Two more Bautzen games for Lasalle

In this scenario the Allies are falling back from a defeat at Lutzen when they are attacked and form a rear guard holding a village and ridge line. The French must capture both to win but do have a Guards brigade to help them out.

Game 1 - French vs Russians / Austrians

The French deployment slightly favoured their left frank looking to envelope the Allied right where the Russians were guarding the village.  

As the French advanced they shifted their cavalry over to their left to attack the numerically weaker Russian horse. This drew-in some Russian attention and left the Austrians on the left/centre with only limited support.  

Russians await the French attack

The isolated Austrian flank took damage and was pushed-back, forcing the Russians into a limited counter attack on the ridge. The game ended with the defending Allies losing 1/3 of their forces and with drawing. French win    

Swiss attack the ridge 

Russians untroubled but their flank has been lost

Game 2 - French vs Austrians

The Austrians deployed with one brigade on each observative and their cavalry on the left flank near the ridge. The French deployment was a version  of Ordre Mixte with the cavalry in the rear. As the French advanced on the ridge they formed into column for the attack.    

French attack

The Austrians sent their cavalry forward to menace the columns and force them into squares. Through use of the CinC's emergency formation change and clever sequencing of moves the French were able to keep advancing and not give the Austrian's any easy targets.    

Austrian horse tries to slow the attack

French attack the ridge

Several waves of attack against the hill failed but eventually the French got a flank on one of the defenders and the position collapsed. The Old Guard also managed to assault and capture half the town. The Austrians hit breakpoint with the ridge and half the town in French hands and no French routed. French win.   

Ridge falls to France 

5 Parsecs - Campaign Finale

Appropriately the campaign finale (paying off the ship debts) coincided with the completion of the quest to locate the Trillium-D sample. Equipped with the location after the last missions, the Hermes crew headed out onto the frozen side of the moon they were exploring, to reclaim the Trillium-D from a long abandoned storage site.   

Little did they know that the site was now very near a nest of Vent Crawlers (aka Aliens) who were not happy to see the intruders on their patch. As my ice-planet game mat had nt arrived I had to use a very white paper mat but did get to use my newly created ice terrain.   

Vent Crawlers

The Trillium-D waiting on a transport

The Hermes crew advanced in a large group towards the on rushing Xenomorphs Vent Crawlers, this not being a time to get separated from the group.   

Shots rang out and downed several of the attacking beasts but two still reached the makeshift barrier the Hermes crew were hiding behind. Luckily the better armoured crew at the front were able to beat them off without serious injury.       

A bit like Zulu - hold them!

So the Trillium was secured and the profits were enough to clear the remaining ship debts and so end the first campaign. The bank balance is low but crew has built some good experience and is now pretty well equipped with armour and weapon upgrades. 

Loot secured

Its been fun to play through and proves the concept of this as a retirement project. For the next campaign I'll look to ramp up the difficulty in various ways:

• Possible random redeployment of enemy forces
• Respawn of defeated enemies
• More chances of Elite enemies
• The introduction of harder Red Zone missions     

   

5 Parsecs - Trillium D

In the next two games of the campaign the Hermes crew ignore high-paying Patron missions in favour of completing the quest arc as they search for a rare Trillium-D ore sample. 

Game 1 - the caves

Information has been received that the Ore may be located on a barren moon orbiting the local systems gas giant. So the crew don their EVA suits and head into the moons cave system looking for the same. Unluckily for them a group of homicidal cyborgs (Abductors) are exploring the caves as a prelude to a possible invasion.   

The cave system - reusing some Gloomhaven tiles 

The Cyborgs

I split into two teams to search the caves more quickly and had some cat-and-mouse fun running through the caves.  

Part of the crew make a stand

Eventually I opted to stand and fight and was able to catch the Cyborgs in  a cross fire and take them down. The Trillium D was not there but there was a hint that a hermit living out on the surface may have vital data.   

 Game 2 - the Hermit

The crew proceeded to the location of the hermit hoping to gain the information he held. They were not alone as a group of Pirates had also decided to pay him a visit to extort money. 

Both sides pushed towards the hermits compound as there was no time to lose.  

Sniper is down

After an intense firefight the pirates were driven off and my sniper lay wounded, but not seriously. 

The good news was that the hermit had the vital location for the Trillium-D and was happy to offer it up in gratitude for driving off the Pirates who had been extorting him for months 

  

Surprise Encounter and Bautzen 1813 - Lasselle battles

 Game 1  - Surprise Encounter

One of last weeks battles had nt completed by finishing time so the players did the last three turns this week to see if the Allies could prevent the escape of the French wagons.  

In this game the French deployed to protect the whole road with their cavalry guarding the bridge. The Allies attacked strongly towards the tail of the baggage train with their cavalry and the Prussians.     

French stretch out along the road 

As the Allies advanced the French also attacked in an attempt to disrupt the advance and create as large a buffer zone as possible. This slowed the Austrian advance in east but allowed the Allied cavalry to threaten the baggage. Sadly the Prussians became very tangled in the woods and played little part in the action.     

Prussians lost in the woods

The Allied threat to the baggage forced the French into squares and also forced them to redeploy their cavalry to protect the wagons. There was a tense few turns but the French were able to extract the wagons and see them to safety on turn 8. French Win     

Baggage under threat

 

Game 2 - Bautzen; French vs Germans 

In this scenario the Allies are falling back from a defeat at Lutzen when they are attacked and form a rear guard holding a village and ridge line. The French must capture both to win but do have a Guards brigade to help them out.

 

The Germans spread their forces fairly evenly between the two objectives and awaited the French attack. The French for their part massed almost all of their troops against the town with just guns opposite the hill. 

As the French advanced their guns provide effective and destroyed a German battalion, forcing the rest to seek  cover in the woods and behind the hill. 

 

Guard attacks

The narrow French frontage allowed the Germans to abandon the hill and instead move to flank firing positions against the French attacking the town. The attackers threw wave-after-wave of attacks into the town but all were beaten back and heavy fired poured into the French columns. 

The town stands firm

Losses were heavy on both sides, including the German cavalry being routed by the heavier French horse. As we hit turn 6 both sides reached breakpoint and the game was a bloody stalemate as both sides withdrew. Game drawn.