For a playtest of the rules for the convention game of the Battle of Hanau, fellow gamer Andrew came over to have a go at the revised rules having played them at one of the club GameNights previously.
Again, as I do not have (many) other troops other than French, this was a "Napoleon vs the Royalists" affair.
In preparation, I made a decision game scenario generator but we both choose the 'up the road and right at 'em" approach
a closer look reveals Andrew's hand moving up the Royalists into contact with the Imperial Guard veterans
the photo below shows the Royalists advance with Gerard on the top, poor McDonald having to force the village and Sebastiani with the cavalry on the bottom of this photo:
Here, McDonald's Royalist concripts face the battle hardened veterans of the Guard. Note the 5 to 1 dice!
The next photo shows the important dice markers of these rules. The green die is the random MO or maneuver dice (McDonald in this game seemed to have quite a few of these 1s!) The black die on the HQ stand indicates an addition to the MO die roll over 6. The red die is the combat roll. As I like the tactical situation to dictate the combat rather than a lucky roll, these dice have 3 sides with a '0', 1 with a '1' , one with a '2' and only one with a '3'. The player has a 50% chance of having no change in the tactical situation which is good and only a 16% chance of a lucky event.
Gerard sacrificed the 1st CaC element to allow the others to cross the river ( I admit it is hard to think of these stands not as regiments but as brigades or small divisions...).
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| You might note the "commander label" which can be changed according to the battle/scenario. These are of thick, mat card of a complimentary green color as not to be too obtrusive but still seen by the player as it is very important to know which element is under his control! |
The battle continues:
and the French cuirassier - the coolest uniforms of the wars!
Sebastiani manages to cross the river but is ultimately countered by the Guard cavalry:
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| The large wheel on the cube is our "limbered" marker. Limbered and being charged. Hmm, no wonder it was eliminated! |
Thus the game came to a conclusion with the Royalists under Sebastiani crossing the river but ultimately destroyed and McDonald's numerous conscripts being worn down by the relentless Gronards. Only Gerard had some success at a cost, with the Guard foot artillery doing considerable damage.
A few more (as usual as no rule set can account for EVERY situation!) thoughts on changes which might be made but in general the rules are working but the test will be the convention in a mere ten days.....
