What was the last ruleset you played 2018?

[Wulf]

7. ...The first three turns involved the Confederates simply making their way across the table to get into range.

This is one of the things I really appreciate about Too fat Lardies games (there are probably many others I don't know of) where they implement ways to get troops into contact range without having to move them across the table over multiple turns - Sharpe Practice Blinds make the job easier just moving a single blind for the unit, while Chain Of Command has jump-off points deployed in an initial scouting sequence.

[Leman]

The problem was easily avoidable with a smaller table. There still needs to be enough depth to give artillery an opportunity to slow down an attack or soften up the defence. The smaller table would have given the confederates time to dress their ranks and get off a couple of rounds of artillery fire before closing in the third turn, either with a charge, or more likely some preliminary musketry. I am hoping to try out the Real Time Wargames' Wars of the Roses rules soon, which set up the armies within charge reach.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sabresquadron
2) What armies were confronted? - Argentines vs British in glorious 10mm.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - I was playing the author, found a couple of things he missed (amphibious vehicle going up an estuary)
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - sixth game
5) How many players were in the game? - two (our Finnish contingent couldn't make it  )
6) What went well? Perfeckly timed artillery strike by Argentine 105mm battery catching the Welsh Guard platoon on the hop. argentine morale was amazing. Assault onto British positions by 3 platoon carried the day.
7) What could have been improved? Argentine special forces not being bullet magnets for the Royal Marines. 2nd platoon of Grunts not stalling just before assaulting . Harriers not being quite so accurate, or turning up time after time!
Full report when Nick sends through photos.

[Smoking gun]

The traditional questions:

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game?             Victorian Steel
2) What armies were confronted?                               British Empire v Indian Mutineers
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset?               Fairly
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset?   No
5) How many players were in the game?                     Three

The new:
6) What went well?                                                  Game ebbed and flowed due to command and control rules.
7) What could have been improved?                          British Empire dice throwing

The battle played was Agra 10 October 1857 from the Victorian Steel scenario book.

Martin

[Leman]

Another game of FoG in which my army was defeated.

[SV52]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -                          One Hour Wargames Pike and Shot on hexes.
2) What armies were confronted? -                                            Scottish Government v Montrose Royalists
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? -                                  One

The new:
6) What went well?                                                                  Pretty much all of it really.
7) What could have been improved?                                          Rules governing cavalry firearms, can't charge until they run out of ammunition.

Fictitious battle on fictitious terrain.

[Womble67]

Hi all

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Rapid Fire
2) What armies were confronted? - Russian vs German
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? - 3

This was a massive game organised by Colin Rumford (Author of Rapid Fire) & Howard Greenwood

30 Apr 2018, Russian vs Germans, Club

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Rapid Fire
2) What armies were confronted? - Russian vs German
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? - 16 approximately

26 to 29 2018, Operation Market Garden

Take care

Andy

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloriam
2) What armies were confronted? - Senguko Samurai vs Tudors (the rematch)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - utterly
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - nah!
5) How many players were in the game? - two
6) What went well? Not much!
7) What could have been improved? Erm, from the Tudor side, everything!!!!
http://madlemmey.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/battle-of-hop-fields-10mm-mortiem-et.html

[pierre the shy]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - For King and Parliament
2) What armies were confronted? - Scots Royalists vs Covenanters
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No, third game
5) How many players were in the game? - 5
6) What went well? By the end of the game our three "first time" players had picked up the game mechanics pretty well and were able to swiftly work out their unit odds and which units of their brigade needed to move when.
7) What could have been improved? The Covenant could have done with a few more successful "to hit" chits when it really mattered and learn to skirmish with their cavalry rather than just charge home

Paul and I ran this game to introduce the other members of our regular gaming group to FK&P. I think we were pretty successful with that aim, plenty of period joviality between the two sides (along with appropriate bagpipe background music thanks to Roy's vinyl collection  ) . This was a very close game as the Covenant decided to meet the Royalists head on. Despite Montrose's command waffling around on the right for most of the game and the eventual destruction of Kilpont's highland brigade it was the veteran Irish who carried the day for the Royalists. Maybe they were motivated by revenge following the death of McColla from a lucky shot from the Perth Militia forlorn hope, but eventually using their salvo firing tactics they rolled enough units of Tulliebardine's command to convince the Covenanters to withdraw form the field. The result of game came down to one combat where either side could have taken the 3 medals needed to win, the Royalists ended up winning 14 to 12.

So a good result despite the close loss - personally I felt really happy with the rules and our decision to proceed with our order from Pendraken. 

[Leman]

1. Walter Schnaffs - Square Bashing the FPW

2. Imperial French v. Prussian

3. Very comfortable with these rules after a number of games

5. Two players plus an interested observer

6. The new players picked up the rules very quickly. The Prussians did particularly well in the pre game, winning the attack points and losing only one unit to the reserves. The new players enjoyed the game so much they decided to buy armies and the rules.

7. The French performed poorly in the pre-game, and although only two infantry bases were lost entirely, two thirds of the French army was put into reserve, including all the artillery. Despite this, the victory calculation at the end of the game gave the Prussians only a minor victory, mainly because about half the French reserves never appeared, so couldn't take any casualties; only one French unit was routed, and the French managed to hold the crossroads.

[paulr]

A good summary of our FK&P game from Pierre the Shy above

I would say in Motrose's defence that his pike-less Highlanders had seen off the Covenanters' horse and he did spend part of the battle stunned by a stray musket ball.
Having half his command one hit away from destruction and repeatedly failing to rally also induced some degree of caution
No prizes for guessing which commander I was

I have four observations on the game:

• everyone enjoyed the game
• as noted above the three new players quickly understood the mechanics of the game and were running combats by themselves
• "we will have to play a few more games before we fully get the hang of this"
• "That was exciting"

My thanks to d_Guy for a really intriguing scenario that has played very differently each time

My thanks also to Mollinary and Simon for a great set of rules that are:

• easy to learn
• challenging to master
• produce exciting, fun games full of period character

[pierre the shy]

I would say in Motrose's defence that his pike-less Highlanders had seen off the Covenanters' horse and he did spend part of the battle stunned by a stray musket ball.
Having half his command one hit away from destruction and repeatedly failing to rally also induced some degree of caution
No prizes for guessing which commander I was

I only meant that didn't help that you pulled out a 1 chit for about 4 turns in a row when trying to activate so they couldn't do much     

[Wulf]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - What a Tanker!
2) What armies were confronted? - 10mm German vs. British, 1940-ish North Afrika.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, happy with them now
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no, played half a dozen games now
5) How many players were in the game? - two each in two games
6) What went well? - introduced a new player never played a proper miniature wargame before, and he really liked it. Also, the general 'boy's own adventure comics' feel of the game worked excellently.
7) What could have been improved? I need to create some better portable terrain to take to the boardgame club, and a better variety of tanks for this game. Most of mine are very early war...

This game has definitely caught my imagination, I'll be working on terrain & tanks for it, Russian front next. We've proved that one player can easily control 3-4 tanks, and that a 3' square play area is sufficient in 10mm (converting 1"=2cm). The roleplaying element of working out WHY the gunner can't acquire a target that's only 10 yards in front of the tank is half the fun (as opposed to just saying "I didn't roll any 2's."..)

[paulr]

I only meant that didn't help that you pulled out a 1 chit for about 4 turns in a row when trying to activate so they couldn't do much     

I'm sure no aspersions were being caste and no offense was taken

It did give me the opportunity to give a glimpse of some of the challenges that FK&P offers

[d_Guy]

Paul and Pierre, thanks for the the battle reports and the shout out. Royalists now 4 of 5 world-wide in this scenario.   
Glad your group is now moving ahead with ECW project. Of the many, many narrative opportunity's provided by FK&P, having an officer addled by a blow to the head (bullet, blade, rock, etc) is among my favorites and it seems to happen quite a lot!

[d_Guy]

Maybe they were motivated by revenge following the death of McColla from a lucky shot....

News has come that has dimmed my eyes, Alasdair has departed from us. (with apologies to Ian Dom). 

[FierceKitty]

Ball and Bayonette yesterday, SYW Prussians and Austrians, two players; familiar rules. I had some trouble with combat rolls when things favoured me quite attractively on paper. but my opponent (who's good at earlier eras) is struggling to learn how to coordinate the three big arms, that hussars seldom brush cuirassiers aside, and that columns suffer under gunfire. Prussian victory was clear before half-time.

[FierceKitty]

,

[Last Hussar]

What size armies are needed for FK&P? How many bases?

[fred.]

I was just working through the example scenario in FK&P, it has the following units per side

3-4 Generals
5-6 units of cavalry
2-3 Forlorn Hope
3-5 Foot Battallia

Size of the units is up to you. For 10mm I'm thinking 120mm frontage, so using 3no 40x40mm bases for foot, and just 2no 40x40mm bases for the Swedish Cavalry (basically 1no 40x40mm base representing 1 hit in FK&P

I'm trying to get some troops together for a test battle - and I thought I would be short of pike and shot, but I think it will be cavalry that is the problem!