Colonial Wars Playtest

I've just played a couple of games using the modified WW2 Rules from
"Introduction".

The first was a Zulu vs British encounter based on a Rorke's Drift type
scenario. The second a rather one-sided Battle of Colenso simulation from the
Second Anglo-Boer War.

I've a number of universal amendments that I apply, but basically I used theses
rules and further tweaked them here and there for period specific factors such
as Boer marksmanship (which was pretty devastating from concealed positions),
dismounted cavalry, traditional cavalry operations, Zulu rapid movement etc.

The Zulu Wars game was the most exciting and was touch and go for the defending
British as their enclosure was breached several times by waves of charging Zulu.
The devastating impact of close range fire really did seem to manifest itself
quite visually with waves of Zulu being cut down before they could just reach
the British lines. In the end the British managed to fend off the assault.

The Boer encounter was very much one-sided with a frontal British assault fully
repulsed by concealed Boers in a number of sangar positions. In hindsight the
Boers were in much higher numbers than they should have been historically and
also had a couple of pieces of artillery for good measure. On both marksmanship
and artillery handling / quality they get bonuses and advantages. Combined with
inflated numbers and defensive positions this proved to be a rather bloody and
one-sided affair. I'll refight this next time with lower Boer numbers and less
artillery.

Both played very well using these amendments and I was happy with the historical
results and period feel they gave me.

Renaissance Playest: Japan Late 16th Century

I've just completed an excellent Renaissance game which simulated a clan dispute set in Late Feudal Japan c.1550 to 1600. Clan Yakato was opposed by Clan Onaka with the battle set in a lightly wooded valley. Both sides had roughly the same composition of troop types: Clan Yakato Samurai (Gendarmes, Extra Heavy Armour, Elite) 2 Samurai (Swordsmen, Heavy Armour, Elite) 1 Samurai (Swordsmen (Longbow), Heavy Armour, Elite) 1 Ashigaru Mixed Unit: 2 x Shot (arquebus), Medium Armour, Average 2 x Pikemen (spears), Medium Armour, Average 3 Wakato (Light Infantry (longbow), Light Armour, Average)1 Clan Onaka Samurai (Gendarmes, Extra Heavy Armour, Elite) 1 Samurai (Swordsmen, Heavy Armour, Elite) 1 Samurai (Swordsmen (Longbow), Heavy Armour, Elite) 1 Ashigaru Mixed Unit: 2 x Shot (arquebus), Medium Armour, Average 2 x Pikemen (spears), Medium Armour, Average 4 Wakato (Light Infantry (longbow), Light Armour, Average)1 Chugen One of the Ashigaru units designated as Elite Infantry units were composed of only four stands. This is in contravention of the Renaissance Rules, however, I felt that infantry formations were probably smaller than their European counterparts and this also increased the power of Samurai cavalry in relation to dismounted units, something I wanted to simulate. For aesthetics I represented every unit with 6 stands ranged 3 to front 3 to rear. As in my other games that I've used this method, the fifth and sixth were for visual purposes only with no impact on gameplay apart from bulking the unit during the process of casualty attrition. The game proved to be a real epic. It began well for Yakato and by turn 6 it looked as though they had the battle in the bag, however, a quite phenomenal revival of fortunes by Onaka Clan, showing a real Bushido spirit, kept their hopes alive all the way to end of Turn 15 when they were finally reduced to two units, leaving Yakato the bruised victors with five remaining functioning formations. Again I used the D20 casualty removal and the Charge Test solo amendment. All of these worked fine, introducing a few raised eyebrows when my elite Onaka Samurai Swordsmen refused to charge a waiting unit of Ashigaru. I'm starting to write up some Battle Reports so I'm hoping, in time, to post these with diagrams to the Files Section.

Napoleonic Play Test: French Revolution

I had a game on Monday evening. This one was set in the French Revolutionary
period: Italy 1796.

A French force was tasked with assaulting and capturing a small town occupied by
an Austrian army. The latter proved a very stubborn opponent displaying real
determination in thwarting the French plan of steam-rolling over them.

Their superior cavalry had a decisive impact on proceedings in eliminating the
much poorer French cavalry and rolling up their infantry which were too slow to
push through the assault on the town.

All in all a very creditable performance from the Austrians with their army
playing to it's strengths: good cavalry, quality infantry when deployed in a
defensive position. I played this solo and must admit I was a little biased to
the French so I'm pleased the Austrians overcame this.

There were a couple of modifications I used to assist solo play:
1. Unit Activation: when within engagement range (30cm) and not in contact, each
unit rolls a D6 prior to movement. On 2-5 they act as normal, on a 1 a Control
Test is invoked. A further dice roll result, based on some variables, determines
whether the unit obeys orders, halts, retires or advances towards to enemy.
2. Charge Test / Charge Response Test: again to avoid the "sure thing" charge
and "stand firm" defender, I've devised a simple method of rolling vs Morale
with a few modifiers to determine charge initiation, response and defensive fire
resolution.

The next couple of battles planned are outwith the current envelope of covered
periods:
1. I want to do a late 16th century Japanese clan dispute. I'll use the
Renaissance Rules with a bespoke Army List. Infantry units will be four bases
not six. This will make the Samurai cavalry more potent.
2. An Early World War I encounter between a BEF advance guard and a German
equivalent. I've the rule modications and army lists drafted. All that remains
is finding a time to play it out.

One thing I really like about these rules is their speed. I got the Monday game
setup, played and cleared away in under two hours and still felt I'd had a
satisfying wargame with credible outcomes and historical gameplay.

Dale

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the spirit they were given in.

To answer some of your points. Firstly the context. This was a solo game where I
wanted to "mix it up" a bit and introduce some unpredictability. I actually
quite like Neil's rule on Close Order Infantry and would normally use this in
games.

On specifics: CO Infantry will roll 2D6 and take the better result if they have
more bases than their opponent, otherwise it's a straight D6 Morale Test. This
does overide the rule as you say.

Hasty Square: I'm not fully wed to this rule, however, my intention was again to
introduce a bit of chaos in the infantry response. If the receiver passes the
test they may stand and perform defensive fire on the charging cavalry so I
didn't specify a need to form square in this instance. On reflection maybe there
is scope to give this option. If the receiver fails but stands in place, this
invokes the Hasty Square deployment with the downside that the unit loses a base
if it fails the Test. With a retire the unit must give ground with no capacity
to fire on the attacker.

I quite enjoyed the impact the amendments had on the game as it certainly took a
fair degree of certainty out of the unit interactions. The great advantage of
the solo game is that you can tinker and modify without aggravating a live
opponent.

Crimean Game Using The Napoleonic Rules

Played a Crimean game last night. I used the Napoleonic rules as the basis with
some period specific modifications.

It played very well. It was based on an Alma type scenario with the British
forces required to assault an entrenched Russian army ranged on a group of
hills.

Outcome was a narrow victory for the Russians. It looked as though they were
going to be ousted from the hills but managed to hold on and inflict sufficient
casualties on the British assault. The Russian artillery was potent in this
respect. They had more pieces and a higher kill factor based on superior calibre
weapons. With hindsight the balance should have been heavier on the British side
– an additional artillery unit or a couple of assault infantry units would have
been fairer.

One thing I did try out for this battle was to dispense with hit markers and
perform a D20 resolution each time casualties were inflicted. If there was one
hit this would lead to a base being removed on a score of 5, for two hits >10
and three >15. This worked well and certainly eliminated table clutter. On
balance it probably equalised out compared to a hit by hit tally.

I now plan to do a French Revolution battle and following that an Early World
War One adaptation of the WW Two rules with some modifications from Rapid Fire
and my own ideas on the subject.

New Player: First Post

I'm giving this rules system a second try. I bought the Introduction to Wargaming volume by Neil Thomas a couple of years ago and had some good games with them.

Played an exciting Late Imperial Rome v Huns / Goth Alliance which mashed the latter quite convincingly. Also played an excellent ACW engagement and converted the WW2 Rules to a Sci-fi Space Marines type game (not WH40K the old FGU Space Marines Universe).

I recently purchased his other two books and since then have had two excellent solo games. First an out of period line up between Early Hoplite Greek v Early Imperial Romans. This was a real slugfest which went down to the wire. Greek victory but only just. The Romans had poor dice rolls throughout which had a bearing but seemed to reflect the impact of luck in war quite well.

The second game was a superb Early Renaissance conflict between French and Spanish in the Italian Wars. French won quite convincingly by pinning the enemy and rolling over with their pike blocks.

Now plan to play a Crimean game using the Napoleonic rules with a few period specific adaptations. After that a French Revolution conflict between French and Austrians.

I really like the flexibility of the rules. I think they are simple but not simplistic with lots of nice features akin to the old Featherstone Rules I used to game eons ago. It captures my view of how rules should play.

It's certainly getting all my 6mm armies out for an airing. I've got virtually every period in military history in my collection so I should have plenty of examples of period adaptations coming up.