Retreat from Moscow Playtest at Bruce M.'s

Taking advantage of an invite to participate in longtime gamer Bruce M.'s Retreat from Moscow playtest, I took off early from work and headed over to his palatial residence in the affluent Gig Harbor neck of the woods. Being with the hobby since time immemorial, Bruce has an extensive collection of figures, terrain and interesting artifacts. Bruce is no mean painter either and the figures for the game were mostly his. The rules which Bruce concocted are as always very interesting and fun to play. The combat (or melee as he likes to call it) is decided by D6's per figure after modifications. After rolling, the dice are lined up from highest to lowest, and then both sides compare scores - highest defeating lowest to determine casualties.

French starting their movement towards Paris

The victory conditions were the French getting off the far side of the table using the road. The Russians (which I sided with) scored, or lost points, by either capturing or killing French - including the capture of wagons/sledges. The Russians could also steal captured items/prisoners from other Russians. I tried this with my foot troops against mounted Cossacks - to my detriment.

Cossacks charging the French. Captured French were worth more than dead ones for the game. The wagons/sledges were worth the most.

This was the second playtest for the rules; although my first time playing them. They are easy enough to pick up by the second turn, yet interesting enough for a very enjoyable game. I believe Bruce plans to host this at next year's NHMGS convention, Enfilade!

French just past midway and heading into a village filled with ill-tempered peasants.

The far end of the table for the French. This was the side I was positioned on with several foot units. One an Opolchenie unit with spears. They attempted to assault a handful of French in a cabin, but were completely annihilated by them. I also ran the sledge mounted cannon - which had the crew fleeing from it after being defeated by more French in melee.

I think we played about 5 or 6 turns and called it a slight Russian victory, as most of the French had been either killed, captured or pretty well surrounded by Russians. This was all after another unit of Russians I ran were decimated by Cossack cavalry, after I had impetuously tried to steal the carriage they had captured.

It was a great mid-week diversion, and gave me an excuse to leave work early. It was also nice to see Bruce's collection again.

Bruce's game room and part of his extensive collection. In the far right corner of the photo is his Company B display table which he takes to conventions.

The Bosworth game is still a go for this Friday. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out using the "loyalty" mechanism.