There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost...Hanau, Hanau, don't dream it's over.
OK, OK. Perhaps I carry the homophone a bit too far in paraphrasing Crowded House but we know they won't win.
Scott sent a text late Saturday morning saying a buddy was making the drive north from Moscow for a boardgame session at 2pm and asked if I wanted to join in. The plan was to tear the plastic from Legion Games' La Bataille de Hanau and give it a run out on the table. Well, without much hesitation, I replied that I would be there to watch the action as they worked through both rules and scenario. I hopped into the car and off I went to Coeur d'Alene for the day.
Scott recently bought Hanau and Dale has the game on order. Me, I had never seen it before although I have another in the series, Le Retour de l'Empereur from the Vive l'Empereur series.
Now, I have never played my game or even read the rules, so this is all new to me. The Hanau game is a single mapper with only a few handfuls of units in play. Perfect situation to use as an introduction to the system in a group learning setting.  |
| The Hanau map. |
Scott commanded the French while Dale commanded the Allied Army of Austrians and Bavarians. I looked on. In this scenario, the Allied task is to block the road to Frankfurt as the French Imperial Guard comes pounding in their direction. |
| Scott carefully studies Dale's moves. |
After several hours of play, Scott managed to break the Allied Army and claim a Sudden Death victory. Interesting situation and interesting rules. Can the Allies pull out a victory on this field? I hope to find out one day.
Anyway, that is how I spent the second half of Saturday. Good fun!
Haha, "making the drive north from Moscow" is a somewhat disconcerting phrase for a European, Jon - until a split second after reading it, I realised there is probably a duplicate (or several duplicates) of almost every place name in Europe, somewhere in the US - this particular Moscow is the one in Idaho, presumably!
ReplyDeleteNice way for you to spend some time with a couple of friends - perhaps it will motivate you to get your Return of the Emperor out of its box for a run through?!
The game portrays an interesting battle, seldom put on table top. The map certainly has the look of what several of the accounts of the day describe.
ReplyDeleteNot a battle I know anything about but it looks a good boardgame and a pleasant way to enjoy a few hours.
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