Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Just finished a 4-player play-test of the Honours of War Seven Years War wargame rules, which Osprey is going to publish next year. The game was Prussians against an allied force of Austrians, Russians, and Reichsarmee troops.
A typical 28mm unit in HoW has a frontage of about 200mm. We used our 15mm troops instead. But rather than use the reductions listed in the rules, we made our units larger so that they has the same frontages (or pretty close) as for the 28mm figures. This worked very well and made for a truly spectacular battlefield. The pictures I have taken do not do anywhere near justice to the look of the game due to my lousy photography skills, but hopefully they give the right impression.
Basics:
The game table represented a shallow valley somewhere in central Europe around 1760. The allies were holding a line of hedgerows and a stream to the South, while the Prussians were attacking from the North:
Each side set up 18 inches onto the table. HoW lists distances in centimeters, but due to us being Yanks we converted them to inches.
The Prussians set up with their cavalry on the wings. Their infantry in the center began the game in march column. The allies also had their infantry in the center, cavalry on the wings, but only one brigade in march column. Its job was to get through the woods and take the built up areas in the center of the table. The Prussians had the same idea. The Prussians got a +1 to the move initiative each turn. Also their units paid no cost to change formation, while the allied units paid between half and a full move to do the same. So the Prussians grabbed the town pretty quick. Also they had consistently good luck with their command rolls, getting a lot of double moves. In HoW you roll for each brigade when it is to move. A bad roll and the brigade cannot advance (really bad and it must withdraw). A good roll gives the brigade a double move. If the CG is close to a brigadier he gets a better roll.
On the Prussian left Matt got some great command rolls and was in my face along the hedgerow and in line by turn 3 (I was the Austrian; Bob had the Russians and Reichsarmee). I sent the Austrian light horse into the woods on the far east to meet some Freicorps. This put them out of command. But since they were inferior troops anyway it seemed worth the risk.
In the center Terry grabbed the town and created a line to the east of it. On the Prussian right however the cavalry were cautious, not advancing much closer than a foot or so to the stream. In the center and on the Austrian left the Russians got off to a slow start with a few poor command rolls. But eventually they got their cavalry up onto the hill in front of them and began an attack near the town. The Reichsarmee had a unit of Austrian Grenzers ("standard" rated light troops) who formed a very effective skirmish screen. They got into a long firefight with a unit of Prussian grenadiers northwest of the town. Eventually they were "done for" and eliminated but they caused a lot of trouble for the Prussian.
On the east side of the table the Prussians destroyed the Austrian cavalry brigade, forcing it to make a desperate charge into heavily supported infantry, then munching the remains with their own cavalry. But they paid a high price, being too weakened to really strike westward and roll up the enemy flank.
In the center the Prussians destroyed a couple of Austrian battalions, but were themselves badly chewed up by concentrated fire from two medium and one light battery. In HoW each infantry brigade has an attached light battery.
On the western side of the table the Prussians tried to stop the Russian advance by charging a dragoon unit into a line of grenadiers. Russian musketry and combat rolls drove them off. The Russian medium guns had unlimbered atop the hill next to their cavalry. The guns forced one regiment of cavalry to retreat, then destroyed the weakened dragoons. This turned the weathervane of the game in the allied favor. Terry began retreating his remaining units. Matt on the east side destroyed or routed two more Austrian units, but his own infantry brigade was destroyed in the process.
After turn 8 we counted lost or routed units and the Prussian army morale had broken.
We did a retrospective on the game, what we liked and what we did not. I am sending the details of these comments, plus our questions and other observations, to Keith Flint's Yahoo group for the rules. The upshot was that these are good rules, easy to pick up, and all of us would play them again.
A Few Pictures of the Action:
A typical 28mm unit in HoW has a frontage of about 200mm. We used our 15mm troops instead. But rather than use the reductions listed in the rules, we made our units larger so that they has the same frontages (or pretty close) as for the 28mm figures. This worked very well and made for a truly spectacular battlefield. The pictures I have taken do not do anywhere near justice to the look of the game due to my lousy photography skills, but hopefully they give the right impression.
Basics:
- Table size: 6 feet X 10 feet
- Troop scale: 15mm, but large units to occupy same footprint as 28mm units
- Players: 4, experience with rules, none
- Game length in turns: 8
- Game length time: 4.5 hours
- Units:
- Infantry brigades were 3 standard battalions plus 1 superior grenadier battalion, 1 light battery per brigade
- Cavalry brigades were 2 cuirassier regiments (superior), 1 dragoon regiment (standard), 1 light regiment (inferior for allies, standard for Prussians)
- Each side had a couple of independent light units
- Position batteries:
- Prussians: 3 medium, 1 heavy
- Allies: 5 medium
- Generals: All generals were "dependable". The rules have dithering, dependable, and dashing generals. Normally you would roll for each general at the start of the game, with the die rolls varying by nationality. Each brigade has a general; there is also one Commanding General per side.
- 2 cavalry brigades
- 3 infantry brigades
- 2 cavalry brigades
- 4 infantry brigades (Reichsarmee mostly inferior troops)
The game table represented a shallow valley somewhere in central Europe around 1760. The allies were holding a line of hedgerows and a stream to the South, while the Prussians were attacking from the North:
 |
| Initial setup |
The Prussians set up with their cavalry on the wings. Their infantry in the center began the game in march column. The allies also had their infantry in the center, cavalry on the wings, but only one brigade in march column. Its job was to get through the woods and take the built up areas in the center of the table. The Prussians had the same idea. The Prussians got a +1 to the move initiative each turn. Also their units paid no cost to change formation, while the allied units paid between half and a full move to do the same. So the Prussians grabbed the town pretty quick. Also they had consistently good luck with their command rolls, getting a lot of double moves. In HoW you roll for each brigade when it is to move. A bad roll and the brigade cannot advance (really bad and it must withdraw). A good roll gives the brigade a double move. If the CG is close to a brigadier he gets a better roll.
On the Prussian left Matt got some great command rolls and was in my face along the hedgerow and in line by turn 3 (I was the Austrian; Bob had the Russians and Reichsarmee). I sent the Austrian light horse into the woods on the far east to meet some Freicorps. This put them out of command. But since they were inferior troops anyway it seemed worth the risk.
In the center Terry grabbed the town and created a line to the east of it. On the Prussian right however the cavalry were cautious, not advancing much closer than a foot or so to the stream. In the center and on the Austrian left the Russians got off to a slow start with a few poor command rolls. But eventually they got their cavalry up onto the hill in front of them and began an attack near the town. The Reichsarmee had a unit of Austrian Grenzers ("standard" rated light troops) who formed a very effective skirmish screen. They got into a long firefight with a unit of Prussian grenadiers northwest of the town. Eventually they were "done for" and eliminated but they caused a lot of trouble for the Prussian.
On the east side of the table the Prussians destroyed the Austrian cavalry brigade, forcing it to make a desperate charge into heavily supported infantry, then munching the remains with their own cavalry. But they paid a high price, being too weakened to really strike westward and roll up the enemy flank.
In the center the Prussians destroyed a couple of Austrian battalions, but were themselves badly chewed up by concentrated fire from two medium and one light battery. In HoW each infantry brigade has an attached light battery.
On the western side of the table the Prussians tried to stop the Russian advance by charging a dragoon unit into a line of grenadiers. Russian musketry and combat rolls drove them off. The Russian medium guns had unlimbered atop the hill next to their cavalry. The guns forced one regiment of cavalry to retreat, then destroyed the weakened dragoons. This turned the weathervane of the game in the allied favor. Terry began retreating his remaining units. Matt on the east side destroyed or routed two more Austrian units, but his own infantry brigade was destroyed in the process.
After turn 8 we counted lost or routed units and the Prussian army morale had broken.
We did a retrospective on the game, what we liked and what we did not. I am sending the details of these comments, plus our questions and other observations, to Keith Flint's Yahoo group for the rules. The upshot was that these are good rules, easy to pick up, and all of us would play them again.
A Few Pictures of the Action:
 |
| The Austrian center brigade enters the woods |
 |
| The Prussians have captured the town. Green, blue, and black markers indicate hits suffered. |
 |
| Hussars vs. Freicorps in the woods. HoW lets both troop types move full speed in woods. |
.jpg) |
| Prussian high tide in the center. Units with 3 hits are in trouble. 5 hits destroys a unit. |
 |
| The Austrian cavalry brigade makes a fateful attack. Yellow markers indicate charges. |
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| The Russian and Reichsarmee brigades have crossed the stream and outflanked the town. |
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Seven Years War Rules: Join Yahoo Group and look in files section: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wargamerulesandtools/info
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