Raid on St. Michel - Game 2 - "Rear Guard".. Setting the picture...

At last a game.... DG is down this weekend for the "Warfare" show in Reading on Sunday, so we've grabbed the opportunity for a game tonight..

You may remember that we are playing the Raid on St. Michel mini campaign (read here for the write up of the first game) and are now up to game 2 - the Rear Guard.

In summary, DG has now now (very! ) successfully crossed the bridge, pushing aside my (minimal) French forces with little or no problem.

He is now pressing on towards St.Michel (after a good nights rest) and is just about to enter the St Michel Gorge which leads to the city.

The following are taken from the north end of the gorge looking towards St Michel (south)


The light green paper on the sides is wall paper lining paper as I don't have access to the impressive terrain cupboard that Mr Grant has! They represent the hills that in the book show the sides of the gorge. In game terms they are steep - any hills on top of those slopes are impassable...

Learning from the mistakes in the first game the woods for this game are dense/heavy.

The river is impassable except at the ford (in the foreground) and the bridge (far end of the table).

The floor of the gorge/valley is clear going except for the two hills and the buildings.

In this game the French (as defenders) have the opportunity of hidden deployment.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

Victory points for this game are measured in how quickly the British can break through, but also how many casualties they take while doing it. Unlike the last game the French also need to keep casualties to a minimum.

So - French win if either

• they inflict twice as many casualties as they take - but still manage to get away, or,
• it takes the British enemy more than half as many moves again to cross the table as it would if they were unimpeded..

The defender will lose if he loses one or both guns.

To do this DG has about 8 battalions of infantry, half that of cavalry, and 3 guns - he also has transport - suffice to say I have considerably less than that in all arms!

In the next post I'll document orders of battle and how the game played out..