John de Terre Neuve | 30 May 2017 1:52 p.m. PST |
I have been having a go with this new ruleset by DCR Brown, the author of General Devi Brigade. A summary with some photos can be found here. link This is a great ruleset. I can recommend it without reservation. |
Paul B | 30 May 2017 2:05 p.m. PST |
A very helpful review John. You say you tried out the rules solo, how suitable do you feel they are for solo players? |
vlad48 | 30 May 2017 4:56 p.m. PST |
My solo testing of the rules is also yielding a very positive experience. The layout makes things fairly easy to find and the flavour is well handled. You could probably run a small game solo and have decent results, especially as there are activation rolls and choices to make which create uncertainty even in a solo game. Looking forward to getting to know GdA better. |
Bandolier | 30 May 2017 11:26 p.m. PST |
Nice report and game. Very useful. |
getback | 31 May 2017 1:14 a.m. PST |
We are really enjoying these rules. Two games so far and great enthusiasm from my group. Report here on General de Brigade forum. link |
Marc the plastics fan | 31 May 2017 3:37 a.m. PST |
Thanks for that – especially by your comment that the rules felt Napoleonic. Looking forward to playing these, although I can see me painting up ADC markers just for the fun of it |
Trajanus | 31 May 2017 4:13 a.m. PST |
getback, Nice idea for ACD Markers in game. |
John de Terre Neuve | 31 May 2017 6:55 a.m. PST |
Thanks this is a very nice ruleset. Thanks for the referral to the GdB forum, I did not know it existed. |
Madmac64 | 31 May 2017 4:45 p.m. PST |
Very nice AAR and commentary……..I still need to get my first game of GdA on the table……can't wait ! |
Festerfest | 31 May 2017 9:56 p.m. PST |
Not being a particularly creative type I'm wondering if the General de Brigade scenario books would be easily translated to support this rule set? |
John de Terre Neuve | 01 Jun 2017 3:34 a.m. PST |
I have never played GdB, but I think I do have some of the scenario books. I will have a look and report back. John |
Sgt Steiner | 01 Jun 2017 4:42 a.m. PST |
Hi The GDB scns should translate fine as only a matter of identifying non standard sized units ie small or large. No counting figs in GDA so a 32 fig Prussian unit and a 36 fig French unit and suchlike would fall within the Standard size of GDAunits. Ground scale is not really defined but unit footprints are essentially the same as are Moves/Ranges etc so dont forsee any difficulty. |
John de Terre Neuve | 01 Jun 2017 4:47 a.m. PST |
I agree, I just had a look at Wellington's victories and I would think that all the scenarios would be easily ported to GdA. The terrain maps and initial setups would work without difficult. The OB's are all good and easily translated to GdA small, standard and large units. Rating is directly transferable. You may have to re-organize some of the brigade structures but easily done. Victory conditions would work. The only thing that might take some thinking is special rules for each scenario. Thanks for asking the question, I had forgotten that I had a GdB scenario book, now I have easy access to all kinds of new scenarios for the Peninsular War. John |
Trajanus | 01 Jun 2017 5:11 a.m. PST |
You may need to look at skirmish basing too. Depending on how you have made up your GdB units. Nothing disastrous but things like players who have completely separate Skirmish companies they swap in and out of play. Or British players who have no Light Companies in their Battalions (those who have already kept them separate, prior to the new rules). This needs consideration when it comes to the Brigade Screens and the limitations there of, regarding the number of bases that can be used. In any case you will have to come to some agreement on what you are going to fix as your Small, Standard, or Large designations as Stg Steiner has alluded to. As he said the main thing to keep in mind is the difference of GdB paying attention to figures and GdA to stands. It no longer matters how many figures you have in a Battalion, only the number of stands you have them mounted on is important for the new game. Doesn't mean re basing but you might need to give a little thought to how your existing units are re designated in terms of their stand count, so both sides have a historical balance. I'm not sure what bearing the GdB system of six or eight figure bases has on the matter, as I never based mine that way to begin with. The Key thing now is that both sides are agreed on what constitutes Small, Standard, or Large before they start. After that I can't see any problem. |
John de Terre Neuve | 01 Jun 2017 6:24 a.m. PST |
I believe that GdB has a 1:20 ratio. So it is pretty easy to multiple the number of figures in the scenario book by 20 to get their size. In GdA Small is <475, Standard is 475-750, Large >800. This may give some players pause as a 36 figure unit would be Standard and a 40 figure unit would be Large. I am good with it though. Basing is inconsequential in GdA. The tricky bit will be the brigade structure, as in GdA the minimum number of units in a brigade is 2, many of the scenarios in the book have just 1 artillery or cavalry unit per side. I believe there are also 5 grades of troops in GdB: Elite, Veteran, Line, 2nd Line, and Conscripts. There are only 4 in GdA: Elite, Veteran, Line, and Recruits. One would have to decide where to place 2nd line in GdA. John |
Skatey | 01 Jun 2017 6:45 a.m. PST |
I would rate GdB's 'Conscripts' as GdA's 'Recruit' and '2nd line' as GdA's optinal 'Reservists' |
Old Contemptibles | 01 Jun 2017 7:41 a.m. PST |
So is each unit a brigade or a battalions? |
John de Terre Neuve | 01 Jun 2017 8:11 a.m. PST |
I really need to read optional rules chapters. thanks. Each unit is either a battalion, regiment/squadron, or battery. A brigade is made up of 2-8 units. |
Trajanus | 01 Jun 2017 4:19 p.m. PST |
I think it's important not to get too hung up on the Small, Standard, Large unit thing regardless of what figure ratio you choose to attach to it, if any. Particularly if you are going to play historical scenarios, as numbers varied so much. At Salamanca, for example the British ranged from one Battalion at 251 men to another at 1,079! At 1:20 I can see people willing to do 12 figure units but 54's I doubt it. So amalgamation and rounding is going to come in to play within your Brigades in any event. |
Fried Flintstone | 02 Jun 2017 2:35 a.m. PST |
I would definitely recommend painting up miniatured to represent ADCs – using a token doesn't look nearly as good. We use a red edge to the base so that they stand out clearly on the tabletop. |
Fried Flintstone | 02 Jun 2017 2:39 a.m. PST |
Another trick we use with big games is to print out the strength of the unit on a small piece of paper and attach it to the bottom of the command stand. then use a felt tip pen to knock off casualties received. You can colour code the squares so that it is immediately obvious when you trigger the stages where effectiveness becomes reduced. I will try to find a picture to show what they look like. |
Fried Flintstone | 02 Jun 2017 2:49 a.m. PST |
Here's a pretty clear picture from our first BIG GdA play test:
|
Trajanus | 02 Jun 2017 3:13 a.m. PST |
Nice idea. We use small numbered counters but this would ensure the total stays with the right unit. |
madcam2us | 02 Jun 2017 8:09 a.m. PST |
is there a NA distributor that will also carry the token bundle? Im sure OMM will one day have the rules in stock but not sure if the tokens will make their way across the pond… Madcam. |
Khusrau | 02 Jun 2017 9:00 a.m. PST |
For unit size, I would work out an average with your gaming group, 20% less is small, 20% more is large, so you get a 30/40/30 split. Some people might prefer smaller bands for small and large, (eg 25% less, 25% more) but it is actually important in period. |
monger | 08 Jun 2017 10:05 a.m. PST |
I just finished a three part video series covering a couple turns of Gd'A over on my Dash of Elan channel. Worth a look to get an idea of how the game plays. YouTube link |
Fried Flintstone | 09 Jun 2017 3:29 a.m. PST |
|
Marc at work | 09 Jun 2017 6:22 a.m. PST |
Agreed – +1 Mong What is interesting is how, from the comments, you missed a little "tweak" in the rules. That is why videos like this are so helpful as I would miss LOADS! Thanks for taking the time to do this Marc |