A Cornucopia of Away Games and Mistakes

The cabin and painting desk have been deserted lately as I went to my friend Martin's place for a couple of day's gaming.  Well, perhaps 'mainly gaming' is a better description, as on the Tuesday evening we just went down the pub for a few pints of Harvey's Sussex Best.  Much like most of the later games I was too absorbed to take photos so this stock photo from the Interweb will have to suffice.

The following morning, when we got our act together, we had a game of 'Mortem et Gloriam', aka MeG, not something I had played before but I was keen to try it and Martin had played it several times as it's a popular rule-set at his local club and he wanted to get some more practise.

The game pitched my Normans as Sicilian Normans, with additional 'Sicilian' types being provided by Martin ... 

... against his Nikephorian Byzantines.

With a newbie (me), guided by an inexperienced player, unfamiliarity with rules saw this game run through to the early afternoon when, as the inevitability of a Norman win became apparent, we called the game.  The rules worked well in terms of outcomes and command structure, with commanders forced to prioritise their actions, but I didn't feel they offered anything new compared to existing rule-sets.  In particular I felt the focus on the files within units felt like a half-way house that was neither unit nor element focused and the separate charge and mêlée phases seemed to slow the game down.  However, these are just first impressions and I need to try them again sometime as I've often disliked rule-sets on first encountering them only to appreciate their virtues with more games.

The next game was a Thirty Years War clash using the 'Liber Militum Tercios' Rules, our favourite for this particular conflict.

These rules use order cards that are placed face down next to each unit with players alternately activating units to perform the order given them.

Looking to play something a little different we opted for an entirely mounted French force seeking to destroy a Spanish infantry force (plus one unit of horse); all troops being provided by Martin.

This proved a really interesting tactical conundrum with the more agile French horse looking for an opening that wouldn't involve frontally charging pike and the Spanish trying to deny them that opportunity.  In the end the French managed to charge a couple of the Spanish tercios in the flank (sorry, this is the only photo I have) ...

... but in both cases the Spanish, while taking many hits just survived being broken and with some French units refusing to charge managed to rally.  The French losses from these combats and Spanish musketry and cannon fire eventually saw several units break and the French conceded the field.  While a fun game with rules we've often played, we still made a number of mistakes that probably drove the outcome.  We also discovered we had always interpreted one rule incorrectly, luckily that error had no real impact on the game.  

So, onto a third game in the evening using Maurice; no picture of the rules so another image grabbed from the ubiquitous web-thingy.

This game used my 1745 armies (15mm Essex Miniatures) and some modifications to the rules to try and bring out a bit more conflict specific flavour.

No rule cock-ups this time, but I still haven't quite got the balance right between the two armies, and the Highlanders rolled over the Hanoverians without loss!

The following morning, we set up a DBM fight between the Rus (me) and the Bulgars (Martin), albeit the armies had to take some liberties with the Army Lists as we didn't have everything needed.

This game, like the earlier Tercios game, saw the Rus desperately trying to stop the Bulgar cavalry getting round their flanks, as they were fairly impervious to cavalry charging them frontally.  The Rus axemen ('Blades' in DBM-speak) were the least effective against cavalry so were held back as a reserve to plug any gaps that appeared as in the photo below - and contributed to the Rus' success in defeating the Bulgars.

The figures in this game were all Martin's beautifully painted 15mm Minifigs, so nice in fact that for once I took some decent photos, this time of his Byzantine Varangians being used to represent Rus Axemen.

Again we made a mistake!  This time over the PIP cost of moving irregulars but luckily corrected in Turn 2, so it had minimal impact on the game.  When this game ended it was lunchtime, after which I wended my way back home.  

So, four games in a day and half, lots of fun but lots of mistakes.  I'm not sure what the lesson here is, but I suspect I need to play more games with fewer rule-sets as it seems that, like so much in life, practise makes perfect, or at least less imperfect.

Old Toys - New Rules

A quick post on my latest game, mainly because I haven't yet posted anything on my ECW collection and they are, IMO, my prettiest army.  The troops are mostly old figures (mainly Hinchliffe) but the rules have been around for a few years, and they are, Liber Militum Tercios:

I have played these rules quite a bit, but always with a Martin's 15mm Thirty Years War collection.  The new bit this time, was using my 25mm ECW armies as a vehicle to allow Simon, who had never played them, to try them out.  As a learning game the armies were set up facing each other across a fairly open table, Parliament on the left and Royalists on the right.

Parliament was commanded by Earl of Essex (Simon).

The Royalists were commanded by His Majesty King Charles (me).

Tercios requires the players to place an order card face down next to each unit at the start of every game turn.  Then after dicing for initiative (who goes first), take it in turns to activate a unit to carry out its order; this is automatic when the unit is fresh (has taken no hits or 'wear' in Tercios terminology) but otherwise has to be diced for against the unit's discipline rating.  The orders restrict what a unit may do, provide bonuses or penalties for some actions, and how it may respond if attacked - these bonuses and reaction options are indicated on the cards.

Turn 1: the larger cavalry wings in the more open terrain (Royalist right and Parliament left), both advanced rapidly ('Run' orders).  They stopped 3" apart (the closest that enemy can be approached without 'Assault' orders) ...

... with Rupert's Horse leading the advance for the Royalist right wing.

The rest of the troops on both sides advanced more cautiously, presumably awaiting the outcome of the cavalry engagement before committing themselves.

 

Turn 2: the cavalry clash went dramatically wrong for Parliament, with Simon rolling some abysmal dice to see the first line of units swept away in rout and fleeing off the table.

Leaving the Royalist cavalry ready to repeat the performance, in the next turn, against the second line of Parliament horse that were now in poor shape (red markers indicate hits, and green disorder). 

Elsewhere, Parliament's infantry edged towards the stationary Royalist foot and the fight between the smaller cavalry wings also played out in favour of the King.

And beyond all this amongst the hedged enclosures, the two opposing dragoon units advanced towards each other.

Turn 3: the fickle dice turned on the Royalists (or depending on your perspective made amends to Parliament) and much of the triumphant Royalist horse was sent packing.

The infantry on both sides advanced cautiously exchanging shots at long range as did the artillery which had been steadily firing away to take the edge of a unit or two.

While the dragoons just eyeing each other with intent, the smaller cavalry wings continued to battle it out.  Some of the Royalist horse finding itself now caught between the two lines of advancing infantry decided to charge the Parliament foot rather than be shot down in place.

This bold (foolhardy?) move almost paid off, as with their seven combat dice I rolled five 6's, a 5 and a 3 (needing 5+ to hit)!  But the Simon rolled very well on his saving throws and the foot were only forced to disengage.

Turn 4: the Royalist cavalry's luck didn't carry through to this turn and a crashing volley from the Parliamentarian foot convinced them to flee the field not to return.

Meanwhile the larger Royalist cavalry wing had managed to sort itself out and drive off the last the opposing horse; in response to which Essex's Foot regiment was deployed to protect the now open flank.

The Royalist cavalry had more success when Gentlemen Pensioners managed to catch the London Trained Bands Blue Regiment by surprise but failed to break it, only forcing a retreat.  Elsewhere the infantry continued exchange volleys to little effect as did the dragoons.

Turn 5: saw the last of both sides weaker cavalry depart the field while in the distance the Royalist dragoons charged their opponents only to be rebuffed.

The Gentlemen Pensioners now paid the price for their foray into the centre of the Parliament army as fired on from several sides the survivors fled the field.

But at the end of the turn, Essex, with his beleaguered infantry bereft of any cavalry support, concluded the day was lost and withdrew his army to fight another day.  

In Tercios, games only last 8 turns at most and victory is only assessed after the 5th and subsequent turns.  The advantage (in lost units and commanders) required to win reduces each turn after the 5th, and in this game the Royalists just managed to get far enough ahead to call a decisive victory in the 5th turn (a decisive victory is the only victory allowed in turn 5).

Simon seemed to enjoy the game despite not knowing what he was doing in the first turn or two.  And, as he was talking about buying the rules, I guess the game met its objectives.

If you are interested in these rules the 'lite' version, that pretty much covers everything except some terrain and commanders, is available as a free pdf at:

268954336-brevis-editio-tercios-english.pdf

Good Luck!