Yet More Wildcatters

This time Simon was green, Jeff red, Richard yellow and myself blue.

Jeff and Richard scored well due to their accumulated Wildcatters.

An AAR from Richard:

Another excellent session of Wildcatters. An

extremely close game, you probably couldn't get much closer than an 8

point spread between first and third (Simon was still in Island mode for

this game I feel 😂). The scores were very high which is further

evidence of everyone playing strategically. There was always lots of

helpful advice being shared amongst at least 3 participants each game

which is always nice to see......

With the benefit of hindsight, the cosy Wildcatter deal early in the

game might not have been the best option. Had Mark won one additional

Wildcatter he would have won the game by 2 points. (Jeff drops 8 to 102,

and Mark gains 4 to 104, which would have made the scores 104,102 and

100). All speculative though as every different action creates a

distinct set of new possibilities. The thing which I've noticed is that

Mark is more averse to bidding too much on Wildcatters, whilst Jeff and

I tend to be more cavalier with bidding. This is also reflected in the

fact that Mark rarely gets into a position of having to take out a share

loan.

So this is yet another area where everyone kind of needs to keep their

eye on players accumulating Wildcatters and at least forcing them to pay

as much as possible if they seem determined to get them. Strategic 

choices to perhaps deny other players the ability to bid unopposed need

to be considered, especially late game.

I think everyone is well attuned to the need to pick up consolidation

chips and I think Mark is best at doing that finishing with the highest

totals in this category across most games he has played in. Mark is also

best at managing his own shares and rarely has take out a loan.

Whilst taking a loan, in and of itself, isn't too much of a big deal,

the fact that a reserve of your own shares must be accumulated and oil

deliveries held back means that, avoiding a loan is probably the best

strategy. This has hampered my game for the last couple of outings. I'm

going to try and improve in this area in the future. Perhaps I could get

some tips on how to do that....

Everyone has also worked out the late turns refinery build and deliver

strategy, although I think this one is yet to prove itself a winning

strategy as it does allow the other players to potentially piggy back

and pick up valuable delivery points. It really does need a careful

scrutiny of what oil other players have available to execute this to

maximum advantage.

There hasn't yet been a game breaking strategy emerge, which is good as

it keeps the game engaging and re-playable. You don't really find out

how well you've done until the final count.

Wildcatters is definitely a star in my game po

Osprey Campaign Series 59 - Vittoria 1813

I started reading this at the same time as I was reading the Donald Featherstone book.  This one was more to my liking.  Only very minor criticism is that the text under the illustrations was a straight repeat from the main body of the text, so nothing new was added.

The book is to the usual Osprey standard, providing photos, reproductions, new artwork and decent maps.  This is no exception.  Some of the authors photos are a little obscure and I have noted this with my own photos.  Black and white does not enhance the quality.  This same is true of the photos that were in the book "Wellington - The Crossing of the Gaves and the Battle of Orthez" that I reviewed back in June (the start of this Napoleonic Peninsula odyssey). 

What I really liked about this book, in contrast to Featherstone, was that its section on wargaming was much better focussed.   It also pointed me in the direction of Paddy Griffith's Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun which I have now purchased and more importantly started reading. 

The tricky thing with wargaming this battle is the allied outflanking move which came as a surprise to the French having traversed terrain that was considered impassable and the subsequent river crossings that involved undefended and defended bridges and fords, combined with the fighting on the other flank in the broken terrain on the hillside.

The outflanking move can be based on unit arrival on the tabletop with perhaps restrictions on French deployment and relocation beforehand.

The river crossings and the fighting in difficult terrain need for further consideration.  The first step will be the refining of the map that I obtained from the book Military Dress of the Peninsula War.

Wargaming In History - The Peninsular War by Donald Featherstone

Published in 1991 and I've probably had it since then, but only now got around to reading it as part of my ongoing research into wargaming aspects of the Peninsula War.  You'd think this book would be perfect, but initial impressions are less so.

The introduction to the Napoleonic period is too general and should focus specifically on the Peninsula War.  The same applies to the chapters on infantry and cavalry, brief as they are, they cover aspects not relevant to the Peninsula, such as the British cavalry at Waterloo.  What is missing are those things unique about the Peninsula War as distinct from other areas of the Napoleonic Wars.

There are references to wargames rules, but without specifying any rule set, except to a figure scale of 1 to 10 (page 17, rationale being that this is "essential to have correct tactical groupings of companies").  My preferred rules have 1 infantry figure represents 120 men.  So the subsequent discussions are at a lower level than what I game at.

There is a discussion of creating wargame rules, but again for the whole Napoleonic period, however there are mechanisms the author stresses that could be used to create the troop profiles unique to the Peninsula War.  A lot of that feeds into unit characteristics as I know them in Napoleon's Battles.  The author did mention WRG rules and it could be that those rules have generic units (as in veterans are all the same regardless of nationality).  I should go and find my copy of those rules to confirm that but will rely on my vague memory and that the WRG rules cover the whole Horse and Musket period.

The book does provide decent summaries of possibly the major and some minor battles of the Peninsula, but only those that have a British presence.  The author upfront states his bias toward the British army.  You would certainly have to say British troops and the generalship of Wellington was superior.  Unfortunately, some of the maps are too fine in detail to be useful (it is an A5 booklet, and the old way of drawing contours quickly fills in the spaces with clutter).

There are a lot of factors in the Peninsula War that don't readily appear on the tabletop, specifically appalling weather, appalling terrain, frequent surprise attacks (aided by the weather or terrain) and poor intelligence.

One thing (page54) that does intrigue me and would seem to have particular value for campaigns is his idea of Fighting Assessment Charts.

Supply can have additional, obvious effects such as cavalry being poorly horsed or even having to fight dismounted, artillery or infantry being low or out of ammunition.

All in all this book was bit of a disappointment, especially being from such a noted author.

My next book has been inspirational and given me another lead to follow as well.

More Wildcatters

Richard (yellow), Jeff (red), Stefan (green) and myself (blue) played this challenging game on Thursday.

Final scores were Mark 80, Jeff 60, Richard 75 and Stefan 24.

AAR provided by Richard

Quite a brutal outcome in the wash.

A very close affair even with me snatching defeat from the jaws of

victory with the wrong decision on the final play. I just needed to have

placed a refinery and that would have netted 6 points for a 1 point

victory. Jeff's second loan cost him the game on one analysis, however,

he would have had fewer oil deliveries to continents (he was in 1st

place on three of them for a total of 48 points) so it was give and

take. Mark's victory was grounded in Consolidation chips (44 - more than

half his final score) which meant he was most adept at being able to

manage his portfolio of shares. Stefan fell into the Canada trap once

again and sabotaged his ability to repay a loan, but turned out to be

the King maker in the game.

This was the first game which played very smoothly and relatively

quickly (for the most part) and allowed for some proper strategy. This

is also the first game where all the Consolidation chips were purchased

and where all continents were delivered to, another sign that everyone

was playing strategically.

This was also the first (almost) error free game we've played. There was

an unfortunate error in the Wildcatter auction on the last turn. You

can't participate unless you have a pump jack in the area. Only I had a

pump jack so therefore only I would have been able to participate.

Additionally in thinking about that last auction, I think we will need a

house rule for share loans. Theoretically you can take a loan for shares

at any point in the game according to the rules. This could lead to the

ludicrous situation where on the last round Stefan (assuming he had

actually been eligible) and I could have bid for Wildcatters into

infinity knowing we could get a loan to cover the final bid (if there

ever was one), so the game would never end.  There needs to be a

mechanism to prevent this.

I really like this game a lot. On one level it is very basic with a

concise set of rules. With only 7 plays as the active player and the

need to feed off the other players it really is so brutally punishing of

even a single mistake which makes it so very challenging. The new 3D

components make it look really nice on the table too which adds to the

experience. (There should be bonus points for being able to place a

fully loaded pump jack on the board without spilling it 😂).

I feel we are at the stage now with it that the rules are (mostly) down*

and we can focus on implementing a strategy which does make the game

much more enjoyable. Having said that, I feel we do need to be more

diligent and follow the sequence of play strictly to avoid making mistakes.

*The main rule still not understood by some people is grasping the

difference between drilling in a new oil field, i.e. putting down the

first pump jack vs developing an oil field.

I hope you enjoy playing Wildcatters as much as I do, as I intend to

schedule it in the future on a regular basis. I feel there is a lot more

to explore with it.

New Kingdom Egyptians versus New Kingdom Egyptians

Some of my Carthaginians and Arabs stood in for a New Kingdom Egyptian army to face Karl's New Kingdom Egyptians in a practice game for the club's Basic Impetus competition.  I will refer to my army as the Pseudo Egyptians.

The Pseudo Egyptians out scouted the Egyptians, 

finding them deployed on a range of gentle hills with a wood to their left flank.

The Egyptian chariots on the left flank advanced and suffered for it.

The Pseudo Egyptians shuffled their chariots to their left.

The Egyptians advance their centre.

The Pseudo Egyptians also advance their centre.

The Egyptian chariots move forward and suffer for it.

The first clash goes badly for the Egyptians who either crumble or fail to contact.

It will take a while for the Pseudo Egyptian chariots to rejoin the fight,

but their infantry has carried the centre and the Egyptians flee.

Blucher - The Battle of Oslo

Part of the 2026 Nordic Film Festival, this excellent movie almost got away from me.  I was really pleased that I had the chance to see it, front row with all the full-on sound effects. 

Told in two interleaved parts: the 1946 military inquiry (shot in black and white) and the actual engagement in April 1940 (shot in colour)

The location and atmosphere really brought things to life as a setting to the command decisions faced by Colonel Birger Eriksen who was in charge of the Oscarsborg Fortress.

Being in the cinema with its superior sound really made an impression as the big guns in the fortress fired and the subsequent air attack by the Luftwaffe on the fortress.

A fascinating bit of history, but also with lessons for our time, particularly around being prepared.

Until 1940 Norway had been at peace for 120 years.

Railways of the World

I had played Railroad Tycoon thirty years ago and this game seemed very similar, but with extra chrome.  Of course it seems similar, it is just the latest version of that game (although for me I always think of Railroad Tycoon as the 1990 PC game of that name).

Anyway, Richard laid on this game for Russell (green), Jeff (dark red), Peter (purple) and myself (black).  Richard was yellow.

Very interesting dynamic in that earning peaks midway through at $25,

but as you get more VPs past 48 income starts to decline.

A serious problem if you have a lot of bonds to service.

Best of all this game is available on boardgamearena.com, but it is a premium game.