Saturday 15 August 2015

Somewhere in....Spain?

"So what is the scenario?", I asked my friend, medical Dr. Dennis. "We have obviously French and British Napoleonic figures here" I continued, examining his collection of Airfix plastics.
"In Spain", he answers.  
"With these houses?" I respond, holding up a German looking 16th building model.
"Belgium, then?" he inquires in return.  I just shake my head...it doesn't really matter does it <grin>

Somehow, Dr. Dennis convinced two of his patients, who had absolutely no idea about the hobby, to play a wargame at the local club's Friday Night Gaming evening.  I mused it was probably while they were under medication, but I digress....

To his credit, Dennis did give each a copy of the rules before hand ( a modified version of GHQ Civil War rules....how and why he would use these is way beyond my comprehension <grin> ) but for the poor lads, they might have been reading a nuclear reactor construction manual for all their knowledge base on the era and the type of game.   I joined Dennis for the game as he needed a fourth player and to help a bit; stopping the game once and awhile to give a "lecture" on the nuances of Napoleonics warfare to help explain what the heck just happened on the table after they rolled the dice and why.  Nevertheless I was as confused as the others about the rules. Lots of charts it seemed.   We eventually got some hang of it, especially the sequencing of play - lots of rolling to see who got to move first, fire first, etc.  But for the most part we let Dennis just furiously count up the modifiers and consult the charts.
the French left flank/ British right flank action with the redcoat's centre collapsing

 For the scenario each player was given 4 infantry, 1 horse unit and 1 battery of guns and placed each command in a corner of the table.  For those counting at home, the French won the affair.  

...and over on the other flank, the British under attack by the flanking cavalry and French volley fire