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Saturday, 11 January 2020

Take the Village - A Portable Napoleonic Wargame

Following is a report of my first attempt at playing the Portable Napoleonic Wargame by Bob Cordery using the Risk playing pieces featured in the last blog post.  The objective of the game was to take, and be holding, a hilltop village overlooking an important road, at the end of the game (end of Turn 15). Exhaustion Point (EP) is set at 30% casualties. 

Objective

Opening positions

The opposing armies close in on the objective

Yellow's Light Infantry occupy the wooded area East of the Village

Schoolboy Error! Cavalry in column charge an Infantry Square

Intense fighting on the hilltop


One point short of EP, Lilac send an Infantry unit rushing into the village, exposing their flank to enemy fire. With only a few turns left, the hope was to hold position until the end of the game. Yellow realise that they may not be able to achieve success by fire power alone in a built up area; led by their Commander, an Infantry battalion charge in with fixed bayonets.  I must confess that at this point I had a breakdown in confidence regarding my understanding of the rules; I couldn't decide how to play a melee involving more than one unit attacking a single defending unit (Bob has kindly sorted this out for me since!). This relapse led to Lilac holding on until the end of the game, when really the defending unit could have been attacked by a second Line Infantry Battalion.  

Final position - Lilac's Infantry hold on with 1SP remaining!
The next post will report another battle with the PNW rules.  

18 comments:

  1. Neat little action! What was Bob’s ruling on your question?

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    1. Thanks Jonathan.
      In PNW, the two opposing units in a melee roll a d6 each simultaneously and then bonus factors are brought in and damage done accordingly. If a second unit is attacking as well, the second attacker and the defender then roll in the same way, etc.
      I think I'm so used to IGO UGO that I couldn't see how it worked! Now I've climbed the learning curve it's on to the next action...or bump in the road.

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    2. I had the same problem, until I realised that I was conforming to my usual habit of making ALL the moves first, then the shooting, then the close combats. Once I changed my MO it became clearer.

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    3. Hi Archduke. You're right, a change of habit was required!

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  2. A very interesting battle report. I like the way you have used the RISK figures to form your two armies ... especially as I found my own earlier today!

    All the best,

    Bob

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    1. Cheers Bob. I like the figures so much I'm thinking of having a mini-campaign based around them!

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  3. My Risk pieces were little wooden blocks........

    Good start to this though!

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    1. Thanks Ross. I remember the wooden blocks, though my first set had plastic shapes.

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  4. Great game Jack, I'm rather taken with the risk pieces and any set up with an 'army lilac' wins in my book!.

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    1. Cheers Mr Sprinks - thought it would be a change from Red & Blue!

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  5. Excellent game. These micro-games could form part of a larger campaign action. The figures, rules and layout lend themselves to it I think. A series of hard fought actions - each one affecting the next, with an overall morale level affected by each lost/won action. Pretty powerful potential here. Thanks for doing these sir.

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    1. Thanks Duc. Yes I think a Mini-Campaign is on the cards, and could involve some cards..

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  6. Love this village...and I'm not the only one obviously, many are ready to fight to take it!

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    1. Thanks Phil. The village is high class real estate, a bit like Avenue Des Champs Elysees with a Hotel on it!

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  7. A close run thing (scenario) and looks to have played well, even with a quickly sorted hiccup.

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    1. Cheers Joe - the hiccup twisted the outcome but it was still fun!

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  8. What a great idea to use Risk miniatures for the Portable Wargame! Cheers, Karl

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    1. Thanks Karl. I have to say I borrowed the idea from others!

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