Sharp Practice 2 British v French - Guerillas in the Midst

Another skirmish intro game at South London Warlords - this time Sharp Practice 2 from TooFatLardies. This week I took control of Captain Boxer-Crabbs's Light Company of the 28th North Gloucesters and their supporting KGL hussars trying to find a Spanish guerilla leader on the run from the French in the small hamlet of San Benito near the Portuguese border.

The quiet hamlet of San Benito.

British Skirmishers move forwards to find the enemy.

The dastardly French appear!

The Gloucesters started the game out well, I advanced them up in column down the road into San Benito at a good pace and sent some skirmishers ahead to search for the guerilla leader. However things rapidly went downhill from there. The skirmishers found that the gates of the walled hamlet were firmly locked shut (they took several turns to open it), the KGL hussars I brought on to prevent the French flanking around my right ended up being unopposed but completely out of position (they'd spend the entire game thundering pointlessly around trying to rejoin the fight), and my column of infantry were apparently far from fighting fit as they suddenly slowed down to a snails pace and struggled to get into position as the french started to bear down on them.

My skirmishers attempt to break down the gate of San Benito.

The KGL Hussars start a glorious charge across an empty field.

Boxer-Crabbs' men inch their way towards the enemy.

Snapping out into a neat line formation just in the nick of time my men were able to let off a fairly ineffective volley that saw only a few French fusiliers fall but did shake the nerves of their surviving comrades. Wish marshal spirit in his heart (and realising that it was getting pretty late and we should all be going home soon) the French captain bravely ordered his men into attack column and charged as my men were reloading. The bloody melee that followed saw heavy casualties on both sides with the Gloucester taking the worst of it and falling back. However my trend of rolling only 1s and 2s all game finally paid off and on this occasion it meant that my men miraculously maintained perfect order as they retreated. With the French having nothing left to give the Gloucesters poured a second volley into them at point blank range with my skirmishers abandoning the gate they'd only just managed to open to let off yet more shots into the faltering column's flank. To the credit of the French they did not break, even with their brave captain knocked unconscious and so with time running short we called it a night with a slight British victory and honoured maintained on both sides. Probably a good thing for me as my cavalry was off doing nothing on the far side of the board while the French cavalry was setting up on my flank for a charge.

Boxer-Crabbs forces his men into line as French skirmishers start taking potshots.

Vive l'Empereur! The fusiliers atttack.

A bloody melee begins.

All in all it was a really fun intro and Sharp Practice is definitely a game I intend to play more of in the future (as I write this AAR 2 weeks later I already have a box of Perry Miniatures British Infantry glued together and ready to be painted up). Before this my only previous experience of TooFatLardies rules was a game of Chain of Command which I didn't really enjoy at all at the time. Having recently watched Rich from TFL playing several of their games on the OnTableTop youtube channel I really want to give them another try as it seems I probably went into it with the wrong mindset. I definitely appreciate what they're trying to achieve with their rules (i.e. added the dreaded "friction") even if some of their mechanics can requires a painful adjustment period to get used to and learn to love. Rolling to see how far you move each turn, I'm looking at you. Kiss Me Hardy, Bag the Hun, and What a Tanker are all now firmly on my "to play" list.

A brief memorial to Drummer Podrick, cut down in his prime by the French attack.

So, what did I learn from my first game of Sharp Practice 2, what went well, and what will I try differently in my next game:

• Spanish hamlet gates are surprisingly sturdy.
• Even if it doesn't cause casualties, getting fire down on the enemy is key as building up shock is the real killer in TFL games.
• The key to Sharp Practice seemed to be good leadership from your officers, when I write my own list I'll try to them have them at its core.

Burrows & Badgers - The Haratun Free Company

Saga - The Not So Stormin' Normans

And on this day came the Normans to England and they were met by Earl Sihtric who did make battle against them with the Fyrd of Kent which he had assembled.

The horsemen of Normandy did charge upon the English shieldwall three times and by the grace of our Lord were each time thrown back.

Upon the fourth charge the Norman lord did see that a great many of his chief men had fallen and the Kentish men were still firm of foot and not affeared and so he did flee the field.

A bit of a brutally quick game with some incredibly mismatched dice rolling favouring the Anglo-Saxons very heavily. Still, what went well:

• Getting my warriors into units of more than 10 proved incredibly effective.

And what will I try to take away from this game:

• Once those big units start dropping below 10 men things start to look a lot less promising. I feel like it may even be worth forming up my hearthguard into one unit as well although my unit count would then be a little low.
• I took Aethelstan as my general (mostly to make up my force to a full 6 points) and I think I need to do more with him to make him worth the extra point he costs. While he does add an extra saga dice and a commander to each of my warrior units for a little offensive boost he's less capable in combat than the standard (free warlord) and I made no use of the non-Saxon units he allows you to have in your warband. Something to think about.