Great game last night, really deserves a full write-up on the BBBBlog but I was so busy running the game I didn't take any photos, so you can have the batrep right here.
I found myself introducing three new players to the "Bloody Big BATTLES!" rules. The battle I always recommend as a "training scenario" is Montebello (1859), from the 2nd Italian War of Independence, when Napoleon III backs the Kingdom of Sardinia against the Austrians. I love this for several reasons.
The table is relatively small (4'x4') and the terrain is pretty simple and quick and easy to set up: a couple of streams, a road, a railway, a couple of villages on a hill, a couple of other buildings.
There aren't many troops involved (5 or 6 French units vs 5-10 Austrian) and only a couple are on-table initially, the rest arriving gradually. That's great for explaining rules and not overwhelming players.
The armies are very different in character: high-quality aggressive French veterans, skilled at skirmishing, with good active commanders; a ponderous Austrian army including some shambling mobs of poorly motivated Slavs, led by overly cautious generals. This contrast makes for an interesting match-up and brings out some key features of the rules.
What really makes the scenario is a special rule to reflect the strategic situation. An Austrian corps is conducting a reconnaissance in force to try to find the main French army. It runs into a force half its size, a French division. The French respond by attacking aggressively, puffing themselves up to look much bigger than they are. The Austrians are so taken aback that rather than commit their full force and crush the impudent French, they decide they've found the whole French army and withdraw. The game rule for this is that the Austrians can bring on a reinforcement unit each turn, but only if the French have not attempted any charges in their previous turn.
My new friends Dave P and Josh opted to take on the challenge of being the Austrians, while Stephen commanded the French. It started off badly for the French as their only unit in charge range (their Sardinian cavalry) failed to move on Turn 1, enabling the Austrians to bring on some extra corps artillery. The Austrians occupied Montebello itself and advanced up the road, obliging the Sardinians to evade.
That was as good as it got for the Habsburg cause. The French managed to charge every turn after that. Some of these charges were potentially costly gambles, but the Austrian dice were consistently dire: their fire was ineffective and in the ensuing combats they didn't manage to roll more than 3 on a d6 until the last one or two, by when it was too late. Consequently, not only did they have to fight without any further reinforcements, but in losing the assaults they also lost troops and ground.
The French were relentless. They took both the Austrian-held objectives and pressed on beyond them. On the final turn, they wiped out every last Austrian unit, so the Austrians had nothing left to play with on their Turn 7.
I've played this quite a few times. I'm not sure I've ever seen a side end up holding all four objectives; I'm sure I've never seen one side entirely annihilated. I should note that everyone was using the same set of dice, it was just skewed luck.
Given how one-sided it was, I can only applaud Dave and Josh's good spirits as they laughed at their misfortune, while Stephen apologised for his flip side of beginner's luck. I'm happy to say all the guys said they enjoyed it, they liked the rules, and they are already talking about buying new armies …
