ROMANI ITE DOMUM

The Roman commander,Paulus is expecting a relief column bringing supplies of food and much needed reinforcements,to his fort deep in gallic controlled
territory.

Paulus has noticed that the local tribes have become very agitated and threatening over the last few days,and he is worried in case they decide to ambush the relief column-AS IF !!!!!

As is the custom,as soon as the relief column is sighted,Paulus sends out an escort party to see the much needed reinforcements and food, back to the safety (??) of his fort.





Well what could go wrong ?





Over to you Paul(us)

Plancenoit 1815 Part 2

Here are a few more photos of our Plancenoit inspired game. In the above photo the light cavalry of Domon and Subervie clash with the Prussian cavalry. I commanded the Prussians on this flank and it included 8 regiments of cavalry. However I am not noted for my luck with cavalry! And so it would prove today. I launched my first two brigades against the French and lost in every melee! French Chasseurs driving back my West Prussian dragoons. I was forced to feed in another brigade of light cavalry just to stabilise my position.

In the meantime I advanced a brigade of infantry against Lobau's infantry and a firefight ensued.

On the left flank Paul had two brigades making successive attacks against the Young Guard in Plancenoit while he fed a third through the woods to the south looking to cut the Brussels highway (one of our 'victory conditions'). In this photo you can see the third brigade advancing towards the woods.

The next two photos show the French in square by La Belle Alliance and the Young Guard in the centre of Planenoit.

A shot of the Old Guard Grenadiers

Below is the fight for Plancenoit. In the background John has deployed the Old Guard to counter the Prussians who have advanced through the woods.

On the Northern end of the battlefield John has thrown in the Horse Grenadiers of the Guard, a big powerful unit of 18 figures, and my Silesian hussars can be seen as they are about to bounce off them! Luckily (or skillfully) I have the Brandenburg hussars poised to take them in the flank. Unluckily (or predictably?) these were also chewed up by 'The Gods'. However I had done enough here to nullify the French cavalry and the decision would be made in the centre and left.

Below: the Old Guard firefight with the Prussians in the woods. Our standard infantry units are 24 figures but the Old Guard are 32 figures which makes them stronger in terms of both firepower and morale.

Another view of the fight for Plancenoit and the woods.

The remnants of my cavalry fight on against the French cavalry.

The situation at the end of the game. The Prussians are almost in possession of Plancenoit and Lobau's corps in the centre has broken. Prussian dragoons have almost reached the Brussels road (these were not used against the French cavalry on my right flank). The Old Guard behind Plancenoit and in the woods is strong but will not be able to influence the outcome other than ensuring the road stays open long enough for Napoleon to escape.

All in all this was a very enjoyable game which worked really well. It was nice to get my Napoleonics out of the cabinet and on to the table and it has proved to me one thing . . . I need more Prussians! . . . I really do as we had to use 3 battalions of my Neopolitans who masqueraded as the Prussian 28th and 29th regiments (I believe these were still in their old Berg uniforms during the campaign), tenuous I know! So a brigade of Silesians would be nice, oh and some Schutzen, . . . and some Uhlans . . . . Hmmm.

Plancenoit 1815

On sunday 19th of June we played a game loosely based on the actions around Plancenoit in the afternoon and early evening of the 18th June 1815. The French forces roughly represented the 6th corps under Lobau, Domon and Subervies Light cavalry divisions, the Young Guard in Plancenoit and elements of the Old Guard. In the photo above you can see most of the french deployment area with La Belle Alliance in the foreground and Plancenoit in the distance. The 6th corps and light cavalry is deployed between La Belle Alliance and Plancenoit and the Old Guard elements are drawn up on either side of the Brussels highway, awaiting (in theory), the order to advance against Wellingtons forces to the North.

The second photo shows the table from the South and you can see the Young Guard occupying Plancenoit. Also, to the rear of the Old Guard deployment, some dragoons are seen in disorder trying to rally after the cavalry attacks against Wellingtons centre. On the eastern edge of the table the Prussians can be seen deploying to attack Plancenoit and futher north to attack Lobau.

The Prussian cavalry arrive at Papelotte, held by a token Nassau battalion.

Another view of the French deployment, this time from the north.

And another view showing Lobaus corps in two lines.

Old Vorwarts encourages his men to advance as a battery opens up on the French line.

La Belle Alliance. John mentioned on the phone to me that he had a paper model of this building which he was going to make for the proposed Waterloo game which he and Paul had been planning (more of this to come in the future hopefully). Hang on, I said, I think I have an old Hovels building in my cupboard which I bought years ago and never got round to painting. Well I had a look and I had two of them! I have no idea why I would need two La Belles. Anyway I passed one on to John and he has painted it up and very nice it looks too.

Prussian cavalry deployed for the attack.

The leading Prussian brigade launches the first of many attacks on Plancenoit. While, in the photo below, John (commanding the French) moves his second line in the opposite direction! Hopefully we can get some more photos of the game posted soon as it turned out to be an exciting action which ebbed and flowed from beginning to end. As I have mentioned John commanded the French, and Paul and I (Dave H), commanded the Prussians. Almost all the figures used are Elite Miniatures, apart from a few Connoisseur figures, and are from my collection.

Hail Caesar

Paul and I had a game last night taken straight from the publication Hail Caesar,Paul commanded a Roman legion complete with auxilliaries and light cavalry, his task was to cross a river ,march down a wooded valley and attack a Gallic village.







My task was simply to stop him.

The game started with Paul sending a tremendous force against a hill just on the other side of the river,with legionaries and aux.inf,the hill was defended by a large warband,our random movement dice was thrown for the barbarians and true to form they charged down at the hapless Romans.







Some unusual dice from me saw the Romans thrown back across the river although they had inflicted some fearsome casualties on the warband with their pila.




Paul had no choice but to reinforce the melee and eventually succeeded in destroying the gauls.







Paul must have thought so far so good,however an advance over the hill triggered two Gallic cavalry units to move out of the woods and begin a slow advance against the Roman invaders.

Paul wisely shoved his archers to the front and began to pepper the cavalry who took a dislike to this treatment and retired back into the woods.



On the other flank an advance by 5 cohorts triggered another little sortie by the biggest warband I had,they came down off a wooded hill,preceded by slingers and archers,straight into contact with the cohorts and some cunningly placed heavy cavalry,and bounced like a rubber ball!!














































Having now beaten all the forward units of the barbarians,Paul consolidated his lines and advanced on the village,the last of my troops who just happened to be elite,emerged from the village ,and by a miracle of good dice throws were onto the Legion before they knew what hit them,well that was for the first round of melee, the second and third round saw them beaten and surrounded by superior numbers,




I had to hold my hands up in surrender and graciously gave in.







This was an excellent and exciting game,Paul did take some photos,and i hope he has time to post
them soon,there's always a next time!!!!