Rust Memory Optimization

One of my goals this year is to learn new things that take more than a few weeks to learn. I've been learning Rust. One of the claims I saw is that Rust's borrow mechanics allow it to optimize better than C++ does. I wanted to see this in action so I ran some simple examples through godbolt. Here's some C++ code that reads from array A and writes to array B:

int test(const int* A, int* B, int i) {     int x = A[i];     B[i] = x+1;     int y = A[i];     return x+y; } 

This C++ code compiles to assembly, with -O2:

movsx   rdx, edx lea     rcx, [rdi+rdx*4] mov     eax, DWORD PTR [rcx] lea     edi, [rax+1] mov     DWORD PTR [rsi+rdx*4], edi add     eax, DWORD PTR [rcx] ret 

Note that it is loading DWORD PTR [rcx] twice and loading DWORD PTR [rsi+…] once. That means it's accessing A[i]'s memory twice and B[i] once. It knows that A hasn't changed and it knows i hasn't changed but it doesn't know that A[i] hasn't changed. It's possible that A and B overlap. That means it has to load A[i] twice, even though it's marked const.

Here's the Rust version:

pub fn test(A: &[i32], B: &mut [i32], i: usize) -> i32 {     let x = A[i];     B[i] = x+1;     let y = A[i];     return x+y; } 

and the output (some parts omitted):

push    rax mov     eax, DWORD PTR [rdi + 4*r8] … lea     ecx, [rax + 1] mov     DWORD PTR [rdx + 4*r8], ecx add     eax, eax pop     rcx ret 

This code has only two DWORD PTR accesses. It knows that A is a shared reference (so there are no other writers), and B is a mutable reference (so there are no other readers). That means it can conclude that A and B can't overlap. Once it's read A[i] from memory it doesn't have to read it again. Cool!

C (but not C++) has the restrict keyword for this. You can tell the C compiler "trust me, these don't overlap", but C doesn't check. Rust checks this at compile time.

So far I'm enjoying learning Rust. It has many of the things I wanted in a language since the mid-1990s. I don't know if I'll actually use it for a real project, but that's not my goal right now. My goal is to learn some new things that challenge my brain, and Rust is doing that for me.

Eye On Kickstarter #80

Welcome to my Eye on Kickstarter series!  This series will highlight Kickstarter campaigns I am following that have recently launched (or I've recently discovered) because they have caught my interest.  Usually they'll catch my interest because they look like great games that I have either backed or would like to back (unfortunately budget doesn't allow me to back everything I'd like to).  But occasionally the campaigns caught my attention for other reasons.  Twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Fridays, I'll make a new post in this series, highlighting the campaigns that have caught my attention since the last post.  In each post I'll highlight one campaign that has really grabbed my attention, followed by other campaigns I've backed or am interested in.  I'll also include links to any related reviews or interviews I've done.  Comments are welcome, as are suggestions for new campaigns to check out!

You can also see my full Kickstarter Profile to see what I've backed or my old Eye on Kickstarter page that was too unwieldy to maintain.  Also, check out the 2019 Kickstarter Boardgame Projects geeklist over on Board Game Geek for a list of all the tabletop games of the year.

Support me on Patreon!

So, without further ado, here are the projects I'm currently watching as of the fourth Friday of January, 2020:

Live Campaigns from Past Eyes:
APEX: Theropod Deck-Building Game by Outland Entertainment

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HIGHLIGHTED CAMPAIGN
School of Sorcery
by Dr. Finn's Games - 2 DAYS LEFT!

• Steve Finn has a reputation for designing amazing filler games, and, having played a number of them, I have to say the reputation is well deserved. His games are always fast, light, engaging, and interesting. School of Sorcery is his latest Kickstarter for an update to an older game of his (2015's Institute for Magical Arts) with new artwork and refined mechanics. Go ahead and grab this, I'm sure you won't be disappointed! And hurry, this was a 2 week campaign, so there's only a few hours left!

Collect magical items and build friendships to increase your influence at the School of Sorcery. This quick-paced strategic game for 2 players is a newly revised and updated version of Dr Finn's popular Institute for Magical Arts, successfully Kickstarted in 2015.

During the game, players compete to win magical items and characters at different locations. Each round has 5 Phases:
PHASE I: Collect Crystals - Collect 5 crystals
PHASE II: Cast Crystals - Using your dice roll, send crystals to desired locations
PHASE III: Use Portal - Using the portal, secretly send crystals to a new location
PHASE IV: Activate Powers - Activate the powers of your permanent cards
PHASE V: Evaluate Locations - Award sorcery cards at the locations

Features:
Simultaneous Decision-Making: Little downtime
Dice Mitigation: Multiple options for every dice roll
Unique Card Powers: Increases replayability
Fantastic Art and Colorful Graphics: nice to look at
Quality Components: shiny gems, punchboard player boards and locations, wooden tokens, high quality cardstock

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Pacific Rails
by Vesuvius Media

• Pacific Rails is a train game with a theme that I really find interesting. It's about the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, which I also coincidentally made a game about (see The Overland Route), though it's just a small 2-player, 18-card game. Pacific Rails looks like a fun, historical tile game and I'd love to give it a try someday.

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Return to Dark Tower
by Restoration Games

• Restoration Games has been breathing new life into classic games from decades ago. Last year's hit for them was a reboot of Fireball Island and now they're back with a completely reworked and modernized version of the classic Dark Tower. In this new iteration they've improved the gameplay, updated the art and graphics, blended the physical gameplay with an innovative app, and engineered an amazing tower that actually works in conjunction with the app via bluetooth. I just wish it wasn't so darn expensive! Still probably cheaper than getting your hands on a good copy of the original though...

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Jurassic Parts
by 25th Century Games

• I love puzzle and area control games and Jurassic Parts looks like a great one. Not because of the dinosaur theme, which is great, but because of the interesting area control puzzle aspect of it. As you use chisels to section off pieces of map you'll get rewarded based on how much you helped with sectioning off the map. The more you help the more fossils you'll get, so there's a really interesting area control battle along with a puzzle as you try to figure out how to best section out the play area so you can build the most complete skeletons.

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Migration Mars
by Enhance Games

• I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for a great space themed game, especially with roots in actual science. Migration Mars is about the race to build a sustainable human colony on Mars and it looks incredible. From the amazing buildings to the clean graphics, this is a game I'd love to get to the table.

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Citadel Deck Block
by Quiver Time

• Back in 2016 I reviewed the Quiver Gaming Case and thought it was outstanding. I still use it to this day to store and carry my Star Realms, Epic, and some other card games. Now the team is back with a deck box that is just as, or maybe even more incredible. The quality on Quiver Time's products is amazing and the engineering that has gone into the Citadel has resulted in an ingenious product. If you're looking for a high quality deck box, here's your answer!

Recruiting Co-designers / Assembling A Design Team

Ever since I recruited my friend Rick to work on Apotheosis (FKA Worker Learning), that game has made a lot of progress where it would certainly still be sitting in my notebook otherwise. That arrangement is working so well that I would really like to recruit other designers to help me progress my other stalled or (or un-started but promising) designs.

Here are a few of the designs I could imagine handing off to another designer at this point and letting them run with for a while, or working together with another designer on...

Well established designs that I could use help finishing:
* Automatown - worker placement/resource management game about building an army of robots (which are your workers)
* Odysseus: Winds of Fate - Adventure game about Odysseus on his way from Troy to Ithaca. Play as the Fates, who don't care what happens to Odysseus, but pass the time by betting on his progress (and then influencing it)

Established designs that still need work:
* Reading Railroad - Build words (a la Scrabble) to earn coins, spend coins to build track. Connect cities to earn pieces of set collection scoring

* Moctezuma's Revenge - push your luck / deduction game about looting temples, but some are cursed

Early stage designs that still need a lot of work:
* Rondel Role Selection - Shared rondel / resource management / Role Selection game about splicing DNA to make hybrid creatures such as Hippogriffs
* Kilauea - Mancala game about spreading your people across an island, and sacrificing them to the volcano gods to control the lava flow

* Joan of Arc - Bag building game with shared piece movement. Play as a voice in Joan of Arc's head, vying to get her to accomplish your goals.

Idea stage designs that sound promising:

* Dynasty - Spread your villages across China, upgrade them to Cities, and fill your player board with Culture. You'll assimilate other players' culture, and they yours. When someone becomes Emperor, the winner is the player who's culture is best represented.

* Scourge of the High Seas - Deckbuilder along the lines of Ascension, with 2 buy rows (Tortuga, where you buy crew, equipment and ship upgrades, and the High Seas, where you spend crew and equipment to plunder ships)

Any takers?

Without Map Or Compass

In the original Legend of Zelda the Map and Compass are indispensable for surviving dungeons and reaching the boss. The map shows you the layout of the dungeon and the compass positions you in it.

In the pilgrimage of the Christian life, I think the map would be the teachings of Our Blessed Lord and saviour, preserved in the Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church that He founded- this constitutes the way to Eternal Life.

The compass I think would be the interior life, the daily life of prayer composed of mental prayer, examination of conscience and perhaps above all, the sacrament of confession. Through these powerful means we can discern where we are headed, how we stand with regards to that map, whether we are near the end of the dungeon, close to completing it, or perhaps down a dead end.

How tragic for the worldlings and for the followers of false religions, they have neither map nor compass- where will they end up? They can send Link a thousand times round the dungeon but without map or compass they have little chance of coming out alive.

Praise be Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ for providing us with the Map and Compass in His One True Church.

Kanto Underground

During my visit with Poké Maniac Bill, he mentioned a Pokémon tournament that was being hosted in Vermilion City. He had been invited to attend, but his illness was currently preventing him from traveling. He'd given his tickets to some other trainers, but assured me that if I made it in time they would consider me a contender with two gym badges. So after acquiring the Cascade Badge from Misty, I decided my next destination in Kanto would be Vermilion City. The tournament was held aboard a luxury cruise ship named the S.S. Anne where it was being hosted to entertain passengers with displays of Kanto Pokémon and its trainers. Local trainers were organized into tiers and allowed to battle the crew, interested passengers, and each other for various prizes. Key among the prizes was a Hidden Machine, a secret technical machine, that allowed certain Pokémon the ability to learn useful skills that they wouldn't otherwise have access to. This one in particular was owned by the captain of the S.S. Anne and was able to teach lucky Pokémon how to adeptly cut through overgrowth. I was interested to say the least.
Just south of Cerulean City lived a kind old man in a secluded homestead offering a Pokémon Daycare service. This kind of small business is a lot more widespread nowadays, but back then it was a bit of a novelty. He allowed any trainer registered within the Indigo League of Kanto to leave one Pokémon in his care for a nominal fee. I had never heard of anything like this at the time, but after our brief conversation, I used Bill's transfer system to bring Charlie out of storage and into the old man's care. At the daycare, he would get lots of exercise and activity and be allowed to play and train with other Pokémon instead of just waiting in storage. It seemed like a really good way to get him some extra training in case anything unspeakable ever happened to Kiwi. The old man assured me that he'd been doing this for a long time now and Charlie was in good hands.
I was attacked by some wild Pidgey on Route 5, but I decided to save my Pokéballs for better options since I had Kiwi and Charlie as members of Team Fox. It didn't seem prudent to waste the resources on a third fighting Pidgey. It was during this time between Cerulean and Vermilion that I was starting to think about the future battles. I had to be careful with upcoming Gym Leaders and at the Indigo Plateau and I had to plan accordingly. After passing on acquiring a new Pidgey on Route 5, I made an effort to avoid more wild encounters in the future unless I was ready to add a potential candidate to my team. The way I was training my Pokémon meant that every new capture had to be strategic going forward. An army of Pidgey weren't going to win me the rest of my battles.

I was pretty oblivious to this at the time, but the region of Kanto was in a bit of upheaval the first time I was there. As I mentioned, I wasn't really aware of Team Rocket much before my unfortunate encounter with them at Mount Moon. I didn't realize what a hold they had on the region. I also didn't realize that things were changing rapidly since their operation at Mount Moon crumbled. For a long time the organization moved in the shadows, acquiring Pokémon and using them for illegal activities without drawing much attention to themselves, but things were now changing since two local trainers had them riled up. I mention it now because typically moving south from Cerulean, you would end up in Saffron City before heading to Vermilion City, but Saffron was under a bit of a lock-down thanks to Team Rocket activities. Police sentries were posted on all sides of the city and were not allowing anyone in or out of the city. They tried to explain the situation to me the best they could, but I really didn't understand the gravity of it and they got impatient trying to explain to me why I needed to get to Vermilion another way.
This other way was an underground passage originally intended to be developed into a subway system to and from Saffron City. It's development had been abandoned due to escalating economic tension between the local government and Team Rocket. It now served as a convenient, although shady, underpass between Cerulean and Vermilion, as well as Lavender Town and Celadon City. You could bypass Saffron City entirely this way. The path was reasonably lit and maintained by local volunteers. Pokémon battles were prohibited and efforts were made to repel Pokémon from infiltrating the path as long as it was needed. Apparently Saffron had been cut off from the world for some time in order for this to have been as well established as it was, but again I was ignorant of the state of affairs in Kanto at that time. I merely enjoyed an uninterupted stroll underground, picking up various shiny objects I happened upon.

I arrived in Vermilion City sometime in the evening. I managed to secure a place to sleep for a few nights and then set out to learn what I could about the local Pokémon scene. I could see the S.S. Anne to the south all lit up like an angry Electrode. Tomorrow I would have to find a way to get into the tournament aboard and hopefully earn my access to that Hidden Machine, but I did have a few other concerns. The gym leader in Vermilion was not a push-over and he favored electric attacks above all else. It earned him his nickname as Lt. Surge. As it stood, my team consisted mostly of flying Pokémon who would easily be burst out of the sky by a well placed thunderbolt. Kiwi, Lucky, Vesper and Shakespear were all going to be huge liabilities in the Vermilion Gym. Arnold had recently evolved on his way south through Route 5 and 6, but I wasn't sure that my powerful Gloom could stand up to the kind of voltage Lt. Surge was known to put out. It seemed clear that Arnold and Rascal Jr. Simply weren't going to be enough to ensure a victory here in Vermilion. If I were going to get a new Pokémon, then the battles aboard the S.S. Anne would be a great training ground for them, so I set out that evening to add one more friend to my roster.
Vermilion City is the busiest port in the Kanto region and naturally surrounded mostly by water. Water-based Pokémon weren't going to stand a chance against Lt. Surge when I went to face him, so I had to look somewhere else. I had overheard that just beyond the city limits was a small rock tunnel the locals called Diglett's Cave, because it had been dug out by a large colony of Diglett and Dugtrio. Though it was a bit unsettling to crawl into their nest, I knew a Diglett or a Dugtrio would be the perfect addition to the team and the perfect counter to Lt. Surge. Their ground affinity would make them immune to any electric attacks Lt. Surge could throw at them. So despite my apprehension and the apparent dangers of crawling into a Diglett tunnel at night, I felt I had no choice.

Almost instantly I was assaulted by a Diglett who did not like me mucking around in his home. He was a quick! It was tricky to pin him down with my team. Lucky was able to put him to sleep with the powder off his wings, and it took a few balls to snag him without causing him to faint. Fortunately, we captured Douglas before any reinforcements could arrive and we made a hastey retreat from Diglett's Cave. Douglas replaced Shakespear on my team since official Pokémon League rules only allowed a trainer to carry a maximum of 6 Pokémon. Shakespear would rest comfortably in Bill's Storage System while Douglas stayed with me to train up for the Vermilion Gym. I slept easy that night knowing that Douglas would secure my victory against Lt. Surge and all I had to do now was get aboard the S.S. Anne to do some intensive training - and get my hands on that Hidden Machine.

Current Team:
Attacks in Blue are recently learned.



Bill's Storage: Shakespear (Spearow)

Old Man Daycare: Charlie (Pidgey)

Chaikin Curves

Sometimes I want to draw Voronoi or similar polygons in a rounded form:

I use a process called Chaikin's Algorithm for this.

Start with a polygon:

Original polygon

Mark the midpoints of each side:

Polygon with midpoints

Then construct quadratic Bezier curves. Each original vertex becomes the control point of the quadratic Bezier, and the two adjacent midpoints become the two end points of the Bezier:

Quadratic bezier curves

Super simple to implement! If you don't have a quadratic Bezier drawing function, you can use the De Casteljau Algorithm to subdivide the original line into smaller lines. Repeat this until you get line segments that are fairly close to the quadratic Bezier.

I used this for this project and this project.

A Little Touch Of Leipzig (In The Night)

Apologies for the obscure 70s music reference ! Some of you may recall that we started to delve back into the wonderful world of 15mm Napoleonic gaming recently after I finally put together my Quarrie / GdeB mash up rules. A rerun of Albuera ensued recently and that went quite well so it was time for a second go with the "new" rules. We decided to move away from the Peninsula and try some Central European action to see how those armies performed. I will put a link to the rule amendments at the end of the post.

Italian Light Infantry masquerading as Young Guard

I picked the 1813 Dolitz & Probstheyda Scenario from the Napoleonic Scenarios 2 book from Partizan Press, avaliable below,

https://www.caliverbooks.com/Partizan Press/partizan_NS.shtml

An excellent set of scenario books perfect for any rule set. Even with over 6,000 15mm figures for the period I had to make some compromises as I have no Austrians and no French Guard, so my Italian Guard and Russians had a run out instead.

Historical Background 

We will all be familiar with the background of the Battle of Nations and this game represents a small section of that battle, the centre of Napoleons positions in the South of the battlefield to be precise. The game represents the Allied attack of the 18th October and is a simple attack and defend scenario.

Russian Cuirass

Set Up 

12 x 6 table with the Allies marching on the table on move 1 from the left, as viewed in the photos below,

Allies March On

From the French Lines

A fairly straightforward battlefield, there is a line of two villages and a farm along the centre of the table, Dolitz, furthest from the camera, Dosen in the centre and then the Meusdorf Farm. The Farm and Dolitz each had a small wood adjacent to their left flank. On the far side of the table there is another wood and the edge of a steam.

The rear of the French Line is dominated by a ridge line on which the village of Probstheyda is located (green copper spire church) with a fifth and final village, Lossing, which is level with Probstheyda and behind Dolitz.

French Infantry in Dosen

French Orbat

For general stats see the Quarrie / GdeB mash up rules post below, any variations on the standard charts to reflect the lower standard of some of the French units is noted below.

C in C - Murat

Augereau - IX Corps
Brigade Sierawski - 3 x Polish Line Battalions (2 x 36 figs and 1 x 32 figs) and 1 6pdr Polish Foot Battery. Set up between Dolitz and the stream.
Brigade Lagarde - 2 x Legere Battalions (36 , 30) and 2 x Ligne Battalions, both 36, both -1 on standard French Morale. 1 x 8pdr Foot Artillery. Set up in and around Dolitz.
Brigade Semele - 1 x 36 Fig Legere Battalion, 2 x Ligne Battalions 1 x 36 and 1 x 30, the 30 man unit is a- 2 on Morale. 1 x 8pdr Foot Artillery.
Brigade Sulkowski - 1 x 18 man Polish Uhlan Regt and 1 x 6pdr Polish Horse Art.

Probstheyda

Victor - II Corps
Brigade Dubreton - 1 x 36 Legere Battalion, 3 x Ligne Battalions 2 x 36 and 1 x 30 (also -1 morale). 1 x 6pdr Foot Artillery. Set up in and around Dosen.
Brigade Dufour - 1 x 36 Ligne, 1 x 30 Ligne, 1 x 30 Legere and 1 x 24 Ligne (-1 Morale). Set up around the Farm.
Brigade Corbineau - 1 x 18 Hussars, 1 x 6pdr Horse Art. Set up between Dosen and the Farm.

French Cuirass

Oudinot  - Guard Corps (all in Reserve behind ridge, activated the turn after one of the front villages is either assaulted or fired on by musketry.
Brigade Pacthod - 4 x 32 Young Guard, 8pdr Foot Artillery
Brigade Curial - Italian Guard Grenadiers, Italian Guard Fusiliers both 30 figs, Italian Guard Velites 32 Figs, Italian Guard Foot Artillery 12pdr.
Brigade Bouresoulle - 3 x 24 Fig Cuirassier, 1 x 24 Dragoon (inferior mounts)

On a roll of 12 on initiative - Napoleon arrives anywhere on the French baseline escorted by 1 x 24 Guard Lancer and 1 x 24 Guard Chasseur.

Italian Guard on the ridge

Allied Army

C in C Schwarzenberg (remember Russian troops have been substituted in for Austrians)

Hesse Homburg - move on table opposite Dolitz
Brigade Roth - 3 x 48 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions one with -1 morale. 3 x 36 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions one with -1 morale. 1 x 6pdr Prussian Foot Artillery.
Brigade Mezentzov- 1 x 48 Fig Russian Infantry Battalion, 2 x 36 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions both with -1 morale. 1 x 30 figure Prussian Landwher, 1 x 6pdr Prussian Foot Artillery.
Brigade Vassov - 1 x 36 Fig Russian Grenadier Battalion, -1 morale. 2 x 16 Fig Prussian Hussar one with + 1 morale and 1 x 6pdr Prussian Horse Art.

Cossacks in a wood, what a surprise 

Gorchakov - move on table opposite Dosen
Brigade Grenadier - 4 x 32 Grenadier Battalions, 2 Prussian, 2 Russian. 1 x 6pdr Prussian Foot Artillery
Brigade Laelin - 1 x 24 Russian Guard Cuirass, 1 x 24 Russian Cuirass
Brigade Larkov - 2 x 24 Russian Cuirass

Russian Infantry Battalions attack

Barclay move on table opposite the Farm
Brigade Pirch  - 1 x 32 Prussian Fusilier (+1 morale), 1 x 32 Prussian Musketeer, 2 x 24 Reserve Prussian Infantry, 2 x 24 Prussian Landwher.
Brigade Von Kluse - 1 x 32 Prussian Fusilier (+1 morale), 1 x 32 Prussian Musketeer, 2 x 24 Prussian Reserve Infantry, 2 x 24 Prussian Landwher, 1 x Prussian Foot Artillery, 1 x 16 Landwher Cavalry.
Brigade Oldenkop - 5 x 32 Fig Russian Infantry Battalions (2 are -1 morale) and 1 Russian Position Battery
Brigade Zilowski  - 1 x 24 Russian Uhlan, 1 x 18 Russian Hussar, 1 x Russian Horse Artillery.

Prussian Reserve Infantry on the move

How did we get on 

We actually played through the scenario twice and it was quite an interesting experience having a go at a Central European battle after the Albuera Peninsula game. National Characteristics definitely give each army a personality and once you become aware of its strengths you start to alter your tactics to those of that nation, something I have been after in a game for a long time.

1st shot 6 gun battery, low ammo !

Normally I let the photos follow the story of the game but on this occasion they are a bit random, one because we played through twice and secondly because I was too busy taking notes about the rules rather than what was happening in the games.

Prussian Infantry attacking the Farm

In game 1 the match was over pretty quickly, the attack on Dolitz was a bloody affair with the Russians failing to gain any headway against the village and the Polish Infantry who had formed a line behind the stream. It wasn't long before the attacking Russians were streaming back to the baseline.

Another view of the Prussian attack on the Farm

In the centre the Allies sat there and got shot ! The Russian Guard Cuirass ended up retiring off the table without moving forward at all. That woke the rest of the troops up and there was a glorious charge against a gun line (see top photo) at the end of that game.

Waiting to go again in game 2

The Farm side of the table ground to a stalemate fairly quickly, the attack started on the Farm but all the French Heavy Cavalry came out to play, putting the Prussian Infantry in square ending any movement. With all the Russians running away at the end of our first session we decided just to reset and go again. I made a couple of changes to the orbat (the French started with the Guard Cavalry in game 1). Overall an easy Victory for the French in our first run through.

French Infantry in Dosen

Another aspect of game 1 was the atrocious dice rolling of the Allies (including myself) the double one for the Russian Artillery in the photo above was just the start, we have all had it, those days where you can't roll over 5 on 2 d6 until you need to roll low when you roll a double 6 !

French in the Farm

Game 2 went on for a lot longer (3 sessions) and was a much closer affair. We realised that we had been allowing too many people to shoot out of built up areas which made the approach to the villages a bit easier and the removal of the Guard Cavalry made the French player a little bit more cautious.

Attack on Dolitz in Game 2

The Russian attack on Dolitz was more sustained and they had a good deal of success against the French in the wood near the village, however the downfall this time was the Polish on the flank who pushed home their own attack in support of the village, there were some further shocking die rolls by the Russians but all in all a much closer battle.

French Cavalry mass behind the lines

In the centre the Allies wisely stayed out of range of the French Artillery, this time the French Cavalry massed behind the lines in the centre of the table but it all ended up with a lot of posturing. The Allies never got a clear run at a target whilst the French kept failing command rolls and remained on Hold orders behind the central village.

Cossacks skirmishing against Young Guard

The area around the Farm got a bit more fruity this time, this time the Russian Infantry led the attack, one thing we have quickly learnt is there is no point messing about firing Russian Infantry, get them stuck in as soon as you can. A battle raged over the woods adjacent to the Farm and the French sent two units of Young Guard to hold the line.

Prussian Infantry supporting the Russian attack

The Russians attacking the Farm failed to charge but those in the wood unceremoniously dumped the Young Guard out of the cover and into the path of a waiting Russian Hussar unit.

End of the Young Guard

The French committed the Italian Guard to hold the line in that area, the Allies had turned the flank but the new line at a right angle anchored on Probstheyda was pretty strong but was lacking Cavalry support.

We finished the game at this point entering a period of stalemate, the Allies had made more progress than before but had failed to get into the villages, with a bit more luck on dice rolls we could have got into the front line of built up areas but I don't think there is enough to get into the rear towns, it also felt that the French had a lot of artillery and with the ridge line they could often get multiple batteries on one unit when needed.

Italian Guard coming to the rescue

Rules Development 

The original Quarrie / GdeB mash up rules post can be accessed below,

https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2018/10/quarrie-to-general-de-brigade.html

There is still some work to do to get them perfect but I am happy with the progress and it's given me a renewed interest in Napoleonic gaming (which was my first gaming period) after years of inactivity so that in itself is a huge positive.

General de Brigade makes it harder to get into contact than other rules but when you do melee is over quickly, usually in a single round and there is none of the enormous black holes pulling in multiple units into massive combats which last 3 plus turns like say Gilders which needs a change of mind set from players of those sets.

The magic floaty tree

We found getting into contact a real problem in this game which is interesting as that wasn't an issue in the Peninsula bash, maybe we were expecting the British to shoot units off ?

The main discussion point and change from the game was the +1 for infantry charging in column. Infantry now has a charging factor for melee and a confused factor when not. We found that a plus 1 on top of the Impact factor was too much but we needed to reflect the impetus of charging in column so the decision was to count the Impact factor as the charging column factor and add a -1 to the Impact when charging in any other formation. The exception being the British.

I hope to get at least one more Napoleonic Game in before Xmas, oh the joy of too many collections ! Next game, currently on table is Spanish Civil War.