Fortunes of War

Its been "one of those" weeks. Apart from the heat wave and an unexpected family get-together, there was the plugged kitchen sink,.... correction, there STILL IS the plugged kitchen sink.. and then there was....well, anyway, I managed to play the game, 12 of 15 possible turns played over 4 days in about 7 separate quick sessions of maybe 10 minutes on average.  

The French have moved aggressively to control both ends of the bridge but it has cost them. The first cavalry clashes went slightly in the Imperial's favour but they aren't any closer to attacking the bridge. 

The rules were again an experimentally tweaked Rough Wooing. Apart from being stripped down a bit with some unsupportable chrome plucked out, I decided to give armour saves another chance. Well, the rules were better for being stripped down a bit more but the armour saves were a bloody nuisance and more or less inappropriate given that most stands represented a few score men wearing different amounts of armour. and using various weapons.  I like the old concept well enough with single figures in a skirmish or semi-skirmish game but less so in this sort of game. Any saving throw in this situation has to be pretty generic and might as well be a die modifier instead to save time and avoid contradictory dice.

The French pike block has managed to hold their more numerous opponents but they are being surrounded. French casualties continue to mount and it looks like it will soon be over. 

Beyond that, this game, designed to be quick and easy was a bit too quick. It is hard to estimate the total playing since it was a but here, a bit there and none of it recorded but I think the total playing time may have been about an hour or a little more and the game nearly ended on about turn 7 due to unbalanced dice. Setting the scenario up took almost as long. One issue is that the casualty rates were too high leading to stands dying too quickly. 

However, with the French commander down, Minou took command and by staring hard at the saving throw dice,  swung the battle. The French suddenly made armour save after armour save while the Imperial troops dropped like naked flies. All of a sudden, it was over. The Imperials had to fall back.  

So will there be a rematch once the tweaks are made? Ask me after I've dealt with the plumbing!