Singapore - The Fall of Malaya

I've been playing Singapore: Fall of Malaya. This game was in S&T 96 nad it presents the Malaya Campaign. I opted for the submarine rules (so the British can intercept Japanese sea movement on the west side of Malaya), increased reinforcements, and two air counters. The Japanese opted for sacking General Nishimura and some extra troops. I deliberately stayed away from the more major options such as the Jungle Training and Royal Engineers.

It's about mid-February 1942 and the Japanese forces are only about halfway down the pennisula. There's been some losses but the Japanese have also suffered. The biggest problem is that Commonwealth forces ZOCs don't extend into jungle hexes and there's not enough troops to do a "wall-to-wall" defense so it's fairly easy for the Japanese to outflank. Combined with the attrition rules, the effect is devastating on the Commonwealth forces.

I've played the game into March 1942 and the Commonwealth forces are slowly being pushed back. It's also been a game of attrition, especially with the deadly supply/attrition rolls and the CW forces are dwindling. The two optional Royal Tank Regiments arrived and combined with the 18th Division having managed to stop a couple of Japanese thrusts cold. In one case, the British 18th Division and supporting armor (2nd and 7th RTRs) managed to destroy one Japanse regiment that tried an end-run at Port Dickson. The nature of the CRT really limits any long-lasting effects of the CW counter-attacking.

The biggest problem is that with the lack of ZOCs into the jungle, the CW is greatly handicapped and easily outflanked, Combined with fewer troops, the CW just can't cover the frontage. Soon it will be withdrawal to Singapre Island for the last stand.

Well, I played out Singapore with the final "last stand" occuring during the late April game turns. The Commonwealth did much better than their historical counterparts although the end result was a Japanese substantive victory. Force Z was lost but the Commonwealth air units were successfully evacuated just prior to the final assault on Singapore thus denying the Japanese victory points for capture.

Overall, I attempted to wage an aggressive Commonwealth defense but the big problem was the Commonwealth's inability to form a solid line due to the lack of ZOCs exetending into jungle hexes. Combined with an overall shortage of units, it just wasn't possible to create a solid line and to dig in. Also, any counterattack had to be carefully considered so as to prevent being isolated in turn and this was especially so because of the ZOC/Jungle problem. Combined with this, the CRT is a bit strange in that even at the max differential, there is still a strong possibility (one in three in some circumstances) of a "BR" (both retreat) result occurring. One of the reasons that the Japanese took so long was because of some poor die rolls.

Based on playing the game, I believe that any Commonwealth defense of Malaya/Singapore was ulitmately doomed to failure. The chief problem was the lack of jungle training combined with the "peacetime" mentality that inhibited any serious defense preprations. Just as important, Percival was the worst choice for commander. While a more energenic and forceful commander might not have prevented ultimate defeat, it certainly would have forced the Japanese to work harder and perhaps seriously disrupt their war plans.

Overall, an interesting game but a forelorn hope.

Max - Crusing Down the Trail

Last night I decided to not give Max too much of a workout and rather take him for a walk around Gabriellano Park. It was pretty uneventuful except for the clueless idiot teaching his kids to ride an ATV on the grass area of the park (hell, why not, grass just gets in the way). Once I got to the arena, I worked Max a little, doing mostly leg yields at the trot and canter. I also worked on moving Max by leg without use of the reins (mostly- I cheated in a few difficult spots)- it's tougher than it looks.

Coming home, I decided to take Max home by way of Orcas Ave. Max didn't seem to have any issues, even with barking dogs and all.

Well, it will soon be time to take Max to Morro Bay so I've got to get him ready. :-)

RE: Event Pictures MTH 2005

Here's some pictures of me at Marching Through History at Prado Regional Park in 2005:




As a German



As an American

Max the Cranky Horse

Did our weekly lesson today and boy was Max a complete jerk- he did not want to cooperate in various leg yields and the harder I tried, the more Max resisted (in his stubborn way). Basically he's fairly dull to my legs and we need to work more on focusing his attention on leg motions while at the same time keeping off of the reins/bit as much as possible.

It wasn't a complete loss as we were able to get some good moves on the forehand and I was able to finally get his cooperation. I'm going to have to do more leg work while planting the reins against the mane or saddle and not doing anything with them except to apply braking pressure.

Just using the legs is easier said than done, at least with Max, and sometimes it seems to work out fine and other times it's a major chore. Well, guess I have my work cut out for me...

Doing Something Different with Max

Today for something different I decided to take Max to a practice session of the Warhorse Foundation, an organization that does all manner of equestrian activities, some military and some not (they tend to do Napoleonic which I don't particularly care for so I don't do a lot with them). Max has done a couple of other practice sessions but I figure that if I'm going to be taking Max out more to events (trailering permitting, I hope), I want to get him used to functioning as part of a larger group of horses (he really needs more work in this area).

This is the second time in recent months I've done this and he was a complete gentlemen, not getting upset by other horses bumping into him as we do formation changes and the like and learning to work in close proximity with other horses. The only questionable part has been with charges at the trot and canter- Max gets so much into the moment that sometimes he doesn't pay attention to his cues or he wants to get in a flat-out run because the other horses are getting in front of him (they're mostly Arabs and Throughbreds).

However, Max did much better at the charges this time- maybe is was the little Arab mare that was riding alongside- he would keep pace with her but not try to pull out in front- he was actualy very controlled. Doing some more of this may take the edge off of Max more.

Basically practice is much like doing Quadrilles on acid- lots of them in different formations which makes sense since much of this has its origins in cavalry. Basically a fancier version of standard military drill manuals- certain movements may have different commands attached to them, depending on the army and time period, but they're basically the same movements and accomplish the same thing.

Overall, this was very successful for Max and I and we'll need to pursue this further.

Colic - A Really Bad Situation

As mentioned earlier in this blog, last weekend I attended a living history event at Ft. MacArthur. A friend of mine brought his horse out to Ft. MacArthur was part of an 11th Cavalry display. Everything went fine until it was time to go home when the horse refused to load into his travel trailer.

I happened to be coming by to say my goodbyes so he asked me to help get the horse into the trailer. I'm no trailer expert but it seemed to me that the first problem was that the horse had decided that he didn't want to leave. The horse doesn't get a lot of exercise and my friend really hasn't put in a lot of training. I had ridden the horse earlier and I know from that and past experience that he tends to be a bit willful and needs an occassional "discussion".

We tried all manner of methods including giving the horse a dose of Ace Promazine. Unfortunately, we were basically in a wrestling war which we wouldn't be able to win. Finally, the horse decided that he'd had enough and he reared back, broke the lead rope and fell over to his side nearly rolling on top of me- I was lucky to duck aside and roll down a hill. No had done but it looked like I'd been clocked in the head.

I finally have to leave but when I contacted my friend the next day to find out what happened, it turned out that the horse had colic and he most likely didn't want to load because he was sick. My friend had to stay at Ft. Mac overnight and the vet came out the next day to treat the horse. Fortunately, all it took was IV fluids and Banamine. The horse was ulimately transported home in a stock trailer- his normal travel trailer is just too small.

I guess the moral of this story is that none of us really saw this coming although later my friend told me that the horse hadn't really drunk much water that entire weekend nor had he eaten carrots that had been given to him- which is usually one big clue that something is amiss.

It's kind of disturbing- I was expecting more dramatic symptoms but upon doing some reading, the symptoms can be more subtle. I guess I need to bone up on this some more- I don't want this to happen to Max. It also confirmed once again why I will never use a straight-load trailer.

For more information, go HERE.

Practice Practice Practice...

Last night I decided to ride Max and do some light training. For the most part, Max was pretty good and he didn't give me a lot of attitude when directed to go into a left lead canter. I focused mostly on riding down the track doing trot/walk/canter transitions along with the occassional turning on the forehand exercises.

Max seemed to prefer working on the track as opposed to the arena and it was there that he gave some attitude. Interestingly enough, he attempted to keep going into the left lead canter even though I wanted to walk or trot. Perhaps I'm working him too hard on this point so I'm going to back off a bit and focus more on transitions and trotting.

I also had a chance to speak to the farrier about Max's shoeing. Previously, the farrier had used corrective shoes with "wings" that support the feet and shield them from rocks. It seems that all the riding in the wash with all the stones was beginning to bend them down, thereby putting pressure on the bottoms of the hooves so the farrier didn't put that type of shoe on this time.

In any event, unlike before, lately Max has been full of energy and he's the direct opposite of what he used to be in that he wants to go fast into the canter where before I had to urge him. Of course things could change again...

Also, while I can't detect any injury, I think that it might be a good idea to put Max on his joint supplement again. I took him off because I didn't think it was doing any good but with his lately refusing to his the left lead canter without a major fight might have to do with joint stiffness.

Always something.... :-)

Some WWI Pictures

Here's some pictures from the February and April WWI battles we recreated out at Ozena Valley for the Great War Historical Society:

Night battle...

A Grantenwherfer cuts loose

The battlefield by day...

More Turn-of-the-Century Babes

Here's some more interesting party girls from the early 1900s:

Find the dice...

Lady Libertine

Drive on Frankfurt

I pulled out this game this weekend to play. Truely a relic of the 80s...

First impressions: It's trying to be the Central Front Series on a bit larger scale. The map graphics are ghastly in that early 80s style (Redmond A. Simonson, it's NOT). Also, the order of battle for NATO is somewhat questionable (TWO US cavalry companies to cover the border? What happened to the others? Go on leave to Paris?) and the rules are a bit ambiguous in places.

Drive on Frankfurt also attempts to use a flexible impulse system based on command activation. What's interesting is this is the first game I've seen that really attempts to integrate the effects of ECM into the game so that command, and in turn your ability to move units, can be dramitically affected by jamming.

Follow-up:

I've been trying to soldier through the first turn of Drive on Frankfurt but no joy. The system is an interesting one but it's just a tad too cumbersome and especially in terms of multi-unit attacks. The rules are a bit unclear on this point since they seem to emphasize individual movement of each unit or stack in an activated group. If you move one unit, you need to keep track of it's expended movement while moving a second unit up to also attack the same defender. Then you have to make sure that each unit has enough movement points to pay for the appropriate attack (there's three levels of attack: assault, deliberate and hasty). Finally, if the attackers succeed, they then get to use their unexpended movement to advance further. This is way too much to keep in your head.

The artillery rules are also a bit ponderous with a separate "bombardment" phase and THEN being able to use bombardment during an activation phase. Then there's the spotter rules. A bit too tactical in my book.

This system definately needed some refining and compared to the Central Front Series, Drive on Frankfurt is a distant second.

Back To Max...

Since Max got the weekend off, I decided it was time to get back into the swing of things Monday, starting with my weekly lesson (I took Monday off from work to "recover" from Ft. MacArthur).

I started with the usual warm-up and it was interesting. With the corrective shoeing, Max seems to have become more energenic lately so where before it was a struggle to keep Max in a trot or to go into a canter, I know have to hold Max back from immediately launching into the canter. I do a lot of sitting trot exercises to train Max to realize that I don't always want speed but it takes some reminding when I first start to ride him.

Next, we had some issues with the left lead canter- like earlier this year, Max is refusing to go into the left lead canter and I've had some fights with him to include bucking. Eventually he'll do it but it seems that he explodes into the canter on the left lead. My trainer says that he's using his hindquarters more. There's no signs of injury or soreness but it's curious.

We worked hard through the lesson and Max began to become more relaxed and compliant as we proceeded. We also worked on a lot of leg yields at the sitting trot and began work on moving on the forehand. Moving on the forehand is pretty tricky because I tend to leg too hard and dig in with the spur but with practice, this should improve. My trainer also recommends that I don't practice a lot of these because it tends to frustrate Max if I do these for too long- better to do fewer but more correct movements than a lot of poor ones. I also don't take too many steps- just a little at a time. This is sort of like when I was training on side passes- it took awhile but Max seems to have learned it (along with me).

Well, that's all for now...

Fort MacArthur Event

Here's a couple pictures from a recent timeline event that took place at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro last weekend. Max definately got the weekend off!

Me in my US 1912 cotton uniform. I'm actually comfortable for a change!

My compadre Seph in his British Lancashire Fusiliers impression. More to follow!

Babes from the Turn of the Century

By today's standards Evelyn Nesbit would probably be considered quite boring but back around 1901 she was quite notorious:

For more, go HERE.

And Now Something From The Cold War...

I'd forgotten about this one but re-discovered it while surfing YouTube:



"Nikita" was quite the looker!

Summer is Here Again

June has been a pretty sucky month for riding, with me getting a cold and all and the shoer taking his time getting out to replace Max's VERY worn out shoes. However, with June behind us now, the shoer having finally making a belated appearance on the 4th of July and me feeling much better, it's time to get back into the swing of things.

Today, Max and I went on a nice three-hour trail ride to the Ponds. We deliberately chose our trail so we were in the shade most of the way and we got started about 10 am. My trail companion was riding Blue, one of the most lazy but loveable lunk of a horse- for a Standardbred who used to race, he has got to be be one of the slowest and most lazy horses! :-)

The ride was relxing and for the most part without incident. The only glitch is when we took one trail accross a creek with dubious footing- a few logs and the like. Blue went through with no problem but Max had some serious doubts. I even got off and tried to led Max accross by hand but he wasn't having any of it. I finally decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to push things and work on it another day. Everytime I get into a hurry, some sort of disaster occurs and it's understandable from Max's point of view why the crossing looked bad. It would have been a different matter if there wasn't the tangle of logs and vegetation. As things turn out, it was the wrong trail anyway, so my companion had to backtrack.

We even did some trotting although I had to be careful to duck low-lying branches and the like. Max was game and he didn't want to ge left behind. Eventually, we wound up at the Pond. At the Pond, we came accross someone with a 6-month old Standard Poodle- he was a sweet dog but Max was dubious of the whole thing- after the dog incident where my wife got dumped off Max because someone released a dog that got right under him (and naturally spooked him). Since then, Max is a bit skeptical of all dogs. Fortunately, nothing bad happened and it helped that my companion's dog came along with us for the ride (he's a real mellow terrier mix)- after awhile, Max got used to his running around.

I'm not sure what Max made of the deep water at the Pond- we wern't too adventurous but Max seemed to be a bit suspicious of everything for a bit. It might have been the dog, who knows.

We then backtracked the way we came and eventually made our way back home. Overall, it was a nice way to get back into things with all the heat and such.

Sinai

I recently pulled out this old SPI game after a 30-year hiatus. Interesting system. Sure, it's a little dated but it does an excellent job of presenting the strategic/operational problems facing both sides. In the game I'm been playing solitaire (seems to be the only way these days), I've played 9 turns and while the Egyptians have made some progress in pushing accross the Suez Canal and even reaching the Milita Pass, it's still pretty much of a stalemate.

The Golan Heights has been a see-saw battle with little progress made on either side (it looks like a traffic jam). The bloodless CRT is a bit strange but it can get bloody if the attacks can be set up properly.

The thing that really makes things difficult is that the combat factors are doubled on the defense (and quadrupled when within 2 hexes of a sam battery) and especially in defending against an incursion accross the Suez Canal. Still an interesting game even after 35 years (it was published in 1973).