Napoleonic Again with Rule updates

A third Napoleonic game to make sure the rules are where we want them. Me defending with the Russians against Steve with the French and Italians. The key to the game would be the three villages across the centre of the table initially held by the Russians. A good opportunity to test the house fighting rules.

Steve also has a game report from a different perspective on his blog here Nations In Arms I imagine the perspective will eb a bit different to mine.

Three Divisions of Russian foot each have a village to defend supported by a gun battery. on my right flank I have a brigade of cavalry and a horse battery and a further brigade of grenadiers are off table.

The French have 4 Divisions of foot with 5 batteries of guns and a brigade of cavalry in support.

As we will see much of the night became about holding or re-taking the villages so plenty of opportunity to push the rules and see if they broke. Spoiler alert they didn't.

We roll for Ammo randomly for each battery at the start of the game, the Russian Horse battery got a 6 so gets 12 rounds of ammo.

My Dragoons on the right flank are slightly better quality than the French lights so hopefully I can take advantage of that.

The massed French in the centre push forward "Vive La Emperor!"

We draw cards which we can play to enhance our own position of hinder the enemies, I play this one to slow the French advance in the centre as I have concentrated the bulk of my forces to hold the wings.

My artillery is busy also in the centre, the two batteries dont make up for the lack of infantry in depth but can thin the French out before they hit my centre. Three sixes, that will do. The two's both cost me a round of ammunition. 

Steves counter battery fire is devastating and my artillery is on the verge of breaking.

I push my Grenadiers forward on the right and play the Forward card to increase my movement by 50% they have a fair way to go to reinforce the villages.

Another three sixes, the dice are with me tonight....well lets see if it lasts.

As the French storm the right hand village I play my devastating fire card, this doubles my firing dice to 6 only needing 4's to hit.

Sometimes you already know how you are going to roll before the dice leave your hands, 6 misses!

Despite the poor firing dice the French bounce off in the assault phase and regroup.

A second assault takes the village and pushes the Russians back, I have enough troops to re-take it but the mauled ones are int he way of the fresh troops so will take me a couple of turns to re-organise and go again.

Fresh troops organised we go again and the village is retaken from the French.

On the left the French close with another village.

The dice desert me and the village is taken by the French.

On the right the French go in again against the village, neither side gains an advantage and the melee goes on with reinforcements thrown in.

The French take the right hand village, again, and the Russians re--organise to attempt to retake it....again!

At this point my camera ran out of battery so no more pictures.

However the right hand village changed hands 3 more times with the Russian Grenadiers putting some back bone into the Russians when they arrived. Something I often have read about in Napoleonic battles but rarely seen in games.

The centre village saw off an attack but then later I eventually lost the village whilst on the left the village having been lost early failed to be re-taken 3 times!

This all felt right, it made me think of Waterloo with the taking and re-taking of La Haye Sainte and the multiple assaults on Hougoumont. Cracking game the rules really feel like they are pretty much there now.

Overall another thoroughly enjoyable game.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Further Napoleonic Game Test

 he rules are working nicely but as Steve refines them down its important to keep playing the tweaks to make sure they are working as planned. 

A couple of changes to share with this weeks test game. Russians defending for a change.

Some changes to artillery dice and some amends for Cavalry post combat in the main.

The rules need to give us the kind of game we need, decisive without being too simple. We have 2-3 hours to play an evening game with 2 -4 players, for tonight's game we had well over 1,000 figures on table so quite an ask for set of rules. Lets see if they deliver.

A key addition is cards for players to use. Randomly drawn from a pack which can be different for each nationality. Pull three at the beginning and a new one each turn. Some were brilliant, some were devastating as you will see.

Also for dense targets artillery gets an extra firing dice. However unlike the other dice it does not impact your ammunition if you get a 1 or 2. With this is mind its a different colour.

The Allies start with 4 infantry divisions on table and one Cavalry division. A brigade of Russian Guards is off table and the first A class troops we have used.

The French have similar numbers, slightly more but not by much, but their troops all start on table with the addition an extra Light Cavalry Brigade and 2 extra batteries of artillery giving them a significant initial edge. We wanted to to see what slightly overloading one side with artillery did to the game.

I quickly arranged my forces to defend the three villages across my front, my centre being a little weaker than my wings as this was where the guards planned to come on and save the day.

The central Russian divisional card comes out first and I decide to push my gun forward and use concentrated fire with my artillery rolling 6 dice s its my only 12 pdr battery.

Long range so needing 6 to hit. I get one hit but roll 4 1's depleting my ammo by 3 rounds. Not a great start.

I have started with 10 rounds as denoted by the red dice.

Already I am down to 6. Its an interesting take on ammo rules which really makes you think about how you use the artillery.

Next turn I fire again with better results but again ammo being burned up.

With the French closing in I activate the Guards to bolster my centre, Steve plays a card to cancel the activation and they remain off table. Bugger!

As the French close in on my central division Steve plays a killer card, I must remove D6 of ammo from any gun, of course he picks my 12 Pounder and the dice roll removes all its ammo so the gun is removed from table. Gutted.

As Steve closes he declares a charge on my central division now lacking its artillery support. I play a card to cancel his successful activation and the French division stalls its assault for one turn.

Meanwhile the Italians press forward to assault the village. I play another card to double my firing dice for one turn on one unit, the village defenders prevent the Italians from closing.

The French smash into the rest of the Division flanking the village and push them back. I could really do with the guards brigade at this point.

The French guns play on the already damaged infantry. Steve plays another card to cancel an activation and again my Guards fail to enter the table.

The Cavalry on the right (supported by Bakewell Tarts) have a quick dustup and bounce off each other.

Hit by artillery the infantry in the centre are now shaken, they could really do with the Guards to take over.

The artillery forces a morale which the Russians fail and one unit is broken.

A large guards brigade size hole now in my centre.

The French push on to my right, the Russians are however able to hold them just short of close combat range.

With artillery support eh French are pushed back and we have breathing space.

The Italians charge again and take the village in the centre.

Finally the Guards are here and pushing forward to punish the French. Its our first use of A class troops in these rules so be interesting to see how they get on.

To my left the Russians charge and re-take the village.

With the French at their weakest on my left I decide to launch a counter attack with my Prussians, the first line of French is forced into retreat.

To their right the French assault the next village AGAIN in.

And push my Russians out of the village with heavy casualties for both sides AGAIN.

The Prussians push on and smash into the next French Regiment.

And again on the extreme left the Prussians pile into the French.

All three French regiments re forced to retreat but not destroyed and the Prussians are left unformed and reorganising on the captured ground.

To my right the Guards engage their first French and destroy them barely missing a step.

The French in the centre are pretty worn out and the Guards are in just the right place just in time to take advantage.

I was enjoying the game so much I missed a couple of the actions, particularly the cavalry on the right, sorry.

To be honest one of the most enjoyable Napoleonic army level games I have ever played. And I have played quite a lot.

The game was hard fought and close, even at the end it could have gone either way, but the French certainly had the edge, especially in artillery.

The village changing hands as forces re-formed and tried again felt very realistic, as did the cavalry fighting itself to a stand still. The cards represent the unexpected on the battle field, like the blunders in Black Powder but better. Playing a card to remove my 12 pounder batteries ammo was frustrating, but how many times did a batteries ammo caisson get hit during artillery exchanges  and take the battery out almost entirely? 

The Guard being delayed, no more unusual than a brigade getting caught behind the baggage or confused orders about where to deploy.

All in all, thoroughly enjoyed.