A Follow Up Napoleonic Test Game

The last Napoleonic game gave us some points to ponder and Steve wanted a game to work through the solutions.

In this game I have 3 Divisions of Russian foot and one of Prussians along with two cavalry brigades all supported by a plate of Jamaica cake!

Steve meanwhile had 3 cavalry brigades with two French and one Italian infantry division holding 3 villages.

A key element to review was the change to activation. Previously players spent chips to activate divisions of their choice and rolled to see if the actions could be completed, players could activate the same unit more than once but each subsequent activation was harder and once failed activation passed to the opponent before passing back until all chips are played. This has been replaced with a simple card activation system with a card per division and activation based on a dice role modified by the Generals quality deciding if the Division get 3,2,1 or 0 actions. Firing and reloading are free. 

Three chance cards are mixed in this deck, Poor commander when drawn gives the next poor commander activating a minus one on his role, Cin C can be held and played to give a plus one to an activation on a given unit and Strategic can allow a unit that has already gone to an extra move or a unit yet to go to take its turn early.

All of these adding an interesting element to the game. Some specific national cards are also planned for the future.

Lastly was a change to artillery firing. Previously guns a had limited ammo and could fire every time any unit in effective range activated or when their own unit activated. This has changed to a more familiar firing system, they fire when their division is activated, extra dice can be used for "concentrated fire" but every 1 or 2 sees a round of ammo used. Interested to see how that works.

 

As usual Steve's fabulous terrain and figures are a joy to play with. My foot pushes forward with the left most division only making one move, their commander is poor so a -1 to my dice roll.

It does however allow me to unlimber and fire into the exposed first village causing the first casualties of the day.

Steve's right flank cavalry brigade pushes forward cautiously.

My second division gets a slightly better move, however 3 shots at the village sees only one hit and a double 2 reduce my ammo from 8 to 6.

In the centre the Prussians close with the French and the artillery unlimbers and fires, a 5 and two trees gives one casualty with no ammo expended.

On the left one regiment steps forward and forms square against the light cavalry whilst two more charge the village. The French hold but having only beaten me by 1 the melee continues with the full weight of the supporting regiment in the second round. The French are now soundly beaten and break.

The Russians now occupy the first of the three villages.

A divisional test is now required and the result is that each remaining unit must take two casualty tests, this drops a casualty on to all but one of the units remaining in the division but nothing else.

In the centre my C class Prussian line exchanges volleys with B class French, an uneven battle as the French have 4 firing dice and I have 3.

On the right I get 3 actions as my light cavalry activate, I use my C IN C card to add one to make sure I get a good roll and get three movement actions. This allows me to belt forward and my horse artillery can unlimber for free at short range of the Italian gun. I decide to use concentrated fire with 5 dice and get 4 sixes! No one or two means this has cost me no ammo and decimated the opposing gun.

By luck the Strategic advantage card comes out and I give the same unit another move, allowing a further shot at the gun and the light cavalry to charge and over run it.

Huzzzah! Its the small things in life......... the Cavalry really didnt need 4 6's to destroy the gun.

Here comes the pay back, Steve's light cavalry brigade charge one regiment of Russians which mirraculously holds them, I can however pull back from the fight before the supporting unit gets its full dice in the second round and decide discretion is the better part of valour and retire the unit. Through all of this the Russian Dragoons with the Poor commander have been unable to achieve anything at all.

The Italian foot which has already taken a hammering from foot artillery now forms square in the face of Russian cavalry and the French Currassier Division belts forward to inflict some payback.

Taking advantage of the foot in square my Russians put another concentrated fire into them (4 2's and 1's reduce their ammo but I do get another hit) and my lead infantry charges them, not surprisingly they break and rout.

All well and good until I realise they were all that was between my foot and the currassier.

The French light cavalry comes out before I can pull my own lights back,  Its not quite a flank attack but a brigade vs a regiment that is unformed from a  previous charge yields predictable results and my lights are destroyed.

Next out the French heavies and no surprise the charge straight over my foot and destroy them..

We have yet to add anything for charge reactions for victorious cavalry, there should be a chance that they bounce onto the next target in a mob, but as we have not designed anything yet they occupy the ground of the destroyed Russians.

On the left my foot have come out of square and advanced so Steve's light cavalry charge them, he does marginally better than me but not enough to break them and the cavalry are forced to retire.

In the centre my Prussian storm the second farm and after two bloody rounds take it. The unit routs and a second divisional test forced on the Italians who have to take additional casualties on the remaining units.

At this point we call a halt. The updated rules have stood up well and we have found a few more things we want to tidy up but overall really enjoyable game.

On the left I have two reasonably strong divisions to try capture the remaining farm from the weakened French division but int he centre the Prussians have take a hammering and despite the Italians being in bad shape on the right the French cavalry are in control so I think a marginal win for the French.

Shhh dont tell Steve!

Thanks for stopping by, more on the rules to follow.

More for Mexico

The Butterfly seems to have temporarily settled in Mexico, I am getting a fair bit done and enjoying it.

Now these first ones I did wonder about using and I am still undecided, old Foundry range, very nice but teeny weeny small. They came out OK but I will need to see if they mix with the Camreone figures before making a final decision, a Camerone range figure behind them for comparison.

All painted as Mexican Conservative/ Imperial troops.

Two lots of Mexican Liberals on the go. The first two from left are Perry's Triple Alliance figures, the first with a head swap and I am pretty happy with these. Primed in a pale sandy yellow its made the whit painting much easier. 

the other 3 are all from the Camerone range by Foundry.

I cant remember the manufacturer for this figure, its Prince Louis Napoleon of France who was killed with the British in Zululand. It comes with separate heads so was easy to change for a Havelock head. I quite like him and have another to paint. 

Five more Legionnaires from the Camerone range, the first has a head swap for a Sombrero to add a bit of variety. I will have enough for two units of these so will try to add those that could be French Metropolitan troops into a separate unit.

Two Liberal Command figures, the officer from the Foundry Camerone range and the Standard bearer a Perry Uruguayan.

7 more Legionnaires, all Foundry Camerone range except the standard bearer again Perry Triple Alliance.

Another Chasseur D'Afrique from Perrys, I have trimmed the rosette and given the shako a white cover.

Three more Imperial Mexicans, Perry, Foundry Camerone and Foundry original, the size difference here is really obvious.

As I got a bit of sunlight sharing a few more, this will be the command base for my first squadron of Chasseurs D'Afrique, both Perry. 

Another Perry Trooper.

These two Mexican Vaquero's are from the Boot Hill range.

Lastly the final 4 Legionnaires to complete two battalions. Standard bearer Perry from the Triple Alliance range.

So plenty going on for Mexico, hopefully enough for a game in the early months of 2026.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to First Carlist War AAR

 So, being my turn to put on a game I thought it might be nice to organise a First Carlist War game, its been a long time since we had one.

Its probably the only collection I can say is finished, I have all I planned to get plus the start of chum Chris's collection more than enough for a 6 player game, so barring new releases from Perry this should be it, although as the Isabelino's have 7 squadrons of cavalry and the Carlists only 3..........

Funnily enough being a War few of our gamers know much about nobody is particularly fussy about rules for a change, Black Powder it is with a few house alterations.

For some time we have played firing before movement but we have found the below can give less extreme results.

For our Game an Isabelino Division has been dispatched to destroy a cache of Carlist Powder hidden in a church, the Carlists were always short of of most things. A brigade of Carlists are defending the area and, getting wind of the attack, Carlist reinforcements are being rushed forward. 

The Isabelino Army commanded by Steve was as follows

The Carlist force is slightly smaller and commanded by Chris C.

Chris has the first brigade in light cover in front of the church whilst the second is on table marching to support, the third will enter move 1 from table edge.

Steves Foreign Legion brigade is a move on table whilst his Militia , line and horse brigades are deployed tale edge ready to advance, the Guards brigade enters as support move 2.

Steve deploys his cavalry brigade on the left with a view to flanking Chris's slightly smaller force.

Chris's supports are strung out on the road, in the end they would take a little too long to get in position to be decisive.

Chris is quick to get his reserve lancers forward and blunt Steve's cavalry advance. This proves a bit inconclusive but the Carlist horse do their job buying time for the foot to deploy.

The Militia brigade has also got forward fairly quickly on the left and the Carlists pull back trading space for time.

The Legion are getting forward but the Carlist supports are quicker to get into position. The Royal Guard are really slow though giving Chris too much time to get prepared.

The first battallion of the Legion charge home on the Carlists and push them back without breaking them.

After two failed advances the Royal Guard are almost near enough for musketry.  Hopeless!

Whilst winning the Legion are now pretty exposed with Carlist units on both flanks and unable to break the unit they are engaged with.

Having bolted forward the Militia brigade is now quite happy to sit things out failing move orders.

The Legion cavalry trys to support the foot with a charge, not a great idea on formed foot. The charge home but fail to break the Carlist foot.

Both flanks were engaged but not fully due to an inability to activate troops that had average Generals, the centre unfortunately never really fired a shot so we didnt end up with much of a game.

A shame we never really got to a point where either side had a clear advantage, although Steve's Isabelinos probably had the edge, there was still a great deal to play for.

Not an issue we have had before with Black Powder but lots of confusion and looking up of rules. Mainly I think because we use Hail Caesar too and this is very similar but different enough to confuse things.

As our lack of progress was a little disappointing and I had left my collection at Steve's, the week after we decided to try a Carlist Wars game with Valour and Fortitude.

I played a game of Sikh Wars at Partizan with them but never really got to grips.

Steve assured me we would fly through a game so didnt need much time, leading us to  squander the evening chatting and chomping Jamaica cake with tea. Need less to say we ended up running out of time!

Still they were quick and I did enjoy them.

We did get stuck in so to be honest I didnt take as many photos, However, despite this being a larger game than the week before the rules certainly allowed us to get stuck. Within 3 moves we were hand to hand on the left flank.

I particularly like that the first unit you try to activate, as long as its in command range of your general, will automatically activate. So as long as you choose wisely you can always get the most important unit for any particular move to do its thing.

Also interesting you get a suit of cards and each one represents something that is specific to the Troops you are commanding, one card randomly drawn each turn.

In the centre one Brigade pushes forward whilst the Guards brigade fails to advance at all. Even with this fast paced game its still possible to have whole brigades not get a move.

The Isabelino Marines charge Carlists who already have a number of casualties and are shaken.

The Carlists break, although the Marines are now faced by a fresh Carlist battalion, this time veteran Guides, these were eventually broken in turn.

This game has left me quite intrigued and I am keen to try another Valour and Fortitude.

Hopefully more soon, thanks for stopping by.