Die Fighting SYW action again

Another game using Die Fighting with our Seven Years War Russian and Prussian armies as Stephens' brother John came along and wanted to see Die Fighting in action. I generated the terrain and the scenario using Command Piquet system which saw fairly standard deployments but with Russians losing 2 units prior to game but Prussians having to deploy first. A very enjoyable game as ever with Ivans running out of dice in the end (rather too many actions attempted as I tried to show John how rules work). Prussians had rather decent commanders (generating some 30+ leader dice and Superior CinC)) but poor old Ivans a rather lamer bunch (a mere 17 leader dice and an Inept CinC) and combined with usual higher Command Divisor (we used 3 for ubermensch vis standard 4 for Ivans) and control over phase cards the Prussians command and control was much more effective (which seemed perfectly fine). John seemed to like the system although same initial comments as ourselves regarding 'bloodless' nature of combat and resource management being key. We allowed Leader dice to be used in Melee Defence and limited losses to maximum of initial value of units. The losses limit is probably enough in fact as one less likely to pile several leader dice into a combat if maximum dice loss one can inflict is thus limited. New Volgodski units managed to survive (mainly due to limited action with Inept sub-commander in charge).

Prussians line up in good defensive terrain (look at all those leader dice !!!)

Russians in more open half (spotting leader dice a tad harder and not because they are blue !)

Prussians deploy in town

Russian Cavalry massing

Prussian Brigades deploy in center 

Russian Infantry on left wing 

Prussian Infantry about to take hill position

Watched by Ivan

And voila the hill is quickly in Prussian hands

Ongoing Cavalry engagement on Russian right

Prussian center

Russian Infantry advance and suffer from Artillery fire

Die Fighting another SYW action

Played a very enjoyable game using our Seven Years War toys (Russian versus Prussian) today at Stephen's with Die Fighting rules (we now operate a variable game selection system of one picks period other picks rules !!). I used same army as last outing but managed to roll much better officer standard (ie no bloody Inept types) also Prussian used army divisor of 3 (instead of 2) giving them 4 less leaders (a big change) but still with inbuilt advantages and the more flexible sequencing. We really like the flexibility of the rules in these aspects but still struggle a bit to set a 'scenario' that feels balanced (ie both sides have some chance to perform if not just plain chance to win). Ivans burned dice like nobody's business with only 99 left out of initial 321 after 3 full turns of play (ie 18 'action card' phases) especially when subject to enemy firing with loads of Artillery bounce through attacks !!!! Prussians much more conservative with use of less than 100 in same time (starting base of 250ish IIRC). First turn was rather slow as we did a lot of memory refresh with the rules but once into flow it sped along very nicely.
We used a house-rule of allowing Leadership dice to be used defensively in melee which offset standard ability to load offensive melee too heavily as per standard rules. We both liked this and will likely keep it for future games.

Last post for couple of weeks as off to Bonnie Scotland for fortnights R&R from Monday. Lots of reading material to be consumed and Stephen lent me a nice looking Dvd set of AWI documentaries in obvious attempt to try to inspire me to paint the British army which arrived yesterday from Peter Pig (and very nice figures they are too).

Forces of Mother Russia arrayed in all their splendour

Ubermensch deployed in their grubby glory

Russian Cuirassier to the fore

Prussians move to occupy the town

Russian Infantry Brigades advance 

Awaiting Prussian infantry ready to volley

Crack Prussian Infantry deploy into town

Prussian Grenadiers advance through light woods

Russian right wing

Russian Hussars and Horse Grenadiers line up

Russian left wing Cavalry Brigade

Opening salvo from Russian artillery

Russian foot ready themselves in center

Action of left as Hussars bounce off blown after foolhardy charge (forced by headstrong leader)

Prussian Horse arrayed on their right

Piquet Field Of Battle : Prussians take on French

Game at Stephens today I picked period he picked rules so it was 1814 Prussians versus French using Piquet: Field Of Battle rules. A hugely entertaining game it was too ! we used Lasalle terrain generation and half measures for our ground scale. I fielded 5 Brigades with 23 units against 20 French units. French had several Elite units Prussians none (I really am a glutton for punishment !) Terrain was 'the valley' with line of hills on opposing sides of table (Stephens rubberized terrain mat very useful for this allowing placement of items underneath - considering purchasing one) into which I placed a wood and a field and Stephen a town.
Prussians designated as defenders  although this proved nominal as cowardly French hugged their ridge whilst 'General Vorwarts' went.............'Vorwarts'.


Lots of crappy iPhone pics (with lots of caption 'digs' at French dogs):


Prussians line along their ridge (temporarily)

French line theirs (super-glued)

Prussian mounted Brigade advances on right

Prussians Infantry Brigades begin to advance

Guess who are advancing ? 

Even the lowly Landwehr show French how its done 

'Vorwarts' in the center 

French militia cower in town

More 'Vorwarts-ing'

Landwehr go eye ball to eyeball

Whats this ? French heavy cavalry actually advancing !!

Reserve Infantry Brigade 'up and at em' against French 'one step forward two steps back' Brigade. 

Earlier shot of mounted wings mutual advance

French 'Elite' Infantry falling back so much for fabled elan !

French right at start

Prussian centre

Prussian cavalry on right wing

French 'attackers' center 'nailed' to ridge

The 'bold' French furthest foray

Footnote: FOB vs DF
Having played last two games using Die Fighting it was interesting to compare these rule sets and to be honest both very good and yield plausible results in their own ways. Overall systems in DF a bit slicker but we both enjoyed (more familiar or comfortable might be better terms) being able to 'kill' outright a unit on table today rather than solely 'routing to its doom' only but its simply a different approach to combat outcomes/attrition. FOB lacking a bit of flavour/diversity between inherent periods perhaps but possibly more 'balanced' as a game as a result. DF resembles original Piquet more closely (not surprising as same author) in that one simply cant attack/move everywhere (at least thats a risky strategy) as resources/pips dwindle or not available, whereas FOB allows a 'general advance' (not necessarily a good idea) as pip costs to turn cards but not to act on them plus both sides get to react with equal pips (tempered by different sequence decks). Comparisons a bit 'apples and oranges' as both offer fast play with the inertia/chaos/unpredictability to differing degrees that we both like in wargames. We both like Lasalle as well (even if Cavalry seems a tad powerful) and its nice to have options especially for our friendly type games wherein being 'jacks of all trades even if master of none' suits us.

We are hoping to try 'classic' Piquet: Cartouche and Les Grognards with smaller forces for more tactical nuanced option at some stage and to try DF & FOB with ACW or Franco-Prussian forces ...................... ah the lure of fresh projects.............................

Die Fighting SYW action

Played anticipated Seven Years War game today using my Russian versus Stephen's Prussians using Die Fighting rules which we have been itching to try again after last outing with Napoleonic types. I set up the table last night, using scenario and terrain generation system from Command Piquet set which generated fairly plausible terrain and gave Prussian ability to deploy forward (ie up to 24" rather than 12") in two central sectors.








Table in calm before storm mode

Using Die Fighting I used 24 units of Ivans generating a basic 330 dice and told Stephen to bring 280  dice worth of Prussians as they have so many advantages within the rule system (massively better Command and Unit quality plus easier movement and loads of re-roll options). I gave him 2 objectives in my deployment zone and allowed him to select 50 bonus dice between them (with min of 10 on any one). I deployed first (2 Cmds to his one per deployment phase). With my poor quality I had a CiC and 5 sub commanders  for my 24 units whereas Prussians had a CiC plus a whopping 9 sub commanders for his 20 units !! My leader quality rolls (at -2) yielded an average CiC, 1 headstrong, 1 average and 3 Inept Commanders. By chance (ie you roll for ability after dividing army into 'brigades') my 3 infantry brigades had the 3 inept blokes. Prussians (with +2) had mostly Superior or Dependable types with 1 headstrong and 1 average. In short he generated 40 command dice to my paltry 13.  Random unit quality and dice adjustment went quite well for me with several crack units only 1 poor (this was lucky) and most average but generating an positive dice bonus to leave me with 360 dice to start. Prussians mostly crack or average and final dice total of 300. Russians used fixed phasing system, the Prussians a more flexible play 2 cards of choice version.

Russians deployed in full as Prussians complete theirs.

  












Game then got underway and we found Prussians to be as expected rather good at moving with command dice being highly useful. In this period one can use two resource dice but only highest counts plus any additional free or command dice. This also applies to shooting and melee dice which to be honest we found a tad odd (not sure that musketry in SYW was any worse than in later periods ?) especially as in melee it meant that heavy cavalry are rather potent as the get 2 free dice (but only 1 in Napoleonic period ?) in addition to any command dice. Conversely the 'defender' only get best of 2 resource dice and cant use command dice (very few free dice available). This meant that any heavy cavalry (of which there is quite a lot in period) throws effectively 4-5 dice versus 1 effective. So usually defender could score max 6 vs often a score of 20 plus (especially after re-rolls etc). This lead to 'I charge your front line and chase them off' followed by 'your second line charges and chases mine' and so on. Once they charge the cavalry are blown requiring rally  and subject to shooting which can cause disorder (again Prussians had ascendancy with extra command dice to rally off blown/disorder).
The lack of individual unit attrition or destruction more evident in this game as all the big hits only effect the overall army dice total. A somewhat abstract bloodless method as give unit 20 hits it still jusy retires 20" then can come back to fray.
That said after a couple of charges both sides cavalry were in disarray (but Prussians more likely to re-cover and re-organize). Russians pretty much had to sit and watch from deployed positions which whilst historical to a degree is rather less satisfying from gaming point of view.
Ran out of game time as Prussians looked like turning Russian right (so many blown or disordered cavalry) but Russians still had nearly 250 dice so a long way from defeat.
We both think Die Fighting is very slick system with excellent command and control methods easy movement but found combat system today a bit lacking and not really having 'feel' of SYW period we were expecting/looking for.
The bloodless nature of the fighting is a problem for us I fear.

Prussian centre

Prussian right 

Two immobile Russian Infantry Brigades

 Prussian Grenadiers deploy forward

 













The back and forth on Russian right with cavalry