"1st Campaign battle done" Topic

So the result is in. On turn two of the 1757 Bohemian campaign the first clash has occurred and been resolved. It wasn't a biggy with just 42 units on the table but, it was a battle not a skirmish and it might have consequences.

more pics and info here:
link

I hope you like it, cos we did.

I really enjoyed viewing the photos of the superb figures and terrain accompanied by your concise narrative. Very well done…it always a pleasure to view your games.

A question though…I am not familiar with Picquet and was wondering what the coloured donuts were for. I am sure they are necessary to the game but IMHO they detract from what is otherwise an outstanding portrayal of a table top battle.

Many thanks for posting the link to your photos and I look forward to your next posting.

The 'donuts' are 'pony beads'. They are not necessary for the game. In Piquet you get troops of various kinds (such as regulars, elites, militia, natives) with various factors for combat and morale. This is not hard to remember and these basic factors can form part of a quick reference sheet, however, there is a random roll (that is modified by nationality to give better armies better troops) that makes unit quality 'battle weary', 'ready', 'eager' or 'determined'. To remember these requires unit markers or a roster sheet. The players here (including me) hate roster sheets so we have settled on beads.

The colours in ascending order of quality are red, green, blue, purple.

The white beads are also there instead of roster sheets. They denote 'first volley' availability. In the pick above all the infantry pictured have fired their initial volley (no white beads above quality beads).

Its a very quick and easy system for keeping track without roster sheets. We reckon it saves about half an hour's paperwork a session, not to mention the time it takes to make up the roster in the first place. As stated in th OP this was a smallish battle for us, it only had 42 units, whereas big battles have up to 100.