"The Important Bridge".. Part 1

An impromptu visit by DG this weekend lead to the possibility of a quick game yesterday evening, so while waiting for littlest'un to finish her ballet class, a quick browse of "Scenario's for All Ages" (which I would recommend wholeheartedly to any gamer for a positive feast of game idea's) highlighted "The Important Bridge" (scenario number 10) as looking particularly interesting..

The name of the scenario is a give away, but it turned out to be even more interesting to play than the preliminary reading would lead you to believe!

In summary, two forces have two advance guards (so four forces in total), with orders to capture and hold a bridge at all costs. The four forces come on the table at separate points, and one of the forces is delayed slightly (throw 1D6 for the entry move) to put a little bit of chaos into the mix.

The table therefore looks as follows (please click as usual for a bigger, clearer, view):

The French entry points for this game (they took the part of Blue Force) were A & B, the British (Red Force) entry points were C & D, with the force at D being the one delayed.

The forces for each side were pretty similar - I had to modify the suggested forces as listed in the book as I don't have any dedicated light infantry, so I substituted Guards for Lights (one a side); I also don't have any light cavalry (yet), so substituted mediums for light. Happily I had enough heavy cavalry (thanks to Alt-Hanover's arrival) to field the recommended numbers of heavy cavalry..

Both forces therefore ended up with 56 points a side (using morale points as defined in the rules I use), with:

• Red force fielding seven battalions of infantry (one of Guard), 3 squadrons of horse (one Heavy), and one medium artillery piece.
  
• The French had a slightly different composition as they fielded seven battalions of infantry (one Guard), but two of the three cavalry squadrons were heavy, they also field a medium gun.

Where the difference really came in was the way that these forces were then divided between the two advance guards.

The French had their main strength in the force arriving at point "A" - four battalions, both heavy cavalry, and the gun - this then left 3 battalions and the remaining cavalry to enter at "B".

The British also had most of their strength arriving at the river entry point - 3 battalions of foot, 2 of horse (one heavy) and the gun - with the force entering at "D" comprising the remaining infantry and cavalry unit. It was this latter force that would throw for entry time...

So - with the columns of march for all four forces documented (so that there wouldn't be any argument about which units arrived when), and the delaying dice thrown - let the game commence...

..which of course will be the subject of the next post! :o)