"Info on the mini-campaign in "Blucher"?" Topic

Does anyone who actually has their hands on Blucher have any specific info on the Scharnhost (or whatever) part of it, the mini-campaign/troop movement that then influences the battle? The idea sounds awesome but I haven't heard much about the actual mechanics.

Thanks!

Basically you have a map grid with terrain on it. You decide on objectives worth X amount of points and make note of them.

Both sides divide their forces into columns, that is a group of units that move together.

Then you move these on the grid.

When two enemy columns are adjacent the moving player can declare a battle which translates to the table by taking 2x3 squares of the grid and laying that out as a 4x6 table.

While it is possible to win the map game by amassing victory points that is not the intent and winning the field battle trumps any map victory points.

Hope that helps.

Bob

Just to add – each grid making up the map will have one or more terrain pieces in it – hills, river, road, swap, settlement etc. These make up the complusory tarrain pieces on the table and are laid out as per the map.

Each side can then add two additional pieces – some armies e.g. Spanish have the option of buying some additional rough terrain/hills to better represent their choice of battlefield and prevelant terrain.

Your column(s) position on the six squares choosen represent where you will be deployed on the table. Columns on the map in the squares adjacent to the six choosen as the table come on during the game as reserves. Othere further away take no part.

To me this is one of the best parts of the rules and really adds some meat and flavour to the battlefield terrain, your initial dispositions and the troops you have available for the battle.

Cheers

Nick

Yeah, it sounds really interesting and different; I cannot recall something like this, where a minigame of sorts determines the board layout. But I haven't read it, so didn't know any specifics.

Sounds a bit like Piquet's old campaign system, but then again any grid-based movement sytem with VP's is going to sound similar – and PK's was more hard-coded with their game system. Seems very practical.

Who in the USA is selling the hard copies of the rules system?

MG

Both On Military Matters and the Honour website are selling hard copies. There may be others.

Bob

In the US can't you order directly from Sam?

yup, in the usa find it here link

It's worth noting that the Scharnhorst campaign maneuvering is not meant to take up a lot of gaming time. A playtester mentioned that most campaign maneuvering took less than 20 minutes. It looks like a simple but elegant system that has the potential to add a meaningful narrative to the tabletop game.

I have the Piquet system besides Blucher. Both have very similar ideas, in regards to columns and grid movement.

I havent read the rules yet but the system sounds similar to some of the old school masters like Grant and Young. I know those systems worked well.

IS the pre-game system pretty much necessary or can you grab forces and go and the pre-game is just a useful add-on?

Sounds a bit like the old Jutland game.

I don't think it's a must do, more of a fun to do, as it can introduce games where reinforcements and unbalanced sides occur without players thinking up a scenario well in advance of the game day.

it is not required to run the campaign section before a game.

It takes 20 minutes and is a quick great way to setup a game that could prove to be unequal. The mechanics for the campaign are very well done, simple yet innovative.

Battles without a strategic context are always a tad silly to me. I like something like this, since now the idea of keeping the guard intact and fresh might now make some sense. Too many games out there have very unrealistic fight to the last battalion mindset.

Having a good reserve really shines with Blucher….most sets of wargame rules usually seem to encourage you to just throw everything in all at once:(

Thanks guys, this has intrigued me. I will get a copy.

Good decision 138!

I thought twice at paying £28.00 GBP for a set of rules, but these really are worth every penny.

"Battles without a strategic context are always a tad silly to me. I like something like this, since now the idea of keeping the guard intact and fresh might now make some sense"

It should be pointed out that with the Scharnhorst system you're only playing the prelude to *one* battle, and there's nothing after it to encourage you to preserve troops. The 100 Days add-on covers multi-battle campaigns.

Scharnhorst generates some excellent games, and is actually fun to play in its own right.

Only prelude to just a single battle? Why bother to call it a campaign tool at all? Surely that can't be right, I would have thought it needed to be able to generate more than one and that some of them might even be subsequent. It can't do this!?! Even DBA's campaign system did this in a single page. Is it because the VP's are trumped by the victor of the battle? Why bother to have VP's to defend/take at all if it all comes down to one single battle? Just take your whole army to the battle, right? What am I missing here?

Blucher is not a complete campaign system to generate multiple battles.

It is better thought of as a battle generator where your pre-battle decisions will influence the terrain, armies, deployment, and victory conditions.

If you win the battle, you win the campaign. If neither side wins the battle, the side holding more VPs at nightfall (both VPs on table and off-table) wins.

So if you have more VPs, you can win the campaign by drawing the battle.

But since some VPs may be on-table they can be captured during the battle which may change who has more VP at nightfall in the event of a draw.

Basically your campaign moves provides a story for the battle – why did the two armies clash where they did, and what are they trying to do to win the day.

Having played around with Scharnhorst yesterday with a friend, we ended up with two possible battles. There seemed to be no reason why we couldn't fight both – either simultaneously as one very large battle over a two-table front, or sequentially, allowing reinfocements from one battle to reach the other.
It's a simple, effective system for generating a 'back story' for a one-off tabletop battle, but could easily be adapted to deal with subsequent engagements.

Yes, sounds that makes much more sense to call it a battle generator, or prebattle manuever tool rather than a campaign tool. It does fill the ticket to make a single (or two) battles less arbitrary. I have seen far too many "line up all the lead you can and frontal assault" scenarios then I care to play if such a quick tool can be used to avoid them. I certainly will give it a look see.

Blucher seems a good choice for my brigade level niche in games. I play mostly battalion level games using Featherstone and use OSG boardgames for operational play but I can see this being a lot of fun.