Waterloo two

Well the battle had been running the day before. I arrived to be handed command of the remainder of a division of d'Erlon's attack on the ridge. Things had seemingly not gone well and the two brigades were down to half strength and spent. It seemed prudent to tactically withdraw out of gun range so they fled. The one thing I liked about the advanced position was that one cannon had been pushed up into effective range and was working over a few units.

Whole my troops milled about on the floor of the valley collecting their wits, I cast around to see what artillery I could 'acquire.'

I had also been given command of some cuirassier and some hussars. I used these to tie up my opponents cavalry who were threatening my flank.

The French position as a whole was not good. A string of massed attacks along the line were disjointed and had not put any great pressure on the allies. Napoleon's grand battery was anything but grand, scattered to the winds, it ineffectually lobbed shot about. In the real battle the Napoleon out numbered the allies in guns by 4-3 but it more like the other way round in this.

Me and the other commander of the remnants of d'Erlon's corps began massing all available guns next to the one that had been left up front. My infantry by this time had shaken themselves out and were a semblance of a fighting force again.

This massed concentration of guns had not gone unnoticed and a few worried discussion could be heard behind the allied line. Time was unfortunately against us the Prussians were beginning to arrive and packing up was soon.

As the battery started to do it's devastating work, battering the allied line gaps started to appear. The allies desperately launched the union cavalry brigade to clear away the battery. I had however been carefully husbanding a brigade of cuirassier that I had pinched from the cavalry reserve for just this occasion. In a three foot charge they cut off the union brigade from their target. I did get lucky with the dice it has to be said.

Sadly that is where the game ended, the melee unresolved and the battery not quite finished. The only bright note for the French was the fall of hougoumont, the game was a solid win for Wellington he didn't really need nightfall or the Prussians in the end.

Waterloo

I took part in a fabulous game depicting Waterloo put on by Ian Gayle. Ian fielded all of the Anglo allied army. I provided my French along with Bill Gilchrist, Angus Konstam and Ian. The table was quiet a treat Ian has been working on it for 4 years.

Battle of Hoaky Creek

This was a American War of Independence game where the scenario was card driven, using Blackpowder rules. Card driven I hear you say! Well one of our new members a German lad by the name of Martin had come up with a universal idea to generate scenarios using a card system to give a quick but influenced game. It proved very interesting the cards become a game in themselves as we experimented with a few ideas.

We played out three card games,
The first had a dug in American brigade on clear terrain with a small stream with a surprise attack. Both sides had various levels of ammunition depletion and each had some extra troops.

The second was an incredibly woody, hilly table with terrible weather.

The third was an open table with fog and ammunition depletion for the Americans along with a spy in the ranks and the British had extra troops.

I foolishly plumbed for the first one as it sounded quite interesting. As we rolled up the table the stream ended up in front of the American lines while they had their dug in brigade on the other side of the stream on the left flank. My reading of the scenario was that the British general had sniffed an opportunity to attack and destroy this isolated American brigade, the Americans had however got wind of the British intentions and had raced another brigade up to counter attack the British.

Well the game did not start too well for the British, I need to get across the table and seal off the bridge to prevent the American reinforcements from deploying too quickly giving me time to roll up the isolated brigade. This to me seemed quite obvious but not too the lads on the ground who decided to wait around for a turn to see what happened. As it happened things were not so good in the American camp as the troops racing to the rescue decided to have a go slow and barely crossed the bridge on the first turn. 

Considering the situation demanded speed and panache both commanders were found wanting, well their dice at least. The next turn saw the British cautiously advancing it was looking more like a trap every minute the lead highlanders came under fire from the dug in brigade losing their crack status immediately along with a casualty, I think I rolled my eyes at this point!

Well it didn't get much better for the British the next few turns saw the attacked reduced to a shambles as the Americans couldn't miss and the British couldn't save. I hadn't even started attacking and my brigade was in a shambles as I tried to sort it out and regain a shred of wargaming honour the relief force got a couple of rapid moves and managed to shake themselves out into line. My artillery was having a hit or miss day but all in all was the stand out unit managing to put some rebels to flight. But it was all too little too late, the British were hopelessly compromised and when the Indians are getting involved you know it is time to run.

This was a fun game and the card certainly made for an interesting scenario. Better dice would have helped but don't all losing wargamers say that!

Encounter at Mierdalona, 17th May 1811

This was a fictional engagement dreamt up form the cerebral depths of John Glass's mind. The premise was that after the battle Albuera on the 16th May the French troops under Marshall Soult were retiring to the south. The British has mounted an uncharacteristic aggressive pursuit of the French forces. Our game has an Allied command consisting of Spanish, Portuguese and British troops catching the French rearguard in an extremely disadvantageous position. The French are defending a two long hills running across the table, at their disposal was 2 brigades infantry with a light cavalry brigade. The allies had 5 brigades of infantry and 3 brigades of cavalry. The ace in the allied deck was a flanking force consisting of the Portuguese with 1 brigade of infantry and 1 of cavalry. The objective of the french was to exit the table at the village of Mierdalona with 75% of their force intact. The allies had to destroy 50% of the French force.

 As the first turn kicked off the French desperately trying to reorganise to face the Portuguese to their right rear this was the flank commanded by Brian Phillips it was looking like a sticky wicket. I had the other infantry brigade and the light cavalry. While the infantry held the cavalry blundered but fortunately went to their right, it could have been a lot worse.

 The allies rolled on with what seemed an endless supply of troops, what had looked like a holding action was altering to a headlong flight and this was turn one. I have to say myself and Brian were starting to get a wee bit concerned.

 More frantic French manoeuvring and cursing of the dice filled their turn as lady luck was definitely missing. The allies poured forward some good rolls sped things along the Spanish in particular shutting down the range. John was getting some assistance from a young boarder by the name of Ewan, he seemed to have come supplied with well trained dice. His Spanish Irish were beginning to threaten the French left flank.

 Some tough decisions were being made in the French camp regarding which battalions were being sacrificed. The Portuguese had managed to cut across a third of the French rear but instead of pushing the advantage they began to attack the rear of the French flank assuring its destruction but leaving enough of a gap to slip the rest of the command out.

Back on the other side John had charged in with his two leading battalions in the ensuing melee one of them broke but the other managed to keep fighting. Ewan's Irish had slipped round the flank of the exposed French battalion and sent them reeling down the hill, the French retreat was starting to look like a real mess

Some scrambling and a wee bit of good fortune for the French managed to resurrect some form of French defence. This should only have been a restbite but some poor Spanish command dice, (young Ewan had left) allowed the French a breather.

While all this had been going on the allied cavalry had swept forward, a few sacrificial squares were detached with the hope of distracting some of them.

The cavalry crashed into the rear of Brian's battalions, they had failed to turn through some really bad dice. The first one evaporated in a whirl of horse flesh, the rest of the regiment looked doomed. We had however run out of time as usual Blackpowder let us play a fast and enjoyable game which even newbies can pick up within a few turns. The game had been a real command problem for the French and we should have started running sooner.

T

Clash at Almendralejo, 1811

This was the first time in a while that I have had a game with Angus Konstam. It was a bring all your toys to the table type of game and unusually I had the most toys. The game had a ridge running down the middle of the table which the Anglo-Portuguese were holding in some strength. No really objectives other than have a go.

The British had 3 brigades of infantry and a cavalry brigade plus 3 batteries of guns. The french had 2 large brigades of infantry and 2 cavalry brigades plus 1 large battery and a small battery of horse artillery. Myself and Bart played the French while Angus the British.

The French plan was to launch a fierce assault on the allied left in order to try and get the British commander to commit troops from his reserve to shore it up. This would be followed by the second French infantry brigade assaulting the remaining defenders of the hill supported by the light cavalry on the right and the Dragoon brigade in the middle which if the flank assault had gone well would be able to come in on the flank of the troops defending the hill.

The game started well for the French as the assault troops swept up through the light woods to the front pushing the skirmish screen in front of it. Bart playing his role on the refused left flank engaged in an artillery duel and held his ground. The French assault force debouched from the wood and formed a 3 battalion firing line with 3 battalions in reserve. In the exchange of fire while hits were registered hardly any casualties were caused with some good saving dice being thrown. The next turn saw the French swinging their reserve battalions down and round the flank covered by the advancing firing line things were not looking to hot for the Portuguese.

To counter the French assault the Portuguese wheeled the gun battery around to face the threat it promptly shredded a poor French battalion with canister unable to take it the battalion fled the field. This however presented a glorious target of opportunity to the Dragoon brigade commander. It was all going to come down to 2 movement dice and the dice said yes. Having just finished painting the 3rd regiment the author was just slightly excited. The Dragoons smashed into the flank of the battery the result was inevitable and after sabreing all the gunners the dragoons retreated recoiled back to some comparative safety.


The infantry of the French right had managed to turn the Portuguese flank and were pressing their advantage home. 1 Portuguese battalion was destroyed and 2 more were not in good shape some lucky dice were keeping them on the table. The British commander now decided to commit his reserves to the try and shore up his exposed flank. Sadly that was as far as we got we did not get through the turns at the usual rate and poor old Bart had not moved a figure in anger. 1 or 2 more turns would have seen the main assault going in aganst the allied centre, while the french had a great position it was far from over and the allied centre still had quite a bit of combat power.

It was an enjoyable game and it is nice to get all the toys out especially the dragoons.

Kolinski

Kolin but with a Russian twist. Kolin was fought in the summer of 1757 as part of Frederick the Great's attempts to subdue Austria, Since Angus had neglected to collect any Austrians we had to substitute some Russians in.

The field was laid out in a rough representation of the battlefield no expense spare here. The set-up was slightly unorthodox with heavy cavalry being substituted in for Hussars.

The Prussian plan was pretty much follow what Frederick did assault the end of Kechnor ridge past Kechnor and through the oak wood. It didn't work for Frederick but only just.

The Game started with the Prussian infantry refusing one brigade and assaulting with two up the ridge. The focal point of this attack was a large Russian battery located at the end of the ridge beside the oak wood.


The Russian started to blaze away at the advancing infantry the russian cannon balls started to take effect and the casualties began to mount along with the disorders. As the lead 2 battalions began to stall things were not looking too rosy. The Grenadier brigade advancing on their flank through Kechnor village and the oak wood were making better progress.









Popping out of the oak wood the grenadiers launched a charge against the gun battery. They managed to sweep through that and a supporting battalion things were starting to look a bit better.

The assault began to gain some real momentum as the recovering brigade swung round to support the grenadiers assault. This was all getting to look to much like how the real battle went and the hurrying reinforcements from the Russian right flank really added to the feel. 

As the Russians desperately tried to shore up their centre the Prussains were trying to press home their advantage. Unfortunately as with most big games time was against us reaching a conclusion. The Russian position was grave but reserves were at hand. The Prussians had the advantage but had no reserves at hand to seal their success.

Engagement at Masdorf

This was a fictitious engagement played at the Dumbarton Wargames Club between Mother Russia's finest and the forces of Prussia's King Frederick. The two forces consisted of an infantry brigade, a cavalry brigade and a couple of guns. There was no particular objective as the emphasis was on learning the rules, which were Blackpowder.

The two sides lined up with the Prussians adopting a classic deployment, infantry centre with the cavalry and light troops on the flanks. The Russians placed all their cavalry on one flank while massing their infantry just off centre artillery in between.

 The game started with a mad capped cavalry charge by the Prussian Cuirassier regiment. The Russian horse responded with a counter charge in the ensuing melee they beat their Prussian counter parts and persued after them. The Prussians managed to rally some what and force a draw the resulting bounce backs left the prussians off table and the russian horse collecting their wits.

The Russian infantry commander not too interested in what the donkey wallopers were up to began pressing forward. Being an inexperienced player our Prussian commander launched his hussars in an up the gut charge. Racing forward in their fancy blue uniforms it all looked so irresistible, well it wasn't one well delivered volley and the shattered hussars fled to safety.

 A rather worried looking Prussian commander started looking around for troops to slow the Russian juggernaut down. He pulled an infantry battalion out of line to try and back up the floundering Hussars. The Juggernaut was not to be stopped, the battalion lasted two rounds of fire before breaking. The Russians rolled on sliding one Battalion off the flank to protect the move. A charge by the Russian horse and it would all be over.

The cavalry commander was obviously waiting for a better opportunity or something as he was not inclined to move. Things looked even bleaker for the battalion then one of the supporting Battalions rushed up to cover its flank from said cavalry broke and fled under artillery fire.

The Russians closed in bringing overwhelming fire power to bear it all looked up for the Prussians. This battalion was made of sterner stuff than her sisters and refused to break dishing out a bit in return.

The Russian flank battalion was now taking a pasting from artillery and the hussars were hovering to charge in. With his cavalry commander seemingly stuck in mud the Russian commander was beginning to wonder if it was all going wrong.

The infantry command final lost patience with the cavalry and charge in with his two lead battalions. The dice were rolled and that doughty Prussian battalion held much to the consternation of our Russian commander. After a second round of fighting finally the Prussians were pushed back.

This time lapse had been disastrous for the Russians. The battalion facing the gun had broken and fled while those hussars had rallied up and swept round the back and caught another battalion and wiped them out.

While the Prussian commander generously coincided the field to the Russians our Russian commander was now not so sure.

Engagement at Villa Daxa

This was a fictitious engagement set during the Peninsular war in the summer of 1813. We used blackpowder rules with a couple of amendments. The premise was that the two sides had been sparing in the local but things had settled down and the troops had been spread out a among the local villages. The French had learned that a Brigade of British troops were quartered in the small hamlet of villa Daxa in a slightly exposed position. A French division under the command of General Villatte was ordered to take the village.

Myself and Bart commanded the French while Dax gave his British and outing. The British started with a Brigade in the village and promise of support. The French arrived down the two roads approaching the town  I had Pacthod's brigade-27th legere and the 64th linge. Beaumont's light cavalry Brigade - 2nd Hussars and the 5th Chasseurs. Barts had Puthoc's Brigade - 94th and 95th linge, arriving on the road behind the river. Delebele's Brigade - 5th and 16th Dragoons, was in reserve.

The plan was simple, I would launch a few pinning attacks on the village while Bart flanked the village for the main assault. The first turn saw the some rapid advances but a lot of nothing as troops refused to move. Bart's first problem was a small farm defended by a Militia battalion. Some poor command dice reduce the attack to a crawl as he tried to get into position. The lead Battalions mangaed to get themselves disordered by some lively musketry from the farm.

Meanwhile I had raced up two guns to firing positions by the village. Myself and Dax have had previous with village fights, I had given him a bit of a bloody nose at a Vittoria re-fight last year. Now the positions were reversed and he was looking to do the same to me.

Assaulting a village under Blackpowder is a real challenge, you need to combine artillery with massed infantry assaults and keep a reserve. Having played Blackpowder a few times it would seem to me to be a game of reserves. The influence of fresh troops can be decisive as it is very easy for troops to become quite worn with out doing very much.

Back to the action, the French light cavalry brigade pushed forward to engage some light Dragoons lurking behind a wood. In the ensuing melee the 2nd Hussars were driven back and nearly off the board by the light dragoons. This side of the table then settled down with a string of failed command rolls for both sides.

My guns battering of the village was taking its toll even though Dax had cycled his battalions they had both taken a pasting. I prepared for an assault.

Things were not going so well for Bart on the other flank, his lead infantry kept getting pinned down by the militia battalion. In response he swept two battalions round in a wide move round the rear. As he prepared to swing in on the rear of the farm, a thin red crescent of Hairy Highlanders formed around them. The British reserves had arrived and on some amazing command dice. In the ensuing two rounds of fire both battalions were wiped out. This threat to the flank change our priorities some what and a new plan of a delaying action by Bart while I launched a full blooded directed assault on the front of the village. I love it when plans fall apart.

Things went from bad to worse, a quick assault on the village was what was required but could I get those command rolls, no is the short answer. 2 turns of milling about in front of the village was about all my command was capable of. The Gunners were performing heroics on the flank as they kept up the fire while under an intense fusillade from the village and a supporting battalion.

Bart had managed to stabilise his flank, in quick succession he captured the farm and then dished out some pain to the Hairy Highlanders. The capture of the farm gave new impetus to the French attacks or lack of and finally the dice said we could advance. In a couple of rounds of fighting the 27th Legere drove the British out of the front of the village. The game was poised on a knifes edge and unfortunately we had to call it a day.

The game was declared a draw. The British would probably need more infantry to retake what they had lost but with a bit of re-jigging of the line they should be able to put in place enough reserves to hold the remainder of the village, assuming the French did not get lucky with a quick assault. For the French only a rapid assault would have a chance in the short term otherwise they too would need more infantry and guns to launch a deliberate assault. So ADCs were despatched to the rear and the weary commanders retired to the local taverna to discuss the days events.