As this was Paul's birthday (57th!!) we decided to put on a fairly large Napoleonic game.We drew lots and Brian picked the British,whilst Paul and I took the French.
This is how the board looked before I put the troops on in their starting positions.
This is the board with the French positioned on the left of the shot,facing the British on the right,occupying the town etc.
This is the scenario ( and advert for Smoggycon!) although fairly straightforward,this proved to be a bit of a test for both sides,with move and counter move throughout the game.
Paul and I had decided to extend my left flank,and make movement in the centre,as though we were going to attack along the whole line,whilst Paul would send his,not very good, Westphalians against Brian's left flank,hoping he would divert troops from his centre,I would then be in a position to launch my infantry and cavalry against a denuded right flank.
This all sounded very grand,how things can go wrong against a determined opponent!!
This shows my first brigade crossing the stream and attacking the town,held by Brian's newly painted 27th foot reg't,these British proved to be too stubborn for their own good,and remained in possesion of the town,despite repeated attacks,for the whole of the game.
As the 27th were holding fast,Paul was busy doing a great out-flanking move with his infantry and cavalry,Brian did counter attack,and despite losing one infantry regiment,Paul held fast,and was eventually in a good position to threaten the town from two sides.
Just when we thought everthing was going "swimmingly", Brian brought on his Spanish allies,consisting of cavalry,infantry and horse artillery! The guns did a bit of damage to my dragoons,who were then charged by the Spanish dragoons,I had to throw in my Hussars,who were in turn charged,in the flank, by the British light dragoons!! Quelle mess" as the French would say!!
This flank turned out to be the ruin of me,Brian handled his troops well,and finally my whole flank broke under the pressure and ran away,sorry I mean retired.
Meanwhile,on Paul's flank,his cavalry are gradually pushing the British cavalry and infantry,relentlessly back!! Hurrah for some success,the British infantry you can see in the background are being taken off the board,having been ridden down by my Hussars.
This shot shows the beginning of the end to my flank,infantry forced into square,gunners running away( not retiring) and cavalry being beaten,in the background you will notice a lack of troops attacking the town.Where is Grouchy ??
Ah, there he is,another magnificent attack put in against the town and the dreaded 27th foot.In the background Paul has just won an important cavalry melee,and driven the British dragoons back,allowing his infantry to begin their outflanking move.
The Wallsend Wellington,no need to look so smug!!Brian certainly has picked up our way of playing,and is confident in the handling of his troops,although at the end of the night he did say, he was stressed out and would have to go and lie down in a darkened room!!
This shot shows Paul's outflanking move,even though this was successful,we had failed to take the town (bloody 27th!!) and so Brian was declared the winner. I had completely failed to achieve my objective,my flank was in tatters,only Paul could hold his head up at the end of the game,for the French.
This was agreat game,which had everything in it that you would expect in a Napoleonic game,melees,firefights,counter attacks,etc. etc.
Roll on Thursday,Probably Modern,we'll see.
Most of the figures used in this game were Irregular Miniatures,with a smattering if Mini Figs,Prince August,and of course,the bloody 27th,which are plastics by Victrix (?)
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