Preservation of the Aim

Once my rather impractical, nostalgic, detour ended in failure (again),  I turned back to an older, simpler, yet more effective early version of the rules as a guide. It's been hard sometimes to let go of expectations formed over the decades before Rob Dean introduced me to Joe Morschauser's rules and philosophy, but whenever I manage to do it, it always gets me closer to my goal. 

That goal is to have a simple, fast play system that will let me set up and play a small simple, yet interesting and sometimes challenging  scenario, in not much more than an hour, without losing the capability to play larger, more complex scenarios with more troops, lasting several hours, using the same armies and rules. I spent a little time going back over some of my older Morschauser inspired rules, but I got there.

Fierce fighting for the bridge.

I kept the same OHW scenario (#19 ) but used just 6 units aside and the 5" grid that I've been working on. The units themselves were the slightly larger ones that I had been preparing before the nostalgia for the old 3 stand, 18 man units grabbed me.  It all worked like a charm. I managed 15 turns in an hour with several turns of fortune in a game which hung in the balance to the very last turn. Next up I need to set up a more complex scenario with twice the number of units and see how that goes. Won't happen this week though. 

Turn 7,  all units are now on table and free to act. 

In the background, the 2nd Infantry have finally charged across the bridge.

The Wolf Regiment has seized the ford so that the attackers now control both crossing points. If they can keep that hold they will win but Larsen's Lancers have just routed the Blue Lancers after several charges.

At the start of Turn 15, Blue holds both objectives and Red's army is only 1 hit from breaking but their commander wins the initiative. Against the odds, the Brooklyn Fusiliers storm the bridge, throw back Blue's 2nd Infantry, and regain the crossing. Closer to the camera, Larsen's Lancers, 1 hit away from breaking, charge the irregular skirmishers, riding them down then pursuing into the Wolf Regiment, breaking it as well, all without taking that single hit. Suddenly Blue has lost both crossings and has now lost over 1/2 their units which means they must give up the game! 

Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory for Blue.

The draft of the basic rules can be seen here: The Square Brigadier 2022.