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To round out the face-to-face set, Mark came over on the third for a day of gaming. The first thing up on the docket was trying Sun of York; Mark had tried it solo, and liked it enough that he got me a copy when he saw it going for cheap.

So, we went for the first battle of St. Albans, with me as the Lancastrians. This gives me the Henry VI card (and a small question, at what point does the three card hand limit set in? Since the scenario gives it to you at the start, that should interfere with the draw 16 and place 12 for a 4-card hand…), and a town in the center. I had three veteran units, which all went in the center,  a hill on the left with the moderate units, and a stream (which did more than I thought, as I figured on a stream through the right flank, not behind my entire position) with men-at-arms, levies, and longbowmen cover on the right.

Three veteran units (including the veteran knights) certainly allowed me to dominate in the center, though it took a bit to be felt, especially as Mark used Rally shortly after I got some damage on his units. I kept cautious, generally trying to soften up Mark’s advancing troops with archery, and then went into the center. (I also illegally shifted some handgunners to the right as we didn’t really figure out that you can’t shift troops out of a contested ‘battle’ until reviewing things mid-way through.)

Neither of us had any luck bringing in reinforcements. Mark could get units, or orders, but had a rough time on both. I just didn’t see any new units until late in the game. I also continuously lost initiative until late in the game, where I used it to get a double turn as I advanced into Mark’s rear battle and won by breaking the center.

After that, I gave the explanation on Undaunted: North Africa, and went through the first scenario with him (the only one without vehicles). I had the Italians this time, and basically went after the main structure area, like last time, but this time trying to hustle and get a win before the British could start blowing things up.

This partially worked, with me managing to eliminate all the Engineer cards, rendering him unable to do anything (I didn’t get to the fifth wound to properly eliminate him by forcing removal of a card he didn’t have). But Mark ended up doing much the same, and rendered my Rifleman (the only one with a Control action) hors de combat with wounds. At that point the game ends as neither of us could do more towards our goals, and I won by virtue of having secured one VP to 0.

This second outing was more successful, and I feel a lot better about Undaunted as a game, enough so to enjoy it as such. But I’m still disturbed by not having a good feel for the scale of action. I mean, is it really just supposed to be five men on each side raiding this air base? On the game side, I do have concerns that it came down so much on eliminating the one key person on the other side, and less on actually completing the mission. Hopefully, further scenarios are better about that.

Sun of York on the other hand is a little more involved, and longer playing. But it’s a nice system, and I certainly want to try it out again. Between the two, I have much better idea of what SoY is doing, though just what I should be doing is a little more in the air. Both of them will probably live and die on the strength of their scenarios, and have the distinct disadvantage of not have Vassal modules.