What the last rules set you played in 2022

Started by pierre the shy, 15 January 2022, 10:03:09 PM

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Steve J

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Shadow of the Eagles
2) What armies were confronted? - French vs Austrian 1809
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very, even though a while since I last played them.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two, including the author, Keith Flint.
6) What went well? - The Austrian Light Infantry caused problems for the French throughout. The Austrian die rolls went well at crucial times.
7) What could have been improved? - The scenario needed some tweaks, as the terrain and lack of light infantry really hampered the French. Also the arrival of the Austrian reinforcements meant that there positions was never seriously threatened.

T13A

Hi

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Live Free or Die
2) What armies were confronted? - British v Rebels. Battle of Freeman's Farm (1st Saratoga)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Three, plus me umpiring/coaching
6) What went well? - Well balanced scenario from the book of 10 scenarios that you can purchase along with the rules. A good game and a lot of fun was had by all (including the umpire).
7) What could have been improved? - Need to write down some of the decisions we made where the rules are a bit vague (bearing in mind that they are only 4 page long)!

Cheers Paul
T13A Out!

T13A

Hi

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Live Free or Die.
2) What armies were confronted? - British v Rebels. Battle of Bunker Hill.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much.
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? - We managed to play out the 10 turns in the scenario. The British Grenadiers storming the redoubt at the first attempt and seeing off a unit of Rebel riflemen and counter attacking militia, although they did have 50% casualties (and yes we did have the tune playing in the background)
7) What could have been improved? - Still have trouble with the way the rules work allowing units to go down to just one base and having the same chance of staying on as when they were at full strength, altough I accept that maybe that is part of the swings and roundabouts of having fairly straight forward rules allowing to finish a game in reasonable time.

Interesting scenario with the complete opposite outcome to the real battle. The British did not manage to secure Breeds Hill or Bunker Hill (which they had to do to win the scenario) as the Rebel player managed to slip a unit on to the very edge of Breeds Hill in the very last turn even though the British had secured the redoubt and caused twice as many casualties to the Rebels as they them selves had (that said I was the British)!

Breeds Hill with the redoubt on top and a couple of British warships at anchor in the Mystic River and before the troops were deployed (Bunker Hill is just out of picture to the right):


The British advance:


From behind the British looking towards the Rebel redoubt on Breeds Hill:


Rebel Riflemen in the redoubt await the British advancing below (not sure why the Rebel commander didn't put more troops in the redoubt itself, there seemed to be plenty about):


The 5th Regiment of Foot's first attempt to storm the redoubt (it failed) with General Howe cheering them on, the Grenadiers are to their left:


By the way General Howe suffered 3 light wounds during the engagement but gallently stayed on the field while General Clinton suffered a more serious wound requiring his evacuation to Boston. The Rebel General Prescott was killed and General Israel Putnam suffered a light wound.

Cheers Paul
T13A Out!

fred.

Great looking game - I particularly like the ships off shore. 

Sounds like it was only a rebel victory on a technicality. 

With the morale save, by the time a unit gets to 1 stand has it had to pass a few tests to still be on the table? If so I guess overall there is a low chance of a single stand remaining, but on each test the chance is the same. It probably looks worse due to casualty removal of stands that what its really reflecting in game terms (i.e. a loss of effectiveness by 75% rather then a loss of 75% of the men) 
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Steve J


paulr

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steve_holmes_11

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Irregular Wars
2) What armies were confronted? - Colonial Portuguese Vs Vijayanagar
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - I'd read them several times, but this was the first time use in combat.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Yea
5) How many players were in the game? - Two, myself and Westmarcher of this forum.
6) What went well? - Picked up the rules after 3rd turn and they moved along at a good rate.
7) What could have been improved? - A few unknowns on first outing with the rules, relatively little role for our chance cards.




Dom Olmes led an expedition inland to persuade Raja Westmarcher of the benefits of Portuguese vassalage.
Priests, fortified wines, custard tarts, more priests...
Unimpressed, The Raja rallied his elephants, archers and mercenary cavalry scouts.
Placing himself at the head of his royal swordsmen and mustering levies along the way.
He marched out and organised a defence in dense terrain of forest, hills and marsh.

Olmes struggled to maintain his large contingent, several units suffered straggling due to disease.
Two of his professional units deserted along the way.
They preferred the  Raja's dancing girls and hashish pipes to the prospect of battling elephants in stifling heat.

The armies met, and Olmes struggled to control his large force.
Westmarcher kept his force concentrated, except his mounted scouts led by an enterprising captain (Chance card).
The Indian force withdrew behind terrain forming a concave line while avoiding fire from the Portuguese field gun.
This forced Olmes into a long advance which straggled, leaving slow moving pikes in the lead.

After a brief firefight Olmes led his pikes into the bag, which soon became a deadly trap.
Shot up, flanked and charged by elephants, demoralisation spread rapidly (The army collapsed in a single turn).

The Raja returned home with all his companies intact.
His decisive victory earned his the title of "turbanator".

Olmes warrants a single sentence in the expedition's histories.
Not mentioned by name, he is referenced only as the "Loser from Lisbon".



Congratulations to Westmarcher for "pulling a Hannibal" while using a completely fresh set of rules.

Ithoriel

Nice write up, Steve, and, for a first outing, sounds like Westmarcher got the hang of the rules OK :)
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Westmarcher

Happy to participate in your first game and debut of your newly painted Pendraken collection using these rules, Steve.  Good fast play rules so happy to have another outing with them in future. 

Thanks again for your hard work hosting the game, excellent rules tutorial (including paperwork provided before hand) and getting that nice collection of yours completed and ready on time for the game (some featured in this year's painting competition, folks).  All done by a man still recovering from major surgery some 10 weeks before hand. 

Almost feel guilty about winning the game now ...

Almost.    :P 
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

fred.

Sounds like a great game. We've been playing Irregular Wars on and off for a good number of years, and we keep coming back to it. 
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steve_holmes_11


QuoteNice write up, Steve, and, for a first outing, sounds like Westmarcher got the hang of the rules OK :)
He is a lot smarter than he lets on.

Completely outwitted my by withdrawing into a concave line/trap, while talking about avoiding the fire of my field gun.

steve_holmes_11


QuoteSounds like a great game. We've been playing Irregular Wars on and off for a good number of years, and we keep coming back to it.
I found the rules easy going for a first game.

In general, we aimed for a path of least resistance if something unexpected occurred.
I do intend to read through tomorrow and spot any situations where I may have interpreted things wrongly.

I was a little surprised by the way melees worked out.
2 evenly matched units can go at it for turn after turn creating little but indecisive draws.
Some other match-ups saw such a big point spread that one side could not win, it was more "Hang on and hope the flanking unit arrives".

When the end came, there were 4 wavering units in separate melees quite close together.
A charging elephant scattered the first, and the collapse cascaded across the whole front line.

I am working on more contingents with a view to Portu-geezers and Hollanders fighting all comers around the Indian Ocean.
Some extra business fo Pendraken, and a lot more painting and basing.




fred.


QuoteI found the rules easy going for a first game.

In general, we aimed for a path of least resistance if something unexpected occurred.
I do intend to read through tomorrow and spot any situations where I may have interpreted things wrongly.

That's generally my approach - always seems a read through after a game spots things in the rules that you don't see before playing

QuoteI was a little surprised by the way melees worked out.
2 evenly matched units can go at it for turn after turn creating little but indecisive draws.
Some other match-ups saw such a big point spread that one side could not win, it was more "Hang on and hope the flanking unit arrives".
Yes, similar statted units tend to grind out combats with little damage to each other. Really big differences we find are rare, but the chance to inflict 2 wounds is very satisfying when it comes off. Flanking is the most reliable method of causing damage in the game.

QuoteWhen the end came, there were 4 wavering units in separate melees quite close together.
A charging elephant scattered the first, and the collapse cascaded across the whole front line.
This is very common in the rules - the loss of resolve for broken units, can really cause a cascade of friends routing. There is often the slow chip away of resolve on units, then a sudden break of many units!

I




[/quote]

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Westmarcher

QuoteHi

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Live Free or Die.
2) What armies were confronted? - British v Rebels. Battle of Bunker Hill.....

The 5th Regiment of Foot's first attempt to storm the redoubt (it failed) with General Howe cheering them on, the Grenadiers are to their left:



Nice photos, Paul.  :-bd
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

steve_holmes_11

I wonder whether any of he other Irregular Wars players could help me.

I've re-read the rules, and feel pretty smug that Westmarcher and I got almost all the calls right on our first play.
(An advantage of a short and well written ruleset).

I have been unable to find victory conditions for the "default" battle scenario.

All the others like Ambush, Cattle Raid or Forcing the Gap had a suggested game length and sometimes victory points.
I cannot find anything like that for the straight up battle.

We called our game when Westmarcher's forced had scattered all my side's regulars including the lord's company.
But I can see that a closer engagement might have dragged on for ages.