Heroics newsletter – april/may 2000

Editor’s Notes

            In this issue is a report from Cold Wars ’00 and the final Axis&Allies article, although, I can’t help but think there will be forthcoming articles on the new Avalon Hill’s Axis&Allies Europe. I played it last night, and it really seems to be quite a good game. The additional naval objective, convoy supply routes, remind me of War at Sea where the goal is to control sea zones, and I sense that my grand strategies developed from years of playing Third Reich in all its permutations, could be applied to this game. But, that would have to be a future article.

            One game article in the works would be from Bob Sohn. He played an interesting on-line game of Civil War (or maybe it was We The People) with an ambitious opponent who maintained turn-by-turn commentary throughout the game. When Bob submits this piece, it may be presented as a serial, much like Bob Hranek’s A&A articles. Also, we can soon expect another fine game review from Greg Jablonski.

            Please read about the May Duplo-macy Tournament. This event requires no less than 16 participants who can commit to arrive by 10 AM and remain until 7 PM. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged; you may pre-register with Chris Moffa at: chrism@snip.net or 609-228-3983. If it seems like I’m making too big a deal about this, it is because I was disappointed by the lack of participation in our last special event. Of course, regular open gaming will take place in May as it does at every meeting.

           

Newsletter Editor Duties

            When I decided to be a candidate for this post in January 1999, I had three goals in mind.

            The first objective was to release an issue every two months so it would be received no later than the weekend before a scheduled meeting – without fail! To accomplish this, I usually have mailed the hard copies on a Wednesday and released the electronic version on a Thursday evening. The rare times when an email address was faulty and bounced the message back, a hard copy has been mailed to that member the very next day.

To meet the deadline for distribution, I must enforce the deadline for submissions, which is set 7 days before distribution. However, the newsletter isn’t constructed in a mere 7 days! Articles that don’t meet the deadline are used to begin the next newsletter – several weeks in advance. Having a serial, like the A&A articles, also aids in this manner. The 7 days leading up to distribution is used to write my own bits, finalize the layout, and copy/staple/address the mailing.

"How much time does editing the newsletter require?", you might ask. I refer you to Parkinson’s Law: work expands to consume the time allocated for work. The same amount of paperwork can be done in seven hours as in twenty hours. However, our endeavor is not work, so: the hobby expands to consume the time allocated for leisure. How much leisure time do you have? That is all that is needed.

The second objective was that every issue would have fresh content. Some pages, like the Quartermaster Corps page and the cover page for the hard-copy, have the same info issue after issue, so in those cases I’ll alter the store order listings or change a few lines for cosmetic differences, but the content had to be new. A close corollary to this objective is my determination never to write a game review article myself while editor. This forced me to regularly recruit club members to write instead, which really benefits everyone. It’s called "sharing the load."

The first two objectives have been met, which leaves the final objective, which I have always had in mind: having someone else be the newsletter editor. Officer elections are in July. I am not a candidate for re-election. Someone else will be the newsletter editor, or the June/July issue will be the finale.

I have benefited from serving as editor, as I knew I would. I’ve been given the incentive to dust-off the grammar book. Now I’ve re-learned verb tense, pronoun usage, punctuation, and how to avoid the confusion between the gerund and the present participle. A common pit-fall.

Seriously, this experience has tangible benefits. When I answer the generic form C required to apply for most federal government jobs, I can now answer "Yes" to the questions: "Have you been asked to edit the writing of others?", and "Have you ever held a leadership position in a volunteer or social organization?"

Duplo-macy Tournament

            The May 20th EPGS meeting will debut Tom Swider’s Duplo-macy, a "Duplicate Bridge" style Diplomacy tournament. Rather than taking the better part of a day to play one full game of Diplomacy, entrants will play four rounds against 15 other diplomats in one day. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. You may pre-register with Chris Moffa (chrism@snip.net), the EPGS Web-master. The tournament will begin promptly at 10:00 AM and finish by 7:30PM (For novices, who want to learn the mechanics of play for Diplomacy, there will be a session from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM). Detailed information and up-dates concerning Duplo-macy may be accessed at:

www.voicenet.com/~tswider/duplo.htm

For those who need to know now what this is all about, here is a description:

            Four Diplomacy boards are set up with a game in progress. There are four players to a board; each table is playing the same game. Two complete years are played and the results tabulated (this is called a round; each round is scheduled to consume 90 minutes). Then the players rotate in such a way that no two players are on the same board more than once. The four boards are set up again with the same game in progress, and now you match wits against three different opponents. However, not only are you competing with the opponents at your board, but also with that player that has the same initial position as you on the other three game boards!

            The tournament lasts 4 rounds, with one 90-minute break for lunch between rounds 1 and 2, and a 30-minute break between the remaining rounds. Be forewarned that times will be strictly enforced! This is to ensure the all boards are always in-sync and all 4 rounds are completed.

            On May 20th from 10:00 to 10:30 is the period to sign-in, a Q & A session, and initial board assignments. Round 1 begins at 10:30. Round 4 should end at 7:00 PM. After a short break, during which the results of all 4 rounds are computed, a winner will be declared. In addition, at the conclusion, Tom hopes to be able to have play-by-play results for each board so participants can review in grueling detail how they did compared to others playing the same country. Sounds like fun!

Club News

50/50 Winners

            Congratulation to Mark Donovan and Carl Copeland, the respective February and March raffle winners. Mark was the random winner of a monster pot - $81! Carl collected $59 (that’s no small change, either). Raffle tickets are one ticket for $2, three tickets for $4 and five tickets for $6. The winner receives 1/2 of the raffle proceeds; the other half benefits the EPGS Treasury.

Website Registration

            In mid-February we accepted a promotional offer from our website provider, Network Solutions, which allowed us to retain our domain name (www.epgs.org) and site for 10 more years at a discounted price. This would extend our presence on the web until January 24, 2011.

            The first week of March it was announced that Network Solutions was being acquired by another Internet business in the second largest all-time acquisition in monetary terms (at the time of the announcement, around 21,000,000,000 – yeah, that’s billion).

            Anyway, we haven’t been billed as one might expect, although one of the EPGS officers thinks the offer actually gave the impression that payment occurs after the ten-year extension is complete! Our long-term web status seems to be uncertain as we await some kind of confirmation.

Membership Cards

            EPGS Membership Cards are now available. Everyone at the March meeting should have received one, since Steve (The Prez) visited every game table, filled in the cards, and passed them out. He still has plenty on hand to distribute to members who, having missed the March meeting, do attend a future EPGS meeting.

            You will be able to use your EPGS Membership Card to receive special discounts from various game merchants. At the time of publication, I haven’t been given a confirmed list of which merchants will honor The Card and what discounts will be given, but I expect a list will be included in the June/July issue of HEROICS, so DON’T LOSE YOUR CARD!

            Tom List had an instrumental role in the card’s design, especially the logo.

More Club News

Elections

            Officer elections will be held during the July club meeting (July 15th). The leadership positions are (in no particular order, other than to compose a tight paragraph): President, Treasurer, Vice President/Publicity Tzar, Webmaster, and Newsletter Editor. At present, as far as I know, no one has expressed an interest in competing for any of the five positions. At the last election, held in January 1999, at least two offices, President and Newsletter Editor, were contested.

            A preliminary, unscientific poll indicates that most incumbents would be willing to step aside if someone else expressed interest in his job. Furthermore, most of the current office-holders would be willing to continue to serve in the absence of other volunteers. At this moment, the only position guaranteed to change is that of Newsletter Editor, since I will not be a candidate.

            If you are interested in running for an office, you could talk to Steve Cameron or another club officer right up until the ballots are cast on July 15th, although Steve would appreciate it if you were to talk to him sooner!

Financial Report

Paid attendance for the February meeting was sixty-one. Outstanding pre-paid dues declined $21 to $529. The raffle raised a record $75! $6 more was accrued through miscellaneous means. The rent was $151.20 (reduced to account for the overcharge in January). It cost a meager $21.18 to produce and mail the February newsletter. For the month, the net gain to the Treasury was $182.62, ending the month at $609.82.

            Paid attendance for the March meeting was fifty-five. Outstanding pre-paid dues fell to $506. The raffle raised $53 for the Treasury. In addition, Dave Bohnenberger donated 2 games to the club that were sold for $10, and Mark Donovan simply donated $5 to the club. For the month, the Treasury increased by $146 to $755.82. The cost of the two sheet cakes to celebrate the 10th anniversary is yet to be deducted because Steve has neglected to ask for reimbursement!

            According to the Treasurer, the hotel gave us a "frequent user’s card." We receive a periodic discount. April’s rent should be reduced by 10%.

In Action

Here is a list of some of the games played at the February and March club meetings:

Acquire (AH)

Agent of Change (a.k.a. West Virginia Rails) (Mayfair)

Andromeda (Rio Grande)

Ardennes (The Gamers)

Advanced Squad Leader (AH)

Axis&Allies (MB)

The Battle of the Alma

The Battle of the Brandywine (GMT)

The Battle of Grunwald, 1410

Big City (Gold Sieber Spiele)

Blackbeard (AH)

Clash of the Elements (Tom List)

Conquistador

Diplomacy (AH)

1830 (AH)

1856 (Mayfair)

Elfen Roads

Euphrates & Tigris (Hans im Gluck)

Eurorails (Mayfair)

Hockey Challenge

Illuminati (Steve Jackson Games)

Illuminati: New World Order

Junta (West End Games)

King of the Eves (?) (Rio Grande)

Medieval Miniatures (Fantasy Rules Ancient)

Miniatures (various)

Money (Gold Sieber)

Princess Ryan’s Star Marines (AH)

Ra (Rio Grande)

Die Siedler von Nurnburg

Siesta

Stadte & Ritter

Tigers in the Mist (GMT)

Tikal (Ravensburger)

Turf Master (AEA Spiele)

Union Pacific (Rio Grande)

Vernissage (TM)

Vinci (Euro Games)

Wooden Ships & Iron Men (AH)

 

Cold wars ’00 Reports

Ebelsburg, May 1809 (reported by Jeff Kimmel)
The full scenario can be found on my webpage at
http://www.geocities.com/jtkimmel/coldwars00.html

                The Austrian setup is more or less pre-determined, so they had little to do at first but watch the French maneuver and try to disrupt them with long range artillery fire. The French commander surprised me by shifting Marulaz's cavalry to the left flank along with all three brigades of 1st Division. The shifting was really odd because the cav ended up behind all the infantry as it made its assault on Rheinwald's position (V Corps, 2nd Division) and had to continue swinging out to the French left flank to get around their infantry. This also meant that the main focus of the French attack was on the Austrian position furthest from the victory area. St. Cyr's division, meanwhile, went up the gut into the heart of the Austrian position straddling the highway. Rheinwald's men fought like demons, passing two morale checks with flying colors. The French cavalry finally met the Austrian Uhlans way out beyond the town of Waringer; one Chasseur regiment was destroyed and two others badly beat up to one Uhlan regiment destroyed. The French used their initial numbers advantage (6-4) to pile on the Austrians and quickly destroyed another Uhlan Regiment. The Austrian line troops held out briefly behind the walls outside Waringer but finally were pushed back and broken. The Grenzer's, who started holding the town sectors, advanced out of town to fight the light troops of Coehorn's brigade but were also pushed back and finally broken by attacks from the Tirailleurs. The two Tirailleur battalions racked up the most impressive kill ratio, breaking six or seven Austrian battalions, including one fresh line battalion taken in the flank and broken in a single melee.
                While Rheinwald was being chewed up and spit out, Nagel's Hesse-Darmstadt infantry advanced at the head of St. Cyr's division and were punished by concentrated artillery fire from four Austrian batteries. Two battalions broke before the Hessians even made a charge. When they finally attacked Hammer's troops (V Corps, 1st Division), most of the Hessian battalions had suffered 50% losses; they managed to kill some of the artillery before the brigade broke. The beating the Hessians took allowed the rest of 2nd Division to deploy to their left, closing the gap with 1st Division and assaulting Hohenfeld (V Corps, Rearguard) directly.

                Rheinwald's command finally collapsed after suffering over 75% casualties, and the French 1st Division advanced to hit Hohenfeld's division in the flank. With the right side of the bridgehead area open, Hiller committed the reserve (Kuttulinsky) to back up Hohenfeld and close the gap against the remaining French cavalry by forming a line of squares with three line battalions. Unfortunately, putting three line battalions on the flank meant the Vienna Landwehr was in the thick of the fighting as Hohenfeld's right flank started to fall apart under the pincer attack of St. Cyr, 1st Division and the French cavalry. The Landwehr was not up to the task and suffered heavy losses. The Austrian position was precarious, but they had almost held long enough for the engineers to blow the bridge to Ebelsburg. With the clock ticking down (in more ways than one), the last French assault smashed Hohenfeld and broke the Austrian army’s morale. The French hadn't escaped unscathed, suffering over 25% losses themselves, though a lot of those casualties were concentrated in Nagel's Hesse-Darmstadt contingent.

 

On the Right Flank (reported by Greg Markert)

                On turn 1 Union forces aggressively advanced along the line to seize the dominant terrain along Lancaster Ridge. A strong Division attacked to secure a small hilltop dominating the southern (?) maneuver corridor in preparation for follow-up Union forces. This division achieved initial success against a Southern Division, (the forward element of my corps) destroying one Brigade and routing another. On the northern flank (?) the Union began a cautious advance, across the dense terrain in the valley to be met by an equally cautious Confederate counter-attack. Sporadic engagements continued across the front with the ebb generally in favor of CSA forces. The southern CSA Corps had a mid-battle change of command (to ME) and counter attacked, driving US forces back to the foot of the ridgeline. A council of war was conducted with the army commander (Paul). New orders were issued, the town being secured, and sent to the army, which then transitioned to the offense. The CSA broke through in the south, and flanked the entire union line. The center and northern flank fixed Union Forces then slowly drove them back toward their starting positions. At this point, the Union commander assumed a defensive posture. In terms of mission accomplished and troops destroyed, it was a CSA victory.

On the River (reported by Michael Panzer)

                A Union fleet, comprised of two double turreted monitors, two single turreted monitors, a double ended steamer, a mortar boat and two mortar rafts, faced an island fort, defended by a Confederate fleet, comprised of two Ironclads, two double ended steamers and four torpedo launches.

                The Confederates sent all their launches up the East Side of the island, two having started on the West Side. The Union started work on suppressing the fort and moved their mortars into position to silence it. The Confederates charged the static Union fleet. Attempting to sink a Union mortar raft, the CSN Abermarle failed to approach unscathed, having been rammed by a USN monitor. That monitor lost both guns in its turret and became immobilized; the CSN Abermarle eventually sank. The Union double ended had the rudder damaged, then the funnels were shot off so it could not move, but it was disabled right where it wanted to be – in position to shell the fort! (This ship was later sunk by even more fire from that fort!). The CSN Ethan (a double ender) was also sunk. The Confederate launches attacked the double turreted monitor in the east, damaged it, and passed by it to help sink the Union Mortar boat and one of the mortar rafts, at which point the other Confederate ironclad was sunk. The other Confederate wooden ship passed the hapless monitor, but when it tried to pass a double turreted monitor, the CSN Captain was killed in full view of the crew, who then lost heart and sailed the ship away!

                The end result: the Union controlled the waters, but the Confederate fort controlled the landings were troops could have been placed to help in a land battle.

Perspective from a Confederate Captain (comments by Ethan Cadiff)

                Basically, as I remember it, the Confederates tried to meet the Union on either side of the island and at least give as good as they got and preserve the fort, while the island was pummeled by Union guns. The Union Ironclads and superior artillery eventually overwhelmed the Confederate States inferior navy; the Union took the river passage - at a very high price. The Confederates had sunk or crippled 2 (3?) Ironclads, the sailing vessel and the clipper; the Union sank all but 3 of the CSN launches and severely reduced the fort’s guns (mostly by bombardment from the clipper). In the end, it was a marginal victory for the Union.

 

Tsushima! (reported by Michael Panzer)

                The principal twelve Japanese and Russian ships meet again! The Russians formed a line to the northeast .The Japanese turned to port in divisions to cover the Russian advance. Opening fire was light as the range was great. The IJN Battleships turned to starboard, closing the range and allowing the first set of IJN cruisers to enter the battle. Fire becomes intense! Mikasa, the Japanese flagship, is hit hard. Suvorov, the Russian flagship, is hit but not as badly. Battle-lines begin to fall apart as ships fire torpedoes. Some ships with damage move at slower speeds. The intact Japanese battleships veer port (?!!), blocking the entry of the Japanese 2nd Division, their second cruiser group, into the battle! Mikasa is hit hard yet again, fatally crippled, and will sink after nightfall. Suvorov, disabled to 3 knots, can not avoid a torpedo spread and sinks quickly! Japanese cruisers Kasuga, Nisshin, Asama and Iwate concentrate on the Aleksander III, crippling her, but are unable to finish her off quickly. The Aleksander III, even in her damaged state, continues to fire and place shells near her tormentors, but fails to actually hit them. By this point three of those Japanese cruisers (that are nearly 75% damaged themselves) begin targeting the Orel. The Oslyaba and Sissoi Veliki from the Russian 2nd Division slip through the main Japanese battleships, exchanging damage, only to run into the Japanese 2nd Division! Both Russian ships are pounded to 75% damage while inflicting similar damage only to the IJN Adzuma. The IJN Fuji locates the Ushakov in the smoke and confusion at the far tail end of the battle and cripples her with a single broadside.

                Night falls swiftly, and the fleets separate; it is seen as a Japanese marginal victory. During the night three of the Russian ships, Oslyaba, Sissoi Veliki and Ushakov, will founder or be picked off by swarming Japanese torpedo boats. By sinking the Mikasa, The Russians did historically better, but the Japanese inflicted enough carnage and had enough firepower remaining to prevent the Russians from reaching their objective, Vladivostok

Visit www.angelfire.com/pa/therogues to satisfy your curiosity.