Sunday, June 12, 2016

Along the Danube with BLUCHER

Ken and I played the introductory scenario "Along the Danube" from Sam Mustafa's "Blucher" this afternoon and I snapped a few pictures of the action (cards for units this time around but hoping to rectify that with Blucher sabots in the near future....new project perhaps?)

Right off the bat I will tell you Blucher delivers on its promises - you are the General and commander of the Army.  That is you command multiple Corps and you make "operational level" decisions - a huge selling point for me when looking at Grand Tactical set of rules.

Your success hinges on the success of your Brigades in the close fight, and you must have a plan (and a reserve) to fight.  The enemy gets a vote, too, and Blucher hones a "neat" system for making sure you can't do all the things you want to do in a turn.  In fact, it's probably the best system I've yet come across for enforcing limitations of your headquarters on you.  This is accomplished through the use of "momentum" where at the end of your turn you roll.  The resulting roll equates roughly to the number of units your opponent can activate.  The best part is, your opponent doesn't know what his momentum number will be from turn to turn as that is managed by the opposing player!

As Ken pointed out, it's nice because there are "quiet" portions of the battlefield where nothing is happening, more than likely until the Momentum allows you to activate them.  Players will find themselves concentrating on a pivotal Corps or grouping that is important to their plan.

Ken playing the Austrians - yours truly (moi?) playing the French.
 Ken already had the Blucher cards printed out and I left my Gneisenau staff QRS somewhere else!

Ken's laminated unit cards.  Very nice and using wet erase markers to track unit status
 Luck started off on my side with my first artillery bombardment scoring 3 sixes!  Wohoo!  Lady luck departed my side of the table after that and my attacks were not to be as successful!

Brigades of the I Corps moving into position to attempt to breakthrough in the vicinity of the Austrian left flank.

Ken schooled me with close combat - always better to attack with 2 units than one!
 Blucher, which I though was very similar to Volley and Bayonet (VB) goes VB one further and really combines the combat power of the unit with the "exhaustion" concept from VB.  So your "Elan" in Blucher comes off as you engage in battle to battle and you lose more if you lose combats.  My firing dice or melee dice are tied to that Elan number, so as it goes down, my unit capabilities go down with it.  A brilliant and elegant concept.

Ken's Austrian Brigades coming up to parry the French thrusts at their flank.
 Planning and positioning your units is extremely important in this game.  You must be ready to reinforce success of counter a critical loss by keeping a reserve.  I think the system also lends itself to bold movements and some risk taking.  (always good!  Because that's what makes commanders successful in many cases).

Ken put some of my Bavarians atop a base.  They look good on there so imagine the entire table full of troop atop these bases!



After some combats.


Artillery Battery!
 I mentioned to Ken that I think Blucher got the "feeling" right in that you are making the right decisions for your level of command.




Another gratuitous shot of my Eureka Bavarians!

Thoughts on Blucher
Well I hope you can tell by now that I am a big fan of this game.  If you're looking for big-level games that won't take forever and a day to play and you don't want to have to play Company, Battalion, Brigade, Division AND Corps Commander, then Blucher is most likely for you.  I will go so far as to say it may go Volley and Bayonet "one better" in that it's more streamlined and probably plays faster when you have more experienced players on both sides.  Ken had to talk me through some parts that are a slight departure from most mainstream rules but these are learned after a few turns (we are on turn 9 and I feel I have the basics covered now).

My recommendation to you is that if you want to fight entire battles and make big level decisions, then this game should be part of your collection.

13 comments:

  1. Yeah it's a great set of rules. I'm thinking of basing my 54mm (yes you read that right) on 3" x 3" bases for it :)

    The cards work well too; it's a real stategic napoleonic game...(I'm liking this level more and more, and am prepping for another 'Field of Battle' game. There's a WWII version of FoB where units are comapnies. Arnhem on a single table.)

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    1. Games like Blucher and Volley & Bayonet are perfect for 54mm games with their generous base size and scale independence. Remember the original Volley and Bayonet rules? Examples of play with 54mm troops abounded.
      I really like the idea of being able to play all of an entire battle in a few hours, or possibly even a massive battle within a half day.

      Well rest assured you'll be seeing more of Blucher on this blog!

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  2. Note that Blucher will work with any size figures (really) because you can use any size bases (really). That's because all distances are measured in "base widths." So make the base any size you like to accommodate any size figures. Of course you may need to adjust the size of your table.

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    1. Cheers, Ken. I've seen some great blogs out there with 6mm and 10mm figures on their Blucher bases and they look fantastic. There were also some nice 15mm bases as well. The smaller scales really look like dioramas.

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  3. Looks like it'd be perfect for 6mm figures - the cards themselves already appear to have pics of figures about that size.

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    1. Yes absolutely perfect for 6mm or 10mm scale. The more troops you can put on the bases the better since they represent Brigades.

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  4. Do you think it'd be easy to convert it to ACW?

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    1. Although I've only played it once I do think it's possible with some modifications.

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    2. There's nothing "official". But someone has posted some suggested changes for ACW on the Blucher forum which seem to make sense.

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  5. Good review. I am definitely interested in these, especially if they actually support and reward a reserve. Too few rules allow for reserves that aren't hemmed by the units forward.

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    1. Glad you found it useful, Dartfrog. They are well worth having in your collection I think.
      You'll find it's vital to keep a reserve I believe. This is even after 1/2 of 1 game Im glad I kept a Corps element back from the line.

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  6. Well done Steve. I enjoyed your lil playtest game. One of my favorite sets of rules, and the inspiration that got me in to Napoleonics! Glad you are enjoying. Hope to see more :) Take care...

    ~K

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the writeup, Kurtus. We'll definitely be playing Blucher more. I'm already exploring basing options! Thank you for commenting.

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