1815 campaign - turn 3, part 1

We started two games this week but only one was completed before the end of the night. So you will have to wait for next week to see the outcome of the French attacking a Prussian defended farm complex. 

The game we did finish was the British attacking a ridge-line held by the French - more or less the reverse of the usual position in Napoleonic folklore. 

The French positioned their infatry on the hills, with the leger and guns the only units on the crest and the rest hiding behind the ridge. They placed the guard cavalry in the west, the heavy cavalry in the east and the lights in reserve at the rear. 

French defenders with cavalry reserve in the distance

The British plan was the attack around the western end of the ridge while the infatry all advanced up the ridge itself. Massed cavalry can be a mixed blessing though as units can end up blocking each other or retreaters can fall back and disorder the units behind.   

 

The British cavalry attacked as soon as in range and had mixed results. some won and some ended up retreating through their compatriots, but mass won in the end with the French forced back.   

British massed cavalry attacks 

The British and Dutch foot advanced under heavy artillery fire but were able to force the French into a retreat, aided by the late movement of the heavy cavalry that could have threated eastern flank of the attack.   

British foot approaches the ridge

The French line collapsed as multiple units routed and caused casualties and further routs to those holding the hill. So a British win that means they are now attacking the regional capital in turn 4. 

The ridge falls

    

1815 Campaign - turn 1 & 2, part 2

This week we completed the two remaining battles from first rounds of action. 

Game 1 - Prussian vs Confederation of the Rhine - the forts

Both sides fields their foot guards for this encounter so plenty of infatry on display. We counted the forts as BUA's but with -2 defence against shooting. Both sides placed the guards on the west of the field and massed their horse in the east.  

Allied Guards - Hanoverians playing the role

Prussian infantry

French old and young guard 

The COTR won the early rounds as their horse was able to vanquish the Prussians and turn-in to threaten the centre. The Prussians battled bravely though and launched several spirited attacks on the COTR held fort.    

Eventually the Prussians punched themselves out and began losing units due to routers and accumulated hits, as they were unable to recycle units. It ended with 1 fort each but the Prussians having to withdraw as they reached break point first.

Prussian centre

The guards clash

Game 2 - French vs Anglo-Dutch at the crossroads.

The British massed their cavalry on the east side whilst the Frenchmen for a split deployment that left their guard cavalry opposed by the Dutch-Belgium's and the Rifles. 

French in the east

French centre

The Anglo-Belgium's advanced smartly in the centre and took up position around the crossroads waiting to pour fire into the advancing French. The Allied massed cavalry attack was a disappointment as it was pushed back by the outnumbered French horse.  

British brigade attacks

Allied cavalry and reserve brigade

The French guard horse in the west advanced cautiously and were damaged by the Rifles and Dutch-Belgium guns. They charged, but the Rifles evaded and emptied more saddles to weaken the French and halt the attack.   

Dutch-Belgium's

Centrally, British musketry took a heavy troll on the French infantry and once the British cavalry had begun to finally advance the centre collapsed rapidly for the Emperors men, forcing a retreat.      

Firefight at he crossroads

Campaign Situation

Two victories for the Allies sees them advancing in the centre and north, while the French make progress in the south.  

  

1815 campaign - turn 1 & 2, part 1

Turn 1 saw both sides advance from their regional capitals and so in turn 2 we had 3 battles in the centre of the map. 

We played the Village (5) and Forts (7), with the Crossroads (6) being held over due to a lack of Allied players. The Forts is going into a second week so just the Village this week in the report.

The battle saw evenly marched French and Anglo-Dutch fighting an encounter with both objectives in the village. The French setup with both brigades of infantry in the centre attacking the village, heavy cavalry in the east and light cavalry in the west. The Allies massed all their horse in the west with British infantry attacking town and Dutch-Belgium's seeking to block the French heavies with support from the Rifles.        

French advance in the centre

French lights await the British attack

Winning initiate, and with an inspiring brigadier, the British manage to grab the village and pour heavy fire into the advancing French. The British cavalry overwhelmed the outnumbered French lights and turned inward to threaten the French infantry.        

Some too-and-fro in the village

The British were pushed out of the village but fought back with cavalry and Dutch-Belgium support to regain it from the weakened French. 

French clear the village but are thrown back  

In the east the French heavies advanced slowly but were  beaten back by fire from the Dutch-Belgium brigade and the Rifles. After a hard tussle the French reached breakpoint and quit the field leaving the Allies with the win.      

     

1815 campaign - some further practise games

This week we played 3 games, all using the campaign lists and doing full playthrough from deployment to results. The British won 2 games; one verse the Germans and one verse the French. The Prussians and French drew but with the French ahead on points/kills.

The Germans vs British was very close with the full three hours being needed and the result close until the end. We'll play one more week of warm-ups and then into the campaign proper.

All three games were encounters based on the famous "Battle of Sawmill Village" from Charge!

  

British take a hill from the Germans

Rifles advance 

British take Sawmill village

The French taking a village

Germans advance on the heights

French infatry attacks

German Grenadiers

German infantry attack

  

Armada Compeition

This weekend I made my first foray into competitive play with a visit to the The Oxfordshire - Pannithor Boat Race, a 3 round competition using Mantic Games fantasy naval game Armada. I played the Salamanders - fiery lizard folk who tend to have very shooty boats that are decent in combat as well.

Round 1 - Ghost Fleet

As the name suggests these guys are somewhat ethereal, so hard to damage but without a devastating punch. They also heal and some of the ships can phase-out and pass right through you.        

Mt flagship splits the line 

This was a kill scenario so attacking was needed. Casualties were pretty light though, with just one Ghost Fleet ship sunk and so a narrow win for the Salamanders 2-0.

Game 2 - Orcs

With 4 of the 12 fleets played Orcs, it was likely I'd face them and so it was in round 2. Orcs love boarding actions and they are the faction I've fought the most, as my younger brother plays them. 

In this game we had to carry loot tokens across the table and end in a specific zone in the last turn to score. I stacked my tokens on two fast ships and place the dummies on my flag ship, sailing this on  a blocking line at the Orcs. 

The Orcs took the bait and piled lots of units into my flagship. It fought  bravely and sunk two enemy vessels before surrendering. This though enabled my token carriers to make the end zone for a narrow 4-3 win.  

Mt flagship goes down fighting

Round 3 - Abyssal Dwarves

Again not a surprise to face dwarves as there were three Abyssal (evil) fleets. The Dwarves have to sails and so are very manoeuvrable compared to my ships. Like the Salamanders they have some fire-based abilities topped-off with infernal magics. In this scenario you collected randomised loot tokens from  across the seas and tried to hold them until the end of the game.      

The moment my token carrier (background) explodes

I started ok by grabbing 3 of the 6 tokens and sinking an enemy ship in the first 2 turns. Things turned though as one token carrier exploded trying to extinguish a fire and my second token carrier got swamped by Dwarves ironclads. My flagship maked a run for it and I ended-up losing 2 - 4.   

 

The Verdict

I won 2 narrowly and lost a bit more decisively. The competition rules meant that winners got "promoted" to play other winners and so the games get harder as you go along. So by the last game I was playing the person who came second overall. I managed 4th place from 12 with my brother overall winner and the third musketeer (Mick) 6th one point behind me.     

So a fun experience helped by the game being fairly silly and the competitive element very light. I took a few shots of some of the other tables along the way

Kings of Men

Orcs vs Dwarves

Orcs vs Kingdoms of Men

Orcs vs Orcs - one of two Orc-offs I think

Trident Realms vs Dwarves 

   

1815 campaign - practise week 4

This week we had several people returning from flu and so did 3 games based on the famous Sawmill Village scenario featured in Charge! We also used the size of armies intended for the campaign with roughly 2 infantry and 2 cavalry brigades per side plus some independent light infantry. 

British advance

Two of the games were British vs French and the third was Prussian vs Confederation of the Rhine. The British armies are smaller than the the others as they are rated Superior for shooting and don't contain any Inferior troops. 

Prussians defending a village

Long shot for the Prussians vs Confederation of the Rhine 

In all three games there was a single objective in reach players half of the table which could be captured - so basically capture the flag as you sought to hold your own objective and take the enemies. We played a full game so including deployment.

Prussian and German cavalry clash

The British vs French games both ended with a British victory although casualties were heavy on both sides. The Prussian vs Germans was not played to conclusion but the Germans were in the lead at the end. One nice feature was in all the games the casualty removal rules got good use as both sides cavlary attacked, withdrew and attacked again. 

French centre crumbles under British fire