Live Free or Die Rules - Battle of Princeton

LIVE FREE OR DIE RULES

Battle of Princeton

My friend, Ronald Polhill and I decided to give "Live Free or Die" AWI rules a go, and our conclusion is that we both enjoyed it and historically, at least for this battle, it played out well. For the most part, we enjoyed the various aspects of the rule set. Of course, how can you complain about the "Quick Reference Sheet" only being 1 page! And honestly, that is all you need for this game. The rules themselves were a simple, easy to read, and well organized. And for the book to have a scenario along with an order of battle for nearly every major AWI battle, what more can you ask? We enjoyed the importance of Command, its way of assigning command points to different units, how it worked, and without it being too difficult to grasp. Certainly, with the limited amount of commanders in the battle, this was an important factor. We also liked there being 5 DMZs (Disorganization in your units) before having to remove a stand in the unit. I think historically, disorganization was as much a factor, if not more than actual casualties, that effected the morale of that unit. And attaching a leader to a specific unit to remove a certain number of DMZs was brilliant, as historically we've read time and time again how a leader (i.e. Washingtond at Princeton) halted the wavering troops, changing the course of the battle. This attaching limits that specific leader in influencing any of the other regiments in the course of the battle during that moment of inspiration just like it really would so when you make this move and where becomes extremely important. We liked how a player only has "initiative" on charging or movement while the other phases are simultaneous. The turn sequence is simple. (1) Command Points and allocation of those points to each unit or units. (2) Initiative. (3) Leader Action. (4) Charges. (5) Firing. (6) Movement. (7) Melee. (8) Redress Ranks. We had to catch ourselves a few times being that moving comes after firing and after you move you can't fire in that same turn. So lets examine the highs and lows of the game and its mechanics!

(1) Command Points

I, for one, have never been a gamer too strict about command and control being that most games just play it that as long as a unit is within a certain distance of the commander, it is good to go. But I do realize historically how important command really was. In this game however, a Commander (Overall) and its Lieutenants are automatically given or roll for a certain number of command points. And since each different action for a unit costs 1 or more command points to act, allocating to whom you give command points is extremely important, thus giving command its just importance (but like I said before, not too difficult to grasp). The rule book gives, for each scenario how many command points the overall commader gets along with the possibility of the other leaders possibly rolling for more. This is simply done by rolling a D6 for each "star" that commander has and if a 5+ is rolled you get extra command points. The more the merrier! It takes anywhere from 1 command point (for most things) up to 3 command points (British Bayonet Charge) for a unit to do a certain act, more specifically as related to moving, charging or attaching a leader to rally a unit. Command only is factored into melee of a unit it is attached to. Both sides allocate their command points prior to rolling for iniative (so you are committed, in a sense). I for one, really liked this aspect of deciding how to allocate the command points and to whom.

(2) Initiative

One of the reasons I have loved gamemastering and playing Johnny Reb is that I have never been a big fan of "I go" "You go" and liked the aspect in JR that each unit is marked with a chit of what it is going to do and that unit is pretty well committed to what it is marked to do unless you change it to Conditional Hold which gives you a negative attribute. Here, though you aren't specifically marked, you are in the sense that since it takes a certain amount of command points to do something, and command points are assigned, you do have your orders so to speak. But since initiative only gives one or the other first dibs in charges or movement, I'm okay with this.

(3) Leader Actions

Timing is everything, especially in the midst of battle. And so, in this phase, if you attach a leader to a specific unit, you rally and subtract that leaders "star rating" to that units DMZ's it has suffered, thus giving it new life. This is imporant because in this game, if you get 5 DMZs on a unit, you lose a stand and have to make a morale check. So knocking some off right when the unit is possibly close to demoralization in the next round is the timely aspect of a good leader inspiring its unit. My only issue with this is that if it is repeated time and time again, that unit could remain in the battle longer than realistically being that casualities is still a factor that can diminish the fighting capability of a unit. I would consider that maybe a unit only get rallied once in a game by a leader.

(4) Charges

Charges were never a guarantee and aren't here as you have to roll 2D6 (for infantry) or 3D6 (for cavalry) to see if you can make contact with the enemy. And if you don't make it you also suffer one DMZ.. Either you do or don't and since it costs extra CP's (Command Points) to do so you have to make a wise decision or you wasted a command point. Melees are then resolved later in the turn sequence.

Closing Fire - If you are successful in a charge, the charged unit does get a hasty round of defensive fire along with any other units nearby within arc or fire range. The only good thing is none of those units get to fire later in the turn but may be influencal in stopping the charge.

(5) Firing

All the shooting is simultaneous (something I personally like) and resolved in any order the players choose. An infantry regiment (not artillery) with a leader "attached" may add firepower equal to that of the star rating of that leader.

Infantry Fire can be hasty fire or "volley fire". Nice touch but interesting aspect to this is that if you "volley fire" you can't move during the "movement phase" which in this game comes AFTER the previously listed turn phases.

Artillery Fire is done in similar matter to that of infantry with two D6 plus a bonus dice under certain target modifiers.

(6) Movement

This is an interesting aspect of the game as moving comes after firing and there is no more firing this turn. So movement is important to consider being the next turn charges and firing occurs first. Do you move up to set yourself up for a charge the next turn? Do you move up to fire the next turn? Movement is somewhat limited in this game as moving to the side or rear gives you a dreaded DMZ marker AND is at half speed. If you pass through another friendly unit (other than skirmishers) you gain another DMZ unless a leader is "attached". Formation change also incur a DMZd. And remember, each action requires a command point which you have a limited number of. So plan wisely.

(7) Melee

Here is where you see better trained units and leaders "attached" making a difference (as it should be) along with DMZ's coming into play (the one with more losing one D6 in the melee roll off. Whomever gets more rolled hits wins with a chart determining the outcome based on the difference between the roll off. (I really enjoy games that has this type of chart so there is no question of the result and effect).

Casualties and Morale

At any time, when a unit accumulates 5 DMZ's, a stand is permanetly removed from that unit (the excess DMZ's cleared off - interestingly) and a morale check is required. Of course (as should be), units that are better class have a better chance of succeeding a morale check (i.e. more D6 to roll) than those of lower class. If it fails, the unit retreats. A retreat may occur as a result of losing a melee or failing a morale test. If this retreating unit passes any other unit within 3" of a friendly unit, that unit gets one DMZ marker. AND if the retreating unit is of an equal or higher class than that friendly unit, that unit suffers 3 DMZ's but only the first friendly unit that sees it. And yes, if you have to pass through a unit to retreat, you guessed it, you get another DMZ.

Command Risk

Of course, the rules cover the possibility of a leader being a casualty.

(8) Redress Ranks

The units need to be at least 12" away from an enemy to try and recover some DMZ's and how many varies on the class of that unit. A 4th class unit (the worst) MUST have a leader "attached" to it for them to recover...which makes since when you think of a unit like militia.

Overall, as I have said, Ron and I enjoyed the game very much and think it is very playable. Sorry my pics below are backwards with the end of the game being first and the beginning last. What can I say, it's my first blog and I didn't know the first pics would be last and the last first...

Michael Wedding