Remembering PRESTAGS

What is special about the white Militia Spearmen in SPARTAN?

Sounds of Silence

When John Michael Young heard with words of Simon and Garfunkel, did he realise that he to was writing games that no one ever plays. PRESTAGS are great, but if the site that rejoices in its greatness, goes for years without an AAR, or even showing a set up game, a map or a counter, surely Silence has won. The players now "bow and pray" to the computer game with its Neon like colours. Silence reigns.

Perhaps for one man of virtue the city can be spared, or must he find two more?

What battle is this?

Hints: Three battles vs one, longbows against cavalry, first row dismounted, narrow battlefield, Python now owns Yeoman.

Question two: what happens next?

How can a man express his sensitive side while doing weights in the gym?

Easy. Put your son's new shorts in the wash as a favour!

For those who want to know how I captured the subtle pink tones in the Prestags shirt?

An unequal relationship

Inspired by Paul's Laksa, I had one for lunch. I can accept a challenge laid out in "Remembering PRESTAGS".

So, do we have an equal relationship? Who will take up my challenge and do the tutorial for Alea Jacta Est?

 

A good game of Euchre

The Hearts and Diamonds are brown rather than red though.

What is wrong in this cover?

As I packed up PRESTAGS Chariot this weekend, I noticed an error on the cover. Can anyone else see it?

Thank you, John Michael Young, for a most enjoyable weekend!

Pharaoh falls victorious

The answer to the Prestags Quiz is "The Battle of Kadesh". In this battle, the boy Pharoah Ramesses II recovers from a strategic blunder to win a tactical victory.

His blunder was to assume the Hittites were no were need Kadesh. He raced his army forwards in three divisions to camp outside Kadesh, when the front divisions was ambushed by the entire Hittite army. John Michael Young designed the scenario with the Egyptians split up and Hittites allowed to enter from any map edge. The Ammun division on the left, Ra in the center and Ptah on the right.

Ramesses II wasn't the only one to make a blunder here. John Michael Young made arguably his worst blunder as a game designer. The rules for Chariot only allows leaders, archers and skirmishers to board chariots. So playing with Chariot rules, most of the Egyptian chariots would be like EDEE transports with no one on board. I pulled out the "Day of the Chariot", another Kadesh game, to see if that would give me guidance. In that game, the chariots have a lot of firepower, and a little combat power. Also there was lots of foot soldiers for the chariots to annoy. Finally, I pulled out Armageddon, the precursor to PRESTAGS Chariot, and read the rules to that. As noted before, chariots can carry everyone in that game, including MI21 (something Pharoah would never allow). However, the set up instructions were almost identical Armageddon's scenario to Chariots - the only difference was that every leader was given a chariot.

So I decided to play this game using the Armageddon rules - anyone can get on a Chariot, even MI21. If you look at the map, almost every unit in the Ra and Ptah divisions is mounted. This is definitely different from every account of the battle I have read. I recessed each Egyptian division as far from the border as possible (perhaps a bit unrealistic) and had the Hittites attack.

Hittites Ambush

The Chariots with long range bowman occupied the front of the Ammun division  with heavy archery while the more heavily armed (e.g. skirmishers) force attacked a flank. Note I did stay with the Chariot rules and did not give the  chariot units a charge bonus. I am fiormed of the view that it would be suicidal to charge foot soldiers with a chariot. Your very success penetrating into the mass of men would be your undoing with injured horses corpses undoing your ability to maneuver. So you see the skirmishers dismounting to throw their javelins and then attack the rear (where the least brave and no leaders would be found. (You can see MI21 happily on the bottom left far from the action.)

The effect on the Ammum division was dramatic: Two stacks disrupted, and the force fatally separated from the rest of the army. Then the foot soldiers ran up. With the  division recessed as far as possible from the edge of the map, it would not hit until turn two, hence the importance of the chariots in holding the enemy.

I thought I might watch something in the background while playing the scenario: "Vale Spock".

Pharaoh moves to the rescue

The Egyptians didn't worry about chariot movement this turn, they moved everyone together. The chariots in the Ammun division rode back to give a channel for the reinforcements to arrive. The rest of the division tried to form a line, and to attack - attack - attack. Even MI21 takes onm some Hittite arhcers. Meanwhile the Ra and Ptah divisions race up...

With some good die rolls, the Egyptians take out some archers and skirmisher charioteers.

As a result, the Egyptians are ahead in the battle 10-8.

Destruction of the Ammun Division

However the Hittite infantry hit and the results are devastating. They pour through the holes in the Egyptian line as the right wing chariots complete the encirclement. The other wing of chariots ride out to meet Pharaoh to buy some time.

After the below average Hittite die rolls, there is not much left to rescue.

The Hittites have 23 victory points. The Egyptian Panic level is only 33.

Pharaoh Charges

Pharaoh strikes the Hittite chariots

"...No officer was with me, no charioteer, no soldier of the army, no shield-bearer ..."

"...I was before them like Set in his moment. I found the mass of chariots in whose midst I was, scattering them before my horses..."

Pharaoh is the 1L in the upper right. He is stacked on an axeman (who rode with him). The Ptah division is not far behind! The Hittite chariots crumble.

The Hittites Face a New Threat

The Hittite foot races to fill the gaps made in their chariot line, while the King cleans up the rest of Ammun. The right wing of chariots races off the face the Ptah division.

(I must have got excited at this point; I have no photos for the next two frames.) The combat phase for the Hittites sees the Egyptian panic level reached. Every unit not under a leader, or next to Pharaoh or the level 5 leader of the Ptah division turns to panic. However, most of the Ptah division is next to their leader. They encircle and destroy the Hittite right wing. Pharaoh wants to do the same, but cannot because he has a Contact result. 

Seriously, John Michael Young?! He is the beloved of Ra!

"The King is Ka.
His utterance is Abundance.
The one whom he brought up will be somebody.
He is Khnum for all limbs,
The Begetter of the begotten.
He is Bastet who protects the Two Lands.
The one who praises him will be protected by his arm.
He is Sekhmet against those who disobey his orders."

Not to seem like a bad sport, Ramesses stayed and feasted on battle. His leutenants raced around rallying chariots and foot soldiers (who had dismounted, but were not permitted to remount while panicked. The Ptah division then raced around Pharaoh to solidify the line.

Death of Pharaoh

In the last turn, the Hittite King moved against the left flank of the Egyptian army, and encircled it in turn with a few chariots gathered from the line.

The Hittites finally get a disruption result against Pharaoh and he falls, reduced to 2L. This is too much for the army; they return to their chariots and ride back to Egypt carrying the body of the boy Pharaoh.

 The death of the pharaoh was accompanied by a formal announcement,

"The falcon is flown to heaven and (his successor) is arisen in his place".

The Hittites seem to have won a great victory, but have they?

As I packed up the game, I noticed the victory conditions. The Hittites must gain 25 VPs (check), while conceding no more than 15 VPs (b*****r).

 

Muwatalli is horrified. "But I won fair and square!", he exclaims, and returns to Asia Minor in a huff. John Michael Young smiles. "Read the rules before you play", he seems to say!

Footnote

Pharaoh did not die at Kadesh. He technically won by remaining on the field after the Hittites withdrew, but shortly returned to Egypt. He went on to be one of Egypt's better rulers with a long reign at a time of prosperity.

You can read more of the real battle here.

I am unhappy with the Armageddon rules for this game. I intend to try it again soon, but this time give each side a free bowman for every chariot. Axemen in chariots do not make sense!

I'm not into fantasy!

 

 

What battle it this?

The answer: Hyksos vs Egyptians

I apologise of leaving you racking your brains on the PRESTAGS quiz for so long. The stress of it must have been trying you all batty. Some might have taken solace in charting, with is one thing John Michael Young was never very good at. Others have been awaiting the end of the world (as we know it), hoping it would spare them the restless nights seeking the answers. Still others have taken to stalking the author, seeking some answers to the tantalising photos of a beautifully set up PRESTAGS.

The solution was straightforward - one side had chariots, the other did not, which restricts it to four possible chariot scenarios.

Both  sides had militia infantry, and then you have just one possible scenario: [5.1] The Delta.

To answer the second part of the quiz, you needed a bit more cleverness. Where are the heroes for both sides. Well, for the Hyksos, he was at the back, because before wide spread writing, you cannot be a hero and die in battle; Only the living can be heroes!

The Egyptian hero also has a MI 21 jersey. He is harder to find and requires a process of elimination to locate.

There are two lines of militia infantry on the slopes. Behind the infantry (on the hilltops, taking advantage of the rule that lets hilltop archers fire over colleagues) are a line of archers with leaders - no MI 21 there. The valley between the hills shows a band of axemen waiting to counter attack. One is hidden by a leader, but no MI 21 would ever embarrass themselves by joining the scrum. That leaves just one place - the camp. MI21 is hiding in the camp under a leader calling himself the strategic reserve.

---

 John Michael Young designed this scenario as a sample of the Egyptians first contact with chariots, which convinced them that they needed them too. The huge problem with the scenario is  that CHARIOT rule [1.0] says that they can carry BW (bowmen), IB (improved bowman) and SK (Skirmishers). The scenario provides the Hyksos with 10 CH, 2 BW, 0 IB and 0 SK. That is, no passengers for the  for 80% of the passengers. Of course, you can put leaders on the chariots, but there is no point - the infantry need them to move and their combat bonuses are wasted.

I found a discussion on this point in Boardgamegeek.com. (The internet is truly amazing!) Steven Bucey in comment #6 noted this same problem and suggests that they were not tested properly. I like the approach of this debate, as they directly compare two John Michael Young masterpieces: Armageddon and Chariot.

In Armageddon, the chariots do have the ability to carry axemen, and to give those axemen a two column shift charge bonus when hitting the enemy line. (The Armageddon combat table is almost identical to the Prestags combat table. It does correct the 3:1 error I noted by repeating the pattern in the 5:1 table).

Looking at other Chariot scenarios, I note a common occurrence of insufficient passengers for chariots (e.g. [5.2] Babylon, [5.4] Kadesh]). In each of these, there are axemen.

So I suggest that when John Michael Young developed Chariot, he intended to allow axemen to board them. Someone convinced him to change his mind at the very last minute and he did not have time to correct the scenarios - or more likely from the chaos he describes in moves magazines, SPI mismanaged the final versions.

So in this scenario in particular, we have the annoyance of 8 chariots with nothing to do, except perhaps a suicide run to shepherd enemy units. The artwork of the Egyptians seems to support the chariot as principally a missile platform, but to be fair, they generally focus on the rout of enemies, not combat. If melee soldiers where in chariot, they would have got out to fight, which would not have made such good template art. Certainly in the artwork below, the support charioteers are not holding bows. So I think I will permit axemen to board chariots in MA.

What scenario is this?

Which scenario is it? Where are the heros for each side?

Awesome tee shirt

You know all your Christmases have come when you get two cool tee shirts!

First Sunday of Advent

It is the First Sunday of Advent, and in accordance with tradition we have put up our Christmas tree.

If you look closely you can see some special decorations this year.

PRESTAGS

I agree War in Europe is a challenge, but I can't even get a taker for a game of PRESTAGS. This is quite odd, because I live within 5 kilometres of the founder of the "Remembering PRESTAGS" blog. Odd two as I have a cupboard filled with nice chardonnays.

So I'm ready. The romance of hexes and dice is too often talked about and not often practiced. Less talk, more action!

So who is brave enough to take on my Byzantine Cataphracts?

Dear Lord Stark

A PRESTAGS Tattoo?

Oh dear, the Python has sent me a photo of himself with a PRESTAGS tattoo. I feel I must protect his identity if I am to post this, so I have covered Python's head with a picture of Heinz Guderian.

WE HAVE BEEN GOING ONE YEAR!

A huge thank you to the Python and Thygo, and all the other contributors. May this mad blog prosper for another year.

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PRESTAGS Art: "Pyrrhic Victory"

Something to play while waiting for an empire turn

Empire turns are as rare as duck teeth these days. I do agree that anyone sending the Python a turn is on a hiding to nothing, but you should never lose heart, no matter how many times you are defeated. While I am sitting at my desk waiting for the turn, I enjoy the game shown below. Any guesses on what I am playing? If so, what is my next move?

I suppose if I get this hand out, I should do a retort post on the status of Climate Change. (I am astounded that the Coalition has brought out a white paper on farming challenges for the next 20 years and there is no mention of the challenge of dealing with changing rainfall and other climate related challenges.) Anyway, if your debate opponents refuse to consider any truths that upset their world view, you must alway remember to no join them in the mud. Let's see if we can't find where all the extra heat is going.

PRESTAGS Art

MI22 wants to see more PRESTAGS art.

MI22 has a prize of a $100 gift voucher for Noble Knight Games for whoever produces the best PRESTAGS art in the next 6 months. Children's entries get bonus points.

MI22 explores the creative side of his militia personality with two entries of his own:

"Vikings in a Spruce Tree"

 

Art Critic Says: "A deep work that captures the sense of a viking camouflage after a secret landing. The quiet before the storm. A profound three dimensional snapshot of Scandinavia".

 

 

"Legion on the Move"

 

Art Critic Says: "A masterpiece of movement and determination. The Ford candlewagon recalls the Roman legions' long marches across the roads of the empire".