We both had 2 Infantry Brigades and a Heavy Cavalry Brigade of Dragoons.
Oddly the Russian Dragoons are costed at 11pts per stand and the French (and all other nations) Dragoons are 13pts despite having identical stats, no idea why this is and we have found a couple of other similar point anomalies.
We both like the 'scenario' generation and deployments with cards, which yields a nice plausible situation for a 'balanced', quick pick up style game.
We got into initial turn pretty quickly but again ended up discussing the 'extended line' formation and its merits and demerits (can discern no historical basis for this amalgam of formations/effects) with us both feeling that we could take it or leave it as is but deciding for future games to dump this formation but retain the Light Infantry characteristic (with a 1pt reduction) to see if that sits better with us.
Russians had a couple of large (3 stand) batteries that thankfully rolled completely pants dice but they did score big with a Special Event card that allowed Skirmishers to deploy for free and shoot with hits of 2+ which yielded several hits on my central command of which I failed to save any via Discipline tests. My artillery was more effective but not devastatingly so.
However we came across one of the most farcical rules I have encountered in any historically based rule set in 48yrs of gaming (even beating the 'Broadsides' rule for Brit tanks in desert in Flames of War) namely: 'Cavalry Intimidation'.
This allows Heavy Cavalry units (and Light Lancers) to use an order to Intimidate (via threat of charge/large horses/glint of lance or armour) any 2 (!!) units within 20" (!!) forcing them to pass 2 (!!) Discipline tests or suffer Disruptions. I thought it only applied to Infantry (as per Harass order) but it seemingly can be used against any unit even other Cavalry and even vs units in cover/buildings or in square with no mitigation to tests.
So with 3 Dragoon units in a Brigade I was able to essentially inflict 12 'hits' on enemy that caused 6 Disruptions !!
This felt like my Cavalry were firing grapeshot/shotguns/fireballs and was so much more effective than any artillery battery (3-4 dice with round shot) and out-ranges musketry (which only fires out to 10") and this was followed on next enemy card by his 3 unit Dragoon Brigade doing exactly the same (kind of a no-brainer) causing 12 hits/tests of which 5 became Disruptions. With the way hits/Rallies operate in system this is pretty powerful effect in game with zero risk involved.
Mind you Prussian Landwehr Light Cavalry at 8pts per stand can do the same as classed as Lance armed (tad debatable they had training to wield efficiently ?) and also can use Harass vs deployed skirmishers. Indeed these lowly 'lancers' can apparently intimidate Carabiniers, Cuirassier, Old Guard Cavalry, Elite Foot, etc, etc.
We found this to be complete and utter pants (extended line issue seemed suddenly inconsequential) and we quickly decided that we would simply ban this daftness from further outings as games could degenerate into battles of cavalry intimidation rather than firing or fighting. No doubt it could be diluted/amended/mitigated but easier to just bin it.
We drew up a (small) set of amendments to try next game (including reducing cavalry effectiveness in open woods and enclosed fields) and whilst I am willing to try these out, if another issue arises I will likely bin the rules, which would be a pity in many regards especially the card deck order/event system.
I am all for simplicity and playability over needless complexity, but my inner Grognard gets rankled nowadays by anything I perceive as silly/gamey/cheesy especially if little/no historical basis or tenuous plausibility (or lack of designers explanation which at least gives one a basis to agree or disagree with) and a crusty old curmudgeon must draw the line somewhere, bah humbug applies.
Central French infantry brigade which included 3 Militia Bttns to rear (thankfully being out of range/sight they are protected from intimidation as they have rather poor Discipline level)
French right wing with Italian infantry Brigade
The opposing Dragoon Brigades on French left whose powers of intimidation became the stuff of legend !!
I know exactly what you mean about silly, cheesy and gamey rules or moves.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the report. Think I will stay away from these rules.
ReplyDeleteNow, tell us how you really feel about rules! Thanks for the analysis, I doubt I'll be using them in the future.
ReplyDeleteWell the are better than anything I have ever not written :-) there is actually a decent fun set within and if you are not as annoyed by these issues as we are then they are fine.
DeleteThe extended line is a formation I cannot find any solid historical basis for (seems to be a miss-mash of various formations for gaming purposes) but maybe author has differing sources/interpretation ?
As for the cavalry intimidation I sort of get the thought behind it ie threat of cavalry charging, but it is way way too powerful in effect as it is a sort of long range 'intimidator ray gun' effect which allows cavalry to conduct what amounts to a pre-charge 'bombardment' of any unit !!
We will give rules another go without these and see how they pan out.
Wouldn't dragoons be medium cavalry not heavy, or do the rules not break cavalry down this much?
ReplyDeleteIn rules just heavy cavalry and light cavalry. With the stats and D6 not much wiggle room.
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