The Battle of Quatre Bras: A Blucher AAR | Storm of Steel Wargaming
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2024
- This is a solo game of Blucher that I played recently based on the Battle of Quatre Bras, fought on the 16th of June 1815. The Anglo-Allied forces held the crossroads and village of Quatre Bras, whilst the French II Corps attempted to capture it, along with the road to Namur.
The rules I was using are Blucher, by Sam Mustafa, you can buy them here: sammustafa.com/
I fudged a few rules, such as the activation by corps, as the game is a small one and nothing would have happened otherwise. I also made a few rules mistakes here and there, but nothing that affected the outcome in any particular way. The scenario begins on turn 16 in Blucher turns, which is why the reserves are marked as they are and this equates to the afternoon of the 16th.
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Many thanks for sharing this. We are fans of the Blucher rules using them extensively for multiplayer big games, having done Leipzig, Austerlitz, Waterloo 3 times in the last year. Borodino is scheduled for April. The rules are simple but challenging to play and make a big multiplayer game possible in a weekend. You did make a couple of rules errors and l think the momentum system which, for us, is a key to the rules, could have been explained better for any unfamiliar with the rules, but we still appreciate your efforts. The momentum system means you can’t move every unit you want to requiring real thought as to priorities.
Thanks, I am glad you liked the video. Yep, I made a few errors, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the game or change the result in any way. I am going to make a proper how to play video about Blucher in the future, and as it was more of an after thought to explain rules during the game the Mo rules were not really covered.
Thanks for an excellent report. As von Clausewitz pointed out, all Ney really had to do was keep Wellington from sending a substantial reinforcement to Blucher. If he did that, possession of territorial objectives was irrelevant.
Cheers, I am glad you enjoyed the video.
My favorite battle, played so many times! Very nice report, spectacular and gorgeous units!
Thanks Phil, I am glad you enjoyed the video!
Great to see a 6mm Naps game. I collect Adler French and Russians - interesting set of rules!
Thanks, Blucher is a great game, well worth checking out.
Great video thoroughly enjoyed it.I really liked your bases for housekeeping, and having the attached artillery as the extra base.
Just got the book after seeing it at Claymore in Edinburgh. Can't get the 100days war cards anymore though apparently. Cheers!
Cheers, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, I think the cards are hard to get hold of these days...
Thanks for this. Nicely presented with a good appreciation for how the rules work. Looks like it played very quickly - taking account of the bits not filmed I'd guess at less than a couple of hours. Looks like an interesting set of rules which give me some ideas for my own. Cheers
Andrew
Thanks Andrew, I am glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, overall it was about two hours of gaming. That included reading rules as they came up. Blucher is quite memorable though, so playing it more often would cement various bits in your head.
Nice to see someone doing the same style of unit basing for Blücher as I am! I'm going to be running a possibly simplified intro game of Quatre Bras at a local convention in a few months, and I'm planning on running Quatre Bras. One caveat is that I am intending to run a 2v2 as that gives me more new players over the weekend, so I may need to adjust some things for speed.
I noticed you were moving the Guard Lancers as part of the II Corps activations - I think I'll shove both the French cavalry units in III Cavalry Corps and "cheat" with the Horse Artillery, forming an artillery unit with just 2 horse batteries and one foot. That way I can give one French player the two cavalry and one horse artillery as the "III Cavalry Corps", and the other gets two infantry and the 2nd Cavalry Div as the II Corps. Then maybe give 6th Division to the cavalry player... playtesting is definitely needed. I got the scenario from the Facebook group - now it's time to study.
Thanks, I've been basing these like this since I began my Blucher project seven years ago.
Even if it was against the rules enjoyed the Guard lancers epic charge - also a good replica of the charge the french cavalry pulled off at QB historically.
Cheers, yep once in a while it does well to bend the rules!
Great work👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you! Cheers!
Great video, Blucher is a fantastic system. How's the Hundred Days expansion? Think the expanded Scharnhorst campaign system is worth it?
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed the video! The expansion is excellent and it is what I based all my 6mm figures on. I have never had a chance to play the campaign system though, so I really couldn't answer, sorry!
Just getting into Blucher. about to place my first order for some Russians. more batreps please.
It's a great game and you'll enjoy it, I will make more in the future, I just need to find the time....
Very nice 👍
Cheers buddy. We need to get together to play Blucher again.
The playing cards work well for ftf games too, adding some real drama. The system is simple 11 cards + a joker for a 200 point army turn the cards individually for each momentum point used and when the joker is revealed your turn is over. This simple method has produced some wonderful player reactions in our multiplayer games
@@willhaughan3376 thanks, it sounds so simple even I can understand it! I'll definitely give it a try.
Interesting system but the Guards Light Cavalry charging into the woods is a bit dodgy. Other than that seems like a good brigade level system.
That was a mistake on my part, it shouldn't have happened. Blucher is an excellent set of rules, really good enjoyable game.
Thank you for the aar. I wonder if it's even possible to dislodge a unit from the city? I see that the rules will make it possible to do big battles.
I am glad you enjoyed it! It is possible, but you really need to have to wear down their elan. In a second game we had, the French pushed the Netherlanders out, but were then pushed out themselves. It's tough though.
Dislodging a unit that is garrisoned in an urban area can a tough ask.Attacking with guards or grenadiers with high elan and an extra dice for shock helps. Having more than one unit attacking is great too, although often difficult to achieve as your opponent will try and stop this. Getting an artillery unit within 6 inches of the UA means although the dice are halved for cover a 5 counts which does shift the odds. Expect a lot of sea saw attacks and counter attacks but wasn’t that what happened? Think Aspern Ealing!
Yep, that's the thing to do. Gang up on them and wear them down. The problem is with Quatre Bras is that the French reinforcements are slow to get into a good support position. In this case, waiting for them to arrive means that there will be more Allied units to deal with. It's a tough one in this case. We've always found garrisons a tough ask and if it's not an objective, it's sometimes better just to ignore it as the troops can't fire out anyway. It kind of locks the enemy in place that way.
how did you base your mini's?? Love that idea!!
Cheers, here you go: th-cam.com/video/AhpXJ6eK9Yc/w-d-xo.html
Apologies if this has been asked previously. I've ordered my Blucher rule book now but where did you get the buildings from in this video? Are they 3mm buildings?
No worries, they are from Brigade Models and yeah, they are 3mm scale.
@@StormofSteelWargaming thank you, I'll look at them for my AWI 6mm and Napoleonics 6mm.
Have you tried the 'playing cards' system for handling momentum in solo games? Works pretty well.
No, I wasnt aware that it existed, TBH. Have you got a link?
@@StormofSteelWargaming I'll have a more thorough look through his videos later for the specific one, but here's his explanation of the concept- it's very simple, but elegant:
There are two methods I use. The first is to use a deck of cards: 12 if playing small games of 200 points where you use 2d6 for momentum; 18 cards if using 3d6 for 300 point games. All of these cards are the same except for ONE card - I like to use a joker for that ONE card. Anyway, procedure is to take out TWO of the non-joker cards and set them aside. shuffle all the rest - including the joker. Once shuffled up good, take the other two cards and place them on the TOP of the deck. Note that if using 18 cards for 300 point games, set aside THREE cards instead of just TWO. This method simulates rolling nothing but ones on your mom. dice roll. Now, the player takes his activations as normal. Once complete he draws that many cards from the deck - the amount of mom he spent. If the joker is drawn the players movement/orders is over! Works great really, although there is no bell curve in the randomness like when using dice - not an issue for me actually. The second method is simply to roll the appropriate number of dice - 2d6/3d6 - for mom. as normal. If the die roll is LESS than the total mom. the player has spent so far - he needs to keep track - the move/orders phase ends! Simple really. Either way is valid for SOLO play. In fact, I use the CARD method for TWO PLAYER games as well, since it is fun :)
@@peezebeuponyou3774 thank you, I will definitely try that out!
@@StormofSteelWargaming No problem- really enjoying your videos. We appear to have similar tastes!
@@peezebeuponyou3774 thank you very much!
I’m looking at buying Blucher at the end of the month and wondered if you would still recommend it for 6mm Napoleonics?
Yes I would, it's a great game.