Thursday, June 01, 2023

Battle Command - SYW game with Le Duc

Le Duc attended for a game (first in ages) and we used Battle Command to give him a taste of it.

I used the Morning Attack at Zorndorf scenario again (as I had troops still organized for same) with Le Duc as Prussians and I as Russians.

Another cracking and quick game (3 hours or so) played to a definite conclusion with plenty of action, with Le Duc quickly assimilating the new 'Action Matrix' and reduced deck size of Battle Command compared to FOB3.

Game saw similar events to Club game with Russian left wing imploding pretty quickly (the Ivan musketry was absolutely awful the whole game) but their right wing pushing forward after having pushed back the Prussian Grenadier Brigade (but failing to Rout any units).

Seydlitz command was activated on 5th Move option but despite managing to swing Cuirassier Brigade from left flank to centre he had little effect on outcome although he was threatening the Russian baggage camp at end.

Russians lost units in swamps and saw other destroyed in place and were soon gifting morale chips to enemy (although not as many as on Saturday). They survived first Army Morale test but I soon yielded the field as no way back.

Le Duc enjoyed Battle Command (it is still essentially FOB which he loves) liking the decisions of the Action Matrix but like me not sure if it is 'better' than FOB rather just somewhat different.

 



Initial deployments











Russian left under pressure from start








My right wing fairing better as Prussian Grenadiers repulsed






Russian left and center in real difficulties as Prussian Cuirassier head to middle and Russian right pushes forward







Prussian Cuirassier pushing forward toward camp at game end.


 


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7 comments:

  1. Norm11:18 pm

    This and FOB seem to give you some of your most satisfying games - SoN and GdA less so.

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    Replies
    1. Sgt Steiner11:28 am

      That they do, they would be my desert island set assuming I would be able to save figures etc in shipwreck :-)
      I do like GDA as it has a lot of period specific flavour (FOB bit more 'generic' as covers 1700-1900) and the upcoming 2nd edition looks enticing as lot of stuff streamlined and clarified.

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  2. pancerni11:26 am

    Impressive set that one likes and the other on the bench? How much smaller is the deck?

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    Replies
    1. Sgt Steiner11:34 am

      The deck is down to a mere 8 cards (9 if special event card included) from 23-24 of FOB but caveat is a lot more Initiative rolls as you never use more than 1 or 2 cards per initiative. So no big initiative swings of 8-10 cards (which I kind of like) but more options on each card (varied by even/odds and dice difference), a similar but different beastie.

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  3. Richard11:52 am

    Fine looking game and enjoyable report.

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  4. SteveM10:46 am

    I played a large Battle Command game over the weekend, although the idea is good, and after a while I found there were just too many command rolls which became very tiresome:
    - Roll off for CinC initiative every 2 or 4 cards (we kept forgetting where we were in this sequence).
    - Regular CinC roll offs for Lulls (1/8 cards)
    - CinC roll to see what can be done on the drawn card

    I think I will stick with FoB, however it might be worth giving some of the often useless cards such as Melee, Infantry Fire, and Artillery Fire a secondary action?



    The system is probably better for a smaller game

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