War of the Roses Game

I've just completed a real grinding contest between the Houses of York and Lancaster. As it was pretty snowy outside I decided on a Towton like battle fought in a swirling blizzard. The gameplay matched the weather with a whirlwind of manoeuvre settling down to a series of close combats along the line.

The archers were potent and made a telling impact, however, it was the heavy infantry and cavalry which proved to be the decisive arms. The superior armour ratings gave them high battlefield endurance and staying power in close combat.

I succumbed to allowing a unit of mounted knights on each side - what a medieval game without knights! I know it wasn't on the lists but I couldn't resist.

Outcome was a very narrow Yorkist victory - 3 units to 2. About as close as you can get.

I really enjoyed this - it looked good and played the way I would expect a medieval brawling match would pan out.

Next on my list - a revisit of the skirmish rules I think.

Skirmish Game: Future War

I'm currently not going into work due to the adverse weather conditions in
Scotland, so between sessions of shoveling snow, this has given me the
opportunity to catch up on my gaming.

I was anxious to revisit the skirmish rules which I'd used for a FIW battle. I'd
enjoyed this immensely so I thought I'd give it a try this time with a sci-fi
spin. I'd used my old favourites the "Azzies" vs the Terran Union.

I used my completed Skirmish rule amendments and overlaid some random terrain
determination and specific solo play rules for the Terran deployment of
concealed units as the defender.

The Azuriach Imperium had an entire platoon of three sections which amounted to
36 men in total on 13 bases. 9 power armoured heavy infantry, 3 PML teams and
one Command base. The base is the combat element in my skirmish games.

Opposing them were a platoon of Terran Guard Infantry. These were 22 men
organised as 8 bases: 5 rifles, 2 PML and one command.

Both forces were classed elite for unit characteristics.

The table was pretty cluttered with terrain. I was simulating a rugged jungle
type environment with plenty of steep hills and ravines. This slowed the Azzie
advance. They did detect a couple of Union positions early and started to deploy
their greater numbers to eliminate these in turn. Well that was the plan but it
didn't go that way initially. The Terrans managed to ambush from a couple of
other concealed positions and throw back the assault on the left aimed at one of
the victory objectives - a steep hill occupied by 6 guardsmen.

By the way the Azzies had 3 primary objectives. Two steep hills occupied by the
Guard and a solitary research station.

The Union started to throw back the Azzie advance which was hampered by the
terrain and some bases getting bunched together. As casualties mounted so the
morale tests started to kick in. This ultimately had severe consequences for the
Terrans as they lost both of their PML Teams when they reached 50% casualties.
Their command stand was also eliminated which caused another base loss.

In contrast the Azzies' morale held up for two sub-unit tests and an overall
force down to 50% test. The Elite morale status helped both sides to maintain
cohesion and not disintegrate in the face of mounting casualties.

Finally the Azzies forced the Union to exit the table with only one base
remaining. The Imperium retained five battle worthy bases.

This was great fun and both sides gave me surprises. I think I've got the rules
with my own modifications nailed down now. I liked the discretionary use of
cover by bases, my solo defender placement rules worked well and the observation
rules operated nicely.

Overall a good one. I'll extend the combatants to my adaptation of the WWII
Rules next. I've done quite a bit of work to re-vamp and tighten the text up so
I'm looking forward to giving them a road test with combined arms forces.

Seven Years War Playtest: NPW Modifications

I finally got round to playing a game this weekend. The last of my Napoleonic
adaptations to other H&M periods. This time a Frederick impersonator pitted
against a wily Austrian commander.

The game played out very nicely and I particularly liked the way the Prussian
rapid fire ruling of half move combined with firing, allowed the Prussians to
advance on the Austrians and still inflict attritional casualties. Put a lot of
pressure on the defensive force to match the Prussian musketry.

The Austrians were good in defended positions, however, in this game the
Prussians seized the initiative early and managed to get to occupy most of the
prime locations early on.

I've been focusing on some research and a backlog of rules drafting to get all
my Modern periods and AMW sub-periods onto the word processor.

Now I'm free I'll get back to some more games and might even start rolling out
some painted forces!

World War I: Early War August 1914

Finished an excellent Early WWI game using my WWI amendments for the WWII Rules.
All worked really well and I made some positive tweaks as I went through the
game.

The encounter was between two advance guards, one a BEF Brigade, the other a
German Regiment. Both had supporting srtillery and cavalry squadrons.

The Germans took the initative which managed to deal effectively with one of the
British flanks. In the infantry conflict they gradually encroached on the better
positions making superior use of cover, which in these rules is a major
contributor to battlefield endurance.

Final analysis: Germans won in quite a convincing manner with the British
conceding and making a hasty withdrawl.

These modern rules stand up well for all the sub-periods I've played so far. I
think I'm onto a winner as I was after an Operation Warboard / Featherstone /
Rapid Fire style game which I think this ruleset offers.