What was the last rules set you played 2019

[paulr]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - For King and Parliament
2) What armies were confronted? - Royalists v Parliament
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very, but still learning
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, but one of the players hadn't played with them for a few months
5) How many players were in the game? - 3, Our regular host Roy, Lester and myself [Pierre the Shy's attendance had been vetoed by higher authority]
6) What went well? - Pretty much everything
7) What could have been improved? - the Royalist chits again

This was the second test/practice game for Cheriton at Easter and I'm very please to say all went pretty well

The troops of both sides advance, the Royalists on the left

• Colonel Thomas Howard's Brigade of Horse
• Colonel George Lisle's Tertia of Foot
• Patrick Ruthven, Earl of Forth - in reserve
• Sergeant-Major-General Sir John Paulet's 'Tertias' of Foot - slow to advance initially (failed activations)

Parliament on the right

• Sir Michael Livesey's Brigade
• Major-General Christopher Potley's Brigade of Foot

Cheriton on the left, then Yew Farm, Hinton Ampner Manor and Hinton Ampner

Parliament having only 2 brigades lead to a couple of very short Parliamentary turns later in the game with both brigades failing to activate their first unit

After a few turns the Royalist had lined the hedge on their left and Parliament was working to out flank them
Colonel Ralph Weldon's Regiment of Foot failed to activate when attempting to turn onto the flank of the Royalists leaving them exposed


With the rapid approach of Royalist Horse, Waller's Dragoons have given up thoughts of securing Yew Farm and withdraw behind the hedges and stream, leaving their horse holders exposed


On the other flank Colonel Weldon's Regiment has survived being hit in the flank, just, and managed to turn to face, most of Major-General Christopher Potley's Brigade has come up in support and is pouring close range musket and cannon fire into the Royalists


Colonel Weldon's Regiment breaks and runs allowing Lord Hopton's Regiment to turn and face the rest of the Parliamentarians
The Parliamentary fire is slackening as the cannon run out of ammunition


The Royalist charge to drive off the shot heavy Parliamentarians but Arthur Haselrigge and Major-General Christopher Potley's Regiments fight back and Lord Hopton's Regiment and Sir Allen Apsley & Sir John Paulet's Regiments both rout

Sergeant-Major-General Sir John Paulet rapidly joins his sole remaining Regiment, Colonel Talbot & Colonel Francis Cooke's Regiments of Foot

Back on the Yew Farm flank the combined fire of Colonel Charles Gerard & Sir Henry Bard's Shot and Colonel Anthony Thelwall & Sir Theophilius Gilbey's Shot (Royalsit) has put one of Waller's Dragoons units to flight. The rapid departure of their flank guard has disordered Sir Edward Cooke's Regiment of Horse
The London Trained Band Shot (Parliament) have repeatedly failed to activate to move across to support the remaining unit of Dragoons


Back on the other flank the last unit of Sergeant-Major-General Sir John Paulet's 'Tertias' of Foot, Colonel Talbot & Colonel Francis Cooke's Regiments of Foot, routs
We made the mistake of allowing Sergeant-Major-General Sir John Paulet to join a nearby friendly unit, but one not under his command I have updated my QRS
Colonel William Eure's Dragoons (Royalist) comes under pressure from Sir Arthur Haselrigge's Regiment of Foot and Colonel Samuel Jones' Regiment of Foot


The destruction of Colonel William Eure's Dragoons left the Royalists with only 2 Victory Points out of their original 13
With the stabilisation of the Parliamentary position near Yew Farm and the evening getting late victory was awarded to Parliament


Another really useful test game, my thanks to Roy and Lester
One more tweak for my QRS and a couple of useful lessons
1. Dismounted Dragoons can hold off Horse if defending linear obstacles, one of Waller's Dragoon units had held off about 4 charges across the River Itchen
   This bodes well for the Commanded Shot of both sides operating on this flank
2. Battalia are not as maneuverable as Horse or Commanded Shot, the -2 rather than -1 when doing something clever (due to their larger size) makes a significant difference,
   particularly given how badly we draw chits

Another great game of FK&P enjoyed by both sides even though the game ended up a significant Parliamentary victory

[FierceKitty]

THAT is a wonderful table. Jealous.

[Steve J]

Pure eye candy

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Beautiful and the right side won!

[Westmarcher]

Great report and quite the spectacle!      What size is the table?

[paulr]

Thanks all

The table size is 8'x5' old money or 2.4m x 1.5m

The full battle at Easter will be on a 4.8m x 1.8m table

[Leman]

Wow  - top that!

[Leman]

Just before I went on my walking holiday I had a FPW Square Bashing game:

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Walter Schnaffs
2) What armies were confronted? - French Imperial v Prussian (1870)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - this was my 6th or 7th game
5) How many players were in the game? - three - one French defender v two Prussian attackers
6) What went well? - the Prussians were in a good position to put in two flank attacks
7) What could have been improved? - the poor French lost about half their army to the reserves in the pre-battle build up.

The Prussian artillery, being superior, had more bombardment assets than the French. They were very lucky putting in an early bombardment with the 6pdr corps artillery asset (off table) taking out 50% of the French artillery before it had fired a shot. The French failed to put in a bombardment at all with their reserve artillery (once again it was in the wrong place awaiting the right moment). The Prussian commander built up two massive infantry attacks on each wing, the left reaching the area behind the French right flank, the right, supported by cavalry, pushing back, but not destroying the French left flank. Nevertheless the Prussians gained three of the four objectives, and it was clear that the French would be unable to reclaim them. At this point (2 hours of tabletop play) the French conceded and determined to withdraw under cover of darkness.

During this game we used the new cards, available for download on the Peter Pig forum, to determine the two forces andconduct the pre-game events. This sped the game up and made army building very easy. It also put the French in a position where they had to decide whether to spend leftover points on enhanced assets or mitrailleuses (the only way to get these primitive machine guns). The Prussian put his leftover points entirely into the bombardment asset.



The main French artillery line had been on that hill, behind defences but to no avail.



The Prussian build up on the French left flank which secured the isolated building objective (marked by the yellow counter)

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ouch

[cardophillipo]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - BKC IV
2) What armies were confronted? - Germans v Americans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - This version yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 4
6) What went well? - Rules flowed well, back to the feel of BKC II
7) What could have been improved? - Just need more table time with the rules

[paulr]

That sounds a promising start for BKC IV 

[T13A]

Hi Paulr

Just wanted to say how fantastic your Cheriton game looks. I was wondering though, if you make any changes to the rules regarding hills?
In the photos it looks as if you have a 'slope' going in one direction covering more than one box (or it maybe the way I am looking at the photo). Usually in FK&P (and TtS! for that matter) a hill (whether gentle or rough) is simply in one box or more if placed side by side. Grateful for any information.

Cheers Paul

[FierceKitty]

Muscovites and Poles again...Lee's just clobbered me again. Devious little oriental.

[paulr]

Hi Paulr

Just wanted to say how fantastic your Cheriton game looks. I was wondering though, if you make any changes to the rules regarding hills?
In the photos it looks as if you have a 'slope' going in one direction covering more than one box (or it maybe the way I am looking at the photo). Usually in FK&P (and TtS! for that matter) a hill (whether gentle or rough) is simply in one box or more if placed side by side. Grateful for any information.

Cheers Paul

Thanks

The battlefield is representing a real place and the contours are based on a modern topographical map. This means that they do not line up entirely with the grid. We say that if the majority of the grid square is hill then the entire square counts as up hill. We use a similar approach for other area features.

For streams they are deemed to be on the edge they are nearest to, this allows more natural looking streams

I recall there being a comment to this effect somewhere in the rules but couldn't locate it when I had a quick look.

[paulr]

I found it, carefully hidden in the second to last paragraph under the heading Terrain on page 10
"If this cloth, or the edge of a terrain feature such as a hill, should run slightly inside or outside of the edge of the box then so much the better, for this enhances the naturalistic appearance of the battlefield."
Our definition of 'slightly' is less than half

The beginning of that paragraph also applies, "Regarding terrain pieces, each should occupy either one or two boxes. Pieces of similar type, placed next to each other, can be combined to create larger features such as a long ridge which might extend across four or five boxes."
'Four or five boxes' is a sensible limit for sensible size tables but the Cheriton table is a bit bigger than most