FoB ACW meets noob.

 It's my birthday this weekend. I'm old enough to know better, wise enough to give advice (and have it shunned whilst walking away with a knowing smile), yet humble enough to have my army destroyed in Field of Battle, by a complete newbie...and still congratulate my cackling opponent.

ACW action with FoB ...follows after the b.s. interlude

What's this? Well, my daughter said to me: 'it's your birthday. How about a game of Battlelore (TM). We haven't played it in years?'

Yes - this one. First ed; the original and the best (2006) ...and yes it had lots of Scottish dwarves.

Truth be told, we last played Battlelore (TM) when she was 11, and she had started at age 7. The same young lady is now 24; and no, I don't know where that time went either!!!

'AHA!' I said. 'Well, you should try 'Field of Battle' instead,' I barked. She picked 'American Civil War' purely at random.

Of course, she could not react with the standard 'wait...isn't that something to do with Piquet, which means I will automatically shun it ?' No (though that would have scared the hell out of me if she had). So, she agreed!

Yay!

...and not 'Battlelore' - the Finnish metal band, with far too many members, inspired by Tolkien's fiction, though they will of course get a suitably weird track at the end now just to tie up the loose plot ends...

I had set up the game, and briefly went through the 'opposed rolling' concepts of the game. Though of course, inevitably, there would be some cries of 'you never told me that bit' later.

It would be a Confederate assault on Union positions, with a view to taking the crossroads. Sides were roughly equivalent in size, though the Rebs had significantly better Commanders and a better deck. Let's see how much difference that would make.

She made good use of the fence line, and movement cards, forming a decent defensive position, which the Confederate tide would get smashed upon.

Rebs did lack decent guns, and had some horrible rolls when they could get a shot in.

Early on, my opponent decided that her D10s were simply not good enough, and thus accessed dice from the 'horde bag' at random for the rest of the game. I suspect some D10s are for the chop later.

The Rebs charged on their right, using artillery to shoot into the position - but the ensuing melees did not go their way.

Reb centre and left, showing fierce fighting on the flank, with movement toward the objective in centre.

...quickly getting to grips with the vagaries of the movement cards, she reinforced the centre

Jonny & Billy meet in the centre. Fighting here was viscious

...with Rebs being pushed back from sustained Union fire, and losing badly in the melees

Rebs go in again

...but they have taken a lot of hits against their army morale

'One more time boys! One more time!'

The Union line is an incredibly tough nut to crack, and eventually, the Rebs survive one army morale card, but sustaining the attack simply falls apart, as their morale runs out.

The Union never really needed their flank cavalry unit...but worth a pic

Despite my opponent's insistence that this was a game of 'luck not skill', and my protestations that she had used good manoeuvre and defensive principles to gain the upper hand and win, and therefore the point was moot :) ...it was a great birthday bash.

As errr promised ;)

...and not today Charlie, not today mate...