Over The Hills another game thereof

Had game using Over The Hills rules today at chez Steiner using 15mm Prussians against Stephens French both circa 1813.
And another very enjoyable game with this very nice rule set it was too.
We used points system deciding to field 350 points of troops however in hindsight 300 points may have been enough as we were pretty much wall to wall.
Being only our second game with the rules we had to look up several of the Optional Rules a time or two but nothing too onerous.
Still our only real gripe with set is the layout ie difficulty finding some key rules.
However again we found we played through turns pretty quickly.
Of course Stephen the 'dice demon' managed a lot of low rolls (best in this set) on his D10 using his artillery, in contrast to his usual high rolls !!
Thankfully as most early shooting was at long ranges he only inflicted single hits but it was a steady drain.
We had several rounds of shooting and several close combats all of which played out easily and plausibly.
We really like these rules.

A mixed quality of pics due to changing winter light conditions.

 

Lasalle a solo re-try

On a whim I decided to give Lasalle rules a run out (despite having several untried sets !) using my Prussians (bought and based for Lasalle) against my French.
Forgot what a slick fast playing set they are.
But as always I came up against the 'phalanx' problem wherein two Infantry units in Attack Column ('phalanx') simply run over Infantry in line as they generate double the dice generally.
Tried a couple of house rules such as extra dice for Line shooting but best I came across was if Attack Column suffers a Disruption it must form Line with possible consequences on neighbouring columns etc.





Several pics as I played this over several days as time at a premium at present...........

 

Pickets Charge played again

Another game using Picketts Charge rules at Stephens played.
I was Rebs again in a scenario based around action at Cross Keys in 1862 (Stephen had adapted it from a Regimental Fire and Fury scenario I think ?).
We had a good discussion as to the abstractions within the rules but despite that only came up with one house rule ie increasing the effective range of Rifled Artillery by 4" (10 cm) as the published difference of 2" (5 cm) we felt was insufficient particularly when comparing 4 gun Confederate Mixed Batteries with 6 gun Union Rifled types.
Other than that we had a fast flowing (the rules are very quick to play through turns) game which sadly we ran out of time to complete.

Only took 111 years but YEEEEESSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!

Picketts Charge rules tried

Game at Stephens today using his newly acquired 'Picketts Charge' rules for ACW by Dave Brown (with input from Too Fat Lardies ?).
These are a Regimental Level set and we played the introductory scenario 'The Bloody Lane' set during Antietam battle of 1862.
I was Confederates positioned in defence along said lane and Stephen had Federals assaulting.

The rules are fast playing and quite easy to pick up as I was able to garner most stuff from the Quick Reference Sheets and of course a few look ups in Stephens rules.

Command and Control is nicely done by use of Staff Officers sent out by the CinC (a Divisional or Corps leader).
You get one staff officer per Brigade basically but must roll a 3-6 to have these available each turn.
There are varying numbers of Staff Officers required for several tasks (essentially orders) such as Attaching (allowing a failed Brigade activation re-roll), a mandatory attachment for Faltering Brigades (woe betide you if insufficient officers available), Rallying and several other tasks some of which may require more than one officer (ie Rallying requires 3 to attempt to recover hits once per Brigade per game).
Brigades also require activation again on a 3+ without those failing classed as Hesitant (no charges or advancing).
After then establishing Initiative for the turn its Player A then B declares charges then A then B conducting the charges.
Then A/B Move then A/B shoot.
The movement and shooting systems are quick and easily picked up, charges are as always a tad more involved  due to multiple possible outcomes and so forth but nothing too difficult.
One quirk we discovered was that whilst Cover (walls etc) modify shooting not so when it comes to charges.
However most (it seems anyhow) charges result in one side retiring or routing with only occasional actual hand to hand occurring, which feels correct.
Whilst foot in line move 15cm/6" any that are forced to Retire or are 'Whipped' fall back 30cm/12" (in 15mm 'scale').
Two units Whipped causes a Brigade to Falter or having a single unit Rout.
Faltering Brigades have a separate Command Table to roll on with possible outcomes ranging from Obey Orders through to Quiting The Field type results, all based around unit quality etc.
Units vary in size from small (3-4 bases) to standard (4-5 bases) up to large (6+ bases) sort of like Black Powder and with the number of actual figures per base being of no import.

Overall we enjoyed these rules and indeed Stephen is having another game on the morrow with his brother (the owner of the Confederates).
Am no Civil War expert but felt the rules gave a flavoursome and plausible game.
I could be tempted to collect a Rebel force and most certainly am tempted to obtain the rules.

I also obtained a couple of interesting rule sets from Lance Flint but not read either yet

And made a pre-order of latest from Battlegroup series (a large scale re-print of the mini rulebook with some additions)