Well, there I was, just about ready, except for a few details and a vague, nagging, feeling that I had made a wrong turn. So, in my mind, I went back over various reports and eye witness accounts of various applicable historical actions that I had read, and also revisited various rules mechanisms that I have used or was thinking of trying. Eventually, a little virtual cartoon light bulb popped on: "Ding!". The eye witness reports made it clear that a large part of those historical actions consisted of supported skirmish lines trading fire with periodic short rushes to get closer and very low casualty rates.
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| Turn two: the armies deploy and the Commanders start forming a battle plan. |
When you translate that to the tabletop as a game, what you get can usually be described as tedious or boring with a turn or two of excitement near the end, if you're lucky. Sooooo I dug into my rather disorderly virtual file folders to find a saved copy of the rules I used for July's 54mm game which I had enjoyed, They just needed a bit of a clean up and the game was finally begun.
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| Blue's Black Hat cavalry gets a bit feisty and tries a good old fashion sword charge against a deployed infantry company armed with breech-loading rifles. I doubt that they will try it again despite Red's lousy dice. |
But my time was up after turn 3. It will resume tomorrow!
Interesting, I await the conclusion expectantly…
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Life has interrupted hobby again but I hope to have the game finished and a battle report up tomorrow.
Delete
ReplyDeleteRoss, good to see you're still going strong after all this time I've been away. But, it's nagging me and I have to ask: still tinkering with rules after all these years... Or does every single play turn come with it's own rulebook?
But don't stop doing what you're doing, I love how you weigh rules representing tactics against playability and catching up on your posts I learn a lot.
Happy gaming!
Peter
Thanks Peter, I like to think that I learn as I go on but the evidence is not always strong so it may be just that I am just trying to keep the 'little grey cells' alive!
DeleteFiring line with supports pretty much sums up the standard method of fighting from 1820 to 1880, so you're on track. Casualties vary by conflict and battle, of course. Perhaps focusing on outcomes (whether one side holds or not) might be a way to skip the issue of the "bloodiness" of an engagement and shift to the results.
ReplyDeleteI would agree if playing somewhat larger engagements, for example when doing smaller ACW actions or parts of bigger ones etc , but my 54's like to think more of small actions and want to be allowed to play at being toy soldiers and to being doing something different from the little guys. Just needs a different mind set and a break from over a 1/2 century of "serious" gaming.
DeleteFun, as always. I've followed your blog for many years. But you make a good point - many wargames do get tedious. Maybe that's why smaller games are more satisfying? Sharp Practice, your own "with MacDuff to the Frontier' (which my daughter , 12, likes a lot. Shiny 54mm figures)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ivan! These bigger, shiny, toys are just right for these less serious games and the stories they inspire.
DeleteI await the results of this new approach with great interest.
ReplyDelete