Ash‘s playthrough was sadly a bit underwhelming for me. Hopefully that is just down to it being the first scenario and things pick up a bit as you go on.
Why underwhelming?
It did not feel horrific. There was no sense of terror or any kind of atmosphere. I did not get a sense of Napoleonic warfare.
I was not immersed.
The two action activation with reloading being a single action felt very quick, basically load and shoot every activation.
Despite Richard Sharpe so famously going on about shooting three rounds a minute, 1 to 6 rounds a minute for smooth bore muskets was common in the Napoleonic era according to historical sources.
The rate of fire depended on quality of weapon, training, and time taken for aiming.
General Jomini wrote "This is important question of the influence of musket fire in battles is not new: it dates from the reign of Frederick the Great, and particularly from the battle of Mollwitz, which he gained – it was said – because his infantrymen, by the use of cylindrical rammers in loading their muskets, were able to fire 3 shots per minute more than their enemies." (Before 1730 all European armies used wooden ramrods, the Prussians were the first to adopt the iron ramrod.)
The ratio of musket fire was 1-6 shots per minute, depending on quality of weapon, training and time taken for aiming. Marshal Maurice de Saxe wrote: "Light infantry should be able to fire
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Then there is the fact it takes longer to reload a rifle than a musket. Is that reflected in the rulebook?
Originally I liked the idea of the split activations in the turn but the playthrough did not seem as interesting as I first thought.
The return fire or duck for cover rule was interesting but in play it did not look that great.
What happens if more than one person shoots at a model? Does it keep getting to move after each shot? Not enough minis to make stacking it crazy I suppose.
When I watch Sharp Practice playthroughs I get a sense of Napoleonic skirmishing, albeit with a Hollywood Sharpe lens filter to it, and I er immersed.
What I want from the Silver Bayonet is to feel the same but with added supernatural horror.
saves some broken figures from the lead pile.
