Lemuria Campaign - Year 1, Season 1

The following is the result of feeding my significantly more detailed write up of the battles into ChatGPT and having it summarize it all "in the style of an Osprey publication". I'm not sure how well it did, but it is definitely shorter than what I had written!

 

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Battle in the Foothills

The Qamarian vanguard advanced easily through a mountain pass into Waaaghland but met with an ambush by a Waaaghlander detachment led by the warlord, Grug Loghrol.

 

The clash was bloody, and the Qamarian commander was killed. 

 

Despite heavy losses, the Qamarians held their ground. With only a reserve goblin unit left, Loghrol ordered a retreat. 

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Battle at Skullhammer Crossroads

The Qamarian Jarl, Thorken Varanger, took command of a small force and led a swift push to seize a key supply junction.

Though initially successful in damaging Waaaghlander defenses, the tide nearly turned with the arrival of Waaaghland reinforcements.

However, Grug Loghrol was killed in the chaos, which precipitated a Waaaghlander withdrawal. The Qamarians secured and fortified the crossroads.

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Battle for Grashnak Hollow

Varanger aimed to capture a crucial bridge near Grashnak Hollow. 

After breaking the orc defenses, the Qamarians briefly held the bridge. Waaaghland, under the warlord, Blood Sneeze, counterattacked by launchnig a flanking maneuver utilizing fords undiscovered by the Qamar army. 

Clash at the bridge!

Intense fighting followed, with both sides suffering heavy losses. In a pivotal clash, Blood Sneeze was killed and his forces routed. 

The remaining Waaaghlanders abandoned the bridge, securing a hard-won Qamarian victory and control over the region.

---

Thus ends the first campaign season of year 1. I may give the season names and change the year value to an in-world value, but for now this works.

Qamar won 6-0, which isn't a great showing for the Waaaghlanders. In any case, it raises the question of how I might use the points to mean something in the campaign, besides determining the victor, keeping in mind that I don't want to have to track anything.

Here is the map now:

To illustrate a point in the campaign "rules": if Qamar were to invade Waaaghland again, they can attack any of three regions. If Waaaghland is the invader and they attack Qamar, it will be an attack on the occupied territory.

My Low Maintenance, Laid-back Fantasy Campaign

As mentioned in my previous post, I've begun a fantasy campaign. 

Background

My main objectives are to provide some stakes for my fantasy battles, to witness the rise and fall of empires or at least the conquering and retaking of lands, and to amuse myself assembling a history of a fictional continent over an extended period of time in the real world - here I am clearly inspired by Tony Bath's Hyboria campaign, but also by Gygax's World of Greyhawk.

Having no preferred fantasy setting, I opted to create my own "continent" and countries/realms therein. In the end, I suspect it's not terribly unlike Warhammer Fantasy, based on what I've seen of one of my son's video games.

It is, as of now, a four-sided campaign, to make use of my four largest fantasy collections (that is to say, I can field at least seven two-figure units - six units + a general's unit): 

• Thuum'ha - Lizard folk/snake folk/gator folk/etc.
• Waaaghland - Orcs and goblins.
• Qamar - Humans/elves/dwarves/halflings/etc.
• Mors Umbra - Undead.

The Map 

I'm not interested in map movement, but I do like making maps, so I made one.

My map is a variation on a six-sided campaign map that I came across in a back issue of Lone Warrior. 

Made in Google Draw, I hadn't intended to either grid it or color it in when I created it, hence the wonky coloring.

 

The land has gone through several name changes during my planning process. For quite a long time in my notes, I was calling it Arnax, after Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. However, I have decided finally upon Lemuria - in my case, the name is inspired by Lin Carter's work, but your mileage may vary.

The Campaign Year

• The campaign year is divided into four seasons (convenient, no?)
• Each season, I'll roll dice to determine who the invader is and who the defender is and then determine the area being fought over 
• It must be the area closest to the attacker's lands.
• In the event of multiple such areas, they will be diced between.
•  I have yet to decide if there will be seasons where no one invades.

The Campaign Season 

• Three battles will be fought between the armies in a campaign season
• The first is worth 1 point, the second is worth 2 points, and the third is worth 3 points (I saw that somewhere else and borrowed it). 
• In the event of a points tie after three battles, a fourth battle will be fought worth 1 point. 
• After the last battle, if the attacker's total is higher, the area is added to their country, if the attacker loses, nothing changes on the map.
• Rules for the battles will be my One Hour Wargames Fantasy Mods.  

For now, battles will be One Hour Wargames scenarios, determined by dice as well, though I may choose one that suits my idea of the area being fought over. I'm also free to choose from other scenarios I have or invent a new one. 

Small encounters between warbands of individually based figures may be fought for additional narrative color. These may take place between battles in a season or between seasons. Regardless, they won't change the map, only add to the history.

Logistics 

I know some people really like managing supply lines, communications, troop movement, etc.

I want to like it, but I don't.

So, there is no concern about or tracking of attrition, supply, or anything else. 

For now, that's all just narrative fluff to be added as I feel like it. Maybe later, I'll create some additional campaign rules - although, even then, they aren't likely to be more than creating a table of events that relate to these areas that I can roll dice for.

***

That's it. That's the whole of the campaign rules. Very light - just to provide a structure on which to hang my games.

Narrative History of Events Leading to the German Decision to Invade the North Pole

The events that led to the German invasion of the North Pole were more serendipitous than part of any grand scheme. In fact, in retrospect, it is almost as if the whole situation had been contrived solely to insure there would be a conflict at the Pole.

On Christmas Eve, 1941, a disgruntled member of the “Prep and Landing” team, lax in his duties, was captured (asleep no less) by the Gestapo in Hamburg, Germany.

Bitter at being passed over for promotion, he (let’s call him “Judas” for the sake of this history) readily offered up what details he had about the location of Santa’s Castle - a misnomer, as it includes not only the castle proper but surrounding industrial complex aka The Workshop, training fields for the reindeer, housing for elves, a vibrant arts district (elves need downtime like everyone else), etc.

The “North Pole”, as it is called, although it is not the geographic place of the same name, is a medium-sized island in the Arctic Circle, shrouded from view from the air by powerful magic, but, oddly, at the time, still accessible by sea (where it looked like a large chunk of ice). For the Nazis, this was music to their ears - surely, the jolly fat man would offer no resistance to the might of Germany..

Before Judas could disabuse them of that notion, and reveal the island’s defenses, he was “silenced” by European agents of C.L.A.S.S. (Cute Little Animals in Santa’s Service)  who infiltrated the Hamburg Gestapo headquarters early Christmas Day, 1941. Notice the absence of the term “rescued” in the preceding sentence. 

Artist rendition.

If you betray Santa, word travels fast. Plus, war is hell.

Although the Gestapo had yet to determine exactly what to do with the informant, the result would have been the same, so, they shrugged their collective shoulders, disposed of the body, reported the information, and went back to carrying out their evil deeds.

In their eagerness, the German command worked with the limited intelligence they had (a comment on the information Judas provided and their own character) to prepare a plan to land a kampfgruppe on the “North Pole”, assault Santa’s Castle and capture Santa. 

Surely, they reasoned, it would bring Europe and much of the world to its knees.

Somewhere in Europe a Week Later

After seven days recouping behind the lines, Sgt. Baker and the boys were itching for revenge against the Krauts for the death of Sarge. The battalion in the meantime had been suffering setbacks and needed intel about enemy positions near the hamlet of Pecorino. (Apparently, somewhere in Europe is Italy). A plan to counter-attack the Germans depended on it.

Baker didn't hesitate to volunteer his crew for the job.

Bolstered by a BAR that Pvt Hunter “found”, the squad set off on its mission in the pre-dawn hours.

A thick fog masked the American approach to the target.

As should have been expected, the fog lifted at an inopportune time and Pvt. Leupold found himself looking across a clearing at a German jr. NCO on patrol outside a ruined house on the edge of the hamlet.

Leupold's aim was true and the German non-com hit the ground. As the rest of the squad advanced, shots rang out from the trees to their right - a German rifleman had found himself in the tree line when Leupold had opened fire.

Two more Germans appeared in front of the squad - one fired from the relative safety of the ruined farm and the other came running from his post closer to the road.

Across the road another rifle opened fire from the safety of another building.

Leupold and Hunter poured fire on the Germans with great success. Forcing some to ground and leaving others mortally wounded.

Pvt. Punch rashly decided to charge the German soldier to the squad's right. He was vastly overconfident and was knocked out of the fight, taking a severe wound from the German's knife.

The firefight continued unabated, with the sides alternating who had the upper hand.

Eventually, however, with himself and a rifleman remaining, the German NCO ordered a retreat, but not before the rifleman wounded Pvt. Austin.

Following on the heels of the retreating Germans, the squad made a quick investigation of the outskirts of the hamlet and noted the complete lack of any prepared defensive works.

Carrying their wounded, the squad slowly retreated to make their report.

*****

The scenario and campaign background was again generated by Five Men in Normandy, with the battle handled by One Hour Skirmish Wargames.

The game lasted 8 full turns -although three turns lasted but a card or two before a Joker came up and ended the turn. The game was probably 45 minutes, maybe?

At the end of turn 8, when I drew to find out the fate of the Germans who had been downed in that turn (in some cases for the second or third time), only one was able to rejoin the fight. So, when turn 9 started, I decided the NCO would order a retreat. 

After all, they need to report the patrol to their higher-ups.

Pvt Hunter was the last figure to be named. He had an M1 in the previous games but ising the campaign rules in Five Men, I diced to see if we could get a replacement BAR. I was going to ask for a replacement squad member, but replacement soldiers come only with a rifle.

Pvt Punch was taken out in close combat, which doesn't allow recovery during the game per One Hour Skirmish.

However, as it is a campaign, I draw again after the battle to check whether a figure that was removed during the game is dead or still alive. In this case, Punch drew a black card. That means he survived his wounds. 

 

On the one hand, I feel like he should be unavailable for a bit. On the other,  I don't really feel like tracking healing and all that, so I may just say he's a fast healer and return him to the line up. 

Oh and here's an overview of the entire table to give a better view of the layout:

As I only have two buildings left in my collection for 1:1 54mm WWII games, this was the best way I could think of to represent a built-up area. It certainly worked well enough for the narrative.

Vassal Map Hack

As I am mired into inaction by my indecision over color schemes for Res Publica, my mind has turned to campaign ideas, for both Venus and WWI in Italy. The latter is the concern of this post.

There are two articles in the current issue of Lone Warrior (#222) that are in part responsible for this diversion, as well.

Although I very much want to use a map, for WWI,  hexes force me into a state of worrying about area, unit frontages, etc. Which is fine, but I'm trying to be a little more "toy soldiers"  and flexible about that sort of thing - units for example, are probably going to be two companies per battalion, two battalions per regiment, two regiments per brigade, etc.

But, like I said, I really want to use a map. 

Inspired by the articles in the aforementioned issue of Lone Warrior, I decided to create a point to point map

I didn't just want to randomly draw some points on paper, I wanted it to reflect actual places in Italy that were fought over.

One of the few remaining boardgames in my collection is Burning Mountains 1916, which covers that very topic. It has a lovely map and would make a good basis for a campaign. However, I have no intention of marking up the map.

Somewhere, and I cannot recall where (BoardgameGeek maybe?), I learned that if you rename a Vassal module to a .zip extension, you can treat it like any other compressed folder and you can extract the contents, including the map.

There is a module for Burning Mountains 1916, so I grabbed the file and pulled out the map. I then uploaded into Google Draw to add the nodes, which would be towns and forts, with connectors being the roads.

Here is the map with all towns circled and rectangles around the forts. 

The roads aren't so much drawn to follow the path as to cover the spirit of the connection, that's it. I also traced the rivers, because the next step would be get rid of the underlay.

Triangles are reinforcement entry points. Except for the black ones, which are mountains. That is the only entry point not connected to a road, so I added an overland route and wanted to make sure I remembered that it's a difficult route.

 Stripping away the underlying map results in this:

I changed the triangles to crosses, because I didn't like that I had used triangles for mountains, too. I will add labels for all of the forts eventually.

When I was done, I was quite pleased with the result. Except, my goodness, that's a lot of nodes. I decided it would be better to take a small section to use for working out campaign rules. 

Below is a segment of the map (from the left edge):

I took some license here with the lower right - just a single fort and a spawn point rather than the exact copy of the full map. I did this to allow for more at the campaign-level game, without getting too crazy.

The gray town and forts are starting positions for the Austrians. The green are the Italians. The latter have two entry points for reinforcements, again to add some interest to the campaign-level game.

I don't know when I'll get around to actually play testing my ideas - my plan was to start work on this much later in the year. It may have moved up a bit on the timetable though.

1917 Fictional Strafexpedition Game 5 (Final game!)

III Battalion, Sacher Regiment, was ordered to infiltrate into Italian territory and disrupt enemy reinforcements and supplies from reaching the front.

The battalion's second-in-command, Major Nino Aigner, was assigned to personally lead the effort. Ninth and Tenth companies, accompanied by 2nd company, 501st Sturmbattalion, would proceed south with all due haste, bypassing an enemy trench position dug into the northern end of a prominent hill. A detachment of III Battalion's machine guns would engage the enemy trenches to provide cover for the infantry advance.

Initial advance.

The hilltop defenders fought fiercely and, though suffering some losses, managed to silence the attacker's machine guns.

Two companies of Italian reinforcements arrived via the road from the south. The Italian's lead company engaged Ninth company in a firefight as did the surviving hilltop defenders, who had relocated to the southern most position on the hill top. 

With clear firelanes to their target, Ninth company was decimated, and the survivors routed.

The sturmcompany came under heavy fire but held on as they attempted to close with the enemy. Meanwhile Tenth company advanced, keeping close to the woods.

The Italians continued to arrive, including an infantry company, a cavalry squadron, and a field gun battery. Two companies opened fire on the sturmcompany, shooting it to pieces.

With just a single company remaining, Major Aigner was forced to order a withdrawal.

The Italians had stopped the Austrian advance with ease.

******

The scenario is "Infiltration" from One Hour Wargames (scenario #25).  I opted to use One Hour Wargame forces, treating each two-base unit as a company, but for the rules, I used Trench Hammer v2, with some rules from the Expansion. 

This was my second go at this - I had not calculated how dramatically different the movement rate is in Trench Hammer compared to One Hour Wargames. In the first go, the Austro-Hungarian force made it to the exit point two full turns before the arrival of the second Italian reinforcements.

That didn't sit well with me.

I reset the table and adjusted the arrival schedule. Whether it worked better or not depends on who you wanted to win, but at the very least it seemed fairer to me for the Italians to at least get their force on the table.

You could argue, quite convincingly, that I made a mistake in the schedule - arriving on turns 2 and 4, rather than turns 2 and 5 (the original is 3 and 6). 

That's OK - the game served its purpose - to try out two-base units with Trench Hammer - and honestly, when I first conceived of this, it was going to be a straight up five-game campaign following the model given by Neil Thomas in OHW,

If we look at the campaign as a competition between the battalions of Sacher Regiment, then II battalion was the clear winner. They defeated the Italians in two battles before I ruled them too worn out to proceed further. I battalion won their first but lost their second. And III battalion lost their first - therefore, no second.

The Italians only won two of the engagements and so, on that basis lost the campaign. However, as they stopped both the left and right flanks from advancing beyond the second row, that looks to me like, at the very least, a minor victory.

For giggles, I made this map after the fact using the maps from One Hour Wargames to show how I picture the scenarios connecting:

I battalion is the left column, II battalion is the middle, and III battalion is the right.

I had decided that if I made it to the bottom row (or if I needed a tie breaker) in any column, they would be river-based scenarios, with the river running left to right.

I also think It'd be possible to make a larger map of many One Hour Wargames tables and then when sides meet, that's the scenario that gets played. Not sure if I'll do that, but it's an idea!

This campaign, besides being a good bit of fun and an opportunity to get my WWI collection on the table, served its purpose overall, which was to figure out which rules I want to use and what I want forces to look like. The last game, with two-base/four-figure companies is the winner (I may go back to single-figure bases, but use four-figure companies) and I can use Trench Hammer or "Machine Age" rules (with my various modifications) from OHW with the same setup and have equally enjoyable games.

Favorite pic (from 1st game that didn't count): Lancieri charge sturmcompany

Although I'm still preparing my goals/plans/ideas for the coming year, I do believe that in 2023, we can eventually expect a return to the Southern Front, for a campaign, possibly using a map, and very hopefully with air support. 

1917 Fictional Strafexpedition Game 4

The saga of Sacher Regiment in the 1917 Strafexpedtiion continues...

3rd and 4th company, led by the latter, pressed south to overtake the second line of Italian defenses.

An ineffective artillery barrage was followed in short order by the loss of the assigned sturmplatoon to fire from the Italian trench.

4th company pushed further south to flank the Italian position but the surprise appearance of a squadron of lancieri bearing down on their forward units diverted their attention.

 The cavalry threat would prove to be a short-lived.

Continuing the grand tradition of units taking a shellacking in their first appearance on the table, the lanceiri did not disappoint.

With the arrival of 3rd company and an MG platoon, it seemed momentum was building for the success of the assault. However, Italian reinforcements arrived north west of the trench and swung around to engage the Austro-Hungarian forces.

In an illustration of the way the battle was going for each side:

The Austro-Hungarian machine gun platoon moved to a position in the woods south of the trench but were silenced before they make a difference in the outcome.

The Italian machine gun unit poured fire into 4th company, whittling down their numbers before combined fire from the remaining platoons of 4th company, along with the lead platoons of 3rd company, could stop them. 

The remnants of 4th company made an ill-fated effort to assault the trench as the Italians gave better than they got.

Overwhelmed by fire from the trench and from the Italians arriving behind the hill, the Austro-Hungarians were down 4th company and suffering nearly 50% losses in 3rd company when Oberstleutnant Trenker ordered the remaining units to fall back.

The Italians had stopped the advance in this sector.

*****

This was scenario 8, "Melee", from One Hour Wargames. I field two units for every infantry unit, and one for each assault or cavalry unit. Heavy infantry is replaced with a machine gun base. Bases are platoons or their equivalent.

Rules were Trench Hammer - the v2 version of the rules, with some additions from the Expansion. I treat bases as platoons instead of squads for this campaign.

The observant among you have probably noticed I changed basing again. These things happen.

Next up, Sacher Regiment's 3rd battalion will get its chance against the Italians..

1917 Fictional Strafexpedition Game 2

Major Neurath was ordered to press on with 5th and 6th company, 2nd battalion, Sacher regiment, to support the stormtroops of 3rd company,501st battalion, lead by Hauptman Mahler, in their effort to capture Fromagio. The trench line was held by 9th Company, 3rd battalion, 212th Regiment supported by a machine gun platoon.

The attack was preceded by a heavy barrage on both the left and right trenches.

That pile of blankets in the upper right is actually our dog.

The Italian machine gun platoon quickly reduced the numbers in 5th company.

But further scheduled artillery cleared the right trench and 5th was able to take it without opposition thereafter.

However Italian reinforcements arrived and launched a counterattack to reclaim the trench.

On the left, the stormtroops easily overran the few remaining defenders, and Neurath redirected 6th company from planned attack route to instead aid 5th company. Meanwhile, an additional Italian company had arrived and moved into positions within Fromagio.

With the right trench cleared, the stormtroops, supported by an MG platoon, assaulted the town.

With the remnants of 5th company (amounting to less than one platoon) holding th right trench, 6th company proceeded per their original attack plan, and moved to attack Fromagio from the West. However, Lt. Colonel Dattoli arrived with another of his battalions MG platoons to the rear of 6th company which forced them to break off their attack to deal with the threat.

Although not pictured, the fighting was fierce. 6th company was badly mauled by the machine guns before they were silencedt. Major Neurath, who had reluctantly moved up to aid 6th company, was killed by none other than Lt. Colonel Dattioli in a dramatic shoot-out. The Lt.Colonel himself being wounded and captured by a squad from 6th company.

Meanwhile, the battle within the town limits raged, with the stormtroops emerging victorious in the end. 

It was a costly win for the Austro-Hungarians. 

Major Neurath (admittedly as much a liability as anything) was killed, as was Hauptmann Hass of 5 company (in the storming of the right trench when it was still held by the Italian machine gun platoon). 5th and 6th company were both nearly wiped out by casualties, as were the stormtroopers. As such, the advance by 2nd battalion on this prong of Sacher Regiment's attack must halt.

On the plus side, the capture of Lt. Dattioli, to join his 2nd in command, Major Lizzio, was something of potentially great value.

The next game will take a look at how 1st battalion did on their advance.

1917 Fictional Strafexpedition

Spring, 1917, Austria-Hungary makes a little-known (read: fictional) second attempt at a strafexpedition...

Following an artillery barrage, elements of the Austro-Hungarian "Sacher" Regiment, 1832nd Schutzen Brigade, attacked the Italian hill-top trench position north of Fromagio. 

Aggressive action by 3rd company of the 501st sturmbattalion and the regiment's 7th company, 2nd battalion, led to the defeat of the defenders (12th company, 3rd battalion, 212th Regiment, "Fagioli" Brigade), including the capture of the battalion's 2nd-in-Command, Major Romeo Lizzio. 

An Italian relief force, composed of 11th company of the 212th regiment, and a heavy machine gun platoon, came under heavy fire. They retreated seeing the trench in enemy hands.

The Austro-Hungarian 8th company, also assigned to the attack, did not see any combat and were delegated to man the trench, while 7th company attended to their wounded. The sturmtruppen were sent rearwards for rest, having accomplished their mission pressed ahead to the next objective. Major Neurath, who never was within rifleshot of an Italian, sent word of his success in capturing the position to his commander. 

The remainder of the battalion proceeded south towards Fromagio.

*******

The scenario was from One Hour Wargames. The others will be as well. I intend to play a 5-game campaign as Neil Thomas suggests in OHW. The rules however are G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. + Contemptible Little Armies. Units are 6-figure companies with a 7th leader figure. Machine gun bases are platoons.

In addition I have created personalities for the leaders of each company, battalion, regiment, and division involved, using a system by Paul Le Long from the pages of an old print edition of Lone Warrior. The system uses percentage values assigned to five stats. Of particular note for this write-up, the personality system has a health stat. So, I decided that if a leader fails his G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. save, after the battle I would roll against their health stat to see if they survive or not.

Major Lizzio failed his save in hand-to-hand, so after the battle I checked vs his health stat (72). He saved, and I thus ruled he was captured.

Hauptman  Philipp Waltz of 7th company failed his save in hand-to-hand and then failed his roll vs his health stat (a lowly 15, apparently he had suffered from longstanding injuries sufferd on the Russian front) and was thus a casualty. 

High health is not a guarantee of survival either. Captain Martino Giannetta, of the Italian 12th company defending the trench, failed his G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. save. His health stat of 85 seemed like shoe-in to recover (albeit he'd be captured). I rolled a 99. He succumbed to his wounds to say the least.

Oh and a final note. One of the stats is Courage. Neurath has a ONE. Hence the jibe at him at the end of the report.