Napoleonic battle;1799,Egypt!

Last night saw 6 of us battling it out in Napoleonic Egypt!!
Michael had come down from Aberdeen,so he and Graham took the part of the French commanders,and Paul,Brian and I took the part of the local tribesmen,defending their motherland.Richard was referee.

Above is the scenario,I had laid the troops out and picked sides before the game started,but the players chose where they wanted their strengths to be,and allocated points accordingly.This was always going to be a game of "flanks",which was reflected in our respective battle plans.

The table layout,with the tribes on the left and the French on a slight ridge on the right.

We're off!! we had decided that I would be the sacrificial lamb,so to speak,and would head straight towards the French regardless of casualties,whilst both Paul and Brian would attack the flanks with our good troops.

This shows Paul's wing moving forward,his wide out-flanking move by his cavalry seemed to mesmirize Graham who ignored it-at his cost!!

The French plan was simply to hold their positions and see how the battle developed,and consequently surrendered the initiative to us!!

This is Brian's wing,he advanced in grand style,against a French regiment behind the cover of some rocks,and although he took some casualties,stuck to his orders and was eventually successful,and took on the Hussars lurking in the gap,and beat them too!!

My troops are taking a damned good licking here,the French volley fire taking horrendous casualties and forcing all but one of my units back,the one that wasn't forced back broke into the line,and won melee after melee,and actually reached the Guard reserves,and forced them back too!!

This shows Brian's wing again,a unit of his infantry have been charged by the Hussars,this was a very bloody encounter,Brian was forced back,but luckily his cavalry were around to save the day.

Paul's outflanking move is more than complete,his cavalry is now behind the French lines and his infantry is attacking the French flank,he has even taken his village defenders out of the village and is shooting at the French attacking me!!

Brian is pushing all before him now,time to roll up the flank,I think!!

Is this a happy face? -NOOOOOOOO!! it is not a happy face!!!

Because the French were beaten on both flanks and my one remaining unit was cutting swathes through the Old Guard,we called it a night and declared the Egyptians the winners.

This was quite a fun game (for most of us!) with lots of movement and colour.

Roll on Thursday,probably play two games??