10mm Troops

Hey, actually got some painting done. These boys are for Maurice/Might & Reason. They represent the Grand Duchy of Volborg's 2nd Regiment (Zweck's Own) and will hopefully see battle in our long stalled Second War of Unkerlant Succession campaign.
Since Wednesday night has proven to be lighter in the participant section, we played a game of Maurice. It's really a 1 v 1 game, but we used teams of two.
It started as a smashing success on one flank. We should have just sat tight and burned cards. But, our blood was up to drive the attack home and we paid for it. Barely squeaked out a victory.

Maurice: The assault on New Paperton

This was the 3rd or fourth run of Maurice. We had to forgo the usual setup because of time constraints (show up on time!), and I just ended up doing the old town defense. As our metal forces aren't done I used my paper armies once again.

The attacker spent most of the game on their side of the table. There was a brief cavalry skirmish on the flank, but the defenders (me) got the best of them. This was at the cost of a lot of cards. The horses were quite a distance away. In Maurice you have to "pay" in card value equal to the distance to activate a force. They were 16 spans away, so 16 card points had to be used. Ouch! In the end the gamble was worth it.

The gunnery duel in the center was the longest I've seen. The defender's gun were able to destroy two attacking units. Later, when the attacker did come, those gun crews were wiped out.
In the end, the cards were running out, and the attackers were way down on Morale.
We're still learning. This game requires a switch in thinking, different from other wargames rules. You have to know when to commit and where. Careful planning ahead is essential, but you still have to know when to exploit a breakthrough. I think it gives a fantastic simulation of the period.
Last night's pairing:

Introducing the Grand Duchy of Fennwyck

"The Empire is a large and diverse place full of minor kingdoms, duchies and baronies. For the past 500 years the emperors have maintained power by keeping all those princes, dukes and barons at each other's throats. They are allowed to own small, personal armies. These armies may be called up in an instant's notice to defend the Empire from its vast number of enemies, or used to settle petty grudges and territorial disputes between nobles. War in the Empire, seems to be the pastime.
Fennwyck is a small Duchy of the fringe of the Empire with big plans. It is a foggy dismal place, populated by people much the same. THe current Grand Duke, Oswald the Bold, tired of being a backwater, has decided to extend the boundaries of Fennwyck. Better government through ruthless expansionism. Oswald has left the command of his armies to General Vanderwalt Klegg, an able tactician of intemperant nature."
Following an earlier post, most of our group is building their armies for Maurice. We have settled on each person taking a barnyard animal as their personal sigil. I have chosen the rooster (or cock) as it matches my Chinese zodiac symbol. Here's the army, their colors and standards:

A lovely night for Maurice

It snowed last night. In May. I mention this because said snow kept most of the Basement Generals home. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've really been wanting to give Maurice another go, especially run the campaign system with our group. Rather than wait the year it will take those involved to paint armies I went with paper troops to give everyone a feel for the rules and field some troops.
So, rather than getting the whole group together to run through the rules we only had 5. Turns out, that was just right.

The serried paper ranks

We did the whole she-bang. Drew cards for terrain, scouted for advantage and who the aggressor was, and drew Notables. The only thing we didn't use this time was National Advantages.
Based on scouting rolls, Purple was the Aggressor. Their Notable was particularly good at Rallying troops.
Blue was Defender and got a hothead Notable who likes to charge.
The terrain was Plains. Seven pieces were rolled for and placed. The result was pretty open, but still caused problems for the Aggressors. They had a town to take.
The game moved along really fast. Cards were earned and burned. A cavalry force charged and was repulsed. (Have to wear those infantry down first).
The infantry in the middle annihilated each other. Here's where the "do I volley?" question was learned. A deck was gone through.

All of the sudden Purple was down to 3 morale points left, and Blue 5. It was late, the weather was getting worse, and we called it.
Love these rules. Can't wait to get some "real" troops on the table. Also has me VERY excited for Longstreet. Until now I have held firm against painting 28mm ACW. But, for how long?
The warring Factions, again based on barnyard animals:

A slight diversion

I've been hankering to play some Maurice again, but nobody has any troops. I threw it out there to the gang, that maybe I just do some more paper stock troops in the mean time, so more people could get involved. Not something I like to game with, but they do in a pinch and are easy for me to make up and customise. Maybe even a Maurice campaign?
With that in mind I came up with the probably insane idea that each player nation should base their Duchy's colors/standard/flag heraldry off a barnyard animal. I chose the cock, of course. Pullusia? Latin for chicken is pullus. Nah.
Then, all sorts of things flooded in. I could base units and their uniforms off the hundred's of chicken breeds. This was born:

The flag is work in progress, but its a start. As each noble can raise troops and clothe them, you get regiments like Lord Baldwin, Count of Rhode Island's regiment. Called the "Reds"
I know. But these things keep me up at night.
UPDATE: flags

Heavy Metal

The Arch Duchy of Volborg gets some artillery. Four stands of 10mm to be exact. These fine lads will be doing double duty for both Might & Reason and Maurice. Does that mean I decided on a scale? No, not really.

Maurice, 4 ways

I've played it. I love it. Now, for the figs. I mentioned in an earlier post I have miniatures for this period in 4 scales. An appeal to the internets went out. I have costed all possibilities (6mm & 10mm winning out). But, it really comes down looks on the battle field doesn't it?
I mounted up bits and pieces on blanks just get a visual. Disregard the mismatched troops. I also didn't want to pry the little 6s off their bases just yet so use you imagination. They all take up the same footprint, except the 15s which I put on 40mm bases.
The results:

Proposed basing.

All can be used for multiple rules sets (Might and Reason, Black Powder, Maurice), so that's not an issue. They all seem to give the mass you want from the period. The 10s especially, and as you can see, I already had the 10mm Cavalry and Arty based right so that would be a time saver.

28s and 15s would give you more place to play in the Imaginations realm to pull off whatever made up uniforms you have.

Blogosphere, opinions? What would like to play with?

Maurice playtest

OK. I've read the rules Maurice rules twice. But, you never know a game until you actually play it. With the bitter cold keeping all but 4 us away game night, it was time to give Maurice a whirl.

I still haven't decided on what minis to use, and even if I did, it would be awhile before I got them done. Time to dig out my paper armies that have served so well in Unkerlant. The armies consisted of 6 infantry units (1 Elite, one Conscript, the rest Trained), 4 Trained cavalry units and 4 guns. THe Attackers got one extra infantry unit. We used no National Advantages for this play tests.
I played it pretty stripped down. As I said, no National Advantages, which you buy when creating your army. There are so many fun set up things, that just for time we didn't use. Sam Mustafa has made this a really easy pick up game. You draw cards for terrain set up, roll for who is Attacker vs Defender based on scouting, etc. We also used no Notables, those favorites of His or Her Majesty that can be a blessing or a curse to your army.

The Attacker gets 8 Action cards, the Passive 5 to start.
The terrain was simple the objective also. Take the town.
Turn Sequence is simple. First, Active player decides if there will be volleys (musket fire). If yes, he fires then the Passive player. If he declines, no shooting happens. Why won't I elect to shoot? Well, the Guards over there are near breaking. They may well get that volley off, but the return fire will most assuredly finish them. Simple mechanic, lots of subtlety on how to use it. Volley fire is tough to break a unit with. Cold steel will be needed.

Next, the Active Player choses an action:
He can Pass, doing nothing but gaining 3 cards.
He can play a card as an Event. These are usually something big, but he gains no new cards.
He can March, Bombard, Charge or Rally.
March is maneuver. Any Force, that is units of same kind is same formation may be activated and moved. On each card there is a number in the left corner. You must discard enough of the those card(s) to equal the distance to the Force in question. If the unit is 6 base widths away, you must discard enough card(s) to equal or excede. Again, easy mechanic, tons of subtle. Tough decisions. The better cards have higher numbers. "I really need to move that cav on the flank to keep them from getting cut off, but they are far away. Do I hold moving them another turn? Do I burn a really good card or cards to get them moving?"
This is where I've read a few negative reviews. You can easily get caught up in one part of the battlefield, sacrificing the rest of the army's movement. Tunnel vision if you will. You may move alot, then later have to pause to regroup because you've blown thru your cards.
Have these guys not read any history? This sounds like every battle I've ever read about, and its modeled perfectly on your tabletop. How many commanders have had to make the same decisions you are?
Oh well, back to the actions. Bombard is long range artillery fire.
Charge is the only way into hand-to-hand. Again, I pause to tell how simple the combat mechanic is. One roll for each unit involved. Even with multiple contacts and squirrel-ly angles it all gets handled easily.
Rally is that. You pick a Force and try to roll off Disruptions. THis is another tough one. Give up the momentum you might have started to pause and get your troops back in order?
Our actual game went pretty smooth. Yes, we had first game omissions and screw up but it was a great time. Loss of units can cause variable Army Morale loss. The Attacker must have lost some of the most beloved units in the army because just a few were destroyed and crappy die rolling meant their Morale plummeted.
This rules were everything I wanted them to be. For big, historical refights of the Lace Wars, Sam's other rules Might & Reason are my go to, but this is perfect smaller, pick up battles.
Some people have used Maurice for other periods like American Revolution and War of 1812. I can see that. Maurice has different levels of troop training and morale.
Where I can really see this game shine is as a campaign game for a club. The Wars of Succession Campaign rules in the back are beautiful in their elegance and simplicity.
Maurice gets 5 out of 5 Powdered Wigs.

Maurice, three ways.

A dilemma, gentlemen. After reading Maurice, I'm definitely in. Doesn't require a lot of miniatures as it is really a two player game. Long term, a mulit-player campaign would be nice but that's a ways off. The other nice thing is basing. The game uses "base-widths" as measurement, so what scale and number of minis you use, is really up to you. More for your own aesthetics, really. Thus, my predicament.
I officially have Marlburian or War of Spanish Succession miniatures in 4 scales, 6mm, 10mm, 15mm and 28mm. I'm throwing out 10mm as I already do it for Might and Reason in the Unkerlant Campaign.  Yes, I could double up the bases to make the square base sizes needed for Maurice, but I think they'd look weird (too many flags).

From a pure economic stand point?
28mm x 24 men to an infantry unit: $23 a unit (With my Old Glory discount)
15mm x 24 men to an infantry unit: $7.20 a unit (again, discount on Blue Moon), $9.60 for a 32 man unit. I also have a sh!t ton of Dixon 15s (seen above) too.
6mm at 16 strips to a unit: $7

From a time and effort standpoint? 6mm or 15mm is going to win.

From an artistic or tabletop view? God's own scale, 28mm wins (plus double use for Black Powder).
Oh great minds of the Blogosphere guide me in my hour of need.....

One read-through reviews

Now that I have had a chance to read through some of my Christmas horde, I have thoughts and reviews.

Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards, Duel at My Skullzfyre
I tried this out with some of my Lunch Money gaming veterans. The play is much more light hearted but still all about killing your neighbors. You try to put together spells from the cards you've drawn. The ones with a Source, Delivery and Outcome are more powerful. Each time you get new and unique spell combos, and the artwork is great. Reminds me of Adventure Time meets old 70s Crazy and Bananas magazines. We had only a few players. Six would give even more fun and crazyiness. Great for kids.
4 out of 5 Flaming Skulls

Condottiere by Frank Chadwick
Being a set of Foundry rules made to sell their awful new Renaissance miniature line, I put this on the wish list more for the pictures and background than actual rules. In these glory days of wargaming with all the new innovation in game mechanics, Frank Chadwick has stayed very, very old school. Single figure removal and using playing cards for casualty outcomes harkens back to the Sword and the Flame. It has to be geared more for smaller battles, I don't know how you get a bigger game in, in a decent time otherwise. Glad this one was a freebie. If I had spent $40 myself I'd be pissed.
2 out of 5 pikes (only for the nice pictures, too bad they are of the crappy new Foundry line).

Dux Bellorum by Daniel Mersey
This rules for Dark Age wars grew out of Glutter of Ravens, released some time ago. I remember thinking they were OK, but missing something. The new range of Osprey wargames rules have got alot of flack for being long on production values and pretty pictures but short on substance. For $12.96 on Amazon, I think they are a great little deal. Whatever problems I had with Glutter, seemed to be fixed now. There are quite a few wargames out now for this period, Dux Britainniarum being the big one. I found Dux Brit had alot of great set up and campaign ideas, but the actual combat rules convoluted and clunky (SAGA does it better).
Dux Bell borrows some ideas from all over and puts them together nicely. Each warhost is of base sized units ala DBA, but of whatever size/make up you want, because measurements are in base-widths (ala Sam Mustafa). Each stand takes a number of Cohesion hits (Black Powder/Hail Caesar) before it breaks based on a target to hit number (again BP/HC).
The real fun part that sets it apart, is the use of Leadership Points (LPs). LPs can be used in different ways to motivate your troops, block enemy fire, or help with other outcomes. Simple mechanic similar to command points in Grande Armee or Might and Reason, but perfect for a period of history were a War Leader, or Dux Bellorum, had more influence on a battle's outcome. Best part, I can use troops already mounted for other rules for this and think it has use for bigger, multiplayer games.
4 dragon standards out of 5.

Maurice by Sam "the Man" Mustafa
Named for Marshal of France Maurice de Saxe, an under appreciated general who knew not defeat, and a true character in his own right. To me, much like Sam Mustafa's games.
Anyone who stumbles upon this blog knows I'm Sam's #1 fan. Many plays of Grande Armee and Might & Reason  have convinced me he knows how to deliver period flavor without sacrificing playability, reasonable playing times or getting too abstract. I had all but given up on Nappies until GA.
So, on to Maurice. First, it is more of a two player game. Yes, that's bad for my gaming group of 6-8, but not necessarily. The games can be short. The campaign system Succession Wars included in Maurice would be perfect for our little group. My table split 3 ways would give 3 games going on simultaneously. Let the Imagi-Nations go! I could use the campaign simply for my own Unkerlant.
Maurice's mechanics for actual combat varies little from Might and Reason, but its the turn sequence and use of Action Cards (similar to Commands and Colors) that really makes it shine. It creates a natural ebb and flow to the battle. You can push and blow a bunch of cards to get the advantage, but then have to hold for awhile as your forces regroup.
Maurice requires the purchase of the card deck to play, and the game ain't cheap. Around $50 was the cheapest I found for both rules and cards. But, the rules give you everything from random battlefield generation to random officers (Notables) to campaign play. Well worth it. I'm currently rebasing a ton of dusty 6mm Marlburians that have never seen combat for this. So day maybe even some 28s. Can't wait to try.
5 out of 5 powdery wigs.