Battle of Camsix, turns 2 & 3..

Time to catch up on the events at Armageddon, sorry Camsix... 😏

Move 2

You may remember that in move 1 (which you can read here http://steve-the-wargamer.blogspot.com/2009/06/armageddon-or-battle-of-camsix-part-1.html), with my advance guard perilously positioned in advance of my main army, DG had launched an attack. In move 1 therefore, my efforts were largely focused on getting my advance guard back to the main lines and out of harms way.

Move 1 had gone OK on the whole, but ended with DG charging my cavalry (4DG in the pictures). Constrained by the terrain, they were unable to turn and were then very roughly handled by DG’s Dragoons (C2) - click on any of the pictures/maps for a bigger clearer view

Move 2 then started with the American’s (me) determined to extract those troops from their exposed position but with DG’s Rangers (I2) in some disarray just to my front I decided that rather than ignore them I’d sweep them away on my way back… hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, but I really should have gone round them and carried on – you’ll find out why in a minute!

Anyway - in the ensuing melee, I moved Lauzun's (L) on to their flank while attacking frontally with the Militia light infantry (MM3) – the Rangers were unable to stop the charge and when DG drew the cards they broke and routed to the south.

It then started to go downhill rapidly… in DG’s move, as I suspected, he charged home on the Militia lights with his cavalry. The angles were such that the Militia couldn’t turn to face, but had to suffer the charge in the flank uncontested.. I guess the jury is still out on whether DG could still have done this had I ignored the Rangers and moved on, but I think that the result would probably have been the same whether I had or hadn't!

Sabres flashing, DG's Dragoons proceeded to ride over my Militia like they weren’t even there….

“The bugle sounds as the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As you plunge into a certain death” (Iron Maiden – “The Trooper”)

…and having gathered breath on the other side, they then found themselves in charge reach of Lauzun’s Hussars as well!

Charging on, DG’s dragoons put Lauzun's to flight as well (and in the process earn the first honours of the battle).. in the following you'll note that DG and I are using a Battle Chronicler feature to note morale status, in this case red for rout (and yellow for shaken)
Move 3

Time for the Americans to test morale on the routed units – one success, one not, and one disaster! The Militia recovered one morale status to become shaken, but the cavalry both failed, and in the case of my dragoons this was enough to reduce the unit to zero points. In campaign games DG and I agree to dice for what the unit then does - surrender (ie. disappears from the campaign) or rally on the general (ie. we dice for recovery of lost strength points and dice for when they are recovered). In this case despite a healthy weighting, the dice come up "surrender"... things are going downhill fast....

Having fired unsuccessfully on them in the first part of the move, when DG became the moving player (the rules we use divined the move into two turns or phases, where players move and fire by turn – in this game I move in the first turn/phase of the move, and fire in the second, with DG doing the opposite) he charges home on the shaken militia.

The amount of mis-handling they’ve already had is enough to see them break and run before the cavalry even come to contact….



Like I said - not good! Move 4 to come.....