Marlburian Battle-Hudson's Return!

Last night the "Fab Four" were involved in an exciting Marlburian battle,with no scenario,other than to beat the enemy!-Dave and Paul were on one side and Brian and I on the other.Both teams wrote their battle plans-once again very similar to each other's-both flanks were to be contested whilst in the centre we would advance cautiously and await events on the flanks,both sides also opted to contest the village!!

Dave and Paul controlled the British and Austro/Prussians in the foreground,Brian commanded the Irish and part of the Bavarian lines-I commanded the rest!-The terrain layout proved quite tricky as avenues of approach to the major obstacles,ie the farm and village were restricted,to say the least!

This shows Brian's Irish flank-he was opposed by Austrians and Prussians,and,despite Paul throwing the whole of the known world at him,he managed to hang on until the last move of the game,when the "demon dice-thrower" overcame him,and out-flanked him with cavalry!

Paul and Dave commanded the central troops combined,so Paul marched the front liners(Prussians) to the left flank to support his Austrians who were about to assault the village-Brian would now be out-numbered 2:1 but "Mr Tenacity" didn't care one jot!!!

My attack on the farm begins-it must be noted that Dave and I are the worst dice throwers in the wargaming world,but on this occasion  Dave actually threw worse than me,and after a couple of shots the defenders fled the relative safety of the farm-hurrah!!

Whilst the centre was starting to come alive,Brian was being subjected to "shit,shot and shell" at the village,as Paul piled on the pressure to capture the wall-in the background you can just see the Austrians moving forward to out-flank the Irish position!!!

An all-out attack on the British flank is taking place in this photo,and a cavalry battle is developing on my far left-I eventually won the melee,but followed Dave's retiring cavalry through his ranks and was shot to bits by a well-placed infantry regiment!!

Dave and I are having a jolly old fire-fight here,but he re-occupied the farm with a regiment of Grenadiers,threatening my flank,so I had to retire.

In the centre,a combination of "uncannily" accurate artillery fire and musketry is keeping my line in check,Brian is in danger of being swamped by sheer weight of numbers,and my left is retiring-is it the end?

Brian's right flank cavalry have disappeared,leaving the Austrian cavalry free to rampage at will,he has been driven back from the village walls,and a couple of "untouched" Austrian regiments is approaching fast-oh dear me!!

The final photo(c/w "dead" figures) showing the positions of the armies-basically at their original starting points! but I couldn't make any headway against Dave's British in a very strong position on their hill,the centre was done for and Brian was fighting for his life!!
The "allies" were declared the winners,but it was in reality a very close fought game-well done to us all.
Roll on Thursday-maybe English Civil War-only Brian and I though,Paul is going to Nottingham for a couple of days.