...and so to more pleasant matters than the previous post (for which apologies but they got my goat!), namely a conclusion to the game .. ...you may remember that at the end of the last post (ha.. a Freudian slip perhaps??
) on the battle, we had left the game at a slightly parlous stage for the French/defenders/me......after a good start where I'd 'tonked' the Allied assault columns very nicely (and which we shall call, rather grandly, "stage 1"), DG had sent his forces over the top of the hill to his right, in a partial envelopment with far more success ("stage 2")...
...the following is taken at the end of "stage 2" - my cavalry has departed the field - you can see my cuirassiers charging off through the village with DG's Austrian heavies following up - he has his other cavalry pinning two of my infantry battalions, and his artillery on the hill has started to pound mine with some success... the one bright spot for me is that I have 'seen off' the Dutch Rechteren regiment (blue flag white cross) but having done that, I now need to get the regiment that did it (Nivernais, in the foreground with their backs to us) back in line before those Allied assault columns take them in the flank..
...and so on with the game, and in retrospect this was the end of "stage 2" - we are about to start "stage 3" (forsooth)....
Almost immediately I started withdrawing my flank on Nivernais pulling them back so as to be at right angles to the wall (see following a few moves later)...in the meanwhile DG has rallied Rechteren only to see Lord North and Grey's Regiment turn tail (red flag, white outlined cross)
 |
| High water mark of the Allied attack |
DG has launched the assault column over the hill (Goor in advance followed by Derring's) while bringing his cavalry back on to the other hill - those two cavalry units of DG's had pinned my entire flank for almost all the game, so something (eventually) had to be done in order to allow me to reinforce the other flank in the face of the attacking column..
Advancing both my battalions in line towards the cavalry I sought to bring them within musket range - DG kept retiring, but in the end resolute musketry was enough to see the Austrian Cuirassiers off.
Cadogan's - DG's other cavalry unit - attempted to melee but were again and again held from closing by more musket fire and after the Austrians were gone were faced by two infantry battalions.The writing for them was also on the wall, and they too broke (see following)....
So from a position of some concern at this stage I was relatively happy - just the assault column to fight off, which, with effective artillery fire, I finally managed to do - but not before I'd had to reinforce my centre with the reserves (Navarre) - at this point (following) the break point was reached for the Allies, and DG gracefully conceded...
Post match analysis:
- A decisive French victory - I held both bridges at the end of the game and had not met my army break point. I have to admit to a palpable sense of relief as at the end of the first part of the game I though DG had me...
- Game was played via Skype using a new HD quality web cam which originally I had mounted on a 6 foot pole (for a better/bigger view), but which for the second game I mounted on my camera tripod - much more flexible and a much better solution - DG advised that the view was good, and we paused often for close up on specific parts of the battlefield..
- The game took about 7 hours all told
- DG was of the view that this is a difficult battle to win given the table set up and the purely nominal increased OOB as attacker - I would agree that the large gap in the hill line is a powerful attraction, and we have agreed to play the game again, but this time reversing the positions (so I will attack)....
- ..and so the Campaign draws to a close... thoughts....
- we started in September 2013, but DG and I don't get to play many games face to face and the third game, which we played via Battle Chronicler [clicky], took at least 6 months of last year....
- there are five linked games in the campaign and we used the stand alone options purely because tracking casualties over 16 months was too complicated...
- in terms of scenario types the first game was an attack on a fortified building (the arsenal), game two was a river crossing, game three was a capture the bridge scenario, and games four and five repeated the first and third games.. I think we had some good games, some of which were close, but I'd say that the scenario repetition was a shame....
- the back story was fairly imagination (which I'll admit is not my cup of tea) and irrelevant on the whole
- Overall 7 out of 10 - but not as good in my view as the first one (the Raid on St Michel)..
Final butchers bill as follows:
| Country | Unit Type | Unit Name | SP | SP left |
MP |
| Bavarian | Hvy Cavalry | Arco | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| French | Infantry | Bearn | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| French | Infantry | Navarre | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| French | Infantry | Toulouse | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| French | Infantry | Nivernais | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| French | Artillery | Medium Artillery | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Country | Unit Type | Unit Name | SP | SP left |
MP |
| Allies | Cavalry | Cadogan | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Allies | Hvy Cavalry | Alt-Hanover Cuirassiers | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Allies | Infantry | North and Grey | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Allies | Infantry | Dering | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Allies | Infantry | Goor | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Allies | Infantry | Rechteren | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Allies | Infantry | Sturler | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Allies | Artillery | Medium Artillery | 5 | 5 | 5 |
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