Just running through my ideas for the Battle of Briar Creek. Below is the situation 4-turns into the game. The Crown have still to bring on their reserve and an aggressive move by the rebel left has forced them to deploy their regulars in harms way where they have been taking a lot of hits from militia musketry. Surely the militia can't hold out forever can they? 
..and here is a shot from the other side of the garage!:
I was worried this might be a bit of a walkover for the Crown, but it is developing into an interesting little game. It does need carefully constructed victory conditions though as in the end I'm certain the Crown side will "win" in the traditional sense.
These little battles are quite inspirational on a number of levels, but accessibility is their chief virtue. I suspect a fair number have been put off Black Powder by the seeming necessity of vast table space and huge figure collections. You are proving, neither are required. Not being interested in single based, man to man skirmishes, these are just the kind of small battles I have been looking for. Who would have thought the quintessential "mega game" would provide the mechanisms! Thanks for thinking way outside the box. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot to ask, How many men in your default company?
ReplyDeleteLooking lovely, great painting great terrain interesting scenario- what's not to like?
ReplyDeleteforgive me if you have already answered this in an earlier post but will this smashing game be making an appearence at Partizan in a few weeks time Steve?
Darrell
Hi Ron. For this battle the default company is 12 infantry or 6 cavalry.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the "little battle" approach. I find these are often the more tactically interesting conflicts of the war.
Sorry Darrell. I'll be at Partizan but the boys will be at home. Might think about a game for the Autumn show though...
Please forgive another question Steve, How are you breaking down the OOB for these small battles? Are you using generic companies or is a figure scale (like 1:10 or something) being used to determine the number of bases you'll use?
ReplyDeleteHi Ron, Its fairly generic. Often a game "company" might represent 2 real-life ones (a grand division).
ReplyDeleteExact scale will vary from scenario to scenario to give an appropriate number of tactical units. This generally gives a figure ratio between 1:20 and 1:5.
Obviously, for battles with more battalions, then the battalion itself becomes the tactical unit. So long as each side has 12+ units I don't really mind.
Thanks Steve!
ReplyDelete