Last night Paul,Brian and I had a rare Napoleonic game,that had a bit of a twist to it at the start,and an hilarious finish-great stuff!
The usual(boring?) photo's of the scenario and table before any movement-Paul was British and Brian was Soult-my role was to capture the village and threaten the British right flank.
This is the Spanish position,protecting the British right flank,and covering the bridge.Then this was handed to Paul on move number one......................
Paul muttered something under his breath, which I don't think was very complimentary!!
Most of the games I set up give both sides a "problem" to solve,and this was going to test Paul's mettle to the far end!!As I put the Spanish back in their box,Paul had to think fast.
My first Brigade has crossed the stream,supported by a regiment of Hussars,unopposed,and Paul is desperately trying to reform his battle plan,by sending his reserves to meet me-it all depends on Brian to keep the pressure up on the British,to stop them sending all of their troops to meet mine.
Paul has managed to get his reserves into a line,to protect his flank,whilst still maintaining a hold on the ridge-just out of shot to the right,my cavalry are threatening the ridge and my infantry are making good,if slow,progress towards their objective,but where is Brian?
Whilst my first brigade is being shot to bits,and my second brigade is forming into Attack Columns,Brian seems to be keeping his brigades well out of harms way-I need support!!!!
As I order my second brigade to advance up the ridge and "discomfort" the British,Brian decided to order one(yes just one!) of his regiments to advance,and blocks my forward movement!!!!-in the meantime I am being raked with cannister shot,and all the time Paul is reinforcing the flank-my lines look pretty though!
I don't know how I have managed to get two of the same photo onto the blog,but hey ho!!
This shows my first brigade under pressure from Paul's good infantry,and Brian has now begun his delayed attack to relieve the pressure on me-but will it prove to be too late??
Having moved his leading brigade faster than his flank brigade,Brian has caused an "ugly hole" in his line,which Paul was delighted to take advantage of,and sent his light dragoons swooping down and through the gap,destroying one of Brian's regiments-however he redeemed himself,and charged the light dragoons with his Hussars and won the ensuing melee-hurrah!!
The whole line is ablaze now-my attacking columns have taken out a gun battery,but are being assailed by British musketry,and are not doing terribly well!!-not much activity on Brian's side of the table!!
I had seen Paul move his Rifles last move-obviously trying to outflank me via the village,so I responded by sending what was left of my first brigade towards the village in an attempt to get there before Paul-in the foreground you can see one of my second brigade regiments "going back to Paris!!"
It was at this point in the game that Brian had a complete mathematical breakdown!! To decide firing we multiply the remaining points of a unit by an average dice score to decide the winner and loser.We declare the points and say what dice score has been achieved-Brian proudly announced that his points were 8 and that his dice score was 7!!!!!-on an average dice???-to hoots of laughter,Brian said he was not feeling well,and that we could both "go away"(or something like that!!!!)-great stuff,in fact legendary stuff!
Paul's rifles are in the act of "ejaculating" me from the village,so with my flank completely done for,and Brian's troops being shot to pieces,as he attempts to gain the ridge,Paul was declared the winner-but,as usual, there were really no losers of this game-well done lads great game,and good gaming(and that is what really matters!)
Roll on Sunday.
Paul,Brian and I met last night to play a Napoleonic game,but before I start the narrative,I must tell you,that one of our number,and I won't say who(but it's not myself or Brian!) is a qualified Health and Safety (NEBOSH) expert-the kind of person who you wouldn't dream would cause an Ecological,Environmental and Medical catastrophe-or would he?-Well,our NEBOSH "person" decided to put a plastic(yes,plastic) template that we use to determine cannister fire,on top of one of the heaters in the garage!!-Can anyone guess what happened next?? Amid coughing and spluttering (and a bit of laughing!) Brian had to be given the "kiss of life"-Paul and I refused to do it,so we got next door's dog,and to be quite honest,they both seemed to enjoy it!!
Anyway,on with the game.I built up a scenario around Napoleon being injured and getting treatment in a Farm house,surrounded by what was left of his demoralised Army,and the Allies of Prussia and Britain attacking and attempting to either capture him or prevent him from leaving the board within 10 moves-I was French,Brian was a combination of Prussian and British,and Paul was in charge of the rest of the British forces.
The centre of the French line,anchored on the Farm and to the right a village occupied by the French Guard-Brian had the onorous task of attacking the village with his Prussians,and a damned good job he made of it too!!
Napoleon is in the farm house with his Faithful Guard-the Ambulance is to the right,on the road,but Paul is putting in a grand attack against the Farm and my left flank-his Scot's Greys are poised and lurking,ready to take advantage of any weakness in my line.
Poised and Lurking!!-will they get an opportunity to charge??
This is a good shot of the battle for the village-the melees swung both ways for a long time,then Brian eventually captured the village,and I had to rush reinforcements from my centre to try and stabilise that flank.Meanwhile in the centre Paul has driven away a battery of guns plus their supporting Hussars-woe is me,but can I hang on and get Napoleon out-the clock is ticking!!
Paul is piling the pressure on!-He has had the audacity to actually attack the Farm-silly boy,that's the cream of my army in there,and it's almost time for Napoleon to get out -his carriage has arrived-hurrah!!
The low morale ratings are beginning to tell on the French centre,I am losing the fire fight,and the village is taken,but the "Man" is galloping off down the road-I may have just done enough to save him-another hurrah!!
A final shot-Brian looks dejected,but he shouldn't be(maybe he's missing next door's dog!!)-he has won his flank,Paul has destroyed my centre,but,and it's a big but,Napoleon has escaped-double hurrahs!!
Although,theoretically,I had won the game by achieving the objective,we
were all declared the winner of this very exciting and tense game-well done lads!!
I will be the first to admit that Napoleonics is not my favourite of periods to wargame,but last night's game was very good,and I enjoyed it-roll on Sunday,I don't know what we will be playing,although I have been working on a couple of projects during the week-it's great being retired you know!!
Last night we had,almost a full house,and a great game,pitting British and Portuguese against French,and for a change the French were defending a ridge and farmhouse,whilst the Allies attacked.
The "usual suspects" line up for a "crime watch photo-shoot"-Dave,Brian and I were the French commanders and Michael,Paul and Graham were the Allies-Michael had "popped" down from Aberdeen to have a game,and to finalise the details for next weekend's Falkirk game and trip,now that shows keenness!!
The first real action of the game-Dave has charged his light cavalry brigade down the hill into Graham's light cavalry-unfortunately Dave's cavalry had been weakened by a very lucky shot from Graham's Rocket battery(before it spectacularly blew up!!) and he was beaten in the ensuing melee,and forced to retire-a portent of what was to become??
Michael's Portugueses troops are giving my Guard a hard time in this shot-the guard finally gave way,letting Michael take the flank(but not until I had given him a bloody nose!!)-Note the Scot's Greys approaching!!
After some great Artillery shots from Paul,one of Brian's regiments fled the field,letting the "Greys" run riot over his position,however I managed to get a regiment of Dragoons up to stop him,but the rot had set in,and we were all on the back foot!!
Paul is launching his infantry against Brian's centre in this shot,and Graham is threatening his flank with his light cavalry,forcing him into square-war is hell!!
Brian has counter attacked here,slowing Graham down a bit(but not much!!) Dave has attacked Paul's infantry with his remaining cavalry,cutting up one regiment and forcing the other into square-hurrah!!-Graham looks glum!!
A combination of Paul and Michael's troops have completely shattered my flank,and they are moving against Brian's troops now-all is lost!!
A final shot as the sun sets on Napoleon's Empire-however,as Dave said "I still have possession of my position!!"-well as long as you're safe in your little farmhouse!!
This was a good game,we all played our parts well,and no one was disgraced(!!!!!) it was good to see Michael,and we will be seeing him again next weekend at Falkirk.
