The Battle for Lament Ridge

I'm not sure when I last played a game with the excellent Rebels & Patriots rules by Michael Leck and Dan Mersey, but it was probably a couple of years ago or more, when I was helping to playtest the rules. In typical fashion for me, I started basing up figures, got them primed and then immediately moved onto another shiny new project! Such is my wargaming life...

When I was deciding upon the basing system for my mdf figures, one of the reasons I went down the 1" square bases route was so that I could play skirmish games with them, especially with R&P. Having finished some great BPII games recently, I was inspired by Matt Crump's 'virtual' games with Jonathan Freitag to dig my rulebook out and get a game or two in.

So I knocked up some very generic forces for the first scenario in the book, just to get a hang of things again, as I knew I would be somewhat ring rusty after a few years out of the ring so to speak. Both sides had 3 Line Infantry units, 2 skirmishers and 1 unit of small shock cavalry, with no upgrades to keep things as simple as possible.

I made few notes as I went along, but spent most of my time focussed on the game, but hopefully the captions to the photos will give you an idea of how the game went.

 

Both sides arrayed for battle, starting the game off table and rolling to come on. Red are at the top, Blue the bottom.

The Blue line infantry on the left, viewing the blockhouse on the hill which was the objective.

Blue skirmishers and cavalry on the right.

The Blue cavalry moved to the foot of the hill, with the line infantry slogging across the ploughed field, whilst the skirmishers moved into the cornfield. The Red infantry and cavalry moved piecemeal, struggling to get co-ordination to their movements, which likewise affected the skirmishers on the left.

The Blue troops get the initial foothold on the hill.

The Red troops are still far away and not moving in unison.

The cavalry and skirmishers make contact and exchange fire to the right of the blockhouse. The Red skirmishers get the better of the Blue ones in the firefight. The Red forces start to make ground as the steady Blue advance falters.

The action develops in and around the cornfield, with red gaining the upper hand.

The Blue line infantry man the snake rail fencing and exchange fire with the Red troops by the woods.

The cavalry face each other as both sides try to get troops onto the hill.

After a cavalry clash, both sides retreated to gather their breath. Both sides struggled to get their troops moving, with Red getting the jump onto the hill with their troops in line.

The Red troops on the hill with their skirmishers slowly whittling down the Blue skirmishers in the corn.

The Blue line infantry try to gain a foothold on the hill, supported by skirmishers.

The Blue infantry cause the Red infantry by the woods to become Broken.

The Broken Red infantry are not being supported by the commander and his troops by the snake rail fencing, who are not keen to get into combat.

As the Red cavalry vanquish their Blue opponents, the Blue skirmshers break in the corn as do the Red infantry by the woods. Seeing an opportunity the Blue infantry advance towards the hill to try and gain fire superiority.

The Red cavalry in the Blue rear, with the Blue right flank looking somewhat shaky, with only a unit of skirmishers to hold it in place.

The Blue line infantry advance to try an re-inforce the hill and get on the Reds flank.

Both sides have units on the hill, with the Red line infantry in a worse position.

The Blue line infantry move in the ploughed field to protect the right flank, as the other units move up onto the hill. The Red skirmishers try to help the line infantry on the hill, but can't quite get into position to fire.

The Red skirmishers move to support the infantry on the hill, but do not get the order to fire.

The Blue line infantry pour fire into the Red commanders line infantry, who become Broken and then flee the field of battle. A Turn later and the other Red line infantry unit on the hill did the same, leaving the Blue force victorious.

 

 

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was a quick and fun game and I certainly was ring rusty, but after a few Turns I had 90% of the game sorted in my head as most of it came back to me. I certainly need to re-read the rulebook again to make sure I hadn't missed anything, but then games like this are a great way to through up the areas you need to check up on.

So as always a few thoughts on the game and the rules:

• The game certainly played quickly and was very intuitive, with a few simple and core rules mechanisms to remember. I only had to refer to the rulebook a few times, mostly on the moral tests, otherwise the QRS worked perfectly well.
• The Red force had some terrible morale test rolls throughout the game, which is pretty tyical of me! In contrast the Blue force seemed to fair better. Go figure! This collapse of the Red force in the end gave the Blue force a fairly easy win.
• The 2' x 2' table worked perfectly and was so easy to set up on the dining table with minimal effort and disruption. More such games are planned with R&P as well as BKCII.
• I'm glad I went with simple vanilla forces for both sides so that I could concentrate on the rules and game play. As I become more confiddent I will add in detail as and when appropriate.
• The rules are solo friendly but I think they work better against an opponent, as they are great fun and there is plenty of opportunity for banter to be had during the game.
• Like many games, playing them as a campaign would be much more rewarding, which is my plan in the future, but not until I'm happy I know the rules well enough.
• I think I got the amount of terrain right, but more games will help me know what gives a good game. Too much and you can slow things down or draw the game out, too little and you can end up with a quick game with units being shot up at a distance. A tricky balance as always.
• One advantage of this game is that you don't need many troops or much terrain, so it makes a great, easy and affordable introduction to wargaming. It is also a simple but not simplistic set of rules, which is very important in my book.
  

 

I might try and get in another game before Xmas, which would be nice and given how easy this was to set up, quite achievable. Fingers crossed on this front! So until next time...