Category Archives: Battle Reports

British Exploring Officer scouts the terrain!

As good neighbours and friends of Warlord Games, we were very pleased to be invited to their Open Day to put on a Black Powder Napoleonic demo game. It’s no secret that I am a great admirer of the Black Powder Rules system in general and the Napoleonic period specifically. After a conference with my gaming group, the NG13 gamers we decided to re-run a version of an early demo game that we had played, ‘Combat at Foz D’Arouce’, this time using Black Powder as the rules for the game. You can see the battle Report for the ‘original’  Foz D’Arouce at the Bingham Napoleonic Days Event here:

COMBAT AT FOZ D’AROUCE

Foz D’Arouce – setting up the table.

The challenge in using Black Powder was that the table is only 4 foot by 4 foot. However, we have our own version of Black Powder that we use for our club games called ‘Salt Peter’. This stripped back version of Black powder allows us to play a decent club game on a six foot by four foot table in an evening. To be fair, it’s not so much ‘stripped back’ as sparing with the use of any of the additional rules or supplements. All measurement is reduced by two thirds and the units used are generally half the normal size, so a Battalion of troops is represented by 12 figures. Of course, there’s no reason why they should be referred to as a Battalion. They could just as easily be a company, with the ‘Brigadier’ or commanding officer, in charge of a detachment of Company’s. Purists may baulk at such a thought but the aim of our games is to spend a couple of hours in good company, using the figures that we have painted and collected.  We try to restrict the ‘serious’ side of the hobby to our research, reading, painting and modelling. Gaming is for fun!

French Hussars – these troops would be late for the battle!

The game would again be using the superb table that Pete Harris had produced and this time, it would be Portuguese versus the French, for no other reason than I had a Portuguese Brigade that needed an outing on the table! Having said that we had stripped back the additional rules in Black Powder, we did have some extra Scenario specific rules that we had agreed on before the Battle. These related to deployment, command structure and limitations imposed by the scenery. These are listed below in the additional PDF.

The Portuguese Army Deploys

And so to the Battle itself. Pete, playing the French, had won the roll to choose the table side for deployment. I won the roll to decide who went first. Apart from a small unit of Skirmishers (Cacadores for me!), both armies were deployed off table and had to be ordered on. In addition, the units would initially be in march column. The commanders might know that the enemy were coming, but our troops didn’t! We had also placed a limitation on the number of orders that could be given – two was the maximum, which not only restricted movement but made fancy formation changes a bit trickier…. My Portuguese Army deployed in full but was somewhat crowded as it attempted to cross the river using the bridge and the ford. The French had no such obstacles to negotiate and the first brigade marched on without hindrance. The second brigade, however, failed it’s order and stayed off the table.

Portuguese delayed by the river crossing

By Turn Two the French advance party of Skirmishers had reached the top of the Village and a Company of troops also marched towards the gates to fortify themselves inside. However, the second French brigade still refused to come onto the table. What should have been a bonus for the French then turned into a slight distraction. We had said that any commander rolling under 4 on an orders roll would receive a ‘bonus’ unit of skirmishers. The French achieved this in turn two and the second unit came on to the table – they also headed for the village.

French Voltiguers secure the village.

The Portuguese had managed to get a squadron of Dragoons across the river to threaten the French advance, as well as deploying their artillery. However, the balance of the force was still either on the wrong side of the river or stuck in it. The Cacadores, who were supposed to be rushing to take the footbridge at the top of the village had decided that a slow walk to admire the view was more appropriate and were making poor progress. The opening shots of the battle started with little effect but it was game on!

French about to march into the Village

With the possibility of getting both units of skirmishers into the village the French commander halted his other battalion and diverted them to the main combat. The second French Brigade still refused to come onto the table! After all, Pete had spent the last few days lovingly painting a unit of French Hussars just for this scenario…why would they want to get into action and spoil their uniforms! If the French were being shy, the Portuguese were still struggling to clear the river. Once across, each unit had to test to see if it was disordered. To pass the test a 4+ was required. 3 out of four of the Portuguese failed! Meanwhile, although now joined by a ‘bonus’ unit of 95th rifles, the Cacadores were still taking their time to move up to the footbridge and now decided that it was time for tea!

The only good news was that the French were slow to take advantage of the Portuguese congestion. Their advance delayed by the move towards the village. The Dragoons had put a French unit into square under the nose of Portuguese artillery, holding their line. This at least kept the French at bay.

Portuguese cross the river but are caught in march column.

By now, Pete had a sudden moment of clarity and realised that with his General off table, he was entitled to a re roll should his missing brigade fail their orders! In addition, instead of trying to move the cavalry first ( Who required an 8 on two D6) he would start with the infantry, who in column, needed a 9+ to get moving! This new strategy worked and the second French brigade moved onto the table. Things were not looking so good for the Portuguese. To add to their woes, one of the Portuguese units attempted to reinforce the first one over the river only to find itself stuck in column with it’s flank facing a French unit… merde!

Portuguese caught in Column!

It was too tempting for the French to ignore, they charged in to attempt to batter the March column and break through. Confident of victory in this part of the Battlefield, Pete directed half of his second brigade up the hill behind the village to head off the threat of the very slowly approaching Cacadores and 95th units. The Portuguese were made of sterner stuff! Despite having to take the attack in the flank, with no reply permitted, they survived the first round of combat passing their morale test and turned to face the French unit, eventually winning the combat and pushing the French back! The Portuguese artillery fire into the unit in square was beginning to tell and casualties were mounting on both sides.

The French attack!

One of the French units broke under fire, running from the battle, forcing the French Commander to march his other brigade back down the hill ( Hmmm that sounds like a British tactic, first perfected by The Duke of York….) to support the forward brigade. Despite this set back, the French inflicted sufficient casualties, using additional fire from the skirmishing units now safely in place in the village, to break the Portuguese brigade, who retreated back across the river. Meanwhile, in all the chaos, the second Portuguese brigade had started to deploy and mauled the lead French brigade, causing it to break. The Cacadores had made it to the bridge….

Portuguese under pressure

Although the Portuguese had taken a beating, with the lead brigade broken, the second brigade had now deployed successfully in strength and started to hammer the French. The French were now in a worse position. The retreating brigade was hampering the movement of the second brigade, blocking line of sight and because of the earlier attempt to flank the village, the brigade was strung out and it’s forward units vulnerable to fire. A successful round of shooting from the Portuguese persuaded the French that the battle was lost and they started their withdrawal from the field. The Cacadores never did cross the bridge!

The Portuguese advance!

Cacadores reach the bridge

A marginal victory for the Portuguese and a most enjoyable game on a most enjoyable day. We played the game at quite a slow rate as we were stopping to chat to visitors to explain how that game was going and answer questions regarding the scenario.

The Warlord open day was a great success and I think the best yet. The main hall was packed full of demonstration games – I was very pleased to be able to try out the forthcoming Black Seas game – it looks great! I’m sure that Warlord will be running the event next year and I would recommend attending. As well as the chance to meet with the Warlord team of sculptors, designers and staff, try out the various Warlord games, there are plenty of other guests there to talk to – Sarissa Precision, Mantic Games and the Terrain tutor to name a few.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I’ve added the Quick Reference sheet that we used on the day for the shorter ranges etc here:

BlackPowderUnofficialQRS_66p

It’s a Black Powder Edition 1 sheet, so ignore the modifications for skirmishers hitting  with +1.

The ‘house rules’ for the game are here:

BLACK POWDERFOZ RULES

Arcane Scenery have most of the Warlord range available, as well as some 60 other manufacturers. Even better, we send post free to most world wide locations. You can visit our shop here:

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You can see the Warlord report of the day here:

WARLORD OPEN DAY

Happy Modelling!

I had a most enjoyable weekend at the Bingham Napoleonic Days event, organised by the Author and Bingham resident, Peter Youds. The Saturday was spent playing in a Napoleonic demo game based around the action at Foz d’Arouce in the Peninsular War on a beautiful table, designed and built by Peter Harris. On Sunday, I attended a number of talks on Napoleonic subjects, the highlight for me, being a talk on the ‘personalities’ in the 5/60th rifles given by author Robert Griffith. In this weeks blog, I’ll give you the battle report from the Saturday, whilst it is still fresh in my mind and next week, I’ll cover the event itself.

The Village of Foz d’Arouce – Table built and designed by Pete Harris

Andy Callan had come up with the scenario and the rules that we would use to pay the game. In the attachments below, you can read the actual account of the battle from Oman, the scenario for the game itself and the briefing handout for visitors. It’s worth taking the trouble to have a read – the links are PDF’s which you are free to use should you wish to – they should open in a separate tab on your computer.

FozOman (1)

FozScenario (1)

Fozhandout (1)

I’ll also include a link to the rules at the bottom of the blog. We have been a bit easy going when it came to the actual figures used. You will see that the figures on the table don’t quite match the actual regiments present. I should also say that the battle account is very much from a British perspective (me), so if you ever get to chat to my opponent, Pete, dont be surprised if he has a slightly differing version!

The British Officers are all Characters from ‘The Hardest Fight’ by Peter Youlds.

The British force was led by characters from Peter Youlds novel, ‘The Hardest Fight’, whilst the French Officers were all named after cheeses! The battle started with Captains Jago and Herryck a company of the 95th Rifles already in place in the village, with two companies of British infantry, led by Marlow entering the field of battle at the top of the board.

Marlow leads his troops onto the field of battle

Rifles sneak into the village!

The French encampment – they are defending the wrong road!

Breast or Leg Sir? – Just give me the chicken, I have a battle to fight!

The first turn saw the British suprising the French and opening fire on both the camp and the companies defending the road at entry point b. Captain Rocquefort decided to pull back from the road and defend the camp, with Captain Vachequirit abandoning his lunch to join him on the hill. In the subsequent exchanges of fire, the French were temporarily driven back, one company suffering badly and failing it’s morale. To add to the French discomfort, Lt. Thicknesse had arrived with two more companies of red coats to put more pressure on the French.

British Reinforcements push the French back up the hill

It all seemed that it was going well for the British but in their over exuberance, the commanders had lost touch with some of their units which meant that the British were unable to follow up their early success. To add to their woes, the French had received reinforcements, with Sgt Camembert leading a company of elite Voltigeurs and Lt Brie leading his squadron of Hussars. Lt Brie charged straight into the action.

Lt. Brie withdraws having mauled the British Infantry

Lt Brie caused havoc in the British lines, severely mauling one company and pushing it back off the table, which caused further confusion in the British lines. The French Cavalry were stopped by a furious musket volley and having suffered a number of casualties, Lt Brie retired to the rear. The French had recovered from the initial shock of the British advance and were further able to halt the British advance with some excellent musketry, which left the British in disarray and in need of re organisation.

The British form up again!

For a short period, the French appeared to have the initiative, with Sgt Camembert attempting to sneak around the side of the village whilst taking on the 95th Rifles.

Voltigeurs skirmishing around the rear of the Village whilst more French reinforcements arrive.

Take the Village!

The tide turned again, with more British reinforcements arriving. A battery of Horse artillery had arrived and immediately went into action against the French infantry and Cavalry. A further two companies of infantry had appeared at the top of the village. The British had by now sorted out their command, with Captain Herryck leaving the village to take control of the newly arrived infantry and advance on the French around the other side of the village. Captain Jago had also taken command of an additional light Company and brought them into the village to secure it from the French.

Light Infantry secure the village.

British superiority is re-established!

A desperate attempt by the French Voltigeurs to storm the village was easily repulsed and the British were now able to go onto the offensive again. Just to add the the French Commanders woes, a company of Cacadores appeared on the bluff to his rear and started harassing the now retreating French columns.

Cacadores! Where did they come from!

The French were now facing superior fire power and having been worn down by the British attack, realised that retreat was their only option. With the bridge choked, one retreating unit was forced into the river at the ford and suffered further losses to the treacherous current. Some order was restored on the far bank and the French prepared to blow the bridge.

French in new defensive position

The British hold the field!

The umpire decided that the French would need to roll to see if the explosives had been placed correctly and on which side of the bridge the charge had been set. A 1,2 or 3 would mean that the charge was on the British side; 4,5 or 6 it would be on the French side. Pete, the French commander, managed to roll a 2. The race was now on! Could Capt. Herryck reach the bridge and diffuse the explosives before the bridge was blown?

A solitary French trooper was sent to light the fuse!

The fuse was lit, anything but a 1 on a D6 and the bridge would blow before Herryck could get there. Pete rolled the dice…a 1! The charge had failed to blow, the British were delighted! But wait! The French had a re roll card to play. The umpire obliged and we held our breath as the dice was rolled again…a 1! The British once again celebrated in a most unsportsman like way… Herryck rushed to the bridge to difuse the charge, a 2,3,4,5,6 would make him the hero of the day. A 1 would mean that the charge was booby trapped and the whole thing would blow after all. I rolled a 1! As I looked at the dice in disbelief, willing the spots to change, the French commander was badly concealing his glee. Bloody wargaming!

Oh No! He’s killed Herryck!

I would now have to tell Peter Youds that I had killed off his main character. Oh well, these things happen, time for a pint, I think.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

As I hope that you can see we had great fun with our game. The rules are a mash up of the original Sharp Practice rules and Muskets and Tommahawks with some extra ideas from Andy, hence Sharp Tomahawks. The sub title of ‘Rules for old wargamers with short attention spans’ is a clue as to why we like them. We have used them before and they are available here as a brief PDF. The new Sharpe practice rules would have worked just as well and if you are not familiar with them, I recommend them as one of the best set of skirmish rules around.

SharpTomahawks

We sell many of the figures, scenery, rules and accessories used in the game – if you would like to visit our shop and see the huge range that we have, click the link below. At the time of writing we send orders post free!

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Happy Modelling!

I have previously noted that I have been reading John Husseys’ splendid book, ‘Waterloo, Volume 1’ covering the Campaign of 1815. Although somewhat drier than some accounts, the book is a detailed account of the campaign and new to me, was the forensic detail in which Hussey has examined the lead up to the more familiar Battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras and of course, Waterloo. Inspired by what I had read, and motivated by the delivery of my copy of the second edition of Black powder rules, I put together a very simple scenario, very loosely based on the French attack into Belgium, prior to the main battles that were to come later.

The briefing to the players was as follows:

You are commanded to lead the advance Corps into Belgium to split the Allied and Prussian Army. Having crossed the Sambre successfully and moved past Charleroi you have encountered a small force of Prussians that are holding the route onto Brussels as well as preventing access to the Brussels – Liege road. You must push on and brush aside these defenders. Time is of the essence.

Your scouts have informed you that the Prussians consist of approximately 2 brigades of Infantry, some artillery and a small brigade of Cavalry. There are other Allied and Prussian units in the area but you are confident that it is unlikely that they will give support.

The Prussian detachment has already deployed and is barring your advance.

You have one brigade of 3 regts of Light Cavalry already in position as well as one brigade of Infantry (including one light infantry battalion). These units do not have artillery. They are deployed as you wish anywhere within 8 inches of your table edge.

As the attacker, you will have the first move.

On your turn two you may deploy an additional brigade of 4 Battalions of infantry + One Artillery piece OR a brigade of 3 regiments of Cavalry + One Artillery piece of your choice. They must enter the centre of the table through a 12″ window depending on orders thrown. All French units within 12″ of their own table edge (on or off the table) will benefit from a re roll in the case of a failed order. Blunders excepted! Your command level is 8 – no ‘pa de charge’ but column movement bonuses apply.

On turn three you may repeat the above, and so on until the end of the game.

It is not possible for the French Army to be Broken….French Brigades that are broken will Rally automatically at their table edge and any casualties reduce by one and any disorder removed. Routed units will be removed and will not return.

All French INFANTRY units will roll off disorder on a 5+.

Victory will be achieved if you can remove the Prussian barrier before turn 5….

I had anticipated the battle would be between myself, playing the Prussians and Pete Harris, playing as the French. I knew that the table that we would be playing on was 8’x 4′, so I was concerned that the scenario might favour the French, with their ability to advance so quickly in attack column.

However, a new dynamic was introduced when we were joined by a couple of extra players! So Andy Callan took control of the Prussians with no other briefing than the above and Jaz Storey-Smith took command of the advance guard of the French, with Pete commanding the reinforcements as they arrived.

I had thrown in a bit of mis information in the briefing, hinting that Allied units might be available – they would not be.

The Prussian deployment, the two Lancer regiments are to the far left of the artillery, out of camera shot.

Having seen the Prussian deployment, the French then deployed their units. The first surprise was that the French commander decided that the main threat was to the advancing flank and so deployed the entire advance column of 4 battalions of infantry and three regiments of cavalry to the far left flank facing just two regiments of Prussian Lancers.

Initial French deployment – the coffee mat was not there to inhibit the move to the flank!

Turn one saw a very cautious advance by the French…It was at this point that Napoleon (well me) sent orders reminding the French that the object of the battle was to clear the Prussians from the table by turn 5. This had the effect of galvanising the Prussians into action and their Lancers charged the French Light cavalry.

Prussian lancers charge home!

The Lancers charge was devastating! The first unit of French cavalry lost the combat and failed their morale check routing from the table. One of the supporting units also routed and the final unit was shaken by the sweeping advance that followed. So turn one and the French infantry were isolated on the flank, the French Cavalry  had run away and the Prussian lancers were confidently holding the flank!

There’s Jaeger in those woods!

Turn Two and the French brought on the next brigade which advanced in the centre toward the woods. The French Brigade on the Flank, continued with it’s slow advance but perhaps stunned by the loss of their Cavalry made little progress, being pushed into square by those pesky Prussian Lancers. The Prussians, in reply simply blocked the pass engaging in combat with the leading French unit.

Prussians hold the road to Brussels!

Turn three saw the French bring on a brigade of Cavalry to try and put pressure on the Prussian right Flank. However, despite orders to the contrary, the cavalry appeared to be in no great hurry… In the centre, the deadlock at the road junction continued with the Prussians holding firm and the French throwing more units into trying to dislodge the small unit of Jaegers in cover and force the road through the trees. On the left, the French continued with a rather ineffective advance whilst the Prussian Lancers smugly looked on! The Prussians were happy to hold, whilst in the French camp there was growing disquiet at the lack of progress.

Here come the cavalry.

Turn Four and at last the French, in some desperation brought on the next brigade and force marched past the woods to threaten the Prussian Landwehr. The cavalry had moved out to the flank, pushing the Prussian infantry there into square but deadlock remained at the woods! Still the French on the left were unable to move!

The French Column pushes forwards

The Prussians were now feeling quite confident of winning the game, if not the battle and the French morale was somewhat shaky.

At last, the French engage the Prussian

Turn 5. At last the French columns closed with the Prussian Infantry Line in the centre and although casualties were heavy on both sides the Prussians were now under pressure. With the right flank tied up with cavalry and now facing artillery at close range, something would have to give. However, despite numerous rounds of close combat the Prussians at the road held on, stopping the advance here. As to the left flank, well the Prussian Lancers were still in the ascendancy whilst the French infantry here were unable to progress.

The French march to Ligny!

It was a tactical victory for the Prussians! The French would march on but somewhat delayed by a stout Prussian defence.

POST BATTLE ANALYSIS

My concern was that with the quick movement rates in Black Powder, the game would have been over by turn three. However, a combination of some timid decision making by the French Commanders combined with some unlucky orders rolls meant the it was only turn in turn five that the French really managed to push though and engage the Prussian infantry.

With hind sight, the French were overly concerned with the brigade of Prussian lancers on the left (Although to be fair – they did soundly beat the French lights in combat) and taking the narrow road through the woods was asking for trouble. Had they bypassed them as they eventually did so, the French would have engaged the Prussian far more quickly than they actually did.

That all said, there were two other factors that made the battle more difficult for the French. The commanders natural caution to preserve their forces as with ‘normal’ battles meant that perhaps they could have taken more risks with their troops. There were plenty of reinforcements available and they couldn’t be broken as an army, whereas the Prussians would have to accumulate any casualties and could be broken.The second factor was the time limit and the umpire (me!)goading them to go faster! this added to the pressure and lead to some errors – forgetting to give units orders, forgetting to rally off casualties and even forgetting to order units to fire, all in the ‘heat’ of battle!

I think that the players enjoyed a different type of battle. The Prussian commander went home happy and I certainly had some fun. May be next time for the French!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

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BLACK POWDER RULES SET

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WARLORD NAPOLEONICS

In what could be the last battle with the ‘old’ Black Powder rules set before the relaunch of the new version on the 6th October, I faced off against my long term gaming buddy Pete Harris in his new gaming room. We are both great fans of the Black powder rules set, having fought many a battle with them and enjoyed the easy going social atmosphere that the rules set bring to our games. We tend to play the ‘Vanilla version’ with very few of the extra rules from the supplements. We find that this makes for a simpler, fairer game, with less need to refer back to the rule book and fewer contentious issues to resolve. Our games are played in the course of an evening, on a smaller 6 x 4 or 8 x 4 foot table and so we use 66% movement and ranging distances. We also use half size units on the smaller tables for these ‘club’ battles. My British Battalions are actually split into 2 x 12’s, two units for the price of one! Pete has organised his French infantry into 16’s for club battles – the French are more likely to form column and 16’s look nicer. Cavalry are 6 per regiment, we simply split the full regiment of 12 for the club games. We still use one gun for our artillery but when we do get the chance to play larger battles, then we find that batteries of two guns look nice! Once on the table, there are enough figures to give the ‘feel’ of a decent sized battle but there is still space for the armies to  manoeuvre.

French Army deploy into line after a rapid advance.

The only flavour that we have added to the basic game is to Give the French ‘Pas de Charge’ which effectively means that a level 8 general will pass orders for infantry columns on a 10. The British get first fire for their battalions but must fight in line. We do not give the Brit’s counter charge, or use any other of the rules in Albion Triumphant. These two simple changes are enough to ensure that the French will tend to be quicker to move around on the Battlefield and the British will tend to fight a more defensive battle.

The British Heavy Cavalry Brigade and the First Infantry Brigade.

Another change is our points system. It is very much simplified with standard Infantry battalions and Light Cavalry worth 2 points, Artillery 1.5 points, Lancers 2.5 points, Heavy Cavalry 2.5 pts. Add one point for D3 Heavy cavalry, Add 0.5 point for light Infantry, add 0.5 point for rifles. We also adjust by a point or so for elites, large units, small units etc. It is by no means a perfect system and how we got to those values is lost in the mists of time. However, it works and allows us to bring approximately equal forces or if required, deliberately unbalance the forces. For our battle tonight, Pete had 30.5 points and I had 31 points. This gave us both 2 Brigades of infantry and one Brigade of cavalry. If that sounds as though the forces were identical, the detail will show that this is not quite the case. For example, Petes’ cavalry brigade consisted of two regiments of Lancers and one regiment of light Chasseurs plus a Horse artillery gun. I had two regiments of Household heavy cavalry. There were other differences in the make up of our Infantry Brigades but I wont detail them here. You can see our original points system in an older blog here:

BLACK POWDER FOR CLUB NIGHTS

There’s one other rule we usually follow for a club night battle – we go off to the pub for a nice meal and a drink before settling down to play – We find this helps to put everyone in the right frame of mind! We don’t like to battle on an empty stomach!

THE BATTLE

The French Infantry occupy the Farm House

The French won the initiative and immediately advanced to capture the Farm house on the British Left. The general push forward saw them advancing on the Central pass between the hill and lake and attempting to capture the large hill that would dominate the battle. The British in reply decided that the French could have the Farm complex and moved their army to the open ground on the right. This would allow them to flank the French with the heavy Cavalry brigade and a strong infantry brigade, leaving the Rifles to defend the left wing and the rest of the brigade to hold the central pass.

British Move to the right

It was now that the French ran into trouble. The artillery battery trying to gain a dominant position on the hill stalled, failing it’s orders to move thereby hampering the rest of the French brigade from moving. A blunder on the left also meant the the other brigade was not moving. Even though the French Commander was able to intervene, the French were unable to fully implement their plans. The Brigade on the far left was now playing catch up in pursuing the British, whilst the French cavalry were divided and vulnerable on the right.

Brish hold the pass – Rifles hold the flank!

The British Cavalry seized the initiative and the full Brigade charged a regiment of French Lancers. The ensuing combat saw the Lancers shaken and withdrawing in disorder. Although the lead British cavalry regiment had taken wounds, it was still able to follow up and charge the French Light Chasseurs. The resulting combat saw them forced from the table and the French Cavalry Brigade were now broken.

On the left, the Rifles had taken a pounding and before too long, they were unable to stand the pressure exerted by the full French Brigade on the left, resulting in them breaking and leaving the table. They had bought just enough time for the British to bring reinforcements to the centre to hold the pass and rout the lead French infantry unit.

The British Left under pressure. Can they hold?

For 5 turns, the French Artillery unit attempting to ascend to the top of the hill failed it’s orders, stalling the brigade and frustrating the French army in its attempt to dominate the centre of the Battlefield, whilst the British continued to press from the right. The French Commander was heard to shout ‘must I do everything myself?’ in frustration, as order after order was failed by his brigade commanders!

With the artillery stalled on the hill, the French infantry march into a trap!

Eventually, the large French infantry unit ascended the hill only to find that they were in the jaws of a trap and facing two gun battery’s and five battalions of British infantry. They too were routed. With the British Heavy Cavalry now rested, they were now threatening the rear of the French army. Although the French were taking a heavy toll of the British brigade on the left, the game was up for the French. The Second Infantry brigade was broken and the Army decide to pull back, leaving the British in control of the field!

Heavy Cavalry break through! Fench rear under threat.

POST MATCH ANALYSIS!

Once the French had captured the farmhouse it was pointless to try and challenge on the left. It is difficult to take on infantry in fortified positions, so a move to the right was inevitable for the British. The surprise was how effectively the British were able to execute their orders. Conversely, the French had appalling luck with their orders rolls, leaving the commander to pick up the pieces and do the best he could. This gave the British the opportunity to exploit their numerical superiority on the right flank, whilst holding the majority of the French infantry on the left and in the centre. For once, the British Heavy Cavalry did as ordered and were more than a match for the Lancers. The real bonus was catching the French lights on the edge of the table, they were always going to loose the combat and get pushed back from the field of battle. With the French Cavalry gone, the British were free to move their infantry without threat.

Merde! Le Gun est stuck in ze mud…

The French gave the British Brigade on the left a good mauling, breaking them in the final turn but it was too late to save the battle. The French commander was going to have a serious talk with his Brigadiers!

French Infantry advance. These guys did their job!

It’s nice to win a battle but in fairness to Pete, I should point out that the last time our forces met, he trounced my army in three turns! The dice gods can be very fickle!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

It’s no secret that I am a great fan of the Black Powder Rules set. I think that it facilitates a great game without losing sight of the fact that the hobby is about having fun with friends whilst playing with toy soldiers.

The new version of Black Powder is due to be released in Early October, provisionally on the 6th. If you would like a copy post free, with the exclusive miniature then simply click here!

BLACK POWDER VERSION 2