Tim from Sheffield came to visit. As he is of the Scottish persuasion it seemed a good idea to try the WSS square based iteration of the rules with the Jacobites. So I set up a quick game of Prestonpans.
As befits the clan army (I forgot what units were lowlanders for this game - I did about 3 minutes research, which was mostly spent finding a book with a map in it) Tim set off quickly...but not all along the line.
I fired with my artillery, and my flank guards loosed off a volley at long range, to try to disrupt the attack.
The Kilties fired their traditional volley on the charge. The fearsome sight intimidated my entire line. Not good news. I did succeed in getting my cavalry to counter charge. For all the good it will do.
Oh dear. Everything is going backwards. Except those flank guards. They held their ground.
In fact, apart from the flank guards, this wing has collapsed completely, despite Johnny Cope intervening personally.
The charge goes in on my right, again devastatingly effective. On the right Johnny Cope is still on his horse, but it is touch and go. The flank guards now have the bit between their teeth, and are driving their now chastened highland foes backwards. However, my army has half the units in flight, so that's game over. It all took about an hour, including chat and teaching the rules. Slightly longer than the actual battle, but not ridiculously so.
First try out with these chaps since I did the major surgery and put the game on squares. The revised intimidation rules are a bit lethal so I may have to look at them a in a bit, but generally pleased.
Exciting stuff - how was the actual gameplay as opposed to the odds? Was the intimidation of the entire line to be expected, or an unusual result?
ReplyDeleteAs it is Prestopans the British have lower potential morale ratings than the Jacobites, although exactly what they are isn't known at the start of the game. The odds are on them becoming intimidated, but it isn't guaranteed. In any game with dice you get odd outcomes, as the flank guard unit showed.
DeleteSounds good. I have tried a lot of different rules for Jacobites and the period and find it hard to settle on any. The set I last used for Prestonpans had a nonzero chance of the British side breaking entirely on the first turn!
ReplyDeleteNot much fun for the Brits! My scenario is rigged, but there is a chance that there are some units in the line with some backbone, just neither side knows if and who they are.
DeleteDon't believe all the Hannoverian propaganda folks, this was a finely balanced game in which superior generalship prevailed!
ReplyDeleteYou can believe that all the way to Culloden.
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