Field Of Battle 3 - Ramillies in 10mm with son (and an ode to FOB)

Big lad Steven over from England with us again (Grandads 80th) so managed to set up and play a FOB3 (the gift that keeps on giving) game using my 10mm Malburian stuff and the Ramillies scenario I had used previously.

Steven chose the Allied force under Marlborough and I took the French and we used broadly historical deployment.

Great game that saw us both lose all our Morale but with my lot failing their Army Morale on second test.

Highlights were my right wing crushing the opposing Allied horse (4 units destroyed) but being unable to exploit this gain due to lack of move opportunities despite also routing the redoubtable Dutch Foot Guards (buggers came back fully rallied later) !

On Allied right the English contingent lost their general early on which thwarted any progress by them, but their guns did truly terrible damage on my foot Regiments across the Petite Gheete area routing several units which failed to Rally.

In center it was an attritional 'ding dong' of a battle with Allies taking Ramillies itself, then French retaking half (it was 2 x BUA) then losing this again in short order. 

French were just beginning to at last turn the Allied left and were advancing across the Gheete when the Army Morale came into effect and ended proceedings. 

Super stuff once more and so easy for Steven to pick up and play.

French left behind Petite Gheete (a class II stream within another area of Class II rough), note British units all in disorder as Orkney is hors de combat (he did come back later)

Central action around Ramillies starting

French are ascendant on right (last Allied horse in diffs with Swiss foot to rear)

Alied horse have charged into contact to their doom on my right 

Steven in command

French baggage camp on right was thankfully never threatened (+5 Morale to Allies if taken)

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Just a little insert to state (as if it were not obvious) how much I have enjoyed the Field Of Battle series of rules over the years, after catching the system 'bug' with original Piquet rules.

For me such a satisfying blend of playability, and historical flavour with the 'chaos' (for want of a better word) factor that I prefer overall in my gaming (be it via Pip dice, cards or whatever) which I can tweak to my hearts content without ever really breaking things and I bought in fully to the design premises clearly stated by authors (Bob Jones and Brent Oman)

I can honestly say I have never had a 'bad' game using FOB despite my dice often trying to spoil things for me !

Piquet in particular was a rather 'Marmite' set (players seemed to either love or hate with a passion) which I get to a degree with randomness of cards, the multiple dice types, and ever changing initiative system, but then several other rule sets are treated similarly (I know some that detest Black Powder or WRG style).

FOB toned down/'balanced' things a good deal with equal initiative and card runs whilst retaining same basic combat systems and simplifying system overall.

I get that some players can feel a lack of control ('the game is playing me, its not me playing the game !") with card/initiative randomness especially compared to more traditional sets, I guess your pays your money and takes your choice/variety is the spice of life as you play the hand you are dealt.

But I always feel games play out 'historically' (such a subjective thing in wargaming) overall feeling much more like battle accounts I read with the inherent unpredictability of events and action and yet in a fun and often exciting way.

I of course enjoy several other other sets of rules for differing reasons but always find I am comparing the experience of using them to FOB and it is usually my go to set nine times out of ten for horse and musket period.

The current 'King of the Hill' for me 

Having de-throned this edition mainly by streamlining rather than very radical change.

I played and loved initial version but soon superseded by V2

The pre-cursor to the above which retained more of original Piquet style

The latest progression of the system with new cards and initiative, which I just have not played as much (find it harder to teach and use for multi-player and to tweak) although possibly a 'better' two player game experience as less 'dead' cards in a much smaller deck (23 cards now a mere 8).

The original core rules I used (think around 1993 ?) which were a radical change in game style to what I had been using ie the old school 'you go - I go' types which have their attractions but I find rather less exciting.

Honourable mention must go to the WW2 set which I have played sparingly, as whilst I love the concept and playability I have found it a struggle to find/organize suitable scenarios