Lasalle 2nd ed. with Sgt. Steiner

1st post plague game with Sgt Steiner last night, and what a game!

I've been a big fan of Sam Mustafa's Maurice, and really should give more attention to Blucher and Rommel than I have. Sam's elegant and solid game design principles always seem to move from strength to strength as he progresses with the 'Honour' series of rules/games.

Lasalle is no exception. Now, I'm no Napoleonics expert, so there will be some national characteristics, or dynamics of square formation etc., that might annoy some purists - but we can always rely on Sam's rules to present us with a good, exciting, dynamic and thought provoking 'wargame'. For me, that beats a complex, unfinished, over complicated 'simulation' any day.

 I'm also less than convinced that more complex games are rarely played 'purely', that is 'properly'. Added complexity means that things get dropped, missed or hacked. You don't see this with Sam's games, where any mistakes are usually made by the player/commander, as opposed to something in the rules which is adversely designed, too subtle, or just plain difficult.

Highlights include:

• Sam has designed various 'Momentum' management methods in his games: from cards in Maurice, to hidden dice resource in Blucher. There's a nice to and fro activation in Lasalle, with points dependent on the army/commander, with some additional momentum from the commander, if he isn't using his trait(s) to influence the battle that is.
• There are many choices to make, and with any good design, you can't do everything, nothing is purely arbitrary, and the only thing left to chance is what would naturally have some randomness (firing / melee etc.) ...but even this is affected through certain re-rolls dependent on specialty - as with Sam's other rules.
• I haven't played 1st ed. but heard some bad reports. It's great to see a refinement here, and the words slick and fluid really apply to game-play. Having knowledge of Sam's other rules helped, so I picked up the rules fairly quickly - and made terrible (horribly terrible) mistakes, but will obviously learn from them.
• One aspect of battlefield management for instance, is reflected in some of the subtle changes to rallying. In Maurice, this will cost you card resource, but it's safe to do. In Lasalle - failed rally attempts/dice rolls become permanent hits - be careful what you wish for...
• Light infantry is deployed in an abstract style, and by the player who achieves best roll based on availability - and they are used to stymie and dilute effectiveness. It's perfect, and means that I don't have to manage 'lights' as a separate resource. Right away, there's a rule which lets you be concerned about lights only by virtue of where you want to harass the other player - easy, effective, and as accurate (if not more so) than any other set.
  
• It could be called 'Napoleonic Lite', but for me at least, it's simply Napoleonics. It works ...and there's no completely random activation issues for me to scream about ;).  You manage your own endeavor, as best you can, with limited resource,being wary of the opponent. That's a wargame.
  

The game was a 'capture the flag ...I mean ...town and objective' scenario. The Sgt's excellent 15mm troops - Prussians and French, would be used. Great stuff.

Prussian brigades, ready for attack.

Prussian advance on their left - the objective - a town on the crestline.

Delicate maneuvering around a French battalion - which I really should have blasted away early with some musket discipline...

The Prussian right, which would become a meat-grinder where, despite the advantage of numbers and pressure, the Prussians would be stymied by terrain and French square!

Early mass cavalry action on the Prussian left - they would not fare well, and ultimately, this would open their flank.

Early work on the right - I thought it would be oh so easy to turn that damned flank and reach the 2nd objective ...hmmm... A French battalion holds in square for most of the day ...Pour La Gloire!!!

Oh look - they still haven't broken through ...

Prussians begin to fall apart on left and centre.

...while on the right... (low whistling of obscure Prussian drill song...)

Fast acting cavalry reserve attempts to staunch the flow, but not well...

A breakthrough - but all too late, falling short of 1st objective, never mind the 2nd ...Great rules though - excellent design.

 

The FFT3 Studies & Observation Group #1 - Chinese Farm

 John & I recently had a go at 'Fistful of TOWs 3'. (Well, John read the rules, and I brought enthusiasm...and pepsi).

This has been an aim for a while, as the system gets widely lauded (especially by the folks at 'Little Wars TV'), and it is complete, pick-up worthy, and offers a wide range across the C20th period. So we formed FFT3SOG, in order to explore this fine set.

To be fair, we weren't disappointed. Now, it's a little different, and subsumes a lot into simple die rolls, but for my money, it works really well.

Highlights:

• It's fast - we completed 'Chinese Farm', with full Egyptian & Israeli complements in 3 hours - an evening no less.
• We're used to seeing units disappear when destroyed etc.; then some pushbacks and disruptions and suppression in other games. In FFT3 - you fail your Quality Check, and you're gone - hence massed Egyptian armour can fail QCs and vanish, whilst Israeli stuff tends to be able to hang on; the QC being a method of denoting training/morale/staying power, but this all works, and it will be useful to see how validity is demonstrated in the Fulda Gap say, where Sov units can vary in quality.
• There's a lot of d6, but it only reached 'bucket' status when an M60 fired at a nasty BMP / Sagger, due to armour differential. Otherwise - no buckets of d6.
• A lot of online reviews think that it's not a parallel with Spearhead in terms of battle 'scope' / size. I disagree - I would say, speed of play would allow for larger battles quite easily (without those axes of advance arrows...which always seem like a great idea...but...).
• The turn sequence takes some getting used to - but makes artillery, firing, hold fire and overwatch - all become fairly seamless. In a sense - 'hold fire' and 'overwatch' allow you to interrupt turn sequence, but at a cost - you have to 'know when to hold em'
  
• I can see how this is perfect for 1/300 - it all fits nicely with the unit cohesion rules.
  

Very nice set - and deserves a lot more exploration. 

Battle was 'Chinese Farm 1973'

Israeli M60s and Paras in 1/2 tracks advancing from the south, toward Egyptian infantry lines in Chinese Farm

While to the east, Armoured Battalions in M48s

Though of poor quality, the Egyptian infantry (1) has Saggers and (2) will be hard to dig out as the Israelis have only a single battalion of Paras, reinforced with a lot of armour

Egyptian armour is numerous, but can be stopped with a good warning shot!!!  ...their QCs would be their undoing...

Typically, the Israeli armour units here, would take high ground, engage and disperse at long range, then move in with a covered assault...though as stated, lacked infantry

'Where the hell did the amour go guys?'

Egyptian reinforcements

...a lot of reinforcements

Some M60 action from the ridgeline, and forming a blocking force against the oncoming reinforcing armour, is fairly effective

...although not without some casualties to Saggers

Ultimately, with some covering fire, the Israeli paras go toe to toe with the well ensconced Egyptian infantry, but by the end of the first combat, they're fatigued such that it would be impossible to take all of the positions.

So, all in all, and interesting result, whereby the armour battle became one-sided, while there were too few paras to take the positions on day one.

A great set of rules - we'll do some more. I'll also try to draw some comparisons with the GDW First Battle rulesets when I get time.

Long Island: Shoemaker's Bridge, 1776 ...dice rolled 'round the world...

 Jonathan from the excellent Palouse Wargaming Journal organised a virtual Zoom AWI game for Steve at the excellent Sound Officers' Call and myself, knowing that we were both AWI 'nuts'.  Steve and I have faced each other across the virtual battle field before (at Norm's Germantown game last year at which Jon played Washington), but on this occasion, we could see the whites of each other's eyes (well, as much as 'Zoom' will permit). 

The format, setup and great camera work and refereeing from Jon made this game seamless and highly enjoyable. This really works, and we must do it again. (Oh, and my dice were excellent - have I mentioned this?)

Electing to play the British (I have a tricorne and lots of tea and a dodgy accent), Steve would take on the defence of the ridge/farm and the area to the east, in an attempt to prevent the British taking their positions and exiting the board to flank a large force.

Rules would be Jon's variant of 'Fields of Honor' - which are superb, both for this type of application and a real AWI/Horse & Musket feel. A few hacks, and the rules could be used (hex-based) across a variety of theatres and periods.

This all proved very tense. Watching myself on camera, I actually looked quite nervous during American attacks from the ridge. Ahhh, the pressures of command. 

This was one of the screens. I didn't get any shots of the river crossing, though you can see a frontal attack on the American left, with a hook around the hill on the right. 15mm miniatures on single bases, and this worked well - even with troops in column.

The British plan ...well, when I say 'plan'... I believe 'hastily fashioned series of actions created via necessity' might be more akin to what actually happened.  The circled American artillery battery gains the Medal of Honor in the AAR. It simply would not die. Three successive British assaults it took...

Some of Jon's pre game information. This was well presented and well prepared. We had very few questions pre-game.

The British flank action. Major Gen Piggot had been killed in action by this stage ...only his Tricorne survived...Lord Percy was forced to take over 'I will deal with these rebels..personally...'

You'd think such a remote game, with only the screen tool to communicate, there would have been an issue. Jon was able to understand our requirements and point to the requisite units seamlessly. Nothing was lost in translation. This all worked very well

What a specatcle, and many thanks to Jon for the prep and virtual hospitality ...I'm told the Americans are looking for a rematch soon :)

Now the rules. There was so much to like here. Some highlights:

• There is no restriction on moving by brigade/battalion in terms of activation - but that's enough to get you into trouble anyway.
• Firing/Melee is based on D10 availability - in turn based on 1-3 strength points. You want to beat 5 with a number of mods. There is a -2 smoothbore modifier for instance, with cover and/or national characteristic mods. I guess if you wanted to change this for a different period (say matchlocks) you could work off D8s and reduce max range to 1 hex instead of 2, but these are minor hacks.
• Other mods include melee/firing 'ratings' , so this is where the British scored in terms of firing accuracy/methodology and cold steel. This helped them immensely, and gave a very nice flavour - forcing the Americans to use cover and defensive tactics to their advantage.
• Movement of 1 or 2 hexes seems slow, but remember the small battlefield means that action happens quickly, and flanking can happen when you least expect it. 
• Units can also be brittle, but only if you push them too hard. There are some real command decisions to be made for a straightforward rule set. Like most good designs, hard to master, but easy to understand. 
• This seemed like a real battle, and we commanded on the same basis. There were no strange rules or tables to look up, no cards to sort through. I can see this working for larger affairs very easily.
• The systems are fluid and can be easily hacked for specific battles/periods.
  

A great set, and based on an earlier C19th set. There is a ww2 variant which I saw, though the rules there are very different. 

A great game, and can't wait to do more of this. Thanks again for all the hard work Jon. And thanks to Steve for a sterling defence against my fumbling attacks.

Storm Over Dien Bien Phu - Boardgame time...

 I recently played this boardgame with John, and a great game it was. Originally published by Multi-Man publishing (who also published the excellent 'Force Eagle's War') and I think based on the rules originally appearing in 'Storm Over Arnhem', there are some great mechanics at work here.

• A great set of period rules and mechanics for the 1954 siege, with the French on the back foot initially, but able to plug the holes in the line if they act at the right time...while the Viet-Minh have limited resource, but the element of surprise
  
• Actions are alternate
• Card activities can help attacks and/or hinder the enemy
• The Viet-Minh are trying to do as much damage in early turns, and prevent French holding ground (and thereby reducing their number of action cards), whilst enabling their taking more and more real estate.

A very nice game, and although the rules were very interesting, I am also becoming intrigued in the Indo-China / French period in the 1950s - John is an expert in this regard and knows the details of the siege inside out, together with reference to the more notable books (Street Without Joy) and a collection of the less well known references for the period.

We always consider the 1960s as the Vietnam Wargaming period - the '50s have a lot to offer in terms of gaming too.

Game map at start - with French units about to be surprised.

Cards are an intrinsic part of the game in terms of support/resources/and benefits

Early Viet Minh assaults on the flanks

Damage points are allocated in terms of either retreats, steps lost or units lost. The 'hit' player decides how to allocate - but this resource management type decision can be absolutely pivotal to holding ground or keeping units alive - a very nice mechanic, which should really be hacked for other games.

French reinforcements at 'Opera', which was probably the wrong place to put them :(

Cards can influence attack / defend options

'2' would be a bad roll... it wasn't going well for my French forces at all...

All in all, a great game - and had got me very interested in the period in general.