Out with the old in with the new.......setting up a Seven Years War game

Last day of 2019 was spent setting up a SYW game for first game of 2020 (on 2nd of January).
Set up is for Zorndorf August 1758 a battle I have played several times with Might & Reason, Minden Rose and Field Of Battle, but now giving (Le Duc look away now !!) Black Powder 2 an outing.
I will of course use my Russians with the 'dice demon' (what am I thinking with BP !?) fielding the Prussians.
Scenario is gleaned from that contained in M&R set so units are roughly Regimental in size.
Also playing on somewhat bigger area than usual, 6 1/2' x 5' instead on 6' x 4' for no other reason than I had this sized mat still on table from Mondays game.
We will be using our SYW BP house rules (not many) and 1/2 measurements for our 15mm troops.




Russians are deployed awaiting arrival of Frederick's force...............

Christmas get together Black Powder - Battle of Lobositz

Usual Christmas time get together today with usual suspects at Johns with excellent hospitality as ever.
Mr B had set up Lobositz as scenario using Black Powder (with our own period house rules and a couple of scenario specific rules) and graciously acted as umpire.
John and Richard took the defending Austrians with Mr P, Le Duc (not a BP fan it must be said) and yours truly commanding the Prussians (3 Brigades each).
Cracking game with this fluid fast play set which shines in such big multi-player games.
Very tough proposition for attacking Prussians as virtually impregnable Austrian position (as per history) with Elbe on their right, Lobositz itself then a sunken road, a marsh, another built up area and a narrow end of line (basically 1 unit wide bounded by table edge).
Le Duc struggled against Croats on the volcanic berg on our left with a mass of cavalry he could not really use (sent 1 Brigade to assist wavering right).
Mr P manfully assaulted Lobositz and part of the sunken road but was unable to gain a foothold in either.
I had a to and fro battle with John around the marsh and village on our right.
I managed to restore several shaken units to stop a couple of early Brigade Breaks, partly as John did not push his advantage but also found I had no real place to attack.
Eventually the Prussians had several Brigades break and game was essentially over but we played on for couple more turns.
This saw John assume full dice-demon duties in 2 Cavalry combats wherein he twice rolled 9 hits from 9 dice whilst also saving 5 of my hits twice !!
Needless to say he won both combats handsomely and declared Black Powder to be the greatest rule set ever written :-)
In fact he ordered BP2 online during game !
That it took 65 dice for us to resolve these 2 simple combats is certainly different to FOB model with 4 dice albeit of possible varied types and taking into account odd or even rolls, but ultimately both generate a potentially dramatic and decisive result so you ‘pays your money and takes your choice’
Good discussion with Le Duc about BP compared to FOB2, I essentially agreed with him (though would never not let on !) and I personally prefer the FOB system more overall than BP but did try to show him some merits of BP and how it was not dissimilar in some ways and that it also works for the scale of game we were playing, not sure he is convinced although he did seem to enjoy the game itself overall.
Le Duc take in proceedings here -   https://warfareintheageofcynicsandamateurs.blogspot.com/2019/12/lobositz-christmas-game.html?showComment=1576368727291#c5037651803437716569

All in all a great days craic with toy soldiers.
Indian meal followed which was accompanied by extreme bull-shitting session in which we righted all that is wrong with the world in short order.

 

Epic Napoleonic encounter at Ulster Wargame Society using Black Powder

Large (biggest game I have ever participated in) Napoleonic battle today at UWS (again last meeting of the year).
A 15mm bash set in Autumn 1813 with 3 French Divisions (Stephen, Bryn and Mike) against Russian/Prussian 3 Division force (Billy as Russian with Simon and I as Prussians)
Somewhere in region of 60-70 units each side so a lot of stuff on table which measured almost 10' x 6'.
Used Black Powder (with essentially Clash of Eagles amendments) which for me shines with such large
Bryn and I set up a quick table layout table (using Mikes excellent battle mats and then 2 CinC (Billy and Mike) diced for choice of side.
All fields were classed as Rough Ground and Woods as open so also Rough and there where a couple of hills placed under mats.
Scenario as such (devised by Simon) was that each Division had to march on from a roadway and deploy for battle, which was to prove a problem for the Russians with their lower Command and lack of co-ordination within Brigades (essentially needing a separate Command roll for each half of a Brigade).
As it turned out I faced of against Stephen on the Russo-Prussian right wing.
This saw my 4 Brigades (2 Infantry 1 Grenadier and 1 Cavalry) facing some Young Guard, a Cavalry Brigade 2 Infantry Brigades and a Brigade of Wurtemburg troops.
This force included several Light Infantry units with Sharp Shooter ability.
My Line and Landwehr Infantry were large units (8 units total) with Artillery support and a small unit of Landwehr cavalry (pants) and a Tiny unit of Jager (Sharp Shooters and Elite)
I do not really know what may associates had although plenty of Russians and Prussians on my left.
Mike and Bryns commands also a mystery as such although I did hear Bavarians mentioned.
Stephen and I wasted no time deploying against each other with my Cavalry extending flank and Grenadiers positioning themselves on a hilltop (as it turns out hills have no real effect in BP).
David also joined the fray for a time taking command of one of my Infantry Brigades.
After several turns of furious action (although strangely we had no melees on our side !) I had the Cavalry and Grenadier Brigades broken but had retained the hill top and its village and was re-deploying units to shore up flank.
The Russians in centre were by now getting to grips with several assaults in column going in with mixed results.
Our left wing was a mystery to me (even with glasses on) but seems Simon was having best of things against Bryn who had 2 Brigades broken.
Game was fought in 3 fairly distinct areas one player vs one player with just a little overlap in center.
As time was called on the game it was sadly unfinished but (note for Bryn) I think the Russo-Prussian force could claim at least a moral victory as they were not swept from the field by Boneys bunch.
I suspect French view may differ slightly....................
All in all a great days gaming and Stephen and I both were inspired to use BP for upcoming Christmas game (a SYW bash planned) due to the ease of play of BP.
We did get one or two things wrong forgetting in particular early on to deduct -1 for Command tests when close to enemy !
Also my Cavalry Brigade broke too soon (as Light Cavalry don't count it seems) but we easily rectified by just saying I had retired voluntarily.
Once one realizes that BP is a fast and loose set in many ways lacking prescriptive detail of other sets it works really well and not sure any other set (even Field of Battle) could cope with such a large game so readily.
For our own games we will likely not allow units to charge through other units or against unseen enemy and will disallow the follow me order which just seems too potent as written.
Another tweak suggested by Simon is that Cavalry who declare a charge that backs off after a unit Forms Square will take a hit (wont be an issue much in SYW) although I think becoming 'double' Disordered (ie it lasts and extra turn) might be better as Cavalry are fairly brittle ?
Also today my dice were not terrible except for Unit Break Tests of which I failed every one, mind you the dice demon managed to roll 3 Blunders (much to his annoyance) to my zero !!
Hugely enjoyable day and the amount of units on table looked spectacular !
Was great to met Mike as well who is a fellow rules and board game junkie :-)



The battlefield, fairly open with lots of room to manouvre around the dotted villages and woods. The random trees are mine as I hate a bland table.

My Prussians march onto the field

French opposition with Young Guard advancing through woods

Prussian Cavalry deploys on extreme left as Grenadiers invest the hill top

Russians advancing down central road but slowly as Prussian left deploys

The French Light Infantry Mixed Formations in view

Prussian Cavalry Brigade

Infantry Brigades deploy to protect Russian right flank

Overview of battle field from Allied left (note Russians in centre lagging behind)

Prussian Infantry Brigade counter-marching to left behind comrades to shore up line as Cavalry have broken (Billy did promise me a Russian Heavy Cavalry Brigade but these went elsewhere)

French central brigade (Mikes, with Bryns visible on French right)

Young Guard advancing against hilltop church now occupied by Line unit.

My 2nd Infantry Brigade holding their line as Billys Russians are advancing to charge in column.

Final posistions around hilltop

And on my left-center

It proved to be a busy day at the club with our game, another Napoleonic game (using In The Grand Manner) and the completion of a Samurai campaign using FOG (I didnt get any pics of this) and a small bring and buy in operation. 

I think at one point there was some 30 people in the room was was great to see.

The Grand Manner game (no idea of details of this one)

And to top of an almost perfect wargaming day I came home to find Liberty Or Death had arrived :-)

Black Powder - Vitoria scenario played

Stephen and I decided to try Black Powder today using the GDA scn from last week for a direct comparison of the game systems.
We used stats derived from the Napoleonic supplements and tried out the new BP2 changes (at least those I have uncovered thus far).
Twas another excellent game and a favourable comparison between BP and GDA as essentially both sets are highly playable and both give a good flavoursome gaming experience even if approaches are somewhat different.
In BP we soon discovered that BUA are very tough to take as the defenders get great save and melee outcome bonuses.
The command system is pretty flexible and abstract but no more or less luck dependent than GDA just in a differing fashion.
Movement, shooting and combat are all straight forward and 'old school' in respect of having Save rolls and suchlike and I do prefer the GDA charging/melee methods overall.
Both sets are fairly brutal in morale outcomes (especially with my rolls !!) with whole Brigades imploding in both games.
Bottom line happy to play either set in addition to Shako 2 and of course my favourite Piquet: Field of Battle.
A surfeit of decent rules sets is IMHO a very good thing as I enjoy variety, I mean who eats just one flavour of crisps (potato chips for our US brethren) !!

Some pics