The last couple of months I have been in a funk. I just had no interest in anything, including Peter Laings and wargaming. I have been going through my collection of PLs, hoping for some spark to get me going again.
Today I was going to try to get a game in. However, once again it was going nowhere. I was randomly putting landscape pieces on. I couldn't decide which figures to use. I have some WW1 Russians that I have never used and wanted to use they today. However, the field just didn't look right. I was going to give up again, but then thought why have any terrain? Why not use Chris Salander's Horse & Musket 2.0 and have the armies fight on an open field? I used ONE HOUR WARGAMES rules on picking the composition of the armies. It would be Russians vs Germans.
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| The Russian Army |
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| Behind the German line. |
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| As soon as the German gun got in range of the Russians, it opened fire, causing one Russian to retreat. |
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| Russian artillery kills one German. |
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| The Russian machine gun (I treated it as another artillery piece) makes two Jagers retreat. |
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| The Jagers return to the fight. |
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| Between the German artillery and Jagers rifle fire, two Russians are killed and another retreats. |
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| The Germans attack one Russian infantry unit with three units; one Russian retreats and one is killed but the Russians hold firm. |
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| The Cossacks hits the German leftmost unit, killing two and making another to retreat. Between the Russian infantry and artillery fire the Germans suffer three more killed. |
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| The Russian MG unit managers to kill one of the German gunners. The German left flank is in retreat. |
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| The Germans regroup and counterattack. |
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| The German Hussars attack the Cossacks, who lose one man but holds fast. Meanwhile the Jagers kill one Russian. |
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| The Cossacks kill one Hussar and forces the rest to retreat. The Russian infantry in the center kills the last German gunner, and the MG unit forces one Jager to retreat. |
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| The Germans counterattack. They kill one Cossack and infantryman. On the right they kill one of the MG crew. |
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| The German attack continues. They eliminate the last Cossack and forces two infantrymen and the machine gunner to retreat. |
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| The Russians counterattack. The Russian infantry in the center turns to attack the Jagers, leaving the Russian right flank hard pressed. |
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| Between the Hussars and infantry on the German left, they have pushed the Russian infantry back and killed one gunner. On the right flank they have made two Russian infantrymen retreat. |
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| The Russians attack again. They manage to kill a Hussar and two German infantrymen and push the Jagers back. |
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Between the artillery and MG fire, they kill one German infantryman. The Russians also kill the last two Jagers. At this point the Germans call for a retreat.
This battle turned out to be a fun little game. Often when I find myself in one of these funk, these simple rules often kickstarts my interest in gaming. In fact, after this game I played another using the same open field but different toy soldiers and rules. That will be my next report. |
Glad it worked well for you.Gridded games work well for me too.
ReplyDeleteFor solo war-games, I find hexes or grids are the way to go. I try to pick games where I have great interest in both sides; that helps cut down on favoritism that might make you bend the rules to favor one side.
DeleteGreat game, I wish I had kept my Peter Laing armies (Crimean).
ReplyDeleteThat is too bad to hear you gave up your armies, especially Crimean War! I have been trying to build up Peter Laing Crimean War figures, with limited success. I have cast several figures for myself; but they are still not nearly as good as the real thing.
DeleteJohn, looks like a fun game, I must get my WW1 Russians and Austrians refurbished and re-based.
ReplyDeleteAs another thing to help remove your funk, I bought a set of PL medieval figures from a chap in Holland last week. Only samples, but a good selection. When I have got them cleaned up, I will lend them to you so you can make some moulds.
Springinsfeld, if you are into PL figures, drop me a line, I will add you into the group that I send details of PL sales on e-Bay and the like to - Ian dot dury at hotmail dot co uk
Ian, could you post some photos of your Austrians? I have realized that my interest in European warfare leans more towards eastern European armies. Several years ago I won a large lot of Peter Laing WW! Serbs. I was very excited about the purchase. Unfortunately the seller mixed up the orders and sent mine to someone else and I got a bunch of figures I already had! What's more, the person who got my figures never returned them.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, I will take some pictures. May not be till next weekend though as I am working away again this week
ReplyDeleteA nice lokking fun game. Are Chris Salander's rules available other than in MWAN?
ReplyDeleteChris Salanders rules were copyrighted (which was unusual for MWAN). In the article the rules were used with a chess board and RISK figures. When a retreat was rolled, it effected individual figures, not every figure in a square. This could leave your army scattered, as can be seen in the above photos. The rules were in MWAN102.
ReplyDeleteI was able to download MWAN 102 from Wargame Vault. I also contained a Beer & Pretzels Napoleonic game, so I was doubly pleased!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your help.
Good to hear you got a copy. I forgot about those "BEER & PRETZELS" rules. I should start going through the MWANs again!
ReplyDelete