1812 Battle - Conclusion and thoughts on the "Live Free or Die" Rules

After applying a lot of pressure on the Candadian forces with musket fire on the left of their line, the US infantry charged up the slop with the 2 grey coated regiments.

One charge (more of an advance than a charge) reached the fence, the second, led by the general, got into contact with the 1st Foot. From the previous post you may recall that the 1st were low on ammo and being led by the replacement general with no stars.

Totally against the odds (1 die for, 4 dice against), the Royals threw the US infantry back down the slope.

We decided to call it at this point, reckoning that the regulars and milita on the left of the Canadian line would hold while the right and centre withdrew.

 I need to get more figures painted for a full sixe refight of Lundy's Lane and for Sharp Practice.

The left of the US Line

Skirmishing continues between the US Rifles and the Voltigeurs Canadiens. A blue coated US regiment has lost a base and is carrying a low on ammo marker. The grey coated regiment with the general attached has been thrown back down the slop by the Royals and the 8th Foot continue to hold the built up area,

US Centre and Right

To the right of the built up area, two  US militia regiments are advancing against 2 militia and 1 regular Canadian battalion. The grey coated regiment in the centre is one casualty away from losing a second base

Left of the Canadian Line

The US Militia skirmishing from the woods are still harrying the left of the line while a couple of small battalions are attenpting to hold off the advancing US militia

Regarding the terrain for the scenario, I think it would have been better to give a disorder marker for crossing the "slope line" rather than reduce the movement. Steep slopes might even incur 2 markers.

The rule amendments seem to work quite well and we both liked the way that the 6" proximity rule made it difficult for troops to cover the final yards to contact. The low ammo / loss of fire discipline rule also worked well and introduced a pleasing amount of friction.

So all in all, providing you are playing with someone "on the same wavelength" these are a surprisingly good set of rules. They are very basic, but with a few amendments worked really well for this action. I think we have now "complicated" the rules for 1812 as much as we would want to.

They can be obtained from Little Wars TV and proceeds go to the American Battlefields Trust.

"Live Free or Die" Test Game Part 2 (Hoist By One's Own Petard)

 There now 5 additional rule amendments:

1. Firing at skirmishers in woods - Roll an additional D6 of a different colour when firing (cover dice). If the cover dice comes up 4,5, or 6, a 6 hits as usual, if it comes up 1,2, or 3, a double 6 is required. This is adapted from the Spotting Dice in Dave Brown's "O Group" rules.

2. Volley fire - for each double 1 thrown a "firing disorder" marker is placed on the unit representing loss of fire discipline and/or dwindling ammunition. No further volley fire is permitted until these have all been rallied off which may be done by selecting all or part of them for removal during the General's Action phase or the Dressing The Ranks phase. Firing Disorder markers do not count towards casualty removal.

3. Charge - A General adds  a number of dice equal to his star rating  to a  unit to which he is  attached when dicing for the charge movement. The highest 2 dice can then be chosen. The unit's rating factor is then deducted from the final score (whether or not there is an attached general) and this is the amount of movement available. Note that this may result in a unit recoiling if it is of poorer quality! Terrain deductions apply to the move as normal.

4. No volley fire to or from a built up area.

5. Class 1 and 2 units suffer no disruption penalties for formation changes in good ground.

What could possibly go wrong?

One more rule that will be added is that Indian troops count as one morale grade higher when in cover.

The position at the end of move 8:

Seen from the US side, skirmishing between the US Rifles and the Voltigeurs Canadiens continues on the left  flank. The small line unit in blue has lost a base and suffered a firing disruption, and General Brown is rallying disorder from one of the grey (note the correct spelling!) coated regiments. The second grey coated regiment has pressed forward to the base of the ridge to exploit the withdrawal of a regular British battalion. To their right two militia battalions in line are pressing forwards, whilst further forward on the right flank the militia skirmishers in the woods are still effectively harassing the Canadian militia battalion on the road.

From the British  / Canadian position:

So having congratulated yourself on coming up with a brilliant rule to reflect loss of fire discipline and or dwindling ammunition, you throw four 1s when issuing volley fire. The Royal Scots receive 2 Firing Disorder Markers in the same turn that General Riall is severly wounded and carried from the field to be replaced by an officer with a reduced command rating and zero stars.

To be continued...........

Trying out "Live Free or Die" - First 6 Moves

 

I've had some reservations about using these rules. They are very simple, being only four pages long, but from the games shown on the Littlewars TV YouTube videos, they seem to move quite quickly.

This test game moves the rules forward from the AWI to 1812 and pits one US Regular and one US militia brigade against a similar British/Canadian force. The Americans are driving up the Niagara peninsula and have to drive the opposition off the hill to their front.

The photos are from the end of move 6.  Dave (The Northumbrian Wargamer) is leading the forces of evil and I've got His Majesty's loyal British North American forces.

Both sides started with their regular brigades on the table, then diced at the end of each move to see if their militia brigades arrived the next turn - the US militia arrived a couple of turns before the Canadians

So far the Americans have driven one British regular battalion back behind the house on the hill, and one of their militia battalions has advanced through the woods on their right and is delaying the deployment of the Canadian Militia.

I'm quite impressed so far with how the rules work. We've made the following three additions so far:

1. There is a ZOC of 6” around all units (musket range) which cannot be entered by an enemy without declaring a charge.

2.  Units reduced to 1 Stand become skirmishers.

3. Brigade Morale Test: If a brigade loses a unit, it must take a morale test at the end of the relevant firing or melee phase at an average of the brigade’s ratings rounded down. One dice is lost for each unit lost from the brigade during the game, with a minimum of 1 dice being thrown.

There are some more amendments by a David Tuck of the rules' Facebook group which I'll probably try some time in the future. He also created the command cards shown on the orbats below.

Test Game Order Of Battle

  General Sir Phineas Riall                                    1 Leader

1^st Brigade

2 Line Infantry Battalions                                     2^nd Class                                                        5 Bases

1 Line Infantry Battalion                                       2^nd Class                                                        3 Bases

Canadian Voltigeurs                                              2^nd Class           Skirmish                               3 Bases

 

Militia Brigade

2 Militia Battalions                                               3^rd Class                                                         3 Bases

  

 Major Jacob Brown                                              1 Leader

1^st Brigade

2 Line Infantry Battalions                                     2^nd Class                                                        5 Bases

1 Line Infantry Battalion                                       2^nd Class                                                        3 Bases

Rifle Regiment                                                      2^nd Class           Skirmish, Rifles                   3 Bases

 

2^nd Brigade

1Militia Battalion                                                      3^rd Class                                                    3 Bases

1 Militia Battalion                                                     3^rd Class             May Skirmish                3 Bases

1 Militia Battalion                                                     3^rd Class                                                    4 Bases

Trying Out Little Wars TV's "Live Free or Die" rules for 1812

 Table set up for tomorrow night's game loosely based on Lundy's Lane. I've played it through solo to get the hang of the rules and added a few amendments for brigade morale, zones of control and preventing units reduced to one stand fighting to the end. We'll see how it goes.

Yet More Romans

Auxilia from Ebay, with 3 command figures added.

More Late Romans

 Two more units of Late Roman Auxilia with bows cobbled together from some old units of Auxilia and archers with two newly painted officers added. These are for the Western Armies.

Update

 I've started cataloguing all my stuff on pages within the blog, starting with Late Roman Armies for "To The Strongest".

I'm currently carrying on with these and my Peninsular War armies. I was going to do more stuff for the War of 1812 with the possibility of a Sharp Practice Campaign in the summer but, given the current psycopathic activities of a certain head of state, it would be too close to home. 

Elbows Up!