I ran my BattLe of White Plains scenario at HAVOC on Saturday We had a full complement of 8 players, which was a big help.
Lots of looking at the summary sheet. Several months before the game, I had really distilled the rules into a much better summary sheet (there seem to be relatively few rules authors who have a clear idea what belongs on these!). Due to the flooding the weekend before, what I did NOT have time to do was to read through the rules again before the game, and list the characteristics of the various units on each players command list. With players varying from pretty experienced with he rules, to experienced with the Daniel Mersey "rampant" stable of rules, to no experience, that slowed down the start of the game and caused some confusion all around. I apologize for that, not what you want for a big convention game.
In the end, the players graciously took that in stride until we all caught on.
The attack of the British on Charleton Hill, soon to be supported by the Hessians.
The Patriots defensive line proved to be pretty tough to crack; I probably gave the rebellious scum too much artillery and rated them too generously. Never the less, Sir Steve's redoubtable battalion of British Grenadiers breaks through near the village of White Plains itself.
Patriots move to counter the assault upon Charleton Hill.
British Grenadiers break through and strike again! Ouch!
Overall, I was very happy with the look of the game, less so with the undesirable rules confusion. I think the (modified) R&P rules are workable. I liked the (still in evolution) Light Bobs rules that we played for Concord Bridge better, all things considered, but those rules might be challenging to use for a large game. Mark and I hope to play another game with R&P in the next few months to solidify our understanding of the mechanics. I plan to run the Battle of Brandywine Creek, 1777 at Historicon in July, but that will be with the Field of Battle 3rd edition rules.
That all seemed to go well and looks great Peter. I'm not sure what you can do when you have players with varying levels of familiarity with the rules. That would be enough to raise my stress levels.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty much the norm for any convention game; the faulty here was my being underprepared due to the unexpected time sink the week before the game.
DeleteGood looking game, very nice indeed, interesting about the rules, hope you iron out the wrinkles.
ReplyDeleteMostly needs playing them a few times and having the stat sheets done, as was the intent!
DeleteA great looking table Peter and A Tow Row Row for the British Grenadier(s)! Did they win the day for the crown?
ReplyDeleteOverall the Patriots prevailed, but the attackers made a good show of it. If I ran it again i would give the patriots less artillery and decrease some of their ratings as well; in the actual battle Washington was fortunate to extricate his command from the battle ore or less intact, with the Hessians in particular getting much of the credit for their successful; capture of Chaterton Hill.
DeleteThe game looked amazing, Peter. I'm sure that after the slow start things got into their stride quickly enough.
ReplyDeleteThings ran much more smoothly after the first half hour or so.
DeleteGood looking game. Convention crowd experience can be a challenge. I have never tried R&P as a historical battle as I stick mostly with the scenarios. I do run games of 6 players regularly and find the system still moves along well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input from your experience!
DeleteWith the number of variations on the mechanics by the author of TMWWBK I am surprised you had such little difficulty.. Great looking game, anyway.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are a lot of variations on the themes in the Rampart series. I was very happy with the look of the game for sure!
DeleteLovely looking game and if thats the worst thing to come from your flooding, thats pretty good?!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Oh, no argument, considerable collateral good came from it!
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