Sunday Night Gaming......

Sunday night saw an outing for the Boxer Rebellion, Simon a fellow Lardy enthusiast very kindly asked me to play test one of the forthcoming offerings from Too Fat Lardies.

"War without Mercy" a set of rules for the Indian Mutiny, using the Sharp Practice System and very nice they are too. some nice touches to bring the period to life....

Lacking suitable mutineers, we opted for a similar mass of angry locals to rush forth on to stout colonial defenders.

The scenario was a simple one escort the wagon and the Christian missionaries  up the road and away from the angry locals filling the countryside.

Russians, US Marines and French Sailors make up the column, with the Boxers waiting in ambush further up the table.

We tested a number of rule adaption such as Low Ammunition and Mutineer initiative, both added flavour to the period and caused the Europeans to consider how to handle the encroaching boxers, whilst the Boxers initiative added a risk to any plan hatched by the enthusiastic rabble.

Hand to Hand was bloody with a number of elements familar to those who have played Terrible Sharp Sword, the introduction of a panic rule made flee units an interesting affair and added to the shock amongst my whole force. Civilians really don't like seeing regulars falling back...

Bad dice rolls on my part saw the Boxers close with my Russian sailors who filled with shock were forced to retire behind the safety of the US Marine corp - How embarrassing.

The US Marines beat back the Boxers only after the French had been forced back to their start line to regroup. The Colonial forces had picked up sufficient shock to slow their advance for several turns..... forcing them to turn back, the road to Peking was closed...

We made a few mistakes and had many questions for the designers a Yahoo Group has been created to discuss the rule tweaks, so I am sure lively debate will follow.

The moderated group can be found here.
War without Mercy.