Standoff in Scandinavia, Part 2

 

The Swedes turn TACTICAL ADVANTAGE; this card can be played at any time; it is now a reroll card rather then a simple UP 1 or DPWN 1 to any roll, potentially much more impactful. We will see. The Swedes hold the card (not technically in their "hand"). 

Swedes turn ARMY MORALE; this must be played, but with no troops yet in combat, and no lost or routed units, this card is is both "free" and without effect; thus another card is drawn in its place

Swedes tun LULL: this must be played, and the Danes attempt to seize the Imitative! 

If the Dames Leadership die for their C-in-C beats that of the Swedes, they get a "free" impetus point. That fails to happen here. 

The initiative passes to the Danes anyway, as the Swedes are out of impetus. They turn SPECIAL EFFECT (Wild Card). Each Danish Command individually can use this card as whatever they feel they need most. 

A Double Magic Move for the Infantry Brigade. 

The Cavalry rolled a single move; situation after both commands have acted. 

This Danish Brigade rolls a single magic move.

Situation after their move. 

Swedish infantry opportunity fires, causing one hit; there is no disorder as the Swedes rolled ODD. 

The Danes fire back, after taking into account the effects of the opp fire, but fail to have any significant effect. 

A triple Move (no magic) for the central Danish Reserve Brigade. 

The prior Danish Brigade now chooses to fire its "loaded" artillery, which it does to effect!

The Danish advance; Swedish opportunity fire is ineffective (being both disordered and with 1 hit didn't help!). 

The fire of the Danish Livgards til Fods is more effective, inflicting more damage on the Swedes, and forcing them back! 

Double Magic move, with an EVEN roll, the skirmishing Danish Jagers will ignore the usual move penalties for the Class II hill.

The combined opportunity fire of the Swedish battery and infantry just manages to be enough to through the Danes back a bit in Disorder, and with some losses. 

A single move for the infantry and their attached battery. 

Single move for the Cavalry and Horse Artillery. 

Situation thereafter. 

2 Danish regiments volley fire at the Russian Jagers, diving them back in Disorder with losses.

The second Danish card is a MOVE: they opt to act on it rather than exchanging it for one of the other two cards in their hand. 

Triple Magic Move for the Danish Cavalry and their Horse Artillery!

"Hold on a minute there, Hans!"Swedish Horse Artillery Opp fire forces their Danish counterparts back in Disorder with losses; this also prevents them from unlimbering! Meanwhile, the Danish Fynske Light Dragoons and the Bosniaks charge home into Melee!

First round between the Danish Light Dragoons and the Sweuish Smalands Lette Dragoner results in an 1 pip edge to the Danes; the Swedes are Disordered. 

2nd round is another 1 pip edge to the Danes; the Swedes are already Discorded, and the Danes rolled even so they keep good order. Note that the highest possible score is "12", not 13!

The 3rd round is different, and the Swedes are Routed with heavy losses, while the Danes maintain their cool and their Order. 

In the charge of 2 small units, the Bosniaks get the short end of the stick, but the Swedes are disordered (rolled odd). 

Double Magic Move!

An inefective Danish Volley... but wait; the Danish C-in-C plays his Tactical Advantage card to re-rol1 his D12. 

It works, and the Swedes suffer fairly heavy losses, but stand their ground in good order. 

Double Magic Move!

A missed opportunity when the skirmish fire of the Jagers fizzles. Wheres that TACTICAL ADVANTAGE card?  Oh yeah...

Single no frills move; the Danish Artillery opens up on the Svea Livgards, and causes heavy losses!

Situation after the move, and some more ineffective fire, this time by the Kings Livjagers. 

Single Magic Move. 

Situation thereafter. 

Single move.

The Danish infantry finds comfortable lodgings in the village, and decide to practice some hygge. The Cavalry are less sanguine, rolling a big fat 1. Uff da!  No move for you boys!  

Having finished that run of initiative, we'll break now until the next part! 

Standoff in Scandinavia, part 1

For this variant, the small sequence deck mis in many ways similar to that used in Battle Command - each side has 9 cards. Additional cards could be added for arrival of reinforcements, unique events, weather changes, etc. The Special Event card here is used as the "wild card". 

As always, the action begins with both C-in-C's rolling their Leadership Die; to keep things simple, for this game every commander is rated as LD 10; ordinarily, they might vary form a low of D8 to a high of D12+1. Red dice will represent the Danes throughout this reports, whereas blue and sometimes yellow dice belong to the Swedes. The Danes have won the first initiative, and as their roll is EVEN, both sides will get 2 impetus. Having won the roll, the Danes opt to act first. This is pretty much as in Battle Command. The first of their 2 cards is ARTILLERY FIRE. With most batteries having little or no targets, the Danes take this card into their hand, hopefully to be used later. . 

The second Danish card is Tactical Advantage. This must be played, but as in FoB and Battle Command, it can be held and used at any time of the player's choosing, even when they do not have the initiative. The Danes hold the card, which does NOT count against their hand limit of 2 cards. 

The Danes still have one more impetus to use, and turn ARMY MORALE. With no units lost or routed, it does NOT cost an impetus to play. With no combat yet having occurred, no Leader Survival tests are needed, either.  

Thus, the Danes turn yet another card. This is MELEE, which allows most units to charge and imitate melee if they are within 1/2 move distance of the enemy; once again, no units would qualify, so this card is taken up into the Danish hand. 

The Danes turn LEADERSHIP. This cards allows units to rally off hits, recover from Disorder, and rally routers. Once again, with the game having just begun, there is little to do with this card, which does also allow units to change facing or formation, and allows leaders to move. Having reached their hand limit, the Danes MUST play one of the three cards. The choose to play the LEADERSHIP card, and the officers carefully inspect the formations of their troops. The initiative passes to the Swedes!

The first Swedish card is MOVE; this is pretty much a no brainer to act upon right now, which they do! 

A "Triple Magic Move" for this brigade of three Swedish battalions (won even, with a difference of 6+ pips). The "Magic" (won even roll) allows one segment to be used for changing facing or formation of the units of that brigade. This was not felt necessary here. . 

Positions after the advance. 

The Swedish cavalry roll a "1" - which means they cannot move, but instead consume their rations of Lutefisk. 

A "Double Magic Move" for this Swedish brigade

Post move positions. 

7 - 1; a Triple move, minus the magic. positions of the Swedish reserve after executing their advance.

Positions of the next brigade after a Double move (9 - 4). 

Last Swedish infantry brigade's positions after a single move (3 - 4). 

What is it with the Swedish cavalry this initiative. More Lutefisk to the front!

The second Swedish card is MELEE; with no possible use for the card at the moment, it is taken up into the Swedish hand. 

LEADERSHIP is turned; the Swedes decide to act upon this card now, even though there are no troops to rally. 

An attached Russian battery unlimbers to target some Danes across the shallow river. 

An attack column is formed for potential crossing of the flod. 

The left flank Swedish brigade changes facing to cross the river. This completes the first initiative for both sides. 

It's getting late, and Blogger has decided to insert all my photos in reverse order today, so we'll pick up the narrative again in the next post!