Both proved something that we've suspected for a while, that it is very difficult to attack in this game, especially against infantry in towns. Of course, and before anyone else suggests it, it's possible that we're just not very good at it, but we've been playing for a while and don't seem to be getting any better at that aspect. Last night admittedly James was handicapped by an inability to draw anything other than left sector cards, a problem exacerbated when he lost all his units in the left sector fairly early on.
Peter's normal complaint is that he rolls rubbish dice and, in all fairness, he often does. However, on both evenings he found himself rolling one dice with a unit of Lancers and on each occasion he rolled three flags in a row.
The terrain collection for this set-up continues to develop. Ligny calls for four bridges (as does Wavre - there's something about the hundred days and bridges) and so I made a trip to Wargame Vault, bought a download card model for 50 cents and made up four copies printed off at half size. Both scenarios need a church, which I didn't have and so had to substitute a walled farm. But today lurking in a charity shop in Otley - on the lookout for glasses from which to drink my breakfast orange juice since you ask - I found a nicely sized Lilliput Lane church which was immediately added to the collection. Inevitably, next week's scenario doesn't feature either church or bridge.
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| Prussian reserve infantry hold the 'church' next to the bridges |
I think it will be the last battle in this sequence and so I'm going to set up one with both Russians and Prussians, Katzbach. The French contingent also includes troops from Italy, Naples, Hesse and Baden, all of which I have, so there will be some colour on the table. All I have to do now is learn how to take some decent photographs.
You know, we find just the opposite! That is, attacking seems too easy. Defensive "hard points" never seem to last long especially if the hard point is garrisoned with artillery. With the attacker always striking first, combined arms using artillery in support is quite effective.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking table.
Now that's interesting. One of the problems with only playing a game amongst a small group of people is that you can get fixed in to certain approaches that always lead to the same results.
DeleteOne problem seems to me to be the fact that - as a generalisation - infantry units can't move and fire against towns, losing 2 dice for the move and 2 dice for the town. So they move into range, get shot, lose stands and then can't attack towns even if they don't move. I do like the combined arms mechanism though.
And thanks for the comment re the table. I have never had any 'vision' about how things should look, it has all - including the choice of rules - just evolved step by step, precisely because I never thought anything through at the beginning. However, I rather like where it has ended up.