I alternate playing Memoir and Optio with my mate Peter. Memoir is a game specifically designed for the masochistic trait found in all dice-loving wargamers, in that it offers a unique additional element of torture by vagaries of command cards added to the torments by vagaries of dice throwing.
The last game we played is a good example of the degree of misery and frustration inflicted on players by these genres of games. We chose the fairly popular scenario Market Garden, with Allied airborne divisions acting in concert with the British 30 Corps to cross the Rhine in Holland by seizing all the bridges before the Germans could react. A plan hastily cobbled together and hampered by poor intelligence, including a complete ignorance of two elite Panzer divisions refitting near Arnhem, location of the most crucial of the bridges to be seized.
Peter led the Wehrmacht, yours truly the Allies. We each made our plans, sure, but a plan doesn't survive first contact with a die throw, never mind with bum command cards, to paraphrase a certain Prussian field marshal.
The Germans started the game with a total of 3 command cards; the Allies with 11. Each time an Allied unit was lost the German player would remove a card from the Allied hand which would not be subsequently replaced. He would then pick up an extra card from the deck. In this manner the Allies would have fewer cards and the Germans more as the Allies lost units. Hence it was imperative for the Allies not to lose units, which meant a great deal of caution when attacking, and care to pull weak units back before they were destroyed..
Anyhoo, we've played this scenario several times and my experience led me to devise the following stratagems:
1. The British 1st Airborne division must first destroy the two German infantry units in the forest to the right before moving on Arnhem. Failure to do so will make it the subject of a pincer attack.
2. The 82nd Airborne must run into the trees and stay there. It is too badly outnumbered locally to accomplish anything other than survive.
3. The 101st Airborne must strike for Eindhoven (the town near it) only once 30 Corps can support it.
4. 30 Corps must first destroy the German units in its area then move on Eindhoven. It will probably not get any further than that.
I start proceedings by sending the British paratroopers against the Germans in the forest whilst 30 Corps goes for the German units near it.
The solid red arrows indicate unit movement. Yellow circles designate enemy unit attacked and dotted red arrows indicate retreats and follow up. Red Xs indicate destroyed units. Red markers indicate units activated that attack; yellow markers indicate activated units that merely move.
In this turn I weakened 2 German units.
The Germans counterattack against 30 Corps whilst their artillery pounds the 82nd.
The British tank unit is damaged and driven back.
30 Corps goes all out to eliminate the local German armour and infantry, whilst the British paratroopers try to wipe out the Germans in the woods.
Fairly successful. The dice are behaving themselves - so far (just waiting for me to become confident and relaxed before doing a volte face).
Germans in the centre bring up their armour and hit at the 82nd....
....damaging a paratrooper unit and driving it back.
Both US paratrooper divisions head for cover, 101st offensively, 82nd defensively.
.... but doesn't kill anybody. This is typical dice cruelty: whet your appetite and then fail to deliver.
Allies counterattack in the centre.
Wounding but not destroying. Yep.
the battle rages in and around Eindhoven....
....but the Airborne units hang on.
Time to get my weakened Airborne unit out of trouble whilst I hit weakened German units.
....and down they go. The dice are still behaving themselves....
Peter attacks Arnhem and that weak unit I pulled back earlier.
Down goes the Airborne unit whilst I get pummelled in Arnhem, but the Stiff Upper Lip rule allows me to dish back some punishment of my own.
Time for 30 Corps to finish off those units in its sector whilst the 1st British Airborne goes all in against Arnhem.
One unit destroyed but 2 survive.
Counterattack at Arnhem and shoring up of the position near 30 Corps.
And the dice hand Peter a complete paratrooper unit. She loves me, she loves me not....
I must win at Arnhem. No holding back now.
She loves me! Down go one panzer and one infantry unit. The Brits now have local superiority.
Jerry counterattacks outside Eindhoven and moves up his SS panzer reserve near Arnhem
But the Americans hold firm.
30 Corps send in armour to force open the gap to Eindhoven. Meanwhile the 82nd indulges in some shooting practice from the cover of the woods whilst the 1st British Airborne moves into Arnhem.
The German armour in the gap is battered but alive.
Furious fighting in Arnhem whilst Jerry armour tries to dislodge the paratroopers from the forest outside Eindhoven.
Success! (damned dice). The approach to Eindhoven is secured and the British in Arnhem are hammered.
Time to move on Eindhoven whilst giving the 82nd some target practice. Oh, yes, forgot to indicate it but the paratrooper unit in Arnhem gets out of range of the German infantry unit in the woods.
German armour retreats. This'll be over by Christmas (of '44 hopefully).
Peter assembles a powerful kampfgruppe at Nijmegen, ready to dish out death and destruction on the 82nd. Now all that is needed is a decent command card or two....
30 Corps armour forces the gap at Eindhoven and the 101st come out in support. Meantime the German infantry at Arnhem is put under pressure....
....and are driven back, whilst units are destroyed elsewhere. The dice are being nice to me again, for the moment.
Up come the SS Panzers whilst Jerry launches a furious attack against 30 Corps. The kampfgruppe meanwhile sits in place, contemplating the meaning of life. Why is that?
The dice don't like Peter and his counterattack against the 30 Corps armoured unit achieves nothing - 6 dice and 0 hits!
Time for 30 Corps to teach those foolhardy Germans a lesson. Oh, and to finally secure Arnhem.
Neither is quite fully achieved, but not too bad.
The kampfgruppe remains frozen. Why? Because Peter doesn't have a single suitable command card to activate it, that's why. But he can at least get the weakened infantry out of Arnhem and send in some reserves to replace it.
No hits.
30 Corps goes after that dangerous Panzer unit at the top left, whilst the Brits hit the infantry at and near Arnhem.
Completes success against the Panzers, partial success against the infantry.
The kampfgruppe at Nijmegen stays immobile (no cards!) but the SS panzers move up to assault Arnhem. Meanwhile the troops around Eindhoven lash out....
....with some success.
For those who have been paying attention, the Allies are one victory point away from game. It is necessary to be cruel to be kind and I pull out a barrage card (4 dice and stars count as hits) against the one-figure infantry unit hiding in the forest. Sorry Peter.
The unit is obliterated and that's 12 victory points. Game over! As you can imagine, Peter was in a foul mood after those lousy dice and lousier cards. Fortunately a nice round of Optio the following weekend put him in a good mood again. Very therapeutic Optio is. 😎
Ah, but you miss the point.
ReplyDelete'Clever' mechanics like command cards, or activation dice or, even, better, dice drawn from a bag add that wonderful, technical sounding 'friction' to wargames. Here's a quote from the précis of a set of rules that I saw recently:
"The rules use a dice-out-of-the-bag activation system so every turn is unique and players never have initiative for long. A variable activation mechanic means that players can never be sure how well, or badly, troops will perform." Marvellous stuff isn't it?
All sarcasm aside, we are in a minority in not liking such mechanics. That's fair enough. Each to their own and it is marvellous that there is enough variety for all. In fact, the summary/overview of the rules that I quoted from was excellent as I could know immediately 'not for me'.
I don't share your complete disdain for dice, but am not keen when the 'random factor' predominates or is used to simplify rules and to simply 'gloss over' an aspect rather than try to model it.
I wonder though, why you used such rules when you clearly have a disdain for them?
Best wishes, James
I've played dice-driven wargames all my life and AS GAMES they can be a lot of fun, never denied that. But the historian in me can't get away from the fact that dice do not adequately represent anything on the battlefield since everything there arises from non-random causality: a battlefield is a place where there are a lot of humans who are very focussed on achieving something definite.
DeleteWhat players affirm is random is usually fog of war - incomplete knowledge of the enemy's whereabouts and capabilities. But once fog of war clears when units encounter each other, that knowledge firms up and units act in ways that are predictable for the rest of the battle.
The only effective way of representing fog of war is by using fog of war, but that's difficult to accomplish on a wargaming table where one can see all or most of the enemy units from the beginning of the game. You either keep units off the table until enemy contacts the place where they are supposed to be, or you using generic blocks or something like that to represent as much about the unit as the enemy could make out from a distance (I might try that with Optio).
So tall blocks for cavalry, short blocks for infantry but no additional info since the enemy could not make out more than that a unit is mounted or on foot. Once the enemy gets near enough, replace the blocks with the miniatures stands. Should make for some surprises. (:-0