Last Saturday we met for our almost monthly wargaming gathering at Jürgens home. Games of Song of Drums and Shakos, Wings of Glory and Infinity were announced. I wanted to test the "Reaction" rule of the Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes rule system with Song of Drums and Shakos (SDS): when the active player gets one ore more failures on his activation, his opponent can use this failures to immediately activate one of his own soldiers. He can even choose to use reactions instead of a turnover, when two or three failures were rolled. I hoped this rule would break off the sometimes to common turnovers which prevents one side with bad luck to do almost nothing for two or sometimes more turns.
I learned, that I was the first guest and the other players hadn't arrived, yet. So we began with SDS. We build up Jürgens 1,2 x 1,2 m gaming table and used the terrain generation table to set up the terrain pieces. Jürgen choosed to play Württemberg and I Austria. Jürgen won the roll for attacker/defender (we forgot to add his Scout-bonus of 2+ for the 2 Chevau Lègere and the +1 for the Austrian national feature) and also the initiative.
The scenario:
- Standard pick up game with 400 P. per side.
- Slightly larger gaming table of 1,2 x 1,2 m. (The minimum recommended size is 0,9 x 0,9 m).
- Target C 2 (foot) / C 3 (mounted) in ranged combat.
- Double six.
- Unused points.
- Reactions.
The squads:
Württemberg, 9 Soldiers, 394 P.
- Jäger Officer 62 P.
- Q 4+ C 2
- Elan, Leader, Light, Pistol, Sword.
- 4 Jäger 188 P.
- Q 4+ C 2
- Elan, Light, Rifle.
- Light Cavalry NCO 56P. (rised saber)
- Q 4+ C 2
- Carbine, Elan, Mounted, NCO, Sword.
- 2 Chevau Lègere 78 P.
- Q 4+ C 2
- Carbine, Mounted, Scout, Sword.
- 2 Hedges 10 P.
- (Actually there were enough points for another hedge, but we oversaw that).
National feature: Blades for the Emperor
Austria, 11 Soldiers, 399 P.
- Infantry Officer 60 P.
- Q 3+ C 2
- Leader, Pistol, Sword.
- 2 Line Grenadier 78 P.
- 4 Line Infantryman 104 P.
- Drummer 16 P.
- Standard Bearer 42 P.
- Q 3+ C 2
- Flag Bearer, Steadfast, Sword.
- 2 Jäger 94 P.
- Q 4+ C 2
- Elan, Light, Rifle.
- Hedge 5 P.
National feature: Light Cavalry Scouting
The miniatures are Front Rank (I prefer Front Rank, as I prefer metal miniatures for the feeling of the weight and I could buy single miniatures to form a individual squad. Furthermore they have the Württemberger range). The flag is from Flags of War.
Unfortunately the game was so exiting, that I forgot to make notes. So the following AAR is more like a memory protocol.
The AAR:
I deployed my Line in a tight formation in the middle of my board edge to benefit from group activations right of the start, and the Jäger on the far left behind the cover of a fence, to make a flank maneuver through the not far away woods.
Jürgen deployed his Jäger in a loose formation behind the hedges, but still in command range of his officer. The Chevau Lègere entered the battlefield on the right of the Jäger in a more narrow formation, to benefit from the small command range of the NCO.
The Württemberger Jäger started with a careful two dice activation movement towards the hedges. The Chevau Lègere moved even more careful towards the enemy.
Then I tried to activate my officer to give a group order, but he failed on both dice and caused therefor a turnover.
The Jäger, now more courageous, moved further forward. One Jäger got in cover behind a fence on my left and opened fire. He killed my Standard Bearer with a lucky shot over longe distance (we forgot to put the flag down on the ground). The Chevau Lègere moved forward in a long left curve, to intercept my two Jäger.
This time I activated carefully my two Jäger at first. They moved straight forward under cover of the fence. Then I activated my officer again with two dice and got two failures again.
The Württemberg Jäger moved forward to get past the hedges and opened fire on my two Jäger, without causing any damage. But then their officer got two failures, too.
I told myself, that three failed activations in a row is very unlikely and activated my officer with three dice. This time I got two successes. Jürgen used his reaction to move his own officer. Then my officer gave a group order to the soldiers in front of him. With the help of the drummer they got three successes. I moved the grenadiers and infantrymen twice until they arrived between the low wall and the barn and opened fire on the two Chevau Lègere in front of the firing line with single shots. One fell and was wounded, the other recoiled. My two Jäger moved further to the end of the fence.
Now the Württemberg Jäger opened fire on my exposed first row of the group and killed a grenadier and an infantryman. The other Jäger reloaded their rifles or moved to get the barn between the enemy and themselves. The Chevau Lègere roweled in direction of my two Jäger to escape the threat of an imminent close combat.
As all my muskets were discharged, I moved my soldiers closer beside the barn in cover. Another infantryman got around the barn, to get in the flank of the Chevau Lègere.
The Chevau Lègere rode towards the Jäger, to get behind the barn in cover. The other Württemberg Jäger reloaded their weapons or moved towards the enemy.
Now I sent the rest of my group into hand-to-hand combat. Again with the help of the musician they got three successes and could even make powerful attacks.
From this point on, a merciless hand-to-hand combat arose. With the strong grenadier and more soldiers in contact with the enemy, the Austrians nullified the better weapon and mounted bonus of the Chevau Lègere and slowly gained the superiority. The Württemberg Jäger stood beside and could't fire in the melee. So they also moved into the close combat. Unfortunately the Württemberg officer got killed in this hand-to-hand combat and caused a moral test. All Württemberger fled and only the big table size prevented one and another from being out of the game (and the fact, that we forgot to apply free hacks).
The fleeing Württemberger turned and another close combat occurred, but this time another loss caused a further morale test for killing 50% of the squad and Jürgen proclaimed the end of the game.
Conclusion:
We should play more games of SDS, as we forgot a few rules (national trait, scout, picking up flags, free hacks, ...) and had to look up some rules, too. Nevertheless the game was fast and exciting. In the first half of the game, my squad was under heavy pressure of the Jäger. An additional attack of the Chevau Lègere could have finished my soldiers off.
We both liked the bigger game board. The cavalry had more space to maneuver and the additional distance made shooting more interesting. (On the regular 90 x 90 cm board, the shooting starts commonly in the first turn).
The Reaction rule left us with mixed feelings. On one hand, the other player is more involved. On the other hand the reactions were often used to let fallen soldiers stand up. This lengthens the game unnecessarily.
In close combat, the Strong trait paired with the Combat 3 of the grenadier was as dangerous as the better weapon and the bonus for mounted soldiers of the Chevau Lègere. I like to get some models with pikes or lances, to benefit from the better weapon rule even more. The musician is also a must have for group activations, as he allows to reroll failures. For the next game I think I will sacrifice two line infantrymen to buy a Jäger NCO for providing my flank with a better activation opportunity. The game showed once more, that it is very risky to get the officer into close combat, as his lost causes an immediate moral test.
In further AARs I am going to make notes and take more photos for the single turns in better quality - promised!
