Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket AAR: Capture the Gun!

[agentbalzac]

Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket at Perth Miniatures Gamers Group last night: This time, having successfully seized a bridge (in our first game a couple of weeks back), the French sought to put a pesky British 6 pdr out of action (a Peninsular War implementation of the Rulebook Capture the Gun! mission).  A mix of 20 troops, including 10 Ligne infantry, 5 Dragoons and 5 Voltigeurs advanced from some woods, and across an open space toward the gun, which sat on a hill behind a thin screen of 10 British Light infantry skirmishers, hastily thrown forward and taking advantage of a low stone wall.

The French plodded forward as a mass, emerging from the forest on their right, behind clouds of musket smoke, at risk of getting flanked on their left by British infantry who had to reposition from their right to contest the axis of approach. Both sides lost their leaders early, the French Leutenant losing his head to a skipping roundshot, and the British officer falling shortly afterwards to well placed musketry.

Here they come...



One dragoon sallied forth and over the wall, only to be repulsed at bayonet point - but was followed shortly after by more Frenchmen who eventually overwhelmed the Light Bobs on the British left.

Meanwhile, after what seems an age of ineffective long range fire from among the trees, the Voltigeurs emerged from the woods and got stuck into the Light Infantry seeking to envelop the French advance.

All along, the well-drilled Royal Artillerymen were firing off the cannon as fast as it could be loaded, the French too pre-occupied with their steady advance to try to pick off the crew from long range.  It sent shot screaming and bouncing along, occasionally wounding or killing hapless troops who were caught in its path.

The well-oiled Artillery go about their hot work, even as the French take the wall...



But with the thin red line broken, the French advanced up the slope and a nasty fight ensued, the artillery crew hopelessly out-matched, fighting bayonets with ramrods, buckets and hurled roundshot . The gun crew fought valiantly to the last, even loosing off a single round of canister, before they fell to the grim advance of the Imperial troops.

The fight for the guns...



With a full load of canister (5 pips = 5 reloads achieved), the gunners prepare one last desperate, futile salvo:



Vive la France!

******

We had great fun for the six players involved - this is part of my not-so-secret plan to effect a 28mm Napoleonics renaissance at the club.  I also got a chance to deploy my hitherto unused British 6 pounder cannon.  The French troop mix was a bit random based on what figures I currently have.

We did have some tricky moments with the rules - easily overcome for us vet gamers but it'd be worth clarifying - in particular how to handle close combat between groups where both sides have more than one combatant.  We resorted to pairing off the combatants, with odd figures lending an outnumbered bonus but any tips (or worked examples  ) would be appreciated.

Thanks for looking

[Malamute]

Great scenario!

[BaronVonJ]

You handled the Close Combat correctly if there were a lot of figures involve, but for those 2 v 1 situations:
page 10
If a model is attacked while still in contact with another opponent (i.e. they both survived the last round of close combat, or the combat was a tie last round), he will turn to face the new opponent. A Multiple Combat then takes place. A Multiple Combat can take place by intention or accident when a model moves within 1 inch of two opponents.
All the models involved roll d10, adding modifiers. The highest roll wins subtracting the lower roll of his opponent. It is possible for a figure to lose to one opponent, but beat another.
Use of the 2"push back is helpful to keep from being overwhelmed.
Close Combat in the upcoming Galactic Heroes is slightly different, and like all subsequent titles, will be the way to go.
-J

[Argonor]

Vive l'Empereur!

[agentbalzac]

Thanks for the comments all.

@BaronVonJ:  Thanks for the clarification.  The rulebook seems clear enough for the 2v1s, it was just the 2+ v 2+ we were unsure of.   Appreciate your clarification - and any hints on the Galactic Heroes tweaks?   

In the meantime - it's a great system - based on people coming past this game and seeing the cards and laughter, next up in a few weeks we'll be having an Old West Reloaded game - just have to paint a band of Pinkertons in time. 

[BaronVonJ]

For now, you can do opposed roll as normal. The difference in the rolls gives you a bonus to the Wound roll. Winning can still push back later ser, etc.
1-2: 0
3-4: +1
5-6: +2
7+: +3
Makes it slightly less deadly.
Another thing GH introduces is multiple pin, now teferred to as shock markers. You can make an enemy combat ineffective by stacking shock on them. Each one is a -1 on everything. The player can do nothing and automatically remove one shock or risk a roll to remove all. Where’s that Queen of Spades?!