Some Sharp Practice Napoleonic Action

After a very long delay myself and my friend Mike got together for a game of Sharp Practice in Rhode Island. It was our first game since last August so I was looking forward to it, as Mike is the only gamer in area (90 miles) who is a TFL fan aside from myself.

We had been playing the CoC Martlet campaign, but I really think that I (the British) had little chance of winning more than half way through so we put it aside and decided to have a go a Sharp Practice. 

I have to admit that I find SP a bit of a challenge; of all the TFL rules I have played I find these have the steepest learning curve. I think I have played two Napoleonic and two FIW games so far but maybe spread over 2 years so I am usually starting anew each game. My last game was in Montreal in August which we really messed up and that was FIW, a less complex game than Napoleonics due to the troops mostly being skirmish types.

Mike has quite a collection of Napoleonics for SP beautifully painted by Dani Dunbar. This includes, Brits, French, Poles, Brunswickers and Spanish. Most gamers though like to use their own troops so I brought my Brits. We decided I think on a 80 point base game and we ended up playing scenario 1 in the book giving us a grand total of 92 points. My base force was the Literary Company from the book  as was as follows.

British

Status II and I Leaders

3 units of Line Light Infantry

Status III and I Leaders

3 units of Skirmish Light Infantry

Rocket Troop with Status I Leader

Physic

Baricade

Marksman

French

7 Leaders!

9 Units of Skirmish and Line Troops

Scouting Officer

We actually got to play the same game twice over a period of about 4 hours, which really is pretty good. I have not put together a game reports but here are some photos.

The basic setup The Brits are advancing in the foreground.

The British Rifles took a real beating, from L-R: Brunswick Oels, 60th Rifles and 95th Rifles

As you can see the British really got shot up, you can see Sharpie skulking behind the church

French are advancing in force

Could not take down the Poles!

Well I have to admit to getting slaughtered both games. I am not sure what I did wrong, the first game I think I was just unlucky, the 2nd game started a little better but I just could not get my line infantry in position. In retrospect, I can think of a few things that I could have done differently but it was tough as Mike had 7 leader cards in the deck with 5 command cards while I had 5 and 4 respectively. 

Anyway it was tons of fun and it was great to game with Mike again. If you are interested in Sharp Practice, Mike is putting on a game at Huzzah in Portland, Maine on the weekend of May 18-20. I am hoping to be there.