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Sunday, July 26, 2020

Fields of Honor: AWI - First Look

A first look, twenty years late!
Fields of Honor - The American War of Independence (FoH-AWI) was published back in 2000 by Pinnacle Entertainment Group.  The American War of Independence version of the rules is a descendant of the 1994 Fields of Honor (FoH) rules covering warfare in the 19th Century.  Since the original FoH's publication 25 years ago, I have continued to hold the rules with much fondness.  Even though I have not played them in many, many years, FoH still represents a comprehensive and well developed ruleset.  Given this provenance, I was quick to buy FoH-AWI when it was published twenty years ago.  

FoH-AWI was unique in that it not only included rules and playing pieces for a traditional hex and counter game but also rules for use with miniatures.  While I tried the hex and counter version upon publication, putting the miniatures' rules into play did not occur.  Until now, that is.

As a brief overview, FoH-AWI has a simple turn sequence using an IGO-UGO mechanism.  The Turn Sequence has four phases.  Attacker movement, Attacker combat, Defender movement, and Defender combat.  For combat, a unit may either fire or melee but not both.

Each unit has a Quality Rating for each of Fire/Melee/Morale.  This rating has five values (A,B,C,D,E) and is independent for each of the three attributes.  Quality Rating acts as a die roll modifier for each of the Fire/Melee/Morale attributes.  The die roll modifiers range from +2 (A) to -2 (E).  With five possible values for each of three distinct attributes, each unit's characteristic can be fine tuned to suit the scenario or situation. 

With only four phases in a turn and a limited number of modifiers to consider for each of the Fire/Melee/Morale play is fast since the few modifiers are easily remembered after a few turns.  Attached leaders may add bonuses for Fire/Melee/Morale but may become casualties if the unit is destroyed.

One interesting twist to the rules is the inclusion of random FORTUNE and CALAMITY tables.  At the beginning of each turn, each player rolls 1D10.  On a '1' the player receives a Calamity such as Out of Ammo, Demoralization, or eight other events. On a '0' the player receives a Fortune Event such as Captured Orders, Inspiration, or eight other events.  The inclusion of events keeps scenario replayability high.  None of the events are game stopping.  

How does the game play?  Well, wanting a small scenario as an initial test, I reached for a scenario played several times from Norm's Two Flags - One Nation ACW ruleset.  The scenario chosen was Action at Mill Creek (see Action at Mill Creek) and transported back in time to the AWI.   

The British win this contest if they can place two regiments onto the hill and be the last to hold the bridge.  The Americans have positioned their medium gun and two militia regiments onto the heights.  Two Continentals foot regiments are covering the bridge and three regiments will be arriving as reinforcements. 
Let's see how it played.
British troops begin the advance upon
 the American positions
The Lights lead the way to the bridge
The Long Red Line
General advance as British take fire from artillery
The Lights splash into the creek
The Americans opt for HOLD orders (OP FIRE)
to wait to see the whites of their eyes
British right reinforces the attack
upon the militia on the heights
Colonial militia take heavy casualties as one regiment
scatters  and a second withdraws from the heights
British take the right most hillock
Continentals reinforce the hill
but perhaps not for long as the position is outflanked
Colonial guns deliver pain but the Redcoats stand firm.
Not able to stall the assault on the guns,
the guns are destroyed
Colonial reinforcements arrive pouring murderous
 fire into the British but success is short-lived.
With pressure mounting against the hill, a
third infantry regiment is scattered on the Colonial right.
With the American force reduced to 50% strength, I put an end to the bloodshed.  The bridge was firmly in British hands and the heights held two British regiments.  Given one or two more turns, the remaining Rebels would have been driven from the heights and likely the field.  Tactical victory to the British.

In six turns, the British were able to march up and blast the Americans from their positions.  The British dished out more than they took with only light casualties inflicted against the King's troops.  The militia got off a couple of volleys but the British line infantry were not shaken.  When pressed by regulars, the colonial militia buckled.  This battlefield trial seemed one-sided but was that pre-destined?  The battle deserves another go, at least.

The Events did not come into play in this battle.  It would have been interesting to see some of these enter into the game.  Perhaps, an event could have pushed the British onto a back foot to allow just a little time for the Americans to regroup.  One thing I discovered too late was the power of placing the Americans on HOLD orders until the British came up into range.  A HOLD would allow an American unit to interrupt the British move/attack sequence and get off the first volley.  Also to consider is placing Continentals on the hill and militia in the woods.  Perhaps allow the colonial reinforcements to enter earlier too?

42 comments:

  1. Hi Jonathan- You've a superb collection there of 15mm AWI Troops - well done- you've done an excellent job of painting and basing. Cheers. KEV.

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    1. Thank you, KEV! The 15mm AWI collection is one of my older ones with figures primarily from Frontier Miniatures and Jeff Valent Miniatures.

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  2. Very interesting. I had these rules back in the day and the format reminds me of those lovely sets around at that time that had a sort of ‘Volley Bayonets’ production feel to them. The cover artwork is lovely.

    I can’t remember my thoughts on the game, but I moved the rules on, so perhaps that tells its own story, I hope not, as many of my sales have always been about the butterfly syndrome and financing the next purchase, so I have a history of poor judgment when it comes to selling things.

    Look forward to your further exploration and observations. Are the characters of the two armies adequately brought out?

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    1. The AWI adaptation of the colonial FoH are a stripped down version of the former without some of the "meat" that made the colonial version so interesting. Still, it produced a good game.

      You are not one to hang onto stuff unused so moving FoH-AWI out is not a surprise. For rules, I tend to be a bit of a junkie. I collect and hang onto many rulesets even when not played.

      I will give the rules another try or too with a planned rehash of your scenario.

      Thanks for your comments!

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  3. Interesting stuff Jonathan - I like the Random Events ideas. I keep meaning to bring something similar into my little solo games.

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    1. The Random Events add a lot of flavor and friction to the game but not too much friction. I hate "take that!" approaches in rules.

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  4. An interesting set of rules that appear to have given a good game. Op fire in any set of rules can be very useful, so maybe a re-run with the same layout etc to see what difference this might have made? Lovely figures as one would expect and loved the simplicity of the terrain too.

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    1. Thank you, Steve, for your inputs. I plan another game or two of this scenario while the rules remain in mind. As for the terrain, yes, it is simple. I wrestle with how to use the hex tiles with terrain. One day, I may work on improving the look of this and other hex tile games. Even a layer of flock would improve the look, I think.

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  5. They sound a handy set of rules Jonathan.

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    1. The rules played straightforwardly without incident.

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  6. A very interesting set, and great action from the battle.
    I like the sound of these rules' mechanisms.

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    1. Thank you, Darren! As I mention above, the rules are straightfoward and easy to play on a grid.

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  7. How do they compare to more recent rules? Sounds like a main feature is simplicity; do you end up missing any elements a "deeper" ruleset would bring?

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    1. Hi Markus! I guess my answer is "it depends." Which recent rules should I compare them too? With only one game under my belt, it may be too early to discover some of the subtleties and nuances of the rules.

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  8. Very interesting (and enjoyable) post - I've not come across FoH before, in any of the versions - I shall have a look around. Thanks for this.

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    1. Good to see you enjoyed the post, Tony! If you are interested in colonial gaming, I have an extra copy of the 19th Century rulebook. I do see it on ebay occasionally too.

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  9. Nice that they can adapt from a boardgame to a miniature game, we could certainly do with a replay, I don't remember seeing your AWI troops before, they're splendid!
    Best Iain

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    1. A replay is in the cards, for sure, Iain. As for my AWI collection in 15mm, it has been a very long time since it was out on the gaming table. Last outing may have been a Brandywine battle years ago. I ought to cycle them though the game rotation more often.

      Thanks for your encouragement on the AWI collection!

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  10. That looked and sounded like a fun game Jonathan...
    Lovely miniatures as well...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. It was fun! Next time will be better as I become more familiar with the rules and tactics.

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  11. An interesting battle report and I really line the look of the units where you have a mounted officer based with unit.

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    1. Peter, glad you found the BatRep of interest and the basing of the BMUs pleasing.

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  12. The rules look serviceable, if perhaps a little dull. Would you prefer these, Ironsides, Land of the Free, or British Grenadier? I have been thinking about trying some skirmishes with Sharp Practice.

    Your miniatures, as always, look beautiful.

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    1. Serviceable, for sure. A little dull, perhaps. Maybe my retelling makes it dull? I would say these are a step up in complexity to Hold the Line. FoH would make a good set of rules for group or convention game. I have yet to make an Ironsides-like engine for AWI but perhaps I should. That game engine is one of my favorites. BG worked as long as your ran the tables and umpired the game. LotF I enjoyed too but we were in the minority on that one.

      Thanks for your comments, Scott! How was Saturday game day with a return to FtF play?

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  13. That looks like a fun scenario Jonathan, even if slightly one-sided, and nice to see your AWI collection in action. It would be interesting to see what might happen if the militia had been able to fire the first volley.

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    1. This scenario provided a good introduction to the rules. Next time, I think the colonials could fare better with improved tactics and some luck.

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  14. A nice little test scenario Jonathon. You will have to give the rules a few more tries before coming to a conclusion on their serviceability though, so look forward to a few more AAR's!

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    1. A few more trials are planned, Keith. I may throw in some other AWI rules into this experiment as well.

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  15. A nice looking game with beautiful units Jonathan!

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  16. Nice little game Jonathan, and the scenario translates well from the ACW. The 15mm units are a good size and work well with the Hex terrain. Cheers Greg

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    1. Much appreciated, Greg! The single element stands fit into the four inch hexes perfectly.

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  17. Interesting looking game....thanks for the review as they are not a rule set I know or have experience of. A slight summer lull here but things are warming up again soon.

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    1. This is an old set of rules that I do not think got much attention when released. Darn hot here this week with several days forecast for 99F. You know it is hot when your feet burn when cycling on the paved road.

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  18. Looks interesting played with lovely looking figures Jonathan!

    Christopher

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  19. I was just saying on the last post that it’s nice to have a complete collection to plop onto the table whenever you like and here you are all of a sudden showing off Some AWI miniatures! The figures look great! The AAR was a good read. 😀

    How you even found a rule book that is 20 years old is beyond me. You must be a marvel of organization. 😀

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    1. Thank you, Stew! I was a boy Scout as a lad. Always be prepared!

      As for old rulebooks, I still have them back from the 70s!

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  20. Very interesting to read about the rules. Great idea to Combine the review with a report.

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