It's a wet long weekend, so we weren't keen to go out today. Instead Catherine and I played a couple of games of Battle Cry; one scenario, played twice and with us swapping sides, with the victory going to the best aggregate score. Most scenarios in theses boardgames are unbalanced in some way, so this method of play ensures a fair assessment of victory. Sometimes all you have to do is lose less badly than your opponent did.
Anyway, we played the Newmarket scenario, which is fun because it features two roughly equal forces, with one attacking the other. The Union have a decent defensive position, so should win, but the Confederates have six command cards to their four, so have the advantage of being able to put together a killer hand.
Here's the setup. Most of the Confederates are massed in the centre, whilst the Union are split between their right flank and the centre. On the Confederate right/Union left two equal forces of cavalry and horse artillery face each other across the bed of a stream.
Breckinridge fell back to the relative safety of the VMI Cadets, whilst the Confederates advanced en masse. I managed to save up a decent run or cards to launch a strong attack on the centre, and this was the moment I started it.
The end. I played the Battle Cry card and used the combat bonus to collapse the Union centre. I won 7 - 5 (Victory is six flags, but I destroyed two units on the last turn).
I reorganised the Union line into something a little stronger, but Catherine was already causing casualties with long-range fire as she edged forward.
I pulled my cavalry into the main part of the battle, and used horse artillery to cover my flank there. Catherine brought up her cavalry in opposition.
My position was strengthened with some hastily constructed field-works. This is always a good card to get when you're the defender.
A series of melees saw my cavalry swept away, as well as the horse artillery. Some of my infantry stabilised that flank.
Confederate cavalry attacked a weakened Union unit to pick up their sixth victory flag.
I rather like this scenario, but there's still plenty more in the book I haven't played yet.
Using the 3D terrain really adds to the look of the game. When playing Borg games I usually use my Hexon tiles, but sometimes I just use figures on the supplied game boards, so I'll borrow the terrain idea in future.
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