First ACW play test

Steve’s AWI rules we play tested are, it turns out, based on a work in progress set of ACW rules and tonight we get the figures on table for the first time for a run out.

Great fun but it has to be said my dice were particularly awful, even for me.

Chris and I had 2 Brigades of infantry each with a battery each. Chris was attacking with the Reb's, slightly less troops but much better quality. 9 regiments a mix of crack and veteran with a two gun battery.

I had the Yanks but 3 of our regiments were off table with Steve, could I hold off the better quality confederates until Steve could arrive to support. 8 regiments of various strengths a mix of drilled with the odd green and veteran unit with a three gun battery supporting. Steve would roll at the end of each turn for arrival of his 3 regiments of drilled reinforcements.

We used card activation with a card for each brigade to see who went first. The rules allow for 4 actions per unit, fire, move, manouvre, reload etc. As each brigade activates you roll to see if you get an extra action, on a 6 you do on a 1 you get one less. Excellent commanders get a plus one so an extra action on a 5 or 6 and no chance to reduce to 3.  My commanders were not too good, Chris managed an extra turn a couple of times. First move the larger 5 regiment brigade of Rebs pushes forward.

My turn and I try get my left hand brigade to spread out and cove more ground, actions do require a roll to complete, shuffling to the left to fill a gap is a complex manouvre requiring a roll of a 4, I manage this no times in 4 rolls. hardly a shuffle. The shape of things to come I fear.

Hard evidence of my inability to roll a  decent dice. I am not on my own Steve has rolled for the Yankee reinforcements, they wont be arriving this turn.

On my right the Rebs have pushed forward quickly and aggressively. They manage a volley and inflict some casualties, 1 firing dice per base needing a 5 or 6 at effective range. I fire back with a large 7 base veteran unit and may as well have fired in the air. 1 casualty. Sigh!

On the left I have decided to shift a different unit and manage a staggered line to cover the advancing Rebs, again they have fired and inflicted casualties whilst my response suggests we have been issued with defective rifles or bad powder.

The rebels advance into the woods and we are almost able to volley each other (8 inches in woods)

On my right the Rebs charge the large veteran unit who are driven back 12 inches. The Rebs have taken casualties but as hey are crack they are unlikely to fail any morale and have now left my front regiment exposed. 

In the centre we have an uneven fire fight, casualties on both sides but my green troops loose a base after 5 casualties and the Rebs Veteran and Crack troops after 6 or 7 so I am taking morale tests more often and less likely to pass them.

Chris's artillery has only 2 guns and one is smoothbore so shouldnt be that good, 2 dice needing 5's and 6's. I probably dont need to dwell on this one.

The rebels close with my lead unit, two volleys sends it realing back in disarray almost to the guns.

My artillery in response? Lets just say Chris isnt too worried at this stage.

Chris advances one regiment of Rebs through his front damaged unit and volleys my drilled Yanks, along with the earlier artillery hit this forces a morale, I troll double one and the y are off table, not that I am getting frustrated at all!

My remaining unit then takes a further two volleys and is forced back with commander taking a hit and losing a level of command.

Last move of the game and Steves reinforcements turn up on the flank of my pretty much destroyed brigade. Pretty much just in time to cover the retreat (Someone less kind might say route!) of my two very badly mauled brigades.

Despite my desperately poor dice its easy to see the rules have potential and I have enjoyed it, all be it laughing at my own expense. I look forward to playing them again soon, hopefully with a couple of weeks off I can replenish a little luck.

May the odds be ever in your favour!

Thanks for stopping by!

Playtest Eastern Front Napoleonic Game

Cracking wee game tonight at Steve’s. Still trialing the WIP rules and this week we added some event cards.

I would be defending with 2 Divisions of Russians and a Division of Prussians supported by a regiment of Guard Currassier and a Brigade of Hussars.

Steve was attacking with 2 Division of French and a Division of Italian foot supported by a Currassier Brigade and a Light Cavalry Brigade. Table 8 x 6, I had a village at either end to anchor my line, Steve had already deployed everything and rolled for Artillery ammo with most batteries having around 8 shots.

As Steve pressed forward with his Italians he also started to shift some of his central French foot to support them., I was going to have to slow the Italians down if I was to have a chance of holding my right.

Fortunately my artillery and the regiment holding the farm were breaking up the attacking Italians pretty convincingly. Early doors and the first regiment of Italians is in real trouble and sent packing.

The French and Italians press on, the Italian artillery focusing on the Prussian regiment holding the farm but Steve is unable to inflict enough casualties to winkle the Prussians out

In the centre I move my guard currasier forward and Steve responds by pushing one regiment of currasier to cover the flank of his infantry.

On the right the light cavalry brigade advance towards the Prussians , again covering the flank o the infantry.

In the centre I charge my currassier at Steve's who counter charge and a desperate melee ensues.

Steve has the better of the cavalry melee but being guard my guys pass their morale and keep fighting.

On my right Steve has his French brigade across the river and forming to support he Italians push forward. However the ineffective light gun is in the way and holds him up a little.

In the centre the Russian Guard have broken the French heavies and the French foot quickly form square.

A charge by the second regiment of French Heavies breaks my already mauled Guard cavalry but they have stopped the French advancing for some time and the French heavies are depleted enough to weight up whether to press on or not.

On my right the light cavalry brigades clash. 

Both sides throw one regiment in with another in support.

Honours are even and the melee continues.

On my left the French foot have charged in on the Russians.

They also get a regiment into my troops in the left hand village and the fighting here is particularly desperate.

The Russians take heavy casualties but the French cant prize them out.

One regiment of French are pushed back but the fight for the village ebbs and flows. The French have 5 Regiments against my four but have been unable to get enough in to use their slight superiority and the Brigade int he centre has not moved at all so is unable to threaten my centre and draw of troops.

Steve throws another regiment of French into the fight for the village as do I and casualties mount on both sides with no break to the deadlock.

Eventually it is the French that break off and are forced back. They are retreating not routed but it will eb four or five moves before they can reform and charge back into the combat, the left flank is now looking secure.

On the right my light cavalry charge a regiment of Italians hoping to further disrupt their advance here.

I have forced one regiment of French to retreat but was unable to follow up and had to settle for charging the next one after I had reformed. I have slightly better quality which is showing.

The Italians have seen off my cavalry charge, we didnt quite make it so they volleyed my cavalry. but their lead elements continue to be disrupted by musketry and artillery and fail to make any headway.

The Italians are forced back and the French artillery are out of Ammo, the French supports are not in a a position to attack without their Italian allies. My cavalry has pulled back after badly mauling the French. They are not really in a a position to attack again on the right without several moves to reform and re-order. The right is now fairly safe.

Steve still has an untouched division of French in the Centre but so do I.

Unable to make headway with the two flank attacks Steve concedes this one and we call it a night.

Very happy with the game mechanics and the random cards add a bit of something to the game too.

I would go as far as to say the first Corps level Napoleonic rules I have ever really enjoyed and felt able to work with. A bigger table with more figures for the next one I hope.

Thanks for stopping by.

Another Slightly larger BLB GNW Game

We wanted to keep some momentum to our playtesting so went for another Great Northern War BLB game this week. 

Slightly larger and with some small mods to movement to try out.

The Swedes would have 2 brigades each of 3 battalions and a light gun supported by 3 2 squadron regiments of horse. All would be drilled with average commanders, pretty down graded for Swedes but for the troops fighting in the Baltic arena whilst the main army was in Poland and Ukraine probably not far off. I would command the Swedes.

The Russians faced this with a light gun, 6 battalions of foot, 2 regiments of dragoons each of 2 squadrons and a 2 sotnia regiment of Cossacks. A mix of green and drilled troops with some defences to give them a boost, all commanded by Steve whilst Chris kept us straight on the rules.

Generals for all sides would be no more than average, again a departure from usual advantages for the Swedes but possibly accurate for parts of the Baltic theatre. The biggest challenge being the effect or rolling orders, if you dont roll well not much can move. As we will see that massively hampered the Swedish attack.

The Russians were slightly under gunned so Chris added a battalion on their extreme left.

Move 1 and I get orders for everyone and advance, we have added a n average dice to all movement to try and keep things moving and get conclusions to games, a lot of 4's rolled giving the Swedes 10 inches of movement. I push my cavalry straight forward at Steves dragoons, not surprisingly they retire out of danger.

Next move I only get enough to move half of units, so my left hand infantry brigade pushes towards the concentration of Russian foot on their right whilst two of my regiments of horse push forward towards the Russian Dragoons. The rest of my small army must stand and watch.

Steve uses his limited numbers of movement to push a unit of Cossacks onto my extreme left flank. Most of his troops are happy to wait in their defensive positions so he doesn't need to worry about the number of orders rolled.

Another Poor roll and I  get one battalion pushing ahead whilst the Russian light guns opens up on the right hand unit of my first brigade.

Two out of three  of  the Cavalry regiments advances again, leaving the one facing the infantry immobile. There are significant gaps in my battle line now as I keep failing to roll for enough orders.

My left hand unit has taken its first casualties but passed its morale for being  hit by artillery.

Meanwhile Steves sneaky Cossacks (Naughty Cossacks Chris calls them) are filtering through the farm to find my rear. As a mob of tribal horses they can do this where formed units would have to march around this obstacle.

The Foot Brigade continues to advance leaving the supporting brigade and cavalry far behind and taking artillery casualties along the way.

As the Swedish foot close the Grenadier battalion wheels to volley their flank, raking them as the artillery gets another shot into their front.

The Cossacks are waiting for an open flank or a dissolving unit to pounce on, it cant be long now.

The Cavalry clash, the Russians having run out of room to retreat. 

The Swedish foot charge home on the gun, despite being badly mauled they take the gun position.

The outcome of the battle is as expected with both Russian regiments routed, unfortunately as I roll to control my own troopers one regiment chases after the Russians, we are so close to the board edge that they are lost to the gam.

The First Swedish foot briagde advances in echelon on the decent Russians.

The Russians open fire and the Swedes begin to take casualties.

My right hand battalion has over run the Russian gun but is now dis-ordered.

The remaining Swedish horse unit from the first attack consolidates and reforms. I hope to still have a use for it on the flank of the Russian foot.

Meanwhile the Russian Grenadiers and Cossacks swamp my Swedish light gun and its convincingly over run.

On the upside my second brigade of foot is finally moving in support of the first brigade, it does have a long way to go.

The Swedish Horse consolidates on the table edge where it can flank the Russian position.

Due to my inability to roll for enough orders two squadrons remain facing the flanking Russian foot unit having not moved at all so far in the game. What a difference a quality commander can make to attackign forces.

One battalion of foot also still remains where is started due to the unavailability of orders.

The Swedes push on and the centre unit tests for uncontrolled charge as does the right hand unformed unit, both get an uncontrolled charge but the closing fire from the Russians stops the centre unit, leaving the badly mauled and dis-ordered right hand unit charges into the good Russians in their defences. What could go wrong?

Not surprisingly the Russians push back the Swedish foot.

My left hand unit tried its luck but fails to charge in.

The Swedish right hand battalion is now down below two thirds strength and falling back

The sneaky Cossacks take their chance to charge the dis-ordered and retreating Swedish foot.

As the second unit of Swedes is forced back a second unit of sneaky Cossacks jumps on them but is swiftly repulsed.

The first two battalions of the next brigade now have to break through the Grenadiers to re-enforce the attack on the village.

All three battalions of Swedes have attempted to charge the Russian defences and failed. In the background the melee between the Cossacks and the badly mauled Sweish right hand battalion swirls on.

The Cavalry re-align for a charge into the raw Russians holding their left flank who are looking a little bit unhappy about it.

Finally I roll well enough for the last two squadrons of Swedish horse and the battalion of foot to march towards the sound of musketry. How much quicker would this have been with access to all of the troops.

I now have an untouched Brigade with two squadrons of horse closing on the village to replace the first badly damaged brigade. Just a battalion of grenadiers to overcome.

As the Swedes close the Grenadiers unleash a volley but are unable to stop them.

The Cossacks are seen off, even badly damaged Swedes can deal with sneaky Cossacks.

The Swedes charge home into the Russian Grenadiers.

Combat  reduces their strength and they are down to a third but pass morale and smash into the Russians.

The Grenadiers are in turn down below two thirds strength and break, routing from the combat.

With a fresh brigade of Swedish foot marching towards the Russian slightly mauled brigade and a fresh regiment of Swedish cavalry in support, whilst a worn, but still eager, regiment of Swedish horse prepares to charge the flanking battalion of green Russian foot, the Russkis are in serious trouble. 

We have however run out of time. 

I have not managed to finalise a Swedish victory due to my complete inability to roll my order dice well. But it has played well. 

Really enjoyed todays game. Interesting making the Swedes a bit less fabulous. Would be further interesting to give both sides more unusual troops, Polish cavalry fought for both sides in large numbers.

The Russians are not particularly fun to game with, they need to sit behind their defences for the most part when facing the Swedes. Perhaps a game with Russians vs Cossacks (Happened a few times at this period) might allow the Russians to be used more interestingly.

The extended movement made all the difference and we actually got a game, I am being won over.