This was my first real game of PG. I had tried to play out "Insecurities" from EFD but realised during this session with Vince that I'd missed some of the basic rules, such as extended spotting from hills and towns, hills themselves being limiting terrain, etc, etc. But most illuminating in this session was a demonstration of the importance of leaders, subordinate activations, and basically making sure everything is thought through and in the right place before "jumping off". Vince also helped by dropping hints here and there which helped illustrate other elements of the rules that i may want to take advantage of here and there. All in all, it was a great trtaining session for me.

As to the action itself, after Vince set up in the town near the western edge, I decided to concentrate my forces north and go for a river crossing hoping to break out into the open ground beyond from where I could try for the eastern board town with its greater # of victory hexes. However, judicious use of road movement by the regulars and my poor planning in terms of mass activations (see above) meant that the regulars were able to seal off a safe northern passage before I could cross the river.

On top, I should have allocated at least six units and leaders to assault the town to pin down those regulars stationed there so those that did move north could be isolated by my northern flanking movement. I did have units in the woods facing the town, but again a lack of confidence in the assault rules plus a silly desire to win locally everywhere instead of sacrificing those assaulting the town, meant that the assault was delayed several turns until it was too late.

During the leader selection process it was apparent the Socialists had not allocated their best leaders to the Steyr Works attack. This became crucial as more and more units were disrupted or demoralised under the more potent fire from the regulars. I did succeed in two units achieving "heroic status", at least in my eyes, when they pressed home their attack across the river despite their leaders running away. But it was a local success that couldn't last as the rest of my insurgents melted away. A sign of my novice status, we halted the action at about turn 9 or 10.

If I were to play this scenario as the insurgents again, I would try to spread my units into fire goups right across the western edge, threatening the nearby town, but also looking to stretch the regular units so they couldn't remain in stacks with vastly superior firepower. I'd also hope for some better leaders that could enable firegroups to combine to ensure we could achive local superiority where it was needed. Otherwise, an easy regular victory is always on the cards.