Terra Ferra

The scenario was generated by my program. I have enhanced it to now randomize which side is Blue and which Red. The game was played twice. Firstly, the published battle.

As part of my never ending search for a perfect set of rules we played 'Furia Francese' a Fire & Fury variant. Why? Well I want to play more solo games and to do that I want a relatively simple rules-set or at least one I know the mechanisms well so I don't need to think too hard! Also I want to not have too much control, Fire & Fury activation offers that. The game went well I think. Andy took the Flamboyance side. It is after all 'his' side and I took Hoysee which is 'my' side. The scenario victory conditions were met about turn 10 out of 15, however we decided to continue to see what happened to the remaining troops. The final attacks are an example of how F&F works and is what some people dislike about the rules. My commander Berkoff was attached to the remains of a spent infantry unit. Two battalions attacked one, the Chasseurs, charged home while the other which was low on ammo and disordered rallied on the spot. Still the melee modifiers was 5 in Andy's favour. I rolled a 10 and Andy a 1! The next turn I failed to move! The unit was spent after all. Andy now charged home with the second unit while the chasseur's rallied on the spot! Again a +5 in his favour, again a 10 vs 1 die roll! The following turn I activated and withdrew. Some players would see this as far too random but the likelihood of it happening are actually quite low, and it adds I think to the story of the battle.

We still had a few hours of game time left so reset the battle but this time using our normal home-brewed version of Neil Thomas' 19th Century rules. The main problem for solo play is the lack of unpredictability and I am uncomfortable with the melee rules. The game finished in another Hoysee victory but demonstrated the issue I have with the rules. Flamboyance Infantry have Furia Francese as a characteristic, so can charge without an advantage in stands. Andy charged one of my battalions . As a defender this is the bets it will get with 4 dice verses his 8. The defender is it seems always 'down'. We discussed the issue but have not resolved it. We may end up ditching the rules.