First Carlist War Sharp Practice AAR

Steve wanted to try a Sharp practice game using  the First Carlist War figures from my collection. He also wanted to get his new fantastic terrain boards in use. Nice little 6 x 4 with a hill in the middle and a beck at one side.

The terrain was marvelous but then Steve does it for a living so......

Steve had taken time after our last encounter to read all the small print and digest much more of the rules. Whilst we had got the core bits right there was a lot we had got wrong or simply missed so tonight would allow us to do much more with the rules which was interesting.

Mark and Chris would command the Carlists whilst I had the Isabelino's supported by French Foreign Legion which the Carlists had to drive off.

Mark had a formation of two groups of 8, a formation of two groups of 10 militia and a skirmish unit of 6. Chris meanwhile had a formaion of 3 groups of 8 and skirmish screen of 6.

I had two formations of Legionaires each with two groups of 8. Better quality troops we had a couple of advantages in abilities. in my centre I had a formation of two groups of 8 Isabelino's and finally a skirmish group of 6 in a wood on my right flank.

So my 7 agaisnt their 9 but my quality was a little better, especially the Legionaires.

My game started extremely well, a volley from the Foreign Legion into Marks skirmishers saw 5 rolls of a 6 from 8 dice, a second roll of 8 dice and some poor conversion dice from Mark converted this to 3 dead and 4 shock markers, that is until Steve realised I did not have any angle of fire as units can only fire dead straight foward unless skirmishers. DOH! Marks figures are brought back onto table.

My skirmishers make up for it though with a shot into Chris's skirmishers causing him a casualty straight off. He responds by firing into my Isabelino formation and causing a casualty and four shock.

Marks Carlists cross the stream and take a point of shock each whilst my Legionaires open up in earnest and start to thin the ranks slightly.

The Isabelino line takes some casualties and then its TIFFIN, time to reshuffle.

The Carlists quickley get three cards and then the activation for Chris's formation of Carlists, using the Card to add a crashing volley doubling all shock my Isabelino line takes a very thorough beating and now has a total of of 5 casualties and 11 shock.

My Isabelinos get an ineffective volley off at Chris causing a couple of shocks but he is able to hit me again adding even more casualties. I pull whats left of it out of range to try get it reformed.

On the other side the Legion with their ability to fire controlledd volleys are fairing better and Marks first Carlist unit is starting to take some significant ammounts of shock.

Whislt I am at that though his skirmishers are picking off my middle unit again of Legionaires. As an aside Steve has made some really nice shock markers, obvious but in keeping, I really like these.

Fire from my Legionaires now drives Marks first unit back and begins to tell on the Carlist Militia whilst his skirmishers continue to damage my middle unit. On the right though my skirmish screen prsses forward on Chris's flank and begins to inflict casualties which he cant return beign out of arc. He starts wheeling hsi unit to face the threat which takes the pressure off my badly damaged Isabelino unit which I spend a few activations removing shock from.

The shock on the middle unit mounts and a lucky shot from Mark sees their commander shot out of his saddle, they are unable to do anything at all for a full turn and without a commander to activate them I must spend cards on them just to keep them re-loading and firing at the Militia.

Chris finally gets his firing line in arc of my skirmishers and his volley sees a casualty and a shock inflicted but in my activation I scurry back into the woods after hitting him back with a couple more shots.

The Carlist attack has largely stalled now and my Isabelino firing line is moving forwards to support the damaged Legion formation and give some much needed fire support against Marks skirmishers.

We could keep going and its still plenty in it but its after 10pm and before we all turn into pumpkins its time to pack up.

Another thoroughly enjoyable game with the skirmish screens getting the best of the fighting for both sides on this occasion, the rules are sinking in and are really good fun, thanks chaps.

We have a Persian vs Roman game at the weekend and intend to have another Sharp Practice next week , this time using my Sikh Wars figures for the first time and see what irregulars fight like in the rules. As always I will keep you updated.

Cheers for now, see you soon.