The CACCN Tournament 2016

Oh well, my attempt at a table failed. Not sure how to do one on this board.

"On other thing struck me after the game. It was just how few units elsewhere were used or even moved."

I do find that that can be a problem for players. When an opponent strikes in one place, the instinctive reaction is to strike back in the same area. But sometimes shifting the focus to other areas can make that same opponent wary that he can't simply ignore the rest of the battlefield to press home his attack. I know when I was first playing C&C, that was the way things usually went, but now I think taking a deep breath, surveying the situation, and then reacting where it's most efficient can sometimes deflect from an otherwise hopeless defence. Of course, that all surmises I have some decent cards for elsewhere on the battlefield too.

Yes, its a good conundrum. If you omit or do not reply in the area where damage is occurring it can quickly turn from bad to disaster! But at the same time you need as you say to take the initiative somewhere else to make your oppressor think about his own priorities. I do have a tactic of my own I try to do to combat this. Sometimes successful, other times not!

Just to add my comments to Vince's AAR. This scenario is a tough one for the French but not impossible however to go so far behind so early on made it a tough job just harder. My plan was to re-align my troops on my right flank use artillery to soften the Spanish up and then launch the Cavalry. This needed some time to arrange and time I did not get as Vince launched his attack first on the same flank. Vince getting a second Gorilla warfare counter was unfortunate, I had some good cards, in fact I would go as far to say I had better cards during the game. When the Spanish launched the attack I had to use the Cavalry charge card even though I knew he would stop it with his Gorilla counter but I had not banked on him having the counterattack car which meant not only missing a turn but he had the use of the Cavalry charge against me. This was the game turner for me, I had to put to units into square which meant when I played my Elan card I only got four die rolls none of which were Cavalry. The rest of the game I was playing catch up, I still concentrated on that flank has I believe I had more chance there than attacking the strongly held ridge on the other flank, also the card in my hand were centre or right flank cards .
There was a spirited little fightback at the end but I was well beaten by good aggressive play. Well done Vince.

Bangla,

I hear what you say, would have loved to launch an attack on the other flank, but the cards dictated otherwise and I'm sure Vince would have carried on munching through what remained of my right flank anyway. I also needed to get some banners for two reasons, one for tournament points and the other was for my own morale to lose 8-0 would be very embarrasing.

Wayne
Yes, sounds like literally a no-win situation for you. Funnily enough, in my game against Alan S, he began with an attack on the French left, I had loads of cards on that flank, so we did the opposite of your game, and with the opposite results!
And you're right about getting "banners on the board". These tourneys have a way of encouraging tactics to score points, and a 3-8 defeat can always be turned round by an 8-2 win when you play the reverse match. Hopefully Vince will go along with that !!!!!!

I also hear what Wayne is saying about the prospect of an 8-0. No way would I want that against my name and I too would start collecting banners to retain some dignity. I'll have to remember that for the reverse game of this scenario against him in July

There will come a time in a game though in this competition somewhere in which a player will have to make a tough decision. Will he either collect some quick cheap banners against knackered units or does he go for a more considered option that still gives him an outside chance of winning later down the line but he may lose the shot at the banners.

Here you go , Vince. Basic and I haven't done any sizing but this should work. We can do a quick SKYPE session so I can show you if you want... OR I can do it for a few banners bonus each game!

PLAYER	G	BF	BA	DIF	WINS
Tony Reynolds	2	16	4	+12	2
Vince Hughes	2	16	6	+10	2
Alan Theobald	2	10	12	-2	1
Alan Sawyer	2	10	13	-3	1
Wayne Baumber	2	8	16	-8	0
Tony Langston	2	7	16	-9	0

LOL - I KNEWWWWW you'd do it. Yes please, let me know the format I should use please and let me know wehn you want to Skype that chat. Well done big man.

CACCN Tournament Result: March’s Game EGGMUHL DAY 2 FRENCH RIGHT

Bangla Jowls (French) 8-7 Vince Hughes (Austrians)

I apologise in advance for the long report, but it was such an engrossing game, its hard to convey that without some detail. It’s funny how a tournament game rather than a one-off game can put a different mentality of play in a gamer (or at least this one). Had I been playing this as a one-off match, then obviously I’d have been concerned on simply how to win with the underdog Austrians as far as this scenario’s results have gone in the past. Instead, knowing there would be a re-match with sides reversed, I set to thinking about the banner count. In the end, I DID lose, but oh what an exciting time I had doing so and was also very pleased with the final tally. The strange thing is. Both players BOTH still need to win the re-match to make sure of an overall win. There is little wriggle-room.

Back to the battle and on first glance there are a number of issues for the Austrian. The frightening looking clump of 3 x French Cuirassier units on the left. The rather open centre that may leak French units going off-board for banners, and a weak looking defence against the French right, again where some look like they may exit. Add to this the rather spread out and unsupported nature of the Austrian units and things look glum …. Especially with 4 Command cards. So of course, there is a bit of a wish list for certain things at the start of the game, like for the French to have no Centre cards!

Unsurprisingly, the French kicked off in the centre and fired on the sole Austrian line unit out there in range waiting to be hit. They escaped with 2 or 3 blocks and were forced to retreat. Action then switched very much to the French Left where Bangla advanced two of his Cuirassier units and adjusted his artillery position amongst other infantry movement there. Seeing the armoured beasts come forward, I decided to attack and get the first roll in against these heavy cavalry monsters with the Austrian Light cavalry on that flank. They went in combined with artillery fire and damaged the two French Cuirassier units. They hit back and likewise gave the Austrian lights some damage. In the end throes of this cavalry tussle, the Austrian lights managed to eliminate the two cuirassier units to the loss of one of their own units. A good exchange I thought. A French Line & Light were also eliminated during this period whilst another, down to two blocks with a leader in tow scurried off out of range. The Austrian infantry had also taken damage and quite a few had been forced to retreat from the centre but were using Leaders at the rear as rallying points to avoid the full retreat distance. At 4-1 up, it was impressive for the Austrians, but a look across the battlefield had me wondering where there were enemy that I could knock off without exposing the weak line I had across my centre and left. The French were still very well positioned to support each other. This meant attacking one would draw fire and wrath from other enemy units at a ratio that the odds did not support.

It was time for the French comeback. The battle swung to the middle and to their right. Here they were able to bring better fire values and more importantly, better movement opportunities. The ‘Forward’ command card proved to be a useful asset across the battlefield for the French and it began to feel a bit of a whack-a-mole session for my Austrians as I tried to respond as best I could with the 4 card hand assigned (thank heavens there were no squares!). The French slowly ground their way back into the reckoning, eliminating Austrian infantry units with their fire and melee. They had worked their way up on the Austrian left and the line there was thinning, being pushed back and eroded. Both sides claimed some ‘bad luck’ as people do with this game. Bangla forgot to move two units before he fired as he got ahead of himself in the excitement. But before that I saw a Fire & Hold card that I hoped would bludgeon this French advance produce only 3 infantry hits from 15 rolled dice. That was quite decisive for me as it was the big chance to really reduce his attack. As the game came to its near end, the French were now leading with a 7-5 count as a result of their grinding play and had a Cuirassier unit one hex from the board edge aside an Austrian battalion mass. To try and stop the exit and therefore loss, the Mass attacked and rolled a Flag pushing the horseman one hex back and delaying exit for another turn. At the same time an Austrian Line unit attacked a 1 block French Line unit to push the score to 7-6. The cuirassiers moved forward again and this time were on the board edge giving the Austrians one last chance before the heavies exited. The same Austrian Line unit attacked a 2 block French Light infantry and again eliminated the enemy to make it 7-7. This left what was a real desperate last gasp shot by a 2 block Austrian line firing at a 3 block French Line with a Leader. The hope was to get a hit and miraculously score a 2 x sabre Leader hit. But the shot missed and Bangla gleefully exited his heavies for the thoroughly exciting 8-7 win. This was one of the best games I’ve played in C&C Naps. Loved it. Obviously Bangla can produce the view from the French side. As we all know, what one sees from their table edge is often not the same over the other side.