LaSalle 2

Tuesday afternoon presented a rare opportunity to game up at the club and Greg ran a game of new version of Lasalle with his 15mm figures.  We refought the Battle of Elchingen, with Steve commanding the French as Ney and me playing the Austrians as Riesch.  Greg adapted a scenario from the Age of Eagles ruleset.  This was the first time Steve and I have played the new version of LaSalle.  I I did play test an earlier version but the one that made it to print is very different.

Steve's French troops are of superior quality but must deploy from a bridgehead and then attack my plucky Austrians are setup along a ridge.  Like most games, I forgot to take a lot of pictures but history did not repeat itself.  My Austians were able to launch an attack on the French's left flanks just as they were launching their attack on my center - the French attack had trouble breaking my lines and got stuck in while my flanking attack was very successful catching some infantry battalion in square.  By mid-game the entire French left was in tatters and Steve elected to concede the field.  The Austrian victory was due more to our newness with the rules and the fact the scenario needs to be tweaked a bit more to make it more balanced.

So is LaSalle 2 Any Good?

I am intrigued with the rules, and definitely want to play them again but there are some good and really confusing aspects to them.

Good Stuff:

Sequence of Play

The turn structure is very fluid and your opponent can interrupt your turn based on your actions when your armies get close in.  I really like the structure and think it provides for a very fluid game with lots of hard tradeoffs.

Momentum Points / Command Friction

Each player is given a set number of momentum points based on force size and a minor random factor if you choose to commit your general and get a d3 roll of extra points.    The points are based on the number of brigades that are deployed on the table so it goes up or down based on reinforcements / losses.

Fire Combat

Artillery and musket fire use the same procedure that is simple and fun - you roll a d6 and every 4+ is a hit.  There is a second save roll for hits, with higher quality troops saving on a 1-4 and average quality 1-3.  An infantry battalion in line fires with 6 dice and an artillery battery fires with 4, which is double to 8 when in canister range.  There are optional rules to add flavor, so you anglophiles get one or two extra dive for the Brits.

Small Units

Infantry and calvary units consist of 4 bases - that make moving stuff really easy and for those of us from the church of six bases per battalion means our armies just grew by 50%.  You still get the grans look of a Napoleonic game but moving stuff is a lot easier - also 50% easier!

Confusing Stuff:

I haven't played enough to label anything as bad so will list out the "confusing" issues I have with the rules.

Melee Combat is Deadly - maybe too much

The close assault procedure is an opposed dice role where each player rolls a d6 and adds their current strength plus any modifiers for defensive terrain or formation (all of which are plus 1's) - so 2 full strength battalions running into one another have a strength of 6 which you add the roll of a D6.  If you loose the combat by 3 or more your battalion is destroyed and removed from the game.  Rolling a few "1's" at the wrong time can loose the game for you.

Skirmish Fire / Initiative Determination

Initiative is determined by each player rolling some D6 based on the units you have on the table, with every six counting as a success.   The player who rolls the most 6's gets the initiative for the turn and can decide who goes first.  You also get an extra momentum point.  Sounds great right?  Oh I should mention that the number of D6 you roll is based on the battalions you have on the field.  I had 6 Austrian brigades and about 22 infantry battalion (+/-) and was rolling 45 D6 each turn which was really tedious.  I understand the math behind rolling lots of dice as it evens out the chance for really random outcomes - like rolling a 1 vs a 6 in melee combat but the giant bucket of dice used here seems a bit of overkill 

Limited Role for Commanders

While we played with the basic rules, there didn't seem to be any of the Napoleonic flavor I expect from commanders - generals aren't really used expect to either add D3 of momentum points or you can plop them down once during a turn and perform a global formation change for any units within a set range.  That's it - that's all they do.  You also only have one per side - no St Cyr or Friants to help out in a nick of time.  Maybe I'm a little to "Hollywood" but I like my Napoleonic generals to be able to attach to units and influence combat or rally rolls and be at risk to enemy action.  In LaSalle your generals are essentially administrative counters

Overall, I think the rules are very promising.  They likely will not replace General D'Armee as my favorite but I think there are some really neat concepts in them and really do look forward to my next game with them.