As promised the BotA battle.

I’ve since played this several times and enjoy the variety that comes from the chit pull mechanic and the choices forced upon you as Panic ! mounts. The Brits and French can have it easy or not so easy. But in most cases the Russians will have a rough time.  A nice historically flavored and themed game, right down to the map and cover art.

You get a lot of flavor and more genuine game play that I have experienced in comparable titles (Waterloo 20 series, which all feel a bit the same to me)

Turn One and Two. The 14^th musket has no step of all whereas all the others have zero or one etc. This is slightly confusing.

The French advance in turn 1.

The French fire their minie guns and inflict step a loss upon the Russians. The actual situation is net  +4 +2d 6 =9 that equals a casualty from the CRT.

Russian forces fire their Arty in their part of the turn sequence the artillery firing at the

Ligne  unit for no effect.

The British activate the first formation the Third division Foot  and they move forward, the field is becoming crowded already!

The Russians then become involved in a combat the result is an exchange each side loses one step. The Russkies need to be certain they have good odds prior to any serious engagements with average rated units.

Turn 2

The Ligne minie’s fire!:

This table packs a wallop, like most of the game, dad simple to follow and clear to engage with.

The 13th Mustketeers are under pressure.

The French however take heavy losses.

The British begin their activations:

The lines getty clogged and advance is tricky as you weave between units that are not moving. This shows the command confusion nicely.

In turn three the French advance however the mini rifle units stay stationary. The first artillery prepares for fire on the Russian 13^th Musket.  The Marines fire at the Cossacks as well. The stationary status provides a firing bonus for the Minie units.

When in the game once a unit is eliminated completely several things happen Morale is modified for the side that lost the unit the Russians panic roll will change if they lost the unit or indeed if they eliminate enemy units and an adjustment is made to the VP total.

The 13^th Musket falls to gunfire and arty followed by an assault by the 1^st Ligne.  The Russian Great Battery decimates the 3^rd Foot, inflicting 2 step losses…..oh… boy. That hurt, those guns are powerful!

The Russian Cossack Cavalry accidental decide to attack up a hill. Earning an AR for the stupid idea.

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• Cossacks flex their muscles (rbth.ru)