King Of The Battlefield game played Prussia versus Austria

Game today at Stephens using King Of The Battlefield rules as chosen by Stephen.
I used my Prussians and Stephen the Austrians although with these rules as written it is pretty much 'red vs blue' as no difference between armies as such (ie no national characteristics or traits).
But nonetheless are very slick and enjoyable game.
We really liked the Cavalry melees wherein after each round you can choose to attempt to feed in successive Cavalry units to try to achieve a decisive breakthrough, very exciting and feels historical as units are committed to a swirling melee.
Combat both in melee and firing is pretty decisive with most units being routed/destroyed upon second hit (Guard take 3 hits and 2 class only 1).
All combat is adjudicated by causing a Morale Test on target enemy unit with a D8 (counting as plus) and a D6 (counting as minus) with several factors applied and any negative outcome yielding a hit.
Movement is fairly easy with such things as Formation Changes or Charges requiring a Control Test on a D10 with a score of 4+ being successful.
Again a few adjustments to this roll.
Units can Rally hits but this is rather difficult as you must be outside 10" of enemy and requires passing a Control Test but with a -5 !!
Even with a General in contact (+1) this means you need an 8-10.
I had an off-table Reserve Brigade and a single unit Flank March all of which were easily handled by the rules.
We really enjoyed the speed of play and slick mechanics our only negative being the generic nature of the Armies by default.
No army lists as such in rules (only a sample Prussian and Austrian points based examples) but we will address Army differences in such fashion most likely eg allowing early Prussians more Elite types than others and suchlike.

Prussian Cuirassier facing Austrian right (note Austrian Dragoons on counter march)

Austrian left prepares

Prussians 'steal the march' (ability to conduct a formation change for free and move first)  on their right.

Central set ups

Prussian Reserve of Cavalry arrives on right of advancing Foot

 Overview after opening moves

First casualties  on Prussian Horse and a counter move as Austrian Dragoon appear

Prussian gun hit

Prussian march on right continues (flanking Hussars announce arrival but with 2 turn delay)

Prussians outnumbered in centre

Austrian Horse deploys with Foot support

Prussian Foot pinning Austrians back

Prussians wheeling left on their right !

Cavalry melees begin on my left

Losses mount in centre

Flank march arrives as rest of Mounted form up

Austrian view of their right flank

Prussians starting to fold on this flank

Austrians pull back on their left

Prussian right has collapsed 

Leaving the centre in dire straits

Prussians  have some success on right against Austrian Horse but too late as right and centre fold.

King Of The Battlefield and MInden Rose solo games

Having just use Maurice rules for a SYW bash I thought I would give King Of The Battlefield and Minden Rose rules a go using same table layout but with larger forces.

Another very enjoyable set couple of sets of rules that I really ought to use more.

This and last post make it sound like I had loads of time on my hands last few days but actually most of this was done in chunks of 30-40 mins very early or very late ie before or after work shifts. Hence the somewhat erratic nature of the photo quality !!

With KOTB I really like the way Cavalry Melees can potentially grow and grow in a turn if either side has units available to reinforce in attempt to break enemy.

Whilst the lack of actual firing (its effect is reflected as a Morale Test on target units) as such in initially jarring/odd it makes for a quickly resolved combat method.

Another fast play set that allows games with large forces in reasonable time.

Minden Rose I did get too much time with but again found this another decent set of fast play rules that are easy to play with low rules overhead.

A fairly bloody set when it comes to shooting/melee (a 2 base battery of Medium Guns get to throw 8 D6 needing 4-6 depending on range when firing) but this makes for fairly decisive outcomes and speeds up game.

I like the simple but effective Orders system (note I was using Gen De Brigade chits so Engage is actually Attack in MR)

More Seven Years War action with yet another rule set !!

Another SYW game today this time my Russians facing might of Prussia using King Of The Battlefield rules.
A very quick playing set indeed with minimum rules overhead and decisive outcomes.
No shooting as such in that you declare shots if in range which automatically inflict Morale Tests on targets.
Most targets are Routed after two Wavers (ie failed morale tests) with poor troops routing on a single Waver and Guard (of which we had none) after three wavers.
Charging and Melee very slick as well with chargers taking a Control Test (also taken to change formation or interpenetrate) then if they Charge the defender tests Morale and if he stands the Chargers then also checks Morale.
Infantry losing to Cavalry auto-rout but this is very hard to do. Cavalry melees can potentially go through several phases of reinforcement and tests.
Morale tests are a D8 counting plus vs D6 counting minus with a few modifiers any negative result causing a Waver.
We found successful Cavalry charges on Infantry hard to pull off but with big potential for devastation.
Conversely unsuccessful Cavalry charges leave the mounted chaps pretty vulnerable to Infantry shooting as they bounce off 2".
Turns play really quickly in this set which make for a fairly dynamic game.
We did use the optional Orders and Command traits rules but will next time as they seem easily implemented.
Couple of things we would house-rule are allowing Prussians Regulars to take Control Tests as if Elite types and to only allow non-Prussians to oblique at half-speed.
This would be purely to give a bit more national type flavour which the rules lack.
Also the rules allow Artillery to be man-handled which we felt was rather unhistorical and so we would only allow man-handling to change facing/arc once unlimbered any actual movement requiring limbered moves.
Another fun game with our SYW toys.
We still intend to try Warfare In Age Of Reason, Principles Of War and Piquet Cartouche.

And a great send off for BOD today in Paris !!