Battle of Minden 1759.

We fought the Battle of Minden last night,using my 40mm figures,and what a game it turned out to be!

Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Paul and Graham were the French commanders,whilst Dave and I were the Allied commanders,and Brian sat this one out and acted as referee.

Graham opened proceedings by attacking the village on my left flank,with cavalry(!!) and infantry-my troops, and a couple of blasts of cannister,put an end to the first attack-hurrah!!
On the other flank,Paul was more subtle,and poured artillery fire into the village held by the British,under Dave,before venturing in to volley fire and melee-great stuff!

Seeing Graham's infantry "wavering",I launched my German cavalry,to be met by the French cavalry-this was to prove a crucial encounter!

Dave has ordered his cavalry to engage the French cavalry,and forward they go!!-however,Paul had ordered his cavalry to abandon their central position and move off to his left,consequently,Dave had to follow!!!

Paul's attack on the village was furious and unrelenting,putting Dave under all kinds of pressure,but he was a match for anything that the French could put up against him!!

The British cavalry look to be in a bit of disarray in this shot,but Dave assured me he knew what he was doing!!-with attacks on gun batteries and volley fire,combined with cavalry melees,this was wonderful wargaming,and knife-edge stuff!!

An uneven cavalry melee is taking place behind my left flank village,which I lost,but was able to reinforce and eventually drive Graham's cavalry back-another hurrah!!

Over to the right of this shot,Dave is advancing his British infantry,so I advanced my Germans,to form a beautiful line-only for Graham to destroy one of my regiments with gun fire,leaving a nasty hole in the beautiful line!!!-could we recover??

Of course we could!!-this flank was now stable,and it was up to Dave to drive the French out of his village and defeat Paul's cavalry-simple task!!

This is a general view of the battle field at about move number 12!-the referee looks too relaxed for my liking!

Paul's dream of victory turned into a nightmare,as he put his brigadier into the village to increase the morale of the French troops,and got him killed!!! his whole brigade then took off back to Paris,leaving the village and flank firmly in British hands,and an Allied victory assured!
This was good game,colourful and exciting to say the least-well done lads.
Roll on next Sunday-Paul is organising the game,probably another 7YW battle,but using our 25mm figures.