Saturday, September 8, 2012
Not In Over 30 Years (Yikes!)
I played a game over at Curt's last night using his beautiful 28mm Napoleonics - a bridge demolition scenario from about 1808 with the Brits hoping to hold a bridgehead long enough for their engineers to set their charges properly.
This morning I realized that this was the first time I played with 25/28mm Napoleonics (a scale and period I would describe as bread and butter of wargaming) since I was in high school. Now I feel old (this was when Carter was president and likely Joe Clark was Canadian PM). Napoleonics since then- yes (many, many 15mm games but not for 15 years). 25/28mm in the intervening years yes - but with Ancients, Medievals, Seven Years War, Colonials.
Long story short, it was fun. Sylvain and I had two brigades - 6 battalions, a Dragoon regiment and a battery- facing a lone British brigade (3 battalions and a horse battery). Sylvain took a beating before I arrived, but we had pushed the British back on the bridge and they would lose most of their troops on the wrong side.
The rules were a Heinz-57 mix concocted by Curt and Stacey - not perhaps the way I would have done it , but they gave a good game for a Table Top Teaser scenario. If some else does the work and the rules get the job done then I'm a happy camper. To me getting he job done means that they give a good game that is intuitive enough to use and has the appropriate rewards for table top decisions.
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It was indeed a fun game and thanks for pitching in with the French, Peter. You seemed to have picked up the rules quite quickly, which I think is a good sign. There are a few rough spots to smooth out and speed up but I think they're coming along at a good pace. As you say, the rules are pitched for Divisional-level actions, meant to reflect a relatively high level of detail - designed for those who love the nuances of the period (we 'grognards'). The table is still set up from the game so I'll see if I can take a couple shots for the blog.
ReplyDeleteCurt
DeleteThey gave a good game! The basic sequence is a simp to catch onto as are most of the mechanism -which is a good thing as I am not as quick as I used to be, had a beer in hand and the company and your book case caused good distractions. In fact with a change in snack foods we would call it a beer 'n' pretzels affair.
I am still trying to wrap my head around rolling dice to see how many dice I get to roll (I am sure we could relace most of the process with 2d6)! But heck I ain't tinkiering with something that works. My personal bent is less on the Grognard side and more on the Blucherish i.e I figure out the terrain, direct troops around and let my subordinates (or the dice on the table) work out the details.
We'll do it again.
I check on the home front and look over the colonials for next week. This will be a more old school Featherstone and Wise type of affair.
Cheers
PD
I agree about the dice. Its a mechanism that we've kept from the first rendition of the rules where we wanted to model the variability of Brigade commanders' fortunes/luck/etc. But it really does not add anything (except wasted time on additional die rolls) so I'm going to streamline the process to simply have the Brig. Commanders choose where they wish to apply their command dice (both 'grist' and 'friction') to their subordinate units.
DeleteGames away, games at home, excellent!
ReplyDelete30 years ago, hmmm I would have been at Kline St. would that have been with Chris Stringer's lads up in Clayten Park?
Ross
DeleteIt might well have been Chris Stringer's lads - I can't recall the fellow's name. I do know that they were Peninsula War era and that it was played at the Dal Student Union building/
Cheers
PD
30+ years ago I remember playing Airfix Napoleonics at Sunday gaming sessions at Dal with figures provided by Tom Golding, Joseph Lapin, Dave Maloy et al. I was living at Fort Robie, with fellow gamers Harris MacPhail and Steve Zahn. Young, without responsibilities. Mostly we were playing Ancients, WW2 Microarmour, the occasional modern microarmour on the sand table in the basement. RPGs were Bushito and D&D. We were also known for having TSS or DNO set up in our living room.
DeleteI on't recall Chris bringing his troops in to Dal so probably not. It boggles my mind that 30 years only takes us back to 1982. The last year of the Tin Soldier's short life.
DeleteRoss
DeleteIf truth be told I suspect it was in the 70s or 1980 at the latest. it was certainly before the Tin Soldier's days (which I trace to Fall 2000 coinciding with my first year at Dal).
Cheers
PD