About to try Valour and Fortitude Rules - any Tips to Help or Traps to Avoid?

[Rossco2]

Hello! I am seeking wisdom from the LAF collective.

I am about to try the Valour and Fortitude (V&F) rules using Napoleonic French and British forces. I have two questions.
Are there any useful tips to help with playing V&F?
Are there any traps to avoid when playing V&F?

I am asking as I want to give these rules a proper try, rather than hoping my gaming friend and I don't misunderstand something important that puts us off the rules.

Intended starter forces are a brigade of infantry and a brigade of cavalry for each player.

[vtsaogames]

For your first effort you might go even smaller. Here's my AAR of my first test of the in-progress rules https://corlearshookfencibles.blogspot.com/2023/04/valour-fortitude-1815-village-attack.html

[Rossco2]

That playthrough is helpful. Thank you!

[Norm]

I have a few replays / observation posts for the rules. Below is a link to the one that is perhaps the most observational. Other posts can be found from the menu on the right or in the hyper links at the bottom of each post.

One thing I am not keen on is card play (in any game), but I do like the chaos and variation that they bring. Players can build up their hand and can play cards as and when, that does create underserved and unearned GOTCHA moments.

My compromise has been to keep the cards, but when a card is drawn, it can only be used on that turn, if it remains unused by the end of the turn, it is discarded. That way a hand does not build up and players focus more on their tactics and not what the cards can deliver for them.

That is just my view as many others seem to like the cards. Make sure you have the latest version of the rules, available from the Perry’s website.

NOTE - version 2 of the rules came out since I posted the below and they have a slicker way of dealing with tests etc.

LINK -

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2022/09/napoleonic-rules-from-perry-miniatures.html

[vtsaogames]

That playthrough is helpful. Thank you!

Rules have changed since I posted that. This was before version 1, not to mention the latest version.

[Rossco2]

Thanks vtsaogames and Norm for the help! Those linked playthroughs were helpful for understanding the game style.

First game took a while as we were working through rules steps and trying to catch the details. I am glad I followed the suggestion of going smaller and just had one infantry brigade on each side.

I was surprised at just how fast a brigade can collapse!

[vtsaogames]

The rules are meant to have a game with a lot of toys on the table get a result quickly. I've not yet done a full game.

[CapnJim]

We're actually gonna play V&F this Friday.  Adapted for the ECW.

We've played it a few times - ECW, AWI, ACW, Napoleonics.  Our biggest tip/pitfall to avoid is to get units that are beat up away from the front line if you can, and rally them.  Sometimes that means ceding ground with whole brigades, to maintain some semblance of order...

As for the cards, we use them with the rules as written, but we sometimes forget to use them in opportune moments, as we tend to focus on the units on the table, and not on the cards.  Oh well...

 

[vtsaogames]

...As for the cards, we use them with the rules as written, but we sometimes forget to use them in opportune moments...
 

Been there, done that, on more than these rules.