Full Nelson French v British

Another new set of rules I've been playing is the playtest version of 'The Full Nelson'. Having previously tried Black Seas (not impressed!) and Kiss Me Hardy (good but a bit complicated) I was happy to give these rules a go.

They follow the currently very popular system of cards to determine movement order and 'action dice' which have various uses for sailing, gunnery and leadership. This was my fourth game and so far I've really enjoyed it!

The scenario was one supplied by the play test team, the Battle of  Cape Ortegal which sees three British ships of the line  (HMS Caesar, Hero and Courageux) taking on four French (Dugay-Trouin, Formidable, Mont Blanc and Scipion) The British have better crews and leadership, the French one more ship and more gunnery power. The French fleet is slightly damaged from a previous encounter with British Frigates but that was soon repaired by the French.

The eagle-eyed among you will realise that in fact all the ships are frigates with a mixture of French and British for the British and Spanish for the French!

The British attempt a traditional crossing the T plan while the French rely on opening fire as soon as possible:

A superb broadside from the 'Formidable' crashes into HMS 'Caesar' (5 hits out of 7 dice needing a 5 or 6 at long range!) and causing heavy damage:

The 'Scipion' joins in blasting 'Caeser' again:

'Caesar's' ship card shows the damage, she has lost 3 out of 6 action dice and will probably strike soon:

'Caesar' does indeed strike after further fire from the 'Formidable'. 'Hero' was also badly damaged while the French had taken very little damage causing the British to admit defeat:

We played again, this time the British didn't attempt to 'cross the t' but again had awful luck as 'Caesar' was shattered again, this time losing a mast, catching fire and finally exploding!

As I mentioned this is the fourth game I've played and I've really enjoyed every one of them! The rules are easy to learn the basics, the sailing isn't too complicated, it is fast moving and unlike many other sets of rules if you are British you certainly have advantages but it's not overwhelming (see Black Seas..).

The action dice system requires you to juggle sailing, damaging the enemy and repairing your own ship giving some tough choices (do I fire again but ignore minor damage that may well become major or repair the damage and not fire this time?). 

In a solo game I quite happily managed six ships per side which is a big improvement over most other sailing games as well where one or two is all you can cope with.

All in all a great set of rules in progress and I'll be playing a lot more games hopefully. Looking forward to the final version coming out as well, for sure will be investing in them.

ACW Fire and Fury Union v Confederate

An ACW game at the club kindly set up by Richard. The scenario was based on fighting in the Wilderness with the Union attempting to prevent the Rebels crossing a ford in the river. The Union have a single brigade available at the start of the game while the Reb's have a brigade plus two artillery batteries: 

Union troops rush to reinforce their fellow soldiers. Hopefully the cavalry will move up quickly to initially block the Reb's then the infantry and artillery will form up to strengthen the position:

Things do not go according to plan though and the Union force is quite tardy moving up slowly:

As a result the Union forward brigade has to redeploy to contest the ford which has Reb cavalry thundering towards it:

Hurrah for the Union boys! 

The Union cavalry forms a dismounted screen while the rest of the force moves up:

A vast column of Reb infantry marches down the road towards the ford. The Reb cavalry have failed to press on across the ford so far:

Reb infantry cross the ford. Being in march column they are very vulnerable but they do have artillery support from both sides of the river in numbers:

The boys in blue consolidate their position and begin to push forward on the left:

The dismounted Union cavalry pour fire into the Reb infantry taking off bases and bringing them to a halt:

The Reb cavalry have crossed the ford and moved off to the left while another Reb infantry brigade is charged by a Union brigade moving through their skirmish screen of dismounted cavalry:

Despite the odds being hugely in their favour the Union men are repulsed and fall back through the cavalry and artillery:

However, the Union gun line is well placed and Zouaves move up in support. Over the course of this fight the Reb artillery has been whittling down the Union forces:

The Union cavalry screen falls back exposing the Reb infantry to cannister fire and fire from the Zouaves. It isn't as effective as hoped but still stops them in their tracks:

Meanwhile, concentrating on the fight by the ford, one Reb battery didn't notice a Union brigade 'sneaking' up on them! A quick charge and the Reb battery is wiped out turning the flank of the Reb's in the rocky ground:

The Reb cavalry get into the fight charging an infantry brigade supported by some cavalry:

Again the Union infantry are forced back. The Zouaves are suffering badly from artillery fire as well:

The situation is looking grim for the Reb's holding the rocky ground as they are threatened in two directions:

The Zouaves are broken by artillery fire but not before the Reb infantry who charged across the ford have been broken themselves. The ford is now strongly held with the Union artillery covering any attempt at crossing:

With this the game ends in a minor Union victory, preventing the Rebel column from crossing the ford and inflicting slightly greater losses on the enemy. Hurrah for the Union, down with the Reb's!

A great fun game, Fire and Fury are pretty much my favourite wargames rules and the ACW one of my most popular periods. The vast majority of the army was painted over 30 years ago and didn't play a game until very recently as the person who bought the Confederates moved away and I started playing in 15mm instead so it has been fantastic to get them on the table in a previous F&F game and a Longstreet game over the last few weeks. I'd thought about selling them before but couldn't be bothered so they survived to finally take to the table!

Of course I had to buy some more figures, amazingly you can still buy the Connoisseur range from Bicorne Miniatures and while the standard of the figures isn't by any means up to Perry or Wargames Foundry's more modern efforts they have a character and sense of movement that the newer designs don't really have. I did refurbish them a bit with new flags, slightly darker blue coats and a few small washes with black and brown where appropriate which really improved them. 

Hopefully the club will be doing a campaign in the winter and I'll be trying to get them on table for more adventures in the future!