These images detail my third game of Lasalle. This has been a staged introduction where the first two games used only the basic forces. Tonight a second reserve force of cavalry was introduced. The Peninsula lists were used as everyone I seem to know just collects Brits. Doesn't leave much scope for my poor Frenchmen. (I don't overly enjoy the Peninsula myself preferring events in 1813 + 1814 + 1815.)
The Lasalle turn sequence plays easily but does seem a little weird at first but once I realised the turns were cyclical then I understood much more. An example is a charge in your movement phase is resolved in your opponents reaction phase at the beginning of the turn.
Another aspect that is interesting for our gaming group is command. We've chosen rules over the last few years that limit command in one regard or another. Lasalle allows a player to move everything he chooses to. This is a more traditional aspect of the rules but not confusing or unwelcome. Our game club likes to mix our rules. It is an aspect of Lasalle that I prefer over General d'Armee. Here the choices the player has over ADC's gives an impression of a high degree of control over your army. However, all your choices are at the whims of the activation dice roll. For no reason whatsoever a brigade that is under no enemy pressure may simply choose not to obey orders. Yes, this can be explained away logically - anything can really - but it is frustrating and undermines the command choices available. Why risk spending multiple ADC's when they might just wander off into a field to pick some daisies?
In any case, this Lasalle game flowed nicely. We are sticking to the 16 turn limit (8 per player) which forces both sides to come to blows. Sitting back is hazardous - and not very fun. We really like the variable game end - this might see between 1 and 5 additional turns. Players shouldn't be able to thrown caution to the wind claiming "It's the last turn anyway!"
The French gained their reserve cavalry forces early in the game where the British were forced to wait for their dragoons. This enabled the French to threaten the British line and force them into squares. While this happened four battalions advanced on just two British elsewhere.
The above image shows the thin red line. Poor rolling for the Brits and good rolling for the French saw this side of the field crumble for the men in red. This led to some discussion at the end of the game over the point of being in line and were columns too hard to hold off. We resolved to continue to play the rules to test this a little more. This issue will probably decide whether the club continues to use Lasalle as three of five players have British armies - the other two have French.
It seems A line has the edge on A column (4 shooting dice to 2 OR 5 if the line has skirmisher advantage) but when more than one column attacks the line is in trouble. This initially seemed wrong or a bit odd to us but there are a couple of questions raised by this. The Brits - in this game - were being hit 2 to 1. Should a British line be able to defend itself and win against two French columns? Also have we become used to the concepts of Brits mowing down columns? Should this be happening or should something else be occurring?
I have resolved to have a much closer look at D'Erlon's Corps attacking at Waterloo to try to get a clearer picture. I chose Waterloo as I find it much more interesting than Peninsula battles. I know that lines of Middle Guard shot it out with lines of British Guard units later in the day at Waterloo suggesting there wasn't much different between those units when both were in line - but these are hardly "usual" suspects in terms of representative regiments. After an initial read of an admittedly general website similar numbers of French in columns (later lines) did push back the Brits/Belgians and had them at near breaking point. This would appear to support Lasalle's mechanisms. But further reading is required and I'd love to find our which battalions faced which in this attack.
The final arrival of the Brit dragoons saw two French squares break. This game saw some quite dramatic combat outcomes. If you don't throw any fives or only a single 5 (or 6) then you can expect to die/rout quite quickly in this game. It's a bit hard to take at first but one thing we've discovered after playing even just three games is that you get a result easily within the time confines of a games night - and still have time to talk crap during, and analyse the evening after, the game.
Again other rules can seem glacial in comparison. Things happen in Lasalle.
The end of the Brits was quite messy. Stalemated by cavalry and thus unable to advance, French surged through the centre. The French artillery silenced the British cannon than swung into a flanking position while a single unit of conscripts - held in the second line - rushing through the gap created and onto the objective. The British failed their first morale roll - easy to do it was turn 17 (must roll over the turn number on 4 dice to pass) - and the game ended.
Just to see what happens I released my heavy cavalry against a square. A large unit can sustain quite a few disruptions before breaking and if the defender rolls only one 5 or 6 on their 7 or 8 dice then a rout will occur (as long as the cavalry can roll 3 or more 5 +'s on their 7 or 8 dice.) Note cavalry combat dice are halved when charging a square.
Another aspect of Lasalle I enjoy - and am relieved by - is the army lists. Players buy pre-determined brigades. Players cannot just buy whatever they like - veteran inf with elite heavy cav support and all heavy guns. You get a standard brigade for the period and campaign. I think our next step will be to go to two brigade choices on table and one reserve off. Might be too much for one night? The forces on the table during this game seemed quite sufficient - but the % of cav to inf was quite high.
The French take the objective.
Enfilading fire that was never unleashed. But looks so threatening.
So the French scored a win and the rules are being roundly praised - AT THE MOMENT - but I fear long term that the lack of bonuses for British in line (or lines in general) will see these rules consigned to a dusty tomb before too long. GdA will probably win out and my search for a set of Napoleonic rules will continue ... drat.
In short, after three games, Lasalle still produces a quick, action packed game that is easy to understand and logical. Units do seem to explode sometimes in combat but we haven't worked out the nuances of the game by a long shot - especially in defence. All have resolved to play more games and work on using lines against columns successfully.
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