Prelude to Lutzen - 1813 (Blogger Bonanza part 1)

Tony from the superlative Prometheus in Aspic blog joined us over the weekend for as many Field of Battle games as we could fit in...(granted, with a dressing of Maurice and a side salad of Memoir '44)

Here's Lutzen at Sgt Steiner's (senior FoB Czar) to kick things off with this truly excellent set of rules (Neerwinden to follow).

All quiet on the Prussian left...

Some cavalry action with a little seasoning of horse artillery should liven things up.

 The centre becomes a bloody meat-grinder.

Successive Prussian assaults eventually take the first objective. 

 The centre continues to dominate the battle, as the Prussians push forward, in the hope of making gains before reinforcements arrive. The Prussians manage to drive the French back.

 Trademark method of 'remembering to use your Tactical Advantage card before it gets reshuffled'...balance it on the nearest tree, so that it's 'in yo face!'.

Prussian and French reinforcements arrive 'roughly' simultaneously, despite Prussians taking a wrong turn for a while (rolled a 1).

Prussians march and wheel 'to the rrrrright!'

The French come on 'in the same old way', ...then proceed to punish the Prussian line.

 ..as cavalry, far from the main battle, try to secure a flank.

Routs, OOCs, chaos along the Prussian line ...uhh the French job here is done...but it has cost them dearly with losses early on in the game, and their morale dwindles as successive Army Morale rolls begin to make things nailbiting. They survive 2 rolls and continue to fight, but the third sees them withdraw.

Another FoB battle fought to conclusion, with great narrative, and enjoyed by all.

 In the evening, a little bit of tinkering with Maurice to show Tony the nice mechanisms. Reminds me that I should get more games of this in.

Some AWI action. 

Watch for the Continentals on the right!

We didn't get to finish, but did see the turn sequence and cards in action. Reminds me how much I miss this one.

Le Duc on the Road - Part X(a) - Cahir Castle

A lot of recent travel and some nice pics, and a lot of games over the next week or so...so here's a taster. There will be a full visit post on the castle, but here's the diorama of the 'Siege of Cahir Castle' in 1599 during Essex's brief campaign, beautifully done with 15mm figures.

J.A.F.O.* at the 'I ain't been shot Mum' game

Called in with Dice Demon Steve & Sgt Steiner to watch a play-through of the much talked about 'I Ain't Been Shot Mum' rules.
Both have been testing these rules over a period of weeks.

• Some nice concepts for 'blinds' that promote hidden movement/dummies/fog of war and a card driven turn sequence that promotes friction (perhaps leading to situations re. reactive fire that do seem alien when compared to other rulesets) - though the nature of such systems seem to have left a lot of questions as to intent of the rules and mechanisms.

• Despite that, there seems to be a core game with some nice features.

• I imagine that some dedicated house ruling will expunge much of the doubt...

 At the very least, sit back and look at some great examples of superb15mm forces belonging to both.

Soviet armour moves off one of the early blinds.

...as reinforcements (or dummies) move through the wheatfield in the hope of triggering a defensive response.

Sniper!

Armour gets slowed by some German defensive maneuvering. 

A lot of action on the Soviet left - some discussion over the mechanics - where the card deck can be added to as units come off their blinds - though this therefore can reduce the effectiveness of units remaining in blinds in terms of being able to respond to enemy activity, as they are waiting for activation from a single card in the deck. Some confusion in the rules in terms of keeping things intuitive perhaps - though we are used to defensive postured units being able to 'reactive fire' with impunity in most sets of course.

Soviet HE is a little devastating.

German AT fire is being handicapped by spotting/HE team ups, which seemed a little unrealistic, though occurs by virtue of the card deck mechanisms, and the relative restrictions of the blinds system.

Forward Comrades ! ...or something...

Mounting pressure on left and centre.

 German MGs on the flank.

Soviet HE blows buildings to hell (though granted, someone *ahem* has to be able to roll 3 sixes on a 3D6 for this to happen )

Time to take out the MGs.

 The Panthers had been hiding on a blind - and needed to start making a difference.

Ranges are quite close (12" = 80yds) so it's a close in game, where knowing when to shift into the battle off a blind seems to be key - though the guys still have a lot of questions and I imagine that house-ruling is the order of the day here.

 (*J.A.F.O. of course stands for Just Another F**king Observor ...Huh? you guys never watched 'Blue Thunder'?  ;)   )