Pub Battles How to Use Baggage Trains

A quick tutorial on what Baggage Trains do in the game and how to use them. After that, an extended playthrough showing how it affects the game.

[@captainnolan5062]

This is an excellent video! The discussion as you walked through your thought process shows how even a "simple" set of rules can have depth and sophistication that may be overlooked at first glance.

[@CommandPostGames]

Oh yes. Great point. This is something we've been discussing lately. The rules are deceptively simple. The strategy of actually playing the game is VERY complex. New players are often overwhelmed at the possibilities and the implications of their decisions. There is a lot more going on than you realize at first.

[@mikestrand3023]

Of the many things that are cool about Pub Battles, I think the Baggage Trains are the best. The way most battles were fought, the key points weren't obvious until the battle itself was fought. Rather than be limited to that one time in history, now the victory objectives change! Nothing says endless replayability the way that player determined objectives do!

[@Crosbie71]

Excited to see Germantown! Thanks for this.

[@andmol]

These "how to" clips are doing a great job of explaining the rules - good work! I recently ordered Gettysburg and are watching your clips while waiting for the stuff to arrive. One question on baggage trains: what if one or both sides have multiple baggage trains? Does sacking one cause instant scenario loss for that side? Is that command routed but the others fight on? Do you need to sack all your opponent's baggage trains in order to rout their army?

[@CommandPostGames]

Thanks for the feedback. Good question! Big armies usually have 3 baggage trains. Generally you would deploy these left, center and right. If you lose one, you have lost the battle. You don't keep fighting on with the rest of your army. As an option, I think it is very interesting to continue to playing until the 'loser' completely evacuates the field. If you lose a train, you have to pull out but how many more losses will you take as you run away? How many more points can the enemy rack up on you in pursuit losses as you are trying to get everybody out? Can you retreat in good order or will this degenerate into a total rout? Those are very interesting to game out. That's what real generals had to do.

[@andmol]

@@CommandPostGames That is a very interesting option indeed! Would you impose some condition or constraint on the retreating army to enforce the retreat? Forcing the remaining baggage trains to pack up, move to the rear and exit off a friendly board edge would be the obvious one, it seems to me. That in turn would mean no more rallying of spent units for the retreating army, which should be reason enough to move off the field as quickly and efficiently as possible. Would you use any other way to enforce the retreat?

[@CommandPostGames]

@@andmol We've thought about this some but surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be anything else needed. ?? Like you point out, if you have to pack up all your trains and move off the field, then you can't rally -except for the Cavalry. :) We'll get a clearer view of this as we start fighting out the Waterloo campaign but it feels about right now. It breaks down into a rear guard action. All the spent units are trying to get on roads an off the field at the same time. A huge traffic jam. Lots of intense Cavalry fights to screen and protect the withdrawal. The victor can't rally or pursue much with infantry because they can't move up the baggage either. I've fought this out at Brandywine a few times. It develops into a very interesting situation. I think it is a lot of fun!

[@justgettothegame6331]

Love these.. my request is do this without the edit of all the moves and action in between the storytelling... I would like to see the mechanics in action... thanks!

[@CommandPostGames]

Thanks for the feedback! :)

[@toddmiller4445]

I'd second the request to put up some videos of the basic mechanics of the game. I appreciate the simplicity of the rules (I recently picked up Waterloo), but in some cases it's difficult to understand how the designer intended the game to be played. For example, after reading the rules, I struggled to understand the mechanics of the "hidden reserves" rules, so I appreciated that they were shown in use in this video. Thank you, and I too would love to see more of this!

[@CommandPostGames]

@@toddmiller4445 Thanks for the great feedback. We do have several How To videos now that demonstrate the mechanics of movement and combat. You should be able to find them on our channel. Here are a some links: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJicgaF-nNOcbZY kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZKlZ6awhLJ3gsU kzbin.info/www/bejne/haXJd3l5fK2fjrs

[@douglasgearhart48]

Thanks for this! So for rules clarity, you can re-pack baggage but only as part of a total withdraw?

[@CommandPostGames]

So yes, you can 're-pack' but that essentially means you have lost the battle. It is better to pack it up voluntarily and withdraw, rather than just sitting there and letting it get sacked. You lose a lot less points if you leave ahead of time.