Napoleonic Game.

Last night the "famous five" had a rare Napoleonic game-but these games will increase as Graham,Paul and Dave finish their vast collections of British/Austrian/Prussian etc. etc. figures,but meanwhile we had to play with my very old(and old-fashioned?) figures.
The game proved to be an exciting re-learning curve of Napoleonic tactics,co-ordination and communication!!!

This is the table before any movement-the ship wasn't flying any colours,so had to be diced for-the highest dice got the ship and its "broadsides"
Paul,Dave and Brian were joint French commanders,whilst Graham and I were joint British commanders-the objective was to capture the town from the British!!

As the Guards were the best troops on the board,they were tasked with defending the town,and what a magnificent job they did of it,repelling all attacks-hurrah!!

The attack begins!-the French "high command" had come up with a plan to have a joint,co-ordinated attack on the town and centre,whilst Brian,on the far flank, was just to contain any British offensives(as if!!) This was a sound plan(on paper) but relied heavily on the co-ordination part!!

Rifles,artillery,cavalry and the guards saw off Dave's first attack-another hurrah!! but Paul was supposed to be supporting Dave,however he left his advance too late,and Dave was shot to pieces!!!(co-ordination and communication)

Dave's second attack fared no better than the first,and his infantry were "bounced" by the guards,and now my cavalry was threatening his flank,and with no support forthcoming,he was in deep "poo"

Across the rest of the board,there was a lot of artillery action(Brian in particular was causing the British a bit of bother) but very little else-a feint attack by Paul's lancers saw him taking a bit of a beating from the British musketry.-with Brian's inactivity,Graham has moved some Highlanders across to support my flank(co-ordination and communication!)

Paul's lancers have just taken a morale test,and will retire(its good being retired!) next move,leaving me free to release my heavy cavalry and split the French army in two!!
Meanwhile another French attack against the town is in the process of being beaten back-it's all over now!!

This shows one of many artillery shots from Brian,causing havoc in the British ranks-we use an "old fashioned,but effective,bounce stick,coloured to co-ordinate with a coloured dice,to assess casualties.

One final shot showing the sorry state of the French army(note,no attackers in the vicinity of the town walls!!!!)
This was a good game and certainly taught us that we need to re-learn out Napoleonic gaming,I felt we all did well but that we need more games-come on lads!!
Roll on next Sunday,Paul is arranging a 7YW battle using an old scenario from way back!