Post by Aksarben on Mar 18, 2015 16:28:49 GMT
Last Saturday March 14, 2015 we did a play test of the Battle of Ligny. Ligny will be part of a game I will be GM'ing at this year's Little Wars Convention in April. Little Wars is an excellent regional con held near Chicago, Illinois every year.
The game is called "The Eagle's last Victory" and will be the combined battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras on one table. Our game last Saturday was a play test of the Ligny part of the battle. Rules are Orders to Eagles. There were only three players but we got in enough turns to work out a few minor problems concerning streams and charges. The fights in the villages went as planned. Set up of the figures took about 30 minutes for two people. Terrain took another 30 minutes for one person. Set up should go faster at the con with experience. There are 400+ stands on the table at the beginning of the game. Over at Quatre Bras there will be another 156 stands. 150 or so stands are off table which represent the Prussian 4th Corps and French 1st and 6th Corps. d'Erlon's French 1st Corps will be marching back and forth and may show up at some point. I haven't determined completely how to let the players use the off table reinforcements. I am leaning towards allowing them to use the reinforcements if things go badly for one side or the other.
Terrain is felt cloth over a sculpted expanded polystyrene sheet. I still have to finish the buildings for Fleurus and Somebref and complete some of terrain features like trees for the forests and work on the swamp.
(Stands represent a battalion of infantry, a battery of artillery and two squadrons of cavalry.)
The game itself, though short, was interesting. The French attacked both St. Armand and Ligny at the same time. First with the French artillery, then assaults on the towns themselves with infantry. The Prussian commander withdrew from St Armand without a fight but stayed in Ligny to fight it out. The results for the Prussian division defending the town went badly with a routed Prussian division. This occurred as we ended play. The Prussian commander moved his cavalry brigades over to the the Prussian Right Flank setting up a cavalry attack on the French Left. The French Left Wing commander seeing the possibility of the attack was quickly moving his French Heavy Cavalry divisions over to counter the Prussian Light Cavalry on his left. We ended play before the Prussian and French players could begin the impending cavalry fight on the left.
Terry
Here is a link to all of the pictures from the play test with descriptions.
www.metroeastgaming.org/Ligny%20Play%20Test%20Game%201/index.html
This is the historical set up at the beginning of the game.
The game is called "The Eagle's last Victory" and will be the combined battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras on one table. Our game last Saturday was a play test of the Ligny part of the battle. Rules are Orders to Eagles. There were only three players but we got in enough turns to work out a few minor problems concerning streams and charges. The fights in the villages went as planned. Set up of the figures took about 30 minutes for two people. Terrain took another 30 minutes for one person. Set up should go faster at the con with experience. There are 400+ stands on the table at the beginning of the game. Over at Quatre Bras there will be another 156 stands. 150 or so stands are off table which represent the Prussian 4th Corps and French 1st and 6th Corps. d'Erlon's French 1st Corps will be marching back and forth and may show up at some point. I haven't determined completely how to let the players use the off table reinforcements. I am leaning towards allowing them to use the reinforcements if things go badly for one side or the other.
Terrain is felt cloth over a sculpted expanded polystyrene sheet. I still have to finish the buildings for Fleurus and Somebref and complete some of terrain features like trees for the forests and work on the swamp.
(Stands represent a battalion of infantry, a battery of artillery and two squadrons of cavalry.)
The game itself, though short, was interesting. The French attacked both St. Armand and Ligny at the same time. First with the French artillery, then assaults on the towns themselves with infantry. The Prussian commander withdrew from St Armand without a fight but stayed in Ligny to fight it out. The results for the Prussian division defending the town went badly with a routed Prussian division. This occurred as we ended play. The Prussian commander moved his cavalry brigades over to the the Prussian Right Flank setting up a cavalry attack on the French Left. The French Left Wing commander seeing the possibility of the attack was quickly moving his French Heavy Cavalry divisions over to counter the Prussian Light Cavalry on his left. We ended play before the Prussian and French players could begin the impending cavalry fight on the left.
Terry
Here is a link to all of the pictures from the play test with descriptions.
www.metroeastgaming.org/Ligny%20Play%20Test%20Game%201/index.html
This is the historical set up at the beginning of the game.