What was the last ruleset you played 2017?

[Nosher]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -
   An improvised meeting with old friends in a bar 
2) What armies were confronted? -
  Their band on stage, and some people in the room, including bikers and rugby players, celebrating !
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -
    Yes, but now I'm a bit ... "tired"
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? -
  Nope
5) How many players were in the game? -
  Three on stage, several dozens in the room, and I can't remember how many beers 

( sorry for hijacking this thread... )

Proof if it were needed that there is life outside pushing lead across the table

[Westmarcher]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -
   An improvised meeting with old friends in a bar 
2) What armies were confronted? -
  Their band on stage, and some people in the room, including bikers and rugby players, celebrating !
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -
    Yes, but now I'm a bit ... "tired"
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? -
  Nope
5) How many players were in the game? -
  Three on stage, several dozens in the room, and I can't remember how many beers 

( sorry for hijacking this thread... )

Not good enough, Ronan. Where is the bar? What beers does it serve? Does it do 'pub food'? We demand a full review! 

[paulr]

Hang on, wasn't he selling all his stuff after losing his Battletech mini's, and rage-quitting to W40k?!

Good choice of rules - have you tried the Scenario System?

Pierre the Shy & I know Keith very well and were both involved in the development/testing of the Scenario System

The game was based on a double sized Hasty Attack scenario

[Westmarcher]

Well I'm sure that's really interesting, paulr. In the meantime, back to the derailment!

Ronan ..... !?

[toxicpixie]

Pierre the Shy & I know Keith very well and were both involved in the development/testing of the Scenario System

The game was based on a double sized Hasty Attack scenario

Ah ha, I did wonder, as I thought you might have been active on the Spearhead list Or at least blogs I mentally link to such as they have, errr, Spearhead games on

Also, yes, Ronan, excellent. Game was a bit draining then, first to fall over wins

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloriam
2) What armies were confronted? - Mid Republican Roman vs Early Imperial Romans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

6-15 loss, and I was lucky to get 6! Out scouted, out manoeuvred, out fought, it hurt!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Warband
2) What armies were confronted? - Hill dwarves vs High Elves vs Hugh Elvis 🕺
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - not for John and I, but it was for Jarkko
5) How many players were in the game? - three
King of the hill, report tomorrow. Much hilarity, great game, enjoyed by all.

[Leman]

1. FOG

2. Crusaders v. Ayubid Egyptian

3. Beginning to - it has taken a very long time, which I think is a major fault of these rules..

4. Must have been my 15th game or so.

5.Three players - two Ayubid's and one Crusader. I took on the role of Saladin and gave the crusaders a good hiding.

[Nosher]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - General d'Armee

2) What armies were confronted? - French V Austrians

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - picked them up relatively quickly. The online tutorials are really helpful as some of the rules sections go on for ever....

4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - yes

5) How many players were in the game? - solo

2300 points per side, five brigades each with four infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade each. Played out in very slow time trying the game for the first time before a club game in a week or so.

The command and control element of the game is excellent and after a few moves most concepts were established and easily rememberable. Played out on a 6x3 table with 10mm minis using movement/firing rates for 15mm which works well, but definately needs to be played on a 6x4 table, preferably 6x5 if you can manage it to give space for manouvre as retreat distances are 30cm....

Plus points
Gives a decent game with a proper napoleonic feel
Most of the game concepts are easily remembered
Command and control phase makes the game
Lots of scope for multiplayer, huge games on club weekends

Negative points
Like all napoleonic games its not a pick up and play game
No army lists - which will put off people new to the game
You will struggle to fight a game to conclusion in three hours - this may change once you really 'know' the ruleset
I need to buy some more minis - particularly artillery and infantry if I want to play much bigger games than 2000 points

[Leman]

That's a very popular set with the big game lovers down the Liverpool club. I've seen CDA battles set up for several weeks there.

[Chad]

I bought the PDF yesterday, mainly because they suggest they cover the Revolutionary period. Unfortunately, I don't think they are suitable for that period. The emphasis is clearly on the later Imperial period with too few adjustments for a Revolutionary game.

[vonlacy]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blitzkrieg Commander 2
2) What armies were confronted? - Soviet v German
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no played for years
5) How many players were in the game? - five

January 1945 East Prussia:
The Germans have a  battalion of VolksGrenadiers, Battalion of Panzer Grenadiers both with assets, supported by a nebelwerffer company, a reduced company of Tiger 1s and a company of  Panzer IVs and a platoon of Luftwaffe 88s. Germans are defending a series of large villages.
The soviets have two battalions of infantry with assets, a company of combat engineers, a tank battalion of a reduced heavy company of ISIIs, and 2 medium companies of T34/85 backed up with three reduced companies of cat killers SU152, SU120 and SU100s.

Tonight the Germans managed to ambush the T34/85 destroying both companies, however the Soviets have over run a couple of infantry companies and the Germans have been forced to abandon one of the villages and fall back to defend two villages further back. So all to play for in a couple of weeks time.

[Hwiccee]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Twilight TYW
2) What armies were confronted? - Catholic vs Protestant
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No but the game was a test of a variant of an existing set covering this era.
5) How many players were in the game? - Two (I was observing)


We are working on a set of the Twilight rules to cover the ECW/TYW era and wanted to test how the various TYW troop types interacted. We set up a balanced test game set at the time of the Swedish intervention in the war when a wide variety of troop types were in use. The game was 'balanced' in the sense that both sides had the equivalent of 20,000 troops. As the various unit types represent different numbers of real troops this meant the two sides had different numbers of units. The Catholics had less units but on average as each unit represented more men. The Catholic army consisted of a mixture of Tercios and Early Tercios with cavalry support from Cuirassiers, Carabineers and Croats. The Protestants had a mixture of Swedish Brigades and infantry Regiments supported by Dutch and Swedish style cavalry.

The Protestants set up with their left consisting of the German troop types - infantry Regiments supported by Dutch style cavalry - and the right consisting of Swedish troops - Swedish Brigades and Swedish style cavalry. Facing the Germans on the left were all the Catholic Cuirassiers and Tercios. The Swedes faced the Early Tercios and a weak cavalry wing of Carabineers and Croats. This set up meant that on the left the Protestant infantry had a small advantage, primarily in numbers but their cavalry was seriously outclassed. On the right it was the opposite where the Swedish Brigades faced a tough fight against the Early Tercios but their cavalry had a significant advantage over the Catholic Carabineers/Croats.

The two strong cavalry wings pushed forward to try to overwhelm their opponents quickly while the Protestant infantry stood to receive the Catholics. The infantry fighting was clearly going to be close and hard fought. It was going to take time as the parts with the advantage used these to grind their opponent down. Meanwhile the two cavalry wings had contrasting fortunes. On the left the Catholics pushed forward to defeat their weaker opponent and soon had them on the back foot. The Protestants were forced to use some of their infantry to try and slow the Catholic cavalry's advance but this only really weakened their efforts to destroy the Catholic infantry. On the other flank the Protestants/Swedes had the advantage but found it difficult to use it. The Swedish cavalry made short work of the opposing Carabineers but were frustrated by the Croats. It proved difficult (the Croats were having a good dice day) to actual pin these down and destroy them. Frustration tempted the Protestant played to divert some of his cavalry into the infantry battle where his Swedish Brigades were slowly getting pushed back. This proved to be a big mistake as the Croats were still active and now had the flanks/rear of some Swedish cavalry in sight and also the remaining Swedish cavalry were dangerously stretched with gaps to exploit.

After this the end came fairly quickly. The intervention of the Swedish cavalry in the infantry fight against an intact Catholic line achieved little and the Catholics took the opportunity to pick off the exposed Swedish cavalry. This in turn prompted the Swedish infantry to try some risky moves to rescue the cavalry and in turn suffer - both the Swedish infantry and cavalry were now in trouble. On the other flank the Protestant cavalry approached breaking point as did the Catholic infantry. At this point the battle ended over a few turns as the various commands failed their morale tests - the Protestant left wing cavalry and all the right wing plus the Catholic left wing infantry. The Protestant army was thus broken and the game ended.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloriam
2) What armies were confronted? - my middle Republican vs Paul's early Hungarians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - two
Big win for the Romans, started off corner sitting as Paul's force was completely mounted, but I pulled him in where I wanted him, and ground him out.
Stars of the show: understrength Cretan archers who shot away three of Paul's decent cavalry units without loss!

[DFlynSqrl]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Warband
2) What armies were confronted? Hill Dwarves vs Undead
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? It's getting better
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? 3rd time for me, first for the other player
5) How many players were in the game? 2

Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to call it short.  We gave victory to the Undead because one Dwarf unit had routed from the table.  Given 2-3 more turns I think the Dwarves would have been solidly in control of the battlefield.

[toxicpixie]

Should have posted this last week, but forgot/was busy/dog ate my homework

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? Prince "Steady lads" Menshikov's Crimea Russian army versus the Allied French & British under Marshall "By column I meant attack, not march!" Sant-Arnaud and Lord "who are we fighting? The French? What? I'm not deaf you know!" Raglan.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Pretty much - more so for me than the players, but running a game leads me to too many "errrrrr" moments wanting to Get It Right^(tm)...
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? Several times in for me, couple of times for some, first for others
5) How many players were in the game? Four plus me as umpire

We're going to run through the Crimea campaign at my games club as and when we've a free evening; we started with the Alma last week. My PVC banner map and 2mm figures, and I've popped an order off to Irregular as it pointed up I don't have enough figures so ended up proxying some bases with a mixed bag of Austrians, Prussians, Hanoverians and Saxe Coburg Gotha's!

The Russians took the interesting approach of completely ceding the river line and initial heights, deploying well back across the road to Sevastopol with a massive "grand battery" pointing down the road & valley to Bourloik. This gave the French a seeming head start, as deployed in march column and raced up the road, over the bridge and up the valley, whilst doing much the same but slower cross country up by Almatamak alongside the Turks.

The French then got caught in march column & hammered by the grand battery, before deploying smoothly into line and seeking cover under the steep ridge edges, so they hunkered down and waiting for their flanking attack to get moving and for the British to arrive.

The British... oh the British... Raglan was on fine form, most of them didn't make it over the river until four turns in, those that did raced forward, then stopped to await reinforcements as the Russians detached a couple of units Velichko's 16th Div. to lurk behind Kourgan Hill. He eventually got the Guards moving and the Light Div., and charged in. The 16th counterattacked, as did the Cossacks, getting horribly mauled (no arty support, classic close packed shambling columns against well drilled and aimed rifle fire), and then the British cavalry dove in and drove back the Cossacks but couldn't quite finish them and get back to finish off the infantry. The counter attacks had worked - they'd completely taken the British focus off actually securing the Sevastopol roads and drawn them well out of position leaving the French on their own to do the heavy lifting.

The French had their own problems - Kiryakov's 17th Inf Div and the Hussars were getting mauled, but too late - they held the road, although battered and bruised, and subjected to a terrible flank attack from the Turks , of all people! The only troops on the field worse than the Russians, they shambling in late with a sudden burst of resolve, caught the disorganised Russian Hussars and two infantry units one after another (including a vicious break through exploitation!) and turned the Russian left & centre from holding well to "dude, where's my Division?"  whilst the French struggled up the ridge lines into musketry and cannon fire! But the Russian reserves were still holding against everything the French threw at them and there was no time to clear them off.

It had been too little, too late - as the afternoon drew to a close Menshikov was able to withdraw his battered command & trains into the interior whilst the French & British struggled for several days to restore order to their mess of units and count the butchers bill. It had ended quite, quite badly - for everyone.

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Crom from Matakashi's Tea House
2) What armies were confronted? - Lone Barbarian versus Wolves, then later on Bandits.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Easy to pick up the basics.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

A pretty basic set of rules that are quick to pick up and provide a fun 'beer & pretzels' type game. Really would work as a multi-player game with a narrative driven campaign for an evenings fun gaming.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloriam
2) What armies were confronted? - 10mm Picts vs 10mm Later Roman
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - utterly
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no, but it was for Brian who was playing the Romans
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Win for the Picts, was able to get the superior Saxons into the flanks of three Roman units. Close win for Picts

[Chris Pringle]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? Prince "Steady lads" Menshikov's Crimea Russian army versus the Allied French & British under Marshall "By column I meant attack, not march!" Sant-Arnaud and Lord "who are we fighting? The French? What? I'm not deaf you know!" Raglan.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Pretty much - more so for me than the players, but running a game leads me to too many "errrrrr" moments wanting to Get It Right^(tm)...
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? Several times in for me, couple of times for some, first for others
5) How many players were in the game? Four plus me as umpire

Thanks, TP, I really enjoyed your report! Though I say it myself, for a battle that historically was just a rather simple frontal assault, the BBB scenario for The Alma seems to consistently provide amazingly entertaining games. (Admittedly the fact that the players have some pre-game options helps.)

I do highly recommend the BBB Crimea campaign. With five battles altogether it is feasible for a group to get through it within a couple of months without losing interest; and all the scenarios are different and distinctive. The Oxford group replayed the whole thing earlier this year and it couldn't have gone better, the outcome of the entire campaign coming down to the last dice on the last turn of the last game ... final result a tied campaign with 1 win apiece and 3 drawn games.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[toxicpixie]

It's a cracking scenario - with bad terrain, and the onus entirely on the "best" side, a nice spread of complexity and simplicity in units it works really well. For the Russians the later scenarios felt like trying to knock a wall down with your face (despite scraping a narrow win for Inkerman and a close loss at the Chernaya), but the Alma seems especially good. Attack-defence games can develop into one side being pounded but you have to move your reserves, and get your counter attacks in, shift units to deal with things as they come up, and the disjointed nature of the Allied attack means there's lots of wriggle room and decisions.