Battles & Brews Game

 

 

Battles & Brews 2022 is in the books, as they say, and a good time was had by all. . . at least as far as I could see. Go here to my previous post to learn more about the event, and here for a look at some of the games. I put on one game of Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles with the selfish goal of play-testing my rules additions and unit characterizations for campaigning during the French & Indian War. In the One True Scale, of course.

The terrain was basically symmetrical so both sides had the same advantages and challenges. The scenario was a meeting engagement, and whoever held the center clearing at game's end would be the winner.

 

Both armies were the same size and roughly the same configurations for as clean a play-test as possible. I am also using unit sizes that correspond to the forces used in GMT Games' Bayonets and Tomahawks for use in a map-based campaign; the Irregular units are roughly one-quarter to one-third the size of Regular Brigades. All of the Irregular units are one 6-man unit and the Regulars and Provincials are 2 10-man units with a Brigade Commander. Each army then gets one overall Commander. Each unit has an integral Unit Leader with no traits (at this time) whose loss causes a negative modifier to Rally attempts.

Each Army for this game consisted of one overall Commander, One Regular Brigade of 2 10-man units with Brigade Commander (Player One); one Provincial Brigade of 2 10-man units with Brigade Commander (Player Two - the British were Regulars and the French Irregular). Player Three had two units of Irregulars; French had First Nation Warriors and the British had Rangers. Each side then had a unit of Regular Grenadiers and French Irregular Marines or British Irregular Light Infantry to assign as desired. 6 players in total!

The Irregulars came onto the table on Turn One, the British and French on opposite sides. The French Natives and Marines entered on the narrower strip of woods with the British Light Infantry and one unit of Rangers opposite.

 

On the wider wooded flank the French Provincials faced off against the other unit of British Rangers.

 

On Turn Two the Regulars arrived via the road mostly, except for the British Grenadiers that entered in the woods on their left flank and one unit of the British Provincials that entered the woods on their right flank behind the Rangers.

As the Irregulars found hard cover in the woods to provide covering fire the Regulars maneuvered to sort out into firing lines in the clearing.

 

The French Regulars got their firing line organized first as the Natives charged the Rangers in the woods on their right flank, the melee throwing the Rangers out from behind their cover. The Provincials on the other flank blazed away at each other.

 

After the British Rangers fell back the Light Infantry engaged the Natives, and both sides suffered losses that caused them to retreat. The British Grenadiers moved up to the edge of the woods to provide flanking fire in the clearing and delivered the first of two devastating volleys. The French Marine Irregulars left the cover of the woods to advance through the clearing and the Grenadier volley fire killed 5 of the 6 soldiers in the unit. The second volley was delivered by the center British Regular unit and 7 of the 10 French Grenadiers went down.

 

The Natives attempted to charge the British Grenadiers, but were foiled by my new Test to Charge rules. Being under half-strength and outnumbered, they failed their tests, as they should have! The British regulars were able to make good use of two "Free Reload" cards. . . and coupled with the aforementioned volleys, the French just couldn't recover and ceded the field.

 

I had a blast watching this game, and all the players seemed to have had fun. We had at least one player new to the Fistful of Lead system, and one even new to miniatures gaming (husband and wife, respectively)! Bigger Battles handled this genre admirably and my period adjustments worked as intended,. The dilemma of 18th Century Regular commanders seemed well represented - does one move into close musket range and risk taking a crippling First Fire or wait in the hope that you will get to deliver said crippling Fire instead? After delivering that volley will your men drive the enemy from the field at bayonet-point as ordered? I'm looking forward to more games using the Fistful rules, and experimenting with campaign adaptations.

See ya!

Battles & Brews is almost here!

 

Battles & Brews 2022 is happening next weekend in Independence, MO and Yours Truly will be there with my French & Indian War toys. Go here to learn more about this weekend of wargaming for grownups. Sorta. I've committed to one game on Saturday afternoon  (The Clearing - 1758) to playtest some era-specific rules amendments for Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles. 

 

Come be part of the fun! To get you in the mood, here are a few photos from the Fistful of Lead game from last March I promised to post about way back then. The scenario was a prisoner "exchange" between French and British regulars; both sides had broken the truce by hiding irregulars in the woods in an attempt to take BOTH hostages. The British regulars fired first, but the French-allied Natives forced the hand-to-hand action - in a typical Fistful-style "Blood Alley" - and the French regulars cleaned up to complete the overwhelming French victory.

 See ya there!

 

March to Victory - Game One

 

I planned to run two games; both set in the French & Indian War, based on scenarios provided in Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket rules and adapted to use the same terrain set-up so there was no need to change the layout between games.

Game One was titled "New France 1757: Defending the Ford." Scouts are trying to find a suitable river crossing to make a sweeping flank move. Unfortunately for them, the only forde is guarded by determined troops. 

Rules: Muskets and Mohawks by Two Hour Wargames / Rebel Minis. 6 units of French troops - 2 Rep 4 Regulars with Leader, 2 Rep 3 Militia with Leader and 1 Rep 5 Grenadier and 1 Rep 4 Marines - were up against 4 British units - 2 Rep 4 Regulars with Leader and 2 Rep 4 Provincials with Leader. The French had the advantage of numbers, the British the defending position. The side with the greatest number of troops closest to the ford and the road exiting the board edge at the end of the session time would win.

The defenders could set up hidden and the attackers could use hidden movement until actually spotted - which generally meant leaving the cover of the woods.

Terrain from the British side:

 And from the French:

The British deployed one Militia unit at the woods' edge on their right flank; a perfect shooting position providing cover, and held the second in reserve. They brought the Regulars into the open on the road.

The French came forward in 3 columns - the Grenadiers and Marines in the open up the road, the Regulars in the woods on their left flank (facing the Brirtish Provincials) and the Militia using hidden movement through the woods on their right flank.

The French troops made it to the edge of the river and the firefight began, both sides loosing a Volley and then settling into Firing at Will, the Provincials in the cover of the Woods getting additional protection.

The French right flank Militia that had been moving "silently" through the woods suddenly burst into the open and made for the river's edge. It would take two turns to cross the river outside the ford, and the two lines of troops blazed away at each other in the meantime, the British getting the worst of the exchange.

As soon as the French Militia made the far bank of the river they charged the left flank British Regulars, passing an unlikely Charge test! A round of Melee was fought and both sides passed their Morale rolls, meaning the Melee would continue when either side next Activated. Next turn the second unit of French Militia appropriately enough failed their Charge test. The Melee was then joined by the British Great Man himself and then the French Marines that crossed the river at the ford!

 

 

The French Grenadiers, arguably the best troops on the field, were repelled twice as they tried to cross the river at the ford by the valiant fire of the other weakened unit of British Regulars.

 

Finally, after losing 2/3 of the unit, the British Regulars in Melee failed their Morale test and recoiled. The French units, also considerably reduced in the hand-to-hand contest, decided not to Follow Up.

It was at this late point in the battle that the British committed their last unit of Provincials, moving them into the open (leaving the cover of the Woods) in front of the advancing French Regulars. It would prove too little too late as the French outnumbered the British by 2 to 1 in position re the Victory Conditions when time was called, and so claimed the field.

General note: I think the game would have been closer run had the British not held their Provincial unit in reserve, and instead had it in firing position at the Woods' edge from the beginning of the game. On either flank would have been useful, potentially causing more French casualties, and they would still have had the cover of the trees for several fires.

Note to the players, if you happen to read this. During the Melee, the British should have taken an automatic casualty each Activation for EACH unit they were fighting, instead of the single casualty I assigned. The Melee should have been a more lop-sided victory for the French. It was the only ruling anyone questioned, and I didn't want a fine set of commercial rules taking the blame! Again, if the reserved Provincials had been stationed on the left flank, the Melee may never have happened. . .

Game Two in the next post. See ya!