Last Saturday, I ran a short game of The Sword and the Flame, in 15mm. A simple scenario, and the British, after a couple of hours and two key mistakes, ended up washing the spears of the Zulus. Except for the ten infantrymen that ran away.
Anyway, having a bit of extra time, we went ahead and tried out the rules "Colonial Adventures". with some 1/72nd Italeri plastics another fellow had brought. Same scenario - get to the other end of the board. The net result was that forty of Her Majesty's worst (very green) were slaughtered in the first turn, killing only four Zulus in return. Game over in fifteen minutes. Very unsatisfying.
I think, however, that the primary problem was in lack of knowledge of the rules. I had never played them, the other player had never played them, and the guy running it seemed as if he had never played them, though he claimed to have. He certainly didn't know how unbalanced he had set the forces.
I'm willing to give the ruleset a second chance. But I was wondering how any of you feel about them?
5 comments:
I've never played SAF but am very interested in hearing opinions on the rules!
I enjoy TSATF and I have to say they are probably one of the most played colonial miniature games in existence. It sounds like the forces were too big on the zulu side although giving the Brits a place to defend makes them a higher class to hit. We can run over the rules and anything else you want. Email me and we'll discuss!
Things I do differently with TSATF:
1, roll dice for init and use cards for firing.
2, keep units no bigger than 20 figures with the average being 10 colonials to 20 natives.
3, shoot at the natives before they get within spear range as much as possible.
4, use that cannon! 12 dice packs a heck of a punch!
Oh, I have played TSATF several times, and enjoy the rules. The TSATF game went well, lasted a few hours, seemed pretty evenly matched until the British player decided to evade a close combat, and then failed to rally twice, running off the board as a result.
It was the Colonial Adventures game I was dissatisfied with. not the rules, necessarily - I am fairly sure the guy explaining them really didn't know them that well either. But any comments on the COlonial Adventures rules?
I played Colonial Adventures only once or twice (the main problem is lack of opponents for colonial gaming) but enjoyed them a lot and I think the results were pretty realistic/believable.
Bear in mind I am not any colonial gaming guru, and my knowledge of the period doesn't classify me as an expert, but what I knew and what the games went like made me give these rules a thumbs up and want to play them again when an opponent is available.
The fact is that just like with most Two Hour Wargames rules it takes some time and a few games to get used to the way they play. If you manage to make it through the few games, they usually change your approach to gaming and thinking about it forever ;) You will miss these reaction tables in other games :)
Have you played other THW games or was it the first one? I mean: were you familiar with the concept and the way they play? CA is a bit different than most other THW games anyway...
And don't hesitate to post your comments, questions and doubts to the twohourwargames yahoo group - this would be the first place to go for support...
--
Mahon
Chest of Colors: All About Miniature Painting
Wow. I completely missed that point. That's what happens when I reply to a post during my lunchbreak at work.
I have not yet played colonial adventures. I have played other THW games though.
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