Development of Optional Rules for Solo Wargaming with Lasalle

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Development of Optional Rules for Solo Wargaming with Lasalle

(15 posts) (4 voices)

Started 1 year ago by John de Terre Neuve
Latest reply from rpardo

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John de Terre Neuve
Member

A recent post by Mike48 quite interested me as he describes a variation on Lasalle for solo wargaming: http://www.sammustafa.com/honour/forum/topic/size-of-squadron

I decided to have a go myself and took some of Mike's ideas and started to formalise some ideas on my blog. I of course tried to change as little as possible, but at the same time I wanted to add some element of uncertainty to the rules for the solo wargamer:
http://fuentesdeonoro.blogspot.com/2010/06/lasalle-solo-variation.html

I then set up a scenario to see how a card brigade activation system would work, things seem ok so far, the game has actually been quite exciting:
http://fuentesdeonoro.blogspot.com/2010/06/aar-casa-de-salinas-solo-variation-on.html

I would love to hear from all you solo wargamers who are using Lasalle about this variation and of course comments from all would be appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

John

Posted 1 year ago #
rpardo
Member

Hi
I did read the AAR in your blog and the experience seems wonderful!
I want to hear you about the integration of the card activation system witht the 4 phases of Lasalle play flow.

Rafa
Wargaming with Napoleonic Miniatures
Project Leipzig
Alkaid Ediciones

Posted 1 year ago #
Andrew
Member

greatpost and ideas lets hear some more on this as it woud benefit a lot of solo gamers

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

Thanks, the game is really quite exciting. I will try to get the 2nd part of the game posted by tomorrow. The tricky bit in my mind is whether the 4 phases of each turn would work as multiple miniturns. With card activation, each deck of cards (in this case 7) would be treated as the equivalent of 1 Lasalle turn. So you would have to go through the 4 phases (Reaction, Combat, Activity, Status) 7 times in each turn, I know this sounds horrendous but it actually was pretty simple.

In part 2 of the AAR, I will explode out (tedious writing) the 4 phases of the miniturns in 1-2 decks to better illustrate this.

Thanks,

John

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

I have posted Part 2 of the AAR, the game went quite smoothly and I had no problem with the multiple mini-phases of the game mechanic. At the bottom of the post I have placed a table with a pretty detailed illustration of the play.

John

http://fuentesdeonoro.blogspot.com/2010/06/casa-de-salinas-solo-lasalle-part-2.html

Posted 1 year ago #
rpardo
Member

Hi
A very good and detailed AAR of a small and exciting action. I did found the worksheet very informative. Maybe a detailed explanation of the soloing mechanisms would be very interesting for us, the lone people!

Rafa
Wargaming with Napoleonic Miniatures
Project Leipzig
Alkaid Ediciones

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

Hi Rafa,

I believe you want me to talk. Essentially I find ugo-igo games a challenge for the solo wargamer (the lone people). There is no element of uncertainty that another player introduces. You can I think approach this by trying to introduce an additional mechanism to the play. One way of course is to remove the alternate move mechanism and generate a random mechanism, thus the cards.

Since Lasalle is organised by command groups, it was easy enough to assign a card to each command group and then randomly draw them. I was not sure if the 4 phases of the Lasalle game mechanism would tolerate this. Essentially it converts a 60 phase game (15 turns x 4 phases) to a 420 phase game (15 card decks (big turn) x 7 cards (mini turn) x 4 phases). This of course sound horrendous, but it was actually a piece of cake. Did I use too many cards (I added CinC cards, so this when this was drawn, the CinC could command a subcommander or an independent unit to take that turn), I am unsure. Do you have to perform every phase every mini turn ?STATUS, I am unsure.

Otherwise the game mechanism was untouched. Other issues that arose included whether artillery could fire twice in one big turn, as the brigade with the artillery could be activated twice once by the subcommanders card and possibly a second time by the CinC card. Same issue with infantry fire.

Anyway, I am quite curious what other thoughts are?

John

ps I would love to hear from Mike48, who first discussed this idea on the forum

Posted 1 year ago #
Mike48
Member

Hello John and Rafa,

I don't forget Lasalle. I have installed the scenario on my table but I got again last week problem with my eyes.

About the turn's sequence I play as I write below.

The game is divided into a series of "Big Turns" in which both sides move, shoot, fight and the other side can react (equivalent to a turn of Lasalle). Each Big Turn is divided into a series of "Mini Turns" where each sub-commander (the "Active Commander") makes all its charges and moves, and resolves all combat and shooting.

Each sub-commander can only be the Active Command once per Big Turn (Exception if I put an AM (Activation Marker) like "Furia Francese").
The order in which each Active sub-commander moves is decided by picking up an AM (Activation Marker) in a cup (without tea).The Active sub-commander and all of its units undertake a complete turn sequence, including movements of charge / moves / shooting / combat / fall back / recovery attempt .
Falling back takes place and sub-commander's moves at the end of his Mini Turn.

Enemy units can react and make actions during the Mini Turn of the Active sub-commander by : about face, countercharging, shooting at units of the Active sub-commander who are in range
Where a side has units from more than one of it's sub-commanders involved in the same melee phase (a "multi-attacks") all units involved in the "multi-attacks" fight every time any of the involved units is part of an active sub-commander.
Units involved in a "multi-attacks" can be "recovery attempted" at the end of any Mini Turn of a sub-commander from their side in which units from the own side fight in the "multi-attacks".
Sometimes we can have pursuits. These pursuits are resolved in the next Mini Turn in which either of the involved units is Active. These are unresolved charges.
In the Big Turn some units can react more than once.

Mike.
PS This procedure is without pretension and only for the pleasure to play! It is inspired (as I said from Glory, Triumph and Glory (Jours de Gloire)) that I play in solo.

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

Hi Mike,

Two questions,

1] during the mini turns, does the player pick from one cup that contains all the Act Markers, or is there a French and shall we say an English cup.
2] I can not tell, but do you keep exactly to the 4 phase mechanism, ie Reaction then Combat then Activity then Status.

Thanks,

John

Posted 1 year ago #
Mike48
Member

John,

1. At the beginning of the Big Turn all the AMs (activation markers) are put in the cup. I mixe all of them and then I pick up the first AM (I close my eyes)and so it is the first Mini Turn for the active sub-commander.
2. I try to respect the 4 phases mechanism,sometimes it is more difficult for the "multi-attacks". If I have a problem I throw a percent dice: 10-30 the active unit make the action, 40-50 nothing happens, 60-90 the inactive unit make the action.

Mike.

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

Thanks Mike, I believe that the 2 methods are pretty similar. I had no problem running through the phases of Lasalle in order, but that may have been because I was running a pretty small test game.

I would like to move on to the method for utilizing blinds:

1) Do you use blinds for just 1 side?
2) Do your blinds move when a card from the blinded side is drawn? At what rate?
3) When your blind is spotted do you have a method to decide on what formation it is placed on the table. I used a dice toss to see if it arrived in March Column or Attack column.
4) What is your mechanism of spotting, ie. how many base-widths? are all blinds spotted at once or sequentially?

Thanks,

John

Posted 1 year ago #
Mike48
Member

John,

1. Yes I use blinds for only 1 side.
2. The moves of the blinds or no move are function of the scenario: for the scenario Lahaye Sainte the French side are in position and will move only to "adjust"...don't forget we have one dummy.
3. I use also dices to decide on what formation the units are placed (I often use dice toss as AI).
4. For the mechanism of spotting I use the mechanism of le Feu Sacré and I send a squadron (one base thus) to detect the enemy's unit when I draw the AM of their unit. For this scenario and when I draw a French AM nothing happens until the unit is spotted and revealed. If you have not the spotting of le Feu Sacré I can send you the the values.

It is a pleasure to exchange and sorry for my English.

Mike.

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

Thanks Mike, I will have a look at LFS, I have a copy and will review the procedure.

Happy gaming,

John

ps your english is much better than my french and my flemish (although I believe Ligny is in Wallonia) is certainly non existent

Posted 1 year ago #
John de Terre Neuve
Member

I just had a look at the Le Feu Sacre rulebook, it looks like:
-only officers can spot
-only 1 blind can be spotted per turn
-the range you can spot depends on the terrain you are in ie. under 8' is an automatic spot and any range above this spotting is dependent on the throw of a D10.
-Different card sizes represent different formations so there is no die toss to see how the Bde arrives

So I have to admit, I like my method more, it is less complex, you get to use skirmishers and light cavalry in a novel way, and the spotting is automatic within a certain range.

I may consider a terrain adjustment as with LFS, and they do have an adjustment for being on higher ground. I still have to think about the number of bws to spot at.

Anyway just a bit more info.

John

Posted 1 year ago #
rpardo
Member

Hi
The joy and fun of solo wargaming is that everybody can use his/her rules or modification without interference. You can also to change the rules 'en passant' and nobody will complain! I love the John mechanisms because are elegant and simple and do not require a strong modification of Lasalle and I'll give a try in a next game!
Rafa
Wargaming with Napoleonic Miniatures
Project Leipzig
Alkaid Ediciones

Posted 1 year ago #

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