BigRedBat's away day

I've been away to Nottingham to play a game chez RTB, with Roger himself and Ken and Will from WD3 forum.  We played a very large Napoleonic game, very loosely based on Borodino, using Roger and Ken's extensive armies and a small contingent of my forces.  I'll post a few shots over the next few days, here are some to get started with from the initial Russian deployment.

Above is a view from behind the Russian great redoubt, which Will had made for the game, looking towards the French lines.  I think RTB painted the guns.

Here are some troops on the Russian right; the cossacks, in particular, turned out to be a real PITA.

Above is a view of the Russian left, including a battery of 12pdrs.  The Russian guns were terribly powerful, and later took a terrible toll of the attackers.

A view of the Russian left, from behind the French lines.  This was a relatively quiet wing; not much action aside from some long range firing.  I think all the Generals were too worried that they might need to read up the bizarre Black Powder rules on attacking buildings.

...and finally Kutusov, himself (seated) with the Russian General Staff.  The Russian Staff drank a good deal of imported French Pinot Noir, during the game, but sadly this isn't depicted.  It didn't seem to unduly impair their performance.  These beautiful figures were painted by Roger, over just a few days.

Tomorrow, the French!

Yet another whiff of Black Powder

We played our fifth practise game tonight.  I think we now have a pretty good grasp of the rules, which work well, now that we are more familiar with them and have found various online summary sheets.  One of my friends has even summarised the rules, which I still believe are verbose and poorly edited.  But do give a good game.

Here are some shorts of tonight's game.  Again we have the Mexican Civil war...

Above; heroic republicans, under yrs truly.  Most of these infantry sat on their baseline for the first 3 turns, on account of failed command rolls.

Dastardly Imperialist adventurers, preparing to advance.  In the event, we took the battle to them.  Note my new (not yet entirely finished) hills.

The French cavalry in the foreground were charged by twice their number of Republicans, but had rather the better of the encounter.

Luckily the Republican cavalry managed to roll well on Command, and retired far, far away (36"!), to lurk on their baseline and lick their wounds.

Brave Republicans assault imperialist lackeys in a building.  Buildings are very tough, indeed, to take, as the defenders get a +2 morale save.  Three times the number of attackers had their work cut out, but were making reasonable headway.

But on the other wing the French rout one Republican battalion, and force another to retire, disordered.  We then ran out of time.  Honours were broadly even, and it was a great game.   We have decided that we really need to start a campaign.

My farourite moment in the game ocurred when, in the very first turn, the French's Indian allies who had caused me so much grief last week, fumbled a Command roll, ran off the table, and refused to return!

Another whiff of Black Powder

Muswell Militia had our fourth go at the rules last night, adding quite a few more units, some terrain and Matthew, a fourth player. 

Republicans advance towards a French-held farm.  A column of brave lancers, two of militia and a gun.

At my end of the table we launched a rapid attack, including a cavalry charge, that was improbably thrown back by the French's Tupi (?) Indian allies (bad dice rolling!).  These worthies then wandered round behind my flank, occupied a building and repeatedly disordered my other units with a galling bowfire (! below).  My attack, which had appeared unstoppable, ran out of steam...

At the other end of the table (below), in the distance, the French relief force pushed aside the Republican holding force, and we reckoned it an Imperialist win.

We enjoyed the game but I did get frustrated with the lack of structure in the rules.  There was an awful lot of flicking back and forth through the rulebook, that really shouldn't have been required.  That said, we will be seeking out some quick reference sheets and playing again next week!

PS there is a much fuller write-up at mate Dr. Simon's site.

Black Powder in Mexico

Tonight we had out third trial outing of the Black Powder system, using Dr Simon's Imperialist and Revolutionary Mexicans.  This time we added cavalry, artillery and a few special rules, and it rolled along very quickly and enjoyably.

I still think the rules are written in a rather verbose and annoying way, but can testify that they do work well!  Next week we will try a slightly more elaborate game, with a couple more units, and some terrain.