Lasalle 2 - Solo game completed

Finished playing through my solo game with Lasalle with it ending in a close draw.

This scenario has no sudden death level of losses so its all about the controlling objectives (one centrally place worth 1 VP and the village on the ridge being worth 2VP) within the 8 turn limit.

As it turned out the French only managed to take the central objective but inflicted sufficient losses on the Russians to gain a VP for 'Carnage' thereby offsetting the Russian retention of the village for a 2 all draw.

Another turn or two would likely have seen Russians wiped out however as Russians had lost all their gun batteries and 6 units of infantry against just 2 Young Guard units.

The elite French force was interesting to use especially the Infantry as the 5+ Resolve level meant they suffered a lower level of losses generally.

Of course the Old Guard seemed to suffer above average and were underwhelming in the game. Author Sam Mustafa is not a believer in Old Guard being super troops (in any of his rules) but they are certainly better than average with extra strength point, said better resolve and good traits (Assault Columns and Resilience). 

Certainly less impressive/potent than they are in say Black Powder where they are essentially juggernauts.

Fun time with Lasalle even solo and yet again the MO 'orders' system shines as a very neat and slick mechanic, as I have said previously regarding the rules they are 'Napoleonic lite' with much abstracted and simplified but they are fun and produce an excellent game despite lacking much flavour/chrome compared to something like Gen D'Armee. If you like Maurice and Blucher by Sam you will like these if not then probably not so much :-)

Planned outing with them in a few days with Le Duc as our first post-plague game.

French right wing pushing towards central objective (red poker chip)

Russian delaying Brigade doing its job in front of the ridge

But under real pressure from Young Guard

Russian canister from their heavy battery decimated Young Guard infantry to their front

Struggle continues around ridge

Old Guard fail to deal with Jager

Young GUard unit shaken due to losses (yellow marker)

Young Guard held at bay temporarily

All four Russians units visible in this pic were duly lost.................

Lasalle 2 - Solo game

Started a solo game with Lasalle II today as it took my fancy to use my French Guard units which seldom see the tabletop and to make up for missing first meeting of Elimination Club last evening !

So I picked scenario 4 from the rules 'Making The Omelette' which is an attack/defence scenario and I choose the French Imperial Guard to attack (300pts) against Russian defence (220pts).

Set up scenario adding a single wood to Russian defence area and managed to play through first turn so far using all advanced rules.

French field 14 units in 4 Brigades with an Old Guard Brigade (2 Old Guard Inf) and 2 Young Guard Brigades (4 Elite Inf) supported by a Brigade of Guard Cavalry (2 OG Lancers) and two OG Reserve Artillery (2 Heavy OG Batteries) with the CinC having added trait of Artillerist to boost guns (re-rolls failed hits on primary target), an ADC completes their roster.

The Russians have 13 units also in 4 Brigades with two Infantry Brigades (each 3 Vet Inf) one with a Field Battery attached, a Brigade of Jager (3 Jager) and supported by a Light Cavalry Brigade (2 Hussars) with a Heavy Gun Battery and their CinC having Steadfast trait (re-rolls when defending).

Russians set up first but have a nice defensive position along a ridge with woods on one flank.

French set up second but not a lot of real leeway as to axis of attack.

Early days but on French left a Young Guard Brigade has encountered first Russian line with the Old Guard Lancers pushing forward and forcing a Russian foot unit to go into square and to commit their Hussars which were in reserve behind the ridge.

The French have a decided advantage in Skirmishing dice (30 vs 21) but this made no difference on first turn indeed Russians got Initiative although not a big deal at this stage. 

French have basic 7 MO (with ADC) versus Russian 6.

I do like the sheer playability of Lasalle despite its somewhat basic/broadbrush approach to unit types, and you the constant changes of initiative in a turn are keeping me fit going from one side of table to another. And nice to see my Guard units in action.

Initial deployments, with Guard in long line of units

Russian lines of defence with Jager on right around small wood

Views from Russian left 

Old Guard lancers support Young Guard Brigade

Old Guard artillery in center

Second Young Guard Brigade with Old Guard at end of line

The weak Jager Brigade awaits

Russian Hussars in reserve behind ridge

View from behind Russian lines

French begin their assault

French left wing engaging

End of first turn with some permanent hits visible and Russian cavalry committed

Lasalle 2 - final solo session and thoughts.

Played another two full turns of Lasalle 2 today (it is very fast playing).

Lots of action now both forces almost fully engaged.

Have tried numerous Charges and Combats involving Squares, Cavalry, Garrisons, the Old Guard and Artillery Retirement, in addition to usual Movement, Rallying and Shooting, and all very easy to work through I must say.

Artillery if charged has option to attempt to Retire by a dice off (using 1d6 if Foot or 2d6 if Horse or Limbered) against charger and if they succeed they are removed from table, but do not count lost and can possibly return subsequently as a reinforcement. An abstraction to be sure but very neat and tidy.

Squares do not move in Lasalle 2 but do gain a +1 in combat vs Cavalry (not vs Infantry) but conversely Artillery are +1 to hit when targeting them.

Cavalry seem quite tough with good Resolve values (usually 5+) but do suffer extra Disruptions during Combat Outcomes unless they manage to ride down enemy (ie by scoring 3 more in combat).

Also had an 'Upset' outcome in a combat. This occurs when opponents roll a 6 vs 1 (all other combat factors including unit strength is ignored) in Combat and depending on whether its the defender or attacker that rolls either it either means no damage sustained or auto-broken. In my case the defender rolled a 1 vs 6 by attacker and auto-broke.

I have lost 4 Prussian units (3 Infantry and 1 Gun Battery) and 3 French units (3 x Young Guard Infantry) thus far. Most (if not all ?) scenarios include a Sudden Death victory option with usually a side defeated upon reaching 1/3 losses in units (all unit types count). Otherwise you score VPs for on table objectives. There are 3 in this game, 1 in each deployment area and the town.

Young Guard losses

Prussians losses with 'Retired' Artillery (on left) waiting to return

The Prussians have taken occupied the town and set the occupying unit up as a Garrison which requires an action subsequent to physically moving into the town. Garrisons get defensive benefits but cannot then exit the town voluntarily for course of game.

An unit of Old Guard Infantry charged the Garrison but bounced off on equal combat totals.

Old Guard attacking town Garrison (note the Permanent Losses)

Old Guard unit to right forced the Prussian Field Battery to Retire

Many units have now sustained several Permanent Losses (signified by red or blue dice in pics) in addition to Disruptions (small white dice) with some unit going Shaken (yellow pipe cleaners). I have found it fairly easy to mark losses/hits in this fashion and remember unit traits (by use of a roster) without having to use the unit sheets (basically akin to the cards of Blucher) as not really a vast variety of troop types or traits in the game.

Will not play scenario to conclusion as this was only to learn basic game but may re-try using some of the Advanced Rules.

A Quatre Bras historical scenario included and a introductory historical scenario available to download and will be interesting to see if it encourages more historical encounters.

All in all I enjoyed (besides actually getting some figures back onto table !) Lasalle 2 even in its basic version. 

A very slick and easy to pick up and play set of rules. In fact was pretty much using only the QRS sheets with the odd rule look up. As with all Sams rules some innovative ideas and overall a fun game and I think it will be great primarily for points based quick set up and quick play games.

Although for many 'Grognard' type players I suspect the Army Lists (and may troop types/gradings ?) will seem rather bland (compared to say FOGN or La Bataille d'Empire) but are perfectly functional and Sam does include the innards of his points system so easy to tweak to ones hearts content to field any historical unit (the Army Maker lists are available on a free additional Pdf). 

The QRS and some other info is also available free in Pdf form and worth a perusal to get a feel for the game. 

Lasalle 2 - solo learning game - a wee bit of melee

Played out the rest of second turn in my solo learning game and managed to get a couple of charges and resulting melee combats undertaken.

Charging is a part of Movement order and the ensuing combat takes place immediately after contact.

I charged two Prussian Grenadier units against a Young Guard Battalion (not necessarily tactically sound but to try Combat system) and the combat was very easy to complete.

Essentially you add a D6 roll to current strength (having a 2 on 1 combat added +1 to each of the Grenadiers) and compare results, Defender first then Attacker if still engaged with enemy.

The Prussian Grenadiers both went in with a Disruption so on basic strength of 6 with -1 for Disruption with +1 for outnumbering enemy so 6 each. They rolled a feeble 1 and 2 so had total of 9 and 8. The Young Guard also start on 6 but also had a Disruption and rolled another 2 so totalled 7.

Having lost by 1-2 against both the Young Guard took 2 Disruptions but crucially stood in place (if beaten by 3+ they would Break ie be removed from table). The Grenadiers being both Still Engaged each took a Disruption and Staggered (ie fall back 1BW).

Grenadiers clash with Young Guard (in winter sun)

There are several variations in Combat involving Cavalry vs Infantry and status as attacker vis defender but outcomes are generally suffer Disruption (note no rolling to convert hits as in shooting), Stagger or a full Break, so Combat (not simply hand to hand but also close volleys and morale issues) potentially much more decisive than shooting (not with my rolls however !).

All units charge only 4BW including Cavalry (excluding Artillery !) and Infantry and Cavalry cannot combine to charge an enemy, so a bit of maneuvering required to get Charges lined up.

I did perform another Charge with another Young Guard unit against one of the repulsed Grenadiers but this also saw the attackers pushed back with both sides suffering a Disruption.

As I play more there is a nice combined arms feel to game, and some more nuances to the MO/Interrupt systems are becoming apparent especially with use of Force and Global orders combined with distance from enemy.

In basic game the General is a bit lacking in effect as he can only increase MO or allow Change of Formation prior to Orders Phase, useful but bit underwhelming. The advanced rules add more depth and options for Commanders. 

Command and control is very abstractly represented (certainly compared to original Lasalle) with a lot of the command functions of officers portrayed within in the MO system rather than as direct effect on table.

Grenadiers have been Staggered back

Young Guard unit on extreme right has gone into square as Prussian Hussars approach as more volleys exchanged.

Prussians swinging to flank through woodland around French left

Young Guard charge also failed in center. Note a Prussian Field Battery has been obliterated by Old Guard heavy guns near town.

 

Lasalle 2 - solo learning game further progress

Another short learning session with Lasalle 2.

A lot of shooting by Artillery at both long range (Bombardment 4-24bw) and short range (Volley- Canister at 4bw) and musketry (Volley at 4bw).

All fairly slick and intuitive with a basic score of 4+ (Artillery can vary) to hit adjusted for cover with varying numbers of dice rolled based on formation of artillery type/weight.

Very few factors to consider but of course use of D6 means even a single plus or minus can have effect.

Infantry in Attack Column (Mass) are 2 wide by 2 deep and only fire with a single dice per front line base whereas a 4 base wide column would fire with 6 dice (2 per central base and 1 per 'outer' base) again with variations for Sharpshooters, Square, March Column.

All hits are then rolled for again against the targets Resilience (varies from 3+ to 5+ with 6 required vs artillery) to generate Disruptions which can lead to Permanent losses if failing to Rally these off successfully.

With average units being strength 6 it seemingly can take awhile to reduce units to Shaken (average is upon reaching 2 strength) or Broken (zero strength) which makes the Rally action another interesting decision as it can lead to permanent losses but can revive faltering units.

Enjoying the action/interrupt system combined with MO expenditures as you need to plan your actions and reactions to get best out of your MO 'energy'.

Once units get to within close range (4bw) things start to slow as forward moves are reduced (you can 'retire' full move) and some more Interrupt action allowed, eg you can issue Rally orders outside 4bw without enemy reaction but within 4bw they can Interrupt.

Still not managed any Melee type actions.

Charges are not seperate actions as such being a function of Movement but do count as a Complication (ie +1 MO expended) unless unit has a Trait such or Shock or Attack Columns which cancel the extra MO cost.

Prussian units have fired on advancing Young Guard Brigade which have sustained a couple of Disruptions (white dice) and 1 Permanent Loss (red dice)

Old Guard near town have also suffered and one Battalion has taken losses despite enhanced Rally ability due to having Resilient trait.

Ineffectual exchanges of musketry on French right

Over view in early stages of Turn 2