Piquet Bloody Infantry: More musings on a perfect rule set

 I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been playing games.  I am playtesting my bomber rules for Boom and Zoom and actually sent a one page "sell sheet" to Osprey games.  Fingers crossed.  I also am planning a game at Waterloo games in Richmond. 

Testing rules over Germany!

I have also been playing PBI.  

A Marder waits in ambush!

I have even pushed the system into Vietnam.  I haven't done Afghanistan as am unclear what to do with body armor.  [ I know there was body armor in vietnam but it was no where as effective as later!

I play all my games solo and something seemed to be missing with PBI.  Hence I started musing on my perfect ruleset again to see what it was.  [ I posted on my perfect ruleset last Sept.  Sorry I don't know how to link to it.]  As a quick recap my 6 criteria are:

1. Has to work with a company of troops per side

2. Command and control is paramount.  I have to feel like I am in command and that leadership makes a difference.

3. Has to have a smooth combat resolution that isn't fiddly

4. Has to be solo friendly

5. Battles have to be resolved in a relatively short amount of time.

6. Has to be flexible enough to cover WW II to Afghanistan. 

Now I freely admit that this list and my opinions are subjective.  Everyone has their own criteria.  What is fiddly and long to me might not be to you.  Fortunately we have many rule sets to choose from.

I reviewed PBI a couple posts back so I wont re review it here.  Suffice to say Martin set out to make a game where two chums  bring their armies to a table, roll up a battle that is fair and have a go in a couple of hours with reasonable history and results.  I think he has succeded very well.  

So as I reviewed my list with PBI:

#1?  Check.  It works well with a platoon up to company.

#2?  Check.  It has a simple command and control system that actually works very well. I tried to modify it a couple of times but kept coming back to the original.  It is simple but works well.

#3?  Check  I modified this a bit with two "5s" allowing you to also roll for a pin result but otherwise another simple system that works quite well.  The more I have played the infantry part the more I appreciate the anti-fiddly approach to combat.  You are either fine, pinned or killed.  I thought you also had to have disrupted; turns out you don't!  

#4?  Not sure here.  It isn't solo unfriendly.  But the Igo-Ugo sequence doesn't lend itself to many surprises.  

#5? Check.  Having a set number to roll towards does end the game.

#6? Not really.  But I don't think it would be that hard to transfer it to more modern settings.

So you can see that I was stuck on #4.  

So I thought about Piquet.  Piquet's sequence deck is very solo friendly.  The problem I have with the original Piquet: Blitzkrieg is 

#3   Combat is fiddly.  There are 4+ modifiers and you have to switch to different dice. 

#5   Sometimes battles flow well but other times all you need is an infantry move card and you have to burn through a whole deck to get to the last card.  Could I rationalize that I could never get that platoon to move; sure.  Was that fun; no.  

So after hearing about Brent Oman's latest project, Battle Command I thought I would try a Piquet Variant sequence with PBI--- Piquet Bloody Infantry.  If you are not interested in some of the details skip down to "How did it go" and go straight to the battle report.  Otherwise:

Both sides get an asymetrical seqence deck per Blitzkrieg [ or Forgotten Heroes] but there is only 1 card of each type except for two officer check cards.  Any star or dud leader gets his own card.  He can act [ or prevent action] on his card. Each deck ended up with 10 cards.  You still roll LD for impetus, ties even result in a event card draw.  Ties odd result in reshuffle of the deck.  If you win impetus by 1-2 you draw a card then your opponent.  If you win by 3+ you draw 2 cards then your opponent draws 1.  

Each card does have an alternate use such as amour fire-- Infantry move.  Only one unit can use the alternate use.  This is meant for those situations where, "The only thing I have to do is move this one unit."  To use the alternate use roll that units quality [ or LD ] vrs a D6.  Lose have to do primary action. Tie or win by 1,2- your unit can do the alternative action. Win by 3+ your unit can do the alternate action and everyone else can do the primary action.  

Dug out my old Piquet cards I made!

The rest of the game is played per PBI.   When you fire you roll a die, odd the unit fires twice, even the unit fires three times.  For movement, roll a D6, 1-2= 1 hex, 3-4= 2 hexes, 5-6 = 3 hexes.  You rally troops on officer check cards which is why there are two in the deck.  Pinned troops can't move closer to the enemy and have half firepower.  

How did it go?

For my playtest I chose to ambush a FFL platoon in Vietnam in 1950.  This doesn't stretch PBI.  The french actually had 15 man squads so two of my squads will have 4 bases not 3.  I already have a french platoon rolled up from grunts Forward.  I made a table up of why people joined the legion.  I really need to post it here.

Lt Carville is a brilliant officer who comes from wealth.  He joined the army and legion to get back at his liberal parents.

1st Sq Ld is Sgt Anderson An american veteran of WW II he got his girlfriend pregnant and never looked back.  He is an average leader but his squad is veteran.

2nd Sq is Sgt Dietz.  Also a WW II veteran but on the other side.  Needed a job and wanted to leave a devastated Germany.  He is an average leader

3rd Sq is Sgt Loc. A local boy who made good.  He struck an officer so joined the Legion.  He is a very good leader.

 

 My FFL platoon.  Two stars are identified. Each squad made up of a LMG and at least one SMG stand which can fire 2 hexes because each hex is 30 yards instead of 60 meter squares for PBI.  We have halftracks, a greyhound and 3 large trucks filled with cheese.  

As this was a test I did not roll up the enemy.  There is one platoon of VM + a recoiless rifle.  I gave them a mine on the road.  I rolled up quality and 1 squad was poor. 

French put the greyhound in the lead followed by 2 squads, the trucks and a squad.  Lt Carville is in the second halftrack.  VM dispositions as per picture.  Battle starts with the mine immobilizing the greyhound and the recoiless rifle missing the lead truck.  

Here is where the beauty of the card deck comes into play.  What happens next?  Who reacts first and how?

Even though Lt Carville is an above average leader (D8) vrs our VM Lt (D6) for the first turn I give both sides D6 due to surprise.  

 Not only do the french win the impetus but the first card drawn is armor move!  As rockets go off the legions driver's training kicks in and they immediately gun their tracks to move out of an ambush! 

Sgt Anderson, at the back of the line tells his driver to stop.  He wants to unload here and catch the VM from two sides. 

As they make there way across the road towards the RCL, gunfire erupts from the jungle.  Two men go down.  

 

Sgt Loc, at the head of the column, debusses and moves towards the ambush trying to protect the trucks which are caught in a jam.  They quickly become pinned down.  

In the center of the column VM swarm a truck, it is quickly destroyed!  

US satellite image 1 "turn" into the ambush.  To the right, Sgt Loc has forced the VM into the jungle. Lt Carville has finally debussed and is going to send Sgt Dietz against the RCL on the hill.  The RCL has destroyed the third truck.  Sgt Anderson is in the van trading fire with VM in the jungle across the road. A random event has improved the VM Lt's leadership.  He now matches Lt Carville which will make it harder to get inside the OODA loop and react faster than the VM.  On the third turn the legion will gain a tactical initiative card due to their training.  I don't know if we will have our last truck by then!

Here is a picture of Sgt Anderson's position.

 

3rd squad continues to move down the road trying to clear it of VM.  These poorly trained, pinned troops would be easy meat for Sgt Loc's SMG toting troops but he just can't seem to come to grips with them. Dietz if finding slow going towards the RCL.

For the VM this second turn changes from attacking trucks to battling well armed french troops.  As while it might seem slow to the french they have reacted very quickly to the situation.  

End of turn 2.  Both Sgt Anderson [left] and Sgt Loc [center] have managed to whittle away the squads they were facing.  The RCL escaped while Sgt Dietz climbed the hill. [top]   The last truck is safe [ right].  The greyhound [center] managed to move down the road after I drew a heroic event card followed by an armored car move card!  The 3rd VM squad [bottom jungle] withdraws.

Great battle that played in 20 minutes.  Operationally a draw as two out of three trucks destroyed but the VM lost two out of three squads while the french lost only the 2 men from Sgt Anderson's squad.  Tactically a french victory.

I really enjoyed the game; tense, fast and the combat was fast with no fiddle.  Could this be my perfect rules?  Will be interesting to see how it plays out with a company per side.  

I hope neither Brent nor Martin are offended by anything I have said.  I think both of their rules are great and have a lot to offer.  I freely admit as a solo gamer I am looking for some things quite specific.

Enjoy

Joe