Bumping into the Enemy

A very wet and dreary day saw another trial game of Pike & Shotte grace my table, again with the aim to give the rules a good run out and to gain familiarity. This time I added some basic terrain and went to a very simple advance to contact type scenario, with both side bumping into each other from their line of march. So nothing fancy at all, but I did add in Dragoons to the mix and classed the Blue Cavalry as French Guard, just to see how they played.

Deployment

Both sides Dragoons started on the table, with all other units off table and in their respective positions in the line of march.

 

An overview of the table, with some hedges and the ploughed fields and corn classed as rough terrain. The woods could only be entered by the Dragoons.

The off table units and general gaming detritus in a very useful area for this sort of stuff.

 

Opening Moves

The Blue force won the Initiative and moved first, with both sides being rather slow and steady in their approach, with both sides relying upon some free moves to get going. The Blue Dragoons moved onto the hill and opened up on their Red counterparts, but the Red shooting was markedly superior, causing one Dragoon unit to be come Shaken.

The end of Turn 2 and both sides still struggling to get onto the table and shake out into line.

The Dragoons start a firefight with the Red Dragoons gaining the initial upper hand.

 

Mid Game

Both sides managed to form into line, with Red doing so earlier than Blue that gave them an advantage as they managed to get some shots in first, which led to a Blue Infantry unit breaking. Both sides cavalry moved round to the flank, with the Blue Guards closing in on the Red Dragoons, but the Red Cavalry came to their rescue. In the cavalry clash in the ploughed field on the Red left flank, the Blue Guards got the upper hand, but then after a sweeping advance on the retreating Red Cavalry, one Blue Guards unit failed their Break Test and fled!

The end of Turn 4 and both sides have formed line and the cavalry face each other across the ploughed field.

The Red Infantry break the Blue Infantry on the road and the Blue Dragoons are still suffering withering fire, but hold on.

The end of Turn 5 and the Red force is in a slightly better position than that of Blue.

The Red right flank is coming under intense fire from Blue, but poor shooting and good morale saves sees them hold their position.

The aftermath of the Cavalry clash, with both sides having retreated to lick their wounds, but the Blue Guards being one unit short.

 

End Game

Both sides rally some units and the Red force advances in places as the Blue Dragoons come down off the hill to try and snatch victory. However it was not to be as the Red force stopped the Blue Dragoons in their tracks and also broke another Blue Infantry unit. With losses mounting the Blue force wisely quit the field of battle.

The end of the game.

The Red left flank is secure and the Blue Dragoons have taken more intense fire which has stopped them dead.

Combined shooting sees another Blue Infantry unit break, leading to the Blue force leaving the battlefield.

 

 

Post Game Thoughts

For a very quick spur of the moment game, I thought it worked well and again helped me understand the rules better, which of course was the aim. So as always some thoughts on the game and the rules etc:

 

• I completely forgot to use the 'First Fire' rule, even though I had made a note of it! It was only half way into the game that I remembered it so left things as they were. Must do better next time...
• Movement is much slower in this game than BPII, leading to units slowly entering the battlefield and deploying, but this felt right for the period. No massive Napoleonic sweeping cavalry charges here! I did enjoy this and you do have to plan your movements more carefully as it takes time for them to be able to get into place.
• Having some terrain was nice, not only from a visual point of view, but also from the effect it had upon the game. Rough Terrain really does make a difference, not only as it does slow units down to one move only by and large, but it also can disrupt units with pikes, as happened in this game. I don't think I would want much more terrain and this as it would affect the game too much I fear. I would only add more stuff for decoration to improve the visual aspect of the table.
• The Dragoons worked well and brought a nice touch to the game, but need to read their rules again to make sure I played them correctly.
• The Blue Guard Cavalry certainly can be devastating but as in this game, there is always the chance that the Die Gods will favour the other side! They're nice to have but as Barry Hilton mentions in the rules, you don't want too many Guard units as otherwise it can have too big an impact on the game.
• After two games I'm very happy with the rules but need to have a good re-read and make sure I've been doing this correctly and haven't missed anything. But first I'm going to take a break from these rules so I can come back to them 'fresh' as it were. 
• I also want to do some reading up on the period and so have dug out my copies of Chandler's 'The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough' and CS Grant's 'From Pike to Shot 1685-1720'. Hopefully these will provide a good refresher as my knowledge is more towards either the ECW or the SYW.
  

 

Just before this game I had a flick through of the 'Baroque' ruleset and although they apparently give an excellent game and reflect the period well, I had a headache after reading them! Sadly they are not for me but they have helped clarify what sort of game I want to play, which is the important thing.

 

So what next? Well the painting muse has returned which is nice, as after searching through my lead mountain, I came across my nearly finished AWI/Imagi-Nations figures and also a British SYW force that I forgot that I had assembled and primed just before my 'retirement'! My aim is to finish of the few units required for the AWI force and then re-flag them, then move onto the SYW British. Both sides will broadly have a core of 12 units with some additional ones which can be fielded as needed. Like many gamers, I find about 12 units per side gives a very good mid-week game for the solo players and can be completed in a reasonable time, which given family pressure is good.

Alongside this I have an HoW game all ready to set up and a planned AVBCW mini-campaign to play that has the bare bones set out. I need to make some scenery for this and have ordered some stuff that will be useful for the final game, but all will be revealed in good time! So until next time stay safe...