Sunday, July 7, 2013

A Very Moderate Swedish Conflict AAR #2

Last monday we had out second test run of rules for our club project "A Very Moderate Swedish Conflict". This time we tried out the Too Fat Lardies "Through the Mud and the Blood" rules.

I didn´t think we would be as many players as last time (11 participants) but we ended up with 9 players this time! The rules would realy get their multiplayer baptism of fire.

OOB

White
Big Men - Lieutenant Jansson, Status III
Big Men - Second Lieutenant Sthål, Status II
Big Men - Private 91 Karlsson, Status I

3x6 Groups of Swedish Privates with Regular Experience and Reasonable Morale

White reinforcements
Big men - Sergeant Dufva Status I

1x6 Group of Swedish Privates with Regular Experience and Reasonable Morale

Red
Big Men - "Gruvettan" Union Leader Engelbrekt, Status IV
Big Men - Young Eagles Leader Tagesson, Status II
Big Men - Comunist Leader Sillén, Status I

1x6 Miners with plenty of dynamite, Regular Experience and Reasonable Morale
2x6 Young Eagles, Green Experience, Good Morale and very eager to get to grips with the enemy.
1x8 Communists, Green Experience, Good Morale

Red reinforcements
Big Men - The Red Baroness, Status II
accompany by Commisary Kurt.

1x8 Communists, Green Experience, Good Morale

I must admit that as I got so involved in the umpiring of the game I forgott to take pictures and the one I got was quite blury, but you will get a short AAR anyway.


Objectives
As we continued the game where we ended the last one all units exept the reinforcements started on table, the main goal was for the white side to recapture the Tank they so embarrassing lost in the last game.

The Red side had to get a Driver to the tank so they caould move it to saftey.

Gruvettan Socialist Union advance over a bridge with a man in company that will drive the Tank to saftey.


The Young Eagles secure the area arrounf the Tank and eveng get the HMG to work so they can use it in the defence, but they are ordered not to target any White forces within the Filling stations premises as it might go up in flames...


The Swedish army start their advance to recapture the lost tank as they can see the Miners advance to get the driver to the tank.


The Communist leader Sillén advance with his Comrades to a small forest and open cuite in acurate fire against the advancing regular on the white side.


Lieutenant Jansson and his squad soon fopund themself under fire fron the small forest on the other side of the field, they responded by shooting back...and they keept on shooting  a long time...a very long time...


In the center Second Lieutenant Sthål knew that they was short of time and had to get to the tank before the driver could get there, so he ordered his squad to leave the "saftey" of the Filling Station and advance to the round pole fence on the other side of the road...


At the same time Sergeant Dufva was seen with a squad of reinforcements for the White side...


The White side advanced on all fronts, exccept on the left flank there Lieutenant Jansson and his squad was held up by heavy rifle fire, not many casultys yet, but they started to accumulate chock althought Lieutenant Jansson tried to rally his squade and get them moving...


The Young Eagles despreately defended the Tank from the advancing white forces, but the casulties started to file up and no reinforcement close by. 

From his central safe possition in the privy The Leader Tagesson managed to get tone of his groups out on the right flank to stop the advance of a white group under command of the new born hero Private 91 Karlsson that had have a realy hard time to get his troops to move. 


Private 91 Karlsson urge his mates to advance as fast as possible to saftey of the Round Pole Fence. Further up the road Second  Lieutenant Sthål and his sguad had been held up by the HMG fire from the tank...


Two sguads of White Regulars have stoped by the roud pole fence and tries to shoot it out with the Tank and Young Eagles... 

They probably should have had advanced as during the shoot out the Driver manages to get to the tank and get it out of the potato field.


With the new driver in place the tanks slowly lumber away to saftey for the Red side...

Conclusion
This game was not as fun as the first one, at least not rules wise, the card activation in "Mud and Blood" did not turn out as good as I had hoped, several of the players thought it was a dull affair as theirs Big Men didn´t get a chanse to do much due to the "Time for a Snifter". 

So to get some more action in the activation we removed that card, it got better, but not as good as with the activation system from Muskets & Tomahawks" that we used last time, and have at several occasions have proven to be realy good in multi player games.

Some of the players that newer played any TFL rules also at a start had a har time to get the Big Men gives order and units get to activate and how many things they was allowed to do.

I still think "Mud and Blood" are a greate game but may be not for multiplayer games in the way we play them.

So with this knowledge I decided to use the best parts of the three rules we tried, "Triumph and Tragedy", "Muskets and Tomahwks" and "Mud and Blood" combined with some of the my own ideeas gathered during  30 odd years of wargaming in to a set of rules for us to use during our club games of "A Very Moderate Swedish Conflict". 

My main goal will be to get a set of rules that in a good and entertaining way manage to handle up to 10 players and after the game night all would feel that they had a good time and took good part in the game as well as they got a beer or two in good friends company.

I and Björn (Ådalen Miniatures) will have a first test game tomorrow night and if it all turns out well I hope to have them ready for a big multi game  when we continue the club project after the summer.


25 comments:

  1. Great pictures as usual ! And I could be interested by your set of rules.
    Regards,
    J-B

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jehan !

      If the rules ever get finished by the autum I´ll be sure to mail you a copy, but you might have to remind me.

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  2. Good looking game, we have added some extra bonus cards into the deck to try and overcome the "quiet" periods where Bigmen cards don't come out, that way players can use these to activate.
    Cheers
    Stu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stuart !!!

      I´ll thing the card activation work fine in our two player games, byt as we did now and let each player just handle 1 Big men there was some unfortunate players that had to wait wery ling befor their groups was alowed to act.

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  3. Thank you for this very entertaining AAR! I really enjoyed it and your pictures are fantastic as always.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic looking table and great AAR! I've yet to try "Through the mud and blood", but from my experience with Dux B. two players games are the best and so wouldn't surprise me if "Through the mud and blood" was similar.

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you liked it Christopher!

      Mud and Blood are very similar, rules vise,to Dux Brit, and I like the very much both of them. They work very nice in a 2 player game, but not as good in multiplayer games where echa player just command their own Big men.

      When we played Dux Brit with several players and mor like team play it have worked fien to.

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  5. Great looking game and I will be interested too hear more of your rules ideas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Appreciated Alan !

      You will in time;) I hope that we have been trying them out by the autum.

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  6. Whilst I can add little to the rules debate, I do love the development of this idea. A project that I'm sure will grow and grow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you appreciate our efforts Michael.

      as it was over a year ago we sprung the ideea I was afraid it wouldent hold on, but now when Björns lovely interwar Swedes have arrived and we acctually have started to play I think it will hold on for a while:)

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  7. Thank you Andrew !

    Indeed M&T have proven to work realy nice in our multi player games !

    Best regards Michael

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't know the rules, but if there are only two sides why do you need activation cards for each player? If there are only "Whites" and "Reds" and all players in each faction have the same objective it's not really "multiplayer", you need activation for the two factions only; then when the "Reds" are activated all their players can play at the same time, and same thing for the "Whites". Simultaneity is a key to fast games.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Patrice

      Indeed Simultaneity is a key to fast games, and that is exactly what the Muskets & Tomahawk card activations are all about, so we will get back for that activation for our comming games.

      Regarding the cards its a way to get things uncertain,a bit of fog of war, the red would potentially get several activation in a row, we also have event cards etc to spice things up a bit, but hopefully don´t slow it down to much. we like to try to not use the basic I GO YOU GO activation.

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  9. Great report and photos Michael.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was one of the players that didn't like the activation system. I moved my squad in the first turn, but the activation card for my squad didn't come up during the next 4 or 5 turns, so I was there sitting doing nothing for quite a long time. Frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry Björn, won´t happen again:)

      But I think we are on some thing with our own acumulated rules that we tested the other day;)

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  11. Fantastic looking terrain, the telegraph poles finish it off nicely.
    Cheers,
    Pat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pat ! Glad you notised my latest addition the telegraph poles:)

      best regards Michael

      Delete
  12. Great report and stunning terrain and miniatures Michael!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Sir!!!

      Best regards Michael

      Delete
  13. Great report, with fantastic pics as always!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great AAR Michael!

    I thought it was a fun game, but maybe not as fun as the first. Personally, I quite like the activation system but I can certainly understand it being frustrating having nothing to do for several turns.

    I think the Whites got a little too cautious this time: instead of charging into close combat and finish off us Reds, they stood back behind the pole-fence and hoped to out-shoot us which it was clear wasn't going to work. Also, I think we managed to coordinate our efforts better (very out of character, I know!).

    I'm looking forward to the next game in this campaign, and also to trying out the new rules Michael has come up with.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.