There were two sessions, both using Age of Valor, the expansion module to Age of Eagles (Napoleonic Fire & Fury) covering European warfare fro the 1848 Hungarian Revolution thru the Guns of August 1914.
Pictures from the two games can be found on a link at the AOE homepage listed below my signature. You can also download the Russo-Japanese War section of AOV off the homepage as a free test drive.
From Player Mike Montemarano, who had the British in the second game:
Col. Bill said he wanted me to take them, I suspect with an ulterior motive related to the tactical situation; frontal assaults on redoubts filled with siege arty -- let's have Mike do that. So off we went, over the river and up the slope, leaving the arty behind due to the terrain.
So, in short order I managed to slaughter the Fusilier Brigade, lose 1st Bn Rifle Bde, and otherwise make myself persona non grata anywhere in London for the next 18 months, while Iain Stanford's French carried all before them with minimal losses. Sigh. Raglan had a cow. Even so, I cannot complain at all about the how we got there.
Beyond the "we had a good time" part (well, Albert, the Russian across from me, did, anyway, I was too busy writing letters to the families of the casualties), it felt pretty much right, even in spite of the terrain limitations which turned the game into an infantry attacking inf and arty battle. For putting a large/entire battle from the 19th century on the table and resolving it in reasonable time (the Alma took less than 5 hours to reach a decision with mostly green players), I think Bill may well have a winner, though a final verdict will await a different tactical situation permitting just a bit of maneuver, and more evenly matched armies. The Russians with smoothbore muskets had a bad time with the British Minie rifles, though this was offset by the lack of British arty.
Player Iain Stanford wrote:
Although both games had the same outcome they were very different and it has to be said that in both games the Russian Players did very well considering they were seriously outnumbered.
The first game involved Mark Anderson and his stalwart band of crazy Canucks who's experience in gaming the rules made the need for an umpire almost redundant as they also guided the players who where new to Bill's rules. In this game the allies more or less bludgeoned their way to the top of the heights by sheer attrition and casualties were more or less equally divided between the British and the French. Subtle it wasn't; however, the well timed Russian counter attacks made life very difficult for the allies.
The second game with Mike in the role of John Gielgud (sorry Lord Raglan) was very different, again the non subtle approach was adopted. Mike was unlucky in that the Russian he was up against had some very good die rolls and a very annoying brigade of Cossacks. I was luckier in that the Russian counter attack against me failed and I managed to take the heights with 'Zero' Casualties. At one point I asked the Colonel for a brigade of cavalry since the road to Sevastopol was open and 'I could rub Mikes nose in it' … the Colonel was sorely tempted to give me the brigade I requested. The Russians were still in possession of the Great Redoubt the end of the game and it was estimated that the British would need at least 3 more turns to clear the Hill.
Despite the dire warnings issued by the Colonel at the beginning of the game, the British attached a leader and managed to get him captured. This prompted not only the First every awarding of a double 'Pink Pansy' to Mike and his compatriot, but also an instant battlefield promotion for a certain . . .
Major
Sir
Harry
Paget
*** wait for it***
FLASHMAN!
(VC, etc, etc, etc)
This was a special Crimean War rule Bill has introduced. This was not good for the British.
The rules are subtly different from AOE, so if you are playing make sure you read them and don't just assume they are the same e.g. there is no extra casualties for melee differences over 10 in AOV. Bill has also adopted the army break point introduced by Rich Hasenauer in Regimental Fire & Fury to 'stop wargamers fighting to the last stand'.
Regards, Colonel Bill
ageofeagles.com
is a naval wargamer who likes the smaller scales, so who better to show us how to paint small-scale ironclads?