Tilly’s Very Bad Day – Battle Reports

Swedish versus Polish – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report

26 Jun 2021 by Steven Thomas

The easing of Covid-19 restrictions allowed me to get my brand new Polish-Lithuanian Army on table. Chris, Jamie, and Adam came over and we played Swedish versus Polish using Tilly’s Very Bad Day. This was a pick up game with pre-generated army lists and terrain chosen via Terrain Cards. It was also the first time we played an Eastern Army.

Summary: A really enjoyable game. It see sawed but eventually the Swedes won the infantry battle and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth won the cavalry battle. Pretty standard outcome for these historical opponents. In this case the Swedes caused enough damage to take the overall victory. But it was a very near run thing.

Battle of Grantham – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report

5 Jun 20215 Jun 2021 by Steven Thomas

Malcom Dove sent through a battle report of the Battle of Grantham, his 2nd Solo Game Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and the first game of his English Civil War Campaign. Most words are Malcolm’s.

Battle of Schlossmuele – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report

5 Jun 202127 Feb 2021 by Steven Thomas

Malcolm Dove shared an after action report for his first solo game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. He calls it, the Battle of Schlossmuele. All words are Malcolm’s.

S140 Dominant Hill – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 2

23 Jan 2021 by Steven Thomas

Jamie and I thought we’d have another go at S140 Dominant Hill – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario. Our first play test was a blast and we both had ideas for how to play it differently. Once again Jamie was Saxons as the Red Army and I was Imperialists as the Blue Army. Tilly’s Very Bad Day of course.

Summary: Another great game. Five game turns. 1.5 hours game time. Tense and gritty, with a decisive result. We will play it again.

S140 Dominant Hill – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

16 Jan 202116 Jan 2021 by Steven Thomas

Roger Calderbank play tested my S140 Dominant Hill – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario and gave it a thumbs up, so I thought I’d have a go. Jamie came over and took Saxons as the Red Army and I took Imperialists as the Blue Army. Tilly’s Very Bad Day of course.

Summary: A great game. Six game turns. 1.5 hours game time. Seemed balanced but ended in a decisive result. We will play it again.

Small Herbsthausen – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report

15 Aug 2020 by Steven Thomas

In our first game since Covid-19 lockdown, Jamie and I played my Small Herbsthausen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario. In Tilly’s Very Bad Day terms this is a small game on a small table with small armies (in numbers of units). The Bavarians (Jamie) heavily outnumber the French (Steven) so I was going to find this a struggle.

Summary: A quick game resulting in an rather spectacular draw. That is pretty much the best result the French could expect from the scenario.

Small Fleurus – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

15 Jul 20207 Mar 2020 by Steven Thomas

Chris and Adam played my Small Fleurus Scenario. This was, of course Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and was played before I published Version 2.

Summary: Spanish won. Scenario was too challenging for inferior Protestant Paladins. But potential for a good game with tweaks.

Small Lutzen – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

15 Jul 20207 Jan 2020 by Steven Thomas

Tilly-926 Swedish Sandwich gets chewed up

Jamie and Chris play tested the pre-publication version my Small Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario. This is a small game on a small table with small armies (in numbers of units), and only normal Pike+Shot not Large Pike+Shot.

Summary: Scenario needed tweaking before publication. Swedes couldn’t win.

Big Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 2

15 Jul 202014 Dec 2019 by Steven Thomas

Adam and Jamie played my big Lutzen scenario for Tilly’s Very Bad Day.

Summary: Good game. A better game than last time. Jamie (Imperialists) beat Adam (Swedes) on Game Turn 6.

John Mumby replays Imperialist versus Swedes in Tilly’s Very Bad Day

15 Jul 202010 Dec 2019 by Steven Thomas

Terrain Card Table 1 - Tillys Very Bad Day

John Mumby is one of my proof readers, and has also kindly sent through a short battle report. He replayed my Imperialists beat Swedes game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

Big Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

15 Jul 202030 Nov 2019 by Steven Thomas

Tilly-574 Crossing the road under fire is not easy

Chris and Adam played a very raw version of my big Lutzen scenario for Tilly’s Very Bad Day.

Summary: Good game. Some debate about how to simulate the road and ditches. Adam (Imperialists) beat Chris (Swedes) on Game Turn 6. The scenario evolved after the game.

Imperialists beat Swedes – 2 Player Game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

15 Jul 20202 Nov 2019 by Steven Thomas

Adam and Chris played an Imperialist versus Swedish match up of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Adam and Chris have a very different play style to Jamie and I so this game played out in an interesting way. Very gritty with one giant scrimmage forming. Eventually Adam’s Imperialists took the day. We were playing several draft rules for a major revision.

Spanish beat Swedes – 2 player game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

15 Jul 20205 Oct 2019 by Steven Thomas

Tilly-474 See-saw infantry battle - Left

Jamie and I played a Spanish versus Swedes match up of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. In a very exciting game my Spanish eventually prevailed. We introduced a house rule to make chequerboard more effective and both focused on this aspect of the game with some interesting conclusions.

Spanish draw Swedes – 4 player game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

15 Jul 20207 Sep 2019 by Steven Thomas

In a very exciting game the Spanish (Jamie and Steven) just barely managed to deny the Swedes (Chris and Adam) the victory they thought well in hand. We really enjoyed our first game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day following publication. Again the rules proved themselves able to provide a fast and exciting game, with lots of flavour. We are still struggling to break deeply ingrained habits from DBA, e.g. bunching up, and the more we do this, the more we enjoy Tilly. And we still need to iron out the problem with chequerboard formations.

Swedes beat Imperialists in play test of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

15 Jul 202010 Aug 2019 by Steven Thomas

Adam, Chris, and Jamie came over for a play test of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. It was a good quick game, with considerable spectacle. There were lots of troops, and, yay. I’ve finally got my Thirty Years War forces on table. Although it was a reasonable game, we did come up with quite a long list of observations, suggestions, and tweaks to the rules. By the way, the Swedes beat the Imperialists.