I set up a small test of the new version of these rules that Steven Thomas is working on. This is a work in progress and not to be confused with the published set by Nick Dorrell. They are similar, being based on the first set that Steven posted years ago. I seem to recall that each unit is a foot or horse brigade or a battalion of artillery.
The rules are for the War of the Spanish Succession. I played using Seven years War figures and make no excuses. The Austrians were defending an
earthwork with 4 foot brigades (1 of grenadiers, 2 of line and 1 of inferior
troops), 2 horse and a battalion of guns. The attacking French had 5 foot
brigades (1 of grenadiers, 3 line and 1 inferior), 2 horse and an artillery
battalion. About 10,000 vs. 12,000.
The rules have only two types of
tests. Units in combat take morale tests to see how they respond. If they fail
a test, they take a hit. 4 hits removes foot units, 3 removes horse and 2
removes artillery. The test is with 2D6 and is modified by how threatened the
unit is, etc. Players do not roll to hit enemy. They just amass as many threats
as they can to make it harder for the foe to pass morale tests. An unmodified
score of 4 or less (1-6 odds) turns any attached general into a casualty, who
is immediately replaced by an inferior (1-3) or ordinary (4-6) general. This test
saw a rather high rate of general officers hors de combat. There is a negative
modifier for not having another unit in rear support close by. An ordinary unit
has 21 chances of 36 to pass a morale test, barring any modifiers other than
troop quality. Take away support and the chances of passing are 15 of 36. This explains
the double lines in the photos.
Any movement other than straight
forward involves an action test, also 2D6. Do not try to do complicated stuff
in front of the enemy. Odds are that you will fail and be hung out to dry. Trust
me. Do the fancy footwork far away from the enemy.
Most of the action can be seen on
the following photos. Units start deployed on a roll of 4-6, or in march
columns and limbered on 1-3. The Austrian die roll noted they were aware of the
advancing enemy.
A couple low action rolls impeded the French deployment.
Turn 4 the French artillery
failed to deploy and everyone else marked time.
La Sarre advanced and took hits
from Los Rios. The following is turn 6. I got a little confused while marking
up the photos.
4 comments:
Thanks for giving the draft a go Vincent. Seemed like a good little game.
I avoided any attempt at flanking, figuring the purpose was to test the combat mechanism.
Interesting; I've got a collection of Nine Year's War figures that could very likely be used under this system (with slight modifications, probably). Always good to have more options! Something to watch!
My figures are on 1 inch wide bases, 4 per unit. It makes road columns very clear. I just treat a pair of stands as a base for these rules, no need to rebase. Or Use sabot bases.
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