The left flank of the Russian army with Shaun's reinforced Army in the distance
Dave,Shaun and I had not played BBB before although we had played F&F so many of the mechanisms were familiar. We went for our usual RJW scenario - a Japanese frontal assault on a Russian-held ridge line - the Japanese objectives being the 2 villages behind the ridge.
The Russian right flank
Dave took the Russians organised into 2 corps
10 Infantry Brigades of 6 bases each - 2 Veteran, 6 Trained & 2 Raw
4 Artillery Batteries
2 Machine Gun companies
Dave spread his troops out along the ridge line with the 2 raw Brigades holding the villages.
Shaun and I had the Japanese organised into 2 Armies plus a Reserve
16 Infantry Brigades of 6 bases each - 6 Veteran and 10 Trained
6 Artillery Batteries
Both sides were a bit short on artillery but that's all I have at the moment.
Shaun and I went for Plan NO - this involved not having a plan, not discussing anything beforehand and just hurling our troops at the Russians.
Russian artillery about to unleash hell
Japanese troops under my command waiting to advance
The Japanese Guard Division aim straight for the centre of the Russian position
The Russian centre held by artillery, machine guns and veteran infantry
The Japanese right flank beings it's advance past kaoliang fields
The Japanese left flank shakes out into line
The Japanese left flank takes a hammering
A quick word about the markers - yellow is disordered, red is spent and green is low on ammo
The Japanese left flank starts to disintegrate in front of the Russian positions
Japanese Reserves arrive but it is probably too late to save the day
The Japanese right flank prepares to attack
In the centre the Japanese Guards division approaches the Russian line
Every brigade on the Japanese left flank is now spent
With the collapse of the left the entire Japanese starts to fall back
A resounding victory for the Russians although I believe Kuropatkin had already sent orders for the army to retire on Mukden.
Naturally assaulting a position such as this one requires 2 or 3 times as many troops as the defenders so I need to paint up a few more brigades of Japanese infantry and artillery batteries
For future RJW games I may tryout indirect fire or pre-game bombardment and I will probably class the Russians as Passive.
Prior to playing I was a bit concerned about the weapon ranges in relation to movement and how I thought they were on the short side. Repeating Rifles and MGs have a range of 12 inches and Breechloading artillery has a range of 24 inches. Infantry can move upto 12 inches.
However as the author of BBB kindly pointed out to me
"A 12" rifle range means an infantry unit with 12" move will get shot at at least 3 times before it can close: once when it first moves within 12" range (enemy Defensive Fire); once in the enemy's next turn (enemy Offensive Fire); and a third time when it closes."
And from playing the game my Japanese brigades were only too happy that the ranges weren't any longer.
The only question mark that came out of the game was how to treat the kaoliang fields. In the war both sides used them to great effect for concealment. One to ponder about over a pint.
Overall a great set of rules - not too many modifiers, some nice touches such as target troop quality having an affect on firing and easily picked up by the players.
Game Info
The rules can be purchased from Caliver Books
There is a Yahoo group for the rules here where the author answers queries
Figures are all Pendraken with the exception of some of the artillery pieces
Buildings are by Mura Miniatures
Sounds a bloody good game, Alan :) Bit easier to manage than FWC?!
ReplyDeleteA nice first game to get to grips with BBB, but a tough ask assaulting the Russians in the ridgeline. Looking forward to more games of this period, yet another one that I know very little about.
ReplyDeleteNathan - yep a lot easier - I will be wanting some more Japanese painting - I'll email you
ReplyDeleteSteve - I notice you are located in Bristol - you are more than welcome to come up to Slimbridge for a game
Ooo, splendid stuff Alan, that's what I like to hear! And probably Leon & co. too ;)
DeleteThat was always going to be tough, but a good AAR and yes more attackers are definately needed.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Stu
Great AAR! Thank you. You can get the rules from Caliver in the UK - I got mine from them and they were, as always, very quick. http://www.caliverbooks.com/bookview.php?1f4de0441a22d0361e6040324e42b3c3&id=23060.
ReplyDeleteKind regards, Richard
Thanks Richard - blog updated
ReplyDeleteVery happy to see BBB working so well for you for RJW!
ReplyDeleteIn game terms, I suggest kaoliang fields are effectively the same as woods: they'd give cover & concealment but slow troops down and make command & control difficult.
Not sure about the smiley face on one of your red 'Spent' markers ... :-)
Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/