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)
do you have a copy of the charts for dave browns picketts charge rules. It seems i only got the rule book lol
ReplyDeletePlayed them last night and the artillery rules absolutely SUCK: if you roll low at long range, your own battery gets a casualty, not the enemy! And these cause a negative modifier for the rest of the game.......They are called 'fatigue casualties' and represent cannoneers being exhausted during a big battle so a battery loses efficiency. But we've only fired two shots so I guess in our case they've been up partying all night and are hung over. Historical nonsense of course because they always had spare personnel to keep the guns in action, even if they were 'borrowed' from passing infantry. The worst thing is those hits can't be rallied off like disorder markers so those poor tired artillerymen have to go to bed and take no further part in the action. And we rolled badly on the first two moves so our guns are gonna be ineffective for the remainder of the battle. We're going into turn three and already at a major disadvantage, if we fire again and roll low we could end up knocking ourselves out!
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I believe the author's intent is to discourage long range artillery fire, but that was the primary role of artillery: the destruction of enemy formations from the maximum distance. Again it's historical nonsense!
We also got a bum deal on the target being in cover when the target regiment had two stands were moving through woods, the center was in the open and the end of the line crossing a low stone fence (Our guns are sited on a hill). One part of the unit was in cover so that applied to all of it.
Our infantry are moving into range and should be engaged next turn, but IIRC they've given artillery canister the same range as rifled muskets, so I expect a-historical carnage of epic proportions. I've studied the period for almost 50 years and took the field as a reenactor for over 30 of those years, so I have a fair idea of what the period 'feels' like, and so far, these rules ain't it. Despite the corny language and made up expressions.
Yes we found several problems with rules despite liking several aspects. Not played them since
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