William's 17th&18th Century Wargaming & Musings:
So after setting this up a YEAR ago I am finally in a place to feel like I can do some posting. I have been lurking around in many blogs the past few years. I have read some great stuff, found great ideas and interesting stories. I have never felt that I was able to put down into words my experiences but what the heck I will put it all out there and on the line to see what happens, hopefully good. I know everyone has different ideas on what is fun in the gaming world we inhabit and I am sure that some of my views will not be yours. I will say now that my intention is to have fun, share ideas and who knows what else. I never intend to insult anybody in anyway and hope to always treat everyone and their views with respect. That said, my first post officially starts now.
I have been gaming along time and have run the gamut of rules, figures, and periods (mostly historical). I have to tell you that recently I have had trouble finding the spark I used to have painting and gaming. The reasons are many I am sure. Not meaning to bore but I have found that age has mellowed me plus 3 corporate downsizing in the past 15 years and most recently my data position was sent to India soooo that has not helped my outlook much.
So what brings this change in my willingness to post on my blog and hopefully start seriously painting again? Yesterday my group, The Kennesaw Mountain Wargamers, played our fist game of Maurice. While the group plays in my game room once a month and I enjoy the games the various members run this was the first time in ages that I so thouroghly enjoyed playing in a game! There have been many reviews written about the rules in various blogs that I surf I must tell you that I believe the positive reviews were not.....wait for it....positive enough! The 5 of us who played the game had a wonderful time and we all agreed that these rules brought the fog of war, friction of war and command tension (in a positive since of the word?) to whole new heights. While we made a few minor errors once we got the game running we found it play smoothly. I have to give Greg thanks for becoming our rules expert and running the game. John and he had gotten together a week or two before and had a run through game. I have enjoyed Might and Reason and it is indeed true that the core combat resolution is the same.
John and I were pitted against Jim and Rob. We used our collections of 28mm WSS figures as most of us parted with our SYW figures years ago, me due to one of the downsizings. Each commander had 9 or 10 infantry and 4 cavalry regiments and 1 artillery battery. We did not use the "national" modifiers like oblique march etc. We did not use any elite units and very little terrain as this was our first official game and we didn't want to take any chances of making the game more complex than it had to be for our first outing.
John and I commanded a mixed army of British and Germans while Jim and Greg had a mixed force of Bavarians and French. I faced off against the French with my Germans and John used his British against the Bavarians. We used 8 feet of my game table which we thought would be enough for the game as the game table was basically featureless. It turned out that we were a bit cramped and actual maneuver was limited. We plan on using another 4 feet next time, I think if we had paid more attention to the rules and suggestions there and posted elsewhere we would have started with 12 feet. John and I were the attackers so we drew the appropriate number of extra cards. We were a little surprised when both Jim and Rob surged forward with their troops also.
The extra attack cards gave us the early advantage that evened out as the game played out. Jim was very aggressive for a "defender" and he put John on the defensive for most of the game. As a result of good die rolls, play of cards and such the Bavarians were able to turn our early advantages to a close game. So how did I do? Surprising well all things considered. I attacked with 4 infantry units in my front line while Rob had deployed in 3 lines each of 3 battalions. This turned out to give me the advantage for most of the game. I was always able to double up fire on one of Rob's units as a result. Truth be told if Rob had not had some of the most horrible die rolls any of us have seen the game may have well turned out differently. When he would roll hits, which wasn't too often he couldn't convert those hits into disruptions. So my luck allowed me to end the game with 2 infantry and 1 cavalry unit removed from play while I was able to destroy 5 of 6 of his infantry units. Robs loses helped us stay ahead on army morale until the very end as Jim was very successful with his attacks on John. The game turn had army morale at Brit/Germ at 4 points and the Bav/Fr at 3 (if I remember correctly).
John and I had several units with disruption markers that would have given our opponents the chance to win the game. Fortunately both John and I each held a passage of lines card that we played to replace our shot up units. I was then able to destroy another of Robs units which he rolled the maximum to lose the 3 remaining army morale points on their side. This was on the turn that Rob destroyed my 2nd infantry unit and I was able to roll the minimum amount and only lost 1 point. John and I each held a "Rogues! Do you want to live forever?" that we would have both played had we gone one more turn. This card allows you to regain 1 or 2 army morale points. We both rolled to see how many points we would have gained back just to "see" and we gained 3 points back which had the game gone one more turn may have given us the added cushion to have still won the game, but that is a big may have.
Neither side had any light troops so those cards were discarded quickly when drawn. We all got to use assorted devious cards on each other including the death of a hero cards. I was hording the "That's not on the map" card but never got to play it.
So what's next? Well let me see. If all goes well I will reread the rules at least once so we minimize our rules interpretation errors. Finish a unit of pirates that I had promised John a year ago, these are the only lead 28mm figures that I have painted in over a year and a half. They languish half completed on the painting desk. Actually start some 28mm WSS/LOA or SYW figures for myself. If I can swing that it will mean things are really going well indeed! Add to my 1/72 plastic armies for SYW and Imagi-nation campaign I have had on again and off again for the past 30 years. The plastic armies are actually something relatively new for me that I have started over the past 2 or 3years. More about this later. Cheers
