MT03 The '45

Final
Game 1
Gonzo (Government) 6 banners
Samim (Jacobite) 4 banners
Government forces able to take building and hold it, repulsing several Jacobite assaults. Jacobites try to cross river to attack Govt Cav, but get killed at rivers edge.

Game 2
Gonzo (Jacobite) 5 banners
Samim (Government) 6 banners
Government Cav crosses river and attacks on their right flank. Several Jacobites head for hills and Government takes building leading 5-2 with VP at start of their next round for building. Last gasp highlander charge Govt Cav in river. A Jacobite highlander rr3 survives but Brit cav on rr misses r5, the leader misses r2, then another cav misses r2. Govt wins on start of their turn, but the 3 extra banners put Gonzo over the top for the victory.
So many ways Samim should have won this match but luck intervened as it often does in this game. I think this match took longer to complete than the actual rebellion lasted.

Game 1: Gonzo Jacobite 7 banners
Jason Government 4 banners
Government thrust on their left leads to disaster with 2 Cav, leadr and highlander in tanks. Crippled Jacobite units able to hide in back. Government thrust on left repulsed for win. Center strangely quiet.
Both of us forgot +2 rr bonus for cav. Played same way for second game.

Game 2
Gonzo (Government) 0 (7)
Justin (Jacobite) 1
Jacobite charge did not go well. Extended and depleted Highlanders lay down their arms.
Gonzo over Justin 14-5
Thanks for match to Justin

Semi-Final 1
Togan Alpwe (Govt) 7 banners,  26 blocks lost
Mark G (Jacobite) 5 banners,  28 blocks lost

It was mostly a game of trying to keep the battle line intact. That 2 of the Jacobite Highlanders did flew off the field quite early, helped the Government win.


At the End the Semi- Finals games were really decided on a single final roll, İt could very easly gone the other way at any given time. Very fun 2 games.

Thanks to Mark G as always creating all this tournaments.

 

Semi-Final 2
Mark McG (Govt) 7 banners, 27 blocks lost
Toganalper (Jacobite) 6 banners, 28 blocks lost

Frustrating game of failure to hit, just give flags to the Jacobite who ran and rallied.
Repulsed the initial charge of the Highlanders to take a 5-2 lead, which trickled away after I lost a leader to 2 sabers and a row of bad rally rolls.
 

Sorry, late report.

Jim Dauphinais  Jacobite 3 banners  8 blocks lost

Greg O  Government 5 banners 14 blocks lost

 

Despite 2 unplayed matches, the Semi-final spots can be determined

Please see the schedule, and play the scenario twice, once as each side.
Highest combined banner score wins, with least blocks lost as the tie breaker

Round 5 Falkirk (Stage 2)

EZPickins (Government) 6 banners 21 blocks lost
JimDauphinais (Jacobites) 4 banners  12 blocks lost

Jim sent the Highlanders forward as soon as he could. My Regulars formed a line and withstood his initial assaults killing two units. His second attempt did better killing three of my Regulars. My Light Calvary were now at risk so I played Cavalry Charge to get them to temporary safer positions. This worked out as I had hoped drawing one of the Highlanders to the flank and out of the main action while the other was able to escape as my  Regulars took out other. This left it to his Lowlanders to get the final kills but they were unable to get the hits or flags over several turns of long range fire as his cards ran out.

A tough game for the Jacobites depending on the card draw. Jim did the best with what he had and had the Lowlanders been more accurate it would have ended differently.
Thanks you Jim for a good game  as always.

 

wrote:

Justin countered with Advance Center, pairing MacLeod with a Highlander unit to cut straight up the middle, retreating one of my HLs and then killing it off with the bonus melee.  However,  Highland Charge allowed me to bring four units to bear against MacLeod, cutting off his retreat path to boot.  The net result of my 16-step attack against a trapped unit?  One dead Jacobite Lowlander, four more dead Jacobite steps, and a mere one step loss for the doughty MacLeod clan.

 

 

Round 3 - Justin vs JR in JR9 Inverurie

Justin (Government) - 5 banners won, 10 blocks lost

JR (Jacobite) - 4 banners won, 16 blocks lost

My sweet run of great cards and dice came to an end against Justin.  My opening hand had the useful At the Quick Step along with the not-so-useful Cavalry Charge plus three left flank cards, where the Jacobites are weakest.  Quick Step brought my right into contact with Justin's center, and three flags sent a Lowlander fleeing to burn off a step as it bounced against the board edge.  These lads found their courage in the knick of time to pass their two-dice Rally roll, a moment that would ultimately decide the game.

Justin countered with Advance Center, pairing MacLeod with a Highlander unit to cut straight up the middle, retreating one of my HLs and then killing it off with the bonus melee.  However,  Highland Charge allowed me to bring four units to bear against MacLeod, cutting off his retreat path to boot.  The net result of my 16-step attack against a trapped unit?  One dead Jacobite Lowlander, four more dead Jacobite steps, and a mere one step loss for the doughty MacLeod clan.

That little catastrophe allowed Justin to use Line Command to prepare for an exit (the Government gets points for units withdrawn off the back line once four banners have been scored) and an Initiative card to continue MacLeod's killing spree.  He took down another Jacobite unit but MacLeod and his blackguards went down to a battleback on their bonus melee.  The score was nominally tied at 3-3 but I was in a pickle with four Government units waiting to walk off for the win.

Jacobite Rising helped me kill an unfortunate Government Militia unit in the center, putting me at four banners, but Justin's ensuing Line Command granted him his fifth and winning banner with the withdrawal.  Had that first Lowlander failed its Rally roll, I'd have won, but alas it was not to be.

I can't complain about this one as I've stolen a couple victories that I really had no business winning.  Justin was far more deserving, having played a patient game, and rightly put his trust in MacLeod to buy some time for the Government to set up a withdrawal.  Nifty little scenario, fast and fragile with a five banner threshold.   

Round 4 - Greg vs JR in JR10 Falkirk (Stage 1)

Greg (Government) - 3 banners won, 30 blocks lost

JR (Jacobite) - 7 banners won, 11 blocks lost

Another strange encounter on the field of Falkirk.  This was nasty, brutish, and short.  I had two Infantry Attack cards in my opening hand, and used the first to send the three Highlanders on the right forward to engage the Sassenach cavalry.  As expected, Greg Retired & Reformed, with only one step lost.  My second Infantry Attack was considerably more successful, vaporizing Greg's Militia, killing a light cav that failed its RR roll, and also eliminating a Regular rushed over from the center as reinforcement.

From there, my Highlanders did what they do best, sticking to the high ground when they could and charging downhill at targets of opportunity.  Repeated Government attempts to dislodge them came up short - I only retreated once all game.  I managed to activate these three every turn - they gradually melted away but gave far more than they got.  I was up four banners to two with the Chief of the MacDonald Clan leading a two step unit when Greg sent two damaged Regulars after him.  My Scotsmen survived, killing one unit on a Battleback.  I finished the other on my ensuing turn, so Greg sent his remaining cavalry after me, two full-strength units.  They produced nothing but sword hits and ignorable flags; MacDonald returned fire with two flags, sending a leaderless unit to the board edge to lose two steps and then fail its Rally roll for my seventh banner.

This was ugly, but at least it was quick.  Great cards for both of us, but the dice were all my way.  These Highlanders are a real handful when they get a full head of steam.

 

wrote:

Just to head off a reminder from Mark, EZPickens and I have our game scheduled for the 9th and gottoman and I have our game scheduled for the 13th.

Jim

I'm struck by a sudden irony. Part of my work life is collecting and summarising performance reports, getting reports from work areas about what they have achieved. Strangely, I get email like this pretty regularly, colleagues letting me know when to expect reports.

But I've only just realised I have essentially made my hobby into a version of my work!   That's frightening..

good thing I play the games as well! 

Round 5 - Gonzo Joe vs JR in JR11 Falkirk (Stage 2)

Gonzo Joe (Government) - 5 banners won, 27 blocks lost

JR (Jacobite) - 6 banners won, 22 blocks lost

Wow, what a crazy game.  Joe sensed a coming storm and opened with a low-powered card to slide his left-most forces a bit toward his right, while some cavalry occupied the village on the Government left.  I in turn played Steal a March to advance ten units on my center and right.  Joe performed some light musketry before I unleashed At the Quick Step, for a further eight units, coming into contact all along the line.  Losses were moderate but we were now fully engaged.

Despite my advantage in numbers, Joe drew first blood, eliminating a frisky Highlander unit, and used his cav to keep my right flank at bay.  Joe hit me with Inspired Leadership Right along with the very cool Cavalry Strike & Run to tidy his line and pick off some Scotsmen, but I returned the favor with Counter-Attack; a battle-back cost me a unit of Regulars but I saw off two Government Regulars as well.

King & Country served Joe well, eliminating another Highlander, but I played *another* Counter-Attack, eliminating a Cavalry unit pinned against the boardedge but missing its accompanying leader.  The banner count was 3-3 but my card-cupboard was starting to look bare.

Joe dressed his lines, actually advancing a one-step cav to give it a chance to evade.  I replied with Forward, and was able to eliminate the cav (but not its leader) with ranged fire, and killed off a Regular with no room for retreat (though again, its leader survived).  I was now up 5-3.

Joe used Cavalry Charge to order a leader-led Highlander forward to eliminate a one-stepper, and moved on to inflict a couple more losses - as Joe said, not bad for horseless cavalry.  We then reached a weird point - Joe *finally* played a Scout, and killed off a two-step Highlander for his fifth banner.  Our reading of the rules said the Time Pressure banner due Joe from Scout applied at the end of the turn, so the fact he killed a unit with it prevented him from scoring his sixth and final banner.  

I was pretty desperate at this point, with just Advance Right, Advance Left, and Line Volley in my hand.  The right flank was useless, and my left flank was away from the action but I was able to use Advance Left to get two Lowlander units within long range of Joe's troops.  His forward-most boys were all down a pip or two so he didn't dare withdraw for fear of the scenario special rule demanding a Rally roll for retrograde movement.  He used Forward and Infantry Ranged Bonus to knock a step off one of my Lowlanders.  Down to my last card, I used Line Volley against a three-step unit.  By another special rule, Volley bonuses didn't apply due to heavy rain.   My first shot was three dice - two Infantry symbols.  Down to my last roll, a 3-step Lowlander rolling a single die...Infantry!  That killed the unit for my sixth and final banner.  If my math is right, I had about a 1.5% chance of winning on the last card - Joe was robbed.

This is a strange but interesting scenario.  I think I played a good hand poorly, and was bailed out by my dice in the end.  Also, we forgot to deduct a die for movement for about half the game, a mistake which favored me, in my opinion.  Joe did well with so-so cards; if that Scout had shown up a turn earlier, the win would've been his.  It was an enjoyable, tense game, but I don't think the better player won.






 

Round 1
toganalper (jacobites) :6 banners; 10 blocks lost
gotigerssc 2 banners; 29 blocks lost

The Jacobites tried first to attack from their right flank, but they had some cowards with them.  The government looked very willing to fight and initially were able to rally all the governmental troops, whereas Mc Donald first flea from the field and his units run away at full strenght.   But as the day progressed,  finally the Jacobites were able to secure the field with an infantry attack. The government tried to increase the damage of the JBs and win some banners with a line command but actually were routed  during the battle backs and  lost the battle on their turn.

 

Just to head off a reminder from Mark, EZPickens and I have our game scheduled for the 9th and gottoman and I have our game scheduled for the 13th.

Jim

Round 3 - rjvonline (Jacobites) 5 (3 blocks lost) - ezpickins (Govt) 0 (13 blocks lost)

A 2-turn battle. I start with Line Command on my right, capture a Building and force a lowlander unit to retreat. I forget I have Infantry Melee Bonus, roll poorly against the Gvt Highlanders, and take 1 loss on the battleback. The Govt reaction costs me another 2 blocks on the same Highlander unit, but it survives and does not have to retreat. In the second turn, I start in possession of 1 building (1 VP), play Infantry attack, even with my 1-block Highland unit, and proceed to eliminate 2 Lowlander units, and nab McLeod, then my FS Regulars attack the Gvt Highlanders with Infantry Melee Bonus and destroy them. Game Over.... I had good cards and good dice in the second turn. That was enough. 

Round 5 - rjvonline (Jacobites) 6 (16 blocks lost) vs gotigerssc (govies) 2 (31 blocks lost)

A strange scenario with the Jacs being limited to 10 turns and no Command card draw. A stranger scenario with our rolling so few blue dice. I tactically retreated an intact unit of Highlanders and they promptly routed. My attacks were kind of piecemeal, due to the starting position and the cards I had. I really thought I was going to lose. On my right, my Lowlanders averted defeat twice when charged by the cavalry (once onca an actual Cavalry Charge). and then they actually forced the cavalry to retreat and rout at full strength. A couple of units on both sides passed their Rally rolls with 2 or even 1 block (one Gvt Regular unit did). On my 10th turn (but not the last turn because I had played a Combat leadership card in my 9th turn, which was a source of confusion), I rolled 1 die with my Lowlanders against the Gvt Highlander with 1 block, got a flag and they routed. Then I charged a Gvt Reg unit with 2 blocks and a leader with my Highlanders with also 2 blocks and a leader, and eliminated the enemy for my 5th banner. The Govt leader escaped to join another Reg unit with 2 blocks. I followed up with my Highlanders, and rolled 2 hits, eliminating the unit for my 6th and last VP, and captured/killed the leader as a bonus. Justin was disappointed he had not played scout card early on, which would have given him an extra VP.

As a side note, we somehow thought that I had won after my 5th VP, but I realized our mistake when I was writing this account, and resumed the game the next day with the Highlanders' bonus attack.

this seems a bit quiet..

If the Jacobite player doesn't have the cards, the Government player can clean up his left side Lowlanders to reduce his vulnerability on the left.  He may also be able to possibly get his right wind Regulars going.  Both of these happened to me in my game.

Another factor is that the Jacobite player also has to watch out for the town hexes, which are all auto victory spaces if the Government can get into one and stay there to the start of his next turn.

In general, the forces are small on both sides making it relatively easy to get to the Clear Section Banners. As a result, things can quickly cave in for either side. The Time Pressure Banners can also factor into this.

So, I think the scenario is very sensitive to the cards the players get and likely to be over quickly.  

It seems like the scenario was designed to be a quick skirmish like the battle was historically.

I can see that - two Jacobite Highlander units on each wing, all with chiefs or leaders, and close to making contact. You don't need much in the way of cards to bring them to bear and you're throwing a lot of dice.

Clifton seems to be a highly swingy scenario..  all the tournament scores are 5-0 or 5-1, 4 Jacobite wins and 1 Govt win.

CLIFTON, Eric (Government) vs JR (Jacobite)

Eric/Government:  0 banners, 21 blocks lost

JR/Jacobite:  5 banners, 7 blocks lost

Eric and I played Clifton today, his Government oppressors against my brave followers of the true and rightful king.

My opening hand was an embarrassment of riches, to the extent I used Inspired Leadership to command a single leader-led Highlander unit.  I opened with a Scout for a quick banner, and followed with an attack on the Jacobite left, trading blows with the Regulars there.  Eric responded by Quick Marching into the Enclosures in the center of the map and pressuring my right.  Unfortunately for the Government, Eric didn't land many hits on my right-flank Highlanders, and they passed all their rally rolls.  I continued to press on my left, killing off a couple units, while Eric did the same on the opposition flank, but without the killing.  He made one more push, driving one Highlander back into town.  The other squared off against two full strength leader-led Lowland units, taking a couple hits but standing strong thanks to Clan Resolve before inflicting four hits in return.  A fire attack from my units in town finished off one depleted Lowlander and carried away its leader for the win.

I had the run of both cards and dice in this one, to the extent I was using Inspired Leadership to move single leader-led Highlander units because that was the weakest card in my hand.  Some timely Combat Cards and Eric's inability to roll flags helped me carry the day.  For all that, he was on the edge of victory at the end, with a sector card for the left and Infantry Movement Bonus - had I failed to kill that last unit, it would've raced into the buildings in the Jacobite right rear, a unique scenario auto victory if I failed to drive him out again. Great fun playing Eric as always, and a nice intro to the Jacobite expansion.  Looking forward to more.

Round 2 - Clifton
gotigerssc (Government) - 5 banners, 5 blocks lost
JimDauphinais (Jacobite) - 0 banners, 11 blocks lost

Going into this scenario I thought I was outright doomed based on previous results. However, fate smiled on my card draw and I was sort of able to dictate where the action would take place and mitigate the highlanders. One of my banners came from a scout card and another from clearing the right section of Jacobites. The other three were lone Murray on a bonus combat and the two highlander units on my right. The first was severely weakened on my first turn which led to both units falling back on the next turn, but I had the cards to keep pushing on that side and keep the lowlanders from too much conflict with the other highlanders. The last several turns forced Jim to bring units into the right section to avoid giving me a banner for the empty section, but a hold the line on his cavalry charge preserved the win and prevented any losses on my part. Best of luck to Jim in his remaining matches!
 

Round 1 Prestonpans

JimDauphinais (Jacobite) 6 Banners, lost 20 Blocks

Boredbeyondbelief (Government) 4 Banners, lost 32 blocks

The Government Opening Cannonade didn't achieve much, but both Artillery units passed their required Rally checks.

Jacobites opened on their left to close range with their HIghlanders with a Line Command.

Government responded with ranged fire which whittles the HIghlanders a bit.

Despite the attrition, the Jacobites attacked on their left with 3 Highlanders and a Leader.

After much back and forth, the result was tied at 3 Banners each.

The Jacobites then attacked from their right. This eventually drifted to the center, which allowed the Jacobites to keep the fight going.

After much back and forth in the center, the Jacobites eventually pulled off a victory at 6 vs 4 banners.

Eric did a good job in this difficult scenario for the Government by gaining 4 banners.

good to see some Government wins.. seemed a bit lopsided

Round 4: JR10 Falkirk (Stage 1) – 17 January 1746Boredbeyondbelief (Government) 7 Banners 25 Blocks lostRjvonline (Jacobite) 4 Banners 33 Blocks lost The first time I’ve seen the Government stand up to and survive a meeting with the formidable highlanders. In fact, all 7 units defeated by the Government were highland units (and another highland unit was whittled down to one before a double retreat put them well out of reach). The Jacobites had early success attacking the Government left flank. But the highlander’s charge through the ravine on the right flank was less successful. The Government stopping the highlanders there was enough to let them rally their left flank, move regulars into the hills, and firm up the left flank. Then a final push by the regulars in the middle was enough to finish off the final highland unit that had managed to crawl out of the ravine and take out a regular unit or two. No leaders were lost or routed, but MacPherson fell to an early volley.   The match was played over multiple days and multiple log files due to server issues, and the log files don’t seem to step through the game turns.