A first try at Impetus Baroque

       William of Orange army lines up ready to defeat the waiting King James II army

After a recent game my dad had umpired up at Colin's house using the new Impetus Baroque rules he was keen to let me have a go at using them so he had decided that we would use his William of Orange and King James II armies to show case how the system worked. I took the roll of King James and was tasked with defending the position on the out skirts of a town behind a stream. I have played this period once before using pike and Shotte but going back through my blog to find the AAR of the game I found that unbelievably it was almost exactly 2years to the day when I last had a game with them! So as was the case then the period is very unfamiliar to me so I won't go into the ins and outs of the units used (mainly as I'm not greatly sure what was what looking back at the photos I'm afraid). 

The British guard brigade supported by heavy cannons stare down the Kings army

A Irish brigade dug in behind the walls of the farm

Jacobite cavalry clash with their Dutch guard counter parts

The advance defensive line of the French detachment comes in for some heavy fire from the muskets of Williams men

I have used Impetus rules before so I had a slight understanding of how the mechanics worked although I never really warmed to them when we used them in the war of the roses games. However I must say I really enjoyed the Impetus Baroque system which imho I felt played much better. Once we had played a few turns and I had made abit of a hash of my cavalry movement, I started to get my head around the command system and when to interrupt your oppents move, well at least attempt to, I found that the game moved swiftly with plenty of decision making to be done. In the end our (trial) game finished as a draw, my cavalry on the right flank had completely routed two of my dads cavalry brigades after a number of rounds charging/counter charging and won that particular flank, however in the centre my French brigade which was the initial line of defense had been decimated and my second line was under a heavy attack from my dads English guard brigade. On the left flank I had lost my Dragoons but the Irish brigade holding the farm area was winning against the attacking Dutch forces. It was a fun game and yeah I think I enjoyed the Impetus Baroque rules just as much as I do using pike and Shotte which is a good thing as my dad is aiming to use Impetus Baroque for this period permanently. Hopefully it won't be another 2years to the next time I play with these (beautiful) armies..

The Dragoons struggle to hold off the attack from Williams cavalry

The guard musketry fire proves to much for the French pike regiment

The French line begins to waver under increasing heavy fire

The Jacobite cavalry start to win the fight against the Dutch guard cavalry

The elite guard brigade Ready to cross the stream and assault the waiting Irish troops

The Dutch line starts to break as it can't find away through the Irish defences

Irish pike take the fight to the unexpecting guard muskets