Scenario 13, the long road home
Tonight's game was One-Hour Wargames scenario 13. The Blue army is returning home after raiding Red territory. It's journey is blocked by a number of Red units. 15 rounds till end of game. Blue achieves victory is they can get 3 units off the board by Southern Road. Reds only objective, is to not let that happen. At all costs. Each side has a 6 unit army. How OHW works for that is you roll a d6 for each side on the 6 unit table to get each army composition. Blues consisted of 3 Infantry, 1 Skirmish, and 2 Cav. The Reds consisted of 4 Infantry, 1 Skirmish, and 1 Cav. The table was set up with a main road down the center, a large forest on the left, and a hilltop on the right. Blue deploys all 6 units on the Northern Roads while Red only deploys 1 unit slightly up from the Southern Road. Blue takes the initiative every turn. The bugle sounds, the march is on.
Turn 1
Blue time has the initiative for this game so they'll go first from here on out. Blue draws a chance card to start and 1 of their units cannot move this round. Not a good start for an army that needs to keep moving. I rolled on a random A.I. table to see what the Blue army would do. I rolled that for aggressive behavior and moving towards the left flank. So Blue shifted left, and made their way South. Reds 1 unit on the field is Cavalry. With the extra movement from being on the road, they were able to make a charge against Blues lead Cav unit. Dealing d6+2 damage but halving that since it’s a Cav on Cav match up. First blood to Red. Since they did not destroy the Blue unit, they retreat back 3" facing their target. Let me state now, that I'm playing at a smaller scale and thus have halved all original ranges.
Turn 2
Blues chance card is nothing so they continue down and left. On this turn 2 Red units appear on the hill. So two Infantry units have shown up as reinforcements. Unfortunately, they appeared on the right and the Blue army is already advancing left. That's why I enjoy using random charts/tables for enemy AI. A random die roll has put the Blue army completely out of range of the Red's reinforcements. So be it. Now I have to adjust my plan. The Blue and Red Cav units have another minor dual, ending with some slight damage to each.
Turn 3 was more of the same. Blue moved fully left and beelining it to the south. Reds 2 Infantry units trying to catch up, and their only Cav unit trying to slow down the Blue force. Another Red/Blue Cav dual ends the same. With minor damage to each.
Turn 4
For the Blues, not much happens this round other than gaining more ground south and staying out of range of Reds trailing Infantry. For the Reds, another group of reinforcements shows up. Bad timing and placement. 1 unit of Infantry and 1 skirmish unit appear on the western boarder above the forest. The Blue army has already made their way past the woods so now the Reds are still in pursuit and unable to cut them off. Not all hope is lost though. Infantry may not be able to go through woods, so they'll have to take the long way round. Skirmishers on the other hand, can and will run through those woods and try to catch up to the retreating Blues. Again, Reds and Blues Cav dual ends with minor damage to each unit. After a couple rounds though, that damage is adding up.
Turn 5
Blue decides to go a bit on the offensive. Their Cav unit breaks away and charges the 2 trailing Red infantry from the east and 2 of the leading Infantry units don't move this turn so they can turn their guns on that pesky Red Cav that's been slowing them down just enough. Both Red and Blue lost their Cav units to the volleys of the opposing Infantry. The field is more in Blues favor. Even though they lost one of their Cav units, it did manage to slow down the eastern approaching Infantry. Which in turn, bought them time time to sacrifice a movement to take out the blocking Red Cav unit and open the road up. Reds western units were able to catch up slightly but not enough to in range. Blue is free and clear to head south. Advancing their last remaining Cav unit with Skirmishers trailing. They only need 1 of the Infantry units to follow up and exfil with them.
The Blue army reconfigures and resumes their retreat to the south. At this point I figured Blue would take this win. Red is in pursuit but still out of range. On this turn, the last remaining Red Infantry units appears on the board to the South. Will it be enough to slow down the Blues?
Turn 7 everything changes. The Blues draw a chance card, which makes 3 of their units lose a movement turn. Wow. Only their skirmishers were able to move and do anything. No other Blue units even had line of sight on a Red unit since they were all in pursuit behind them. Reds chance card turned out to be very deadly. They drew the card that lets 1 unit act twice. Either move/move, move/shoot, or shoot/shoot. The Red southern unit was chosen to shoot twice at the 1 remaining Blue Cav. They ended up doing exactly 15 damage, removing the last remaining Blue Cav unit from the field. At this point, Blue only has 3 units left. All 3 have to make it off the board. They're about 2 turns distance away. The Red's had a whole turn to catch up but it might be too late. These remaining Blue units are relatively fresh on HP.
Turn 8
Blues are in full retreat mode. Nothing but beat feet to the edge. The Reds though, are setting up for the coupe de gras. With that turn to catch up, the skirmisher unit from the woods is now within range along with the southern reinforcement unit. Both open fire on the remaining Blues while the two Red eastern units get into position.
Turn 9
The end is nigh. Blues draw a chance card that heals 1 unit d3 wounds, but it just isn't enough. The final 3 remaining Blue units run as far as they can but the jaws are clamping shut. With only needing to kill 1 Blue unit to win, 4 of the Red units in range focus their fire on the trailing Blue Infantry unit. Nothing was left of them but a cloud of smoke.....
Turn 10
The last 2 remaining Blue units make it off the board. The Red army had secured victory by taking out 1 of the 3 remaining Blues.
What a run. It really came down to the wire there. I really thought the Blues would take the win but those chance cards the last 2-3 rounds really changed the tide. That's what I love about random change cards/charts/tables, whatever have you. They add that extra element of unpredictability that's very needed in solo wargaming. For the good and bad, boons and banes, chance cards are a welcomed mechanic at my table. May the dice be forever in your favor, tonight, the cards were in mine.
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