I love these rules. They offer a representation of small numbers of troops seeking to overcome the enemy through fire, position, and morale, with an occasional melee from time to time. Plus there is the possibility of terrain to serve as part of the field in play that effects the routes taken, positions held, and how rapidly movement may or may not be.
The previous game (Assault at Fletcher Farm) involved an American force of units in a defensive spot being 1 Vet, 1 Vet Rifle, 1 Average, and 2 Poor Miltia vs a British force of 1 Vet Gren, 1 Vet Light, 1 Ave German Rifle, and 4 Ave Regular units. The British could opt to cross at a ford or a bridge, or try stream crossing in multiple places (where I chose for the scenario switching the process from face cards to color), and there were lots of sight blocking hills and trees, while the colonials were behind farm fences with fields of mud making travel across such slow, while having interior lines and the farm buildings as sight blocking opportunities too. My Continentals did not fair well as the British counter marched some forces to the opposite end of the enemy line, and drove them from the farm complex. The game was longer than usual as we were getting re-adjusted to the some of the rules, and the time taken to get into assault positions was significant.
This second game started from scratch with the part covering army creation and terrain set up. It showed how thru aggressive and co-ordinated attacks, success can be achieved, if you can get the troops to do as described, and while the enemy doesn't act as aggressively. The commander of a force can use AWI era action to seek a favorable outcome, yet is faced with not having full control over his force's ability to act thru the randomness associated with cards and dice, which for some might not be what they want, except with the kind of warfare seen at a small level during the American Rev, outcomes were often uncertain even with solid tactics used. It has the game feeling tense while the player can make plenty of choices as well. It ended in under two hours, and having played recently, and a good number of times previous to covid-19, after the start up, we only had to check the rules a half dozen times for detail items, during a good and quick game.
