Regimental Fire and Fury American Civil War bash (pic heavy)

Played in a multiplayer game of Regimental Fire and Fury today at John Bs to 'bust the cherry' of his new table in his new man pad and as compensation for not making it to Warfare Show for second (!!) year running.

Richard M, Stephen P and his brother Stephen B also in tow.

Scenario was set up by Stephen B(I think from a Johnny Reb scn) being a hypothetical  Rebel defense of a creek on the approaches to Savannah in 1865 against oncoming Yankees.

I played on Federal side commanding a large Brigade of Veteran Regiments backed by a Battery of Rifled Artillery. 

Richard M had a Brigade with some Crack units and Stephen B  a third Yank Brigade that was to come on third turn.

Facing me was Stephen  P with 2 Brigades (mostly Green with couple of Veteran) backed by 2 Artillery Batteries and defending the creek line in combination of hasty works, fences and walls.

John B had 2 more Reb Brigades but all Veteran in similar defensive positions backed by more Artillery and a single unit of Cavalry.

Aim was for Yanks to capture 2 of 3 fords across the creek.

Richard M was on our right flank and I on left.

I decided (in one of my better moments) to forgo the obvious advance straight forward and to move my Brigade in March Columns to the center so as Union strength was concentrated and we could threaten the two fords on our right essentially ignoring the ford defended by Stephen Ps Green bunch.

This meant I had to run gamut of Rebel Artillery taking some losses on my columns but was greatly aided by a fortuitous roll of 10 which generated a double move allowing my Brigade to fairly scoot along road.

I left 2 Union Regts in extended line in fields to hold off Stephen Ps units and they effectively held up two Brigades with my Artillery in support. 

This allowed me to form along the central stream just as Stephen Bs reserve Brigade arrived. 

So Johns 2 Brigades were now facing the whole massed Union assault.

We took some heavy casualties on approach to Johns lines but he was forced to deploy his forces in an unsupported line whereas we could approach with good support lines (ie in more depth)

We managed to throw in a co-ordinated assault of 6 units although I had one unit checked and both Fords were carried.

My second assault pushed back the Rebs although I had a flank protecting unit severely battered.

Richards tough as nails Crack units were unstoppable and pushed well beyond ford objective into wooded area decimating the defenders.

Stephen B also pushed hard towards the road with my Brigade supporting his left.

The Rebs called it a day at this point as 2 Fords taken and their own losses mounting with little prospect of them being able to retake lost objectives.

A great game with a set of rules I really enjoy being a nice balance of complexity and speed of play.

Crack troops very tough indeed and we thought too much so but then they are few in number.

A highlight was Stephen B 'christening' Johns table by spilling a 10 yr old whiskey shot on it :-)

Johns table and room really good and hope to get a few games in against him.

Table overview with Rebs in defensive lines on left

 Stephen Ps Brigades await my Brigade

My troops arrive but begin to head along road to center of field

Reb Generals Stephen P and John B stunned by my tactical brilliance

Stephen B shows Richard his Brigade (hidden in tin) with Johns book collection as backdrop

Johns Brigades arrayed

My Brigade haring along road after moving with Elan

Rebs having to redeploy reserves into front line

As rest rest of Union army pushes forward

Stephen Bs Brigade (left) and Richard Ms (right) pushing into teeth of Reb lines

With bulk of my Brigade now redeployed and pushing forward in the center

Contrast between thin line of Rebs and depth of Union assault

My flank guards hold Rebs in place as they cannot give up that ford

Action (and debate) heats up on our right

Stephen P moving some units to his left with my two flank guard units and Artillery masking bulk of his units

First Yank assaults pile in

Later on right as Richards Crack units turn enemy flank in woods

Rebs still having to leave units to defend ford on their right

Union carries the center despite going into teeth of some heavy fire

 Richards Crack troops mopping up and unhinging Reb line

Paris horror

Words fail me as to the horror and stupidity of these attacks and the blind naivety of European (and my own British) Governments............

Napoleon At War solo game

Decided to give Napoleon At War rules an outing using my French versus Prussians.
Only part way into the game but finding the rules more to my liking than when I first tried them ages ago.
Pretty similar in complexity to Lasalle or Imperial Eagles with units as Battalions.
Movement is free and easy outside engagement (12" of Cavalry and within Artillery ranges) or commitment (6" Musket range) ranges ala Black Powder then its Simple Moves or dice tests for Complex Moves within these ranges.
Shooting is straightforward based on dice per firing base and a hit number based on unit quality (3+ to 5+) with every 4 hits resulting in a lost base with roll to save any excess hits or hits less than 4.
Combat is also straightforward but very bloody as each hit is a base lost.
Some twists with favourable or unfavourable rolls and re-rolls and several unit traits again a bit like Black Powder.
Units can recover lost stands if outside engaged ranges and some combat outcomes can see firefights develop which is nice system.
Artillery is a bit odd in that the batteries are classed as Independent units under the CinCs command meaning they are tad hard to use to support Brigades as he has only a 12" Command range.

Nice points system with units costed if they are Organic or Support at higher price than those classed as Reserve units but these usually do not appear in initial deployment having to be diced for each turn to arrive.
Rules set up as a competition style set with around 2000 pts seeming normal but i used 3200 pts to get troop more variety.
They come with several generic Scenarios such attack on prepared position, vital river crossing which do lend bit more variety than simple encounter games.

Interesting that my revisit to these rules has garnered a more favourable impression than previously.

Seven Years War bash using 18th Century Principles Of War rules

Game at Stephens today using 18thC POW rules.

I fielded a tough but tiny Prussian force against Stephens Austrians.

A good game with me trying to attack on my right only (very Freddie like) but getting into a traffic jam when a wooded area turned out to be impassable.

In POW you dice for terrain density when about to enter (or starts in your deployment zone) with my rolling the requisite 1 to make it a no go area !!

We were a bit unsure how rules handled what they term Trotter Firepower cavalry (not sure if they had to shoot compulsorily or could charge) but went with them being just slightly underpowered mounted type.

Bigger faux pas was forgetting that Prussian movement bases go double speed and even more glaring error was mucking up Melee outcomes (we forget about winner vs loser outcomes somehow !!??)

Still a good set of rules although like Black 

Powder movement is very free and easy which whilst simple to play does sort of seen bit odd for SYW troops.

Phone pics so bit fuzzy

Frederickian traffic jam

Austrian horse await

Damnable nuisance Grenzer defend cultivated area

Austrian foot defend Rough Hill

Blucher - British versus French

Game of Blucher today against Stephen using his recently painted British with my 1813/14 French arrayed against them.
We had planned to try the Scharnhorst campaign system but with Rugby World Cup final on we decided to just plow on with simple set up (although we did use one of the Scharnhorst maps).
We also use two base in lieu of 4 base units (has no effect on game play)
Great game with my Guard Corps getting right into British from get go.
My Guard Cavalry mugged 2 British Heavy Dragoon brigades (although we both started off on 8 dice per unit) and turned British left flank.
However my Guard Infantry despite being tough succumbed to a barrage of shot and shell with 3 Brigades destroyed.
On my left my Cavalry Brigade held a British Foot Brigade at bay whilst I moved up a Conscript Corps.
Wellington is a very good Commander with the Intuitive ability allowing him to roll his own Momentum dice meaning he knows exactly what he can do each turn.
Combined with his Mobile trait he has great flexibility.
Napoleons Legend status means his army is tough to break but often the French are left with unused units as unknown Momentum level means they cannot plan as well.
A really slick and fun set of rules even with the inherent abstractions of this level of force representation (not many Volleys fired compared to Skirmish Fire).

And hearty congratulations to the greatest team playing the greatest game on the planet and winning (kudos to Australia for making it a great final)

Lock N' Load Band Of Heroes game played

I managed to pick up a copy of the 2nd Edition of Band Of Heroes game (the one without the 'haloed' hexes) and played a scenario with my Dad.
A good system this being sort of Squad Leader lite with excellent graphics.
I had Yanks racing against Fallschirmjager to take a crossroads and nearby building.
Did not use my mobile/armour assets well enough (in that I forgot to mount any Infantry on them) and my foot sloggers took to long to get to crunch areas.
Still great fun with a decent game system