As you can see the French have a strength of 14 pts and the British only 6 pts. Both players start by placing their marker pawns on the appropriate column of the Combat Chart.
Now both players roll four dice and each player can use the Glory points of the most senior Leader in the area [or the Glory points of subordinate junior Leader at the player's choice] to reroll any dice that have not scored a 5 or a 6. If you do choose to use a subordinate junior Leader, beware. He has to roll for survival after the battle!
For the example, note very carefully that in the French Commander's box is the number 12 and in the British Commander's box the number 8. This is crucial because if the French player's four dice do not eventually add up to 12, they can count none of their 6s and 5s as successes, whereas the British player's four dice only have to add up to 8 for any 5s or 6s to score.
Continuing our example, the French rolls 6,4,3,1 and the British player rolls 6,5,1,1. The French player decides to spend three Glory pts to reroll the 4,3,1 and rolls 5,1,1. The British player spends two Glory pts to reroll the 3 and 1 dice and this time rolls 5 and 3. So now the French dice are 6,5,1,1 and the British are 6,5,5,3.
Finally each player can spend Glory pts to make their opponent reroll successes. The French player's Leader is getting low on Glory points and decides to spend only two Glory points to make the British player re-roll a 6 and a 5. The British player also spends two Glory points to make the French player roll their 6 and 5. The new rolls are 6 and 3 for the French player and for the British player 5 and 5.
So, the final results are French dice 6,3,1,1 and the British dice are 5,5,5,3. Looking back to the Combat Chart, the French player's 4 dice total is only 11 and so not having achieved 12, the French player's single 6 is not counted as a success. Whereas the Allied player's dice add up to 18, far more than the necessary 8 and so all three of his dice that rolled a five are successes and a final check on the Combat table shows that for each 5 rolled he inflicts 2 hits. Consequently, the British inflict 6 hits and the French none at all.
Please note that reading my example takes at least three times as long as actually rolling the dice and resolving the battle!! The loser retreats and, in the example I’ve used, as the loser was the active French player, they would have to place a Momentum marker and the Allied player becomes active.
The construction of the Combat table is an ingenious way of factoring in differences between nations and the quality of their troops. In this game, the British have by far and away the best units, far superior to their Russian and Neapolitan allies and the Calabrian guerrillas, but there are only a maximum of 14 British units, whereas the French who are the best in quality after the British possess the potential to have 45 units in the campaign!
For me, these concepts are the crowning success of the game system's combat and the designer, Andy Rourke’s signature most original idea. With any conventional combat system or CRT that I know the only way to achieve this is by boosting the British combat factors to ridiculously high levels or incorporating a mass of chrome rules. These considerations are highly important for the game’s success both as a game and in having the ability to simulate widely varying types of campaign, while retaining ease and speed of play.
As with the first game, sieges and uprisings play their appropriate part too and are handled largely in a similar manner, but with one or two neat little tweaks to reflect this specific conflict. So too is there a naval aspect, but whereas in Limits of Glory: Napoleon’s Eastern Campaign this was highly abstracted and played a very brief role, in Maida 1806 it has been given a significant boost. In come counters for gunboats, barges, frigates and 3rd rates and some glorious crew counters, but all with the addition of a surprisingly low number of easy rules. I’ve greatly enjoyed their inclusion and the individuality they bring to the situation. If, as the French, you're going to invade Sicily or, as the Allies, try to stop them, you're really going to need and make good use of these units. A final touch that I like is that there are just about enough VPs on the mainland of Italy so you can just about win the game as the French without getting your boots wet, but you'll have the finest of margins for error. So, you are pushed in a historical direction just as the French were, but you're not hog-tied to that path. Just one more element in a game that I relish.
The nautical angle - a particular favourite
The attention to detail is magnificent!
The final component is the rule book which, as with its predecessor's proto-type, is a stark stapled black and white product which gives the bare bones of the rules with no examples or illustrations. At the moment it allows you to play the game. In its final production, I can say, with utter confidence, the quality will be outstanding and is the perfect complement to a product at the top of its game...and here's the rulebook cover for the first game in the series. If you want to see inside and see more of the physical quality have a look back at my reprise via this LINK.
For me Maida 1806 is even more of a cracker than the first in the series. Look out for its launch on Gamefound at the end of July and running through August; I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Meanwhile if you didn't pledge for the first game, I believe you might still be able to find a copy in the UK from Second Chance Games.
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