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Author Topic: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp (Concluded!)  (Read 12418 times)

Offline David Cowper

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #105 on: April 06, 2020, 01:19:08 PM »
What can you say about the rules for pikes? For me they became very untypical in this set of rules. In the FB- Pikements Lament there were a good cross-ruling between LR an PL. The mixed units from LR were suggested for Pike&shots. Do you think this make sense for a better period feeling???

In most small actions, which the Pikeman’s Lament was designed for, Pikes weren’t used as they were a battlefield weapon. A lot of people use the rules for field battles and thats fair enough, but they weren’t designed for that. I’ve had great games rescuing prisoners, storming redoubts, beating up quarters, raiding supply columns, etc and often don’t take pikemen. Dragoons however are invaluable for capturing objectives or grabbing supplies and whisking them away.

Offline Dr. Zombie

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #106 on: April 06, 2020, 02:06:09 PM »
I agree. Pikes are really only usefull if you have a hundred mates with you who also have pikes.

Regarding the rules I rather like them. But I am not sure they really do anything new that the other rampant games does not already do. Ather than of course some period specific rules.

Regarding one man still rolling 6 dice. I find that very seldom comes up. I find that when a unit get below half strength it usually routs from the table if they take any more  casualties. And besides If one guy was to survive. I don't mind one heroic guy going down in a blace of glory. But then again most of my miniatures are multibased so I tend to think more in the line of "strength points" and not actual guys.

Offline Hu Rhu

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Offline NurgleHH

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #108 on: April 06, 2020, 03:18:36 PM »
I agree. Pikes are really only usefull if you have a hundred mates with you who also have pikes.

Regarding the rules I rather like them. But I am not sure they really do anything new that the other rampant games does not already do. Ather than of course some period specific rules.
My only problem is the real invidious rule for pikes. It would be nice if they could get more in the game. So I try the mixed rules and will see.
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Offline Captain Blood

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #109 on: April 06, 2020, 04:07:33 PM »
Thanks chaps. Insightful comments :)

I actually think pikes work well in these rules. I've used a pike unit in a couple of solo games, and they seem fine as a sort of melee specialist unit. They have stamina of 3, whereas musketeers have stamina 2 - meaning pikemen are tougher to kill. (You need 3 hits to take off a figure rather than 2).
They can adopt close order which makes them slightly slower to move, but toughens them up still further in attack or defence hand to hand.
You can't disperse them in mixed 'chequerboard' units of pike and musket, per the beloved pike-and-shot wargames rules orthodoxy (and historical tactics, to be fair), but you can certainly deploy them as a unit alongside a shot unit, to provide some much needed deterrent to cavalry attacks.
They are of course vulnerable to being shot to pieces before they can close with the enemy, but again, I guess that's probably historically accurate, and that's why you have super cheap skirmish units of commanded shot, to provide a screen for your powerful but vulnerable-to-shooting close combat specialists.
So all in all, from my limited experience, they work fine under these rules, and have their uses. It all depends on the scenario I guess, including the terrain and the make-up of the opposing force. It's horses for courses. I am certainly adding more pike units to my ECW army because I like the look of them (and I have nowhere near enough lol)

And so...

Royalist turn 11…

Spoons’ commanded shot advance up through the gorse patch (terrible sense of déjà vu lol).

Spoons’ regt. of shot fire on Lilburne’s veteran Folorn Hope and succeed in killing another, leaving only their noble captain, George Hannibal Smith, who survives a ‘lucky blow’ roll, and whose morale, miraculously, holds firm, tout seul. (So much for your theory, Frede ;))

Crawley’s dragoons fire and manage to knock off another of Okey’s dragoons – although they too pass their morale test. Silent Invader's company is down to just three figures  :o

Astley’s shot fire at long range on Okey’s dragoons, but requiring 6s to hit, fail to get enough hits to remove another casualty. That’s it! Turn 12 coming up…



Offline Silent Invader

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #110 on: April 06, 2020, 04:53:07 PM »
Quote
Silent Invader's company is down to just three figures  :o

We’re manfully defending the prize from all comers (quite literally, it’s all of them and they’re coming!)

FOR PARLIAMENT !!!
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Offline gamer Mac

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #111 on: April 06, 2020, 06:15:36 PM »
nearly there lovely stuff still :-* :-* :-*

Offline Captain Blood

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #112 on: April 07, 2020, 10:04:40 AM »
Cheers Colin  :)
Yes, nearly there I think... I was going to call time at the end of this turn (12), but it is still quite interesting, so we shall see...

Turn 12

The Royalists win the initiative, and continue to try to destroy the Parliamentarian defenders of the farm.
As Spoons’ regt. of shot climb back over the hedge into the farmyard (what are they up to? ::)) Crawley’s dragoons fire on George Hannibal Smith, captain and sole survivor of Lilburne’s veteran Folorn Hope, and bring a musket-ball-riddled end to his glorious career.



Okey’s remaining dragoons, seeing the captain of their company shot down in front of them, and having lost two thirds of their own strength, take a morale check, and immediately break and rout.



Spoons’ commanded shot advance further up the gorse, whilst Astley’s bluecoats, at maximum range, fire off a volley at Crowe’s commanded shot (the last Parliamentarians standing in their line of fire) and manage to take off a figure. Crowe's' morale holds firm though.



That’s the Royalist turn 12 over with. Now for the Parliamentarians.

(Well, for Dr De’ath’s actions anyway, since - after a heroic defensive effort - Silent Invader’s command is utterly destroyed :()

Offline Silent Invader

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #113 on: April 07, 2020, 10:12:01 AM »
Against near insurmountable odds, they held the prize then died like men (apart from the two who ran away). FOR PARLIAMENT!!

Offline Captain Blood

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #114 on: April 08, 2020, 05:13:26 PM »
They died with their boots on...

Parliamentarian turn 12...

The two formed shot units (Lilburne's and Crowe's) about face and start marching south towards the farm.
The frame gun (12 turns and it has done nothing apart from trundle hither and thither and fail to fire lol) moves after them down the lane.



Then alas, friction hits as the remainder of Gibson's shot attempt (and fail to activate). So they are left where they are...



As are Crowe's commanded shot (orders: 'get into the barn and bar the doors behind you' ::)). They now have to remain where they are.



Herewith the field of battle at the end of turn 12.
Entirely predictably, the original east:west axis of the battle has now changed to north:south!



I was going to call it there, since the Parliamentarians are in possession of the barn and have (marginally) a preponderance of numbers remaining. But the Royalists are strangely eager to play another turn. What trick do they have up their puffy, slashed sleeves? ;)

However, Parliament (well, Dr De'Ath, since Silent Invader's force is extinct) has won the initiative roll for a putative turn 13. Orders awaited...

Offline Captain Blood

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp
« Reply #115 on: April 10, 2020, 05:16:41 PM »
And finally, Turn 13, unlucky for some...

Once again, the Parliamentarians get the initiative on a dice roll... But basically, with the Royalists out of range for the time being, all they can do is move up towards the farm.

Crowe's commanded shot unit obey their orders this time, duck into the barn, and bar the doors behind them.

Crowe's and Lilburne's regiments of shot move up to line the farmyard walls. The frame gun (13 turns, still not fired) trundles further down the lane. And the remnants of Gibson's raw shot scamper along bringing up the rear.



Fair to say the Parliamentarians have full possession of the barn and thus the supplies, and own the farmyard too. And look like they'll take some shifting from their defensive position behind the farmyard walls.

Over to the Royalists.

Crawley's dragoons in the mown field, give fire on Crowe's regt. of shot, who have just taken cover behind the farmyard wall. This shooting manages to take off one figure, but Crowe's morale holds firm.



Spoon's commanded shot, being out of range, have little option but to keep skirmishing up the lane towards the enemy...



While Astley's bluecoats stand idly by (their orders were to set fire to the hay field, but a/ they'd have to move into the hay field first, and b/ it's been mown, so it's only stubble lol)

Spoons' Greencoat regt. of veteran shot however, now attempt to set fire to farmhouse.
This isn't, of course the objective - the barn is the objective - but hey, they're going all out for a cinematic ending.
Unfortunately, the farmhouse is somewhat fortified (observe the complete absence of windows at ground floor level, plus the abundance of thick stone walls) so they fail to smash their way through with their musket butts. Nor to fling handfuls of burning stubble upwards through the first floor window...  ::)
They do succeed in inflicting some damage, but not enough to breach the building. Full marks though for attempting to round things off in true Cavalier style ;)



And that concludes the game.

Victory to Parliament - well done Dr De'Ath and Silent Invader. Commiserations to Oshiromodelterrain and Elk101.

Well, it kept us partially entertained for a fair bit of the lockdown so far, so it was worth trying. The Pikeman's Lament rules certainly lent themselves reasonably well to playing the game at a distance this way via WhatsApp, and sending innumerable little videos to the participants in real time to show them the action unfolding (or not) and the dice rolling (or not) in accordance with their orders.

In terms of lessons from the rules, a couple of things were apparent from this game, and they played a significant part in the outcome.

1. When you're consistently attempting (on 2D6) to roll 5s - 7s to activate or pass morale checks (for the most part, depending on troop type and the action intended), then having your officer within 12" makes a big difference. That +1 from the proximity of the company's officer (or the absence of it) made the difference between success and failure on very many occasions.
By keeping each of their two companies together and with each unit in that company (for the most part) staying within 12" of their respective captains' units, the Parliamentarians benefited greatly from this advantage. Whereas the Royalists split and mixed their commands at opposite ends of the battlefield, meaning that (for the most part) their units were out of the influence of their respective captains. And they therefore failed many activations and morale tests which they might otherwise have passed.

2. Cover is important both in reducing shooting casualties, and from hand to hand if you're defending an obstacle. Cover pushes up the defenders' stamina by +1. So a typical unit with stamina of 2, becomes stamina 3. Meaning it takes three hits to remove a figure, rather than two hits.
Now if you're rolling 12 x d6 needing (usually) 5s or 6s on each die to hit, the chances of getting 4 hits is not unreasonable - allowing you to 'kill' two enemy figures. But the chances of getting 6 hits is much less likely. And you need 3 whole hits to carry off a stamina 3 figure, there's no carrying forward spent hits. There were several occasions where 5 hits resulted in just one stamina 3 figure being killed, because any 'overs' are just wasted. The Parliamentarians played a much more defensive game overall, and therefore made much more use of this significant advantage of cover. But one can't really fault the Royalists for behaving like true Royalists, and playing a more gung-ho game :)




Offline Dr. Zombie

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp (Concluded!)
« Reply #116 on: April 10, 2020, 05:41:26 PM »
One thing that has improved our Rampant style games. Is random activation of players. Every player has two chits in the chit bag and we draw one every time an activation fails. That way you are not as wulnerable to failed activations as you may get another go.

Offline Silent Invader

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp (Concluded!)
« Reply #117 on: April 10, 2020, 05:51:51 PM »
It was a glorious game with a righteous result  ;D 8)

Offline OSHIROmodels

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp (Concluded!)
« Reply #118 on: April 10, 2020, 06:02:39 PM »
It was a glorious game with a righteous result  ;D 8)

Bollocks it was. We was robbed  ;D
cheers

James

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Offline vodkafan

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Re: The Great Confinement... An ECW battle played via WhatsApp (Concluded!)
« Reply #119 on: April 10, 2020, 06:29:02 PM »
I really so enjoyed that.  That frame gun was hilarious! It might as well have been a wheelbarrow  lol
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