Bryn set up an ACW encounter with his excellent 28mm troops (a mix of Perry plastics, Fronk Rank and ?) with Billy as Feds and yours truly as Rebs.
Rules cover several American based war periods from mid 18th Century through to 1865
I did not have the rules but did find a QRS (although seems it was bit different from Bryns) so had an idea of game play.
Fairly simple with units activated via 2D6 rolls against target of 6+ to execute various orders such as Move, Fire, Attack, Close Order and so forth, nothing taxing in any of this.
Double 1 or double 6 rolls yield bad and good random effects such as 'Fire on nearest friendly unit ' or 'gain plus 1 to Discipline' type stuff.
Movement is free and easy as units not in Close Order essentially operate on a 360 degree basis for everything.
Obstacles (walls/fences) take a move to cross but no actual rules for Buildings as such, which author passes off with 'too hard to write rules, so sort it yourselves', hmmmm, I confess I would rather have a rule or even guidelines rather another eye candy picture (they are very nice though being its Osprey publishing)
Firing is usual buckets of dice system with 6-12 dice rolled per unit depending on status (Skirmishing or Disordered) hit on 4-6 depending on firer (Artillery, Standard Shots and Poor Shots respectively).
These 'hits' are then converted in casualties based on a standard of 1 figure per two hits but adjusted by various factors such as cover, target formation.
So say you generate 4 hits this might be 2 casualties inflicted (1 per 2) or only 1 if behind cover (as now 1 per 3).
Simple and intuitive.
Units are 12 men for Line, 6 for Skirmishers and Guns have 4 (?) crew think Cavalry are 6 if Light 12 if Heavier types (?).
Units Rout after 3 Disorders which are very nasty as half shooting/fighting dice and -1 per Disorder on Morale Tests.
Commanders are odd beasts as they are attached to a single unit throughout the game not being able to attach/detach, although with small number of units per side this is not really an issue.
Morale is tested per unit for each casualty suffered on 2D6 needing 6+ adjusted for several factors, and aided by having Commander within 12".
And herein we discovered a problem as not 100% clear if you Test for every unit that is Routed within 12" (which caused a domino effect of tests/failures for both sides) as rules say 'Test if unit Wiped Out' without defining wiped out, but at others state 'Test if unit removed from play with 12" ' which is what happens when a unit Routs ie it is removed from play.
In first game (we managed two plays) this was a major issue as I caused a couple of casualties on a unit which failed it Morale with awful double one causing it to Rout and causing several tests on other units within 12" which on the smallish table sizes (think standard is a 4' x 4' for standard 24 point force size ?) and another Rout caused yet more Tests.
If you fail you generally take a Disorder but can take 2 on low roll.
There is a Rally order but it has same inherent risk of taking additional Disorders
Billy then did same to me an I lost a couple of units and others took Disorders (note we both had Green Troops as standard with -1 for tests).
We felt that not really a game as a couple of casualties and both our forces were wrecked (both had 2 Line and 2 Skirmish units lost).
Morale Tests can be very brutal the caveat being that a Pass removes all Disorders (expect if unit at half strength as this incurs a permanent Disorder).
Certainly produced a very quick outcome !
So we reset game (with Bryn joining in on Yank side) and decided that these 'within 12 inch' Morale Tests would only occur if triggering unit actually wiped out (although fairly sure this would be an extremely rare occurrence) and it did produce a much better game as units could remain in situ and intact without Disorder much more frequently.
But sadly I do think this is against rules as written.
Also unclear is that rules also state that Tests have a -1 if more than one reason to test but again not really well explained.
Does this mean if a unit Routs besides you, your unit tests but if another Routs beside yours immediately you do or do not test again (as rules say for each reason to test you test) ? when does this -1 actually happen ?
All in all a nicely produced and presented fairly simple set that include several army lists and several scenarios with low rules overhead (despite the Morale issues described) that are easy to teach and good for a club night with limited time, and with added bonus that number of figures required is fairly low (depending on troop mix/types/traits/abilities chosen about 30-60 figures required).
But having played these and Sharp Practice I do think the Lardy set has a lot more depth and replay value but to each their own.
R&P are certainly very well priced (under a tenner currently for softback/PDR/ePub).
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