General de Brigade

[captain chook]

Where can I buy lucky dice?
Mine are certainly cursed, although some believe that I just don't treat mine with enough love. However, the concept of loving your dice, is a little disturbing for me.

Despite Suvarov's calculations of the likelihood or otherwise of lancers breaking a square, I have now had my 5th square broken!

This came on top of my cuirassiers failing to defeat lancers, despite charging downhill for a further +1. Their support unit then faltered when trying to reinforce the melee. The brigade with the destroyed square broke (rolled a 2 for brigade morale). Soon after a unit in Grande Bande at long range faltered as a result of artillery getting a double six. My roll for risk to general resulted in a mortal wound. All this in only 3 turns.
5 turns of firing 18 skirmishers (ie 30 dice rolls) resulted in only 2 enemy casualties. Skirmishers and grande bands consistently refused to be recalled.

Despite this, having reserves helped stabilise this problem. It was a good lesson in needing to deploy in depth. Luckily (or possibly even wisely) I didn't do what I have often done in smaller games - deploy in a "line" but rather had units deploy on a narrow frontage with a depth of anywhere from 2 to 4 units while allowing plenty of room to manoeuvre.

Any directions to lucky dice or ones of legendary abilities would be appreciated.

Anthony

[Ordnanceboard]

You must get your dice from the same place I get mine.

On Friday night my Scots Greys (18 figs) were repeatedly pushed back by French Dragoons (8 Figs) as a result of really appalling melee throws.

[Suvoroff]

Antony;
My calculations assumed the correct sacrifices to Jupiter Greatest and Best before the Day of Battle. What did your haruspices say?

I am reminded of a bit from Robert Graves's I, Claudius, where a Roman admiral throws corn to the sacred chickens before battle, but they refused to eat - a very bad omen indeed! So in disgust the admiral chucks the sacred chickens overboard. Of course he lost!

Yours,
James D. Gray

[captain chook]

James,
you seem to be confused as to what era I was gaming in.
More appropriate would be the Supreme Being or going to the Altar of Reason. On second thoughts, luck and reason are mutually exclusive

Besides, Pallas Athene was my favourite Olympian, and possibly quite appropriate for the "field of battle".
Although, as I was complaining about luck, may be Tyche or Fortuna might have been more appropriate.

Do you suggest I should eviscerate my dice or just scatter them and see what the birds do (which one did the haruspices do and what lot were the augurs?)?

As far as I Claudius is concerned, I see it is now on DVD. I remember a little of it. Have the years been kind to a classic or is it looking a little antiquated?

Anthony

[Eugene1809]

Don't we all love dice stories!

My absolute favourite one is when a group of players from the Napoleonic Wargaming Society in WA decided to attempt to take Canberra by storm and attend one of the major wargaming conventions in Australia some years back.

Upon flying in and since there were fourteen of us we hired a mini-bus and after a day of mixed fortunes at the National Tally Rooms where the event was held we were driving down the main drag back to our hotels.

One of our chaps, who had had a terrible run with the dice cursed his luck and had rolled ones when he needed sixes and vice-versa, grabbed the offending cubes and duly tossed them out the window much to our mirth.

The next morning on our way back to the convention following breakfast, we observed an over-turned sedan at the very point where the dice had been dispatched.

Snake eyes does it everytime!!

Cheers

Carlo

[Suvoroff]

A haruspex takes the omens by eviceration of an animal; the augurs do the same mostly with birds (which way they fly, etc.)

No wonder you are having luck problems. You are sacrificing to the wrong Gods. Trust me, Jupiter Allfather is best for things like these.

I didn't watch I, Claudius 'cause I don't like Derek Jacobi, but the book is great stuff.

Another dice story; I was playing a game of the American Revolutionary War where combat results were calculated in percentages. I was unfamiliary with the rules and I charged one of my redcoat battalions against a Continental unit supported by artillery. We figured out I had a 4% chance of success...but I'd already committed myself, so we went ahead. I rolled a 2%. It was very bad for the Continental player's morale!

Yours,
James D. Gray

[captain chook]

You don't like Derek Jacobi! You are a heathen.
Next thing you will be telling me you prefer the American version of "The Office". Well, what can you expect from someone who lives in the disloyal colonies?

As far as Carlo's overturned sedan goes, I have been reliably told that this had less to do with the acursed dice and more to do with the driver coming from Melbourne, or was it New Zealand?

Anthony

[Suvoroff]

There's an American version of The Office?

Sorry, I don't watch much TV at all. The only British TV program I've watched consistently is Location Location Location, but only because I've got the hots for Kirstie Allsopp.

Yours,
James D. Gray

[Ronan the Librarian]

[Giles]

Email the Perries....judging from their dice rolling at AWI mega-games over the years, they have an endless supply of lucky dice.

[Orange]

Send those dice to me so that I can put them in the same box in which I keep all of my other unlucky dice (which, basically, seems to be any dice that I have ever used ). Once I have collected all of the unlucky dice in the world, I will destroy all but two which I will make Maturin use every time he comes to my house to play ....

[valleyboy]

Ants
swallow them whole, take a liberal dose of laxatives
examine your stools for the next few days, much like a gold prospector would
Recover them, wash them and use them again

I think that ought to teach them a lesson

[captain chook]

Hhhmmm,
Kerry, scary thing is it sounds like you have done this before.
I have some concerns for Orange who has a whole box full of wayward dice. He could be at risk of colonic obstruction following this method.

By the way Kerry. I'm on leave for the next 2 weeks "up north". If I'm not eaten by a shark I will catch up in Feb for a game. Last week actually managed to have a game that didn't involve all elite infantry, 101 artillery or half a table of cavalry. Sounds like progress. I did have to face 48 elite lancers, hence my origional posting re the broken square (again).

Ants

[BillyS]

Lucky Dice are a myth they do not exist. However, they are always sought after, as many poor anoraks seek out the Loch Ness monster. Wargamers in their droves seek this mecca, to pray at its mighty alter! Let me tell you it does no good, twould be best to seek out the seller of snake oil, the well known elixir of life!

I now know that defeat will be snatched from the jaws of victory as snake eyes are rolled not once but 2 -3 times at critical stages of a battle, if anyone can work out how this occurs with the regularity it appears too then please pass on to us lesser mortals why this occurs. More importantly pass on any information that would be useful in avoiding such unhappy happenings. Though I think that all one can really do to avoid this plpague is to end your involvement with anything remotely linked with dice rolling. Dice are Nasty, Dice are Evil, Dice have a life of their own and they have been put on this earth to torment and abuse us, its what they are good at.

Oh well back to my large die collection, I have a morale roll to make which 2 of my 200 dice will I use? and will it make any difference - I suspect not!

Billy
_________________
"Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement" WINSTON CHURCHILL

[rabbit]

Sorry chaps, the only way to guarantee lucky dice is to make them. This is possible in a number of ways by adding weights or removing edges. However, don't get caught or your fellow gamers are likely to drive you out!

Some folks are just lucky some are not....

"I would rather have a lucky general than a smart general.... They win battles, and they make me lucky. "

attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower

Because most dice are plastic, which is "plastic" if you store your dice with the desired number uppermost, it is possible that given time the material will "flow", making the required face smaller and therefore more likely to be rolled. This may take several millenia.

Another alternative is to pray!

rabbit