How did I miss this?

 

 

The second edition of This Very Ground - now subtitled Victory or Death - was released in a Kickstarter last year by Brigade Games and the original author, Keith Stine, and I just found out about it! Don't know how I missed it, though there seemed to be relatively little fanfare around it. This Very Ground was the set of rules that started my gaming journey in the French and Indian War. And it has been a journey.

I lived in the Twin Cities area from 1996 to 2001, and then moved to Tulsa, OK for work. I traveled some as part of my duties and on a trip to Minneapolis I had an opportunity to revisit an old haunt, our FLGS, The Source. It was on this trip that I purchased This Very Ground after a quick perusal in the store. I had to cross the I-35 bridge afterward, and later that afternoon while sitting in the hotel bar, I saw on the CNN national broadcast that the bridge had collapsed! Wasn't actually a "close call" as I had crossed it about 2 hours prior to its collapse, but it was a fluke that I was in the city at all.

The games in the early posts of this blog were all played with This Very Ground, a fun set of rules with innovative approaches to alternating unit activation and "volume of fire" representation and reloading. The use of D10s and percentile morale mechanics made it scalable, too; unit sizes from 5 to 25 or more figures were easily managed.

So why did I move to another set of rules? I eventually found the morale system to be really ineffectual, and Officers didn't do much other than rally off Unit Disruptions, which happened so frequently in my experience that it had little effect on the game overall. But the rest of the game was elegant, mechanically consistent, had good period flavor and was fun to play.

Lo and behold, these are the two areas that received the most attention in Victory or Death! The movement, firing and formation mechanics are basically intact from the original edition, but the command and morale systems got a thorough revamp. Activation is still alternating, but Officers use Command Points to Activate Units and effect Unit performance with a few appropriate Commands. Morale still uses Disruptions as the main "control" lever, but now Officers, and even the Units themselves, have more options and responsibilities for managing them.

One aspect of the original rules I really liked was the Testing to Charge mechanic, and how hard it was to actually get into a Melee, and that once a Melee was initiated, it was a one-turn fight to the death. That mechanic has been modified - and may not have been simplified - but it is still in Victory or Death.

Like all the other "black powder" rule sets we've seen of late, the focus of Victory or Death has been expanded beyond the French and Indian War, but has been limited to conflicts in North America. Rules and army lists are provided for King Philip's War, French & Indian War, American War for Independence and the War of 1812.

All of the rules that were released separately after the first edition covering Cavalry, Cannons & Boats are now collected in Victory or Death and updated to the new mechanics where needed. No additional volumes to buy!

The one thing I find lacking is a unit deployment system. There are 4 scenarios included - one for each of the 4 conflicts mentioned previously - and you can extrapolate a basic deployment system from the rules in all four, but deployment is so key to a game's play I find this a big miss. Again, the deployment system from Sharp Practice 2 might have to be borrowed. 

And the caveat: I haven't played This Very Ground: Victory or Death yet, but am really looking forward to putting "the old friend" on the table.

While we're on the subject of deployment, another of the Too Fat Lardies' (with Reisswitz Press) rules for WW2 deserve a mention.

The Patrol rules are really fun and create a real sense of the "fog of war." Unfortunately for me, they are aimed - as usual - at post-Normandy combat, so I probably won't even try 'em out until they release rules for the Western Desert.

Lastly - and certainly not "least" - I got my second CoVid vaccination shot! Hopefully that means a facemask-to-facemask game in May or June. Bring on "the normal."

See ya.

If The Game's Gotta Have Markers. . .

I prefer not to have markers on my game table. If I have to use them, I want them to be functional first, and then meet an aesthetic standard. The white and red D4s (die with 4 sides numbered 1 through 4) I have been using to track "volume of fire" and "disruptions" in my games of This Very Ground, and "hits" in Black Powder are very functional but perhaps a little distracting on the table. So I'm always on the lookout for nice markers.

I found these wooden markers at a local (Twin Cities) game store, and it turns out they're made by a local artist. Check out TRE Games here for lots of cool toys. 

I like the simple, wooden look of these markers. I used a red colored pencil to color the inset numbers to represent "excess hits" when needed. Here is how they'll look with a typical "small" Black Powder unit - representing a third of a battalion on my table.

 Like 'em?

The French and Indian War at Recon

What?! That's not the French and Indian War, you say! No. . . it's not. It's a photo of the 15mm Sixteenth Century Samurai game played by the local Centurions at Recon this past weekend, using the Field of Glory rules. In the foreground is the red-armored cavalry of the Ii about to fall on an open flank.

Now for the promised French and Indian War. I hauled my Blooding at Jenkins' Ford scenario - check the TwisterCon labeled posts for background - to Recon to introduce it locally. I had 4 players in the first game, two British and two French; each took one 10-man unit just to get a handle on the rules. As it happened, the two regular units were roughed up and the Rangers decided to beat it when their Provincial allies were routed by the Indians.

For the second game, Bruce (British) took a unit of Provincial regulars and a unit of Rangers, and Greg (French) a unit of Marine regulars and a unit of Indians. Both had a good feel for the rules, This Very Ground, and handled their troops well. The Marines took on the Provincials in the opening volleys, then were put to flight and eventually killed to a man by the Rangers. Meanwhile the Indians managed to work around the flank of the weakened Provincials and then slaughter them in a whooping charge. The game ended in a draw when the last 5 Indians found themselves in the cover of the woods staring at the last 4 Rangers and the Provincial officer across the river in their own wooded cover!

  
Thank you, Bruce, Greg and George for helping to load the game into the truck afterward!

 See ya!

TwisterCon XII: "Blooding" Game Three

As noted previously, we had 7 players for Game Three of Blooding at Jenkins' Ford. Here is the scenario description if you need a reminder. It's basically "kill or be killed;" the winner is the side with the most combatants alive at the end.

Here is the troop disposition at the end of the first turn's activations:

Of the three games, this third displayed the most strategizing and cooperation among the team members. The French weighted their right flank heavily and were very aggressive with their Indian allies. There seemed to be a tidal wave of Indians pouring through the woods!

The Indian onslaught forced the Rangers out of the woods on the east side of the river, who formed a sort of "covered square" in the woodline with the British Regulars on the west side of the river.

In the center, a unit of Colonial Provincials left the cover of the woods and received a brutal volley from the French Regulars, which sent back into the woods to lick their wounds.

The effect of this volley seemed to embolden the entire French army and they advanced all along the line, shifting to their right to put more pressure on the British left.

 And as the Indians on the British left stormed across the river and charged the British "square" in the woods, I got so caught up in the action (and figuring modifiers to Courage scores) that I stopped taking photos!

When the Indians killed the Regulars to the last man, with a unit of Provincials nearly wiped out and the Rangers with no option but to run, the British ceded the game. A very dramatic finish to a game played well on both sides.

I think I will take this scenario to Recon in a couple of weeks. I am not sure how many players we will have and the game scales up and down just fine, so we can be flexible as needed. If you're in the Twin Cities on April 23rd, come see us at Recon.

See ya!