From: cpf@light.lightlink.com (Courtenay Footman) Subject: SPI's Siege of Lille After owning SPI's Siege of Lille for many years, I finally got a chance to play it. The allied player was completely crushed, and neither I nor my opponent saw much that could have been done to change the outcome. The allies had poor luck (their engineer rolls were abysmal), but that did not make too much difference; the major problem was the extremely high casualties allied siege troops were taking. Getting to 12000 casualties more than the French (the French victory condition specified in the errata) was extremely easy. The one assault the allies tried did not take many casualties, but also failed to achieve anything, dissolving under a rain of French field artillery fire. Does anyone have any comments on this game, in particular, ways for the allies to win? Thank you. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Courtenay Footman I have again gotten back on the net, and cpf@lightlink.com again I will never get anything done. From: Ross Maker Subject: Re: SPI's Siege of Lille Courtenay Footman wrote: > > After owning SPI's Siege of Lille for many years, I finally > got a chance to play it. The allied player was completely > crushed, and neither I nor my opponent saw much that could > have been done to change the outcome. The allies had poor > luck (their engineer rolls were abysmal), but that did not > make too much difference; the major problem was the extremely > high casualties allied siege troops were taking. Getting to > 12000 casualties more than the French (the French victory > condition specified in the errata) was extremely easy. > > The one assault the allies tried did not take many casualties, > but also failed to achieve anything, dissolving under a rain of > French field artillery fire. > > Does anyone have any comments on this game, in particular, ways > for the allies to win? It's been years since I've played it, but suspect you may not have been playing the game from a correct Enlightenment perspective. Were the assaults on practicible breaches? Did you have your second parallel complete? If so, the French should have surrendered before the assualt. I would guess, however, that rather than the SIEGE of Lille, you were playing the ESCALADE of Lille, attempting to carry the fortress by assault without proper preparation. Those bad engineer rolls were very important. Read Vauban, find out how these things were done in the Age of Louis XIV, and try it again. I think you'll find the results much different. Ross W. Maker From: Szu-Yu Wang Subject: Re: SPI's Siege of Lille > It's been years since I've played it, but suspect you may not have been > playing the game from a correct Enlightenment perspective. Were the > assaults on practicible breaches? Did you have your second parallel > complete? If so, the French should have surrendered before the > assualt. I would guess, however, that rather than the SIEGE of Lille, > you were playing the ESCALADE of Lille, attempting to carry the fortress > by assault without proper preparation. > > Those bad engineer rolls were very important. Read Vauban, find out how > these things were done in the Age of Louis XIV, and try it again. I > think you'll find the results much different. > > Ross W. Maker I was the allied player actually, and my second siege line was close enough that I can get to a 0 breached location in 1 movement. But that didn't help much, as even Prince Eugen couldn't do much (he got injured as soon as he left the trenches, but if he didn't, he only would have won with a ~30% chance (I think that was how it worked out.) It was a 2 pronged assault, each with 2 0 breaches reachable (well, the 2nd prong had 1 of the 0 breaches 2 movement away...) The french player didn't even break a sweat repulsing it. The problem I see is that I am unable to build enough for a 3rd threat until turn 8 (at the best.) even if my engineering rolls were good. and with average rolls, the french could inflict ~9000 by that turn. (assuming I made no other assaults before that. Szu-Yu Wang sw27@cornell.edu From: Ross Maker Subject: Re: SPI's Siege of Lille Szu-Yu Wang wrote: > > I was the allied player actually, and my second siege line was close > enough that I can get to a 0 breached location in 1 movement. You had a completed second parallel and a practicable breach and your opponent didn't ask for terms? Like I said, its been a long time since I played, (and my copy is packed away in storage) but I THOUGHT that was covered in the rules. The casualty rates you are taking also seem rather high. I suspect you kept too many of your troops too close to the fortress. Anybody else out there remember this? Ross W. Maker