I have to say I really doubted the smoothness of these rules when reading them, but was happily mistaken during play. I umpired and let Dave and Adam slug it out. I had taken a lot of pointers from the Sharp Practice Forum and tried to learn from the experienced players mistakes during their initial games. Some last minute comments read just before the game probably saved a lot of time searching for the more obscure rules in the book.
It took a bit of work, but I made a set of custom cards and tweaked the Bonus Deck slightly to give it a more Indian flavor. The scenario was a rescue mission to save an East Indostan Company official who had been captured by a local warlord and was being held in a village. Captain Flashard, the brave and popular leader of the Brits was determined to make a name for himself by stealing in and saving the day. I made up the scenario on the fly and it did not prove too well thought out, as the British had trouble getting into the village before every Indian on the table arrived to see them off.
After Dave had to leave unexpectedly I took over for a while and had a go playing. All in all I think the rules worked well, and I'm looking forward to giving them another bash.
Unfortunately no pictures worth showing at the moment, but a couple of noteworthy events were:- Sergeant Nobbs, a drunkard and a coward, who stood on the British left flank, fled the formation with his men after a couple of Indian musketmen opened fire, hitting nothing, but scaring Nobbs half to death. Later came a devastating Indian cavalry charge against a small group of Grenadiers, led by the eager Sergeant Uppem, who unfortunately failed to live up to his name and retreated with his men over a fence.
A really enjoyable game and the rules pretty much covered everything we will need - except maybe elephants - but I'll deal with that later.
Unfortunately no pictures worth showing at the moment, but a couple of noteworthy events were:- Sergeant Nobbs, a drunkard and a coward, who stood on the British left flank, fled the formation with his men after a couple of Indian musketmen opened fire, hitting nothing, but scaring Nobbs half to death. Later came a devastating Indian cavalry charge against a small group of Grenadiers, led by the eager Sergeant Uppem, who unfortunately failed to live up to his name and retreated with his men over a fence.
A really enjoyable game and the rules pretty much covered everything we will need - except maybe elephants - but I'll deal with that later.
Oh, good heavens! I find the same phenomenon happening to me in games. Give a character a good, macho name and they take to the hills or die at the first opportunity. It's good to read your opinion about the S-P rules set, as I'm thinking of buying them myself.
ReplyDeleteI'm always interested in hearing about other rulessets in play. The Sharp Practice ones sound interesting and good for small unit actions. I wonder how suitable they are for solo play.
ReplyDeleteI can't comment on the usefulness of these rules for solo play - but the rules lend to there being an umpire - so I would guess not so well suited.
ReplyDeleteIf you like a fun, character driven game SP seems to deliver.