Friday, September 23, 2022

Gen D'Armee - Osma scenario played

Another go with GDA trying the scenario Osma from the Vittoria supplement.

An interesting compact all infantry scenario with good quality British (including KGL) and Portugese against standard French defenders.

Annoyingly the terrain depicted on map is not fully explained in scenario namely a large wooded area (is it open or dense or cover ?) and some field type areas around Osma (are they rough ground and are they cover ?) so we decided (dice roll) that all wood type areas were open and no cover benefit and fields merely decoration, but I do wish such basic stuff was defined. 

We managed to play through 8 turns again (seems to be our staple) with things going along at a fair lick this time as previous rule queries resolved in our heads. 

Bar the terrain issue we really only had one new query this time relating to a Brigade becoming Demoralised as bit unclear what dice roll results mean. 

Demoralised Brigades roll with a 5-6 meaning Obey Orders and 1-4 meaning Brigade is Hesitant but does the Hesitant result count as a Failed Command Roll and therefore Brigade disperses ? We decided this was so but not completely clear in rules as the Hesitant status result (repeated 3 times in rules) is therefore completely superfluous if it actually results in Dispersal ?

One tactical lesson from today was that loss of a Skirmishing screen will Falter its parent Brigade, something I had missed, so comes a point when one must withdraw a weakened screen or reinforce it ADCs permitting (French ADCs at a premium today as only 3 Brigades in force).

Another GDA game planned for Saturday at UWS club with an action at Dresden so good to get more practice with rules, and will be interesting to see how other play/interpret the rules. 



French right wing Brigade deployed, I set up my units prior to game start dispensing with Fog Of War issues to speed things up and as French must have 1 Brigade in reserve (not released until one of other two brigades is broken) and must start with 4 units hugging table centre line this was not really a problem.







French deployed to the left as not enough strength to cover table (note reserve brigade on rear edge). All terrain bar the BUA and Rises essentially only decoration as no effect on speed or combat. Again scenario has the usual 'stick a few bits on as you see fit'.......grrrrr










Game in full swing with British ganging up on my right wing. They had 4 brigades on table with a 5th arriving on 5th turn. A good portion of their units were veterans. 






French trying to refuse on right.






Skirmish battle on my left (I was lucky to out shoot the British skirmishers here) as more lights annoy my centre.







Note the French skirmish screen on right is reduced to 2 bases and loss of another caused dispersal which Faltered Brigade (should have withdrawn or reinforced this screen). This same Brigade later went Demoralised and although it passed initial morale test it was teetering on auto destruction due to further dispersed units (at least this would have released reserve)




4 comments:

  1. More line than your usual columns on this one. Like you need more Napoleonic rules, but you might enjoy a wander over to the Perry’s website and down load their new free napoleonic rules. The link is in the left hand column on their site.

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    1. Line best for defender here and Brits want to get into Line as soon as possible to benefit from their superior volleying.
      Seen the Perrys stuff which I would describe as basic but look playable and likely best for big games wherein speed is required.

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  2. I like the GDA rules but agree there are gaps. Version 2 apprently imminent so maybe the bugs will be sorted. On balance I prefer the Lasalle 2 rules. Even though they seem weird in places,actions and events seem (thus far) to come up with believable results and they are so fast to play.

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    1. I like GDA too but a lot of effort needed to discern intent sometimes and I find we struggle to complete a game even when issues sorted. Yes seen that V2 in pipe line. I really like Lasalle 2 which I thought was a bit bland upon first read but found the games to be excellent with much more period feel than was first apparent. Not tried any historical based scenarios with them so not sure how they would hold up to game of todays scope/size ?

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