28mm Napoleonic game

 The club has recently welcomed several new members recently and one of them, Chris Johnson, was keen to quickly get into the swing of things by bringing up some of his excellent and huge Napoleonic collection. He wanted to use his heavily amended version of Black Powder so i brought up my 5th Division British 1812 figures and he brought his French.

Each side had one infantry Brigades and a cavalry brigade. Richard and Steve, also new members participated in the game and i also took a brigade and the cavalry on the British side.. 

 The fine terrain boards also belong to Chris and he wants to store them at the club premises to release space at home. They will therefore be available to use on club nights and Saturday games.
 so thanks to Chris for that gesture.

The British setup.

The French set up.

French cavalry. (Of course the British never faced Carabiniers in the Peninsular)

British cavalry, Light Dragoons and Dragoons.

Action quickly got under way as Chris ordered his infantry forward 3 moves and succeeded with his command roll.

French cavalry advance

And are charged by the British

The Light Dragoons cover the French heavies.

Steve attempts to outflank the French infantry.

and charge home

Skirmishers engage.

The French win this 3-2

and are force back leaving their supports to cover their retreat.

The French follow up with a sweeping advance and push the supporting squadron back also.

The remain in position to reform.

This doesn't look good for the French

The French were indeed pushed back but the flank attack failed to destroy them as might have been expected.

The other cavalry units clash.

The two infantry brigades shorn of their skirmish screens prepare to engage.

The French columns go in.

One of their columns fails to charge home due to the weight of fire against them.

The cavalry combat

leaves the British withdrawing.

Column v line...

With the column thrown back

The British then charge the exposed remaining French column. The situation looks untenable for the French.

The British cavalry are reforming or removing stamina.

The French column was indeed thrown back but crucially not destroyed.

The French column opens fire on the British line.

French lancers take a chance and, exposing their flank to the British cavalry. turn to support their infantry and dispose of a unit of British skirmishers.

The infantry are successfully reforming.

and are ready for the British charge. Due to a lack of space to deploy they remain in column.

Following a disastrous failed command roll the British cavalry remain uncharacteristically  inactive having been presented with a perfect target to charge.

The British charge fails

As time ran out the battle was still in the balance but French casualties were much higher than the British and close to being a broken brigade for the infantry. Victory was given to the British but i suspect another couple of moves could have resulted in some very interesting cavalry action by one side or the other.

The game was very interesting and many of the amendments worked really well. I particularly liked the opportunity to charge during the opponents move.

We have a big all day Napoleonic game planned for 22nd August and we will be using these for that so it should play to a conclusion. I will be doing a report for that also.

Cheers

Mick



Saturday Game-7 Years War

We had an all day game at the club last weekend featuring Toms' large 7 Years War collection of 15mm figures. The rules used were Die Kriegkunst which is a variant of General de Brigade.

Russian and allied forces

Russians- 22 infantry battalions
28 squadrons of cavalry
4 Grand batteries

French reinforcements- 12 Infantry battalions
4 Cavalry regiments
3 6lbr batteries

Orders 

 Secure the 2 main towns and the bridge

Prussian and Allied forces

 Prussian-16 infantry battalions
20 cavalry squadrons
11 artillery batteries

Allies-7 infantry battalions
12 cavalry squadrons
3 batteries

Orders
Defend the two towns and the road between them. There are two churches which can be occupied by Grenadiers as strong points. Additionally the road on the left flank must also be defended in anticipation of reinforcements arriving.

Note- 2 players were turning up late so each was given command of reinforcements and when they arrived they could immediately start to roll to see if they could come on. This had the potential to create great uncertainty as we had no idea when each would turn up.

Initial deployments, Russians left and Prussians right. 

The Russian centre advances.

Positions after the first move

A morale test passed after artillery fire

Prussian casualties.

The unit falters

A Prussian unit has fallen back

Russian right advances towards Kl Herlen

Prussian reinforcements arrive earlier than expected and get straight into action to the disgust of the Russian commanders.

The Russian left wing launches the infantry assault.

while their right having sent cavalry off to protect their flank concentrate remaining forces on the town.

Cavalry on the flank

Advance on the Left flank continues

The Prussians await.

Finally the French arrive to help their Russian allies but do so unexpectedly on the road approaching Gr Herlen which they will have to storm.

Prussian cavalry await an opportunity to charge.

Prussian reserver move to bolster the line against the main attack by the Russian left wing.

More German allies pour over the ford to strengthen the Prussian left flank. Artillery is beginning to deploy to support their cavalry.

A cavalry battle develops.

and Prussian hussars threaten the Russian cavalry.

A firefight develops on the other flank

The French assault progresses.

Panoramic view of the field at this point from the French end.

The cavalry combat continues into a second move.

Russian infantry units gang up on the brave Prussian hussars.

while other units exchange fire with the Prussian occupiers of the village. One of their units assaulting the line has suffered considerale casualties and is down to 50%

The French send their cavalry charging across the bridge in column.

A view from behind the Russian cavalry on the left.

Casualties are mounting in this firefight.

and this one. The Russians are getting the worst firefights.

However the Prussian cavalry are now within range of Russian artillery

The cavalry fight on the Prussian left continues, the Russians having been pushed back and the German allied cavalry followed up to press home their advantage.

The same outcome this time.

The Prussian Hussars are halted by musketry.

French cavalry at the mercy of Prussian musketry.

Another cavalry fight develops on the Prussian left.

Several Russian battalions have fallen back and their numbers are dwindling.

French cavalry exit the village having taken casualties from musketry but block any action by the Russian cavalry.

Their infantry assault immediately takes casualties from the Prussian defenders.

Casualties are also mounting for the Prussians.

The Russian cavalry lose this fight and must fall back.

German allied infantry begin to pour over the ford in support of their victorious cavalry as the Russians pull back in an effort to stabilise their right flank.

Prussian Hussars fall back to regroup.

Russian cavalry advance to threaten the Prussian centre.

The French assault the village

but the attack fails and they are pushed back

The Russian assailt all along the line begins to falter due to mounting casualties.

Gaps begin to appear in their line

and units begin to retreat.

The state of the armies was assessed at this point  and a Prussian victory was declared as so many Russian units were about to disperse as a result of high casualties. The Russians were also nowhere near achieving their objectives.

An enjoyable days gaming ended at about 6pm after about 7 and a half hours!