Valour and Fortitude Pick-Up Game

A rare blog post and an even rarer solo game as I put the venerable "Valour & Fortitude" through their paces on my tabletop with my newly re-based (again) Napoleonic 10mm troops and I think it's fair to say we finally have a  (basing) winner!  

Taking an idea from the "Steven's Balagan" blog, I decided on "Big Bases" for my 10mm Napoleonics.  You can see conceptually what i'm going for here These units can serve as single based units for hex games like "Commands and Colors Napoleonics" or larger unit games like "Blucher" while also serving more tactical games with 2 x stands comprising 1 unit.  The massed look of the bases, spread out in line or in assault columns, is excellent in my opinion and gives a wonderful sense of mass that does the 10mm justice to my eye (finally).  Even with 6 or 7 units on the table you get the sense of a very large formation of troops.

The only drawback to me is that this is an expensive option.  16 to 18 - almost an entire bag - strips make up a 2 x base unit, but they do look good in my opinion, and will look even better when texture and flocking are applied.  

At some point in the future I will showcase the armies with a splendid parade on the "marchfeld" but today's rare post will chronicle the 100 point Valour & Fortitude "pick up game" I played solo this afternoon to dust off the V&F rules.

I tried the "Set Piece Attack" scenario from the rules and strictly went through the selection and setup sequences.  The armies selected were:

French:

1st Brigade - General de Brigade Perrier

2 x Infantry Regiments

2nd Brigade - General de Brigade Badoit

1 x Line Infantry Regiment

1 x Field Artillery Battery

1 x Dragoon Regiment

Division Commander: General de Division Saint Yorre

Austrians:

1st Brigade - Oberst Küfferle

2 x Line Infantry Regiments

2nd Brigade - Oberst Zotter

1 x Grenzer Detachment

1 x Line Infantry Regiment

1 x Field Artillery Battery

3rd (Cavalry) Brigade* - Oberst Manner

1 x Cuirassier Regiment

1 x Hussar Regiment

*held in reserve

Division Commander: Generalmajor (GM) Soletti

The French were the defenders based on the dice-off and began placing their troops.  Objectives picked were pretty standard.  A hilltop, a village or 2, and the edge of a field overlooking the valley.  The French are defending the town on the left and the edge of the green field on the right.

Both sides are set up and ready for action.  Lower right you can see my "big base" French unit watching over its objective.  Units consist of 2 x 4"x2" bases abutted.  Once they're flocked they're going to look excellent!  But you do get the sense of battalions in columns or lines.  The table looks good for only 6 units on each side in this game.

Closeup of a completed "Regiment"  General Perier in the background!

I used Commands and Colors "victory banners" for objective markers.  One thing about V&F is it needs a few markers for statuses.

GdB Perrier

GdB Badoit preparing the defense of the town

The white wall of troops descends from the hill to engage the French!

The V&F rules came back to me pretty quickly and were very enjoyable and simple-enough.  I appreciate the subtle changes in the more recent version.

The 2 x Regiments staring each other down before the firing starts (note one of the French units is flocked and textured in the foreground)

Gdb Badoit's area of responsibility on the French left 

The Austrians are eying up the French right objective and want to over-run it in the field.  Unfortunately the bulk of their infantry are on their left arrayed against the large town.

Austrian Line unit in line formation (2 x stands side by side).  I made the helmeted Austrians in line and the Austrians in Shakos in a more dense column-looking array on the base.

The Austrians have pushed their infantry guarding their right-most objective forward and the French Dragoons move out to capture it.  The Austrian Cuirassier who have recently arrived charge the dragoons in the vicinity of the farmhouse on the Austrian right and a bitter battle ensues!

French Dragoons at the farm.  Their day is about to get much, much worse.  Note the Cuirassier unit to their front.

This game I made sure to remember to actually use the fate cards and they really spiced the game up.  The French drew "stubborn" and just at the right time as trading shots with a huge Austrian unit with a tenacity of "5" and they were able to remove their first hit on the right in the green field.

Death-Ride of the Dragoons!  Austrian Cuirassier score a whopping 5 (!!) hits on the dragoons, who only score 3 in return.  The Dragoons must pass a Valor test and are vaporized but since they are "Heavy Cavalry" also, they can reroll 2 x "1s" that they rolled.  The Austrian heavy horse gets another hit at 4.

drawing "stubborn" card and removing the hit from this infantry regiment - note the Austrians in column to their front - I wonder what they're up to...

The Austrians charge in column against the French regiment holding "the green field" and lose the ensuing melee, marking the first routed unit for the Austrian Division this day.  The French Division Commander has suffered 1 x "defeat" from the loss of the Dragoons.  The Austrians - feeling that the moment is right decide to redeploy their cavalry brigade to take advantage of the opening in the French line.  I guess you would call this a breakthrough!  The sweeping movement values in V&F allow you to make dramatic movements like this (and it certainly doesn't hurt that the Austrians drew the "Surprise attack" card in their fate phase - which means the Cuirassiers will move 36 total inches this turn with a free move during the fate phase).

GdD Saint Yorre loses his "water" (...) at the sight of a massed cavalry assault coming over the hill to his right!  This is really bad!  Meanwhile GM Soletti is savoring the "sweet" (...) taste of victory.

The Austrians easily capture the French objective in the "Green Field" and the Austrian Cavalry turn to face the remaining French.  Meanwhile the Austrian line Regiment on the right retrogrades from contact with the French in the woods and their sister unit prepares to assault the woods.  Before the game is called, the Austrians in column begin moving towards the French town when the game ends at the prescribed time.

Austrians in assault column (right) passing by their sister regiment in line (left) who withdrew to regroup and try to rally off some hits.

                             

Final positions at game's end with the Austrian cavalry brigade in the green field.  The French pulled another card that allowed movement and the remaining regiment from Perrier's Brigade moves out of the woods also to rally off some hits.

The French now have 2 defeats suffered - 1 from the Dragoons and 1 from the infantry regiment that routed from the green field after a murderous firefight with the Austrians and their supporting artillery.

The Austrians suffered 1 unit routed and have a total of 3 objectives.  The French maintained control of their town but withdrew under the cover of night.  The battle has ended.

General Saint Yorre will have to lug these 2 x defeats around with him for the rest of the game!

General Badoit still holds the town at game's end

One of my favorite pictures of the game!  The Austrian Cavalry thundering over the hill!

Well with bigger units you need more tablespace.  This battle was a bit crowded which was fine for the limited amount of units and teh "set piece attack" scenario but I'd like to give the rules a run-out with the whole 6 x 4 table instead of just 3 feet of the width and introduce more units as well.  100 points was good for a practice game, but I'd like for the brigades to be a bit bigger than 2 or 3 units.

This solo game was great fun and I really like the Valour & Fortitude rules which are perfectly nuanced and simple enough for my tastes while still giving an excellent Napoleonic game.  I really like the look of the "big base" units too.  I will need to create some "defeat" markers, and some markers to show wavering brigades.  I was thinking about making casualty markers for my 10mm Napoleonics.

It's certainly been awhile since I've posted and I'm frankly not sure how much more posting I'll be doing, but it was a lazy Sunday and I had a blast so I figured I would write up a quick account of today's game 😁.