Steiner & le Duc...Episode 4 - Beneath the Lily Banners

Just finished a game of Beneath the Lily Banners with Sgt Seiner; an interesting set of rules indeed. 

Great to see real period flavour, though there were some real ‘old school’ mechanism and tables of modifiers, which slowed gameplay somewhat.

The period flavour that I liked (remember that this was a transitional period between pike and shot - plug & Mackay's ring bayonet - then socket bayonet etc.) was determined by the actions that pike infantry can carry out when attacked by cavalry – with options to delay fire or more succinctly, form ‘defence against horse’ (which I take to be an interpretation of fraising the battalion as per Nosworthy, or forming a protective pike screen). Also, doing anything complex in terms of manoeuvre was really difficult and thus suits the period well. (Granted, I should have had a few wing commanders in there too).

The game did get me thinking however, with regard to what I’ve seen in recent sets of rules that I liked (there’s an underlying theme here – not all of these elements appear in BtLB of course).

·        Unit characteristics are a pain that are difficult to remember in a 2 player game, and should feature more generically as part of troop quality.

·        All mechanisms should be intuitive, i.e. a complete system change shouldn’t appear for ‘charging’ or ‘routing’ simply because it’s been tacked on to the set of rules (wargame rules designers could take a leaf out of modern/indie RPG designs here, where mechanics/moves are based off a single dice mechanic – as opposed to the glut of multifunctional systems which appeared in 1st ed AD&D, which seems to be the way of old school wargames design – cue rose tinted spectacle soliloquy on the good old days etc.).

·        There should be no separate disorder mechanic or extra subtractive dice rolls due to movement prior to charge etc. (again, integrate this into troop quality).

·        Troops are easily disordered in the late C17th, and there are intuitive ways to handle this (have I mentioned troop quality?).

·        Morale checks should be driven by troop quality (actually Fistful of Tows 3 does this really well. The whole game hinges off troops' quality/training/experience.

 

So here’s what I’ve liked recently:

·        Homebrewed ‘Muskets & Mayhem’ rules focus on troop quality, and it drives everything else, with intrinsic effects on morale.

·        The Snappy Nappy order system works beautifully, allowing better troops to be more flexible with orders (a no brainer when you think about it).

·        The Black Powder/Pike & Shotte order system is also equally fluid, allowing player generalisation over what troops can do, in a free flowing manner.

·        Maurice combat and melee is seamless, and matches the great resource management system. If I would change anything, it would be the dependence on cards (though that’s a significant task).

Systems like Field of Battle handle the chaos, confusion and 'smokey friction' of the horse and musket battlefield exceptionally well.

·        Beneath the Lily Banners, brings in period flavour. I love the fact that infantry attacked by horse gets a chance to put pikes ‘forward’ as per primary sources. I’m considering rebasing all of my Nine Years War figures, to allow for this kind of thing more easily (and allow singles for playing Donnybrook). The emphasis is on historical accuracy and supporting the unit in melee as it would have happened (or as the limited primary sources would suggest it uhhh…might have happened ;) )

But…excessive modifiers for melee etc. are simply boring and add nothing to gameplay; in fact they turn a game into drudgery.

Order chits are ok, unless done excessively. They get forgotten and clutter up the table in larger games sometimes.

 "Oy! No pictures on the battlefield pal! Move along there."

 English troops move steadily toward the Jacobites.

Cavalry clashes defined Allied right.

 Bloody cannon decided to misfire...

An epic clash between an English cavalry squadron and James's guards, where the latter tried to form 'defence against horse', but failed, with devastating results...

They eventually rout, with additional pressure from Enniskillener and English musketry. With little but Raw Jacobite musketry to respond, the Irish troops were doomed.

All of this pushes me toward developing M&M for late seventeenth century, and developing my own rules, tentatively entitled 1689 (named after the Priestly 1644 rules from Foundry in the 90s). Of course, I might be joking ;)

Yeah, like I’ll ever get time to do that.

Steiner & le Duc, Game 3 - Black Powder (or...Where the hell is Grouchy - he's got the good dice???)

Another excellent game at Sgt Steiner's, with his beautiful 15mm Napoleonics.

I’ve slated Black Powder (through Pike & Shotte) in previous posts, and it does have its disadvantages, but the recent game at Sgt Steiner’s bunker was certainly tense.

Things to note from the game:

The Good

• ·        The orders system is subtle and adds just the right amount of restriction to what the general can do. (Also be careful what you wish for, and careful when announcing those charges!)

• ·        Movement is simple, intuitive and reduces hassle to an absolute minimum.

• ·        The system can be bent, spun, moulded and hacked into just about anything you want – in terms of play sequence and content.

The Bad

• ·        I’m still not convinced by the activation roll, and it seems a little arbitrary – but then I’m in love with the gamey Maurice method. Granted, troops in this period don’t always do what you want them to, though bad dice rolls can completely remove the general’s ability to manage the army (while in Maurice, you can always gauge that resource going down, or at least plan for the next turn). Even with a few average brigade commanders in BP, you can really get whacked by some dice rolls outside the bell curve.

• ·        We forgot some subtleties like disorder when rolling sixes during firefights. Though there are a lot of these little ‘hidden’ things in the rules that work off the roll or its effects. Experience with the rules would probably cater for this, though I think it gets a little ‘warhammer-esque’ at times. A symptom of the rules’ heritage I suppose.

• ·        Melee; I had this problem in my Pike & Shotte game. Markers, bits, rolls, more markers, checking and moving and… If this system is meant to put you off charging home, it works.

 

The Ugly

• ·        We had notoriously random dice rolls in this game - at both ends of the bell curve, which didn’t grant activation at critical moments or threw command blunders in for a laugh (3 times - how the rules work of course) yet also meant that reinforcements didn’t appear at all (house rules – but a great provider of tension). A particularly gruesome example of this was when the French Guard cavalry seemed to get lost on their way to the battlefield. They would have had a decidedly influential effect on the game..if they had only marched to the ‘sound of the guns’. Where is Grouchy???

 Prussian right flank. These guys didn't last very long against experienced French cavalry.

The Prussian centre. This brigade would form a thin 'blue' line in the centre.

The French move to attack early on.
 

French skirmishers deploy as Prussians move to hold the centre.

Blucher appeared (that's Dave Blucher, Division Commander of course - not the older bloke with the pipe) to encourage the troops.

 The Prussian lines formed in centre, ready for French columns.

After being decimated by the cavalry action on the right flank, the Prussians secured it with a spare infantry brigade.

There's a little Landwehr cavalry unit in there. They seemed to be in a daft position, but it turned out ok for them.

French Old Guard advancing (gulp!)

Just in the nick of time, Prussian cavalry arrived to secure the Prussian left.

Landwehr vs Young Guard flank...(It's blurry because my hands were shaking!)

The battering in the centre goes on. French reserves take their time to arrive, but the Prussians seemed to be working to a timetable. "Good to see you Herr Steinmetz."

 BP Lessons Learned #23 - don't assault infantry ensconced in town!
 

Flanks, rear, front...'Merde!'


A tense game with 'ooohs', 'aaahs' and various expletives (oh those bloody dice). Highly entertaining however. Perhaps more games with BP, and as stated, it's always eminently hackable. More to come I think. Next game probably Beneath the Lily Banners.

Sgt Steiner chez le Duc

Sgt Steiner of the Blog-o-sphere journeyed the short hop to le Duc's bunker for a game of the favoured Maurice.

An excellent Nine Years War 100 point clash (with even some attempt to use the scouting rules beforehand) this time.

English/Dutch attackers, with the odd Danish mercenary battalion, vs French and Irish defenders (who also managed to pick up a few Danes due to miscalculation of numbers), with the town square as an objective

A fraught battle, with reverses and tense moments.


Highlights included:

• Maurice's frustratingly devastating ability to place marshes where you don't want them, thereby effectively making a flank redundant (or securing it, depending upon your viewpoint).
• The devastating effect of the 'lethal vollies' national advantage (it's lethal !!), brought about by virtue of re-roll allowance. A la Baionette makes a similar difference, though not so readily useful when the defender, on hindsight.
• We managed to firm up on the melee rules, where doubling up in terms of melee totals made significant, and bloody, difference.
• Again - wonderful opportunities for resource management, while the rest of the battlefield looks on, and you frustratingly can't do what you want to!!!
• Pikes make a big difference vs cavalry (uhhh as designed to I guess). We actually forgot them at one stage, recalculated, and replaced the troops that had been removed, simply because the +2 from pike defence made such a difference to the overall total. This is as period of course, and provides a nice reshaping of how the cavalry (brittle as it can be) is used.

 'Right lads. This is what I want you to do. Hey! Where are you going?'

 The centre, as French regulars await the attack.

 The Allied centre, as the Dutch Garde de Voet go in. Elite troop status made these guys incredibly resilient.

The Allied left, where someone has stuck a marsh in a most inopportune position.

'Lethal Vollies' unleash hell on the attacking French cavalry.

The centre holds as the French force a Dutch charge, which created our clarification re. melee.

Pikes make a big difference vs cavalry charge of course.

 In the end, a constant wearing down via musketry made the difference and morale ebbed away. As with most Maurice battles, the objective is rarely seized before one side or another leaves the field. Though of course, that seems to make sense.

Next up? Black Powder, then perhaps Beneath the Lily Banners.

Game 29 - Dave the DoomLich and the Assault on Chizzlewit's Tomb...or something.

Ok, there's a lot of stuff made up on spec here, so be warned!

With less time for prep than usual, we decided that it was high time we tried out 'Song of Blades and Heroes'. Now it's because we like the idea of the dice roll and initiative mechanisms and not because we want to tell some Lord of the Rings style story...honest. ;)

So, despite the allusions to comedic disparagement(!), we did take this seriously ...no really.

And so, presenting the characters today, we have:

The Forces of GOOD:
Bonan the Barbarian and his two girlfriends (lucky bast**d), Sylvia the Sorceress (who wants to be a fashion model rather than a magic user), the brave Lord Burnham and Fartleck the Dwarf and his mate uhhh...Simon?

The Forces of BAD (booo, hisss): Led by Dave the DoomLich of Soapinme Bath, with Kul the Minotaur and Hugh, Pew, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert and Dibble...the orcs (Grub was on holiday).


Joking aside, there are some nice touches to these rules, with activation based on one to three rolls of d6 per character, with successes dictating whether you get your actions, or if initiative moves to your next character, or even the other player.

(Our feeling of course was centred upon how this would feature for asymmetric engagements between PMCs and insurgents on the modern battlefield, if tweaked for firefights - and I know there is a modern version available, which we'll try ('flying lead' I think)).

 The forces approach each other, with Lord Burnham sprinting toward the lost 'Tomb of Chuzzlewit' - the objective for the scenario.

Dave the DoomLich looks on, then takes matters into his own hands.
'I will deal with them, myself."

 Oooh, but a bit of a rumble develops. That damned minotaur is pretty tough.

 Bow Cam...though the Orc archer didn't make a lot of difference (until later).

In the fracas that follows at the tomb, Kul the Minotaur goes down under a hail of blades from one of Bonan's girlfriends. The death is a gory one, which inflicts a morale check. They all run like hell (even Dave!).

...as Sylvia the Sorceress takes a moment to pose for the camera in front of a suitably imposing backdrop, with a view to giving up Magic School and getting that dream modelling job.

The evil ones start to move back for a second attack, but they have neither the numbers nor the tank Minotaur...

The orc archer finally gets a decent shot in.

Lord Burnham makes his fear check and engages Dave the DoomLich at close quarters...

 ...as Dave disappears in a 'poof' of smoke, and goes back to ...some demi-plane or something.

The orc archer slays one of Bonan's wimmen...he will NOT be pleased.

Sylvia poses in front of a rock. 'That's it luv, it's the Vogue cover.'

The good guys gang up on the last orc, and pulverise 'im.

 The forces of good...triumphant! (Sylvia poses for another shot..and who's that behind the rock?)

 'The Ruins of Chuzzlewit's Tomb'...double nicely as a dice box.