At last a ‘proper’ game out of lockdown ! - Lasalle 2 French vs Austrians

First face to face game since lockdown restrictions eased here in N.Ireland allowing such activities indoors. 

Last such game was back in early October which seems an eon ago!

Played a 15mm game of Lasalle 2 with John (as normal opponent his brother Stephen recovering from a nasty infection which had him hospitalised for a period) and we decided to try Lasalle 2 as John looking to see them in action.

John choose Avant Garde scenario (first I think) from rules with an Austrian 1809 force facing my French (both smaller 250pt option).

Lasalle 2 is so very slick and easy to teach (at least using basic rules) and we both got into swing quickly.

We did however only complete 5 of scheduled 8 turns due to lots of catching up and associated waffle before we got going. 

The Momentum system is excellent being easy to use and yet leading to lots of decisions to make best use thereof, and this coupled with free flowing movement and very playable shooting and combat systems, means this rule set has a lot going for it.

Not much in the way of ‘chrome’ compared to several sets (and openly designed that way) but the game is just plain fun whilst retaining a core Napoleonic ‘flavour’ and certainly high on playability/ease of understanding factor which is an aspect I find increasingly attractive (and likely why I enjoy Piquet sets so much).

John also enjoyed the rules liking the fast playing style and easy assimilation of the basic systems.

Hope to get more play with these (and try some advanced rule options) and hopefully with Stephen when recovered sufficiently.

Shadows of the Eagle - solo try with French vs Prussians circa 1813 (wordy and pic heavy)

Managed to set up and (solo just for a change) play through one of the included scenarios from new Shadows of the Eagle rules.

These are by Keith Flint (Honours of War author) and touted as a low complexity/playable set (10-20 units per side) of Napoleonic rules, and indeed that is essentially what they are. 

Units are of the fashionable standard sized (16-24 figures depending on scale used and on 4-6 bases) on equal frontages and as no figure removal this is of course functional and user friendly, and represent Battalions/Regiments organised into Brigades (up to 3 units can operate independently) with a standard sized game being roughly Divisional (options to scale up to Corps level).

There is no points system but a section does give guidelines for unit types and ratings for various periods and campaigns of the Napoleonic period, with things such as Old or New Regime army types, variance from the standard units, such as units being rated Inferior for Training but Superior for Motivation or visa versa to allow variety to portray units such as Young Guard, Landwehr, Provisional troops and suchlike.

Standard D6 used (Average dice for recoils) with 4+ to hit/activate etc with several modifiers for shooting, combat and so on.

Units are rated as Standard, Inferior or Superior with number of Morale Hits/Casualties they can sustain based on this and subsequent level at which they become Weakened or Routed (destroyed). 

Units are rated for 'Fighting Ability' ie number of dice they roll based on formation or number of bases in contact for Combat.

As an example Infantry in Line fire with 4 basic dice, those in Attack Column use 1 dice whilst in Combat a Line still uses 4 dice but a Column uses 2 (although 2 Columns could make contact). Squares can be 'wrapped around' to maximize dice but they always fight with 4 dice and are a tough proposition to break as they do not recoil and achieving hits on them is difficult. 

Cavalry is divided into Light and Heavy with lights being bit faster and heavies better in combat.

Artillery fires with 2 Dice with hit number of 4+ adjusted for range, weight of cannon and can achieve 'Grazing Fire' (ie bounce through) with ball shot. Artillery seems rather under powered compared to some sets but not played enough to be sure.

Skirmishers appear as units of suitably deployed Light Infantry types or as Skirmish screens to individual Battalions.

Sequence of play sees and Initiative Roll to determine who can go first then its Side 1 Moves (including Charges), Side 2 Moves, both fire (simultaneous results), both conduct Close Combat, then both can Rally.

Charges are simple being a function of movement but are resolved in the same Move Phase with units either recoiling (usually if one has been weakened) or remaining in contact and Light units can Evade.

The standard formations of Line, Attack Column, March Column and Square are all present and seem to interact as expected.

Movement is fairly free and easy outside close range of enemy units with bonus inches for differing types/formations/changes of formation etc. As example in 15mm (2/3rds of 28mm ranges) a Line Infantry unit moves 4" with 2" bonus if in Column and halved in difficult ground (Infantry fires to 6", Skirmishers to 8")

Command and control is represented by Commanders (Brigadiers and a C in C) that exert a Zone of Control with units outside their Commanders range being required to pass an Activation test to operate normally, otherwise no Orders System as such. 

Commanders can also join units to assist in Rallying off hits (2 hits are permanent) and with Standard units being Weakened on 4 hits and Routed on 7 hits this is an important function for Generals.

So overall nothing really 'new' in the rules but nothing jarring or odd encountered, they sort of fall into a similar vein and level of complexity to Rank and File, Imperial Eagles, Black Powder or Over The Hills (basic version). 

They are well presented with decent illustrations and the actual rules themselves are fairly short with rest of book (hardback by the way) consisting of Army outlines, good examples and Designer Notes which I always enjoy reading.

Obviously only a very brief overview of the rules here with several aspects skimmed over or not mentioned, and on balance I do prefer the recently released Lasalle 2 and it innovations for same 'scale' of game, but these are a perfectly playable alternative set with a sort of old school feel. 

Scenario has one side defending a river line and its bridges/fords with bulk of force arriving as reinforcements over several randomly determined turns on set road entry points. 

For this I choose French as attackers and Prussians as delaying side circa 1813. I keep units as standardized as possible for ease of play and similarly with Generals (who can be Inept, Average or Inspiring).

French have 3 Infantry Brigades with Foot Guns and a Brigade of Chasseurs (Light Cav) and a Brigade of Dragoons (Heavy Cav) with a Horse Gun Battery as an Independent unit.

The Prussians start with 3 Independent units to the fore being 2 units of Fusileers (Light Inf) and 1 Uhlan (Light Cav) with an Infantry Brigade and a Hussar Brigade in support (in the towns). The Prussians have 2 more Infantry Brigades and a Dragoon Brigade to arrive.

Importantly the river can only be crossed at the two bridges and two fords (one of which starts under French reach), these plus two towns are objectives.

The field of battle from French side

French deployed (with Dragoons in reserve off table)

Later action as French Dragoon columns threaten Prussian Hussars in line.

Overview as Prussian reserves arrive

Prussian Fusileers in skirmish order delay in wooded areas as Uhlans bounce of a French square

Another unit of Fusileers suffer as they try to delay in centre.

Prussian Infantry reserves deploy to protect a ford

Attack Columns clash on French left on approach to large town

As final Prussian reserves appear along road.

Units start to weaken (yellow 'puffs') as hits inflicted

Prussians trying to keep French pinned back

Prussian Dragoon Brigade struggles to find room to properly deploy

French have numbers in centre

But Prussians massing on right

Overview from Prussian right

Prussian Fusileers under severe pressure 

Don not fancy Hussars chances against French Dragoons.

Unlikely to finish this game as new edition of L'Art De La Guerre has arrived and keen to get to grips with its changes.

Roll on face to face gaming, which will hopefully be 'legal' from 24th of May here in N.Ireland, we are allowed to play outside in a garden but as the weather has been consistently awful (such a contrast to last year !) this has not been an option.

 

Lasalle 2 - online game completed

Another session with Stephen of our remote Lasalle 2 game which we managed to bring to a completion (despite much waffling about these rules and newly arrived O Group !)

Once again we found Lasalle to be a very slick and playable experience.

Russians suffered terribly in several combats but did manage to narrowly hang on for a win in the scenario.

This was partly because we had not realised that the village was worth 2 victory points not just 1 as we had thought and would more likely have seen a French assault had we known.

The third VP was in the other objective which French just failed to capture on the final (8th) game turn, they did however gain 1VP for greater 'Carnage' inflicted on Russians and the Russian Baggage was also in danger had there been another 1-2 turns to play. 

The carnage inflicted on Russians

We thoroughly enjoyed this game with Lasalle 2 both loving the MO system.

We discussed a lot about the various abstractions in the rules and its overall lack of chrome/granularity (certainly compared to many other sets) but in the end we felt it generated a fast playing and fun game.

Its Napoleonic feel might be down to the very bare bones (essentially Column, Line and Square),  and is essentially a Command oriented game with the somewhat generic troop types and grades along with very straightforward systems subsumed to the use of MO as the core.

But this very broad brush style certainly allows for a fast and slick game with plenty of decisions and ultimately rolls of dice to decide things, and to be honest none the worse for that.

Yes we would like to see (or at least we thought we would) more grades of troops, more formations (eg Close  Columns, Open Order, Skirmish) and some more tactical interactions (eg Assault Column vs Line expanded) and sometimes things like Opportunity Charges but and it is a big BUT that is not the design intent (clearly stated by Sam throughout) of this set which pares most of this stuff down to a fairly simple set of parameters with low numbers of modifiers or exceptions always leaning toward playabilty over any hint of complexity. 

And this is what gives the set its fluency and very easy to remember systems. We were both playing with just the QRS only having to refer to rules for one or two minor queries.

Probably my only real gripe is that the included lists (really only broad guidelines) are very generic and it seems one could load your OOB with large amounts of Artillery units (whether that is a good idea or not is open to question). We agreed our own limits.

We will definitely be giving these more outings in the future especially as a 'pick and play' option.

Lasalle 2 - face to face game - online that is

Decided to try playing an online live game with Stephen today using my iPad (via Messenger) and Lasalle 2.

And whilst a bit awkward at first and lighting not greatest, it worked fine overall and certainly more enjoyable than solo play.

I moved units and marked hits at Stephens behest and he rolled his own dice, I certainly got a decent workout walking to and fro around the table !

I selected scenario 4 'Making an Omelette' as it allowed me to set up in defence using my Russians and then Stephen commanding French to set up.

We played with Small forces (180 vs 250pts) which worked fine with 4 French attacking Brigades against 3 Russian defending Brigades.

The lists allow a very large amount of possible Artillery so we both reduced to 1 per 2 Brigades (or part thereof).

Lasalle 2 plays really smoothly and Stephen was able (like I was) to assimilate and play the rules quickly despite the limitations of my video skills. We were both using the QRS with very little reference to rules after a couple of turns. We stuck with Basic rules for first try out but think use of advanced rules would not be too onerous.

We played 5 full turns (stopping only because my iPad ran out of juice) out of the 8 scheduled and intend to complete game next week.

The Momentum system is really the heart of the game and works so very slickly and generates an enjoyable level of decision making each turn.

French (using the basic Skirmishing rules) were rolling 27 dice against my 12 so usually got extra 1-2 MO per turn.

Bombardments seemed quite powerful today especially the ability of artillery to select any available target. This saw French 'gang up' on a Russian Grenadier unit inflicting 4 Disruptions in short order and it was later destroyed by a French musket volley as I failed to Rally hits off.

Artillery is however quite brittle as destroyed after a mere 2 hits despite being harder to inflict hit upon. I lost both my batteries as deployed further forward than maybe they needed to be.

French have lost 2 units of Infantry one to a couple of devastating volleys from a unit in Line and the other a Square also volleyed to destruction.

Whilst we both felt the lists are very generic and the variety of troop grading is limited compared to other rules we did find it a fairly satisfying overall. 

Whilst rules certainly do lack a level of 'chrome' they do feel somewhat Napoleonic in terms of Maneuvering (very fast and loose away from enemy) and the interactions of the traditional Column, Line and Square.

Their low complexity certainly aided use in this video-conferencing style game.

Russians deployed 

Overview of battlefield

Russian guns to the fore and town garrisoned

The French force

View of Russian lines from French edge

French attacking Russian left wing

A unit of Russian Grenadiers has been destroyed so Hussars plugging gap.

French right refusing as their guns pound enemy 

Russian HUssars and French Dragoons 'bounce' of each other as French foot form square

French start to pressure center of Russian lines