In a move away from the sci-fi and gothic horror games of Deadzone & Carnevale we've been playing recently we have moved over to the Peninsular war using Shakos & Bayonets. In order to get used to the rules and force building we are probably going to spend a while running practice games.
Then once we have a good grasp on the mechanics and how the armies work I aim to plan a small campaign for us to play through. I expect watching a few episodes of Sharpe should give plenty of ideas for a campaign to play through.
In our second practice game I mixed things up by giving the French three troop types rather than the two the British had. This meant they had 12 unit activation cards (4 per unit type) in the deck to the British's 8. The French also had 3 officers, officers cost about the same as 3 normal line infantry and you can only include one per full 10 of a unit type.
It was nice to see the 14th Dragoons out on the table as they do have a lovely uniform, this did however seem to attract the British fire as both units ended up being entirely removed from the table. One fled after taking several accurate rounds of fire and the other after losing one man to a British volley.
Volley fire can be pretty devastating in S&B not so much from the casualties caused but from the resulting morale check. It is possible for trained troops to rout from the table having suffered no casualties from a volley. I think we may need to house-rule an exception in around that eventuality perhaps converting the rout into a recoil for units with say less than 10% casualties.
The game itself started well for the British with them getting into position and taking off one unit of Dragoons and then the other. It then turned as the French Grenadiers charged into combat. They have the Veteran keyword and this allows them re-rolls on both attacking and saving wounds in melee. Both units of British who received a charge lost the combats and where forces away from the objectives.
I didn't get a photo of the end state but the French ended with 2 VP's against the British 0 VP's.
Rout becomes Recoil could be a good call when there are no casualties that turn or <10% overall to stop an early spiked dice really changing the game. No one likes a first minute Red Card!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, losing a whole unit to it's first casualty or just because they came under volley fire seems harsh.
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