After my problems with "General d'Armee" rules, I crawled back to the safety and comfort of a Mustafa rules set ... in this case Lasalle. I have played "Might and Reason" and "Maurice" for years and have been continually satisfied by the games produced. So I read the Lasalle rules.
I decided to give the trial run a go with just the basic infantry forces of the Russian and French 1812 list. This gave the Russian defender 6 battalions and 2 batteries while the French aggressor had 8 battalions and only a single battery. Above you can see the mess I created as I tried to launch a strong attack on the Russian left while avoiding the wood. I retrospect I think I should have used march columns and gone clear around the far side.
We found the rules simple (we didn't spend our evening stuck in the rulebook while no play happened) and logical. Nothing seemed odd - even though the order of each turn will take a while to master. The emphasis seemed to be on the movement of your troops into the correct positions so that they can concentrate fire on their targets. The rules don't inhibit command but allow the player to move everything they want each turn ... it's putting it in the right place that's the tricky thing.
Above shows the French with a refused right wing while they surged forward on the other side. Figuring out how to use cannon most effectively proved to be an interesting feature of the evening. Fire zones and targeting is a little more restrictive in this game - which I enjoy and find logical. Friendlies can foul your fields of fire so - as I've already said - putting things in the right place is the challenge.
I kept the weaker of my wings well away from the short range of the heavy battery the Russians had on their left.
Above is from the Russian perspective. Due to me not being able to un-entangle my troops I could not use the advantage of numbers on my opponent.
Foward!
Russian cannister weakened the advancing columns.
Russian musket fire continued the process then a bayonet charge dispersed one of my battalions. Logical and sensible. These words can also be applied to the aspect of Mustafa's games that require the player to defend or attack in depth. If you just have a single line across a key area then expect to pay. As it should be.
This will be an interesting aspect for our club over the coming games of Lasalle as we have two British players. There has been a little criticism of these rules online (what the internet used to criticise??? Impossible!) that British lines are not effective enough when firing and that attack columns are more successful. We'll have to see over the next couple of games if this is the case. Hopefully even by next week we'll see a French vs British match to help us decide for ourselves.
This above shows a key part of the game. The Russian battery was able to "silence" the French guns (who had blown away one the Russian batteries earlier after manhandling their guns into short range then giving them some cannister) with long range fire by forcing them to limber. This does no damage but it prevents them from firing. The French were never able to release cannister into the Russian right that may well have caused a large hole to form in concert with the infantry push.
The Russians charged before the French could get more units into the fight. This combat was inconclusive. The French skirmish advantage was small but did not cause an overwhelming result.
I think the rallying rules in this game are some of Sam's best. Adding extra dice (all must pass when rolled) is a simple way of resolving rallying. The nearest of the enemy and whether you manoeuvre also add dice making it more difficult. Even rallying one disruption at a key moment makes the game tense and interesting.
The last two snaps show the conclusion of the game. We played 8 turns each and thought we had had a good experience of the how the rules worked. Both players and spectator will play Lasalle again but I'm more keen to play it I believe. I like simple and uncluttered rules that are logical and are not dependent on masses of dice roles, rolling a six or trawling through forums to find out what the writer meant in the first place.
It ticked the wargaming boxes for me -
- did I understand it = yes,
- did I get to move my stuff = yes and
- did I get to shoot stuff = yes.
And also key ... I didn't feel like I'd been diddled by the rules or the dice at the end ... I had a chance at winning or losing the battle throughout the night (not just in deployment.)
Nothing more annoying than trying to take on Russians with end to end line of artillery. I found the best way is to sacrifice a battalion to get close enough and focus on rallying just that unit then get close enough with the battalions 'interleaved, so a rear battalion can charge through the gap to take out the artillery. Of course, this is where a brigade of cavalry comes in very handy.
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