Four new mini folio titles

Part of the Hougoumont cover artwork

In 2013 Decision Games released their first mini folio titles using their cut down (quick play) version of the Musket & Sabers rules. These boardgames have a small footprint with no more than 40 game counters and an 11” x 17” map, making for a convenient play or travel companion.

Some of the earlier titles have already had articles written about them here (two sample links given in the Resource Section below), perhaps most notable being the Germantown game, which I ran as an e-mail campaign with nine other bloggers.

These four new titles not only bring some interesting subjects, but the rules have had an update. The ‘full’ Musket & Saber system’ carried some awkwardness in the rules and so the ‘quick play’ set for the mini folios came about. However, even these had some sticking points and there was errata to the Combat Results Table. Neither of these two things seemed to get any attention in the years of subsequent releases.

However, that has changed here. Firstly the rules have grown by two pages from 4 to 6. There doesn’t appear to be any new sub-system, so I can only assume that the space has been given to better explanation and streamlining. 

Secondly, we have a new Combat Results Table. It is still differential based, though the differential groupings / values have slightly shifted and the results themselves have changed, plus Bombardments now have their own results table. 

Be mindful that I am writing all of this within an hour of getting the bundle, so I have no idea whether the combat table has become stronger, weaker or roughly stayed the same, but the principles look similar to what went before. One oddity is that the ‘r’ result (usually noting retreat) is in fact an exchange result. I have only ever seen exchange results expressed as ‘Ex’ before! But hey-ho, all is good as these new rules are fully backwards compatible, which is very useful.

Anyway it was with the prospect of updated rules, that I ordered the new releases, which have arrived today. Over the holiday period, I will no doubt do an article on one or more of them, but in the meantime, this is a brief synopsis of my bundle.

Little Round Top: Flank attack at Gettysburg.

The map shows difficult terrain, with the ‘triangle’ of Devil’s Den, Little Round Top and Big Round Top represented together with Plum Run. There are 5 turns, each representing 45 minutes, starting from 1545 hours. A hex covers 175 yards of ground. There are few special rules.

Balaclava: Breaking the Siege.

The map geography is the obvious thing here, with high ground dominating and offering up the north and south valleys, with the redoubts on the high ground (Causeway Heights) between the two. Turns represent an hour and a half and start at 0600 hours and run for 10 turns until 1930 hours (i.e. daylight hours except 0600 and 1930 are twilight with some game restrictions). Ground scale is 352 yards to the hex. Special rules cover Russian coordination, Turkish Rally, Twilight and Redoubts.

Hornet’s Nest: Buying time at Shiloh.

The map is dominated by difficult terrain, with woods, slopes and streams. There are 10 turns from 0945 hours to 1630 hours at 45 minutes per turn. Ground scale is 176 yards to the hex. Special Rules give us Confederate Coordination, (coordination determination and uncoordinated attacks), step recovery, return of eliminated units and off map road movement.

Hougoumont: Key to Waterloo.

A small battlefield, only 11 x 8 hexes, but with the large farm complex showing the appropriate orchard, wood, walls and hedges around the farm. The French objective hexes are on the higher ground at the rear of Hougoumont and the associated Hollow Way. This has 10 turns starting at 1115 hours and ending at 1800 hours in 45 minute increments. Ground scale is 176 yards to the hex, but unit scale differs compared to the other sets, with battalions, companies and squadrons appearing in the order-of-battle. Special Rules cover Uncommitted units, potential recovery from the eliminated pile, French Howitzers, and the Chateau catching fire.

There is nothing in this release for the AWI enthusiast, but never-the-less, a good solid four titles of interest.

Anyway, as this blog has a cross-over audience of boardgamers and figure gamers there may be a wider interest in these games.

These are just £11 each in the UK (Second Chance Games) and $12 from Decision games (USA), making them a great ‘pocket money’ purchase for anyone who perhaps fancies a financially safe dabble with a first time boardgame. They are also good games for regular boardgamers, especially making good vacation games and since the map can sit on a small board, they are an easy fit for playing from a chair or bed for anyone with movement restrictions.

Resource Section.

Here is a replay of the Salem Church mini folio. LINK

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2019/08/salem-church-1863.html

Here is a replay and some system notes of the Saalfeld (1806) mini folio. LINK

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2013/11/saalfeld-1806-after-action-report.html

My sister webspace COMMANDERS is being re-configured to showcase various figure and boardgame systems that I am enjoying and give a flavour of where current ongoing projects are up to. Link.

https://commanders.simdif.com

Looking for people to join my PBEM battle

EDIT - all places filled. Thank you to all.

I am planning on running a small Play By E-Mail (PBEM) game and openly invite those in the blogging community to join in if they fancy. A total of 9 players will be required.

I am just using a small American War of Independence game for starters, as part of a learning curve to lay on a more ambitious Ligny 1815 game at some future point.

The Ligny game would be a big two mapper and the opportunity for fog of war much greater than this battle will give and players would control bigger formations, but the principles learned here will make for a more successful Ligny.

The basic structure and conditions are;

Participants should not contact each other and it would be preferable if you keep your participation unknown to each other and only discuss the game etc with me. This stops players acting in concert, even inadvertently and will enhance everyones sense of fog of war.

Participants may already have some knowledge of the campaign, but I would ask that you don’t do any additional research. This will keep the game much more interesting for everyone. To level out the players knowledge of the game, I would suggest they read my earlier AAR on the battle at this link http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2016/10/auto-saved-post.html

Gamers should only participate if they are able to service this game in a timely manner. As umpire, I will be looking for the battle to proceed promptly with total play sitting in a fairly small time frame. I think this will help you as much as it will me.

I need 7 Players to act as local Commanders, plus a further 2 players to act as Army Commanders for each side. Army Commanders will send out general orders to the various local commanders, who will then order their formation as they see fit to comply with their tasking and I will model that on the table.

All communication will come via me. I will be playing the game and have the total picture. Each participant will be relying on the information flowing into their headquarters and that means that the Army Commander will also be relying on good reports from the various formation commanders. 

I will not be filling in any intelligence gaps and as much as possible will limit my information to commanders to what they can basically see from their own position, so the army commander will be relying on good communications to improve on that. It is possible that one side may out command the other and that blind spots etc will be created and that some troops may find gaps in the enemy lines .... let’s hope so :-).

You will not need a copy of any game or rules system, all of that will be managed by me and if I think you need a hint on play, you will get one. You will get a map and some basic information and it will then be for you to glean what you can at your headquarters to keep abreast of what is going on.

If anyone is interested in doing this, then please put your name forward by e-mailing me on my contact page at the Commanders web page (Link - https://commanders.simdif.com/contact.html ). I need your interest to be shown this way, so that I can keep your e-mails private.

In due course, I will do a blind draw to match the first 9 names drawn from the hat (hopefully I get 9 interests!) firstly to their army and then to a particular command. I hope to have a couple of extra applicants to keep on a reserve list ... in case there are any commissions handed back or casualties on the battlefield!

The Army commanders will have more to think about and their involvement will be greater. If you would like to be included in the Army Commander draw and have the time to do that, please mention it in your e-mail and again, providing I get enough interest, this will be a names in the hat job.

I apologise in advance to any enthusiastic responders that don't get a seat at the game. It will be genuinely names drawn from a hat and of course my immediate concern will be whether I can recruit 9 players!

I will try to give the players a good fog or war experience and to unburden you as much as possible to keep this thing slick and moving along. For the most part, local commanders will only have two or three units to manage, though the British commanders have around 7 units.

I am hoping that the realistic prospect of individuals not understanding the bigger picture and even being frustrated, advantaged and disadvantaged by that will give a unique player experience - even on this small battlefield.

For my part, I will have a minimum of 39 individually emphasised e-mails to manage plus up to 9 situational photographs to handle each turn, so maximum assistance from participants is essential. The game will be no more than 9 turns long (an early, instant win is possible).

Our chosen battle is taken from the American war of Independence - Germantown 1777.

IMPORTANT - please don't add in the comments box that you are applying to join as I am hoping to keep all participants anonymous and their e-mails will be using their commanders names.

I will add comments to this post to advise on recruiting success etc and once I have enough gamers to make this work, briefing packs, including a map, will go out to each nominated player. Thank you.

EDIT - All positions, plus a reserve player have been filled. The ongoing game will not be discussed here, but at the conclusion a new post will discuss the conduct of the battle. Thanks for your interest.

Battle of the River Plate

River Plate (Graf Spee) and Denmark Straight (Bismarck) are a naval pairing printed by Decision Games in their Dreadnoughts & Battlewagons series. The designers are Eric Harvey and Chris Perello.

Today, we will be taking the River Plate scenario and with a play through, examine some of the features of the series.

Please use the ‘read more’ tab for the rest of this post.

Marengo - revisited

Marengo (Decision Games - folio)

Time to have another go at Marengo (see the previous Marengo post for a more detailed AAR and the Shiloh post for an in depth look at the system) from the Musket and Saber series. I use the quick play version of the rules, which are actually intended to be used with the 'mini' folio games, so when playing the full sized folio games, there may be some areas of the full rules that players will need to dip into.

Marengo AAR

 

Marengo by Decision Games.

Italy 1800. French forces were taken by surprise when a larger Austrian Army caught them dispersed on the Marengo Plain. While Victor’s corps fought a tough delaying action along the Fontanone Creek, Napoleon hurried his troops towards the battlefield. Eventually the French broke and began retreating eastwards, but at a critical moment, Desaix arrived and together with Kellerman’s cavalry, they shattered the Austrian spearhead and reclaimed the battlefield - hence the sub-title ‘Morning defeat, Afternoon Victory’.

Folder cover.

 

 

This is just a simple AAR. For anyone wanting a detailed look at the game system or how the Quick Play rules stack up against the full system rules, please look at my post covering Shiloh (under labels on the right).

Shiloh AAR and the system explained

Shiloh by Decision Games (a folio game)

The battle of Shiloh 1862 is one of the titles from the Decision Games Folio Series. The game is governed by the Musket and Saber series rules together with a set of exclusive rules.

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