RIght along with the esteemed Mr. Freitag and his recommendation, I re fought Hubbardton with the "Fields of Honor" rules. At first, FOH was not part of the "Allure of Simple Wargames" experiment but these rules were just too good to pass up!
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| Grenadiers challenge the 2nd New Hampshire atop Monument Hill |
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| Dismounted Colonel Hale |
Those of you who read the previous Battle Report where I used Norm's Two Flags, One Nation AAR for an AWI battle know the story already, and you can read more about the rear-guard action in the 1777 Saratoga Campaign here.
The one thing about FOH you notice off the bat is it's fast. REALLY fast. The hex-based rules are made for big battles, and the rules present Bunker Hill, Monmouth, Brandywine, and Guilford Courthouse to refight in their entirety on nicely printed hex maps (the game itself comes with cardboard cutout unit chits representing fighting regiments, detachments, gun sections, and cavalry troops). Fighting an "engagement" like Hubbardton took less than 30 minutes with only 7 total units on the table. In the hex-based rules, units that take a hit from firing or from melee must pass a morale check. If they fail the morale check, they're gone! That's probably the best way to fight a big battle in a reasonable amount of time. FOH-AWI also includes rules for playing an "open" game without hexes (or squares in my case) and that game looks like it would take a bit longer. Units are 3 stands, and each stand gets to fire. When a unit loses all 3 stands, then it's gone. Those rules, meant for play with miniatures, seem like they would make a game last longer. This is not a bad thing at all.
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| British advance on the Selleck Farm after pushing the American rear guard off the hill |
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| 24th Foot Bringing up the left flank |
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| The 2nd NH is flanked by the 24th! |
What Happened
Again, I played the battle according to what happened at the Battle of Hubbardton in 1777. The British deployed a bit smarter this time, with the Lights moving into the woods immediately and squaring off against the 11th Massachussets instead of the 2nd New Hampshire. The Grenadiers and 24th Foot formed line and advanced per the plan. In FOH, units move and shoot or melee and so the 24th and the converged Grenadiers both got the chance to fire, with the Green Mountain Boys fleeing from the field right off the bat!
The Grenadiers moved up and fired on the 2nd New Hampshire who are rated in this battle as "Veteran Line" and have a better morale rating. They cooly stand the fire and give back to the Grenadiers, hitting them but the Grenadiers easily pass with their high morale rating (all tests for shooting and morale have you scoring a 5+ on a D10 in FOH-AWI). THe lights also volley into the 11th Mass and force them from the field as well! Colonel Francis joins the 2nd New Hampshire as his Regiment is shot out from under him - the Continentals are now facing 3 British units, with Hessians on the way, with only the veteran 2nd New Hampshire. The 24th advances up monument hill as do the lights. While the Grenadiers charge the 2nd NH! The hard-pressed but tough mountain men from the "Hampshire Grants Territory", the "live free or die" men, lose the melee but pass the morale test, falling back to the Selleck Cabin and take up position at the fenceline. Colonel Francis joins them. Crown forces seize all of Monument Hill and I called the game at this point.
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| 2nd NH making it's final stand |
The Simplicity Questions!
How Long Did the Game Last?
4 turns, 28 minutes! You can't beat that on a Friday morning before work! Although as described above, I played the hex-based set from FOH-AWI and those are built for big battles. And I only had 6 units on the table (The poor Hessians never even got there!). The fact that units can move and shoot also dramatically speeds up game play.
Scenario
THe Battle of Hubbardton, 1777 - an American rear-guard action fought during the Battle of Saratoga
What Happened?
See above. The game played out quite historically. I like how the subtle differences between units is brought out by altering the firing, melee, and morale level of each unit, but literally everything between those three actions happens as the result of a simple test. It's super easy to learn and play and some basic tenets come out as a result:
- Poorer morale and quality units should be in cover!
- Shooting is tough to dislodge units and not always decisive
- Leaders need to be at the critical place in your plan to bolster flagging morale and to reinforce an attacking unit.
- Watch your flanks!
If I sound like a COlonel talking to one of my new Battalion commanders about an upcoming battle, then the rules have done their job :)
Extraordinary Events
Well The 2nd New Hampshire stood up to the best that Great Britain could throw at them and literally marched off the field - they didn't run. They took a determined charge from the Grenadiers, as well as 3 volleys from multiple units and continued passing, even as the Green Mountain Boys and the 11th Mass took to the hills.
Also there is a cool "Fortune" and "Calamity" roll at the beginning of the turn (like Norm's
events table in TFON). If you roll a 10, you may roll on the fortune table. If you roll a 1, you roll on the calamity table. The Continentals rolled a "6" on the fortune table and earned a "Those Bast****!" which signified a well respected or admired officer or NCO being killed and allowing the unit to reroll a combat roll.
Who Won? Why?
The British won, as they did historically. They won because the GMB and 11th Mass evaporated after receiving killer volleys from the British, leaving the 2nd New Hampshire alone and flanked on Monument Hill. They pulled back to the fence at the Selleck Farm and stood for another turn, but they would have been overcome by numbers if they didn't pull back. No one wants to be meleed from the flank. This was a sensible and realistic outcome. ALso quite historical. The Americans quit the field when the Hessians flanked them. I had the Hessians arriving on turn 7 (1 hour, 45 minutes after contact).
Did You Enjoy the Game?
YES! It was a fun game that is full of potential for big battles. Since I have the space, terrain, and minis for a larger game, it might be worth trying out their Brandywine Scenario (or my own?) or even Germantown with this one. I could see completely finishing a battle like Germantown in under 3 hours if using the pure hex rules (about 15-18 units per side). This battle really felt like an AWI battle with the Americans firing, then evaporating under solid British volleys, but with the surprise of the 2nd New Hampshire who refused to leave the field when their comrades left, and continued firing at the British Grenadiers and Lights. I will definitely play FOH again and many thanks to Jonathan for suggesting.
Advanced QUestions
How Many Consultations Occurred with the Rules?
A few in the beginning. There are only really about 5-6 pags of rules but I had to make sure I was following correct procedures. The game still ended up only taking less than 30 minutes in the end! I had to read about a unit retreating from melee and if the attached leader had to take a casualty check (the rules only stipulate what happens when the unit is knocked out).
Details or Chrome that's Missing
I'm sure in a 6 page set of rules there are some things missing but the procedures are well explained. I felt the chrome came out in both the unit attributes (Milita seriously lower class morale than regular troops), the presence of leaders making a huge difference, as well as the fortune and calamity tables. There were a couple things you had to read through the rules to understand but not big deals. (fences are considered "obstacles" and grant soft cover - things like that).
Final Thoughts
This was a great game which I'm surprised I had never heard of before. It had a good number of modifiers to the die rolls, but with only 3 tables, you can accept that. The system, as simple as it is, flows surprisingly well and feels like an AWI battle. The authors did a great job and it's a shame this game didn't get more recognition. I will play this game again, and, it could be a serious contender for the Germantown MEGA GAME! (its competition being Norm's Two Flags-One Nation rules, and modified Hold the Line rules from Bryan L).
Great writeup - a very interesting set.
ReplyDeleteThese look admirable for mega and larger games.
I must get a copy of these..big advantage is that each (sub)engagement in a larger campaign, like the lead-up to Saratoga etc. could be played in a single day with multiple players, and the ability to feed reinforcements (and thereby surprise the opponent) from other directions. Many battles across a single day of gaming.
There's a pretty powerful campaign element for subtle yet simple rules like this.
Darren these are a GREAT little set of rules and even come with a campaign game in them as well. They will enable all the points you outlined above and you could stick a bunch of units on the table.
DeleteAs "practice" for my upcoming Germantown game, I might try the VB Brandywine scenario with these rules.
Sounds like a superb set of rules for getting what normally might be a complicated fight, played out to a conclusion in a single session. I was surprised that a failed morale check would take a unit completely out of the game (Understandably unforgiving for getting through a big battle) and wondered whether something like the British Grenadiers could find themselves in such a dilemma from militia fire ... or does the level of fire have to be fairly deadly for that to happen.
ReplyDeleteI have just been playing an ACW boardgame that has a similar mechanic, but the unit routs rather than gets removed, though it seems quite easy to recover from rout and units can be quickly back in action - I have seen this sort of thing referred to as ‘rubber routers’ in some circles.
6 pages ..... what’s not to like :-)
Norm, if you see my comment below, I play wherein each BMU is eliminated after having accrued three failed morale tests. That is the suggested method for playing with miniatures but the "one and done" would make for a fast game.
DeleteAs for your grenadier dispersing from militia fire, it is possible but not that likely. First, the militia typically fires less effectively than other classes of troops. Second, the grenadiers are much less likely to fail a morale check. So, with militia less likely to hit and grenadiers more likely to stand, the probability of grenadiers buckling immediately from militia fire is low.
Cheers Norm and thanks for commenting. I really enjoyed playing these rules and I think they deserve Jonathan's moniker of "dead simple" they are a joy to play. As Jonathan mentions, there is a "miniature" variant in the book where a unit is 3 stands and takes 3 hits before it dies. I will try that next. The scenario you mention is possible, but the Grenadiers have the highest morale in the game and ate more likely to pass their morale check.
DeleteSteve! Great to see that you gave the rules a try and enjoyed your first trial by fire. I have been playing the game on hexes and treating each of my single element BMUs as three stands for fire/melee/casualty purposes. I prefer the ability of a unit to absorb some punishment before being eliminated on one, "bang, you're dead" die roll.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing this out on your table again. although the rules are simple, I think I will build a QRS. When I do, I will pass it along.
Jonathan I had hoped you would comment on this post! Yes you were right I these are a very fun and enjoyable set of rules that are dead simple. A perfect set for a very large game I might add. I'm looking forward to playing them more with the 3 hit variant up next.
DeleteAlso very much looking forward to your QRS! If you out one together please send my way :)
DeleteThis game is definitely a contender for the Germantown MEGAGAME. As mentioned above, I'm going to try out a battle with many more units like Brandywine (using the Volley and Bayonet scenario) to put it through its paces!
A bloody and superb assault, nice pictures and great report!
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil!
DeleteWell these sound like a great set of rules and you obviously enjoyed them Steve. Being able to get a game in before work? Well done you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve! At 28 minutes clocked for this game, it was fairly easy!
DeleteI'm currently painting 15mm AWI figures. Really enjoyed this report and looking forward to your bigger battle test. Being able to shift between 1, 2 or 3 hits to KO a unit means you can select according to the size of battle and the time available for play. I haven't seen any other rules that enable that kind of modulation, so you really seem to have a winner here!
ReplyDeleteNoel I certainly think so. Going to try a proper battle with these rules to see if they're the winner for my Germantown fight!
DeleteSteve, for interest, another blogger is about to cover the same battle at https://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2020/10/setting-up-next-game.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm I will surf on over there and check it out!
DeleteLooked interesting, so rather than pay 25 quid to an eBay seller, I bagged a condensed copy of the rules from Boardgame Geek! On first glance - and as usual, I’m jumping to conclusions without playing the game - they appear to miss some of the chrome that gives the war character. Ideal for big battles, especially 7YW, but I would probably end up tweaking them. Springing instantly to mind, is allowing Line Infantry to dice (using the morale rules) for an extra hex of movement. Lights would get this automatically, Hessians have no chance. Likewise, I would force them all to test morale to cross an obstacle. This would need some kind of disruption rule, perhaps temporarily disabling a base until rallied. And then... and then... Having said all that, they would fit my stuff as my line and lights are 3-base units, skirmishers and cavalry 2. Hmmmm... This could have legs. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteCheers Jeffers. The game is super bare bones and could use a bit of chrome. I rather enjoy the simplicity though, and the ability to hack into it.
DeletePlease continue I like hearing your recommended hacks!!!
I've played the hex version and I'm going to play the "open" version next. Watch this space!
Steve
Nice battle report and pics. It’s funny to me that an older rule set suddenly has a lot of traction and I see it a lot, or at least in the blogs that I visit. 😀
ReplyDeleteMaybe when I get my AWI armies up to a good size I’ll give these rules a try.
Thanks for commenting Stew! I got turned onto
DeleteThese rules from Jon Freitag and they are nice and simple and good for a big sized AWI battle!
Could I just ask for a little detail on how melee works. Eg is it just an opposed roll by each of the 2 meleeing units? Do militia do a morale test if charged? Can there be a melee with several units vs 1 unit? If so, how do the rolls work for that?
ReplyDeleteNoel - "Each unit can also conduct 2 different attacks “fire” or “melee.” An often modified d10 roll resolves fire attacks, and a competitive roll between the players resolves melee attacks. The abilities of the units to perform these actions are laid out in a simple A, B, C, D, E scale “A” being the best adding +2 to a die roll and “E” the worst subtracting a –2 on a die roll. The corresponding modifier tables for different combat situations are also very clear and concise. They are even printed on the back of the manual for easy reference."
Deletehttps://boardgamegeek.com/thread/253266/fields-honor-minatures-and-counters-unite