Museum Pictura again and again

I was keen to play this delightful game again after the stress of Gallipoli.  Richard laid it on with all the expansions.  After playing we realized we were doing the exhibiting of pictures wrong and decided to play again. It is not a complex game, but that are a lot of moving parts.

My gallery - The British Museum

Richard's New York Gallery

The art market

Richard has provided this summary and commentary.

Here is the adjusted total broken down by where the points came from:

Main Game: Mark: 221 Richard: 215

Crystal Palace: Mark: 32 Richard: 51

Vernissage: Mark: 66 Richard: 114

For a total of: Mark: 319 Richard: 380

The big difference in the scores in the two expansions all came down to the Patron cards. I don't think we'd managed to pick up a lot of Patrons in previous games, but we sure managed to pick up a big collection each this time. Once I saw the opportunities available for having a lot of Gallerists and statues multiplying the effect of collecting the Patron cards, I made an active effort to get into a position to get the Patrons. That was the biggest factor affecting the final scores.

One might sum up the difference in the museums thusly:

The Soirees organised by the British Museum attracted the wrong crowd, with, mostly, a bunch of freeloading journalists turning up and promising all kinds of press coverage. In the end, we all know they were there for the Champagne and Canapes. Still, they did save 19 points in discard pile penalty.

In contrast, the New York Museum's events attracted the most discerning gallerists who were falling over themselves to be seen with the museum's "A List" patrons whilst admiring the tastefully arranged statues within the museum.

Burgundian Ordonnance versus 100 Years War English

Time for my Burgundians to face Dave's English again.

The Burgundians found the English hiding behind a hill, between a forest and a lake

Both sides advanced.

The English getting in a lucky shot.

With their weight of firepower 

the Burgundians thought they should be doing more damage

to the advancing English, 

but it seemed not...

Even a close range the Burgundians didn't seem to be able to hit anything.

Charge!

The English went first and routed the ineffective Burgundian artillery,

and pushing back the Burgundian pikes.

But the Burgundian general charged in with his knights,

but failed to make any noticeable impact.

At least the Burgundian archers had found their target.

English billmen devastate the Burgundian pike,

as the English knights charge on the flank.

The Burgundian centre has collapsed or rather vanished.

However, the Burgundian general has broken through

and the other Burgundian knights are getting ready to charge.

The battle is in the balance...

Both sides are close to breaking...

A draw!

A Near Run Thing on Gallipoli

Richard and I played the second scenario that comes with this game.  It was indeed a near run thing with the game going to the last turn, last move, last combat and last card to give the Turk (Richard) a victory.

Richard provided the following commentary.

The Turkish Assault scenario was certainly a bloody affair.

The Turks certainly had some great cards in turn 1 which set them up for a chance at winning, despite which it all came down to card advantage in the final close combat, so a very close run thing, which is what the scenario is called.

On turn 1 the Turks definitely benefitted from having a Co-ordinated attack card and the Keep Moving card which allowed two Turkish rounds in a row. This allowed them to clear Russell's Top after a series of artillery bombardments which weakened the defenders who were then overwhelmed by a Turkish assault. Coupled with Night Attack played immediately after, this limited the British ships' ability to interfere with the assault on Turn 1.

On turn 2, with yet another Co-ordinated attack card to play, clearing out one of the British ships with the Submarines Attack card as well as pinching a card through play of espionage, turn 2 was also a good one for the Turks. The crucial element, however, was playing the Underground Mine card on Lone Pine and removing the wire. This allowed a steady flow of Turkish units to move directly to Lone Pine, something which couldn't be done with adjacent spaces which were all wired and meant the Turks were kept at bay or entered the spaces in insufficient strength.

Turn 3, was all about shooting it out and getting as many units into Lone Pine as possible.

A few gamey atrocities were committed by both sides, with the ANZACs stripping ANZAC Cove of defenders and the Turks responding in kind moving a couple of units out of Gabe Tepe.

All in all, a very intense game, which is what it's meant to be I guess.

The Game itself:

This campaign is quite difficult to game I think. They certainly did a better job than the GMT Game Gallipoli of a few years back. I had that and sold it before even punching out the counters. Very drab looking and just not inspiring to look at.

The only thing I really dislike is the limited number of remnant counters. I'm not sure of the rationale behind this. I am going to post a question on BGG to find out the designer's thoughts.

Also, it seems like the British naval firepower is overwhelming strong. I don't remember reading anything which emphasised this, but that might just mean I haven't read enough about the nitty gritty of the fighting to remember it.

Otherwise, it's a very entertaining game (if somewhat stressful), the counters and map are nice and it does play very quickly. The close combat card system adds a final nerve-wracking element to game play and almost nothing is ever really a done deal.

Post Script

The questions re British naval power and the use of remnants were quickly answered in Boardgame Geek  https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3525126/article/46192326#46192326

Later Seleucid versus The Tudors

Time for my Seleucids to face Mark B's terrible Tudors.

Seleucids won the scouting and found the Tudors between a lake and some broken ground.

The Seleucids plod forward pushing their skirmishers to hopefully draw the enemy fire.

The Cretans certainly did and got blasted away for their troubles.

The Tudor skirmishers got stuck into the Asiatic archers.

The scythed chariots got blown away,

and it took the elephants and the imitation legionnaires

to get rid of the Tudor skirmishers.

The Tudor longbow started to rain arrows down on the Seleucid infantry.

The Seleucid infantry closed with the Tudor longbow and came off worse for wear.

The Tudor infantry charged but just couldn't make contact.

That gave the Seleucids time to reorder before the Tudor onslaught and decisively beat them off!

As their infantry started to fall apart, the Tudor knights started to advance.

The Seleucid cataphracts suffered severely from the enemy bombards.

The Seleucid general and his cataphracts might have routed,

but his army prevailed!

Stolberg Corridor - Observations

Ever since I acquired the Command Decision rules that contained a campaign for the Stolberg Corridor, it was a project I wanted to do.  This has now been completed using the Rommel rules and worked well.

The campaign I created using the base material, additional information and adapting for the Rommel rules had a few challenges and this post is based on these and other observations from the game. It also serves to provide closure and to publish the scenario.

Given the 15mm scale and ground scale of one hex is 1 km there would always be a need for some suspension of disbelief, but in looking at the images the labels are a bit too obvious unfortunately.  They could probably be smaller and on a darker base.

The Rommel rules worked well over a nine-day campaign game although we stopped after day eight, nine sessions in total.  The games changed over time and were also made interesting by the need to plan for the next day.

The rules for pillboxes and dragon's teeth also worked fine.

The use of ops dice to provide support points at the end of the day also worked out fine.

The reduction in available tactics was okay, but events could possibly need some tinkering.  

The size of the battlefield was manageable.

I have updated my documents for this scenario, and they can be found here:

    Stolberg Corridor Campaign for Rommel

    Stolberg Corridor Campaign Labels

The AAR for each session can be found in these posts:

• Day one
• Day two
• Day three
• Day four
• Day four and day five
• Day five completed
• Day six
• Day seven
• Day eight

More Rescued French Napoleonic Infantry

Not sure of the brand, but they had a Minifigs feel about them.  On the base of the infantry figure is the code 30F while the flagbearer has the code 25F which the drummer also seems to have (maybe reflecting a command set?).  The Napoleonic 15mm Wargamer | Facebook consensus was Minifigs.

I rebuilt one flagpole and was going to replace some broken bayonets but thought better of it.  They look good as they are.

I was particularly taken with the drummer trudging along.

My camera really brightens the blues.

UPDATE

Thanks to James we have the definitive reference for these figures.

Assault on Gallipolli Again

After our previous game we both had some new strategies to try out.  The ANZAC landings got delayed due to beach congestion caused by Turkish remnants rushing to block them.  They were eventually cleared and three victory locations secured.  The game then settled into a battle for Gaba Tepe (bottom left-hand corner).  The ANZACs would blow the Turks away only to have the Turks sneak reinforcements into the area in the nick of time.

It certainly was a fight to the death,

although I didn't need to play that card in the end.

Thematic Byzantine versus Later Abbasid Arab

In a Basic Impetus 2.0 Great Battles game were all the players are called Mark.  Mark B was the Byzantines, and the other Mark was the Arabs. I played God, although I did not declare my favoured faith - the dice decided!

Arabs on the left, Byzantines on the right.

Very similar armies in composition and deployment.

A patch of difficult terrain one on side of the field

and some broken terrain at the other

The Byzantines send their superior light cavalry forward to attack the Arab wings.

It doesn't get off to a good start.

The firepower of the Arab medium cavalry is a bit too much,

especially on the Byzantine right.

The cavalry combats continue as the Arab centre starts to slowly advance,

after brushing aside some Byzantine skirmishers.

The Byzantine cavalry seems to be in trouble.

The Byzantine right flank has broken,

but their left flank has recovered from its initial set back.

In the centre the Byzantine archers are pouring arrows into the advancing Arabs.

With what looks like half their army routed,

the Byzantines are really in trouble.

It is down to their infantry to hold until their cavalry

can crash into the Arab right flank.

But the Byzantine losses have been too high and their morale breaks.

Later Seleucids versus Early Swiss

A good thousand years separated my army and Rob's Swiss.  How would things go?

The Seleucids found the Swiss deployed behind a difficult area on the left

and a broken patch in the centre.

Best to wait,

but maybe the skirmishers could do some damage?

A slight step forward and attempt to get the chariots moving

after the Cretans successfully shot up the Swiss light horse.

The elephants supported by the Thureopkoroi were unable to hurt the Swiss Halberdiers,

but the chariots proved very spikey and successfully repelled an attack.

The Swiss attacked but bounced off the Seleucids.

But they weren't put off and charged again,

with slightly better results.

The chariots are having a merry time riding around doing nothing.

The Seleucid general with his cataphracts have done well,

but the elephants were forced from the field.

The real fight is between the Seleucid phalanx

 and the Swiss general and his halberdiers.

And a fight it was!

Are the chariots in striking range?

Yes, but they did no damage.

However it didn't matter,

the Seleucid phalanx had fought the Swiss to a draw.

Assault on Gallipoli

Another new game to try with Richard.  Given I hadn't read the rules and was playing the ANZACs it worked remarkedly well.  Reminded me a bit of the Stalingrad game, but with cards for random events/bonuses and an interesting combat system.

Set up.  Beautiful looking game.

Coloured cubes represent victory locations.

ANZACs need six to win.

Units become exhausted after they move or take hits.

Then there is combat which is about to occur in the above image, round The Nek and the Sphinx.

Turn three and the ANZACs look like they have won,

but one combat remains.

The critical two cube area.

It was close, but the Turks wrested it back,

a good point at which to end the test game.

Looking forward to playing it again.