Seconds

 A second outing for Big Battles, Small Armies saw a home-brew scenario pulled together to try the rules with a mixture of unit types. 

Day 1 Dawn

The commander of Army Red has been ordered to take the hilltop village, currently held by an Infantry Battalion of Army Black. Red has 3 Infantry units, 2 cavalry and 1 Artillery. Black has 3 Infantry and 1 cavalry.

Red pounds away at the village with artillery
Both sides advance Cavalry and Infantry

Day 1 Midday - Red's artillery falls quiet having made no impression
Red's infantry and cavalry are both engaging the enemy

Army Black's commander is wounded!

The afternoon wears on with little give on either side

Night time Day 1 - Army Black rallies 

Day 2 Dawn - Red attacks with new vigour

Red's artillery re-enters the battle
Black's cavalry is forced back

The ferocity of Red's attack has been costly

Day 2 Afternoon - Red's attack falters

End of Day 2 - Both sides reach 0 Army Morale

With both sides simultaneously reaching zero Army Morale (akin to both reaching Exhaustion Point in PW) the battle was over. Army Black had held the village and were therefore the victors.  

New!

 

Having purchased a PDF copy of the Third Portable Wargame Compendium, and duly printing and binding it (there is still a reason for going to work, other than paying the bills), I was keen to start using my purchase. I thus gave Mark Cordone's Big Battles, Small Armies a run through. Put simply, this is an expanded 3x3PW on a bigger board with a morale system.

The first thing to tackle was the recording of Day and Night turns, as Big Battles may take longer than a standard wargame day. Enter the Amazing, Non-Mechanical Turnometer (Patent Pending, prototype Summer Variant model shown in the illustration). I have assumed two Night turns for Summer though this may not be the author's intent.

Turnometer

Game

In the time honoured tradition for testing a new system, I chose to use Donald Featherstone's Basic Battle 1, just Infantry on each side. Both sides had 4 Infantry units and a General; I therefore gave them each 5 Army Morale Points (though the General may not count as a unit so this may have been incorrect??)

Day 1 Turn 2 - The red and blue dice show the Army Morale

The two armies shoot at each other over the random hedge
The hedge offered no cover for musket fire, though would for melee

Day 1 Turn 7 - the sun is setting and Red has suffered hits, 
one unit destroyed and one unit damaged

During the night Red's damaged unit managed to rally 1SP

Day 2 Turn 1 - Red's firing pushes Black units back

Both sides take hits

Afternoon of Day 2 - Red's morale is failing

Red's Army Morale reaches 0 - defeat and retreat

I played a completely static game to get a feel for the rules which worked ok, though I have a few queries, for example what happens at night? Should the forces remain where they are (I did this) or should they fall back a set distance eg one grid? As Red's damaged unit regained an SP over night, I restored an Army Morale point, was this correct? It felt right so I did it. I count firing as an action, like moving, so when a side rolls a 1 for example, only 1 unit can move OR fire; I'm not sure if that's what is intended in the rules? Units in melee I would allow to fight without using actions??

Apart from my slight confusion with some of the rules, this was an enjoyable first go at BB,SA and it's a system I will explore some more.