A first game of Bloody Barons 2

Bloody Barons 2: new rules...
also my first game...

The Blue Duke of Rutting vs the Red Earl of Grope

Terrain choices (7)
P1 Wood, Field, Ditch
P2 Field hill rough
+ building, gentle hill, boggy marsh

The 16 zones are pretty easy to identify even without a grid.  

General's Attributes.   (Assaulter, Target, Unreliable, Morale)

Red 1 Earl Grope   11  A U
Red Sub 2 Lord Crewe     A U M
Red Sub 3  Lord Dance-Pole     U
Blue 1 Duke of Rutting   A U
Blue Sub Lord Scrape 2  A
Blue Sub 3 Lord Stretford T 

The Campaign  (the Piggy chase)

Red wins initiative rolls first.
Red  5, 1,1 4  1  3   stops 15
Blue  6  bust
Red 5, 2, 6 bust
Blue 5, 3   Stops 8
Red 5, 2, 1,4 3  Stops 30
Blue  1  5  2  5  1    Stops 22
Red  4   Wins  32

Level 3 Defence Blue result.  terrain moves.

Small Armies  22 points

1 Household Foot    @0
4 Retinue      @12
6 levy foot    @10
3 Generals

47 elements... the small army!  I`m halving that to use two elements and a d6 to reflect the unit strength of 8.

1. Defender loses 5 hits per zone.
2. Roll for each unit 9-10 off table

Scenario
26 x d6. 2 to 10 per category
Ambition and title
Red attacker 3+
This man is the Rightful King!  King Grope, its the man England needs.
Battle Craft and reputation
Blue+1
swap 2 attacker units in place
Chance and happenstance
Blue +1  gentle hill to rough  Yesterday's rain!
Deviousness and politic
Red +Blue Even

Battle Clock at 32  each player rolls d6 and deducts at end of turn.

Blue and Red after deployment, but before Blue rolls for being defender

The Duke of Rutting advances his ward whilst Lord Scrape holds on the reserve line

Lord Dance-Pole advances onto the rough hill forward left, having rolled the necessary 11 to enter terrain.  

Red advances int the village having (JUST) rolled the 11

Having attempted intense shooting and failed to score any hits the Blue Duke attempts an assault.  He passes the roll to assault into the boggy terrain and inflicts five hits.  The Red Earl opposite only inflicts two.   

The Blue ward has won the melee exceeding two hits over Red, and red attempts to save, but saves only one of the five.  
Red fails morale but "stands," "out of order."
Blue moves into the contested boggy zone. Blue in this ward will now count as better units and "winning."
Battle Clock at 13

Red fail to get out of the village.  The ditch is too deep?

Red assault the rough ground that was supposed to be a hill!  Blue defence is poor

But the Red attack is devastating.  Blue is sent reeling back

Worse, that's the Blue CinC, the Duke himself, and he is killed.

The Blue Ward routs back out of order

On the right the Blue ward finally gets into that field.

Back in Blue Centre left Lord Scrape attacks in some style 

The Red forces are routed back and the Red General is killed.  

So the isolated Red success is now a salient!

Blue 4 is 32 on the grid.  Its the end of the day and except for the dead generals and the push and shove in the centre it seemed pretty inconclusive.  
Rolling a dozen or more d6 on the Victory table Blue edged it 27 to 22.  Killing the CinC was instrumental and Blue still held the key defence zones.

I found that I had no units destroyed... and none driven off table either.  Both sides had a ward driven back.
Still... A noted win.  "This will bring them to heel."

Perhaps my main fault in this game as Red player was the failure to get the attacker attacking.  I sat on a hill on the left for goodness sake, and could not get out of the village.  Blue solidly held the central sectors.

What I liked about these rules is the specific period focus on the battle lines.  This is why there are only 16 sectors.  There are no great flank attacks or manoeuvre  in period, it's a slog.  They would only work for these wars.

I need to revisit this and sort out my mistakes with the rules. Probably one of the Battle Scenarios, starting with St Albans.  It's a ready made campaign game by game.  Good fun steep learning curve.