A Lonely Walk in the Woods - Muskets & Tomahawks AAR

With the SJGA and other local opportunities for gaming shut down, I decided to run myself a small game of the new edition of Muskets & Tomahawks. 

Since my gaming space at home is limited, I decided to play a simple 300 point game on a 3'x3' table.

The French attackers had a Canadian Officer, two units of Canadian Militia upgraded to Coureur des Bois, an Indian Sachem, and a unit of Indian Warriors.

The British Defenders had a British Officer, two units of British Regulars, a Ranger Officer, and a unit of Rangers.

Since this was a solo game, I decided to add a little uncertainty to the unit activations. Normally, each player in M&T draws three cards. For this solo game, each side had three cards placed face down. I rolled a d3 to determine which card would be used. I could, however, supersede this with Command Points if it would be beneficial to a combatant.

Both sides were using the Battle scenario, which meant that had to reduce their opponent's model count by half to win. The British had 26 models, and the French had 24.

The game started with the Canadians and Rangers creeping through cover, hoping to spot the enemy first.

Thanks to the random draw, it was the Rangers that managed to fire first. They caused three casualties, and the Canadians were forced to take a Reaction test.

I ended up rolling a 0, and thanks to the relevant modifiers, the Canadians immediately routed! This already placed them at 2/3 of the way to losing the game.

It wasn't going much better for the allied Indians on the other side of the settlement, as a blistering hail of lead from the Regulars (and another bad die roll!) saw them flee back into the woods.

Luckily, their Sachem managed to turn the fleeing warriors back around before they could go any further.

The Canadians had their chance to finally answer the Ranger's fire with a volley of their own. Two rangers were killed, but a result of a 0 on the reaction test (I will never use these dice against an actual person!) saw the rangers take flight further in the trees. Like the Sachem, the Ranger Officer put a stop to that.

Speaking of the Natives, a lucky couple draws and some Command Points placed the natives directly in front of one of the British Regular units, after having shot one down. With a lucky flip of the cards, the tomahawk-wielding Indians would be able to splash a little red on the nearby building.

However, a couple card flips saw all three of the clock cards finally drawn, ending the first turn.

And the first flip of the new turn was a British Regulars card! This gave me the oppurtunity to try out the new Volley Fire rules, which uses a designated area directly in front of a unit in Close Order to see who's hit. On a roll of 0 (or 0s and 1s if the firing unit is in two ranks) any model hit immediately becomes a casualty!

Two Indians fell under the volley, which was enough to hit the 50% mark and end the game with a solid British victory. 

Here's three of my major takeaways from this solo game:

1. Overall, this still feels like Muskets & Tomahawks. The flow of the game and the base mechanics haven't changed so radically that it will mess with players of the original version. The first few games may go slow to get some of the detailed changes down, but it should pick up from there. 
2. Command points are great. In this game I only used them to activate units, but this still made for some critical turning points, letting me fire, move, or reload the guns of a certain unit. It will be interesting to see them expanded upon in larger games against actual opponents. 
3. Volley Fire is one of those changes that does need reconsideration. In the previous version, it just meant a bonus to shooting and a negative modifier to a unit being shot at. In the new version of M&T, it's essentially a template than can be anywhere from about 3"x16" to 8"x16" with a 1/5 chance of killing a model, and a guaranteed Reaction test against any units in the line of fire. That's huge! While larger units of Regulars in Close Order will be more resilient against the shock of a volley, units of Irregulars, Militia and Indians will need to be mindful of just how big that template can be.
   There are, however, two drawbacks to Volley Fire. First, any models under the template are hit, so make sure there's no friendly unit just beyond the enemy if you're going to use it! And units using Volley Fire will receive two Fire tokens, meaning they'll have to reload twice before being able to fire again. 

I'm sure I'm missing nuances, and like most games not directly supported with solo rules, the experience did ring a little hollow, but I still enjoyed the experience and I look forward to when I game with other people again.

Redcoats & Tomahawks - Rules Review

Last week, I reviewed Muskets & Tomahawks II, the new edition of Studio Tomahawks black powder skirmish rules. 

This week, I'll provide an overview of the first of the supplemental booklets that focus on specific periods: Redcoats & Tomahawks. 

First, the physical aspects. R&T is a full-color, 43 page softcover booklet. While I understand that, at half the size, it wouldn't make sense to make this a hardcover product, I'm a little confused as to why the covers feel so much flimsier than their Saga counterparts, or even the first edition of M&T which was also softcover. I can see this booklet getting pretty beat up over time.

R&T starts with a small overview of what the supplement contains, and also provides a few extra rules or rules changes specific to the period, like boats and a random event table.

Next are three, two-page summaries of the conflicts the supplement covers: the French & Indian War, the American War of Independence, and the War of 1812, which is new (and also concurrent to the Napoleonic Wars, which is planned as the next supplement).

The majority of the supplement holds the forces of these three conflicts: the British, the French, the American, and the Indian tribes. New to the rules are icons that mark which units in a force are allowed in a particular conflict. For example, a British force can only field Provincial Cavalry or Germans during the American War of Independence. Territorial changes can also affect the makeup of a force; Canadians can be fielded with the French during the French & Indian War and the American War of Independence (which actually seems to be a printing error) but they move over to the British force during the War of 1812.

There is a major change to the way points values are calculated that I am not a fan of at all. A lot of upgrades have been moved from "x points per model" to "x points per unit." This change has made it so that these upgrades are best applied when units have been taken at their maximum size. For example, in the first version, a unit of French Line Infantry (8-12) models could take the Elite trait a 2 points per model. In the second version, a unit of French Line Infantry can only take the Elite trait during the AWI period, and it's 13 points for the whole unit. Some upgrades, like the "Valley Forge" upgrade, doubles the points cost of a unit of Continental Infantry, before purchasing any additional figures. I would have much preferred the original version of upgrades, and cannot see the advantage of adding a price per unit instead of price per figure.

The scenarios have also been changed from the original version. Instead of an each side having an objective randomly rolled depending on their force makeup (a force of mostly Regulars, for example, had different objectives than a force of Indians), players will need to determine if they're the attacker or defender in a scenario, and if they're playing in "Inhabited" or "Savage" territory (a rather questionable distinction, in my mind). The force makeup still affects what the objective of a scenario will be. I'm also a little iffy on this change, since it means that there's always one side on the defensive, while previously there was a chance that both sides might be attacking or defending.

The last section of the book is the random events table.

Overall, I'm a little on the fence about this supplement. It highlights the oddity of keeping the original title for the new rules, when "Muskets & Tomahawks" was meant to highlight the first editions focus on the French & Indian War. I think it may be a bit jarring to use that title to cover a massive range of conflicts over various continents and all the way up to the mid 19th century, or even beyond. I'm also not a fan of the changes to the way the forces work, or the way scenario objectives are determined.

However, I won't be able to give a concrete answer to how these changes affect the game until I've had a chance to play. Maybe it will all turn out for the better.

Muskets & Tomahawks II - Rules Review

For a relatively long time, Tomahawk Studio's (the company behind the successful Saga rule and supplements) set of rules for the French & Indian War, Muskets & Tomahawks, were out of print. They were a great set of rules that captured the sense of le petite guerre in North American during the mid to late 18th century.

With card activations and plenty of period flavor, they were a favorite set of rules to play FIW games with and the question of a reprint could be found pretty frequently online.

In late 2019, it was announced that a new version of the rules was going to be "Nickstarted" (basically a crowdfunding pre-order service through North Star Military Figures) and was going to be expanded beyond the original French & Indian War and American War of Independence focus. The pre-order went up at the very end of January 2020, and was a rousing success.

Three months later, backers have the books in hand. And that includes me!

To start, the main rules are wonderfully produced, full color, 80-page hardcover book. The rules are nicely laid out, but there's a few full or double page images that feel like padding to make the book a little big larger.

While there's no index, the contents pages are detailed enough that navigating the rules during play shouldn't be that much of a problem.

For the most part, the basics of the rules haven't changed. Players use cards to activate certain troop types (Regulars, Militia, Indians, etc), move, spot, shoot, and fight in hand-to-hand combat much like they did in the first edition. However, there have been some very important fundamental changes to these basics.

For example, instead of a single card being drawn from the deck, each player has a hand of three cards, made up of cards from both sides, or the neutral Clock cards that determine the end of the turn. A player can choose to play a card from their own side, or play a card that activates an opponent's troops. In compensation, a player that does so gains a Command Point, one of the new features of this edition. Command Points can be spent on a few special actions, like putting a unit on Vigilance (18th century Overwatch) or putting a card in your hand in reserve for latter, effectively giving you a four card hand.

Another big change is the move from d6s to d10s, which gives a wider variance in unit stat lines and table results like Morale and Random Events. It's important to note that the values of the die go from 0-9, not 1-10!

There's a section for additional rules like Hidden Movement and Weather that don't fit in elsewhere, and so have been collected. These are generic rules that may be modified in the various period specific supplements that will be released later.

Since the forces have moved to the supplements, it's a very small section of the main rules. Introduced, however, are the idea of Format Variables, which are values that change depending on the size of the game being played.

Scenarios have also been cut down to just three, as the bulk will come from the supplements. There's Morning Meeting, Ambush, and Breakthrough.

Side Plots have been renamed as Intrigues, which act as secondary objectives that must be completed to win a scenario. To offset this, any Commander taking an Intrigue also receives a free, randomly determined Gift that can be used once during the game.

The book is rounded off by a comprehensive reference sheet and a page of tokens.

While I haven't had a chance to play the rules yet, I do like what I see. There are no drastic departures from the first version of the game that old players will have to adjust for, and the additions, like the expanded hand of cards and command points, makes the game more interactive for both sides. Players will have to look at the battlefield and ask if it's worth allowing the enemy to make a move first, if it means getting the resources to make a crushing blow later in the turn - if the clock cards don't end it first!

My only real concern is that expanding the rules away from the original FIW and AWI periods to cover Napoleonics or the American Civil War, will either make flatten the flavor of the original periods, or make playing the expanded periods feel strange.

Keep an eye on the blog, as I expect to play more M&T II in the future.

I'll also be reviewing the first supplement, Redcoats & Tomahawks, soon. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

Painting Update - Samurai, MESBG, Battletech, ACW

Since everything has been shut down due to the ongoing pandemic (from the SJGA monthly meetups to the local shops daily gaming), I haven't had much to do hobby-wise apart from painting. It's actually a nice change of pace; I felt like I was approaching some hobby burnout before the shutdown, so the pandemic is a good excuse to take a break from gaming.

Apart from painting updates, I may post some solo game reports or even try to write some reviews.

I received a couple promo models when I bought into the second edition of Test of Honour. I finally got around the painting them. One model is an armored samurai, and the other is an unarmored wandering samurai that will fit in well with my previous bandits warband.

When Games Workshop announced that they were releasing a collected pack of the Mordor Uruks for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, I decided to pick them up. Six models for the same price that Ebay sellers wanted for just three? Why not! And so the horde of the dark lord grows.

I also painted up and did a little conversion work on a Hunchback HBK-7R to make it a HBK-6S model. This really just involved a little drilling to make an SRM6 launcher in the left torso. I also added a flag, since what self-respecting Solaris pilot isn't going to add a little bling to his mech?

Since my 10mm ACW kickstarter pledge arrived from Lancer Miniatures, I decided to start with the Union. I painted up two brigade commanders and six artillery stands, representing 10-pounder Parrott rifled guns (although I may just use them for any artillery type, with various labels from Regimental Fire and Fury). I've got six regiments of infantry to complete, which these guns and commanders will be split between. 

Without Much Results - Et Sans Resultats! AAR

My second game of the convention was a demo game of "Et Sans Resultats!", a grand tactical set of rules by The Wargaming Company. 

I had heard a lot about ESR from various websites, blogs and podcasts, and had been looking to get a game of it myself. Luckily, the Wargaming Company offers plenty of demo games during conventions. 

This scenario was a generic battle set during the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813. Two French divisions were set against an allied force of Prussians and Russians, each with a division of their own. There was a good mix of infantry, artillery, and cavalry. I took control of the Russians.

It should be pretty obvious that, whatever I may think of the rules themselves, ESR makes for a fantastic looking game, especially in 10mm. It really did feel like I was commanding an army, especially since a good chunk of the game was spent maneuvering my brigades into position.

While I had seen from other reviews that ESR had something of a novel approach to army command, I didn't have an appreciation for it until I had a chance to play the game myself.

Instead of just moving units around the table, I had to choose an objective for my overall command (it ended up being the crossroads at the bottom of the above picture. My Prussian counterpart choose the crossroads at the top). From here, my formations (brigades) could be given orders on how to interact with the objective - Move to it, Attack towards it, Defend it, Support it, etc. This made for an... interesting interaction with the game itself.

For example, my infantry brigades had been ordered to move towards the crossroads. However, they could not then advance beyond the crossroads to attack the French moving in front of them. I had to sit still, unless I wanted to change my overall command's objective, which would then affect how each of the other formations in my army would have to move.

I did have to keep in mind that, at the scale the game was using, each inch on the tabletop represented 150 yards. So the French troops that were "only" 6-7 inches away were actually 900-1050 yards distant!

Also interesting was the difference between "ployed" and "deployed" units. Ployed units can be seen in column, moving towards the objective at a faster rate. Deployed units have fallen out of column and move slower. Each turn, a commander can usually move 2-5 units from Ployed to Deployed. And it's important to make sure this transition happens before contacting with the enemy, as Ployed units aren't counted when comparing against a units overall Fatigue. A brigade with only two or three Deployed units is extremely like to break and run if they get into combat.

Over on the other side of the table, the Prussians were quickly being swarmed by two columns of French troops.

Both sides were quickly deploying as many of their units as they could. The Prussian cavalry moved in to attack (there's a whole thing in the rules were certain units can change their Order status under certain conditions), but were beaten back by the French infantry.

I should note that each of these stands of infantry, cavalry or artillery represent a brigade, squadron, or battery, respectively. ESR operates at a level where units don't have to worry about whether their troops are in line, square or column, although being attack in the rear edge of the stand is still problematic.

With one of my infantry brigades on defense, I ordered my second brigade to do the same as I deployed as many infantry battalions as possibly. My army commander looked on from the hilltop as my cavalry brigade readied itself.

The French pushed in, driving back my cavalry and moving against both my infantry brigades.

Over on the left, the French and Prussians were fully engaged, with waves of infantry impacting.

At the 150 yard scale, combat from 0" to 6" is considering skirmishing and artillery fire, and its not until units come into combat that "combat" occurs (which is what most other, smaller scope games would fight out in full).

For my Russians, it wasn't looking good. The French had a better overall Combat Rating for most of their battalions, my cavalry was in full retreat, leaving a massive gape in my center, and the French had set up their artillery to pound my left flank.

It also didn't seem to be going well for the Prussians, who had been caught off-guard with the speed of the French advanced on their positions.

By then I had to leave for the drive back home, so I thanked the guys running the game and packed up.

Overall, my experience with ESR was mixed. I should admit that it probably wasn't enhanced by the migraine I had, much like the game of Chain of Command I had played at a previous HMGS convention. But at the same time, there were certain things about ESR that just felt off.

For example, compare the command and movement of troops to skirmishing, artillery, and combat. There are plenty of modifiers and well laid out charts to work out combats between units. Moving troops, on the other hands, feels far too... soft, I suppose. I wasn't sure if it was because I was a first time player, but it seemed odd that I had to pick a single geographic point to order my troops toward, while it seemed like the French moving against me had far freer movement to pick and choose where they wanted to go. Whether or not this was a misunderstanding on my part or something that wasn't fully explained, I didn't think to clear up.

I did end up getting the rulebook, so at the very least I can add that to my reference collection