2nd Game of Sharp Practice II

As with any set of wargaming rules, there is a learning curve.  After my first game I realized I had done a couple of things wrong, so I had another go at it.  This time I made deployment points and used them.  The French had some extra points to supplement their force with, so they chose a scout which gave them a second deployment point to use.

British deployment point

French deployment point

The other thing I did was use the point system to make sure that each force was equal.  There were a total of 104 points on each side.  I added an artillery piece to the British side to give me some experience with how to handle guns.

Artillery tearing up a French formation.

In the picture above, I had hoped to charge the unsupported gun with the French formation on the hill, but the number of shock points they had accumulated meant that they needed to roll an 8 or higher to close.  I didn't have any command chips handy, so I chose not to risk it.  I fired a volley instead and took out a gunner and inflicted three shock points.

Another thing I am learning is that skirmishers and light infantry are quite vulnerable.  Initially, I was pleased that they could pop away and be a nuisance, but then the formation they were shooting at got to return fire and literally blew them apart.  I gave them the cover bonus for being skirmishers, but even so, they don't hold up well.  A light company was forced to retire.  I rolled a die and the British morale was lowered one point.  A French skirmish group had the same trouble against three groups of British infantry.

A group of the 95th
Rifles suffers 3 losses and several shock points as a result of a volley from a French formation of two groups.

The French dragoons cantered down the road into range of a group of 95th Rifles.  The Rifles got to take a shot and killed on trooper and inflicted some shock.  This was enough to cause the French horsemen to retire and await an opportunity to make an impact. On their left, a large formation of German infantry advanced to attack the village and its Spanish garrison.

Germans making their way toward to the village

On the British left, the artillery forced back a formation of two French groups while three groups of the 28th Foot pushed into a wood and drove back a group of skirmishers.

French infantry retires behind a hill to escape another blast of canister from the British gun.

The 28th Foot clears the wood of a pesky group of French skirmishers.

As play ended for the day the Anglo/Spanish force still had a firm hold of the town, but its light infantry contingent had been whittled down considerably.  Additionally, two formations of French and German infantry were drawing closer to contact.

I did a better job this game of remembering to roll to see if leaders were hit when casualties were inflicted on groups they were attached to.  I also had a better feel for how to use the command chips, though it will take some time to become proficient with them.

Here's a link to a Youtube video I put together:
Youtube link

1st Game of Sharp Practice II

Most of my hobby time has been devoted to doing commission work, but I have that finished now, so I had a chance to finally try my hand at Sharp Practice II.  I have made movement stands for my figures that include tags that give all the information for the individual group.  When I purchased the rules I also purchased the tokens, so I used those today.  It's a bit different than using cards, but I liked it..

In this encounter, I had seven leaders for each side as well as three command cards.  I tried to keep things simple so I could just get through as many turns as possible.  The French had the objective of taking a town from a combined force of British and Spanish.

This is the village.  It was also the deployment point for the British/Spanish forces.

The deployment point for the French was at the opposite end of the table.  As luck would have it, the British tokens came up much more frequently than the French.  But by using command tokens, the French were able to keep pace with the enemy.

The first conflict came between a British light company that occupied a small farm on a hill and an opposing German company of skirmishers.  Over the course of three turns the Germans came out a little bit ahead.

The Brits have lost a figure and received three shock points; the Germans have suffered only one shock point.

Along the road is where most of the action took place.  A voltiguer company boldly advanced and inflicted a casualty and some shock on three groups of Spanish in a line.  But on the next turn, the Spanish token was pulled first and the controlled first volley literally blew the French skirmishers away.  I need to look at the rules more closely to see if I missed some modifiers for shooting at skirmishers in the open.  My initial examination didn't find anything.

The next turn I used two command tokens to charge a troop of dragoons at the now unloaded Spanish companies.  The dragoons won the melee and drove back the Spaniards 9 inches.  But later in the turn, Captain Sharp's company of rifles was able to pour in a volley and take out another figure from the dragoons and add some more shock.

The victorious dragoons take additional casualties from Sharp's company of rifles.

 On the last turn of the game, two companies of the 28th Regiment of Foot fired a volley at long range against the oncoming 63rd Ligne.  22 dice ended up being rolled and 17 hits were inflicted.  When the smoke cleared, six of the French were out of the fight and three points of shock were added to the two French groups.

The 63rd receives a hot greeting from the British 28th Foot.

That's were I ended the game for the day.  The French clearly took a beating in these early turns, but the Spaniards were certainly shaken up by the French cavalry.  I will continue the battle tomorrow to see if the French can use their superior numbers to turn things around.  Stay tuned.