Die Fighting 2 Napoleonic game

Face to face game with Stephen today with my French facing his Russians using Die Fighting 2 by Bob Jones.

Interesting game especially compared with first version which we played several times.

The use of Commands to generate Resource dice and their individual pooling of same is a major change from the original version and we felt this worked much better.

Especially as these pools can be restored on the Rally/Restore card.

The similar but new Card Phasing system is much easier than previously with all the nice but complex variations now in two essentially equal decks.

I also liked the latest updated rule regarding Proximity which allows units far from the enemy to move by using Free dice in lieu of actual Resource dice, a nice touch.

We pretty much got the hang of shooting and combat finding Heavy Artillery to be a constant drain on enemy (as they should be).

We both lost a unit to catastrophic loss which is another new rule when a unit loses a firefight or combat by 13+ it is instantly destroyed (rather than Routed as in DF although this was a later amendment).

Also units that suffer 7+ losses 'gain' a black dice in addition to Disorder which must be Rallied off but which counts as a minus dice whilst with the Disordered unit.

We did encounter one or two queries (which I will broach on the forum) main one being from the Napoleonic Template in relation to Attack Columns in Melee.
As we read it it seems these are a better Defensive Formation than Offensive which seems odd ?
Also in similar vein Cavalry seem to be better against a Square than Infantry in Line or Attack Column which again seems counter intuitive ?

Considering our usual pre-game waffling and newness to the rules we managed to get through a fair few turns in our 4 hour slot which is a bonus.

I would definately rate DF2 in same bracket as Field Of Battle 2 (no surprise as both have ancestry in Bobs Piquet rules) with both having their own pluses and minuses.




French deployment

 French Guard Artillery opens proceedings.........

 Russian left flank under a Foolhardy Commander

 Russian centre and right

 Engagement on French right

Prussian Heavy batteries which were a constant drain on French morale and progress

 Russian right wing

Old Guard push forward with one unit in folly of assaulting town

French chasing Russian Jager into heavy woods

Catching up

Been a busy few days so behind on postings

Did manage to finish the Die Fighting II game with Prussians coming out on top mainly due to their Left Wing mounted Command annihilating Russians horse and then turning on the flank of adjacent Russian Infantry Brigade.
Quite a satisfying game as initial try with DFII, lots of decision points in the game especially with Command Dice Allocation and in particular that of the CinC.
Once things go against an army its status can degenerate very quickly in DF.

I then used exactly same forces and table (no time to re-arrange) for try out of 18th Century Principles Of War rules.
Really like sequence of play (reminiscent of old WRG 1645-1815 set) and the fact that hard for mounted to charge home against steady Infantry.
Rather more bookkeeping involved, as units use Strength Points, but use of small dice alleviated this.
Tactical movement system rather generous maybe for 18th Century troops but otherwise a fine and very playable set of rules.

Also played a game of Field Of Glory Renaissance at Stephens (he is big fan of these) with my Early Imperialists against a Later Swedish force.
This proved to be a very interesting game with a lot of bloodshed on both sides.

Another turn of Die Fighting II

Managed another turn today with ongoing solo game.

Quite a lot of Cavalry combat due to multiple Cavalry Action cards being turned.

As I play I am noting an overall streamlining of the game system compared to original DF.

Several 'chrome' type rules have gone such as Blown Cavalry, and indeed Skirmisher rules these are replaced by entries on the Period Templates or the use of the Black Dice and therefore less of a rules overhead to remember.

Cannot find a firm definition of how units count for "supporting both flanks" (think it was discussed on Repique Rules forum ?) or if or how multiple unit melees occur and one or two rules/concepts take a couple of readings to sink in but otherwise so far have always found an answer on the 'Quick Sheet', the PDF or the Period rules.

Really liking the ability to restock Resource Dice per Command and the CinCs ability to 'share' his hoard of Resources which is a key Command aspect in the game.

The card phasing system works well with the unknown factor of which cards are in the Discard pile each turn. 

I enjoyed the old DF variants for card phasing but this is again an easier system to play and yet still evokes a good game narrative.

So far so good will be interesting to see how the Infantry clash goes.