I had set up a table loosely based on action at Kaztbach 1813 but with non-historical forces.
We both had 4 Infantry and 2 Cavalry Brigades to call upon but I had set a scenario rule that we both picked 2 initial Brigades to deploy on board with others only arriving on a 2d6 roll of 10+.
Also on a double 1 the Brigade would not appear at battle of which more later..........
Darren selected the Prussians who had large Brigades compared to smaller French versions due to their containing several Young Guard, Old Guard and Guard Cavalry.
I deployed two Infantry Brigades (my first mistake) whilst Darren selected one Infantry and one Cavalry with both sides tentatively approaching each other no doubt awaiting supports.
This worked well as neither of us could guarantee arrival of much needed Brigades and indeed they appeared in dribs and drabs but it felt very much like 'marching to the sound of the guns'.
However of course when I rolled for my Guard Cavalry Brigade to appear the dice gods (who still hate me it seems) inflicted the inevitable snake eyes and the Guard away to some other locale !!!!!
As Brigades appeared we set to it with a bloody Cavalry encounter on my left.
Several times my foot Brigades suffered the Blunder roll of 12 thereby doing their own thing despite my explicit orders !!
Of course not helped by my forgetting the Reliable Troops rule which should have aided my Guard.
I charged some columns of Young Guard into awaiting Prussian troops and lost them in short order.
We soon realised we were in error in working out Melees as we added the various support adjustments as hits rather than purely as factors in determining melee victor.
This saw a few units die that may have remained longer.
I soon had Brigade broken to offset the Broken Prussian Cavalry Brigade and as I watched my Old Guard foot fail to move forward my army succumbed and fled the field.
I enjoyed the game and am further warming to Black Powder as a big battle game.
I will still have Shooting phase before Command Phase but am now considering having an Initiative Phase to start turn to allow Initiative Moves and for rules such as Elite which allow such units to roll off Disorder (which would obviously be desirable prior to shooting opportunity) otherwise pretty happy with tweaks we have in place.
One other gaff we made (despite both having read the rules prior to play) was failing to Disorder units that suffered a 6 when shot at.
Again this could have made a difference to several combat scenarios but then we both failed to do it so evened out maybe ?
Darren not so much a fan of Black Powder feeling them to be maybe a tad clunky (am sure he will elucidate on his own blog) but I fear he is spoilt by the genius and playability of Maurice rules.
However one would struggle to use Maurice for a game of this size even in its period.
Up next Beneath The Lily Banners.
PS I fear I was a bit naughty showing the Duc my 10mm Malburian collection as he is now contemplating venturing into Pendrakens 'pit of temptation' !! :-)
Prussian Brigade arrives (3 Regular Foot 1 Landwehr Foot 1 Gun and 1 Landwehr Light Cavalry - the Prussians had 3 such Brigades)
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