Napoleonic 28mm Playtest

Steve has been working on some Napoleonic rules and we got a chance to run a playtest on the first draft of the rules last night.

These are large scale units with 24 figures representing a regiment, so 4 or 5 of these regiments a Division.

Great to get Steves Newly painted figures on table too.

The rules allow the player to attempt to activate a unit more than once in a turn, a failed activation attempt gives the initiative to the other player.

Any time a player activates a division, all artillery in effective range on both sides can fire, so lots of artillery fire, however beware each battery has a limited supply of ammunition.

I gained initiative and chose to concentrate on attacking the right flank of the Russians. Pressing forward to take the village before the Russians could get on table and prevent me.

A battery of 6 pounders supported my assault. the dice at the back represent my ammo, done to 8 rounds already!

Each side had a cavalry division, I chose to push mine forward to threaten the Russkies, not a great idea as it turned out. Keep your cavalry out of artillery range if you can!

As the French advance the initiative passes to the Russians who advance a division onto the village in support.

However they are a way off when initiative passes back and I storm the village.

A hard fought assault sees the French pushed back.

On the French left the infantry approach the other village and decide to volley the defenders before closing. Behind the village the Russian horse close on the flank.

The French go in again and are again held.

At this point my reserve division comes on and marches up the right flank to support our assault.

A third assault on the village finally suceeds in driving the badly mauled Russians out.

With the village in French hands I begin to sweep around the Russian flank with the reserves and the Light infantry occupy the village.

The Russian supports on the left, my right, now begin to deploy.

The Italians on my left finally come on and get going, whilst my main thrust is on my right its important to keep Steve busy on the other side. Whilst I can keep moving the same commands multiple times, if I try the same unit consecutively it gets harder to pass the orders each turn. Switching back and forth keeps me needing a 3 to pass the orders each time. Remember as soon as I fail the initiative passes back to Steve regardless of how many turns I have left, unless Steve has run out of turns.

I advance the cavalry to try draw Steves cavalry in, apart from anything else its a playtest so keep to see what cavalry does. 

A sharp little fight ensues and my cavalry bounce off the Russians.

I hadnt really taken into account that Steve can continue to fire his artillery in my turn and we see the first regiment of French break and the cavalry start to take really significant casualties. 

Steve advances to support the village on my left and its looking unlikely I will make any progress here.

Fortunately on the right as Steve starts to advance from the hill my foot and guns decimate the Russian foot and the with the village in my hands the right is secure. At this point the artillery ammunition rules show their value, Steve has expended his divisional artillery supplies on his left, so whilst my light infantry in the village are badly mauled they remain intact. The left is far less secure and Steve has the upper hand, but Steve decides on balance the French have the better of the day and we stop proceedings there.

 A really different set of rules that worked far better than I may have initially expected.

Overall really enjoyed the rules and picked it up surprisingly quickly. I look forward to a another game soon. Thanks Steve.