What was the last rules set you played 2019

[Techno]

Sure they were Techno's clix mechs...

They might have been......

Though I don't remember making any out of Smarties. (Milliput, Plasticard and a lot of bad language rings more of a bell.)

(I truly can't remember which ones I made now...There just seem to have been an awful lot of them.....Even if I went and dug the first two sets out of the shed and had a good gander, I don't think I could be certain.)

Cheers - Phil

[toxicpixie]

I'd forgotten you did some of the clickytech 'mechs Phil! Shame you don't remember which... I'm tempted to chug through and get the later TRO for the Dark Ages and see if I can spot 'em.

Also hurrah for smarties mechs

[Smoking gun]

Crimbo limbo game today.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Cross of Iron.
2) What armies were confronted? - British Commonwealth v Italians.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6
6) What went well? - Generally most things, one of the Italian players was particularly lucky with his reinforcement rolls, needed 6's to get a tank threw 6 successes out of 8.
7) What could have been improved? - British infantry support for the tanks on the left flank.

A British win.

Martin

[steve_holmes_11]

Off to see my old made Hugh yesterday and had a go at Frostgrave with him and his son.
We had played before, but we think it's been about 3 years.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Frostgrave
2) What armies were confronted? - Wizards, Vs Wizards (and their henchmen)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 3
6) What went well? - Close combat was pretty brutal. A high body count, but they all came back in the post-game reckoning.
7) What could have been improved? - Lots of shuffling through the rulebook for the bits we had forgotten.

[toxicpixie]

Love me some Frostgrave - I got the Perilous Dark expansion the other month for co-op and solo play, looks really good!

Plus I bought Joe Mculloughs copy of Campaign Ops for Battletech this week, he was a total gent to deal with and threw in an autograph on a sticky panel for me to put in my Frostgrave book

[steve_holmes_11]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Rebels and Patriots
2) What armies were confronted? - American Civil War - the usual Pairing
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Almost, I'd done a lot of reading, but first playing unveils a few misunderstandings.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 2
6) What went well? - A surprising number of critical activations (Double one and double six) which enlivened the early parts of the game.
7) What could have been improved? - Better understanding of the rules - will re-read in the light of first game - and build my knowledge.


Game report.

Off to Westmarcher's for our first Rebels and Patriots clash.
A beautiful sunny day in the West of Scotland, better suited to outdoor pursuits than playing soldiers indoors, but plans were laid, too late to change.

Setting was the American Civil War, Widow Creek Bridge scenario - page 47 of the rules.

2nd Lieut. Mark Thyme (Westmarcher) led a Union patrol to scout, and hopefully capture the weakly held Widow Creek Bridge.
On the far side of the creek, 2nd Lieut William DuBois (Myself) rushed his reserves to reinforce the single Confederate squad dug in on the far bank.

Union Forces: 3 light infantry units 1 medium artillery. Commander able to re-roll one failed fire activation (Unused)
Confederate forces: 1 light infantry unit dug in by the bridge, 2 light infantry units marching to theirrelief. Commander has one additional point of troops (Spent to raise his unit to aggressive +1 to hit in melee, forgot to use then when eligible).


Both parties advanced toward the bridge down opposite sides of the creek.
2 of Thyme's union infantry squads rushed ahead, while the gun and third squad paused to shoot at the confederate reserves.
Casualties were light, until the union infantry opened fire on their own cannon, reducing it to permanent disorder. [Critical union fumble]
Hearing the confrontation, DuBois squad thought themselves flanked reversed direction and rushed back up the creek. [Critical confederate fumble].

A couple more failed command rolls on either side saw each armies lose time in the race to the bridge.
The rebels guarding the bridge scored the next critical activation which allowed two volleys (both ineffective).
A critical union failure saw casualties and disorder from some off-table shooting (The criticals were shooting better than my soldiers).
Mark Thyme (geddit!) led his zouaves to the front, their courage obvious to all [2 critical activations each increased their discipline; boosting activation, rallying and morale].

All the delays, alarms and excursions meant that the fight had barely begun the first end-game roll showed SIX.
Officially this meant game over with barely a man injured.

DuBois was having none of it, he brandished his sabre yelling "Let's finish the game you yellow liver Yankees".
Thyme was equal to the challenge "We'll take your bridge and hang Jeff Davis before dusk".
[We decided to play until maximum game length].

The remainder of the battle was swift and bloody, lead and powder eclipsed by guts and cold steel.
Thyme charged his zouaves against one confederate unit, these evaded, blocking the bridge in the process.
The victims of a second union charge had no space to evade, or to retreat when thrown back from their earthworks.
They suffered additional casualties, morale failure, disorder, a second blocked retreat and elimination.

Thyme's zouaves launched a second charge, this time onto the bridge, repelling its defenders to the far bank in disorder.
Only DuBois' squad remained to carry Confederate hopes - with a yell the southern gentleman led a counterattack.
Messy fighting on the bridge saw the bluecoats repelled, the two young officers briefly came face to face before being driven apart in the press of the fight.
With both commander's squads spent, fresh union reserves rushed to onto the bridge, but were unable to force a way past DuBois squad and the far bank before time expired.
The game ended before the US patrol could claim the eastern bank, yielding a partial US victory.


Thoughts on first game with the rules.

The rules provide a simple game engine derived from Lion Rampant and The Pikeman's Lament rules.
Changes from these earlier rules seem eminently sensible in an age of regular soldiers when almost everybody carries a long-arm.

The scenario seemed balanced, offering an opportunity to overrun a beleagured piquet before its comrades arrive in support.
The attackers choice of a cannon (slow moving but long ranged) was never adequately tested due to the unfortunate friendly fire incident (The commission of enquiry is underway).
Otherwise we played out a brawl between light infantry units (The lists specify light infantry being standard for the final par of the war as soldiers learned to fight in looser formations)
Light infantry are fairly resilient against enemy fire, typically losing one or two figures per enemy volley - insufficient to really disrupt morale.
This seemed a little weak, and a replay with earlier war "line" infantry, some green might play out rather differently.

Shooting was indecisive, but a determined charge could be relied on to see off the enemy.
Evading will only get a target so far when objectives must be defended, and +1 for attacking is a big advantage when most troops hit on a 6 in close combat.
(I'll re-read the close combat rules, since defensive advantages seemed rather thin on the ground).

Play was quick since all units enjoy the same activation scores and mostly the same options to act.
6 or more on 2d6 activates units or passes rally and morale tests - no fiddling through the rulebook to check different stats for different units (Once again they are all regulars here, not knights Vs peasants)

Our game proved particularly fluid; no units having time to form into close order in face of the enemy.
There was always a more pressing requirement; charge, shoot or rally.
It is interesting to contemplate how different force compositions might have altered the scenario.
* Cavalry would have made a speedier advance on the bridge, but their small unit size and limited use of cover cover may have seen them shot down quickly.
* Mounted skirmishers (essentially Cavalry committed to dismounted action) might have combined speed and elusiveness and made an effective flanking force.
* Foot skirmishers are no faster than light infantry, and would trade slightly improved firepower for considerable worse odds against a charge, so probably do worse in a game the ended in a knife fight.

The scenario was entertaining, and completed in 3 hours including selection of scenario, rule briefing, a couple of discussion breaks and regular pauses to consult the rule book.
Not bad for a first use of the rules.
Both officers survived the encounter with increased honour.
I have a feeling their paths will cross again before the war is over.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Sounds a lot of fun

[steve_holmes_11]

Sounds a lot of fun

Certainly worth repeating.

[Steve J]

R&P's is the best of the Rampant series IMHO.

[steve_holmes_11]

R&P's is the best of the Rampant series IMHO.

Tough to tell on one outing, needs more practice.

After the friendly fire incident left our cannon permanently disordered, we were essentially all light infantry units, so didn't get feel for the variety of troop types available.
I've enjoyed the variety of troops n Dragon Rampant and Pikeman's Lament.
I think I prefer the more reliable activation in Rebels and Patriots.

[Westmarcher]

Kudos to Steve for all his hard work in taking on the role of rules master, preparing the QRS, Unit Cards, Officer Rosters and otherwise organising the game. We forgot a couple of things (I had forgotten all about my re-roll option on the firing activation, Steve, unit you mentioned it there) but that's par for the course in the first outing with new rules. You can only assume that things evened out and if not, whether for or against you, c'est la guerre. I thought my artillery was doing quite well until that (un)friendly fire incident and then there was that other inexplicable event, the "off-table" attack.     Before playing, I had looked at a few reviews, some of which had reservations or plainly disliked them (but mainly, well received) and, having played some of the other rules in the genre (e.g., Dragon Rampant & Pikeman's Lament), I was therefore slightly wary about how the differences in "the system" in Rebels & Patriots would play out. But new features in the game worked quite well so my overall verdict is favourable. Thanks again, Steve, for organising the game and for giving me the opportunity to get my ACW toys, which have not seen action for who knows how long, on to the table.