Lasalle Napoleonic Wargame Game #1

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.) 

Jungle Trees growing taller

I love my jungle terrain but i fear that it lacks some height.

In order to rectify this i searched the web and found an excellent tutorial ... by someone which much more talent than i.

"How  to make rainforest jungle trees for miniature terrain." Search for this and you'll get there.

By dumbing down these ideas and trying to seek some shortcuts on foliage (i want something more durable than the twigs suggested) i decided to go ahead.

Preliminary results appear promising. Will expand my explanation on methods soon. Final results still up in the air. Awaiting for some cheap trees from China that intend to cut up and use as foliage.

Napoleonic French Growth Continues

Currently the panorama includes 3 batteries of 4 guns, 4 cavalry (no change), 12 line and light infantry + 1 Young Guard, 14 skirmisher bases and Napoleon rebased with a divisional and 6 brigade commanders. Thats 12 months painting for me. 

Last night another Young Guard battalion was painted and just awaits basing. This leaves two more Voltigeur battalions to complete that brigade and this will bring the army to one point of conclusion. Will this be a finale? No. As the great Mustafa says you'll never have enough for the next project once you've started to game in the Napoleonic genre. 

Congo Wargame

This was the first game of Congo where I used the correct table size. This was kindly pointed out to me by someone who viewed one of my blog battle reports. I repeated the Nziari scenario that I have recently written a report on but with a reduced table and river size. I only have two rivers - one 2" wide and the other about 7" wide. Neither of these seemed to fit so I decided to use the smaller of the two. No, I'm not making or buying ANOTHER river. 

Above is the Banks expedition. One change I made was to make both commanders 'Retired Officers' as this seems to be much more useful than the other suggested in the scenario. I chose 90 point armies for this game with lots of native troops such as the Young Warriors and Askari shown above. Both sides also make use of porters and scouts. 

The entire length of the Nziari from the other angle. The three flag markers are shown down the river. In this scenario these flags must be secured and then taken off the opposite side of the table - through or around enemy lines. 

The adventurer unit complete with Dr Smuts - the expedition leader - and a porter. Quite a tough unit. 

These scouts are led by Tarzan himself - for some reason they have a porter - god only knows what he is carrying for Tarzan - a man who only owns a knife and two loincloths. 

Here askari and trained askari advance but one is effected by a movement stress token. A sudden downpour in Turn 2 reduced the range of missile for a turn. 

At the end of this turn the Smut's expedition had drawn the better cards through Confusion and were able to race toward the river. They also had more units on the right flank that were unopposed by the Banks expedition. This would lead to a swift capturing of the flag in this area. 

The Banks expedition were slow to start but tried to use psychological warfare on their enemy. 

What impressive cards! With this bonus card 6 units could move - these cards enabled the Banks party to surge forward. A shame however - an unhappy chance indeed - that Smuts had chosen and drawn the exact same card combo. 

Things were getting close and personal. Volleys of fire were exchanged across the river while crocs waited for the unwary. The men from Smuts plunged into the river seizing the central flag too. 

As described above. 

Some of the final bloodshed. The Banks expedition relied on fire to try and decimate their foes. This was less than successful mainly due to some amazing cover rolls from their opponent. Smuts however relied on movement to grab the flags and run. Although things were pretty hairy and tight at times - his men were able to thread the needle and run through tiny gaps using bonus cards to extend their movement and they were able to secure two flags from the table. At this point we decided to conclude the game not only due to victory points but also because it had been rather hot that day - over 40 degrees C all day and still by about 10pm that night. Congo like temps for a game of Congo. Thank god that the mosquitoes - although present - were not in similar numbers. 

Lion Rampant

The Baltic regions were aflame with battle once more. The Brotherhood of the Sword had deployed to engage in a "Bloodbath" scenario to revenge their loss of a key storage building in the last game. on the other side the Forest worshipers of the Giant Forest Rabbit were flushed with their victory and sure they could take on the Crusaders in more open ground. They would later rue this decision. 

Above the entire battlefield stretches before you. The Baltic Pagans chose a strong deployment on their right. Only a single unit anchored the other flank. For the Crusaders they stood back relying on the aggressive advance of their enemy. They decided to use their missiles to thin the enemy numbers and a right hook of cavalry to attack the flank. 

Here the Pagans can be seen lurking in the forest hoping to catch a glance of their beloved rabbit god - also no doubt throwing some insults. 

The Crusaders were made of stern stuff however and they ignored the nasty names they were called and stayed in their formation. This consisted of two spear units guarding a crossbow unit. This formation is very effective as units cannot come within 3" of the enemy in Lion Rampant - the enemy cannot attack the crossbow without routing the spear first BUT the crossbow can still shoot. 

Part one of the cavalry armoured fist that rode around the side of the pagans. 

Part two - these mounted men-at-arms pack a terrific punch and in this game their entry into the fray in the final turns was key to securing victory. 

A back view of the main Crusader formation. 

The main assault of the Pagans - I do like the pretty red shields. Unfortunately too many were perforated by missiles and their Rabbit god deserted them at key moments. Many of their courage rolls throughout the night were very low leading to Battered results and routs that left their line very thin. 

Not the last act for the evening but this image is telling of the final phase. The Crusader cavalry crashed into the enemy - although flanking has no effect in Lion Rampant - inflicting many casualties on the lines thinned by crossbow bolts and bidower fire. The shakiness of the image was caused by the thundering hooves and their effect on the photographer.