A brief detour to Philadelphia

I had really wanted to do more posts this month, but Friday, I took a trip up to Philly to meet up with some friends to go see a band I had only seen once before, in 1994 or 1995 and which broke up shortly after but which was reuniting to play a special show. Sunday, I flew back to Atlanta (boy, are my arms tired).

As a word of warning, if you don't care for travelogues, there's not much else in this post.

Of course, Philadelphia is full of history, but I lived there for 13+ years, nearly all if it in the city proper, and much of that, within a few blocks of some of the most historic sites, so taking pictures of them seems a bit unnecessary from my perspective. 

That said, the ubiquitous Independence Hall picture is a personal requirement.

This statue ("The Crier", I think is called), pictured below,  is often overlooked by tourists (it's just a statue in a small park/garden after all), and as a result it's a nice quiet spot where you can enjoy your Philly soft-pretzel and a Wawa coffee (as an aside, perhaps my tastes in coffee have changed, because Wawa coffee tastes pretty terrible to me now, but I still drank it because tradition).

The greatest candy in the world was invented as a ration bar for soldiers in WWI and was manufactured in Philadelphia for a long time (now it's made by a Bethlehem, PA company):  Goldenberg's Peanut Chews. Original dark is the only kind worth getting.

It has only recently made it's way to Atlanta at some convenience stores, as individually wrapped pieces, so by and large, I must eat my body weight in peanut chews whenever I visit Pennsylvania.

 

Finally, a picture of the omnipresent blue signage used by the city to denote historical locations and the personages who lived there. Why this one? No real reason other than I lived in this neighborhood when I first moved to Philly in 1996.

I've been home a few days but aside from sorting through my unpainted plastic pile - perhaps I'll ramble about this in a subsequent post - nothing gaming related has occurred. I look forward to getting some painting in tomorrow night however and possibly a game of some sort this weekend.

More boardgaming (no I have not forsaken my miniatures)

Last week, time to game was in short supply and by Friday night, I couldn't take it anymore. However, I didn't have any suitable scenario in mind for miniatures nor did I want to paint, so I broke out one of the only other hex-and-counter games I own, Worthington Games' Hold the Line.

There was a time when I thought for sure I'd paint up forces for the American War of Independence in 54mm. For awhile, almost every other title I listened to on Audible related to that war (plus I lived in Philadelphia for 13 years and it's hard to avoid the history there even if you want to. I used to ride my motorcycle through Valley Forge Park and for about two years, I lived just outside Germantown).  I purchased figures, primed and even painted some. Then I got Hold the Line and it scratched the itch, so that project stalled (stopped even). However, it's been at least two or three four years since I last played it (how did that happen?!?).

It's a fairly straight forward system, and feels very much like a miniatures rule set to my mind. Stacking is minimal - artillery and leaders can share a hex with another unit, but that's it - and there are no additional markers for statuses either. It's solitaire friendly, in that you have a random number of command points to spend each turn and so you can't just move everyone whenever you want. And of course, combat is dependent on a die roll. There are a number of optional rules as well, to up the complexity if desired - and I think they are quite useful additions, like making leaders have more of a role, improving artillery range when fired from a hilltop, that kind of thing.

I opted to start with the first scenario, which I've played at least once in the past, Long Island Heights, Sept. 16, 1776. The rebels have a specific setup, but the British do not, save for being limited to certain hexes. I probably set up the British poorly. To win the Americans must evacuate 7 units after turn 11 but before turn 22 or eliminate 6 British units or deny the British their victory conditions. For the British, they could win only by eliminating 7 American units by turn 22.

Maybe 6mm minis would work on this hex board?

You can see my British plan taking shape - to try and bash through the lower left and to swing the fast dragoons and light troops around behind the enemy on the right.

I decided that the American plan was simply to get the militia out of harm's way as fast as possible - they can only take two hits after all. And then, assuming the defense held, start evacuating as soon as possible.

I love the counters - they are thick and they make satisfying clink when you drop them in the box.

British light infantry and dragoons run down retreating militia.

These three units of Continental regulars threw a spanner into the British plans and refused to go down. They out fought the British handily - giving their fellows ample time to retreat to safety.

It came down to the wire but the Americans evacuated 7 units and won the game as a result - which is the historical result if not for the same reasons.

It will probably be obvious from the above picture that 1) I did not make good use of the commanders on either side and 2) the British get bogged down in fighting on their left and consequently a lot of their troops never saw action. The first was all my doing as I was re-familiarizing myself with the rules. The second was largely the result of poor dice rolling -both for command points and in combat. Especially in combat.


I am certain I could have done a better job for the British and I think a replay is in order - the whole game only takes about an hour - before I move on to the Harlem Heights scenario. The Americans will follow the same plan, but I'll have to rethink the British approach.