Emperor of the Battlefield test game

Tried out Emperor of the Battlefield rules today at Stephens with his French facing my Prussians (550pts each).

I do not have the rules (but have played authors SYW set - King of the Battlefield) and Stephen not played them before (hence the play test) so a few things to absorb especially re the set up and deployment of forces which is quite involved (roads entering table more important than in most sets).

Forces are very like standard Shako with each player fielding a roughly a Corps (4-6 Infantry Divisions and/or Cavalry Brigades) and indeed 15mm unit sizes are same as in Shako (ie 2 stand units each stand 40mm wide) which perfectly suits our armies.

System hinges around Morale Tests which occur as the (only) result of declaring a shooting target or units engaging in close combat (unusual use of a D8 counting positive and a D6 counting negative along with various modifiers to generate an result) with failed tests generating a Waver marker.

Combat/shooting potentially very bloody as most units Rout upon suffering 2 Wavers (1 for Raw and 3 for Guard) and are removed but can cause cascading morale tests on any units routed through. 

Another interesting facet is charges can be preceded by a preparatory firing phase in attempt to force target to temporarily 'flinch' (minus factor in any ensuing combat).

Formation changes require a Control Test (modified 4+ on a D10) to be successful.

Several optional rules (we did not use any) covering an Orders system and Rallying Router and suchlike.

All in all a interesting set with decent unit interactions and points system (if you like that sort of thing) but lacking army lists and any national traits (again if you like that sort of thing).

Believe they were used at recent Warfare show for a small competition and they seem well suited to such.

Only real criticism is that the QRS and the rules seem to be at odds on couple of things but nothing major.

Liked them enough to order a set although was it ever in doubt I could resist !!?? 

Only couple of pics as busy trying to fathom how things worked

Back cover

A bit of Rapid Fire Reloaded and some solo Combat Commander

Game at Stephens today using Rapid Fire Reloaded and the OP Epsom scenario he set up a couple of weeks ago.

We only managed a few turns due to discussing his visit to Warfare and various rule sets (a fav subject for our waffling) but we found RFR to be a fast playing set with simple shooting and movement allowing sizeable games playable in a reasonable (ie Rapid) time frame. 

There are a few major differences from RF2 and indeed even quicker playing but maintains the interesting sequence of play (2 Move phases allowing you to 'shoot in' an attack). 

Infantry are much more durable if based in 2's or 3's. 

We did however have real difficulty with rules for 'standard' hedges and spotting related to them as wording very confusing (there is confusion on various RF Bakebook sites) but impact on a game is huge regarding possible lines of fire and we played them differently (sort of bocage like) than we have in past I think. 

A consequence of brevity of rules in this regard as what was covered in several pages in RF2 is now boiled down to a couple of sentences (I always find this an issue with such condensed/simple rule sets in that they tend to have gaps in clarity) but nothing else caused problems that we came across.

Definitely needs some clarity (and rules for Bocage) or of course house ruling.

British attackers in Fontenay-le-Pesnil and approaching St Nicolas Farm (on right)

Germans unseen under 'Concealment Cards' in front of Rauray

Also played some Combat Commander in solo mode this week and had rare old time as usual even if I am beating myself !

So much action in each game and fluctuating fortunes and managed to get through 3 scenarios in an afternoon.

Catch up on another disrupted gaming week and a blast from the distant past

No face to face game again this week (boo hoo) as wifey needing car for last minute dentist visit, and Stephen off to Warfare at weekend.

We had planned to try a Rapid Fire Reloaded scenario at Stephens based on action at Rauray during Op Epsom and hopefully we will at some point.

I had quick solo session with Fire In The Lake game using the 'medium' scenario which plays much quicker (only 3 decks) than usual full scenario I play. 

NVA start much stronger in this and US with many more boots on the ground but the sneaky VC came through victorious after a really powerful 'Tet Offensive' card play. 

Great game.

I also set up a solo test for latest (Sept ?) version of Valour and Fortitude rules with a basic 350 points encounter type game with French vs Prussians 1813

Only major difference I can discern from last version is that Rallying units hits is much harder (6 needed rather than old 4+), some other minor tweaks to unit abilities etc.

I consider V&F an alternative to Black Powder (feels very much like a variant) as only failing to activate Brigades on a 1 seemed better than 2D6 method in BP, but have to say so far in my outing there have been an awful lot of 1's and therefore inactive formations. 

But the 'event' cards are a nice addition (if a bit gamey) and the various systems for movement, shooting, melee and morale all work fine and are a tad less 'dicestatic' than BP. Fine as a quick play easy to balance (ie points) system although still well behind FOB in my own estimation. 

 

Also I came across some real vintage pics from my very early miniature wargaming days ie 1978/79.

Couple of (poorly lit as it was in our loft) early games with 6mm kit on an unpainted board with some unpainted terrain items. 

Believe this was during Christmas holidays 1978 when I was off school and Dad off work and think we used No 1 Wargames Command World War 2 rules.

Skip forward 6+ months and terrain has improved somewhat with a Hornby grass mat and more painted items of scenery (several old Bellona 'cut outs') 

Hard to tell but AFVs are mix of old GHQ and Heroics and Ros and all unbased ahh those were the heady days of yore.

I started gaming with Airfix 20mm around 1975 but cant find any pics (possibly some cave drawings someplace)

Remember……

 

Iron Cross - USA versus Germany

Played Iron Cross with Stephen using my 15mm Krauts against his Yanks 

I amended my 500 point force from solo outing swapping the 2 Panthers for 3 StugIIIG and a mortar backing up 7 infantry (1 of which was Coy CO) 1 Puma 1 Sd233 and 3 MG teams.

Stephen fielded 7 Infantry 1 MG and 6 Shermans (2 with 76mm).

This was a very fun game with a quick playing light set of rules.

Sure it lacks Indirect HE (bar the mortar) and any real command structure but it plays very slickly and is enjoyable with the action/reaction chit system and with firing and damage/penetration model being as good as any.

Maybe not a set best suited to 'proper' historical scenarios or sustained plays but for a quick set up points based bash its fine.

Of course just like any other set my dice were crap at key times with 2 Shermans being penetrated and yet getting of with the minimal 2 morale chits outcomes !! whereas of course my Stugs failed to hit or react and suffered catastrophic ('Kaboom) damage in short order.

Once my AFVs were dealt with it was 'hunt the Soldaten' and I lost a several foot elements as well before throwing in the towel.

We found we only needed to house rule a couple of items to improve play (better definition of arcs of fire and damage to buildings) but otherwise fine.

Stug brewed after failing to hit hull down Sherman

Stug on right failed to destroy another Sherman (discs denote activations)

Shermans in centre take multiple actions

Third Stug ko'd for no gain (it missed as well !!)

Puma hiding near church (it did venture out to take on a Sherman but failed to significantly damage it after achieving a hit)

Company HQ (the 'CinC') and pals hide in wood as Sd233 is brewed

MG Team in church was also destroyed under a deluge of fire despite fully Rallying twice

Shermans deploy

A fun set despite its limitations and quirks

Iron Cross - a solo practice

Quick solo practice with Iron Cross rules for upcoming game on Thursday with 15mm kit..

Been a wee bit since we used the rules so decided to give them a go to get back into brain.

Being a 'lite' set this was not hard to do and a nice quick playing system with fun activation and reaction system set at a sort of high level skirmish (infantry are squads/sections, AFVs are individuals).

Command and control is minimal/abstracted with a single overall 'CinC' stand (essentially a Company commander) allowing the action to flow fast and free limited by the available Command Chits (1 per on board unit with extra 2 for the CO).

Certainly much simpler than say IABSM (and much less 'historical' - no real indirect weapons bar mortars for instance) or Battlegroup but none the worse for that within its parameters and with a points system (Stephen likes these) which seems ok (200 pts for 2 Panthers or 177pts for 3 Stugs sort of thing), we will be using a modest 500 points each (12-15 units) in a simple encounter bash em up.

Set up terrain (we will dice for base edge) on a 6' x 4' table with vaguely NW Europe/Germany types which seemed reasonable for scale of game and fielded British versus Germans..