Sunday 8 December 2013

Crazy Battle 7.12.13

Today I managed to make it down to the club for a wee game. I txt'd JP and young David late Thursday and between us we arranged an 1813-15 game. Long day at work yesterday so no scenario sorted out, I was just to knackered. So we set up an encounter battle in 1815 (Obviously not  Historical). 
  
What was good to see was that the full Prussian army side was my own and the French side was supplied by my nephew young David.
  
We had no idea how many would turn up and in the end there were 8! So we split the troops as best we could but I'll not tell you it was an enjoyable game. I've not played with the guys for a good while other than about a month ago but there was a lot of grey areas hit in the rules and a lot of arguing. I could see both sides in most but not a pleasant experience. a problem i had felt elwith our wee club in the past was there was never anything planned before and nobody seems to know who is coming for a game. This was the case on Saturday as I thought there was possibly 4 of us playing.
   
Anyway the objectives were 2 towns and there were apparently points for capturing each. The little battles we had were fun but because of the size of the table we ended up splitting the battles into 2 halves. I'm happy to say my newly painted landwehr cav held their own not routing from the table in their 1st battle.  
 
Jamie and I combined our forces to take the town above and thankfully took it well.
 
Billy and JP were somehow without cavalry support? A bit of a mess of a game.  
 
My Prussian kurassiers Controlled by Jon B on the other side of the table. I believe they did well against Stuart.
 
Our family minifigs getting a run out. Still have a soft spot for them amongst all the AB and OG.
   
Jamie took control of our light brigade. My uhlans and hussars used very well by J. The newly finished uhlan command base leading them well!
   
A wee snippet of young David's lights and Swiss.
   
All in all I have to say this was the least enjoyable game of naps I have ever played. 4 of the guys have played regularly together and it would appear that they hit the same grey areas and have the same arguments. 1 being the understanding of when ordering assaults/engage what exactly can you A/E. The GdB forum is there and to me the rules play well.

I'm not argumentative in regards to gaming, I will just blow. The guys I all respect as they put the time in where I can't but I don't think these points are huge. I don't know any other rules and to be honest I don't have the time to put in on learning others. All I can say is its the 1st game I have came away from and not had inspiration to paint! There is also a new chap who has 40 years of experience in naps and picks everything apart on how everything should be in the Napoleonic period. This can be interesting but also very time consuming.
 
Anyway its only toy soldiers and there are worse stuff happening in the world.  

32 comments:

Sgt Steiner said...

Well the figures and terrain looked awesome
I have the GdB rules but never tried

LittleArmies said...

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good time. I haven't actually played a game in years but I've never really understood why anybody would get upset about rules interpretations - it's only a game, after all.

Still your figures looked great (and I loved the Swiss and Legere in the final picture).

Jonathan Freitag said...

Inspirationally visual treat without inspiring game play. Opportunity lost. Your Prussians are outstanding.

In large group games, I find it important to have ONE player (or non-player) acting as umpire. That way, issues can be resolved quickly and the game can move on.

As this is a hobby and should be an enjoyable experience, I find little patience for a day wasted arguing at the gaming table.

After what you have been contending with, I understand your disappointment in what should have been a relaxing and enjoyable diversion.

Gonsalvo said...

Sorry to hear you had "one of those games". It seems like there was no shortage of guys who wanted to play, so it started out well.

If there is a standing area of disagreement over the rules, that should either be settled once and for all between them (or on the forum), and if necessary written into the back page of the rules book so as to avoid future bickering. Failing that, a GM is needed whose decisions shall be final... even if made with the dice!

The Grognard (guilty as charged, sir!) needs some talking to to avoid unduly slowing the game up. The best place for those kinds of discussions is the pub *after* the game!

Had one (otherwise perfectly nice) player in a convention game about 8 years ago who just wanted to argue about the modifier of Up 1 for Cavalry in column not being historical. After trying once to explain "Think of it like the cavalry charging in waves by squadron", then "you know, I'm not the rules author, so let's get on with the game", I finally had to put my foot down and insist that I would greatly enjoy discussing the matter over a glass of wine or two at the bar, but for now the old Prussian genetral order applied - "Kwitcherbitchin!"

When all else fails, you can always decide to limit your games to the people you enjoy playing with. Life is too short, and all that...

fireymonkeyboy said...

Always a bit of a bummer when fun turns to fighting. Nice that the Landwhere did well though.

FMB

Paulalba said...

Thanks Sgt Steiner, the GdB rules are very good. You do at times find areas you need to discuss but pretty much everything had been covered on the forum and if they take note it can be asked later. The arguements unfortunately ones the guys had, had together before.

Duke Winser said...

I can relate to your experience. These days I devote my gaming activities to working with the kids at my school. I am the game master and make the final decisions. The kids don't know enough to argue with me. It's when I go to a convention and try to put on a game that I encounter what you did. It's exhausting and absolutely no fun.
On a positive note, I really enjoyed your post. Your figures are glorious and challenge me to raise the bar on my own painting.
Thank you for your candidness.
Is all well with your family in the Philippines? I sure hope so.

Scotsgrey said...

Paul really disappointed to hear this game had some serious playing issues! Normally our french v prussian battles work well. sorry I missed seeing your superb figures on the table.

James MacCraggs said...

As one of the players (Jamie) I know I'm slightly guilty of turning up at the club to play games when I have no knowledge of the particular rules.

I'll happily play anything and at the club it's not too much of an issue when the games are straight forward but I think in this case it was a little more complicated.

I had to question how on one hand you can be told 'your troops must do this' when a turn or two later someone is doing something that seems at odds with that rule - which then devolved into an issue that the 'regulars' end up debating. And complaining that every time they play the same rule changes. Seemed to me there is some sort of internal logic to the rules missing - but then, I've never actually read them!

Sorry you didn't enjoy the game Paul. I wasn't amused with the mechanics but I thought the minis were stunning and our tactics worked out pretty well.

Vasiliy Levashov said...

Congratulations, Paul! Excellent game!

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Lovely looking game Paul and great to see your figures getting an outing!

If after a brief look at the rules and one can't find the correct rule then the old wargamer trick of rolling a dice to decide who's opinion takes precedence is always the best way to move things along if you don't have a game master and discuss it after the game when passions are cooled a bit.

GdB rules are very confusing for the beginner and a referee comes in handy with them, but they do give a nice simulation of the periods they cover. I personally enjoy LaSalle for my Naps and recommend them if you get the time to try them out.

Christopher

Paulalba said...

Hi Littlearmies,
I don't understand it either. Life is far to short! Young David did a fine job on his legere and swiss. Thanks for commenting

Paulalba said...

Hi Jonathan, that sounds like the best idea having an umpire. Glad you like the figures!

Paulalba said...

Hi Peter, you make a lot of sense. I like the idea of the notes at tge back for future solving of the same old problems. Also its good to have a wee chat in the game. Its hard if the discussions slow tge play right down. I'm sure tge next game will run smoothly!

Paulalba said...

Yeah it certainly was FMB, I'm proud of those landwehr! They will go down in history as mtly 1st painted unit not to run away on their 1st outing!

Paulalba said...

Hi Duke, thanks im glad you like the troops, very kind comments! Family are holding in there. Long road ahead, I'll do a full update soon.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Des, it was a bit of a disaster. Not a fun experience. I think it all came together Otto big and to fast. Your enthusiasm was mist D man!!!

Paulalba said...

Hi Jamie,
You done a fine job with the troops you had and you always pick up rules like lightning. I'm a wee bit slow with rules even if I read them over and over again for years. I still need a guiding hand however I get there in the end.

Thanks to everyone for your comments!!! I'm sure we will be up to scratch next time!?!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Vasiliy, great to hear from you!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Christopher,
All very wise ideas. I'll pass on everyones ideas. Unfortunately I'll probably not get another game for maybe 2-3 months.

Paulalba said...

You done grand J, i think it got very big, very quickly. I had considered it being a limited sized game. It became pretty big in the end!

John(VonBlucher) said...

Paul,
Good looking, unfortunatly these kind of games do happen, you would have thought that they would have looked into those issues prior to this game. Next time this happens write them down yourself and check the forum, and for the unbelievers,print out the answer. I have post it notes in my rule book about certian rule issues.

Peter, it sounds like the guy you were ealking about couldn't figure out the difference between column of route and column of squadrons!!

Sun of York said...

It is great to see your figures on the table. Pity about the game. I have been extremely lucky in all the games I have played in that win or lose they have been fun without any serious hassle.

I hope your inspiration returns real soon as you produce excellent work that certainly inspires me.

Craig said...

Paul,
the figures look great as always. Too bad the game left you a bit flat. From my analysis of having run a few of these games, there are two key ingredients required which I could not spot in your post. The first is an umpire/game master. I find running a successful game as much fun as playing. You can also keep the time pressure on so things don't get bogged down. Umpire is a more accurate title, as if you get any lip, you can offer to march them back 5m. And if your ruling is a little inconsistent "Additional variable of war. Deal with it".

The glaring omission from your photos is the pizza/ burgers/ fish and chips and beer. Tends to take the edge off the most ardent of rules lawyers. And you can always send the most difficult person to the bar for the next round. And after a second or third, you don't mind too much anyway.

Carlo said...

Wonderful looking game Paul - figures look stunning.

We've all had these games buddy and we will again...but I do love GdB and need to play a heck of a lot more however these beautiful blogs like yours are distracting me!!

Hope next outing is one of those extra special ones we all remember so fondly mate.

Paulalba said...

Hi Andrew, thanks for the advice, I'll put everything forward to the group. I havn't had the chance to go through black powder yet. I see there are a lot of people playing them online. I'll try and get my hands on 1 for a read. Glad you like the troops!

Paulalba said...

thanks Craig on all counts! Yeah I really enjoy GdB to. Fingers crossed for the next game whenever that may be.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Carlo,
I hope that the next 1 will be different!

Stryker said...

Hi Paul - I've always prefered to game against a single opponent and that has to be someone I know and get on with as a gamer. I've been fortunate that my main protaganist is also my brother and we've been wargaming on and off for over 40 years. We only play our own rules and as we both have input into them we seldon disagree during play although we nearly always come up with at least one rule tweak at the end of the game!

Multi player games can be a lot of fun but in my experience they need to be properly organised and must have an umpire/organisier. Things work best when this person can 'manage' the players and place them around the table in positions where they are least likely to come to blows!

Although it is quite realistic to have players getting on each others nerves (just look at the way Napoleon's marshals interacted!) it doesn't make for an enjoyable evening's gaming...

Paulalba said...

Hi Ian,
Yeah I have played my nephew a couple of times now and although we hit grey areas we were able to work through them. I think we were just swamped with people and some were Napoleonic gamers who new other rules so wanted to say how it should have been. I really don't mind who wins or loses a game as long as we have fun. My time like most is very limited.
Getting down to get the figures out is the most important. Mai was working on our day off because if circumstances so I actually needed that bit of relaxation. Its a bloody shame as I have artillery almost finished I could have taken to a finish instead of sitting listening to people argue.
Good points all round Ian!
Thanks
Paul

Ill also look to get tge odd game going with my brother and nephew over the holiday season although im working both Christmas and new year

James Fisher said...

Nothing useful for me to add, except to add to the chorus praising the photos and figures.

Looking forward to the next one!

Paulalba said...

Thanks James!