What was the last rules set you played 2019

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? – BKCII.
2) What armies were confronted? – British vs Fallschirmjager 1944.
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 concept of fighting in a BUA on a 2' x 2' board broadly worked.
7) What could have been improved? – The broad game mechanics sort of came undone in the enclosed fighting environment. More thought needed to be honest. An AAR to follow.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloriam
2) What armies were confronted? - Late Roman (10mm) vs Free Company (18mm)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - indeed
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - two plus an observer
6) What went well? - legion taking on the world
7) What could have been improved? - legion vs the world

A very tight game, both armies within a smidge of breaking at the end. Top work

[Leman]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Wings of Glory
2) What armies were confronted? - Two Hurricanes v two Italian fighters
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - not too bad
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - Three: one per Hurricane and one controlling both Italian planes
6) What went well? - I shot down an Italian plane
7) What could have been improved? - My spatial awareness and predictive skills are crap - good job the Battle of Britain didn't rely on me. I was shot down in turn, as was the other Hurricane.

[FierceKitty]

) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - IACTA ALEA EST!
2) What armies were confronted? - Achaemenid Persians against Alexandrian Macedonians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - indeed
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - four
6) What went well? - Held them long enough for our cavalry to break a flank and wrap them up. Special mention to the Agrianian peltasts who held and broke an attack by Scythian light horse.
7) What could have been improved? - My rules have been making hoplites too effective against phalangites. This has been ammended; pikes now negate the protection of the long thrusting spear.

[sunjester]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? – Black Powder
2) What armies were confronted? – 1866 Austrian vs Prussian
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? – 2
6) What went well? – Last Hussar lost!
7) What could have been improved? – As the rules are written, the mechanics for the Dreyse Needle Gun do not work. I had tweaked the rules to better reflect the capabilities of the opposing weapons, but had made the needle gun too deadly at close range. We are trying again next week with re-adjusted rules.

[Leman]

As the rules writers made it abundantly clear they have little interest in C19th Europe after the Crimea, why am I not surprised.

[Chad]

How well does BP handle Austrian stosstactik?

[Leman]

It is not even mentioned in the rules and there is no supplement for later C19th Europe. Personally the best set of rules for handling Stosstaktik is Bruce Weigle's, which now has an 1871 style QRS for the 1866 rules. I mentioned in another thread that his 1871 Fast Play rules are indeed very much quicker than his originals. He has now produced new play sheets for each of the previous theatres covered, plus a few pages explaining how to adapt the new sheets to the original scenarios. Half scale and quarter scale are better explained and he suggests that some of the bigger battles can be broken down into a number of sub scenarios to be played at the half or quarter scale (which would really suit 15mm figures - although I use 10mm and 6mm for these rules). Quarter scale has 4 bases to a battalion and would give a good game with more nuance with Austrians. Play sheets and additional information can be found in downloads at the bottom of his home page:

www.grandtacticalrules.com

[Terry37]

Only because I've never posted on this thread, felt I owed it to do so at least once - Hordes of he Things....aka, HOTT. Big surprise - right!!!

Terry

[Leman]

where are we going with this Terry. I still have to give my HOTT Leonardo inspired armies a run out.

[Terry37]

Well Leman,  I guess where I'm going is that I play almost nothing but HOTT, with an occasional DBN or DBAHX game. I am however, reading through a new set of solo skirmish rules  (Doom Squad) that I may give a try (although I've never been much of a fan of skirmish games form the ones I've seen). You definitely need to get into HOTT and then join in one of the Good, Bad and Ugly Tournaments near you - there are several in the England and Scotland. Other than that being honest - HOTT provides me with everything i need, so go with the old adage - If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Terry

[sunjester]

It is not even mentioned in the rules and there is no supplement for later C19th Europe.

To be honest the basic rules do not really reflect the WSS, ACW or Napoleonic periods either, but they can give very enjoyable games for those periods with a bit of adjustment.
BP works well as a basic mechanism to add "period flavour" with either official supplements or home-brewed adjustments. I'm still working through my own ideas for the mid-19th century wars.

[paulr]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? – General Quarters I/II
2) What armies navies were confronted? – US v Japan
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? – Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? – Not by a long way, these are our go to WWI & WWII naval rules, we also use them for pre-dreadnought
5) How many players were in the game? – Four, sort of
6) What went well? – Japanese gunnery   
7) What could have been improved? – American gunnery, the Japanese destroyer squadron actually getting on table (so only 3 active players)

This was a refight of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, 26 March 1943. It was always going to be tough for the Americans, they had one heavy and one light cruiser and four destroyers. The Japanese had two heavy and one light cruiser supported by one light cruiser and two destroyers. The Japanese heavy cruisers both exceeded the Washington Treaty limits so their heavier armour and greater displacement made it difficult for the one US heavy cruiser to inflict damage on them. The Americans did have radar fire control, would it be enough

We hadn't played naval for a while and the US players didn't fully realise just how over matched they were. Their cruisers closed to under 8,000 yards to support the torpedo attacks by their destroyers. At these ranges the Japanese optical gunnery was accurate enough to sink the US light cruiser and immobilise the heavy cruiser. In exchange one of the Japanese heavy cruisers was crippled by the final salvos of the US heavy cruiser before she lost power.

A tactical victory to the Japanese, almost warranting promotion

[paulr]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? – General Quarters I/II
2) What armies navies were confronted? – US v Japan
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? – Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? – Not by a long way, these are our go to WWI & WWII naval rules, we also use them for pre-dreadnought
5) How many players were in the game? – Four
6) What went well? – Japanese gunnery, the Japanese destroyer squadron actually getting on table (but never getting to fire a shot)   
7) What could have been improved? – American gunnery and torpedo damage

The first game had taken an hour an a half so after our regular coffee/tea break we ran the scenario again. The American players elected not to swap sides as they hoped to do better the second time

This time the US cruisers stayed at longer range where their radar fire control meant they hit more often than the Japanese but were not penetrating due to the heavier Japanese armour.  The US destroyers charged!

They managed to close the range without suffering much damage and the two leading destroyers launched 10 torpedoes each at the Japanese heavy cruisers. The Japanese cruisers turned to avoid the torpedoes and avoided all but one spread of 5 torpedoes. None of which managed to hit
The leading US destroyers withdrew under smoke

The US cruisers shifted fire to the Japanese light cruiser and immobilised her.

The second pair of US destroyers used the smoke from the leading pair of US destroyers as cover to close the range and both launched 8 torpedoes at the Japanese heavy cruisers. One Japanese heavy cruiser managed to turn and avoid the torpedoes, the other was caught in a spread of 8 torpedoes Fortunately for the Japanese only two hit and both did the minimum damage possible

At this stage the US forces broke off the action with all four destroyers withdrawing under smoke and both cruisers withdrawing at their best speed of 18 knots

The Japanese decided not to pursue as one of their heavy cruisers was down to only 8 knots following the torpedo hits. One of their light cruisers was crippled and dead in the water. The Japanese destroyer squadron was disappointed as they were still trying to close on the Japanese heavy cruisers and hadn't got to fire a shot (as scenario designer I commanded this squadron in both games)

The Japanese had one light cruiser crippled and one heavy cruiser damaged in exchange the US heavy and light cruisers were damaged and three of their four destroyers had some damage.

The US would go on to win the "battle of the Memoirs"

If those two torpedoes had inflicted maximum damage the Japanese heavy cruiser would have sunk and the US commanders would have earned a promotion

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? – Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Russia vs Turks in the Crimea
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? – Two
6) What went well? – Pretty much everything as it was a dry run of the Battle of Kurudere, but this time on a full size board, for a show on Sunday.
7) What could have been improved? – Slight tweaks to our deployment, both on board and placement of reserves.

[paulr]

Good luck for the show on Sunday, hope it all goes well

[Big Insect]

Well Leman,  I guess where I'm going is that I play almost nothing but HOTT, with an occasional DBN or DBAHX game. I am however, reading through a new set of solo skirmish rules  (Doom Squad) that I may give a try (although I've never been much of a fan of skirmish games form the ones I've seen). You definitely need to get into HOTT and then join in one of the Good, Bad and Ugly Tournaments near you - there are several in the England and Scotland. Other than that being honest - HOTT provides me with everything i need, so go with the old adage - If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Terry

I'm rekindling my HoTT interests after a 'rest' period - where can I find the Good, Bad and Ugly Tournament detail Terry?

[Leman]

Settled down with my copy of HoTT last night and had a look at some of the semi-historical stuff - particularly Da Vinci Italian and Boxer Rebellion  armies (I have a beautiful 10mm Warmaster dragon). Also quite like the idea of a WWI War of the Worlds setting inspired by Atte's recent work).

[Leman]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FOGR
2) What armies were confronted? - Early Gustavan v Poles
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Getting much better at last
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - two plus an observer
6) What went well? - My cavaliers saw off an early incursion on the right flank of my Gustavan army, freeing up the cavalry and dragoons there to go to the help of the left wing. My artillery played havoc with some approaching Russian cavalry seeing them off with a charge from my reiters, who, although weakened stood firm against a unit of winged hussars, thus preventing them forming a continuous line with the other unit of winged hussars. The latter were also roughly handled by my own cavalry and mini-unit of cuirassiers.
7) What could have been improved? - a number of sub-period play sheets to enable us to move away from the mass of tiny tables that are incredibly confusing to look at. Two of us reckon this will much improve our game enjoyment.

Gustavan right flank


The right flank with two units of winged hussars approaching

[FierceKitty]

Swedes are the one enemy that I find really can give my Poles trouble. Those wonderful lancers can't dent the pike and shot line, and there are enough guns to make any dithering fatal.