State of Play: A Peninsula Confrontation – Lasalle Second Edition (28mm miniatures)

 

 

Spanish troops advancing.

Last week the stars aligned, and B and I both had a clear day to put in a game. B was hosting a minis game that evening and asked if I’d mind doing a test run. Lately we've been playing in the era of the Italian Wars using the Never Mind the Billhooks (Wargames Illustrated, 2022) rules. When I learned it was to be a Napoleonics game using Sam Mustafa’s Lasalle, Second Edition (Sam Mustafa Publishing, 2021) rules, how could I refuse?

My host had set up two forces of roughly equal point values – B hosts our Wednesday night game which takes in wargames and RPGs, but his first love is miniatures, with a particular emphasis on 28mm Napoleonic minis. These are always stunning on the table and a joy to push around.

Through what in the courtroom would be referred to as an “illegal lottery” - in this case the roll of a die rather than a coin flip – we established that B would play the French (with a brigade of Italian conscripts and Irish volunteers), and I would play the Anglo-Spanish Alliance forces. The set-up was a simple “capture the flag” affair, with two locations – a village and a hill – roughly on the centre-line of the play area, worth a victory point each, and in the event of a tie, the first side to reach breaking point would see the other victorious.

The field of battle (typically, the British have to fight with the sun in their eyes).

I really like playing with the Lasalle rules. They quite straight-forward, play very smoothly and have some neat contrasts to other Napoleonic minis systems. Lasalle adheres closely to its own internal logic. Commands fall into two categories, Global and Force. Force commands apply to a single unit, where Global orders apply to everything applicable; a Bombard order, for example, allows you to fire all your cannons, regardless of their Force affiliations.

Each side has a base number of Momentum Points – in this case, six for the French commander and five for the Alliance, and at the beginning of each turn each rolls a d3 for extra impulses that turn, if their Commander is located at their headquarters. The commander can also be attached to a force to perform specific tasks or add a bonus to a decisive dice-roll (like Wellington seemingly being everywhere at once, and just when he was needed most), but that’s probably not something you need to do in the first round or two.

British headquarters.

You spend one or two Momentum Points for each activation; a straight command – for example, Movement (Force) will cost 1MP, but if there’s a complication involved (moving through terrain or into a town), that adds another MP to the order cost. When you may only have six or seven MPs for the round, you have to consider everything you hope to achieve in that turn, which forces you to look ahead to the next turn or two. The constraints of MP spending are offset a little by the allocation of “global” orders for Bombard and Change Formation; for the cost of a single MP, the player can reconfigure some or all of their Forces from one attitude to another (e.g., changing an Infantry unit from March to Line), or command all their unlimbered cannon to fire in unison, even at disparate targets.

We took turns placing out units before the engagement began. B placed first, setting his misfit force (the Italians and Irish regiments) to make for the village (to the Anglo-Spanish left). I was already of a mind to try to get the Spanish to the village first and give them an anchor. I’ve played the Spanish before in multi-player games. Historically they were quite variable in quality on any given day, and because the Spanish, Like the British tended to draw their commanders from the ruling class rather than promoting from the ranks, their leadership tended to run from questionable to abysmal. In instances in the Peninsula campaign, the Spanish showed extraordinary bravery and ferocity in combat, but they tended to be unreliable, and that is reflected in the way they present in Lasalle. The main contest was always going to be between the French and British infantry, and this would take place at the hill, to the British right. This left each side’s Cavalry, which was generally placed in the centre, taunting each other.

Devastating fire from the French Grand Battery.

The Spanish had one battery of cannon which I’d placed covering the road running passed the town to discourage the French cavalry from advancing too hastily, while the British corps had its own artillery, which I set limbered and able to move up with the Foot. B had the advantage in cannon, with a French battery attached to the French Foot and another of horse attached to his Cavalry - these he formed into a Grand Battery, at the other end of the road – and a third battery supporting the Italians. Still, if my Spanish could make it to the town before B’s Italians, I may have a chance of holding it.

B had one more advantage at the table. My reputation for rolling badly in minis games is the stuff of legends, and this game would prove to be exceptional in this regard.

I moved first, and tried to get my Spanish to the town, but fell short by some inches. B was able to make the town and set one regiment of Italians inside its precinct, with another lined up beside. One point down.

Having occupied the town, the Italians rain hellfire down on the hapless Spanish.

The British made it to the hill with their guns in tow. A global order set them and the Spanish into line. A barrage from the French cannon began the process of thinning out my Cavalry and Spanish foot before a shot had been fired. The French were slower getting to the hill as they maintained a column formation (in view of charging the British). The redcoats mounted the hill in two ranks, which was a gamble; If stretched out to three, they would be able to bring mor fire to bear on the enemy, but their left most regiment would have been a ripe target for the French cannon.

Having secured the hill, the British troops prepare to see off the Frenchies.

One thing that sets Lasalle apart is the way hits are handled. Hits taken by a unit are called disruption points. There are nifty generic cards available via the downloads page on  Sam Mustafa's website (Sam sells all his own games here as well) which you can fill in for each unit and keep track of their status off-board, but B uses a white die to record the current level. As an activation, you can attempt to rally off the disruption taken by a Force by rolling one die for each point accrued, usually rolling fours or higher for success. The danger is that each unsuccessful save-roll becomes a permanent disruption point. These will downgrade the unit’s effectiveness in combat and make them more likely to break on a check.

I also like how fire-orders are handled in Lasalle. Generally, a unit can fire once in a turn. When the turn is over, the smoke comes off (cotton-wool indicating that unit has fired), and the unit is assumed reloaded and ready for the next round. Generally, a Force will be comprised of four or so Regiments (each comprised of four bases of four figures each, with one base holding the Regimental Colours). In line formation, in most cases, the two outer bases will roll one dice each for musketry, while the two inner blocks will roll two each, for a total of six rolls, with potential hits for fours up. Each hit is than rerolled for confirmation. If these are also fours or higher, the target unit takes a disruption point.

The advancing French cavalry spells the end of the Spanish adventure.

Each unit has a unique characteristic or two to add historical colour while adhering to the overall simplicity of the game. The French line troops are best at getting in close and charging the enemy. The British line infantry’s fire discipline was superior to any other European army, while the French were better in close-quarters action. A charge by a French foot division would be devastating, but they would have to pass through withering musket fire first. Having taken the hill, it was the British troops’ job to hold it. The superior British shooting (drilled into the troops through sharp practice) is reflected in their rolling eight dice instead of six in a volley.

With the approach of the French, I forewent the extra MP roll and placed my commander with the British line. This allowed me to give them a special order to get off a volley at the incoming assailants before the round began, putting a little more hurt on the French line. This, and the subsequent show of musketry by my brave boys (in spite of my less than stellar dice-rolling) saw the French off to regroup. This they subsequently did, shaking off nearly all the disruption I’d saddled them with. Now they were angry and ready for revenge.

Not all can be blamed on bad dice rolls.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, things were not going so well. The French cavalry had made its move, splitting into two squadrons. One attacked first the ineffectual Spanish canon, driving them off in short order, then cut through the right-most regiment of the Spanish Foot like a hot knife through butter. I’d already lost the left-most Spanish regiment to hot action from the Irish and their supporting cannon. My pummelled cavalry attacked the second French squadron, only to be decimated for their trouble. My position overall had become untenable.

In the end, we called the game before the inevitable conclusion. With half my cavalry gone and the Spanish on the verge of a rout, my British infantry – having preserved the regimental honour by holding the hill under a pressing attack by French regulars – withdrew from the field in good order, their retreat screened by my surviving hussars (those remaining Spaniards could take care of themselves; frankly I’m surprised they didn’t just turn around at the beginning of the battle and loot our own baggage train). The day rightfully belonged to the French. There would, of course, be other days.