Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: vtsaogames on October 06, 2022, 02:43:57 AM
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Gave the rules a first solo test. I used my own Camden scenario with historical deployment and my own OB. Next rainy day I'll post a detailed AAR. I managed 6 turns in 2 hours, 15 minutes. Not bad since I was looking through the rules, taking some notes and photos.
I thought the charge/melee mechanics were just dandy. The Brits were doing well, as they should with the historical deployment. Rebel losses were about 3-1. I find historical Camden a good test for AWI rules. If the Brits do bad, something is wrong. I was finding the firefights too much. Then I noticed I had neglected the morale checks that happen when units take losses due to fire. Most of the firefights would have ended much earlier. Next time. But certainly well worth a look.
It struck me that these rules might actually reward an echelon attack. If the first attack makes some headway, the morale problems in nearby defenders might ease the way for the next echcelon.
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They are interesting at just a few pages. Little Wars TV did a great video on a 4 (small) table Brandywine campaign. It just seems to need a lot of bases to get a first game from the perspective of building armies from scratch.
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Yes, if you don't do some bath-tubbing, it restricts you to the smaller battles unless you have a lot of figures. That said, so do most of the AWI rules out there. Ir you can stick to small fictional fights.
Most of the scenarios included in the rules look pretty good, except their Camden one. It includes a larger area than figured in the battle along with a questionable flanking march option for the British. Both armies were moving at night to steal a march on the enemy and bumped into each other. After a sharp brawl between advanced guards, both deployed in a hurry and the battle commenced after sunrise.
The turn sequence is pretty good, keeping both sides attention. Going back and firth solo gets kind of confusing.
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Played a second game remembering morale this time. It went well, except that British dice went cold while Continetal dice were pretty hot. British were giving way on their left, stopped cold in the center and their right was wiping the floor with militia, but there was a line of state troops behind that. Played 6 turns in a little over an hour and 45 minutes. Ran out of steam. I was also taking photos and keeping some notes. British losses were slightly higher than American. I blame the dice.