{"id":799,"date":"2015-01-02T14:15:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T14:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/badwargamers.com\/bad\/?p=799"},"modified":"2015-01-02T14:15:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T14:15:29","slug":"squarebashing-will-it-all-be-over-by-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/badwargamers.com\/bad\/squarebashing-will-it-all-be-over-by-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Squarebashing – will it all be over by Christmas?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been playing Squarebashing for about a year now, so its time I wrote up a review. For the centennial of WW1, we\u2019ve just concentrated on 1914 armies, and in this game we see the plucky BEF face of the Germans.
\n
\nThe Armies.<\/strong>
\nThe classifications are pretty simplistic. Infantry and cavalry are broken down into reserves, regulars and professional. Each battalion is 4 bases in strength. MGs and artillery are single bases. Tanks and A\/Cs are all single models.
\nThe BEF are predominately professional, and therefore are small. The \u2018standard\u2019 game we played was something like 7 professional battalions, 2 regulars, 4 MGs and 4 artillery.
\nThe German army of this period is based around a regular force. So we had 10 regulars, 2 reservist, 2 professional and 3 regular cavalry. In addition there were 4 artillery and 3 MGs.
\nWith each army comes a set of assets (artillery barrages) and also \u2018events\u2019 (these being randomly determined effects that effect the game in some way)\u2026 more of these later.
\nThis all comes round to a overall army status rating. This will determine the overall quality of the army (and ultimately and delta adjustment that is applied to the final victory point tally)
\n
Countdown to War.<\/strong>
\nPeter Pigs rules often have a pre battle phase, Squarebashing is no exception. This consists of a 3 week period where events make have an effect on the game. This takes the form of a calendar in which you allocate values, which become numbers of dice. You and your opponent then do and opposed dice off (5&6s being successes) . The player with the higher number of successes then has the access to their armies \u2018events\u2019. This is a 2 dice roll. Values of 2-5 having a negative effect , and 5+ being positive (generally the higher the better). You can roll \u2013over success to the next day, then gives you increased dice to throw and should you win and modifier to you event roll (+6) ,so you cannot get a bad result. With each event comes an attacking value. These are accumulated, and will determine who the attacker in the game is – and the level of attack
\nThere are strategies to this. If you have a defensively minded army then you can stack alternate days to try and neutralise your opponent\u2019s throws. However, I never seem to get this to work as I expect \u2013 or certainly not in a way that feels \u2018favourable\u2019
\nIn the game we played here, we kept the values as \u2018default\u2019. The BEF doesn\u2019t like to attack in my experience, but neither does it like to suffer \u2018the big push\u2019 \u2026
\nThe narrative that was rolled in the game was,
\nThe BEF had initial good news (lucky dice), and Kitchener gave his \u2018Khartoum speech\u2019. This meant that the BEF could choose to reroll two sets of assault dice (both players)
\nThen the Germans just took over. The weather was good, and high command had issued aggressive orders. In game terms this meant that the Germans could ignore any terrain penalties for moving in turns 1 & 2 (so they would be moving swiftly). It also netted a good chunk of attack points. They also exploited gaps in the BEF line (this meant that 2 BEF battalions would be sent into reserve). This meant that the Germans were most likely to attack
\nCombined with the fact that the Germans had some cavalry (boosting the likelihood of attacking). It wasn\u2019t quite \u2018the big push\u2019, but it was \u2018attack all along the line\u2019.
\n
\n\"squarebashing1\"<\/a>
\nObjectives, Terrain and deployment.<\/strong>
\nThe table is 4\u2019x3\u2019, broken down into 6\u201d squares. The defender sits at row 1 (the attacker row 6). Two roads are played (one by each player). The resulting crossroads is 1 objective. The defender then places another 3 objectives. There are restrictions. They cannot be placed in adjacent column, and the total of all the objects rows must be 13 or more. So what that means is that the objective are space across the table, and in games we tend to give one object to the attacker (row 5 or 6) to allow the other objective to be places in lower value rows. In the game objective further across the table will gain you larger victory points.
\nAfter the objective the defender places 8 pieces of terrain. Each terrain piece is 12\u201dx6\u201d (2 squares) , whereas an objective is 6\u201dx6\u201d. This makes it really easy to spot these things in the game.
\nThe most notable effect of terrain is that troops have to dice to leave a terrain square. Once your Austrian conscripts have gone into that wood they really don\u2019t like to come out! Other effects are that some terrain provides cover and some block LOS (although that is not so relevant)
\nIn the game here with the Germans having unrestricted movement in turns 1 & 2 then they wasn\u2019t much point in jamming up the top of the table to hinder their approach. So the BEF tried to construct a strong defensive line across the middle of the table.
\nThe attacker does get some say. They get to allocate d6 dice to terrain and on a roll of 4+ they get to move them. In the game here that meant that the Germans could open up a corridor of open space to the left of the battlefield. To attempt to split the BEF, give a space for their cavalry to operate, and achieve a breakthrough.
\nThe attacker then deploys the whole force in row 6, the defender then deploys in rows 1&2. Each square has a max occupancy of 3 units. If the attacker has more than 18 units then they have some that are forced into reserve.<\/p>\n

\"squarebashin2\"<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\nDepletions.<\/strong>
\nEveryone\u2019s favourite part of the game! Before the game begins the attacker gets to deplete the defenders army. You can think of this in terms of preliminary barrage, or units losing their way of reassigned to a different section. What it means is that depending on the level of attack, a number of dice are thrown between 5-9~. For each 6 thrown one base of removed from the defenders battalion. This is done for each battalion (from R-L). Rather than taking the casualties the defender can put the troops into reserve. The throw can be modified by troop quality, placement and type. The defender must also have at least 1\/3 (rounded down) of their infantry and cavalry off table).
\nThis phase can be rather tense. If the attacker throws well then you can lose a lot of troops and you have a tricky decision to make whether to suffer the casualties of bring the troops on during the game. This is not a quick and reliable process.
\nIn the game here we have 9 BEF battalions. 2 already have to be placed in reserve as a result of countdown to war events. So, only 1 more needed to go to reserve. The Germans scored well and the central objective had one of its professionals reduced to half strength. Placing then in reserve wasn\u2019t really an option as the movement bonuses the Germans had would allow them to capture it quickly.
\nThe BEF would be up against it. Their army was split. The left flank was isolated (although in good order), defending the crossroads in the town. The centre had been denuded significantly. The right flank was in good order, but strategically had little to do.
\nThe defender then gets to place 2 sections of barricades.
\nFinally before the game begins each sides gets to pick a higher command strategy. There are 4 types available. Fighting, Morale, Assets and Movement – each with an associated bonus in that area.
\nThe Germans picked Fighting. The BEF picked Morale.
\nThe Game Turn.<\/strong>
\nThere are quite a lot of phase in each game turn, and this can be quite daunting at first. Its definitely worth keeping the QRS to hand, as its listed there. Really it a good plan to stick to it rigidly to start as there are some nuances on the order of things. I won\u2019t go in to explicit details on the order, but will try to give a flavour.
\nAssets<\/strong>
\nAt the start of the game each army has a unique asset pool. This is a pool of dice in which to request that asset. Once the dice is used then that\u2019s it. To successfully request and asset a single 6 is required. So for instance if you had 10 point effect barrage you could roll 1 dice for 10 turns hoping for a 6. More likely you would have 2 attempts with 5 dice. There are about a dozen or so assets and you can only pick 1 per turn. The game is about typically 6-8 turns long (could be as low as 4, or as high as 20 though!)
\nMorale<\/strong>
\nThe trigger for a morale check is having a casualty figure in a square. A number of dice are accrued, 1 each of casualties , barrage, surrounded by opponents etc. These can be reduced by quality and \u2018markers\u2019. For each 4+ thrown this is 1 morale failure. 1 means no advance up to 3+ which is \u2018quit the field\u2019. Which sounds worse that it is. It means that if you have taken a couple of casualties (2 dice) from fire and under point effect barrage (3 dice) things aren\u2019t going to go too well.
\nMovement<\/strong>
\nInfantry move 2 squares, cavalry 3, MG and Guns 1. No diagonals, quite easy. You can get a bonus move square if you don\u2019t end up in a square adjacent to the enemy. The main issue for movement is leaving any terrain square to another. Each battalion dices to try and exit a terrain square. Professionals needing 2+, Conscripts 4+ . This can put a scupper on well laid plans!
\nAssault<\/strong>.
\nThis is the main way of destroying the enemy and capturing a square. If a unit has movement points left it may assault a square occupied by the enemy. Each units in the assaulting square typically generates 3 dice (remembering a square occupancy limit of 3). Assaults need to be supported. Adjacent square add 2 dice to assaulters \u2018dice pot\u2019. Markers , flanks and lots of other little bonuses can add to that, defences etc can reduce it.
\nThe defender normally gets 2 dice (5 dice for MGs!!) per unit & 1 dice per support square. Again a set of modifiers with add and subtract from that dice pool.
\nBoth sides roll the dice, 5&6s are hits. Saves are then made. So infantry get a 50\/50 save, again better and worse quality factors apply. If the attacker inflicts more hits then they win, and force the defenders to retreat a square and they move to occupy it. Casualty markers accrue and morale checks will be needed in the subsequent phase. Once you retreat you also take additional hits, it\u2019s a slippery slope.
\nShooting<\/strong>
\nYou shoot in your opponent turn. Any square that has not been assaulted can fire. The range is only adjacent, except for artillery and mortars, so there is little need for LOS. Each battalion fires 1 dice and needs a 6 to hits (which can then be saved). It\u2019s unlikely that you will drive your opponent off with shooting.
\nReserves<\/strong>
\nIf a side has reserves it can dice for arrival now. There are 3 options
\n1. Each units dices. A 6 and it can arrive
\n2. 1 unit comes on automatically
\n3. 1 unit comes on automatically on the road entrance square. 2 more dice rolls (needing 6) are also done.
\nNumber 3 is most popular, and its not unusually for a defensive strategy to revolve around where the road is, as that is easier to defend.
\nCountdown clock.<\/strong>
\nThe defender rolls 1 die. This is then knocked of the countdown clock (starting at 21). When it gets to 0 then the game ends.
\nVictory calculation.<\/strong>
\nWhen the game ends the victory points are calculated. Each KPI is either a value or a dice. The dice are thrown for a resulting victory points. So it can be a bit random. But in my experience it never makes a lot of difference in an \u2018obvious\u2019 victory, but can swing games that are closer. Each side\u2019s values are compared and the resultant delta it referenced on a chart to get the final result. The key objectives are \u2013
\nDefenders bonus. The defender gets bonus points for the level of attack they have to face.<\/p>\n