Christmas Game - fictional 1813 Napoleonic's battle

The overall game

The battle of Bielefeld is a fictional battle fought during 1813 between the French and a Grand Collation of its enemies. In the first round three battles take place which are the approach battles for the main action at Bielefeld. The outcome of each battle has an impact on the later game.

Each of the 6 armies contains; 10 infantry in 3 brigades, 6 cavalry in 2 brigades and supporting artillery / light troops. Three of the units may be designated as Veterans.

Units that are damaged, but survive the battle, are restored at full strength for the main battle. Units who are routed / destroyed must dice;

•       Line Infantry : 1 - 3 they begin with 2 damage and 4 - 6 they begin with 1 damage.

•       Other units: 1- 4 they begin with 1 damage and 5 - 6 they begin with no damage. 

•       Remember you can try to recover some of these loses during the game.

Devil’s Bridges winner = half that army may begin as a flank attack that arrives after D3 turns.

Schilda / Germelshausen = if the Defender wins then the Attackers army is delayed by D3 turns for the main battle and must march onto the table.  

Devil's Bridge - French vs Russian encounter to determine the flank attack  

Both sides deployed with infatry and cavalry interspersed with their primary target the three bridges. Crucially the French won initiative and moved first.    

French left

Russian right

They flooded units across the bridges, which took fire but managed to establish a bridgehead. The Russians focused on maximising the shooting damage but were unable to retake the crossings. So a French Win and they got to have a flanks march in the large game.    

The French bridgeheads

Germelshausen - French attack vs Prussian defence to delay the attackers

The French deployed with their infatry mostly attacking the village and nearby woods and their cavalry in the more open ground to the east. 

Prussian defenders await the attack

After a short struggle they were able to overrun the village and threaten the second objective nearby.    

The village falls to the French

Prussian reserves arrived in time to stabilise the line, but in the final turn the French could still win if they were able to rout the defenders of the second objective. They cane close but could nt quite make it so the game was a close draw.   

Prussians hold in the last round

Schilda - Austrian attackers vs French defenders to delay the attackers 

The French stretched out across the field so the Austrians attacked solely down the flanks with combined arms attacks on both sides. The French sought to disrupt this with spoiling attacks from their cavalry.    

Austrian right

Austrian left

The French horse made limited impact on the Austrian foot but did delay them enough for force a Draw.    

French spoiling attack

Bielefeld - encounter game aiming to hold 3 of the 4 objectives.

As the French were victorious in the Devil's bridge game they began with a flank attack. To avoid too much over crowding we also removed one division from each side to give more space.

The French plan was the focus about half their infatry against Funsig and then intersperse infatry and cavlary brigades across the line, with only lighter units contesting the heights. The Coalition opted to place most of their mounted opposite the heights with a small force hoping to delay at Funsig while they attacked in the centre.   

Austrians take the heights

The Coalition won the initiative, which enable them to grab most of the objectives in the first turn and especially the village and town. For most of the game a Russian brigade around the village was able to hold off three French brigades and so tie-up half the French army.      

Russians grab the village 

Centrally it was a grinding match with town being taken and retaken through the game and neither side able to hold all of it for very long. Around the heights the small French force make a nuisance of itself and was able to at least contest the objective as the Austrians placed their lacked the infantry support to clear the woods at the bottom of the hills.   

The village finally falls to the French

The game ended with each side holding an objective and two contested so a Draw. The French probably had the stronger forces left but has been unable to rapidly take Funsig and exploit the flank attack.      

So we managed 4 battles over 8 hours play and some lunch in the middle. People were pretty tired by the end to we did nt mange the planned board games session before adjourning to a local curry house for some dinner.  

 

 

Dark ages - Saturnalia Slay Ride

This week we took a break from the campaign games for something more festively themed - The Saturnalia Slay Ride. This is based on the Bloodbath scenario but with some seasonal twists. 

Both sides has three warbands of 18 points with their deployment zone and thus side randomly allocated. The side with the highest victory point total at the end of the same was the winner. Points are scored in three ways:

• One point for each point of enemy units routed, destroyed, or forced to retreat from the table. 
• 6 points if your wagon of festive goods exits the table on the opposite side within 6" of the road. The wagon is a allocated s guard who must remain with it throughout the game, it may not enter rough, and is lost if the guards are routed.
• Capturing and holding gifts until the end of the game worth 3 points (1 of), 2 points (3 of) or 1 point (1 of). These are placed face-down so the value is unknown until they are picked up. If the holder is routed they are dropped and may be picked up by another unit.

The game could end in two ways.

• Last moves would begin at 2200.
• When their are less than 10 units in total left roll a D10 at the end of the turn and if the D10 score > the remaining units on the table the game ends.  

Our game had one side with Franks (Roy), Romans (Robin), and Saxons (Paul) vs the other with Franks (Keith), Norse (Adam), and Anglo-Norman (John). The ANs and the Romans ended up with the wagons.   

Franks (Keith)

Frank (Roy)

Anglo-Norman (John)

Norse (Adam)

Romans (Robin)

Saxons (Paul)

The Frankish ended-up opposite each other in the west and Keith decided on an all-out attack to knock his enemy out of the game early. Centrally the ANs advanced towards the Romans with their Skirmishers and Elite Cavalry in the lead.     

In the east the Saxons spied a large hill, which was an irresistible opportunity to form shieldwall on some high ground. The Norse looked to flank their position and bring their archers to  bear.     

 

Back on the west side the Franks clashed but Keith's units suffered heavily against their opposite numbers and were forced to fall back with a captured treasure token. The AN's cavalry and skirmishers proved deadly to the Romans cutting swaths through them and killing their leader.      

The Norse peppered the Saxons with arrows, who retreated behind the crest of the hill into cover.  

As we hit 2200 we played a final turn which saw the ANs agonisingly fall short by just a few inches of getting their wagon off the table. Their side had killed most of the Romans and secured a number of treasure tokens. The Franks / AN's / Norse won 22-13

Game 2 

We also played a smaller parallel game with Saxon's (Mike) vs Byzantines (me) that was the same but with no wagon and only one a side.  

 

The Saxons were upgrade with some Elite cavalry for this game who proved reluctant to move for the first few turns. The Saxons struggled with quite shooty Byzantine units and so it was a win for the Constantinople posse.    

 

Dark Ages - week 8

I was absent this week so the chaps did a single double-sized battle as there was a far bit of cavalry present and they wanted a decent amount of space. The scenario was Blood feud where points are earned for killed the enemies most powerful units.

It was Franks vs Anglo-Norman with 48 points a side.

Frankish infantry make ready

Charge!

  The Franks were the winners so 5 points to each of them. 

 

  

Dark Ages - week 7

We had enough players for three games again this week but played two different scenarios, so that those who'd not had a go at the Convoy could play this one through. The others did the Relic in which the attacker is trying to steal some treasure and the defender must recover it and return it to the village. 

Game 1, The Convoy - Anglo-Norman (Defender) vs Norse (Attacker)

The ANs formed a tight group and tried to navigate around the Norse forces.

AN column advances

After a battle in the centre the ANs were able to get one of the treasure markers off the table, but lost 2 too the Norse raiders. Norse win 4-2.  

Game 2, The Relic - Saxon (attacker) vs Irish (defender)

The Saxons took the bold decision of placing the treasure with their fast units, the skirmishers. The Irish set off in hot pursuit after them with Warriors and Skirmishers, while the Gallowglass tried to block the Saxon warriors.     

After a stiff fight the Irish were able to grab back the treasure and return it to the village. Irish win 5-0 

Irish grab the prize

Game 3, The Relic - Attackers (Rome) vs Frankish (defenders)

The Romans formed a solid mass of troops with foot to the fore and archers covering the flank. The Franks moved to block the enemies exit with its foot while the horse and archers moved to the flanks of the advancing Romans.    

Roman attackers

The Frankish archers were able to drive off their opposite numbers and attacked one of the   Roman spear units. The game ended a draw.  

Franks block the Roman escape

   

Campaign situation