More 'Battle Command' (Field of Battle's Big Brother) today, with a large Napoleonic battle.
First time I have had my 'strangely eclectic' Napoleonic collection engaged with these superlative rules.
It comprises 20mm (Revell, Airfix, Italeri), 25mm (Lamming & Minifigs and some items I simply can no longer identify), and 'Prussian Proxy Plastics' (try saying that when you're drunk) serving as Dutch Belgians, Brunswickers (yes I know), and Nassau today.
The scenario was based on that appearing in the 'Napoleon Returns' supplement for V&B, but as set up time was limited, some is off a bit, in terms of layout.
A superb game, highlighting the card action of BC (knowing what to do with your odd/even. good/bad roll vs the options on the card is absolutely critical), and the seamless nature of being able to fire when you like (albeit having to wait for a fire option to come back up), and being restricted by rolling an odd number on the dice, AND the very close nature of the morale deck as it draws down, where both armies in this case, ran out of morale at the same time.
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| Many...many French columns...mostly old 1970s Lamming Figures (I think) |
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...As it was, the poor French, having broken the Allied centre, then managed to give away their victory to the Allies, in the last minutes of the battle 'C'est La Guerre!!!'
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| Cavalry with nothing to do on the left flank ...'time to find zee action!' |
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| The French attack in the centre |
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| French cavalry comes off worst against Allied squares |
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| Cooke is caught out, flanked and hit by French ambuscade and columns, having still been on the road at exactly the wrong time |
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| 'Vive la France!' |
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| French attack - massed - in the centre |
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| Column after columns smacks into the Allies |
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| Musketry foiled French plans on their left however... |
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| Cooke tidies things up in the Allied centre, as much as he can |
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| By game end, with both sides working through their morale decks and handing morale cards to each other - the first side to draw army morale could lose out - the Allied centre is shattered... |
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| ...as is the French left...but the French 'blink first'! |
A truly great set of rules - well written with mechanisms that actually work, with opposed rolling on multi sided dice, with efficient systems, instead of finding new ways to use d6 probabilities like most other rules do...buy 'em!
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Great report great rules
ReplyDeleteMany thanks. BC/FoB do everything I need. Hard to beat.
DeleteA fantastic looking version of the battle. It built really nicely and the Brunswickers and Nassauers did their bit à la history and held up the initial attacks. J'adore your armies of true 25's and the one true scale!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
Many thanks James. They did a great job. Next time I will give them painted regiments instead of proxies ;)
DeleteGood looking game and a very nice review of the rules.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. I add little bits of extra design efficiency re. the rules to the blog with each game - a superb set of rules.
DeleteGreat looking game with your eclectic armies. It is always a good feeling to find a rule set that works well for your games.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Peter. I have tried others, but honestly, most other modern sets bore me, and offer little in terms of flow. The more straightforward sets (yours included) work so well, it is hard to see why the commercial sets make so much money - glossy covers perhaps, and colour pics?
DeleteGreat to see those old Airfix figures. I really like the four figure bases with figures staggered, it is very effective.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Martin. It saves me buying loads of extra figures - so the economic (cheap-ass) method is always preferred. In the thick of the fight, we almost never notice that some of those bases are simply '3 blokes taking a flag for a walk'
DeleteA near run thing… I did this battle to test OHW and used Austrians as the allies (they are now serving Bob Kett). This is how I found you don’t need any fancy command mechanisms when humans are involved, as the French players created a massive traffic jam all by themselves!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Wargamers especially bring their own brand of total confusion, and armies advancing as 'formation dance teams' (I may have been accused of this...regularly).
DeleteThe first Napoleonic battle i ever took part in, in the 80s - run by the head of the school Wargames Society (it might have barely been the 80s actually...) was Waterloo, with rules I can not remember, Minifigs Austrians as Proxy French, and Airix British for the rest.
Ahh good times.
The command systems here are beautifully simple too - the players bring the confusion!
Nothing wrong with "strangely eclectic" - as the actress said to the Bishop. ....
ReplyDeleteAlways good to get old armies out.
Neil
HAHA Thanks Neil - it's definitely a varied collection.
DeleteGood looking table and good to see such an eclectic collection. Those figures advancing with the musket at 45 degrees are early Garrison.
ReplyDeletehttps://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/2010/09/garrison.html?m=0
WOOHOO many thanks for that sir. I may have an ebay hunt in the offing. Great to find out for sure what they are.
DeleteMany thanks, try:
Deleteducdegobin(at)gmail(dot)com
Anything that supplements the French force would be great.
Thanks. I’ll have a look over the weekend.
DeleteSent you an email. It maybe worth checking in your spam box. My email address begins with a u.
DeleteGreat looking battle, a fine narrative, and, of course, a great set of rules. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks again G. I have tried to convince myself as to other sets - I still enjoy Volley and Bayonet, but honestly BG/FoB are a different league in terms of design and flow. They are well written and cohesive. (...rapidly hits the 'stop raving' button )
DeleteEverything is lovely about this post and as mentioned above, the basing nicely ticks the boxes of functional and visually pleasing. Re the rules, in a napoleonic game, what would be their typical scope …. Thinking 6x4 table and 1 div per side of 3 brigades each?
ReplyDeleteThat's probably about right for that size table and 2 players. Command Groups can vary from 2 to about 6 units each, although single unit command groups and the occasional larger one are not out of the question!
DeleteThanks Norm - yes - columns and line, and I get to use what I have. Infantry bases are 2"x1.5" - cav 2" square. Two bases make a unit - now, this is an option in the rules - where a battalion can be 2 or 4 bases depending on taste.
DeleteAs G says - yep, that size is about right. I would also thoroughly recommend his excellent scenario book on the 1809 campaign.
Now, Steiner and I also tinker a lot with upping the scale - so that units represent brigades. That is what I have done above, and routinely do with Marlburian and 1690s fights (See my recent Aughrim and Neerwinden scenarios for instance). This is seamless, and really the only change made is to range (or in the 1690s fights - 'pike forward' rules)...command groups become divisions over brigades. Being a dyed in the wool Volley & Bayonet fan, that level of battle appeals.