testing severed union

[petercooman]

Had a test game last night to learn the rules and see how this played out.

Forces are just what i already have painted in terms of infantry and cavalry, and i'm still waiting for the dismounted cavalry to arrive so when you see horses in a skirmish formation, this means they are dismounted. It was just a try-out so don't be too harsh 

The rebels had to be defending something, as i don't have much of them painted up yet!

the setup, just slapped down the fleece and some scenery


rebels defending the hill


union attacker


union moves up


cavalry deploys to the farm


And moves up to harras, but loses a stand, was not a wise move 
This is where the flash was turned off, and i didn't notice


moving closer


after holding the union line togheter and delivering it mostly intact, a stray artillery shell lands on top of the union general, wiping him out, the rebel artillery had been mostly inaccurate until this point. The union artillery however, had already obliterated the middle confederate battaillion right after unlimbering!


And after that, in a strange twist of fate, the counter battery fire missed its mark and killed the confederate general!


The assault is initiated, with the left wing union commander switching sides to lead the right wing into the fray


But the rebels just obliterate the first battaillion with one of the best rolls of the game (all sixes twice in a row!)


the union artillery finds its mark next turn and eliminates the confederate battery.


the confederates clear their position and brace for a follow up assault


the remaining company charges in, but the supporting battaillion fails their charge! that order didn't come through very well i think 


after a series of assaults the union finally clear the hill, but at a great cost!




Some thoughts:

The rules give a nice game, and i enjoyed it, although making some early mistakes, by the end i had a good grasp of the rules, and everything goes fluently!

i changed one thing immediately before the start, wich was eliminating the 'guess range' artillery, never liked guessing so scatter dice it became!

The second thing i will change is the base removal. I don't like the look of single bases running around in such games, but i already solved this by ordering dice frames and bases to make a 'bataillion coherency' tracker for each unit, kepping all men on the table untill itt is unfit to fight on. But as they haven't arrived yet, i just tried the rules as is. The only difference it makes is a visual one, and that the frontage of the units will stay the same until they are destroyed.

All in all i had fun and i thibk a frontall assault on such an enemy position will always be at the cost of many lives, so i think the outcome is quite realistic too!

Any thoughts, let me know!

[Hertsblue]

A handsome looking game, Peter. 

[ronan]

good AAR, thank you Peter ( I did not know these rules..)

(...)(all sixes twice in a row!) (...)

I must not play against you ! 

[Norm]

I agree about the 'look' following base removal. Sounds like a little bit of chaos can creep in to give good narrative.

[toxicpixie]

That's not the flash swiching off, it's dusk falling!

Sounds good - and another agree on base removal.

Which is odd as I actually like F&F which uses it as a mechanism!

[petercooman]

A handsome looking game, Peter. 

Thank you!

good AAR, thank you Peter ( I did not know these rules..)
I must not play against you ! 

They (gordon and hague) used to offer them for free to use with their pre painted 10mm models, but they have dissapeared from their site.
It's the perfect time to play against me, it will last another 5 years untill i roll all sixes!

I agree about the 'look' following base removal. Sounds like a little bit of chaos can creep in to give good narrative.

That's not the flash swiching off, it's dusk falling!

Sounds good - and another agree on base removal.

Which is odd as I actually like F&F which uses it as a mechanism!

One of the reasons i dislike the base removal, is that when you remove one base of three, the command is no longer centered 

But in reality, how many times did it occur that battaillions fought till the very last man? It is totally unrealistic to assume that the opposing army has to be butchered to the last man to win the battle. Well at least in the ACW that is...

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice report

[petercooman]

Thanks!

[jambo1]

Great report and a nice looking game too.

[Techno]

Very enjoyable report, Peter.
Cheers - Phil.

[toxicpixie]

But in reality, how many times did it occur that battaillions fought till the very last man? It is totally unrealistic to assume that the opposing army has to be butchered to the last man to win the battle. Well at least in the ACW that is...

Rarely any time; units break when their morale goes not when casualties come in. The casualties seem mostly to come after the fight in pointy stick era warfare as the fleeing, defeated losers get hacked down.

I think the proportions are about the same even in most bangy stick warfare - ten percent casualties after a battle are baaaaad, and a unit getting "wiped out" seems to be about 25% losses. Of course things like stosstaktic against needle guns might not help

[petercooman]

Exactly my thought.

Just a small marker behind the unit will solve that problem, and i made it so i can put my counters on it to show panic fatigue etc...

[toxicpixie]

I've come to the conclusion that big "unit bases" with a dice frame and/or space for a marker are the way forwards

[petercooman]

Yes, but i didn't want to go there all the way, just to be able to visually display line and column. However i'm finding it really hard to resist to ordering the impetus ruleset, with its nice big bases!

[Leman]

Go for it. Great rules that work really well with MDF markers.