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?!
I had the same thought re: 'Moscow' Keith!
DeleteYes, there is more than one Moscow, and this one is the Idaho one. Good sleuthing! We may see more of these games out on the table over the winter although there was talk of getting Advanced Squad Leader to the table too.
DeleteSteve, I could have been clearer but the "drive north from Moscow" carries a certain weight among wargamers.
DeleteThe 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.
ReplyDeleteQuite right, Joe! I have never seen Hanau out on the gaming table. We will need to work through a few more iterations to see if the Allies can possibly make a stand somewhere along the road to Frankfurt.
DeleteNot a battle I know anything about but it looks a good boardgame and a pleasant way to enjoy a few hours.
ReplyDeletePleasant way to spend the day, indeed!
DeleteA very clever post title Jon, but I now had that damned song as an ear worm playing on a loop in my head! Good to see you getting a game in at short notice too:). Out of interest, what unit size does one counter represent in this game? I only ask because I've always enjoyed it when Norm Smith has transferred board game action onto the table top.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Steve! The song is stuck in my head too. Counters are sized by strength points with each SP representing 300 men. Ground scale is 250m/hex. We discussed bringing this battle to the miniatures' table. While the map may seem to cover a lot of ground, the actual battle is confined to a much smaller axis of advance.
DeleteI like the oblong units. I very briefly had this and from memory I moved it on because of the rules …. Are they ‘heavy’?
ReplyDeleteI don't consider the rules heavy at all. The basic rules are 20 pages and well-illustrated. We went from punching counters to game layout to play with only a cursory glance at rules. Of course, we were looking things up as we went along and the QRS could be more complete, but the game played easily with minimal fuss. First impressions are that units fall to disorganization far too easily and take a minimum of three turns to recover retreating the entire time. Too much friction, there, I think but my first impression may change with more play. This may be the case where the Allies are simply very brittle.
DeleteLooks an interesting game, Jon. Did the game work well?
ReplyDeleteIt worked well, Ray! We enjoyed a very fun session and dinner!
DeleteA nice way to spend an afternoon. 😁
ReplyDeleteSure was!
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