Sunday 6 March 2016

Great Northern War game and rules updates

Last night I played a solo game set in the Great Northern War. I rolled up scenario 25 in the one Hour Wargames book, which is infiltration. This consists of a lone unit of red force (the Russians) having to hold off four units of Blue Force (the Swedes) until reinforcements arrive. For their part the Swedes had to get 2 units off the north-west corner of the table via the road. The Swedes rolled up 3 infantry and 1 cavalry unit, the Russians got 4 infantry, 1 gun and a Dragoon unit.
My camera battery died so I thought I might try using the ipad to take photos. This is the main reason why the photos below are so bad. I shan't be using that option again.
Starting shot. The Rostovski regiment alone on the hill, surrounded by Swedes.
Things as they were in Turn 6. The Vasterbotten regiment is chasing down the remains of the Rostovski regiment while the other three units of Swedes head for the north. The Uppland regiment has responsibility for taking out the Ingermanlandski regiment in the north, and suffers hideous casualties on the way in. The rest of the Russian force has just arrived in the South (edge nearest the camera).
The Russians are outnumbered but holding on grimly.
A bitter battle ended - the Uppland regiment broken.
The Vasterbotten Regiment finally wipes out the Rostovski, only to find itself surrounded.
I forgot to check the rules and allowed the Swedes to escape off the northern table edge without using the road, thereby winning the game. I had already packed up when I reread the scenario conditions and realised that they needed to use the road. In hindsight I think they would have made it, but only just, taking the Russians on the road in the flank.

Playing the game made me realise that there were some things missing from the rules, which I've since updated. The first is that the rules for marching weren't in the GNW rules, not that it affected the game as the deployment of the Russians hindered any chance of marching, but I have now added them in.

Second, what to do about artillery if attacked in hand to hand. For all of the OHW rules I have amended artillery. Now artillery cannot be charged frontally if it has a friendly unit within 10 cm. Secondly, I've changed the charge restrictions from not being able to charge 'if the opposing unit has more bases', to 'if the opposing unit has more hits remaining'. This means the single element of the artillery won't always be outnumbered. Finally, for artillery that is caught in hand to hand combat, it is automatically destroyed. No need to worry about how it fights back etc. I think this balances artillery out - keep them supported and they should manage to avoid hand to hand combat which will annihilate them. Leave them out on heir own and they may be able to shoot up the opposition so that they can't charge, but their flanks will be exposed. I'll have to have a test and see how this plays out.

Finally, I've amended the combat outcome rules so that they make sense. Essentially a combat ends when a unit is destroyed or forced to withdraw because it loses a base. If neither of these conditions apply, the combat goes into the next player's turn, and the charged unit may turn to its flank if necessary.

All of the OHW rules have now been updated with these amendments.

Nate

1 comment:

  1. Alone on a hill with no secure flanks and enemy all around. Tough position for the Rostovski Regiment!

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