by Jim Owczarski, 30 August 2024
Well, is not this project suddenly sprung back to life? Honestly, going over my notes for these last few systems, I am both surprised and delighted by how many fun and interesting ways there are to play out a single battle. I am equally grateful for Tabletop Simulator which makes it possible to try them all. This one, though, has a special place in the heart of all Armchair Dragoons
The Ruleset: Valour and Fortitude (VAF) from Friend of the Dragoons and All-Around Gaming Legend Jervis Johnson with an able assist from the Perry Brothers.
Can I Still Buy a Copy?: Buy? What buy? From the beginning, this was designed as a free product and it has remained so. It, and the necessary army lists, are available and regularly updated here
How Long Did It Take?: A bit more than six hours spread over three evenings.
First video is here
How’d It Play?:
A team from the Dragoons was involved from an early stage in the development of VAF. A bunch of us even show up in the credits of the printed version. If you go back far enough on my YouTube channel you will see us making our way through many iterations and will see the rules changes dramatically over time. Always intended to be fast-playing (it was designed as a convention game), I have regarded it as Jervis’ effort to re-launch Black Powder with some of the nonsense shaved off.
Its first versions, though, were astonishingly sanguinary with whole brigades up and running from the field at the throw of a die. It also included the charming notion, never withdrawn, that battles should be played to a set time and, when that time is reached, victory determined. Matters became calmer as new versions were released and, in its current stable state, I regard it as the preeminent light ruleset for small- and mid-sized Napoleonic battles.
As with any ruleset, however, scenarios matter a great deal. There are no purpose-built historical scenarios for VAF — (Author’s Note: At least note yet. Jervis?) — and our use of that provided in Black Powder 2 was ultimately, I felt, unsatisfactory. That led us to try the irreplaceable Michael Hopper’s scenario, originally published in Shako 2. The author has expressed some of his dissatisfaction with it, given as he was under a significant time constraint, but I believe his Quatre Bras proved an excellent match to the capacities of VAF.
In the event, the French matched their very best effort in the whole of this project, driving the Allies back Left Center and Right. Only the woods to the west slowed the advance of Jerome’s troops and allowed the beleaguered Dutch to hold their position behind the forest until the British reserves were able to arrive. The Allies felt as if they were on the defensive throughout and were regularly shepherding troops back and forth behind the lines to prevent a significant rupture.
It felt a lot like what you read about in all the books. Using the elegant scoring system in the rules, the French were judged to have won the narrowest of victories.
I also left convinced that this was just about as large a battle as one would like to try with VAF. This is a point I will repeat with General d’Armee 2. We have played larger battles, much larger battles, with both systems, but, while there is a joy to seeing Eggmuhl and the like played out as a single battle, the systems can start to creak a bit. Part of this, I will admit, is caused by having to play the game seriatim. As we all speak over a single channel, players cannot pair up and run their portion of the battlefield while others go about their own business, something that speeds up face-to-face games dramatically. That said, VAF seems built to a size and one ought only exceed it with eyes wide open.
Current score: Allies 5.5, French 2.5, and one Draw
A few images from the game in progress:
click images to enlarge
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