Thursday, December 15, 2022

The Battle of Nolac Hill: Day 1

I had been planning to play this game using my own rules but it occurred to me that given the idea of a game in a box that I could take with me and talk someone into playing a game, using a published set of rules might be a good idea. Since I had my copy of Developing the Portable Wargame on hand, it made sense to try that.

The Attacking force moved quickly, hoping to take the hill before reinforcements could arrive. The infantry launched a direct assault while some cavalry turned the flanks, while others,backed by archers, moved to intercept the defender's reinforcements.


Several turns later, the hill was still holding while beyond the hill, the attacking Knights were having a hard time breaking the enemy shieldwall.


By turn 6 of 15, the attacking army was 'exhausted' and unable to attack. The only units to have made it onto the hill had been forced back and no others could advance onto it. The game was over. 

Well, that worked, but it was a little quick for my tastes. The combat was very attritional but what I noticed most, was that despite being very simple, there are some important rules tucked away here and there that are easy to miss or forget, especially since some things are done differently from what is intuitive to me. I'll have to make a 'cheat sheet', arranged for how my mind works, before I play another game. 

Before that happens though, I should replay the scenario using a gridded version of my own rules, and just maybe, try playing the scenario using the One Hour Rules, maybe.


4 comments:

  1. Great report, and the game (and especially the gridded battlefield) looks excellent. May I ask, what rôle did the playing cards play? Did you use them for activation or some other purpose?

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    1. Thanks.
      I routinely use them for three things with various rules. The first is to track the turns when there is a turn limit. The second, when appropriate, is to determine initiative or which side goes first that turn, and the last is to use Face cards as chance or event cards.(not used in this game because I haven't played the rules in a while.)

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  2. I, for one, am curious as to which rules you miss/forget - wondering if I miss them, too and I'm not self-aware enough to know!

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    1. Oh, I've already re-forgotten somethings I forgot during the game. Most of them were options available to cetrain units in certain situations. If I remember I'll flip through and try to spot a few of them.

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