Shako - playtest of some Seven Years War house rules

Attended Stephens with a horde of SYW Russians to face his Prussians in a play test of several rules amendments for the period he has been sorting through for the Shako II rule set.

So not a proper game as such more of a line 'em up and try different aspects of house rulings.

Upshot was that several house rules that seemed worthy inclusions proved less so in practice and often just easier to use standard Shako rules.

Probably only real changes are that Infantry are able to stagger cavalry backwards with defensive shooting and hasty squares only 'available' to infantry charged on flank by mounted.

One we struggled with (as we do in standard Shako) is that units particularly heavy Cavalry can engage in multiple melees/breakthroughs and if winning can emerge totally unscathed (bar temporary Blown status). We had a couple of Prussian Cuirassier involved in Melees then Breakthrough Melees suffering no damage at all which always seems rather odd.

We discussed giving them a Hit for each melee/breakthrough melee they became engaged in but that seemed overly harsh so decided to give them a single hit when fresh even if they won a melee meaning they carried some 'hurt' for rest of game. 

Always looking for that elusive 'perfect' set 

Hochkirch big bash with Konieg Krieg

Big bash game (delayed from Christmas period) with the chaps at Johns using KK3 again.

Stephen had organised a scenario based around area of Hochkirch battle 1759 which he also umpired. John and later Le Duc (his version of events at https://warfareintheageofcynicsandamateurs.blogspot.com/2022/03/tales-from-pommritz-cinnamon-dung.html) commanded the Austrian hordes under Duan whilst Mr P and I controlled the glorious Prussians under Seydlitz and then Frederick.

To keep things simple Grenzers types were not on table (off fighting in adjacent areas) and Stephen made all units 12 figures (generally they are 16 figs) which with hindsight made Cavalry a tad brittle but as it was same for both sides not an issue as we both had loads of cavalry.

Victory was to be determined by Austrians taking Hochkirch (at which they failed) or breaking Prussian army (which they came very close to doing !) and it was termed a draw as time was called on proceedings.

Lots of action across the field with Prussians aware that Austrians were likely to be allowed flanking arrivals and that Prussian reserves would be slow arriving having to be roused from their tents.

Mr P had a brigade of Grenadiers behind some light works which performed sterling service despite being assailed by multiple Austrian units, a nasty big battery of heavy guns (12 dice at cannister range !) and almost being surrounded. He ended up with a single base of 4 figs that simply refused to succumb a glorious deed indeed.

Elsewhere initial Prussian forces could only sell themselves dearly trying to slow the Austrian advance to allow reserves to arrive, and this they mostly managed to do.

On my left flank a gapdid open after several cavalry engagements and loss of a Grenadier unit but arriving Musketeers dealt heavy hits to some Austrian cavalry and further reserves were on hand to block the now damaged Austrians.

Had game continued the Austrian numbers would have been likely to tell and whilst Hochkirch might still have held out I think Prussians would have a further Army Morale test to survive which might have ended things differently, but a hard fought draw it was.

KK3 generated an enjoyable game with only a couple of situations we had not encountered before that needed some 'off the cuff' adjudication. 

The initiative system leads to lots of interesting decisions as to when to act or force enemy to act and it flowed pretty well for big game.

All in all a superb days craic with mates and a bunch of toys followed by an evenings almighty waffling in local pub and Indian restaurant.

Initial Prussian set up around Pommritz (and the Pink Palace house of ill repute), Hochkirch just visible at top left.

Hochkirch occupied and adjoining light works as Austrians approach

Prussian horse deploy to left of Hochkirch as Austrians appear on our right flank

More Prussian horse units move to intercept arriving enemy Brigades

Grenadiers at works find enemy to front and rear

More Austrians arrive on flank as town threatened

Prussians looking bit thin on ground at this stage

More Austrians under John push forward on Prussian left

Cavalry engagement hot and heavy on left

And on right Prussian cavalry under Mr P confronts the enemy foot

Prussian reserves have arrived to shore up left and a Cuirassier brigade heads to assist on right

Where pressure from Le Ducs flanking force is intense

Prussian right looking suddenly sparse

More numerous Austrian cavalry gains ascendancy on left (2nd line of fresh units key)

Remnants of Prussian cavalry continue to resist as Grenadiers move to support

Hochkirch garrison holds on in isolation (the single remaining stand of heroic Grenadiers just about visible behind church tower)

Cuirassiers deploy as more Grenadiers support the right wing

Prussian hold on town looking rather tenuous as game ends.

Koenig Krieg 3 - photo dump of solo further play test

Played through a number of turns in solo mode using same table as last game and retaining Prussian force as is with my Russians as new protagonists to further explore KK3 rules.

Still struggled to decipher some of the vagueness within rules but hopefully our last play through and house rulings will allow a decent game, which they should do as we will all be playing from same 'Hymn sheet' as such.

 

Koenig Krieg 3 - a little test game

Game today using KK3 (last used 2014 !) as a play test of rules for a planned multi-player SYW game on 12th.

So Stephen and I just used the points system to generate a couple of 1000pt armies with Stephen fielding Austrians and I the Prussians. We took as good a mix of troops as points limit allowed to test interactions.

Must confess am not a big fan of KK system as always found several loopholes that needed house rules.

And indeed there were a number of issues that needed addressed (of course this was point of play test) the main one being multiple unit musketry and its potential deluge of firing dice.

We did eventually thrash out how we would play these aspects (the musketry took a bit of thought) so hopefully good to go on game day.

There is a lot to like in KK with its (ahead of its time) activation system but certainly as written not really to my taste and feel there are more dynamic sets now for the period, but perfectly happy to use them with our house rules.

This picture sort of highlights the musketry issue. The 3 units are lined up facing each other so logic says they fire singly at each other (with max of 6 dice) however in rules as written nothing to stop all 3 units concentrating fire on central unit (ie with up to 18 dice) as no priority or proximity target rules. We found this unpalatable but proved a bit harder to thrash out than one would think especially when units offset from each other. We essentially introduced a target priority rule and an additional 'support' fire (1/2 available dice) if shooting obliquely.

Minden with Field of Battle 3 at Ulster Wargames Society

UWS meeting today and I was umpiring a game portraying Battle of Minden (using another Might and Reason scenario as basis). 

Troops were provided by Dave Smylie and I done terrain and rules stuff.

We ended up with 3 French and 2 Allied players and it turned out to be an excellent game with lots of incident and action and much elation or frustration being vented by players.

French have numbers but a lesser deck and lesser troop and commander quality overall, although they have several crack units and lots of cavalry to counter some guard level Allied units and more numerous artillery.

At set up Allies looked rather thin on ground but once things got going their superior deck and C in C quality started to show.

Billy on Allied left suffered a bit of a set back initially when a Hanoverian unit was destroyed defending a line of entrenchments and it looked as if Allied left could be turned, however whilst tying to Rally some units the French commander (ie D.Smylie) was rendered hors de combat after attempting a daring deed (aids Rally roll at increased risk to leader) and this stalled the French.

This same leader having been bandaged up and re-horsed proceeded to fall of his horse once again as did his supporting cavalry commander so the French completely thwarted on their right.

However Billy managed to 'un-horse' his own leader on this wing also !

Allied cavalry performed generally poorly on the Allied left with several units bouncing off their French counterparts and another command failing to move twice even when on flank of enemy.

However on French left their own massed cavalry (under D.Brown) also under-performed failing to obey orders and then being hit hard by Allied firepower whilst their foot fought manfully against some guard Allied foot (under D. Taylor).

On Allied right the British command under Sackville was slow to deploy as we simulated his 'truculence/hissy fit' on day by making him roll 2 command dice and use lowest roll.

In centre of field French (under J.Dowd) defended Minden and this saw a fairly even battle with Allies.

A couple of large initiative swings saw Allies gain a large advantage putting a lot of hurt of French units across the battlefield with several being routed or destroyed in place.

This saw French morale plummet and they were soon 'gifting' morale to Allies

They did survive first Army Morale test and this saw them hurl their cavalry into several desperate charges but only managed to destroy a single Allied gun battery.

A lull won French turned up another Army Morale card which they failed this time and quit the field.

Great stuff and hopefully the players enjoyed the game as much as I did watching it unfold.

Slightly fuzzy view of field of Minden from Allied left wing

Initial clash on Allied left

French defending Minden as their cavalry mass on their left

Allied lines advance

French just about to turn Allied left wing as commander falls (black marker) disordering whole command.

Overview about mid point of game with Allied cavalry having being repulsed in foreground

Also at club were two other games.

Mike and Simon had a 15mm WW2 game using Combat HQ rules, late war Germans versus Russians (?) but I only had time to briefly look in so no idea as to how this turned out.

I took several pics but only these turned out (barely) viewable,

I do covet Mikes battle mat and that Normandy church. 

Another WW2 game this time in 20mm run by Phil with Jeremy, Leslie and George playing out action at Son bridge during Market Garden.

This was another excellent looking game by Phil with some impressive allied Dakotas and Horsa Gliders and nice terrain.

Again I had little time to see how this progressed but think it ended as a draw. 

Inevitably with current events in Ukraine there was some discussions of same.

Personally I am not that surprised that it has come to this tragic outcome and the fact is that this is not really a 'new' war more a massive escalation of an ongoing conflict which seems such a shock to many. 

The 'West' appears weak/soft at present time and frankly Ukraine has kind of been left hanging since 2014 invasion so Mr Putin has decided to play his military card.

One can but hope that this is a short-lived conflagration but signs are not good.