LET'S TALK ABOUT BAR #3

BAR: Batailles de l'Ancien Régime 1740-1763 and More!

This third post provides more insights about BAR. For fun and brevity several miniatures from my collections will speak for me. You have questions. They have answers.

For Part 1 see: http://campaignsingermania.blogspot.com/2013/01/lets-talk-about-bar-1.html

For Part 2 see: http://campaignsingermania.blogspot.com/2013/01/lets-talk-about-bar-2.html

We resume again with our celebrated scouts, Troopers Ham and Corey, 10th Hussars, on leave from The Campaigns of General Pettygree [Colonial] Blog escorting BAR inquirers to the drill field.

Trooper Ham: "This way yer honours to the drill field. Just ahead you will see something different, something some surely may not know."

Trooper Corey: "That's the ticket mate. Set the record straight."

Trooper Corey: "This is a four battalion brigade of Bill's Seven Years' War  French infantry. Miniatures are usually based six miniatures per base, the whole lot on removable underlying movement trays for speed of turn resolution; one tray to move instead of five per battalion."

Trooper Ham: "Aye and notice each battalion is in two ranks numbering 27-28 miniatures. One miniature represents twenty historical men. (1:20) Some folks think BAR is only for BIG battalions of 48+ miniatures formed in three ranks at 1:10. Not so."

Trooper Corey: "Some officers understandably missed that important nuance about BAR."

Trooper Ham: "That's one reason why Der Alte Fritz and Bill thought it would be informative to have a 1:20 SYW BAR game on 9 February 2013. The most important reason though was...."

Trooper Ham: "To use 1:20 units languishing in their collections. Here are two Der Alte Fritz (Jim P.) French battalions of twenty-four "Old Glory" 25mm miniatures each plus two artillery sections in that game."

Trooper Corey: "Here we see French horse (foreground) soon to engage Prussian heavy horse all from Jim's collection."

Trooper Ham: "The game had about seven hundred miniatures per side, commenced at 11:00am and concluded at 4:00pm with a pause for lunch."

Trooper Corey: "Seated left to right: Curt B, Jim P. (Der Alte Fritz) and Chris K.  Standing left to right: Kurt D., Michael M. and Bill P."

AND --- NEXT ON THE DRILL FIELD

Trooper Corey: "We're in luck Sirs. That Gallian chap with Bill's Quick Reference Charts is going to demonstrate how to efficiently and easily fire artillery. Fast! Quiet now."

FEU!

Trooper Corey: " Two different coloured sets of D6s are thrown per cannon at exactly the same time. You don't throw one pair and later throw the other. That wastes time. Sort by colour as shown. White = 7. Straw = 5."

Trooper Ham: "Modifiers are next. A lot of chaps can do this easily in their heads. For our purposes we'll use dice to show adjustments. Reds are negatives. Apply all of 'em at exactly the same time. Don't do one gun and later do the other even if you have more cannons in the battery. It wastes...."

Trooper Corey: "They get the drift mate. Distance To Target: -2, Veteran Crew: +1, Target Moved 10" or More: -1 and 12 Pounder: +4."

Trooper Ham: "The left cannon finishes with 9 and the other with 7. Next we go to the Quick Reference Chart and I do mean quick."

Trooper Ham: "The chap on the left is pointing to the round shot line."

Trooper Corey: The other two lads point to the modified firing scores of  7 and 9. They will each run down their columns and find."

Trooper Corey: "Each cannon possibly hit two miniatures each in the target; total four. Saving throws are next for the player commanding the target. He will throw four D6s needing  5s and 6s to save a miniature. One ought to be saved resulting in three casualties."

Trooper Ham: "Aye. But the fun thing is - you never know what will happen. Plus and this is BIG, target player saving throws offer him chances to affect results with lots of companionable fun; groans and laughs. The target player really gets into it you see - as do the rest."

Trooper Corey: "Alright then, let's go to the cavalry drill field next. That Guides officer...."

Trooper Ham: "Aye mate, but we'll save that for the fourth and last installment. We'll add infantry fire too.

Trooper Corey: "But infantry fire is the same as artillery fire with an extra difference for speedy play."

Trooper Ham: "Next time."
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CLOSING REMARKS
1) For more information about BAR see:
http://www.oldregimerules.com/

2) Cannons are from the SYW 28mm range offered by Elite Miniatures. Peter Moreby has 4, 8 and 12 pounders. See: http://www.eliteminiatures.co.uk/

3) Crews are Willie, RSM, Garrison, Eite Miniatures and Redoubt. See how they all fit in with each other, tall, short, thin and not so thin? It's okay. More variety that way. We like basing arty. crews singly but you don't have to.

4) Questions and remarks welcome below.
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