Surprise Encounter, 1813 - a Lasalle Battle

This game was reset from an 1809 battle in Austria. The two armies encountered each other as their lines of march crossed. The Allies had the advantage with a larger force and the French having their baggage near the front of the column. The aim was for the French to get their baggage across the table and have it escape across the river.        

Game 1 = French vs Germans

I commanded the French and decided to deploy with my cavalry near the baggage exit point, with the aim of disrupting the German attack.   

French defenders

German Horse

The Germans advanced but found their cavalry facing French infantry in the woods whilst their foot was forced into square by my advancing cavalry.   

German attack disrupted

Eventually the German horse turned towards the centre but it was too late to prevent the French baggage escaping across the bridge. French Win.   

Game 2 = French vs Austrians / Russians

The French deployed with their cavalry covering the end of the baggage column and foot stretched out along the road.   

Young Guard holding the hill near the bridge 

The Allies attacked with the Russians aiming for the baggage exit point and the Austrians in the centre and left. Their cavalry was in reserve in the centre. The Austrian attack on the left soon stalled as the Austrian infantry found themselves opposed by French cavalry and so were unable to advance. 

The Russians attacked the bridge area but were repulsed by the Young Guard and forced to retire. The game settled into a fire fight before the Allies deployed their cavalry to try and break through.  

Russians pushed back 

Austrians deploy into line

Allied losses mounted as they attacked, and eventually they reached their 1/3 breakpoint and so it was a French Win.  

Action at Eisdorf, 1813 - a Lasalle battle

This week we continued the our series of 1813 games with the Action at Eisdorf, part of the Battle of Lutzen. The scenario featured the French attacking to capture the village and river crossing. We had enough players for 2 versions of the game.

Game 1 - Austrians vs French

The Austrians deployed with their Hussars on the left and their infantry evenly distributed between the two flanks. The French deployed with strong flanks with their horse opposite the Austrians.     

Austrian Hussars

The French advanced carefully looking to outflank the Austrians. On their left the Austrians held their ground whilst they fell-back on the right looking to avoid being flanked. The French horse attacked and quickly saw off their opposite numbers forcing the infatry into square.      

French horse in position to attack

The Austrians on the left managed to resist French assaults but on the right the retreating infantry ran out of space and were forced to fight. The French won the firefight and eliminate 3 enemy battalions.   

Austrians turn to fight 

So a French win as the Austrians reached their 1/3 breakpoint. 

Game 2 - Russian / Prussian vs French

The second game had a similar set-up - the Russians deployed in the village and to the right. The Prussians and the horse were to the left of the village. The French looked to attack centrally and on the Austrian right, with their horse opposite the Prussians and Allied horse.    

French ready to attack

The French horse advanced but did not attack as they looked to mainly contain enemy. 

 

French horse advance

As the French approached the Russians opted to launch a spoiling attack with their Grenadiers but this was beaten-off with significant losses. The Prussians then also attacked to breakup the attack and suffered a similar fate. 

Russian Grenadiers attack

The spoiling attacks were a bold move but ultimately unsuccessful and resulted in the Allies losing 1/3 of their units. So a second French win.  

Prussians attack

5 Parsecs - black quartz

This week I played through two linked games involving a rare black quartz structure that resonated at the frequency of human brain waves. 

In game 1 the quartz had been found at a distant mining camp. It had caused some miners to flee but some had been driven mad and started to worship the crystal. The Hermes crew had to get an engineer to the crystal so it could be damped.

The isolated camp

The cultists advanced rapidly as I approached the crystal but I was able to put out a security detail and protect the engineer.

The cultists

After a brisk melee the cultists were driven off and no damage had been done. 

 

Crystal damped

In the second game the mission was get get sample of the crystal back to HQ for testing my the boffins. Mindful of its value a rival mining company had dispatched some hired assassins to intercept the Hermes crew.    

The assassins

The aggressive assassins pushed forward attack under cover of fire from a sniper that was accompanying them. 

It was a congested battlefield so I set up a fire zone using the engineer with the crystal as bait. The planned worked decently with the attack beaten off.   

Ambush

  

Tangiers - 1680

In 1660 Charles II was given the Moroccan port of Tangiers as part of his dowry by the Portuguese crown. Seeing the chance to expand British influence into North Africa he invested in the garrison.  Between 1664 and 1684 the British rebuilt the city and fought of a series of attacks by the local Moorish princes, before finally giving up the adventure and leaving. 

Our battle combines several of the engagements fought in that 20 year period. The British must sally forth and destroy 2 forts the Moors are rebuilding on a hill overlooking the town before getting back to Tangiers with at least half their force. The battle was a strategic trap and various Moorish forces will appear to ambush the British. The Moors are played by Ottomans for our game.  

British sally force

The British lined-up in columns with infatry in the centre and advanced cautiously at the waiting Ottoman infatry on the hills.

Forts defenders are ready

After some inconclusive musketry the British finally attacked, routing the centre Ottoman units. Those in the forts proved more resilient and saw-off the initial attacks.   

By this time the Ottoman reinforcements started to arrive and the British left was under pressure with its cavalry being pushed back.   

Ottoman reinforcements arrive and deploy

British Horse are trapped

Centrally further attacks were made on the forts but they still held out.   

Hill is partly captured but the forts fight on 

Eventually the Brits were able to attack from multiple directions and finally take the forts, allowing them to try and with draw. Luckily for them the bulk of the Ottoman reinforcements arrived on the British left, meaning the troops right had limited opposition. 

Forts finally fall

The Brits just managed to get half their units back and claim a victory.