'Almost the Alma' playtest

I'm running a Crimean War game at Ambuscade on December 2, and although I'm still furiously painting additional figures for that game, I figured we'd run a playtest with the armies that are currently table-ready.  Also I'm running Black Powder I have not played a ton so I needed the refresher. The scenario is basically the Battle of the Alma from the Crimean scenario in the back of the Black Powder rulebook.  The Russians command two earthworks, each atop a hill.  The British deploy on the opposite banks of the river across the board. Russians outnumber the British but the British have more special rules at their disposal.  The British objective is to take one earthwork for a partial victory or both for a stunning victory.  The Russian needs to break the British forces before they accomplish this.

The result was a pretty decisive Russian victory, which was troublesome for the upcoming Ambuscade game.  However, there were a couple muck-ups that probably made things easier for the Russians.  First off, the British player (me) complete forgot about the First Fire special rule which adds +1 to hit on any British infantry's first shooting attack.  Used correctly this could have softened up a spot in the Russian lines to break through later on.  Secondly, the British sort of walked calmly forward with little sense of urgency - the British player(s) need to really focus their forces on the earthworks and push hard from the get go.  Third, on a related note, the British heavy cavalry was barely involved at all, while Russian Cossacks succeeded in breaking an entire British infantry brigade (and basically setting up the eventual Russian win).

Some of these issues will also be corrected by the addition of more British troops, which should give them some resiliency and allow them to be a bit more aggressive early on.