Lets play Maurice

American Brigade blocks the road

As preparation for the AWI big game, TwoDice, ICs and myself had a little demo of Maurice. Some people recommended it as the go to rule set for the period although it is themed more towards 18th century european warfare with regular units fighting on relatively open terrain compared to AWI where there is more irregular units and the terrain can be a bit more broken.

 

Hessian brigade prepares to arrive

The game was (very) loosely based of the battle of Brandywine. An American militia brigade with artillery support had set-up a blocking position on the main supply line.  With an additional brigade on its way to support it.  The British have ordered a Hessian brigade to distract the Americans while the main British force attempted to outflank the position.

The Hessian attack started badly mostly due to first time experiences with 18th century tactics and  formations and how to move them. But also in fairness the approach was very difficult with the Hessians bottle necked in their advance.  The defending militia had an easier time moving a little to maximise their firing line and blazing away at the struggling Hessian. In short order the Hessian brigade was destroyed.

Hessians forget their orders are to distract not engage the defenders

Belated the British brigade arrived and a second attack on the roadblock began to develop. This time the attack was better organised and units began to snap into position with some forming up to take the roadblock while others moved to block any potential American reinforcements arriving.  

On queue the American reinforcements appeared but this time it would be their turn to struggle with frustration of trying to form up for a proper attack.  The British struck first and three of the four militia regiments broke.  The reinforcement column also lost a regiment and was forced back.

British Brigade arrives from another flank covered by a dice cup

But the British had ran out of steam and a weak American attack was enough to see them break and send them fleeing from the battlefeild.

British clash with the reinforcement column

Overall an excellent introduction to the Maurice rules after a one or two turns two first time players were up and running and engaged in the game. It does not feel like AWI but it does feel 18th century with the focus on maneuvering regiments and trying to establish the best set-up for your units to get results.

British push back the reinforcement column

We did use a couple modifications even though it was the first time actually playing the game

• Used a GM so player could focus n the game and not referring to page xxx of the rule book for some question
• Adjusted artillery rules as per Glorious little soldiers (link). Normally the artillery can only bombard on the activation step but this would mean players not moving for the activation. This would probably mean artillery would never shoot at all and seemed a little harsh.
• Adjusted the reserves roll. Rules wise the reserves are suppose to arrive on a card draw but instead we staggered the arrival, British reinforcements arrive in phase 2D6 and Americans arrive in phase 3D6. In practice this was not needed

Tense last round.
The British started of with a force morale of nine while the Americans started of at ten.
But going into the last round they were both down to one need a single kill to win the game. 

There was some take always from the 1st game of Maurice

->Need some was to introduce AWI flavour to the game ie indians, riflemen, light infantry, etc

->The bases may be a little to big we used 5x4cm base and each players had roughly two thirds of a normal force but the smaller force seemed a better fit on the 6’x4’ table.

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.