Something a bit different tonight, with a try out of the Polish ruleset ‘ By Fire and Sword’. My good friend Mal was running tonights game, and figures were provided by Mal, Bob and myself. Martin was the fouth player.
By Fire and Sword is a renaissance game, and we used Swedish and Danish armies……very, very, very big Swedish and Danish armies…!
We were stumbling around a bit with the rules, but once we got set up it certainly looked impressive…!
On my flank, we thought we would use the terrain, so the reserve was moved forward at full speed, and the front line of musketry moved to face the flank….if the enemy came in, hopefully firepower would weaken him before contact was made.
Meanwhile, on the other flank, the cavalry was approaching contact…next turn we would need to win initiative, and charge first…!
Martin, one of our opponents, rolled an 8 next turn for initiative, so the pressure was on, but Bob came up trumps and rolled a 9. We had the initiative, so in we went …or rather, in Bob went…
Back on my flank, we were getting into position before we attacked…however, Mal decided to caracole his cavalry…guns were primed!
Back on Bob & Martins flank, we were into close combats….Martin’s spectacular dice rolling came to the fore again….at one point, he rolled 3 x 0s……you need low to hit in this game….a spectacular failure…! When he came to the morale roll….guess what….another 0….disaster!
Bob won every combat, and as Martin’s cavalry retreated Bob’s cavalry pursued, hitting Martin in the rear….cue a second round of combat, after which Martin’s cavalry was on the verge of collapse.
Shooting came next, and casualties were exchanged…
It wasn’t looking good for Martin, as Bob was now outflanking him with musketeers…
On my side, I decided to engage…I gambled that Mal wouldn’t go to charge orders, and was right. I contacted the exposed unit with superior numbers…
In the combats, bar one small breakthrough, Martins cavalry was almost on its base edge….
On my side the combat was stalemate, and both sides withdrew…
In the firing, both sides suffered casualties again, though I think we had the edge,..
At this point we called it a night…to be continued next week…
Hi Graeme, that’s a good looking game. I feel Martin’s pain;-)