Rank and File Napoleonics

As we are about the start a new Napoleonic campaign we decided that this week we would hold a quick practice game to remind ourselves of the rules. We're retuning to a set we've played before - Rank & File from Crusader. Its a simple set with the now familiar IGO-UGO turn sequence and everything resolved on D6 with a few simple factors.

 

The Game

The scenario was based on A Prominent Hill in Charles Grant's Scenarios for Wargamers. Its a straight forward encounter battle in which equal forces attempt to dominate an important crossroads.
We played this game as French verses British / Hanoverians and Dutch-Belgiums, with 3*infantry and 1*cavalry brigade a side.

 

 

The Battle 

We deployed as per the map above so with cavalry facing-off on one flank and fairly even infantry deployments across the centre and the hills. 

Battlefield from the French right

Battlefield from the French left

The British cavalry - Hussars backed by Dragoons



Their French opponents - Dragoons and Cuirassiers

The battle opened with both sides advancing their cavalry on the flank to close with the enemy. For this game we rated the British Hussars as Veteran but impetuous - this game them an edge of the Regular Dragoons that may prove decisive. 

Cavalry lines ready for the clash

 Early exchanges were even with both sides winning one of the melees but being pushed-back on the other.

The cavalry lines break-up 

 In the centre the infantry lines advanced towards each other, with the British / Hanoverians were the more aggressive as they sought to close the distance rapidly. This took them further from their supporting artillery than the French, who got the better of the early firefight, pushing back the Hanoverians.  

Hanoverians attack the French-held village

On the hills both sides adopted a similar approach - deploying on the heights and seeking to extend the flank on the outside. With both sides evenly matched it was the French decision to focus their initial fire on the British artillery that proved important. the British guns were weakened which enable the French artillery to support their infantry and push the Dutch-Belgium's from the heights.     

Dutch-Belgium's are pushed back from the hills

As the battle drew to an end honours were pretty even in the cavalry melee but the French had won the infantry firefight with the help of their artillery.

British Hussars and French Cuirassiers slug it out - only going to be one winner here

The Hanoverian attack  faulters

The Dutch-Belgium's at bay 

A view from the Allied lines

Allied Commander the Prince of Orange 

So in the final the advantage rested with the French and their more deliberate approach.  A good practice game though and we ironed-out a few kinks. Our main change was to remove any shooing disadvantage for shooters to encourage attacking play, and that worked fine.