Mustafa's "Blucher" - All the Rage!

And by all accounts, he was a pretty ANGRY guy!

Well, after some back'n forth, "Sound Officer's Call" Steve agreed to run me through a game of Blucher.  I'd read the rules and reviewed the QRS, and found it to be the same sort of tightly written no b------t set of rules as "Lasalle".  Unsurprising, since Lasalle is the Unit=Battalion version of the same rules.  Blucher is a Unit=Brigade.

Overall, the rules are relatively simple, especially in the Basic version.  You play a corps commander, and are mainly concerned with positioning your Units [Infantry Brigades, Cavalry Regiments / Brigades, Artillery Battalions / Grand Batteries] and their Fatigue level.  Units have combat points which directly correlate to shooting and close combat dice. Typically, it is 4-5 Elan [Militia, Conscripts] to 7-8 Elan [Guard], with most units being around 6-7. When a Unit "hits" you in shooting or close combat, you lose a point of Elan. When your Elan is gone, the Unit is removed.  

Artillery works a bit different, it has several shooting dice, usually starting at 5, and decreasing by 1 or 2 until it gets to '2', after which it "Retires" from the field due to low ammo.  

Without going into details of the IP, every time you Fire with a full strength Unit you've a pretty good chance of putting one Fatigue on it, until you get low in Elan.  Close combat is more certain - the winner gets 1 Fatigue and the Loser gets 2!  This metric means that even winning Units are only good for a couple of Close Combats, after which they are weak enough to be easy prey for fresh reinforcements [hmm, sounding a lot like history here...].

While it read pretty cleanly, the best way to get aquainted is to play!

Steve threw down Quatre Bras, more or less, which was very suitable since we were just two days after the anniversary.  Map from [HERE].

A Horde of Rampaging French Grognards is attacking a mixed British - Dutch - German force near a strategic crossroads.  Can the British hold the French off long enough for a strategic win elsewhere??  Let's see!

Below, view from the British lines. 

Hordes of the French Things in 10mm advance upon the hapless Dutch-Belgian militia brigade, thinly scattered like a speedbump across their front.

Above, a few Nassauers and such will attempt to hold Bossu Wood from the Godless Revolutionary Savages who have spilled blood from Portugal to Moscow! [can you tell which side I'm playing?].

First Momentum roll of the game, I almost max out the possibilities.  I enjoy playing a psychological game against the French Commander, grimacing and trying to be nonchalant.  Will the Allied Psyops plan work?  We'll see!

"Seems they have quite the numbers today, eh" says Wellington calmly. "But mark my words, they will come on the same old way."

Below top, two Dutch militia brigades hold Gemioncourt [in game terms a wood and a town]. Below bottom, the British Guards and friends advance to their aid.

French to the front of them, French to the left of them, yet the Militia boldly stand.

French cavalry brigade outflanks the woods as infantry pins the front.

The Dutch militia go Prepared.  Turns out this is not a help at all unless there are cavalry about... I guess I'd prefer if it was just called "Square".

Below, Wellington gets his spyglass on the Horde bent on destroying King, Country and all that is Decent and Good in European Civilization. Or something to that effect.

Meanwhile, behind him in Bossu Wood, the only consolation these two Units have is that they are not sitting on the victory condition.

Turn 2 Momentum Roll for the French - I try not to jump up and down with glee...

Have to say that I find it odd to roll for my opponent's Momentum.  I would rather prefer to let him do it, without looking, and then just cover it up.  The Momentum points are spent to activate Commands and Units.  I found that one rarely ran low on them, but it occasionally did happen.

The French quickly force the militia out of the woods, and the town is next. This heavily outnumbered command is going to retreat, the only question is "when?".

French cavalry flanking Gemioncourt. The militia have 3/5 and 4/5 Fatigue. French infantry and cavalry finish off the Dutch.  "The Horror!  The Horror!"

Detmers brigade now stands along in the farm itself.

Then they two are swamped by the rising tide of Blue!

and the town stands empty and forlorn...

Meanwhile, the French have flowed past Gemioncourt entirely. The French Dragoons try to overrun the Guns, but tie and are repulsed!

"Well done," says Wellington.  "Of course, we expect that from British guns."

The foot artillery continue to support the Bossu Wood. But the Allied Cavalry has now made it up to support their left, which they succeed in doing.

Above, Allied light cavalry drive the French horse from the field. No Risk pieces were harmed in the making of this charge...

With some optimism, the French Quiot brigade charges the British guns.

And they succeed in taking the guns.

Meanwhile, near Quatre Bras itself, a wild cavalry melee is brewing.

With nothing more than their Powder Blue coats to protect them, the Lowlanders brace for another onslaught, and the entire French cavalry brigade charges.

They destroy one light cavalry regiment, but the Powder Blues stick around despite being out-weighed if not out-apparelled in cavalry.

Some issues with Unit placement are occurring as the center gets crowded and our lack of familiarity with actually moving the Units becomes a problem.

But, Blucher is a pretty forgiving system.  It is not driven by mechanics, but rather more by the decisions of the players.  If both players agree and get the effect they want, then many of the mechanics are easy to work out.

Over on the left, the British elite infantry are holding a hedge line and the road against the somewhat Fatigued French cavalry.

Farther left, Guards and Guns are damaging some French Units.

Above, the British Guards roll LOTS of 6's and easily hold off the French line.

Below, the British guns, are munched by a weak French cavalry regiment.

"I say, there seems to be a problem with our guns today," observes Wellington.

French are now attacking Quatre Bras as the second wave of Allied reinforcements arrives. They are fresh but militia, yet they hold the initial advance quite solidly, shooting the French to pieces from their barricades!

The French brigade evaporates - but there are more coming!

At this point, it seemed like the French wouldn't be able to take Quatre Bras. Overall, it seemed like a repeat of the historical outcome - the British hold the field but are unable to reinforce Blucher.

However, turns out we both forgot about the French guard, which was inadvertently left behind first due to a lack of Momentum Points, then because in discussing the rules and various other things, and of course figuring out various points in the rules, we just forgot about them.

My thought is that the French, with the Guard, would have taken and held the town, but there would have been some problems with their flanks due to their by-passing of the Bossu Wood.

Overall, this was a great run-thru of the rules. 

Forgetting the actual results, and some of the more unusual dice rolls, the game played quite smoothly.  Both of us were more concerned with where to put our Units and their Elan / Fatigue, than with lots of small persnickety rules.  You really do feel like a corps commander, and that you are making decisions at that higher level instead of worrying about if the Royal West Caldonians have got their tot of rum for breakfast and stocked up on dry musket rounds.

Most of the mechanics will be immediately familiar to any experienced wargamer.  Momentum is closely related to the command pips in the DBx family of rules.  Both the firing and close combat rules are entirely familiar.  However, it is the BALANCE of rules, and what is NOT put into Blucher that really makes it shine.  It is encumbered with neither novelty nor a multitude of rule exceptions, and this makes it an exceptional rule set.

I will definitely look forward to trying these rules some more, and borrowed Steve's unit cards to do just that!