FoG Battle Report from KublaCon

After a quick resetting of the figures and a hasty lunch, I reran the exact same battle using the Field of Glory rules.

Many of the same players showed up for this game, with a few new ones. The army was roughly the same size, and since I kept the same terrain and setup, the troops started quite close to each other for a standard FoG game.

As a result, the two sides were able to exchange some bowfire on the first turn. The Warwick forces again tried to push on the flanks, while holding back the center. The Irish closed with the longbow on their flank, and fought for quite a while, but couldn't do much damage. Things were not helped by unfortunate variable charge rolls by the billmen supporting the Irish, which left them open to an additional turn of fire from the longbow. After four hours of play, and seven turns, the Warwick forces broke, having failed to break through on either flank.

It was interesting to compare the two battles. This saw much more melee than the DBMM game, but there were some similarities. The Irish made a serious attempt to engage the king's forces on their flank, but ended up only holding them in place for a while. The king's bodyguard once again proved decisive, leading the final charge through the enemy flank that ended the game.

On the pure measure of fun, I have to say that FoG seems to have been enjoyed by more people. This may not be entirely fair. While the armies were roughly the same size in number of stands, the DBMM game was moderately large for a three-hour game, while the FoG game was just about the right size. Also, because the FoG game started with the forces closer together than they would normally be, the game came to a resolution more quickly.

There are definitely aspects of FoG that make it easier for beginners to pick up, though. Since the main unit is the Battle Group, and not the element, there are far fewer details for a player to mull over each turn while considering what to move where. Unlike DBMM, FoG definitely does encourage forces to close with each other quickly, particularly when facing bowfire. Whether or not this is entirely historical (and in this particular scenario, I think it was), it certainly makes the game move more quickly.

If I were only concerned with putting together a decent game, and one in which many of the players are not all that experienced with the rules, I think I would tend to favor Field of Glory.