Interesting thread. Prompted me to wonder if the current PPL Night Rating insists on any additional partial panel training. As far as I can see from the CASA syllabus, it doesn't. When I did a night rating (Class IV inst) a long time ago, I recall practicing flying and UA recovery using only the (electric) TC, ASI, altimeter and compass. Not sure if this was then a requirement, or a local enhancement. The scenario of dread was, of course, a vac pump failure on a pitch black night, taking out the DG and AH.
Don't know if there are any of those Venturi systems mentioned by Brian A. still out there but even as a student it struck me that you'd have to be a bit of an optimist to blast off NVFR with that system. I guess there was no vac pump to fail but hurtling down the strip on a dark night, un-caging the gyro, and hoping it all worked seemed a bit optimistic. I have no doubt, though, that there are plenty of folks here who managed it well on a routine basis!