Freedonia shoots! Freedonia almost scores!

Imagi-nations again! This stuff is a load of fun. Martin, Andy, Beth, and I ran our respective troops out on the board at the Hamilton Road Games Group. Since it was the May 2-4/May Run/Victoria Day weekend, the numbers were down at the Group, but no matter! Fun was to be had and fun was had.

Beth had never played these rules before and wanted to try them. (Warfare in the Age of Reason) I must admit that I hurried through some troops for her army but it was worth it. She fielded the Scots/Cossack coalition of Gallifrey under Generals Bulba, Blastov, Stuart, Montrose, and the Doctor (#4, yes, that one. cf photos). Martin set out the troops of the Serene Republic of Rationalia under the command of Philospher-King Karl Mar X and General N. Guells. (A republic with a king... Hmmmm. Martin's been working on his thesis for grad school 'way too long!... Tovarich.) Andy's Frankenschweiners marched under the watchful eyes of Count Frankenschwein himself, and Generals Ziffle, Zuckerman, and Karloff. My own Saxe-Freedonians were under the command of the Grand Elector, Rufus I Glüwürmchen with Generals Belesarius, Heinzelmenchen, and Hartman as divisional commanders.

First off, we realized that there were 'way too many figures on the board. Lesson for next time. Still we faced off and moved to contend over two of the three villages on the table. Beth and the Gallifreians were on the left with the Army of Saxe-Freedonia to the right. Andy's troops faced me while Martin's troops, reinforced by a brigade of Frankenschweiners stood across from Beth.

(Photography by Beth and Andy with a few taken by me.)

The table from the side of Right, Honour, Virtue, and Justice.
(If this doesn't get some comments, nothing will.)

The dastardly troops of the County of Frankenschwein and the Serene Republic
of Rationalia

Beth's commander - the Fourth Doctor with his TARDIS
Those guy(s) are always larger than life.
(25mm Black Tree design figure from the Doctor Who range.
I bought a 25mm TARDIS model and they threw in a random Doctor figure.
Beth was thrilled when it turned out to be Tom Baker!
The little TARDIS is a chunk of pained wood mounted on a penny.)

Something new! Beth's army included a Jacobite clan unit just to see how it would
work. The unit is double sized and will be re-based. I discovered later that I had enough
Scots around to make 5 such clan regiments. Martin calls them the Highland Buzz Saw.

Although the table groaned with the weight of figures, both sides moved toward each other. Sadly we never really came to grips because of time constraints. Beth was her usual aggressive game self and sent her cavalry out to meet Martin's horse. It didn't turn out well. Beth's light dragoons met Martin's guard cuirassiers while one of his black-uniformed Todtenkopf Hussars flanked her. The light dragoons were beaten and routed and took the Cossack dragoons with them, although the Scots infantry stood fast.

Martin's cavalry advances.

The trap is closed. General N. Guells accompanies the hussars while the
Philosopher-King Karl Mar X neglects the proletariat and leads the aristocratic
Guard cavalry.

Andy and I dueled a bit and I realised that he faced me with his guard, his grenadiers, AND Martin's grenadiers! I confronted him with the Freedonian Dragoons, the Hesse-Bruder Hussars, and the Adelfahne Trabantenkorps (Guard armoured cavalry) along with two field guns and three freshly-painted militia battalions - Battalions Groucho, Chico, and Harpo. I was a bit out matched. Still the grenadiers had to form square to face my cavalry and did defeat them. The terrain was a bit too tight to really deploy my horse well.
Plus, newly painted troops, new dice, bad weather, ...  grumble, grumble, excuse, excuse.

Rationalian grenadiers form square to hold off the Freedonian cavalry.

 

Frankenschweiner and Rationalian Grenadiers advance side by side.
There is more than a "whiff" of conspiracy here!

Freedonia's less-than-best.
The Combat Pioneer regiment (conscripts in green), Militia battalions Harpo
(white) and Groucho (in purple). General Belisarius herds them forward.
Battalion Chico is barely in the picture.

The game took longer than expected, but we had to see how the Clan regiment worked! Beth charged into the town as a Frankenschweiner unit advanced. Martin's dragoons hit the flank again. None of it was pretty since we were in a town and all fighting is at a -3 to your number of dice. From now on, we keep the Clans in the open and up-hill if possible.

The Clan regiment roars into town to the skirl of the pipes.
M'Gregor abu!!!

The Clans' original starting position along with  the Highland regulars and the
First Nations light infantry on loan from Robby's army.

The Clan hits the Frankenschweiners but is being flanked by one of Andy's Dragoon units.
They are all in proper red uniforms... to show how the monster works!!

In the centre, Beth and Andy traded volleys and the Irish Legion and the Archbishop's Own took damage, but gave as good as they got. The Pandours Pavkovic had to fall back because of the advance of formed troops in front of them. My side of the board was split by a small village and My rifle-armed Jägers pecked at Andy's light infantry until they were replaced by his Guard battalion. Andy's artillery on his far right claimed some successes but all the other guns never really got into action.

Night (or curfew) fell... mercifully. And lessons were learned.

• Don't try to push an elephant through a keyhole a/k/a don't try to put too many troops through a small area. If it's too small for me, it's a bottleneck for them as well. Grab it, hold it, and move elsewhere.
• Too many units and not enough players makes for a cumbersome game. We need to learn limits.
• I unlimber my artillery far too early.
• Keep the clans on the lever or on a hill if you can. (There's a plus for charging down-hill.) You also need more than one clan to make it worthwhile. Beth's army will probably include Regular Highlanders, Clan highlanders at 16 figures apiece, Cossack cavalry - both regular and irregular, other regular cavalry, and some sort of light infantry. In the 7YW period, light troops are more of an annoyance than a game winner.

So now, more photos.

Some of Martin's Todtenkopf Hussars. He has two regiments of them.

The Frankenschweiner left flank before the game began.

The Native allies - Turtleburpers and the Galoshicolla

Beth's light dragoons and the Cossack dragoons (in red)

Frankenschweiner line infantry and light infantry behind

The Grand elector with the reserve - grenadiers and guards (in blue)
Frying Pan & Blanket makes a Conestoga waggon set and I HAD to get one.
There's another to be assembled and painted.

Frankenschweiner heavy artillery

Freedonian heavy artillery and howitzer.
Guns are sold with limbers and gunners are a separate pack.

The ox-drawn Conestoga waggon. I see a supply train raid scenario coming!

Scots in square - facing Rationalian cavalry.

Not sure what is next. You'll just have to look in when I write next!