SIEGE WARFARE! Playtest ...

Scene from early in the first game

At long last the tabletop version of Fire & Stone comes to life here, put together by Rob P.

table going together at day's start

each 'square' is 8"

Creating a grid for the 'glacis' of this fortified home

We set out the board and explored some of the refinements that Rob put in while I deployed out the troops for action.

We have settled into a force of four Pike & Shot and a 12 man horse troop with three 'officers', two on horse and one on foot for the attacking force.  For the defenders they have two Pike & Shot units and a 10 man horse troop with two two mounted officers.

Each side has two 'cannon', the attackers have massive siege guns that can hit the walls from the far side of the table (yet only behave the same as the smaller guns when used against the moving targets of men or horses) while the defender have more humble field guns scavenged into the defense role.

Attacking forces

Defending forces

The initial attack set out a great 'chevron' of long 'saps' from both flanks

the new sappers and digger minis get their first action

looking very symmetrical in a starting position

The terrain board is not quite perfectly finished, with some refinements and details to come, which will really turn this into a great game set!

we were able to 'simulate' 4 days of siege in only an hour of tabletop action

then the attackers were ready

because they had breached the wall!

and more casualties came from the advancing infantry

For a full on run of the system and our layout this was excellent as we were able to get all the parts set out and be 'in action' in less than 30 minutes (for the first time ever this was great).

the game moves from 'strategic days' to 'tactical turns of 15 minutes' whenever there is an ASSAULT! order

the defenders were hard pressed as the attacking forces were ready coming out from advanced saps in the second parallel

the first try at the defensive ditch

many casualties as dice were suddenly hot or cold

defenders caught a lucky break as they run out from the ditch to cover the breach

meanwhile a plodding pike and shot is moving to attempt to scale the wall ...

We discovered a few missing elements regarding attacking into trenches and have some simple solutions.

The new morale rules worked out to perfection.

into the breach!

scaling the wall did not work out so well ... as the defenders managed to get to the wall section in the nick of time

good overview of the entrenchments and breech

assault stage one ... a draw

assault stage two was a loss for the attackers

Though the investment might be able to continue, if any re-enforcement arrives for the defenders then this siege is lifted, if the attackers get some fresh troops, then the breach will be assaulted and given the losses of the defenders, they would be invested and slighted.

 

Thus ended the first game ever on Rob's newly designed siege game table.