Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Old West => Topic started by: Malamute on February 06, 2011, 10:00:39 AM
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On friday Messrs Silent Invader, Jim Bibbly and Captain Blood gathered at my house for our first outing using the Sharp Practice ruleset for the Texas War of Independence. Under the expert guidance of Silent Invader we played a series of three linked scenarios to familiarise ourselves with the rules.
The premise for the first scenario was that two groups of Mexican and Texian soldiers stumble upon each other whilst foraging for supplies on the outskirts of a small town. The outcome of the first scenario would influence the set up and disposition of the second and subsequent games. The table was reset at the start of each scenario with the terrain shifting north or south depending upon the troop positions etc. This gave us the opportunity to add new features to the board and bring on different troop types etc.
So to the game:
Scenario 1
Its october 1835, the war has just broken out in Gonzales, Texas. The Texians are trying to pull together groups of volunteers to form an army and the Mexicans are beginning to mobilise their forces to move north and crush the rebellion. At Wards Crossing, a small town south of Gonzales on the Guadalupe river two units of Texian troops are foraging for supplies on the outskirts of town. The Residents have quickly departed fearing an imminent battle and immediate reprisals as Mexican troops are garrisoned nearby......
Three views of the town . The Texian forces begin the game split into two platoons with the first positioned in the horse corral and the second in one of the buildings south of the river.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_14_10_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_14_10_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_14_10_2.jpg)
The Mexican patrol arrives on the table, only to be ambushed immediately:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_14_10_3.jpg)
Poor musketry by the Texians allows the Mexican troops to split into two platoons and assault the building from two sides. The Mexicans charge forward and deliver a bayonet charge to the Texians occupying the courtyard. Mexican weight of numbers means the Texians are quickly killed and the only two survivors flee north towards their friends who are slow to react to the skirmish beginning in the south:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_15_17_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_14_10_4.jpg)
Sargento Gomez gains the initiative and leads his platoon forward in an attempt to cross the bridge before the Texians can react. Behind him Capitan Morelo is slow in reorganising his platoon after his successful bayonet charge.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_15_18_1.jpg)
The Texians in the town rally and move southwards in an attempt to gain control of the bridge occupying one of the thatched Jacales closest to the river:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_15_18_2.jpg)
At this point Capitan Morelo moves his platoon forward to support Sargento Gomez who has formed up ready to deliver volley fire. The Texians fearing a combined attack by a stronger force decide to fall back and fortify a larger adobe hacienda which will afford more protection. The Mexicans quickly follow them and form a bridgehead by occupying the now vacant jacales close to the river. Both sides now sit and wait anxiously awaiting for reinforcements which they hope will come to their aid...
End of Scenario 1. More later. :)
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Great board! :-*
The mini's are okay... who makes them? :D
Do I see some clear bases by Jimbo there? They look really good.
Kewl scenario, btw.
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And muchos fun was had by all :D
cheers
James
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Nice and peachy :D
How did the rules play out? Balanced to your expectations or perhaps a little random at points?
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I am green with envy and I think of you lot as right bastards for not asking me to some and play!
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There. I feel better now. Very appetizing gameboard Nick? Is it all your own stuff? I know I recognize several things in there.
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The rules seem to be very well balanced and as the scenarios played out what happened seemed logical as a result of the game mechanics and in some cases terrible die rolls. They seem to have plenty of scope to play campaign games and introduce some period specific larger than life characters.
Yes Hammers the buildings, terrain tiles trees etc are all my work. The miniatures are a mix of my Boot Hill stuff and Artizan figures. The Texians were painted by Bugsda and myself. The Mexicans were painted by Dave and Bugsda.
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Yay. It's story-telling time! :D
PS: Malamute's description of me as 'expert' says more of his gentlemanly nature than my actual knowledge!
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Awesome :-* :-* :-*
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¡Qué espléndido! ¡Qué magnifico!
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:-* nuff said!
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OUTSTANDING!
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How do Foundry fit in with Artizan and those Boothill figures Nick? They seem quite compatible in you photos.
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They all blend in fine. There is little difference between the Mike Own Foundry/Artizan figures and the Boot Hill stuff :)
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Bravo! Once I get a job Alta cal, texes war, and Mex war are on my list of theings to do. :D
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Lovely stuff :-* :-* :-*
Is the building the Texians hold up in a new one? I don't remember it from your set up?
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No, not a new one, I haven't made any new ones since BLAM 2010.
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Lovely looking terrain you have there!
Lokking forward to parts 2 & 3.
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Looking forward to parts 2 & 3.
So are we, just to see what really happened ;D lol ;)
cheers
James
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So are we, just to see what really happened ;D lol ;)
cheers
James
The truth will always out... ;) lol
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Wow, that is one beautiful collection. :-*
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Scenario 2
Part 2 begins with both Mexican platoons occupying the thatched adobe huts north of the river (Sargento Gomez in the larger one and Capitan Morelo nearest the Texians). The Texians are occupying the roof of the large Hacienda. Further Texain reinforcements can be seen arriving early on the road adjacent and also to the right by the horse corral.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_15_18_3.jpg)
All three Texian units now begin to pour volley after volley onto Capitan Morelo's position. He somehow manages to hold on hunkered down behind the flimsy wooden fence, returning fire where possible.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_15_18_4.jpg)
Mexican reinforcements arrive to the south including another infantry platoon and a mounted Presidial troop.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_16_23_2.jpg)
The Presidial lancers quickly dash towards and cross the ford unopposed.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_16_23_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_16_23_1.jpg)
Capitan Alforno, the Presidial officer sees his chance when a group of Tejano skirmishers starts to advance and are caught in the open.
In a spectacular charge the Tejanos are ridden down and wiped out. The Texians on the roof top fire down onto the Presidiales, but only manage to unhorse one trooper, killing his mount.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_16_24_3.jpg)
With their forces decimated the remaining Texians fortify their positions and wait for more reinforcements. The Mexican cavalry ride back to the bridge and also wait for the arrival of artillery support and rifle armed light infantry to help flush out the rebels.
End of scenario 2
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Lovely!
Are those clear trays sized for 2ps? And are they homemade?
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Looks like thaings are going bad for the Texians.
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:-*
Love the report!
The lancers are magnificent!
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Whens Davey gonna arrive to save the day? Inspiring stuff there.
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Hurry up and get to Part 3 where the skilful new Mexican commander arrived... ;) lol
Whens Davey gonna arrive to save the day? Inspiring stuff there.
Ah... He's coming, never fear. Although his intervention did not go entirely according to plan... ::)
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Just caught this Nick - very inspiring game!
What a beautiful table and the miniatures look glorious. :-* :-* :-*
I hope Sharp Practice is working out for you - it certainly looks like it.
How did the Big Men fair?
All three Texian units now begin to pour volley after volley onto Capitan Morelo's position. He somehow manages to hold on hunkered down behind the flimsy wooden fence, returning fire where possible.
We have found that the cover rules seem a little too generous and had some support on the Too Fat Lardies yahoo group. We have since made "light cover" (shrubs, wooden fences etc) -25%, "medium cover" (low stone walls, palisades, flimsy buildings etc) -50% and "heavy cover" (solid buildings, fortifications etc) -75%.
Can't wait for a Mexican campaign from you!
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Hijole! That is damn nice.
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Superb game and table - magnificento!
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Mexican reinforcements arrive to the south including another infantry platoon and a mounted Presidial troop.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_16_23_2.jpg)
The Presidial lancers quickly dash towards and cross the ford unopposed.
... but then the sarganto yells in dismay: "Cuidado! Spitfire at twelve o'clock!" :)
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Very nice Nick. Lovely terrain and miniatures.
Cheers,
Helen
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Gorgeous.
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Brilliant! :-* Those Texians look like they need reinforcing, I'll get some new recruits on the march later in the week 8)
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Great report. The table and miniatures look brilliant :-* :-* :-*
Thanks for posting. I'm in the process of reading the Sharp Practice rules.
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Wonderful terrain and article :-* :-* :-*
More of that please!!! ;D
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So is the a supplament for the Texas war from "Sharps practice" of did you mod it your self?
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No supplement available for Sharp Practice.To be honest we haven't changed that much, just a few tweeks courtesy of Silent Invader.
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LOL. ok I would be intrested to see any thing you guys come up with in the futer :D
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Scenario 3
The sun was sinking low in the sky with both sides unable to dislodge the other from the town when much needed Texian aid arrived from the north. ( The table had been reset to include more town buildings as the action had moved northwards up the table)
The Texians dragged the "Come and take it" Cannon into the plaza erecting a hasty barricade to protect it, whilst Texian cavalry cautiously advanced to the west.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_16_24_4.jpg)
To the dismay of the Texians, Mexican reinforcements arrived to the south. Another infantry unit charged across the bridge along with a 6pdr gun. The Presidial cavalry can also be seen in the distance having regrouped by the ford.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_18_06_0.jpg)
Also at this time the infamous Capitan Ricardo Blood arrived with his crack Cazadore unit. They can be seen already moving up to support the beleagured Capitan Morelo in the thatched Jacale.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_18_06_1.jpg)
So the final battle commenced. The Mexicans were slow to advance under a withering bombardment from the Gonzales gun and combined Texian musketry.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_18_06_2.jpg)
The Mexican cannon crew quickly fell and the gun was rendered useless due to to sniping fire from the expert Texian riflemen lining the rooftops.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_18_06_3.jpg)
The battle raged on with the Mexican Presidial cavalry attempting another charge this time against the Texian cavalry. Unfortunately their luck had run out and they were forced to retire, much depleted in numbers they took to fighting on foot.
Mexican weight of numbers was beginning to show as they gradually moved from building to building forcing the Texians to retire. As the Cazadores advanced on the largest of the adobe buildings the Texians launched a cavalry charge.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/8/86_05_02_11_6_18_07_4.jpg)
Unfortunately the charge faltered and the cavalrymen met their end at the hands of Capitan Blood and his Cazadores. The surviving Texian cavalrymen fled the scene. Blood's men entered the house and quickly climbed onto the roof. A furious sniping match began between Cazadore sniper Gregorio Mendoza and a coonskin cap wearing Texian rifleman.
The Texian came off worse, his lifeless body fell from the roof of the tallest building along with his commanding officer. By this stage the Texians had a had enough and started to withdraw from the field abandoning their precious gun. As it was now dark the Mexicans decided to call it a day and not follow the fleeing Texians their mission completed by securing the town.
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I dream of such games.
Good job!
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Re scenario three, first pic. Is that a cat on the chair or a Davey Crockett hat? Any chance of a tutorial on building Jacalles one day?
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Re scenario three, first pic. Is that a cat on the chair or a Davey Crockett hat? Any chance of a tutorial on building Jacalles one day?
Its a Davy Crockett Coonskin cap :D
Jimbibbly was sporting it at various times during the day. The image it created was not pleasant, so mercifully we have spared you a photographic record ;)
Yep I can do a Jacale tutorial. I need to make some burned out ones too. :)
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I once painted a couple hundred 40mm Alamo and several hundred 28mm Mexican-American War figures within a few months time. The result was me swearing I would never paint another figure for the period. I am now looking at my current projects and wondering when I can sneak this one in. o_o
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Fantastic stuff Nick!! :o Reminds me how disappointed I was to have missed playing your game at BLAM.
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Jimbibbly was sporting it at various times during the day. The image it created was not pleasant, so mercifully we have spared you a photographic record ;)
I thought I looked quite dashing ;D
Great days gaming :D Thanks again for hosting 8)
cheers
James
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I thought I looked quite dashing ;D
Great days gaming :D Thanks again for hosting 8)
I concur with the second para .... the first..... am not qute so sure! lol
Was indeed a great days gaming..... the change of light reveals how long, accompanied throughout by tunes from the Alamo soundtrack and then, somewhat spookingly as the main battle raged, the sound of fireworks from outside.
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I concur with the second para .... the first..... am not qute so sure! lol
Was indeed a great days gaming..... the change of light reveals how long, accompanied throughout by tunes from the Alamo soundtrack and then, somewhat spookingly as the main battle raged, the sound of fireworks from outside.
No comment on Mr Bibbly's delusions about his looks ;)
I think we played for something close to 10 hours. It certainly didnt feel like a marathon slog and the battle could have gone either way on many occasions. It was certainly a very close thing, I am confident we shall get a good deal of mileage out of the rules.
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Davy Crockett, sniped once - missed.
Gregorio Mendoza, chosen man, sniped three, hit three - two 'big men' and one Davy Crockett. Dead :D
Ah one shouldn't gloat, but I did enjoy that (sorry James ;))
I was a little worried when I first saw the rules ran to three volumes! But they were fairly straightforward once you got going...
Not without a few flaws though.
The random card activation, for instance, seems to require a bit of work. As I discovered when, after my first move, I ran a unit of Mexican infantry across the dusty square - after which they totally failed to activate. At all, for the next SEVEN moves. Their card simply never came up. So they just stood there whilst the assembled Texians poured fire into them from the surrounding rooftops. For seven rounds! Miraculously, none of them were killed - but they took a ludicrous amount of shock points. In reality, even lacking initiative, after a couple of rounds of this, a unit in these circumstances would have fallen back to cover, rather than just standing there and taking a beating.
So this is one rule we agreed we would introduce in any future game - a discretionary withdrawal to nearest cover if no activation is forthcoming after say, three rounds...
Apart from that. Jolly good show :)
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Not without a few flaws though.
The random card activation, for instance, seems to require a bit of work. As I discovered when, after my first move, I ran a unit of Mexican infantry across the dusty square - after which they totally failed to activate. At all, for the next SEVEN moves. Their card simply never came up. So they just stood there whilst the assembled Texians poured fire into them from the surrounding rooftops. For seven rounds!
We allow units not activated during the turn to fall back as if they lost their bottle (in other words they have to move away from all visible threats). Makes perfect sense.
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Wouldn't they be allowed to act upon the tea break card and shoot at the nearest enemy?
Or didn't that make it to Sharpe?
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They were shooting when the tiffin (taquila) card was pulled out but stood standing there like buffoons lol
Oh, and Richard... I'll get my own back at some point ;D
cheers
James
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We allow units not activated during the turn to fall back as if they lost their bottle (in other words they have to move away from all visible threats). Makes perfect sense.
This is an option I have in my F&IW version (added after a try-out game in which a group were repeatedly passed by hordes of scalping indians and did exactly nothing for turn after turn). Unfortunately, on Friday night I forgot all about it.... D'oh. I was playing in the third scenario rather than being 'rules monitor' and as it hadn't cropped up before I was probably too intent on trying to hold the eastern flank of the town square (not that I succeeded, as I eventually ran away).
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Superb stuff :-* 8)
www.gallopingmajorwargames.com
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Well made figures, brilliantly painted and then involved in a great looking game is sort of insperation that really gets you thining about a new project - and I have to say this thread ticks all the boxes.
So my 'no new lead this year' (already broken in a small way) vow may now become 'no new lead till the end of June!' vow!
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Brilliant collection of minis and terrain and well summarized report.
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In the rule the group in the open may move towards cover at 1D6 inch per turn if they stand in the open like you say. So they fire and withdraw towards cover. This seems covered to me.
Also, I do not understand that the rules are three volumes. I have only one book. Is this not right?
These pictures are very wonderful. I am painting my figures for my first game with Sharp Practice and very much look forward to it.
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Ah jist caint berlieve ol Davey done missed! Never happened when he was shooting baars back in Tennersee, why it's a regular sin aginst Crockett pard................
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lol
For those of us on the Texian side, Davey's performance was something of a disappointment!
In the rule the group in the open may move towards cover at 1D6 inch per turn if they stand in the open like you say. So they fire and withdraw towards cover.
Ahh, I don't remember reading a rule quite like that; can you point me to where it is? Thanks :)
Also, I do not understand that the rules are three volumes. I have only one book. Is this not right?
The printed set comes as one volume but I bought the pdf, which I then printed and bound (along with my own F&IW notes) as three.
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I am sure it wasn' the real Davy Crockett, perhaps it was just someone who looked like him ;) lol
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Maybe he was pissed off at you all calling him "Davy." I hear he didn't care for that nickname. :)
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Coon skin hats were all the rage in those days lol lol
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Nope he insisted on being called David. He aspired to a gentleman planters lifestyle, regrettably it was not to be.
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"David, David Crockett, King of the wild frontier...."
Doesn't have quite the same ring to it :D
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I am sure it wasn' the real Davy Crockett, perhaps it was just someone who looked like him ;) lol
I don't look like Billy Bob Thornton, do I ???
;)
cheers
James
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In the rule the group in the open may move towards cover at 1D6 inch per turn if they stand in the open like you say. So they fire and withdraw towards cover. This seems covered to me.
This rule may apply if the unit has lost their bottle, but no movement is usually allowed by infantry Groups activating on the Tiffin.
Unfortunately that's the luck of the draw - a mad dash without cover may well prove disastrous if your Big Man looses his head when the lead starts flying.
My suggestions are to pile on the Big Men when such an "assault" is necessary. Most Groups will fire perfectly well on their own, without any supervision.
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This rule may apply if the unit has lost their bottle, but no movement is usually allowed by infantry Groups activating on the Tiffin.
Unfortunately that's the luck of the draw - a mad dash without cover may well prove disastrous if your Big Man looses his head when the lead starts flying.
My suggestions are to pile on the Big Men when such an "assault" is necessary. Most Groups will fire perfectly well on their own, without any supervision.
I think the problem was not the officer losing his head. The unit was simply moving forward from one area of cover towards another. They moved about 6 inches then did not have a movement card drawn from the deck for seven turns. So they just sat in the open being fired upon for the whole time. It didnt feel right and we think they should perhaps have been allowed a free movemnt on the Tiffin card to at least retreat to cover.
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A large barvo! it is superb. :-*
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If I recall correctly, the rules say a unit may not *advance* on the Tiffin card, so I assume the unit may retreat.
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I think the problem was not the officer losing his head. The unit was simply moving forward from one area of cover towards another. They moved about 6 inches then did not have a movement card drawn from the deck for seven turns. So they just sat in the open being fired upon for the whole time. It didnt feel right and we think they should perhaps have been allowed a free movemnt on the Tiffin card to at least retreat to cover.
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Rules are fine, but I say go in the order of common since. Even the most disciplined of units will start to feel a pang of hesitation while standing in the open while guys 80 meters way level shots at them.
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I think the problem was not the officer losing his head.
In game terms he didn't "loose his head", but it could be rationalized as the officer lacking the pluck to urge his men forward or a general lackluster attempt by the men to close the ground. In the scheme of things although the Group made only a single move to cross the ground originally and then just stood there, I think it represents their move as a whole - meaning they moved slowly and came under fire a lot because of that. I hope that made sense. :)
If I recall correctly, the rules say a unit may not *advance* on the Tiffin card, so I assume the unit may retreat.
This rule is for a unit that looses it's bottle and are as follows: -
If an infantry Group has more Shock points than men remaining it may retire as normal but it may not advance. On the Tiffin card the Group will waver and fall back, whatever else it has done during the turn, retiring 1” for each point of Shock over and above the number of men for elite troops, 2” for good, 3” for Regular and 4” for poor. The Group may still fire, representing ragged firing as it falls back.
So generally only after loosing their bottle will a Group move on the Tiffin and then it is to only retreat to cover.
Regardless it is your game and should be played how you see fit. :D
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Ah... Rules... ::)
You see now why I prefer the sort which you can get on two sides of A4 ;)
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You see now why I prefer the sort which you can get on two sides of A4 ;)
And thus the good Captain's trepidation at seeing my three bound volumes!! :D
Anyways, back to Malamute's AAR.
In scenario 3 of the game, a defining moment was the Texian horse galloping through the alleyways to take on the Mexican light infantry. Cavalry versus lights = no contest...... except when the cavalry are shot up before they are able to engage. Ho hum. Not a happy moment for the Texian commanders as, holding out on the rooftops, they watched the dregs of their only offensive capabaility depart northwards. :'(