| | | | |
| |
|
Over the weekend, members of NELUG re-enacted the first
battle of the American Revolution. This was the second game for our second Year
of BrikWars. Our goal is to have at least six games by the end of the year.
The original scenario rules are
here.
Basically, the goal of the British team was to march from one end of the board
to the other. The goal of the Colonial team was to inflict as many British
casualties as possible.
This was our first attempt at using the 2005 squad rules, and was our first game
that was based on an actual event.
Dave brought along some raised baseplates, which made for an interesting board
setup. Not only did the British have to make it to the end of the road, they had
to weave through a narrow canyon to do it.
After the board was set up, troops were distributed in even numbers. 40 Brits
against 40 Colonials. A quick dice-off put Joe and I in charge of the British,
with Shaun, Dave, and Dan in control of the Colonials.
The game started quickly, with the proud ranks of British infantry marching past
Buckmans Tavern, only to have one of Dans Colonials leap out from behind a
shed, taking a pot-shot at the British Officer. The Colonial then ran around the
front of the shed, only to be confronted by the entire British army. Picture Han
Solo running around the corner into a regiment of Storm Troopers.
The British squad, armed with muskets and bayonets, quickly stuck multiple
pointy things into the Colonial. I think it was at this point that the Colonials
realized how much damage a British squad could do. It was also at this point
that the British realized that if the Colonials didnt form squads, it was going
to take a long time to pick them all off one by one.
Moving past the tavern and into the canyon, the British squads were forced to
narrow their formation, going in one squad at a time. The Colonials, all named
Tony, used this bottle-neck to rain fire down on the British. The British
returned fire, causing a couple of the Colonials to turn and flee.
Sensing that his troops were beginning to panic, the Colonial Officer moved up
to bolster his troops spirits. For the next few turns the pass filled with
blood, gore, and carnage.
Seeing that they were blocked at the pass, two British squads at the back of the
army formation left the road, flanking either side of the pass. Both squads
moved relatively unopposed until about midway down the board, when they were
attacked by rabid Colonials with pitchforks, sabers, and axes. One Colonial,
hidden in ambush behind the tavern, took an unfortunate shot from behind, caused
by a British squad in the middle of the board.
A few more turns of bloody combat ensued, until the Colonial blockade finally
began to break down. As the last Colonial in the pass fell, it was up to Dans
men to make their last stand. Armed with flintlock pistols, they charged the
British troops in a valiant effort to make a dent. One man did manage to kill
the British Officer, only to be kicked in the head by that Officers horse.
In the end, the British prevailed by killing all of the Colonials, though they
lost almost half their men doing it.
Overall, I thought the game was a success. The British acted like British, and
the Colonials acted like Minutemen would have. The moral rules seemed to work
well.
I think the reinforcement rules would have given the Colonials a more even
chance, but the game lasted about 20 turns, so they didnt do too badly.
I think I left before the kill scores were added up, but due to the British only
getting 1d8th of a point for each kill, I have a feeling the scores were pretty
close.
Shaun Sullivan has photos of the game
here.
-Elroy
| | | | | | | | | | | | | In lugnet.gaming.brikwars, Elroy Davis wrote:
|
This was our first attempt at using the 2005 squad rules, and was our first
game that was based on an actual event.
|
Now hold on! The Treaty of Versailles wasnt a real event?
How did the squad rules work out for you guys? I notice you used the word
attempt.
|
Overall, I thought the game was a success. The British acted like British,
and the Colonials acted like Minutemen would have. The moral rules seemed to
work well.
|
Theyre nice, although I wonder how you could scale them for larger squads. It
doesnt make as much sense to force a check when a squad of 20 guys loses three.
Id almost want to see something where you toss a big handful of dice, one for
each guy in the squad, and let them rout individually and abandon the squad.
The number to beat would be however many units had been involuntarily
de-squadded on the previous round - whether from routing, getting knocked off
the squad plate somehow, or the old-fashioned method of getting killed. That
way you could get nice cascade effects of routs that accelerate or decelerate
over a series of turns. Rallying difficulty would be handled by forcing any
unit attempting to join to make a morale check as well.
|
Shaun Sullivan has photos of the game
here.
|
To me,
this photo right here is the essence of everything BrikWars is about.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In lugnet.gaming.brikwars, Mike Rayhawk wrote:
|
In lugnet.gaming.brikwars, Elroy Davis wrote:
|
This was our first attempt at using the 2005 squad rules, and was our first
game that was based on an actual event.
|
Now hold on! The Treaty of Versailles wasnt a real event?
|
Oops. Id forgotten about that one.
|
How did the squad rules work out for you guys? I notice you used the word
attempt.
|
I thought they worked really well. I was actually hoping for some
squad-on-squad combat, but it didnt work out that way. Id also love to play a
larger scale game using squads at some point. Something where a few hundred
minifigs line up on one side of a room, and a few hundred more line up on the
other side. Of course, that may just be because I like seeing large ranks of
minifigs formed up in anticipation of crushing their enemies.
I think the biggest thing that we noticed is that squads are a great way to move
a large number of figs at one time. Combat really wasnt that different, as
each Trooper still got a die roll.
|
|
The moral rules seemed to work well.
|
|
|
Theyre nice, although I wonder how you could scale them for larger squads.
It doesnt make as much sense to force a check when a squad of 20 guys loses
three.
|
It might make more sense to force a check when a percentage of the squad is lost
instead of a fixed number. My memory is slipping, but I think for the
Colonials, since they didnt form squads, we forced a moral roll on troops that
were near troops that had been hit, and we had them roll as if they had lost 5
of their 6 men. This seemed to work pretty well too, as it did a good job
simulating citizen soldiers going up against the British war machine. The moral
recovery rules also worked well, as the Colonial leader was able to rally most
of his men.
|
Id almost want to see something where you toss a big handful of dice, one
for each guy in the squad, and let them rout individually and abandon the
squad. The number to beat would be however many units had been involuntarily
de-squadded on the previous round - whether from routing, getting knocked off
the squad plate somehow, or the old-fashioned method of getting killed. That
way you could get nice cascade effects of routs that accelerate or decelerate
over a series of turns. Rallying difficulty would be handled by forcing any
unit attempting to join to make a morale check as well.
|
I think for the first couple of turns we may have rolled a die for each member
of the squad and then used the average or something, but ultimately we settled
on using one die roll per squad.
-Elroy
| | | | | | |