone ACW game. The campaign system allows unit stats to develop as the games progress, whereas deciding unit stats and strengths for a single game would be difficult without a points system.

AAR; ACW (Longstreet rules) 16 Oct 2016

We managed to fit in another Longstreet ACW battle (late 1864) of the mini-campaign. This time we played the ‘Railway Embankment’ scenario, and I again won the scouting phase and choose to be the defender. Additional terrain was added, with Ian placing some woods just forward of my deployment area, whilst I placed areas of swamp across his lines of approach. Ian placed the objective marker as far to my right as possible. I chose to leave my new 10-base US Coloured unit (E/R) as my off-table reserve (arriving on turn 6). I forgot my camera (again!), so no photo’s. Ian did take a couple on his phone and I may add these to this report at a later time.

In the opening turns I advanced my battleline forward to give me some breathing room. The central wooded area Ian placed actually helped me because I deployed my 2 sharpshooter units in them. It soon became clear that Ian’s attack would fall upon my centre, and especially on my right flank. I deployed a battery of Napoleons (37^th Pa) and a unit of men armed with repeaters (8^th Maine) on the gentle hill to block this. I was also able to redeploy my other 4-base Coloured unit (E/R) and a battery of light rifles to act as a reserve, and cover the objective.

For some reason, Ian did not press his attack in the centre and seemed to be content to remain just outside 6” engagement range. His main focus was on my right flank, but again he initially concentrated on fire combat rather than coming straight in. This gave me time to bring on my strong reserve formation and at this point I was confident of victory. Ian finally KO’d my artillery battery and charged the 8^th Maine, who were totally destroyed, but of course his troops were now vulnerable to my counter-attack. The large and eager US Coloured units duly obliged and were successful. The Union was now very much in the ascendency and began an advance in all areas. The Rebel loses mounted as they were forced back and finally victory was achieved.

In the Campaign phase, I rolled well, lost few bases and none of my units lost any Elan. I did not successfully roll for promotion, but achieved the coveted 4 Eagle rank by drawing a promotion Campaign card. My revised force for the 9^th and final battle of the campaign is shown below:

Commander	Personality				Rank		EP’s
“Art” Rooney	Indian Wars Veteran (Scout: 2D6 & keep higher)				4 Eagles (2/64)		30
Unit	Type	Elan	Exp.	Strength		Notes
37th (Prov) Pa Infantry	INF	Season	Veteran	6
13th\14th Pa (Prov) Inf.	INF	Season	Veteran	4		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
16th\45th Ohio (Prov) Inf.	INF	Caut.	Veteran	4		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
26th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Lt Rifle
29th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		2x Lt Rifle, 1x Hvy Rifle
7th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	4
8th Maine	INF	Season	Veteran	4		Repeaters
10th Vermont	INF	Season	Veteran	4
11th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	9		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
1st NH Artillery NEW	ART	-	-	2		2x Lt Rifle
3rd NH Infantry NEW	INF	Season	Recruit	7
				50 bases
Sabotage: enemy removes an extra 4 cards when first re-shuffles.

Notes: The units are listed in order of campaign appearance. The Pa units are from my original force. The 9^th Pa Artillery (the only original unit left) was destroyed.

At the end of this game I have amassed an unassailable EP points lead (with 6 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss). In all our games, apart from the draw, the attacker has lost. Because of my Indian Wars characteristic, Ian’s Rebels have generally been forced to attack. He is understandably beginning to get a bit ‘peeved’ about this, so for the final game I have agreed to take on the role of attacker. We will be playing the ‘Walled Farm’ scenario, which leaves the ‘River Crossing’ scenario as the only one we have not tried out. This is some relief to me because I think the ‘River Crossing’ is heavily weighted in favour of the defender!

AAR; ACW (Longstreet rules) 9 Oct 2016

This was the 7^th battle (early 1864) of a 9 battle mini-campaign using Longstreet rules by Sam Mustafa (Honour Publishing). My Union force played against the Rebels commanded by Ian. I was ahead in the campaign by 5 victories to 1 defeat (24:21 EP), and in each battle the defending force had won. The composition of my force can be viewed in my previous blog post (November 2015).

 We randomly selected the ‘Meeting Engagement’ scenario and there was minimal additional terrain added. This scenario is interesting because there are no objective markers and there is no advantage to being either the attacker or defender. So this should be an equally matched contest. The thing we had not taken in to account was the club AGM which was also scheduled for the afternoon. Like all club AGM’s I have ever attended, this went on longer than expected, and so the time available for our game was severely curtailed. We decided to carry on in the couple of hours left to us.

Both armies entered from diagonally opposite corners, so the first turns involved rapid movement in columns, followed by deployment into battle lines. All my games against Ian seem to involve great swings in lucky/unlucky dice rolling. The ‘dice gods’ seem to be toying with us. In this game whenever I had a situation that I was optimistic about, I rolled badly. Whereas when I was in trouble and pessimistic, I rolled exceptionally well! My vastly superior artillery just could not destroy an opposing Rebel battery despite numerous opportunities to roll 4+. A successful charge by a fresh Union infantry unit against another exposed, isolated rebel battery was repelled by melee combat! In contrast, I shot at a 5 strong Rebel unit with 10 dice needing 4+ to hit, scored 10 hits, most of which converted in to kills, wiping it out in a single turn! Ian pressed a well co-ordinated attack against my left flank and I thought I was in deep trouble, but here luck was on my side: firstly, I played the ‘They couldn’t hit a...’ interrupt card which removed all of Ian’s careful hoarded 6 cards just prior to his key attack turn; then in my turn, I used a recently obtained ‘Retrograde’ card to move my endangered units out of the path of attack. Without my fortunate card play, I’m certain the game would have been lost! On my right flank the action did not develop as quickly, but I was confident that my 7 base coloured regiment and battery of 3 Napoleon guns would hold their own.

Unfortunately time was not on our side and the game ended early in a draw. Both sides had lost 10-15 bases each (the victory target was 23). I felt I had played poorly (I only scanned the rules before the game and was very rusty) and that Ian had the upper hand, so a draw was a good result in this game. Due to the constraints of time, I only took 1 photo and this was as we were doing the (hurried) campaign phase at the end (also the battery was out of juice, and the photo was taken accidentally!). Neither of our commanders was promoted (Ian need not have rolled because he has already reached the maximum 4 Eagle rank). My army did suffer in the campaign attrition phase, with my coloured regiment losing 3 bases! My campaign cards yielded an improvement to scouting in the next game (as if I needed such a bonus), a couple of new units (including another large coloured regiment), plus repeaters for my Maine regiment. My Union force available for battle number #8 will be:

Commander	Personality				Rank		EP’s
“Art” Rooney	Indian Wars Veteran (Scout: 2D6 & keep higher)				3 Eagles (2/63)		26
Unit	Type	Elan	Exp.	Strength		Notes
9th Pa Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Napoleon
37th (Prov) Pa Infantry	INF	Season	Veteran	7
13th\14th Pa (Prov) Inf.	INF	Season	Veteran	4		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
16th\45th Ohio (Prov) Inf.	INF	Caut.	Veteran	4		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
26th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Lt Rifle
29th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		2x Lt Rifle, 1x Hvy Rifle
7th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	4
8th Maine	INF	Season	Veteran	5		Repeaters
10th Vermont NEW	INF	Season	Veteran	6
11th US (Col.) Inf. NEW	INF	Eager	Recruit	10
				49 bases
Broken Code: add +2 to scouting score in next game.

Notes: The units are listed in order of campaign appearance. The Pa units are from my original force. The 37^th Pa, 12^th NH and 88^th NJ were so battered that they were combined in to the ‘new’ 37^th (Prov) Pa regiment.