Sharp Practice and Muskets & Tomahawks for the AWI – a comparison

[Tactical Painter]

I played games set during the AWI using both rule sets last year and so thought I would set down my impressions in what turned into a fairly lengthy blog post. This is a comparison between the two rule sets to see how well each does in handling the period. No doubt each provides a good game, but not the same history lesson. The full article is here https://thetacticalpainter.blogspot.com/2022/01/using-sharp-practice-and-muskets.html

The Tactical Painter - painting miniature armies for battles on the table top.
http://www.thetacticalpainter.blogspot.com/

[Jim Webster]

Thanks for that, a very interesting and thoughtful article

https://jimssfnovelsandwargamerules.wordpress.com/

[Tony S]

Indeed.  A fair bit of effort and thought you’re sharing with us.  Really appreciated.

I would also add that, at least in my case, there are some subtleties in SP that take a few plays to grasp.  You need some skill and understanding (which is obviously where I fall down) to properly lead a force, otherwise it devolves into a mere attritional firefight.  Or, as in my case yesterday, having a column of Mexicans dissolve into bloody lumps into front of a Texian cannon because I didn’t use my CO properly.

Like Cornwallis did and I didn’t, I should have ridden over and urged the troops on and better coordinated two formations, instead of cowering behind a cantina, twirling my moustache at the senoritas.  By not doing so, I was at the mercy of the random cards, which naturally never appeared and the attack bogged down.  Your insight into the difficulty of coordinating troops in the Black Powder is quite historically accurate I feel and one that is reflected well in SP, particularly with myself in command.

[Tactical Painter]

Tony S wrote:

Indeed. A fair bit of effort and thought you’re sharing with us. Really appreciated. I would also add that, at least in my case, there are some subtleties in SP that take a few plays to grasp. You need some skill and understanding (which is obviously where I fall down) to properly lead a force, otherwise it devolves into a mere attritional firefight. Or, as in my case yesterday, having a column of Mexicans dissolve into bloody lumps into front of a Texian cannon because I didn’t use my CO properly. Like Cornwallis did and I didn’t, I should have ridden over and urged the troops on and better coordinated two formations, instead of cowering behind a cantina, twirling my moustache at the senoritas. By not doing so, I was at the mercy of the random cards, which naturally never appeared and the attack bogged down. Your insight into the difficulty of coordinating troops in the Black Powder is quite historically accurate I feel and one that is reflected well in SP, particularly with myself in command.

I took us a while to really get to grips with Sharp Practice, there’s a lot of nuance and granularity that make for a brilliant game but you need to know how to make the most of them. We thought it was all about firing impressive volleys when actually it’s all about fire and movement. As a new player it’s very easy to get bogged down in a prolonged firefight when the better solution can often be movement and driving off the enemy at the point of a bayonet. As always good use of leaders is key.

I hope your moustache is still well groomed and impressing the senoritas 😉

The Tactical Painter - painting miniature armies for battles on the table top.
http://www.thetacticalpainter.blogspot.com/

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