downsizing for Blucher

Work in ProgressRegiments Guadaljara (red),  ragoza (green) De Asutria (Blue)

Post Tactica it is time to start a new project. This time I have opted to downsize to 6mm to play Blucher.  Blucher is the next games in the Honour series after Longstreet and since I was happy with Longstreet I was keen to give Blucher go. Blucher is set in the Napoleonic war where arguable the armies after their visual best. Not many camo pattern here just lots of pretty colors. I have opted for the Spanish who seem to used Spainish, French and British uniforms during the period sometime and can morph into opposition for anybody at some point.

Blucher has a number of new feature game features like a pre-battle campaign to give the battle some context, the use of cards to represent units instead of figures and Momentum points to activate units.

Battle for Arbranica

The battle for Arbranica was an example recent game Blucher game set in Spain.  During the pre-game campaign the French opted to size some important towns to get some early Victory points. But during the process the 1st corps seized Arbranica only to find itself isolated and attack by the Spanish 1st, 2nd, 3rd corps. The French 2nd and 3rd Corps are to the west around Los Escombres and moving to support. Further west is the Spanish 4th Corp. There was a French 4th Corp but it was ambushed by Guerrillas and destroyed.  The battle takes place in the Red box using the terrain as depicted with the units in each gird as shown.  The Spanish 4th Corp will arrive some time during the game.  The unpredictable nature of where the battle takes place and what units will be available at the point of contact makes for interesting game settings.

Is that French column the Imperial Guard or militia?

Once the battle is determine units are deployed as blinds using cards. Players know there is a unit there but do not know what it is. In could be militia it could be the imperial guard. Until it activates the unit is not revealed. It makes for a good bluffing game during deployment.

Secret momentum points

Once deployed units activate using momentum points to move. The twist is  there is only a limited number of points per turn and the number is secretly determined randomly by your opponent at the start of the turn ie  he gets to shout stop once all your points are spent.  It makes for an interesting game has you have to prioritizes what needs to happen and there never seems to be enough points at the critical point of the game. It is also pretty hard to keep a poker face if you roll double one or double six for your opponents turn. 

Regiment Guadaljara

I have opted for the Spanish army in Blucher since they seem to fight just about everybody. In keeping with the theme the army is going to be loosely based of the La Romana Division. The Divison was formed after Spain had fought France but then formed alliance with her.  The La Romana was formed and sent north to Germany and Denmark to enforce the French blockade of Britain and possible invade Sweden.  When the French disposed the Spanish King the division was stuck in Danmark several hundred miles from friendly territory.  The British Royal Navy eventually aided in the extraction of the Division which was then shipped back to Spain to take part in the Peninsula war against France.  The units which did not escape were eventually formed part of Napoleon invasion of Russia but that is another project.

So far I love the the pre-battle and Momentum points mechanics But I am on the fence regarding the cards. Partly because going through the effort to painting hundred of small minis it seems the cards are detrimental to getting the models on the table. In some games the units do not activate for what ever reason and the minis spend the whole game in a box. The thing same can happen in the pre-game campaign where a units gets out maneuvered and miss the battle but it is less like to occur. Also compared to Longstreet the cards do not seem o do as much. In Longstreet the cards have a heavy influence on the game play but with Blucher they are mostly used to present units which eventually I hope to replace with figures.  But overall the game has more pros then cons and seems like a worthwhile project.

That is all for now thanks for stopping by