Last evening Ian and I ran through our first game of Lasalle 2. We decided to use the introductory scenario the Battle of Eselbach - this especially suited us with our French and Austrian armies. We played very slowly to get to grips with the rules as - being a standard Mustafa rules set - there are many novelties which are easy to understand but take a little getting used to. To this point our 'go to' rules have been Blucher - also by Mr Mustafa.
We only used the basic rules and both very much enjoyed the game. The MO system is excellent and we found the skirmishing system, while abstract, produced a very logical and historical effect. (I still would like to use all those skirmish bases I painted up for Lasalle 1 and General de Brigade!) The French grabbed the initiative in most turns due to their superior skirmish values and usually had a few more MO to change formation or rally in the later stages of the turn.
We also enjoyed the appearance and gaming choices of the having a full range of formations to choose from - march, mass, line and square. I still need to figure out when line would be most useful. Above I decided to put two battalions into line. This worked but only due to good defence rolls when the Austrians charged. I did find the combat quite variable with the D6 roll being a very large factor which decides the combat. The attacker has a safety margin but leaves themselves in danger of volley fire afterwards or a counter charge once the opponent interrupts. My French were able to stand up to the charges and pour murderous fire onto the Austrian columns in reply. Further on that right flank the two Austrian charges broke two fresh units with disparate dice rolls - high Austrian and low French. We were both shocked by the instant evaporation of two units.
Disruptions also takes a little while to figure out. Disruptions are suffered by are only permanent if not rallied. We needed to have two types of markers on each affected unit to mark these different types of hits. At the moment, both Ian and I are resisting moving to unit cards - suggested by the rules.
Artillery is also quite surprising. The shot just keeps on going - up to 96 cm - meaning a bit of time was spent trying to determine the path of the bouncing cannon ball - especially those fired at an angle across the table. Rallying can take care of early hits but any not rallied at the first attempt become permanent deductions from the elan (hit points) of a unit. Of course, a commander also needs to MO to rally hits from forces too. Early cannon fire might be a way to soak up some of your opponents MO.
I did find myself constantly checking what were global or force orders and which orders gave the opponent the opportunity to interrupt. I might make a little list of page references or book marks to help me find this quickly. I do like that Lasalle 2 has made garrisoning a little harder than other rules as nearby enemy can prevent a garrison move taking place. This was prevented in our game as can be seen above. Four Austrian battalions were not able to enter the fight - which may well have been costly as the game was taken by the French - 2 units to 4.
I eagerly await my next Lasalle 2 game - possibly increasing to 4 brigades and making those MO a little move precious (which I look forward to as I love a wargame that presents simple but challenging command choices.)
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