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.

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.

Ronin - Perry Miniatures Ashigaru

Saga - From the Dice Rolls of the Northmen, O Lord Deliver Us

After a hectic week of hurriedly painting my Anglo-Saxon army and secretly also putting together a West-German battlegroup for Idries for our big upcoming Cold War gone hot scenario (don't tell the communists), I finally managed to play my first game of Saga. Not bad going having only picked up the models for it about 5 years ago! Paul from the South London Warlords was kind enough to walk me through an introductory scenario with a simple objective - kill all his vikings before they could kill all my Saxons.

The two sides eye each other up from a distance.

We deployed maybe a little too far apart and so spent the first two turns quickly advancing forwards. I took the opportunity get to know my battleboard abilities a bit better and to move some of my hearthguard to the left flank where Paul had positioned his berserkers. I didn't know whether they were actually any good or not yet but their psychological impact was immense. I was terrified of them.

And it turned out that I was right to be. Charging them directly into my hearthguard with a few well-chosen saga abilities to buff them up even further, Paul rolled a horrifying bucket o' dice and immediately killed all four of my men while taking only two casualties in return. Foolishly hoping that this would then leave them weakened I carried out a counterattack with my second unit of hearthguard but, in maybe the quickest ever example of history repeating itself, the result was the same.

Earl Sihtric prepares himself for glory.

It was time for drastic measures. I lined up my Bretwalda and Closed Ranks abilities and charged in my warlord. As my fyrdmen presumably cheered him on with glee, he tore through Paul's hearthguard leaving only one survivor. This lucky Dane would prove to be my warlord's nemesis.

The Danish chieftain inspires his warriors shortly before running away.

In the turns that followed my warlord chased Paul's around the board as I tried in vain to initiate an epic and decisive duel while our warriors fought a slow attritional battle in which I seemed to have a marginal advantage.

Then Paul played his final move. With his hearthguard ready to visit Valhalla and buffed with all the battleboard abilities that Paul could muster he piled into my warlord. With so many attack dice on both sides it was mutual annihilation.

It was at this point that I learned that losing your warlord caused you to lose the game and finally understood why Paul had been so unwilling to let his anywhere near any of my smelly Saxons with their sharp, pointy spears.

You live and you learn I suppose.

So, in my first game of Saga and my first game at SLW what went well?

• The Anglo-Saxon warlord turned out to be a bit of a powerhouse when buffed up by battleboard abilities.
• My warriors also proved to be pretty resilient. In the 4 point game we were playing they didn't really get the chance to shine as they were in units of only 8 men and many Anglo-Saxon abilities can only be used, or are more effective, when your units have at least 10 men. In 6 point games I'll be bumping them up to 12 men each.

And what lessons did we learn?

• Firstly, build and paint some slingers to use against those damned berserkers and wipe the smiles from their mushroom stained mouths.
• While my warlord may be a powerhouse, he should definitely only be a last resort or he'll be needing some bodyguards.
• In smaller games I think I'll try to use the Anglo-Dane battleboard which seems less reliant on having big units.

All in all a really fun game with a lot of depth I'm yet to discover in the battleboard system.

Saga - Gripping Beast Hearthguard and Warriors

Saga - Warlord Games' Saxon King