Another week, another esoteric set of rules, this time from one of my favorite websites that you potentially have never heard of - "Junior General". Junior General is run by a history teacher who uses historical miniature wargaming to teach history to his students. Truth be told, I've always wanted to meet him, having been a big fan of his rules and his Battle Reports. His After Action Reports of his students' battles are wonderful if you ever have a free minute to read them - they still deliver a wargaming fix when you can't find the time to game yourself. i've played these rules before, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Anyways, onto the action! Today's battle was a Seven Years War encounter loosely based off the Battle of Lobositz. The scenario is "Twin Objectives" from the One Hour Wargames rules, but played with the Junior General "Leuthen" rules. They always looked exciting to me - would they deliver the sharp, Seven Years War action I was looking for? Let's find out.
Turn 1 Opening Moves
Play sequence is straightforward enough. Player A moves and shoots. Player B moves and shoots. Charges. Melee. Simple!
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| The proud Prussian Army - facing off against "Twin Objectives" the hill and the town. |
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| Sometimes I wonder if the 10mm are boring - then I look at pictures like this - and they aren't even flocked! |
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| The Anhalt leading out. Grenadiers behind them. |
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| That is a handsome set of buildings. |
Shooting is tough. You get dice equal to your bases, in most cases hitting on "6". Artillery fares a little better but for the most part, shooting hits on 6.
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| The Austrians have a save on the hill and of course they roll it! |
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| The Prussians are hit |
Turn 2 |
| The retreating Regiment from the town assault moves out in column towards the hill. Reinforcements are sorely needed here! |
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| Meanwhile back at the town... |
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| Firing at the Austrians on the hill to no avail... |
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| Every time I've tried to charge with the Austrian Cavalry I've failed the pre charge morale check... |
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| The Prussians charge again, as was their custom |
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| And a stinging volley is unleashed! |
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| Finally - on Turn 6 - the Austrian cavalry passes a charge MC... |
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| And are destroyed by Prussian musketry |
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| Meanwhile on the hill - volley after volley are going into the Austrians and they just. wont. die. |
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| Speaking of die hards. Lots of firepower lined up against this village. THey wouldn't even take their first hit until Turn 9 |
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| Turn 9 a strong Prussian unit is repulsed by these stubborn Austrians. Turn 10 would see the Austrians assault the other Prussian unit who is the same strength. The resulting melee was a draw - meaning both sides lose 1SP and retreat, finally destroying this Austrian unit who held out against innumerous assaults against his position! |
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| Turn 10 the village is actually captured but not through combat! The Austrian defenders fail their pre charge morale check and withdraw from the village. The battle has ended in a Prussian victory. |
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| The Anhalt never even got a scratch! |
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| My "high speed" QRS |
LESSONS LEARNED
Melee is decisive in this game, but be forewarned - if you dont have at least 2 positive modifiers in your favor, you're going to have a bad day. You need to whittle the enemy down a bit and that takes shooting - lots of shooting. Melee is a gamble and even a +3 mods going in you could roll a 1 and he could roll a 6.
Movement is generous and allows for sweeping maneuver on the table. In this game, the Austrian commander should be sacked at the very least for not flanking that infantry regiment on the Prussian left and gobbling it up.
This was a very fun and interesting game. Certainly made me want to pick up my brushes and finish my SYW 10mm guys of which I have a few infantry and cavalry units left to paint.
I think the game would play alot better with the removable stands as intended, but some folks have turned these rules into a more "beefed up" system (A la Tilly's Very Bad Day). These rules are firmly in the One Hour Wargames category of simple but with a dash more complexity. I am going to try to get a Black Powder game on the table in the near future and may potentially blog it as well. Stay tuned!
Superb looking game, with great narrative Steve. I have followed that site for a few years myself, and some great concepts in the rules. Of particular interest is that you note lots of shooting and then that melee can be very dangerous, which altogether makes for exciting 7yw action - and I am thinking the rules could be hacked for AWI of course.
ReplyDeleteHey Darren if you look he has a 'Freemans Farm" scenario already shovel-ready for the AWI. I think there is a Guilford courthouse scenario too. He already did the hacking. ;)
DeleteHi Steve, the SYW infantry line in 10mm looks superb. Very interesting that you say attacks need two positive modifiers to avoid a bad day and that struck me as the very essence of design / rule writing principle, as without an advantage, what do you have!
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm I thought they looked good too - very photogenic :)
DeleteYes you need to stack up the Modifiers in your favor (flank attack, leader attached, more stands than opponent ) because as you know the D6 is very fickle :) troops defending in terrain have the ability to shoot before melee and can potentially gain a + Modifier by eliminating one or more of your stands on the way in. It's tough!
To answer your question without an advantage your giving everything to chance and I imagine it's the same way in the real world without adequate preparation.
DeleteYes, exactly so. Perhaps the basis of all rules should start with combats being zeroed for want of a better expression, chance thing, with only minor swings of fortune possible and that meaningful outcomes only come from situational modifiers being added into the mix. I know that seems obvious, but your system here seems to quantify that.
DeleteI agree, Norm. My understanding is that a commander would likely not charge a fully prepared, fresh enemy rashly without at least some preparation and some sense of advantage that would lead to an acceptable or victorious outcome (excluding of course any actions occurring between 1914 and 1918) and so I think a rules set should punish you for charging headlong at the enemy without preparation. In this game that was painfully the case.
DeleteThat was an excellent write up and has made me reconsider the rules on the Junior General site. Twin Objectives is a brutal OHW scenario though, with very tough decisions for the attacker.
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin. There are many good and clever ideas packed within the various rules on the site.
DeleteThat's a good point this is the first time I've won as the attacker in Twin Objectives. An aggressive defender can really spoil your plans.
This victory was probably due more to the Austrians failing their pre charge morale check and beating a hasty retreat off the table, but a win is a win!
Your 10 mm figures look great, and also a fan of the Junior General site!
ReplyDeleteWell, I did not expect that to end in a Prussian victory! Looked like a great game with simple but bloody rules, Steve!
ReplyDeleteThat makes 2 of us, Keith! The trick was knowing when to assault vrs when to NOT assault!! Assaulting a full strength regiment in terrain failed every time!
DeleteInteresting to see the Junior General rules in more serious use. Do you find in the various "Horse & Musket" incantations that the ability of infantry to move AND fire before any enemy response is a bit unrealistic? Although it isn't at the more deadly 1" range. I'm happy to stay on the simpler side with rules -- maybe with a few tweaks here and there for the JG arsenal.
ReplyDeleteHi David,
DeleteYes, the moving and firing bit is a bit unrealistic but the game plays fine and I didn't feel like the results were ridiculous or lopsided, similar to "black powder" in that sense it gave a good game with believable results which is all I can ask for from a set of rules.
I'm with you, simpler is better. The endless "overhead" in rules kills me and I spend more time flipping through rules than actually playing!