Rising of the Clans New Year's Playtest

To get the New Year off to a great start, two of my former students are coming by to help playtest my rules for the Jacobite Rebellion entitled, The Rising of the Clans. I am quite excited to have live opponents engage one another using my rules. In preparation for the game, I rolled twice for each brigade to determine when and where they would enter the battle. I played out the first two turns so the guys could jump right into the action when they arrive. As turn three begins, the Government forces have a brigade of Scots in government service and their cavalry brigade of three regiments on the table. Prince Charles has the Atholl brigade, a brigade of lowlanders and Stapleton's French regulars on the table. Several more brigades will be entering on turn three. All of the units will be on the table by turn 6. For those new to this project, the rules take aspects of components of my favorite game systems. It is card driven ala Sharp Practice, to the order of the game is random. Also taken from Sharp Practice is the concept of "action" that units can take, but the number of actions allowed is determined by a command roll, much like in Hail Caesar and Black Powder. Each unit is given a rating of either veteran, line or conscript. As the unit takes casualties, its effectiveness will diminish. This was taken from Fire and Fury. I have tried to keep thins very simple, so there are no saving rolls. However, one action that units are allowed is to "rally," bringing back "stragglers" to the unit to raise its effectiveness. Here are some of the charts we will be using tomorrow.

The objective of the game is a village that is a supply depot for Prince Charles. The Bonnie Prince is determined to protect it and has committed his entire army to do so. General Hawley sees an opportunity to crush the rebellion in one decisive action, so he, too, has mobilized all the units at his disposal for the battle. Here's the village and an overview of the table.

These are the Prince's forces at the beginning of the game.

These are the Government forces at the start.

I am going to do my best to take a lot of pictures and videos so that I can show the rules in action. I am sure there will be more changes to be made, but I look forward to see how things work out with the progress I have made so far. Here is a link to the YouTube video for the first two turns. https://youtu.be/yEIJh8wJC9s