Combat Commander a double solo outing

Played two scenarios of Combat Commander in solo mode today.

Both from original set ‘Hedgerow Hell’ and ‘Bonfire of the NKVD’.

Two very fun scenarios that even in solo mode ended up very close run affairs.

Such a great game.

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

Field of Battle 3 - another solo Seven Years War bash

Set up and played, over last 2 days, a solo SYW game with FOB3 pitting Russians against Prussians, as I want to try to keep a handle on these excellent rules whilst in gaming limbo.

Used a randomly drawn Seasons of Battle map card to select terrain then just drew up two opposing forces that seemed 'balanced'.

Russians nominally defending a stream and village against attacking Prussians.

Both sides had 3 Infantry Brigades and 2 Cavalry Brigades with Russians having more Infantry and Prussians superior Cavalry (23 Russian and 18 Prussian units).

Russians had a lowly D8 CinC and an Average deck, the Prussians a D12 CinC and a Superior deck.

Russians deployed (on left) defending the line of stream.

Prussians arrayed to attack

View from Prussian lines

The game played out really quickly with Russian Artillery (2 medium and 1 heavy batteries) dealing a lot of punishment to approaching enemy, whilst Prussian guns (2 medium batteries) inflicted minimal damage in return.

But once the forces engaged each other the Prussians gained some revenge especially in melee combats.

The Prussian mounted on their right (Kuirassier and Hussars) attacked straight across the stream after a good run of move segments were gained, against the weak Russian horse (weaker Cuirassier and Hussars) and pretty much wiped them out in short order.

A more even dual between Infantry forces, with Prussian Grenadiers on their left suffering losses and just about holding on as Russian mounted attacked, albeit mostly poor Dragoon units.

In center however the Prussians decimated Russians brigade around the village and bridge and this led to a huge drain on Russian Army Morale (Russians had 32 Prussians 25) and they failed the very first Army Morale Check due to poor CinC.

Despite being forced to solo yet again this was a short sharp but fun outing with this never disappointing rule system, I still love the game narrative the system builds and the lack of formal (ie predictable) turn sequencing leads to some great and exciting moments even solo. 

However roll on face to face gaming !!

Russian Infantry faces off vaunted Prussian foot at steam bend

Emplaced Russian cannon bombard

Heavy (12pdr) battery joins in 

Inferior Russian horse cower behind stream with Prussian mounted seeming so far away

Overview of early stages of engagement

Russian right wing mounted try to turn Prussian flank, but Frei Korps and Grenadiers bloody their nose (Horse Grenadiers routing)

Prussian Infantry stalls in Disorder after a Brigadier is shot from saddle

Crunch time in center as Russian foot forced to flee by oncoming Prussians

Prussian mounted wing has forced the line of stream and crushed the enemy horse.

Then they ride to threaten Russian left (note the massed Russian losses in foreground, by contrast Prussians lost just 1 Grenadier unit although they did Rally several Routing units)

Russian Brigade of Grenadiers heemed in (they took no part in action)

12pdrs have been overrun and Russian center in real difficulties

As Prussian force the line of stream here too.

Russian right wing to slow to engage

Overview as Russian yielded the field..............................

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.