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Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Solden Hill without Grids

Coming up on nearly three weeks passed, I jog the memory on a battle Mark (Mud Blood and Steel) and I contested on the fields of Solden Hill.  Tony (Prometheus in Aspic) joined in as an observer and first-rate kibitzer.  In a change from the prior two battles of Solden Hill, the hexes were dispatched.  We played the battle out on an open table.  I have not seen a non-gridded game on my table in a very long time.  This might be fun change of pace or a challenge.
Mark chose to command the attacking Yorkists while I was tasked with leading the Lancastrians to victory.  My attempts to pull Tony into commanding the Lancastrians were unsuccessful.

Having seen my Lancastrians fall in the two previous games, will they see more success in this outing?  For a brief recap, please read on.
As in the other games, one Lancastrian Battle
 begins atop Solden Hill, alone.
Somerset ready for action!
Yorkist march on Solden Hill
as Lancastrian reinforcements arrive.
Suffolk closes in on Somerset on Solden Hill
while Edward veers off to the left to prevent
 enemy from reinforcing Somerset.
Suffolk attacks up the hill and into the awaiting Somerset.
  After letting loose their arrows,
both archers fall back behind the melee lines.
In melee, Suffolk suffers more and falls back.
With Northumberland advancing quickly down the main road,
Edward attacks! 
Not expecting an attack from that quarter,
Northumberland steps back to regroup.
Ignoring the threat from Edward, now on his flank,
 Northumberland pitches into Stanley.
Fighting is desperate.
Stanley is driven back with Northumberland in pursuit.
Casualties mount.
In the heavy fighting, Northumberland wavers.
Stanley counterattacks!
Pembroke is seen alongside Somerset on the high ground.
Exhausted from his efforts against Northumberland, Stanley pauses.
Seizing the opportunity, Edward hits the wavering Northumberland.
Northumberland's Battle breaks with Edward's main melee line in pursuit.
A gap opens in Edward's ward.
This is the opening Pembroke wanted!
Coming down from the heights,
 Edward's archers fall back while a body of Yorkist MAA rout.
In foreground, Yorkist MAA in flight.
While Suffolk and Somerset continue trading blows...
Stanley goes in against Pembroke.
Both Pembroke and Somerset fall back...
but Stanley keeps up the pressure.
Both combatants are being ground down in melee.
Finally, Pembroke, in an uneven exchange, breaks.
The Lancastrian Army breaks and withdraws.
Well! Another game and another loss for my Lancastrians!

Congratulations, Mark, on a game well-played.  I thought the Lancastrians had the upper hand at times, but it was not to be.

Reverting to an open table took some time for my brain to readjust.  I quickly adapted after a turn.  My initial impressions of the differences between gridded and non-gridded I save for a follow-up discussion on the merits of each.  For now, I reckon we see a return to hexes next time.

Good fun!  Thank you, Mark!

34 comments:

  1. Another good and interesting read Jon and another hard fought one but the same result for the Lancastrians. I will be interested to see what you thoughts are on the gridded versus non gridded table.

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    1. Thanks, Donnie! Yes, I am 0-3 with the Lancastrians in this scenario. Not sure how to interpret these results.

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  2. Lovely looking battle Jonathan sounds like you like the grid without actually saying that.:-)

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks, Christopher! I do like grids but there are some downsides as well.

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  3. Well, I thought it looked better but that is probably the ground colour rather than anything about grids. Look forward to your cavalry and exotic mercenary input in future games. Maybe a gun or two later (I rather like the look of artillery of this period) ?

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    1. Anthony, next game out with be back to hexes but with a green ground color. Then, you can decide. I still need to field both cavalry and artillery before we see any of those troop types on table. I do have mercenary foot that I could push into the painting queue.

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  4. Whilst I much prefer the visual look of the non-gridded terrain, I can see that for remote games, grids are a bit of a no-brainer. Lots of nice eye candy as always, even if yet another loss for you Jon!

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    1. Thanks, Steve! I do like hosting remote games on a grid. It makes everything so much easier. Another loss...Don't fret, I am used to it.

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  5. Great looking game and another tough encounter.

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  6. Looks great and personally, I prefer non gridded games, but I can absolutely understand they make remote gaming much easier to administer, for several reasons.
    The Lancastrians cannot seem to get a break in this scenario!

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    1. Thank you, Keith! I know that you prefer the look of non-gridded games. Is it the Lancastrians that cannot catch a break or me? I reckon the fault lays with me.

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  7. Interesting! I look forward to reading your comments on grid v open Jon.
    Maybe the scenario is just too tough for the Lancastrians?
    Chris/Nundanket

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    1. The Lancastrians are capable of a win, but I may not!

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  8. Once again it was a closer outcome than you give your self credit for. Could’ve gone either way I think. Enjoyed playing this sans hexes but in the round I think I prefer hexes…less thinking involved, lol.

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    1. You are correct. The outcome could have flopped to either army, but Yorkist vicious counterattacks midgame spelled doom for my Lancastrians. I am in your camps on remote gaming on hexes.

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  9. I think the non-gridded games are slightly more visually appealing as well, but at the end of the day it is about playability. In the DBMM games we play we use flat pieces of felt to represent all terrain features including hills as it helps with accurate measurements and figures don't slide about. It felt odd the first time I played it, but within two turns the mind is seeing a hill instead of a piece of material.

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    1. Many do not care much for gaming on hexes, but I am lucky that players are willing to accept this structure and at least tolerate them for remote games. Like your felt terrain pieces, hexes tend to melt away during battle as well.

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  10. Great looking game Jonathan and well.... someone has to lose 😊
    I am glad it was fun.

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  11. Another great game Jon, the Lancastrians jyst can't seem to catch a break.

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  12. I can do no more than join the consensus that the open table has a visual advantage and the hexed table has a functional advantage - especially for remote play.

    In addition, three of your regular opponents (Mark, Tony and David) favour hexed tables anyway, so ‘reading’ the table becomes a more natural option for your zoom games.

    I find myself a little conflicted having spent so many years as a boardgamer and using Hexon terrain, but I think overall, I prefer the open table for figures, so that the figures are doing something different than my boardgames.

    having said that, I have just hexed out a board, with bigger hexes this time and this is purely to help me at the table with back pain ….. taking that measuring away considerable helps in that regard, so just a different perspective on the hex v open conversation, but I do think that I need to improve the ‘fit’ of terrain to the hex, if I am to properly enjoy it.

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    1. I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, Norm! There are trade-offs with both approaches. As you note, with hexes, terrain can be a limiting and sometimes unsatisfactory attribute. I need to work on terrain for hex play.

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  13. It does look better without hexes but if it's more efficient, it's no big deal, lovely figures, sounds like Tony dodged a bullet with the cursed Lancastrian command, maybe make Mark take the Lancastrian command to make it 3-1?
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain! I plan to leave Solden Hill for now and move onto another battle. Next time, Tony may take a command.

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  14. The game looks really good and the outcome exciting. Visually looks better and probably works nicely for face to face games. However, hexes probably provide a more practical playing solution for online games.

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    1. Thanks! I agree that hexes work well in remote games for all involved. I like hexes for F2F games too. Next time, I will use a green based hex system.

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  15. I'll hold off on any opinions on grid vs non grid till you express you own. But in the meantime, it looks like a fun game. 😁

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  16. It looked a great game either way, congrats to Mark on his win!
    I can think of a small advantage for non-gridded games played remotely, which is that if the host is being a neutral umpire, when moving the troops he will not be tempted to 'adjust' moves to be a little bit longer when advantageous... Or am I too cynical?

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    1. A non-neutral umpire? I cannot imagine such a situation.

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