Battle in a Box Played (link to rules fixed 24 Mar 22)

This game was a simple clash of advanced guards with equal forces (2 cavalry, 2 guns, 5 infantry inc 1 elite) on a 9x9 grid. Both sides were tasked with securing the crossroad within 12 moves. An army that lost 1/2 of its units would be forced to concede and retreat. The armies were the newly painted 1/76th (or 1/80th) Red (Dominion of Faraway) and Blue (Oregawn Free State or Rebels). 

Turn 2: The Dominion cavalry have seized the crossroad (imagine them dismounting). 
btw, the walls at the crossroads are actually Marx sandbag entrenchments from my WWI set. 

The rules used for the first game were the 2021 version of the Square Brigadier which was meant for larger armies on a bigger table for 3-4 hour games. That didn't really work so I went back to the original idea of rules for a small game on a grid, tested a rough version, tweaked them a little and finally they were back working the way they were originally intended to work. The revived  Square Brigadier rules can be found here.   (See 2012 Draft for comparison).

Essentially, the active player rolls to see how many groups of units he may move that turn. Units may move OR shoot then both sides resolve combat between adjacent units. With unusual firmness, I resisted the temptation to add more details with formations etc. All that 'stuff' is supposed to be handled by unit commanders, not the general (ie player). Combat, whether long range fire or point blank fire or assaults with cold steel, is resolved by rolling dice to achieve the appropriate score, with a minimum of modifiers.  I dislike removing figures without reducing a unit's combat ability but the goal was a simple game without rosters or markers and, in any case, removing 1 figure from a 4 man unit is not meant to imply 25% casualties! 

As the remaining units arrived and deployed, each side's plan developed. For the Dominion, it was easy, just hang tight and don't get flanked. For the Rebels, a frontal assault would have been difficult so it was either a  matter of roll up one flank while pinning the rest or else bombard the crossroad while  threatening both flanks and keeping a strong reserve with the hope that a last minute, well prepared, charge could take the weakened enemy position before the Dominion could react. Seemed like a long shot to me but.... that's actually how they won the 2nd test game. 

The Rebel's plan of weakening the defense by fire while massing to overwhelm one flank was hampered by rolling low for several turns both for orders and in combat!  

Eventually the dice evened out, but the Dominion had troops under cover and on the objective. 

As the day started to run out, the Rebels launched a desperate attack on both flanks but judging by the dice, their soldiers were exhausted while the Domion troops were exalted! There was nothing to do but retreat. 

Today I went back over the bases, inc the bottoms. Once I add a little bit more terrain, 1 more Red infantry unit, find or make a small, but not flimsy, box to hold all this, and decorate it like a playset with a photo of the figures in action etc, I can call this "a Wrap".