Clearing a roadblock

Once I had settled that I didn't need spend any cash to make an expansion module for my table, it was time to put it away and get back to work on writing and testing the 20th Anniversary edition of MacDuff. During the week I had retrieved the full 2013 draft and updated it. While doing so I fell victim to the temptation to put in some of the older ideas again. Today, it was time to test them out.

Game 1 hangs in the balance.

I have been thinking mostly about the usual sort of ambushes and raids but the rules were originally conceived for playing Grant Teasers. It looks like I can expect a full Grant scenario  to last three or four hours but I was in the mood for something quick so I settled for something plain and small. Must be the One Hour influence. Lacking an appropriate historical inspiration I went for a simple blocking position with the French astride a road which the British had to move up. I gave the British Advance Guard twelve turns to clear the road.

One of the things I eliminated last year was the  rule around allowing close order companies to form up as a  battalion and then use the battalion as the movement and morale unit still tracking hits by company. Its a simple idea buts its always ended up causing confusion in practice especially at a convention game where  there may be 6 or 8 players who don't know the rules and where identically dressed 8 man companies easily get mixed up. It gets especially complicated when only a part of a battalion is engaged. Anyway I decided to try it again.

The French had a battalion of 4x8 companies of regular infantry and 2 units of 8 militia light infantry. The British marched on in column on the road with an Elite Advance Guard Battalion with a company of 8 Highlanders and 2x8 Grenadiers followed by a battalion of 4x8 line infantry.  

I shuffled the deck and......but that's tomorrow's post.