What the last rules set you played in 2021

Started by Steve J, 06 January 2021, 02:15:30 PM

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Last Hussar

Operation Husky continues for the blokes from Baker Company, this time 2 Platoon, again with Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Sunjester's British were told to move to a ridgeline to the north West of the Bridge 1 Plt were seizing- This action is simultaneous with the 1st game described above, Ground was scrubby bushy field, flanked by wild scrubby woods. What he didn't know was the Italians had the mirror mission - get to the road to support the counterattack on the bridge. So equal size forces, except with the odd Italian Orbat (2 units of 3 bases of rifles, 2 units of 2 LMGs vs the British 3 squads of 2 Rifle bases and 1 LMG).

Unsurprisingly it was a Stalemate - the Italian 2 squad in the eastern wood stopped the British 1 and 2 platoons going forward just by being there, but ditto they wouldn't go forward because of the British being there - both sides on overwatch waiting for the other, while the 1 squad, being led through the open ground as the quickest way to the road, got pinned in the centre of the table by crossfire from 2 and 3 sections, while making 3 section  (in the Western Woods) distinctly unhappy - even the Breda 30 can hurt at 25 meter range!

What went well/badly - That really depends if you are Sunjester! I think I have found a game where his dice rolls are rubbish - or at least statistically average, while mine were surprisingly good (again!)

Heroes of the evening were the 2 man platoon scout team, who spent most of the evening being shot at by 2 Squad, with no comrades to take some of the hits off (in BST, not all hits go on the target, half are shared with any base within a base width). We reckon that well over half the Fire Points fired by the Italians went on them. By the end of the evening the only effect was 1 man was wounded - we had images of the pair of them huddling in scrapes against tree trunks

The 2 inch Mortar team appear to have been taught by 3 Platoon's team - smoke going everywhere (including off table, and on the mortar itself) except the aiming point - there is only a 16 in 36 chance of getting tit right per shot, but 5 or 6 misses is pushing it! In fact the best chance Sj had of rolling a 6 was when doing deviation...
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

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paulr

Sounds like another successful test game :)
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Shecky

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Et Sans Resultat (ESR). Army and corps level Napoleonics
2) What armies were confronted? - 1809 French III Corps vs. Austrian II Korps
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - My 2nd time but the other player's first
5) How many players were in the game? - 2
6) What went well? - I had a great time preparing for the game, coming up with the scenario, OOBs and the like. Also, it was the French player's first time to play ESR and he enjoyed it so much it wants to play again.
7) What could have been improved? - As the Austrian commander, I should have committed my reserve sooner.


kustenjaeger

Greetings

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - What a Tanker (tank skirmish rules WW2)
2) What armies were confronted? Allied vs German
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Yes.  We just used the QRS the game organiser provided (I have the rules but haven't read them).
5) How many players were in the game? - 6
6) What went well? - It was a fun rules lite game with lost tanks replaced at the start of the next turn. Played over zoom which worked well.
7) What could have been improved? - nothing.

Allied  tanks (1 per player) arriving on the narrow edge of the board with German AFVs being in a number of concealed locations that we had to reconnoiter.  We started with a Sherman, 3" TD and a Firefly - the Germans had, it turned out, a Tiger, a Panther and a StuG. Played on a 6' x 4' table with 1/72 vehicles as part of Virtual Lard 5. .

Edward

Steve J

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Ruthenia vs Moravia (using Austrian stats for both sides)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - The die rolls faovured the Ruthenians when it mattered the most, but a game that could easily have gone the other way.
7) What could have been improved? - Nothing really.

Shedman

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles using Tabletop Simulator
2) What armies were confronted? - It was 1st Bull Run - bad Confederate vs really bad Union
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - 4
6) What went well? - first test of multiplayer game on Tabletop Simulator
7) What could have been improved? - Nothing

mmcv


1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Soldiers of God
2) What armies were confronted? - Crusaders Vs Saracens
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty rusty but fine after a few turns
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo
6) What went well? - was nice to get the medieval forces out on the table for first time in a while, first game in the new house so nice that I can leave things set up for a change.
7) What could have been improved? - The game technically only lasted a single turn. Was playing a raid scenario which is very small, only one or two units per division (3 divisions in the army). At the end of the first turn the crusader knights managed to obliterate a Saracen guhlam unit, which didn't have time to rally, then through two sixes in a row (for rout test and special overkill test) resulted in the Saracens losing their entire army morale and losing. I felt this unsatisfactory so ignored the second result and continued play leaving them a few morale points. The game went on for another few turns and had some okay back and forth but was a forgone conclusion.

I'm part way through a second raid (the next in a campaign) but so far it's been slow going.

This seems to be a problem I have with these rules. They have fantastic opportunity for narrative flow and building interesting stories of the battle, but sometimes this can lead to unrealistic extremes that can be disappointing, or lead to long grinding games where nothing really happens as it's generally pretty easy to rally off disorders.

It may also just be they're not well suited to solo play.

I've mostly just played small battles and raids with them, I also wonder do they perform better in larger battles when there's more troop variety at your disposal.

Steve J

Maybe 'Lion Rampant' might be better suited to these smaller, raid type games?

mmcv

Quote from: Steve J on 26 March 2021, 08:09:04 AM
Maybe 'Lion Rampant' might be better suited to these smaller, raid type games?

I have LR but wasn't overly enamored with it when I last tried it. It's on my to-do list though for giving it a second go as was a few years ago I tried it, I actually almost used it for the next game in campaign but wanted to give SoG another shakeout to see if it was a one off oddity. I've also picked up a copy of Rebels and Patriots which I know is an evolution of the same system as LR and will probably be trying it and Sharpe Practice out for AWI and others in the future.

Steve J

Using the activation from R&P's gives a better game than using the LR one IMHO, which quite a few people seem to have been doing. Worth giving it another go I think, but obviously horse for courses and all that.

mmcv

Quote from: Steve J on 26 March 2021, 10:36:55 AM
Using the activation from R&P's gives a better game than using the LR one IMHO, which quite a few people seem to have been doing. Worth giving it another go I think, but obviously horse for courses and all that.

Yeah reading R&P it seemed to address some of the bits I disliked in LR so a combo may be sensible. I've also been reading through "it's getting a bit Chile" which borrows a little from some similar mechanics and that was the first time the multiple number of successes = 1 hit made sense, compared to what seemed like an arbitrary reason to throw twice as many dice as needed.

Last Hussar

2 Platoon put in an attack on a farmhouse.

Full BatRep once we find out how 3 Platoon handle all the Italians they've woken up.
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

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Norm

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Sword & Spear
2) What armies were confronted? - Yorkist / Lancastrian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, but still discovering nuances
5) How many players were in the game? - solo
6) What went well? - The game completed in a single session of around 90 minutes. Mechanics worked smoothly and a good index makes it easier to navigate rules.
7) What could have been improved? - The scenario would have been improved with a few more units, this is my fault and not the systems.

Last Hussar

Further to last.
I'd like to point out in a sneaky move Sunjester
1) dice rolling back to normal, and
2) in a sneaky underhand move he is using actual tactics.
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry