The Viereckstal Campaign: Reflections

This is a final blog post concerning the campaing, to wrap up with a few thoughts before I move on to Partizan preparation, with a return to the American War of Independence.

Photo from the recent game, put through a couple of filters on Visio and with a frame added in Camera+

Overall I really enjoyed fighting this campaign and it gave more purpose to the solo games I played on the tabletop. As well as giving a framework and motivation for playing some actual games, it also pushed along my development of the Bloodybacks! rules, building and painting more scenery for the European setting, brushing-up my iPhone photography and mot least getting back into the habit of writing and blogging. All good things. The blogging is certainly easier now I have a MacBook with direct access to the photos taken/editied on my iPhone. I appreciate the Apple environment isn't for everyone, but it works for me.

I deliberately did not try to develop complex campaign rules, and just opted for a fairly narrative approach with some approximate map-movement to identify likely points where units would clash. The campaign was the servant of the tabletop, rather than the other way around. If I really want a more in-depth strategic experience I'd probably adapt a board game, but it isn't a scratch I feel the need to itch right now.

As a foundation for the setting I did find "Junction Jeopardy" a really good starting point, even if I did stray a long way from the original intent, mirroring the map and changing the scale to be operational more than tactical. 

Henry's book is inexpensive, particularly in the pdf option and can be found on Henry's payhip site as well as a print-on-demand version on Amazon. Henry also does a "just the maps" version if that is enough for your needs. Don't forget that he also has Patreon options from just £2.50/month if you'd like to support him in developing more resources like this and getting discounts on his publications.

Adding the character traits to the battlefield commanders seemed to work well and I don't think my mechanism needs too many tweaks. Converting some of these to the tactical command quality and initiative level needs to be finalised, particularly as these are evolving in the tactical rules; but this is always a guideline rather than an absolute. What I think I will do in future is use a character's Constitution value when checking for injuries on the battlefield; briefly if a commander is attached to a unit that suffers hits, roll a d12; if the score is equal to or less than the number of hits taken then the commander is wounded and deducts a further d12 score from their Constitution, being removed from the game if this falls to zero. The long-term outcome and any recovery can be determined after the battle. They may have been stunned, suffered a significant wound or killed outright.

The charge/melee system is being re-engineered with most factors being part of the "impetus" calculation, and the amount of impetus possibly causing a morale test on the charged unit. This has been working well but a few gaps remain to be resolved, in particular the details of the morale test and its outcomes, multi-unit melee, supporting unit and cavalry countercharging when charged. Nothing that can's be resolved but would benefit from being nailed down, these just haven't been a big consideration in the small battles of the AWI so have only become relevant now.

Apart from the countercharge thing, cavalry worked well given that the root of the rules are in the AWI, where cavalry are a minor consideration. The randomised move distances for deployed cavalry make a powerful part of your army nicely unpredictable (roll 2d12 and you must move  EXACTLY either, both or the difference between). A few times I saw promising cavalry charges come up short, representing terrain effects than can't be seen on the miniature battlefields - rabbit holes, unmarked streams, gullies, etc. In general the rules adapted to European warfare with denser formations, more cavalry, etc with no adjustment.

I was finding commander initiative points being overpowered in the early part of the campaign, so these were scaled back, as I think I mentioned in a previous blog. Simply halving the points available (rounding up fractions) pretty much fixed things. 

Some further refinement in general of morale tests is needed. Some tests are based on 2x Unit Quality and others on Quality + Density. Both seem appropriate in different circumstances and I need to hammer this down just a bit more than they currently are. The deductions for stamina loss, margin of loss in melee, etc all seem to work OK. I didn't get any unplausable results and the dice can still cause unlikely but still possible outcomes from last-stands to spontaneous routs. 

Once familiar with the rules a lot can be run from your own head as there are few modifiers, with everything else on. couple of summary sheets. These are still primarily for personal use, so this works fine for me.

The only slight negative was that, for me, the campaign was one or two battles too long and my boredom threshold was starting to be tested. This is something to be considered before embarking on anything similar in future. I think 4-5 games is enough before a pause and change of scene. I did also find that the smaller games with 5 or 6 units a side were probably more enjoyable when playing solo as every unit got a share of my attention, whereas in the larger battles there were definite areas of the battlefield more in the doldrums than others. This is just an artefact of solo games and working full-time I think, but another thing to consider (this is meant to be fun after all!).

So, a great experience overall that has re-expanded my hobby beyond being almost all figure painting (for the last decade or so) and many, many thanks to Henry for Junction Jeopardy which sparked this alongside a re-read of the Battle of Sittangbad in Charge!

If any of you are going to be at Partizan in Newark (UK not NJ) next month then do stop and say hello. I'll be running a demo game recreating the Battle of Chatterton's Hill, 1776. It is a re-run of a game I put on in 2019 so it will be interesting to see how 7 years of rules evolution impact on the playing experience.

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