I finally managed to arrange a play-test of sorts this afternoon in amongst all the other domestic tasks I have had to complete before tomorrow. Because I had to set the whole thing up in a bit of a rush I decided to use the board from MEMOIR '44 for the terrain and some painted World War I Minifigs 15mm figures that were given to me last year. I added a couple of old Peter Laing Field Guns, and a 15mm French Tank from the AXIS AND ALLIES MINIATURES range.
The 'attackers' (Black) had six Infantry Units, a Machine Gun Unit, a Field Gun Unit, a Tank Unit, and a Command Unit.
The 'defenders' (Red) had three Infantry Units, a Machine Gun Unit, a Field Gun Unit, and a Command Unit. Most of these were either in entrenchments or concealed behind hills.
I only managed to run through the first two moves before I had to stop the play-test, but the rules worked very smoothly, and I was particularly pleased with the new card-driven turn sequence.
Turn 1
N.B. The numbers on the images indicate the order in which Units were activated, and show their starting position and their finishing position or target.
The attackers activated a Unit first, and their Field Gun Unit opened fire – with no effect – upon one of the defender's dug-in Infantry Units (1). They then repeated this action (2), again with no effect. The attacker's Tank Unit then moved forward twice (3 & 4), at which point the defenders were able to activate their Field Gun Unit (5), which fired at and knocked out the attacker's Tank Unit. The final activation of the turn allowed the defender' to move a previously concealed Infantry Unit forward (6) so that it was on top of one of the hills.
Turn 2
The second turn saw much more action than the first. The defenders activated an Infantry Unit, but decided to leave it where it was (1), safely in its entrenchments. The attackers then fired their Field Gun Unit twice at the other entrenched defending Infantry Unit (2 & 3), but again failed to hit it on both occasions. The attackers then moved a column of two Infantry Units forward twice (4 & 5 and 6 & 7) until they were up to the river in the centre of the battlefield. The leading attacking Infantry Unit then engaged the defender's Machine Gun Unit (8) and destroyed it. The same attacking Infantry Unit then fired twice at the defending Infantry Unit on top of the hill (9 & 10), and destroyed it as well. Retribution was swift, however, and the defender's Field Gun Unit engaged both the attacking Infantry Units near the river, and destroyed them (11 & 12).
At this point I had to end the play-test. Honours were about even on both sides, and the card-driven turn sequence allowed both the attacked and the defenders to respond to the developing situations without being sure that everything that they might have planned to do would happen.
The 'attackers' (Black) had six Infantry Units, a Machine Gun Unit, a Field Gun Unit, a Tank Unit, and a Command Unit.
The 'defenders' (Red) had three Infantry Units, a Machine Gun Unit, a Field Gun Unit, and a Command Unit. Most of these were either in entrenchments or concealed behind hills.
I only managed to run through the first two moves before I had to stop the play-test, but the rules worked very smoothly, and I was particularly pleased with the new card-driven turn sequence.Turn 1
N.B. The numbers on the images indicate the order in which Units were activated, and show their starting position and their finishing position or target.
The attackers activated a Unit first, and their Field Gun Unit opened fire – with no effect – upon one of the defender's dug-in Infantry Units (1). They then repeated this action (2), again with no effect. The attacker's Tank Unit then moved forward twice (3 & 4), at which point the defenders were able to activate their Field Gun Unit (5), which fired at and knocked out the attacker's Tank Unit. The final activation of the turn allowed the defender' to move a previously concealed Infantry Unit forward (6) so that it was on top of one of the hills.Turn 2
The second turn saw much more action than the first. The defenders activated an Infantry Unit, but decided to leave it where it was (1), safely in its entrenchments. The attackers then fired their Field Gun Unit twice at the other entrenched defending Infantry Unit (2 & 3), but again failed to hit it on both occasions. The attackers then moved a column of two Infantry Units forward twice (4 & 5 and 6 & 7) until they were up to the river in the centre of the battlefield. The leading attacking Infantry Unit then engaged the defender's Machine Gun Unit (8) and destroyed it. The same attacking Infantry Unit then fired twice at the defending Infantry Unit on top of the hill (9 & 10), and destroyed it as well. Retribution was swift, however, and the defender's Field Gun Unit engaged both the attacking Infantry Units near the river, and destroyed them (11 & 12).At this point I had to end the play-test. Honours were about even on both sides, and the card-driven turn sequence allowed both the attacked and the defenders to respond to the developing situations without being sure that everything that they might have planned to do would happen.
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this film of Peter Cushing painting and playing "Little Wars"?
http://vodpod.com/watch/3136799-british-pathe-peter-cushing
I am sure that your readers will find it of interest. Most shocking of all for the Health and Safety Brigade - is that our hero is seen to smoke a cigarette!!
Hope that you are having a good time,
Male Anon
Robertpeel999,
ReplyDeleteIt is an amazing bit of footage!
Thanks for sending me the link.
All the best,
Bob
Nice playtest, I'm going to go have a look at my copy of M44 and see if I can give the rules a go.
ReplyDeleteLittlejohn,
ReplyDeleteI originally thought of using the board from my copy of BATTLE CRY, but as the MEMOIR '44 box was on the top of the pile (and had the barbed wire and sandbagged emplacements), I used that instead.
It made me realise that sometimes you can actually lay on a play-test very quickly by just using what is to hand rather than making it into a major event.
Let me know how you get on with the rules if you try them.
All the best,
Bob