First Game of Blucher

We started our first game of Blucher one evening last week & finished last night. The scenario was the Battle of Caldiero, one that I adapted from an Age of Eagles scenario and one I used for HFG in January. In my last post, I mentioned that we would dispense with the Blucher cards, however I had second thoughts & made up some for our game. The cards added a little uncertainty and facilitated marking units which weren't yet spotted or had moved.

Moving in Blucher is fairly easy to learn. We used playing cards to determine the momentum points for moving each side, which seemed to work well. Shooting & close combat are also fairly simple. You wear down enemy units by inflicting fatigue on them over multiple turns. It is unlikely that a fresh unit would be broken in a single turn.

We made one mistake during the game by not activating units that tried to rally. However, both sides made the same mistake, so it didn't effect play balance too much.

Overall, the game seemed to flow well & we will definitely try it again.

Below is the game. The Austrians hold Caldiero (center) and the long ridge behind it. The yellow cards are Austrian units that haven't been spotted yet. The orange markers indicate units that are "prepared" (in square, etc.). The small die behind each stand indicates that stand took losses and it's current elan or ammo (in the case of artillery).

Below, a closer look at Caldiero. The Austrians would be driven out of the town and off the ridge behind when we called the game, but casualties on both sides were even. Both armies were 2-3 units away from the army break-point when we stopped.

Marshall Andre Massena urging his men forward below.

Our next game should go faster, as we are now fairly familiar with the game mechanics.