State of Play: more Lasalle shenanigans and some recent acquisitions

 

Wednesday saw a return to the Peninsula, circa 1810 or thereabouts, with a game of Lasalle (2^nd Edition; Sam Mustafa Publishing, 2021; click here for my earlier comments on this game). It’s always a treat to get to game with B’s superb 28mm miniatures, but victory was not to be given by the fates to the British and their Portuguese allies this time. I won’t dwell on recriminations. Suffice it to say; rolls were fumbled, tactics were thwarted, and the enemy was not amenable to our hopes and desires. In my defence, I wasn’t at my best on the night, having been wrestling with a cold all week. But no excuses; the better tactics carried the day; D and I conceded in the sixth of the eight turns, after our light cavalry was routed and our left flank colapsed.

Portuguese Light Cavalry face down French Light, with the help of a
Foot Artillery battery. Or at least, that was the plan.

Still, the table was resplendent, Redcoats, Portuguese, French and Italians taking to the field. Congratulations to K and H (with able assistance from B handling the Italians) on their win.

Portuguese Reserves arriving on our right flank, too late to reverse our fortunes.

French artillery, well-positioned, but ultimately ineffectual.

I tell myself we managed to retire in good order and save the colours.

In other news, a keenly awaited package arrived from Hanford, CA. Mr President: the American Presidency, 2001-2020 (GMT Games, 2023) looks like a monster of a game with a lot going on, while I’ve already familiarised myself with The Barracks Emperors (GMT Games, 2023). I’m looking forward to soloing this one in the coming week. I’ll probably four-hand the game initially, to get to know it, but I was happily surprised to see it indeed has a solo-play option built into the game by placing Rome (via a card included just for solitaire play) at the centre of the board, the very heart of the struggling Empire.

Okay, neither are strictly wargames; the conflict in The Barracks Emperors is much more political than martial, while the struggle against the forces of history in Mr President are, by the reports of others who have actually managed to get it to the table already, excruciatingly challenging, but wargames they are not. But then, who cares? If I want to mouth off about non-wargames (War-adjacent games?) on my blog about wargames with its regular readership of about five, what of it. Expect reviews for both down the track.

Mr President is a LOT of game,