Twilight of the Sun King

Before we start our next campaign we're playing a few weeks of new rules to try them out. The first was Twilight of the Sun King (ToSK) that depicts the battles of the late 17th and early 18th century, so overlapping with the early era depicted in the Beneath the Lilly Banners rules. 

ToSK is very different though being aimed at fighting very large games at a smaller scale, with 6mm, 15mm and 20mm all being suitable scales. The key "USP" of these rules is that shooting, combat, and morale are all bundled together into a single mechanic. Attacking the enemy causes them to take a morale test which can result in lose of strength or complete routing.

Supporting lines are crucial giving both morale advantage and also limiting how far units may be pushed back. Artillery provides long range bombardments that can disrupt enemy movement but cause little damage.   

For the first practice game we played a Great North War scenario pitting Swedes against Saxons. The smaller Saxon force was outclassed by the better Swedish troops. 

Swedish foot

Swedish horse

The other key mechanic is that units may move straight ahead but any other manoeuvre needs a action test based the units quality, including wheeling in a charge. So better units can move fairly freely but poorer ones need to stick to simple plans.   

Saxon defenders

After a few turns two things became obvious; cavalry need to attack in deep formations and angles really matter as its fairly easy to get charged in the flanks. As charged cavalry must conform to their attackers you can manipulate your opponents and open up flanks for follow-up units.   

 We're still learning the game but its clear its a quick game with fairly small unit footprints, so meeting its aim of large scale battles. 

5 Parsecs - recovering the shard

The Hermes crew's adventures continued over the Christmas break with two more missions on the prison moon of Tybos. As well as picking up ad hoc work there are two stories running alongside; the ongoing pursuit of an old smuggler buddy (Q'narr) for his sneaky ambush and the current Quest to recover a data shard that the Ossian Veil assassins are seeking to weaponize. Games 13 and 14 are one of each.

Game 13 - Disrupting the plans

A source tipped the crew that Q'narr was using the prison as a transhipping location and had a fortified warehouse with numerous goons on guard. So a plan was hatched to storm the place and seek to disrupt this operation. 

Q'narr's compound

The mission aim was to penetrate the compound and secure data from a terminal that would allow the shipments to be intercepted. Feeling confident in their gear and training, a frontal assault was settled on. 

Waiting goons

Assault team ready

Bursting in the enemy turned-out to be more numerous that expected and the crew had to handle some heavy fire. The armour did its job though and and they were able to clear the compound. Captain Strake was wounded but it turned out to be only minor, so only 1 turn missed.   

 

Terminal secured

Game 14 - Recover the shard finale

On the last phase of the Quest the crew recovered a tracking programme that allowed them to locate the data shard containing Captain Strakes digital twin. To prevent its weaponization they planned to infiltrate the Ossian Veils secret lab that was located right against the outside of the main prison wall. The lab was staffed by financial followers of the Veil so resistance would be fierce.

Ossian Veil lab nestles against the prison wall 

In this game the enemy had hidden deployment so would appear in groups, every 2 turns, at random locations. They were also Elite so had higher combat skill. Needing to clear the area quickly before reinforcements could arrive the crew split into two teams. More enemy would arrive from turn 7 onwards.  

Melee is joined

Things were tough from the start with a group appearing in charge distance of Team 2 and quickly charged them. After a tussle the attackers fell back. Meanwhile Team1 were lining-up to enter the lab when they found themselves under flank attack.    

 

Flanked

After a firefight around the lab entrance Team 1 were able to storm inside and grab the data shard on turn 6.  As Team2  moved to join them they were ambushed again with trusty Bot PDP-11 being damaged. With the shard secured the crew quickly withdrew having succeeded in their Quest, after a nice tough fight.    

Sneaky ambush

  

     

Battle of Kliszow - 1702. A game of Beneath the Lilly Banners

The action takes place in Poland during the Great North War and starts in typical fashion with the Swedes looking to attack the flank of  a larger and well dug-in Saxon army. As they manoeuvred to attack a large contingent of Polish-Lithuanian troops arrived to support the Saxons. This meant the Swedes had to reposition and adopt a defensive posture. We begin our battle as the Saxon and Polish cavalry starts its attack on both flanks of the Swedes. 

Polish with Hussars to the fore 

Saxon's well dug-in on a hill

Saxon Cuirassiers and Dragoon

Swedish opposite the Poles

Swedish opposite the Saxons

Swedish centre behind a stream, facing the Saxon centre 

The action began with the Saxon / Polish horse advancing towards the waiting Swedes. The Polish moved more rapidly as they were not hindered by marshy ground to their front.   

 

View from the Polish flank

View from the Saxon flank

On their left the Swedes were able to contain and push back the Polish attack. The Hussars died gloriously, leaving it to the Pancerni to carry the fight to the Swedes. Things were tougher on the other side as the Swedes were out numbered nearly 3-1 and so were gradually pushed back by the Saxon Cuirassier.      

 

With the Poles beaten back, the Swedes were able to move around the flank and launch an attack on the Saxon foot's dug-in position. The defences hampered the attack and so they were unable to break into the position before the end of the game.      

  

So likely a partial victory for the Swedes. They were just about hanging on on their right against the Saxon horse and had beaten off the Polish attack on their left. They had been able to mount an attack on the Saxon foot but had been unable to make much headway.

As some bonus content my latest effort from the painting table, some Russian foot. Even after Peter the Greats  military reforms not everyone fought in the familiar green/red uniforms. This unit is the Perm Regiment from early in the Great North Wars. They were it seems issued a yellow uniform at one point. Its not clear if they saw action in it but its good enough for me as its a nice bright look.