December Digest #7

Field of Glory II: Medieval

Game 6 and Game 7 played. 

Game 6. This was a civil war engagement with the English-supported Montfort's Bretons took on de Blois' Bretons and won out. Not much to say other than it was a short and swift battle. My flanks did all the hard yakka while my centre held the line. My flanks were able to thrash the enemy threats without too much trouble. Meanwhile the centre held firm before counterattacking and putting the enemy to flight. 

Losses on my side were light, only 7% or 183 were killed while the opposition lost 43% or 960 killed and 1195 wounded with the bulk of their losses suffered during the rout - over 3800. 

Game 7. King Henry V in an alternate history battle to Agincourt faced off against the French and won. This time I advanced to contact. The French eventually responded by moving up to meet. Just then I had the archers plant their defensive stakes and the battle was fought from there. And we were holding our own even though the French reinforcements arrived, thankfully too late.

I went with my usual three groupings. Added two light artillery with light javelin attachments. Increased my mounted knights from zero to four units split on both flanks. And then advanced to contact.

My left flank easily dealt to the force there and soon began to turn into my centre which was barely holding and started rolling up the enemy. Like knocking down dominoes. 

My right flank also dealt to the French in their sector and were about to roll up towards the centre when the game ended. The French reinforcement - all mounted knights - did not know which way to go because their disposition was a mess.

Lost one of my artillery and several archer units. All up I lost 11% of my total force while the French lost 45% of their total strength. 

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World of Warships

Bought the last Sequential bundle today and received the Tier VIII German cruiser Mainz. No complaints about the ship. Now I have the pair - the original and the Black version.

Interesting day. Continued playing the Defence. I'm not comfortable enough with it to play Asymmetrics because of its weak armour. So I've been grinding it in Co-Op with mixed results. 

Noticed the steel ship Vallejo is cheaper than Le Havre and can be had now with the steel I already have. But after checking its attributes I've decided to pass on the opportunity: it seems weaker comparred to the French cruiser. 

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Field of Glory II: Medieval

Played Game 8 last night for the win. Compressed deployment forcing the enemy to concentrate in a small area which I wanted.

Game 9. Used Autofill and Autodeploy functions for the first time in this hard-fought win. It gave me no mounted knights and only three dismounted Men-at-Arms units, a couple of crossbow units, a billhook unit, a couple of light skirmishers, and the rest longbows. 

Built earthworks around my main line. I should have done the same for the left flank line but did not think. I kept the crossbows and swordsmen in the forest on the right. The right flank held while the left flank which did not have earthen walls was battered a fair bit by the enemy mounted knights. But it managed to hold. The centre left was penetrated but the rest of the line held quite well. The archers took heavy toll on the enemy.

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World of Warships

Play the current list of commander upskill ships to grab the daily coal crates - Defence, Okhotnik, Guilio Cesare, K. Schonberg, P. E. Friedrich, Poltava, Z-39, Valparaiso, Zao, Worcester, Halland.

Highlights: Zao performing well on the Trap map. And playing Halland while paired with a Yamoto on the new Sunset Isles map. Watching Yama one-shot slap ships was a delight to behold. Yama did it several times making me smile. Complimented the player at the end. Got a thank you back. Made my day watching that performance.

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World of Warships

Interesting grind today (it's Thursday). Next mission in the Dockyard event began today. Slow progress as I played the same ships as yesterday (see above). Got as far as Z-39. Will resume at Valparaiso and strive to complete the rest of the mission tasks in the one session. 

The interesting part happened during the grind. First up, got praise from someone I did not know. Was not expecting good manners for doing something but it must have impressed the person giving the compliment. Maybe we encountered at some other time. Dunno.

Next, got the opposite reaction from a different stranger in the very next game. This time I endured friendly fire, torpedoes, even depth charges from my teammate as we raced to the same cap. I think I was too close to them or something. Puzzled by it as it continued all the way to the cap. So I reported this "friendly fire" because if they do this in a game, do you not think they would do it in real life? People to avoid in real life then.

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World of Warships

Lengthy grind because I wanted to finish the remaining missions tasks for the Dockyard event. Played the following according to the mission task requirements and commander skill upgrade grind: Valparaiso, Zao, Worcester, Halland, Defence, Mainz, Kitakaze, Tromp, Satsuma.

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World of Warships

Finished the Dockyard Event mission tasks for this week. Long grind. Ended up playing Valparaiso, Zao, Worcester, Halland, Defence, and Mainz. 

The last ship proved interesting as I played it as a firestarter because of a couple of Dockyard mission tasks required firebombing. Did well enough when charging into a fray, where its torpedoes proved a handy accompaniment on a couple of testy occasions. This was in Co-Op however so I got away with a lot unlike in Randoms or Ranked. 

Worcester is a good cruiser for learning to stay hidden or hanging back rather than charging into a contact. No smoke but hydro. No gimmicks. No radar. Tough ship to play under the current circumstances. 

I really do enjoy playing the Zao. Accurate guns. 12km torps. Weak armour, especially when showing broadside but her potency when fully playing to her strengths are undeniable and often contributory to your team's win.

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World of Warships

Just two ships played today: Mainz (fast becoming a favourite) and Satsuma. Daily playing priorites remain as always (1) earning the daily Voyage tokens (for later exchange as either doubloons or steel), and (2) daily coal rewards (three crates, not just coal). This is the abbreviated daily grind. It only extends whenever other priorities are involved such as commander upskill grind or ship grind.

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New Games

On the hunt for new games so last night I watched another wargamer on YT with his recommendations for PC wargames. Checked them out today. Nearly all are available through Steam for a reasonable price. Tempted to buy Jagged Alliance 2 (Classic) that is available as a bundle set. It is an old game whereby a group of mercs try to overthrow the legitimate government. The problem with this is that old games often get a reboot to appeal to modern audiences. It may, or may not, change the appeal of the original especially for those familiar with the original. 

Was considering Crusader Kings III but I just remembered I already have Crusader Kings II. A world building style game that is engaging if that's what you're into. If not, however, it can drag. 

Admittedly his selection shows an American bias when it comes to WW2 games although he did include Attack at Dawn: North Africa. Appreciate that he cared to acknowledge that WW2 was a global conflict and that others indeed played a part before the American war machine joined in. 

Some of his selections weren't strictly wargaming either - the popular sci-fi X Com series (XCom, XCom2, XCom1994), Shadow Empire, Twilight Struggle - but that's fine. The unifying theme for all his selection was "Turn-Based PC Games". And that's what these all have in common regardless of their appeal level. Many are PC versions of board games.  

A couple of games are not available through Steam - Lock and Load Tactical Digital and Sword and Siege Crusaders Book 1. The last looked interesting.

Of all these I ended up being interested in a Slitherine/Flashback Games title - Panzer Corps 2. It reminds me of another game I already possess - Unity of Command II. Both appeal to all three levels of command - strategic, operational, tactical. And the options to game large and small is a plus.

However, I've decided to give all these games a pass for now. Maybe in the new year.

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World of Warships

Just the one ship played today and only for the daily Voyage tokens: Worcester. If you play her like the fragile cruiser she is, then you will have no real problems. Her guns are useful for sure. Making use of cover is mandatory. Providing fire support is a given. Staying alive, for as long as possible, essential as your firepower and radar will be appreciated by teammates especially when supporting destroyers. 

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Field of Glory II: Medieval

Game 10. Finished the last game in the campaign. A hard-fought victory with my forces on the offensive for the second time in this campaign. 

Deployed and then marched right up to the enemy encampment before assaulting along the entire line. The only negative was the bombard being unable to cross the stream and was therefore stranded on the other side unable to bring any artillery fire to bear at all. 

My right was able to hold its own against the bulk of the French mounted knights. 

My left and centre encountered stronger opposition and made hard going against a determined defence by the French. But in the end the enemy lost more and it was a win.

Campaign summary. Interesting yet at times game dragged in parts especially when waiting for the game to compute the interactions. I much prefer being involved in that part (the dice-rolling) because it becomes more involved and not just some spectator to all that's going on. 

First campaign win  and therefore earned the achievement.

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Field of Glory II: Medieval

New campaign. Period is the First Crusade. Setting on the progressive Baron difficulty which is mid-range. Progressive means as the campaign progresses it increments difficulty-wise but not necessarily per game.

Game 1. I deployed against a Turkish mounted force (with small foot elements). I expected it to be difficult as I am familiar with the historical tactics employed by horse archers. Made slightly worse by the fact the bulk of my force (it was autofilled by the game) comprised a large force of peasants with a sprinkling of spearmen, some archers and crossbows. 

Setup in three lines - my dismounted serjeants and knights in the first line with a small force of mounted armoured on the flank. Second and third lines were the peasants and spearmen with the rest of my mounted centrally positioned. 

Start of the game fared well, so I thought. I advanced the entire force towards the Turks who simply waited for us to close the distance. I figured keeping the lines intact as I neared the objective would help both with cohesion and morale. Sort of panned out that way at first. 

The Turks probed the first line but were easily repelled. Any gap made by first line units charging the enemy was quickly filled by the second line. And that went on for a while.

But then it sort of fell apart as the enemy targetted those replacements from my second line. Turkish light cavalry against peasants is largely a one-sided affair as I quickly found out. Despite being in a continuous front line, the pressure applied by the dazzling Turks proved too much. Very soon gaps appeared throughout as my peasantry simply evaporated as soon as they came into prolonged contact. 

Gaps appeared. My front line began to disintegrate.

My left held well as did the centre. But on my right, the bulk of the Turkish cavalry were able to break through and cause havoc and panic among the peasants. The spearmen fared much the same. Losses grew and grew until I lost too many and the Turks claimed victory. 

First battle. First loss. Enjoyed it all the same. 

Losses were heaviest yet suffered by me playing this game. Over nine thousand lost in total (or half my army) with the bulk of those losses due to being captured or deserting. Enemy losses were light in comparison - less than one thousand. 

For many their first crusade would be their last. On to the next game as the bulk of the Europeans have now arrived and are about to confront a relief force sent to the aid of a beleagured siege (by us of course). Have to be careful as I have to deal with an enemy field army and the prospect of the enemy garrison sending out reinforcements. 

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