Break through ! Marlburian Game 17.2.13.

I can describe last night's game in three words,Classic,Classic,Classic !!!
Because Dave and Graham were on "sick parade",it fell to the "musketeers" to play this game between us.

The scenario was that a French force (moi) was in a defensive position,consisting of two "hedged areas" linked by a farm house,the opposition,consisting of a Danish force (Brian) and a Dutch force (Paul),had to break through the defences to win the game.
Another title for this game could well have been, "If you Gloat,you'll be Smote !!" as you will see later.

The game lasted for 10 moves,and for the first 9 moves, I could do no wrong,fire-fights,melees and morale tests all went my way,I was giving Brian and Paul a good bashing to say the least.

This is move one,Brian has advanced with a brigade,been fired upon,took casualties,tested his morale,and two out of the three regiments had to "fall back".This operation was repeated on move two and three,I just couldn't lose!! At one point ( read this carefully Sally),Brian was rendered speechless!!

Paul is attacking my right flank here,he met with no more success than Brian,my dice throwing was "magnificent" nothing could break the will of my glorious troops.In this shot you can just see ,in the background,my cavalry taking on Paul's cavalry,a well placed "cannister" shot unsettled one of my squadrons,but I was confident that I would prevail!!

This shot shows Brian looking "dejected" as well he might,yet another attack has failed !!

This shows Brian's concerted attack,after a break for coffee and biscuits,a renewed and frightening aspect loomed above me,the sneaky devils had obviously hatched a plot,was I about to be undone??

My right flank again,cavalry being pounded by artillery and beaten by Paul's cavalry, an an infantry attack coming in.On the first round of melee up against the hedge,I was successful,but the Paul launched his Dutch Guards against me,and broke through the hedge,I was forced to reinforce the melee,and even threw my Brigadier into the fray ( regular readers will know that this is a mistake !!)

Even though Paul's Guards were beaten in the melee,he threw a "5" on the dice which allowed him to try and kill my Brigadier,and guess what -----He did !!
I was then forced to take a morale test on all units under his control,and ever single one of them failed their test and "retired" to the back of the board,leaving Paul's troops free to take the position!! Game over,and to hoots of laughter and derision,I was declared the loser! If you Gloat,you'll be Smote !!

This was a tremendous game,with lots of twists and turns,well done lads,I promise there'll be no more "Gloating" from now on.(yeah right!)

As discussed in the last blog,here is a shot of my new "project" figures,a company of "Roger's rangers" and a "war party" of indians. There will be 8 such companies and war parties when I am finished,plus canoes etc.
I have finished 6 so far,and the rest will be finished next week, I'm looking forward to getting them on the board,and playing some different games and scenarios.

Roll on Thursday,Brian and I will be playing through the day ( it's great being retired you know!)