Holding Position... Post Match Analysis

Not really working out is it...??! 

You'd have thought that after launching the boat earlier this week I might actually have a little more time on my hands for some little metal men action! 

Anyway - here we go.... first what the Duke (Wellington as opposed to Marlborough) was want to call the "butchers bill"..

Franco-Bavarian

Side	Unit	Type	Starting Strength	Casualties
Franco Bavarian	No. 1	Medium Artillery	6	5
Franco Bavarian	No. 2	Medium Artillery	6	1
Franco Bavarian	Regiment de St. Pouanges	Cavalry	6	1
Franco Bavarian	Bearn	Infantry	6	1
Franco Bavarian	Foix	Infantry	6	2
Franco Bavarian	Navarre	Infantry	6	5
Franco Bavarian	Saintonge	Infantry	6	1
Franco Bavarian	Toulouse	Infantry	6	0
			49 (includes +1 for Guards)	16 (33% casualties)

Allied

Side	Unit	Type	Starting Strength	Casualties
Allied	No. 1	Light Artillery	6	0
Allied	No. 2	Light Artillery	6	3
Allied	Cadogan	Cavalry	6	3
Allied	Lumley	Cavalry	6	2
Allied	Wyndham	Cavalry	6	4
Allied	Nassau Friesland	Cavalry	6	2
Allied	1st Foot Guards	Infantry	6	1
Allied	Dering	Infantry	6	5
Allied	Goor	Infantry	6	2
Allied	Hirzel	Infantry	6	3
Allied	Howe	Infantry	6	1
Allied	Meredith	Infantry	6	2
Allied	Orkney	Infantry	6	4
			79 (includes +1 for Guards)	32 (40% casualties)

..all in all a lot closer than it felt at the time - but for the time constraint DG might well have been able to string another attack together - he was certainly close enough!

Otherwise...

..as ever in this game the artillery are very potent - we each had two guns aside but in my case the mediums with their extra 6" of range were very effective. DG and I have discussed this effectiveness issue a few times in the past as the mechanics are broadly the same for the American War of Independence games. In these rules we hit on a modified seven on 2D6 - at the ranges I was mostly firing on their are range penalties of -1 or -2, but plus modifiers for being on full strength that cancel these out... if I was to play this scenario again I would consider modifying the artillery on both sides so that they had less strength points and therefore lose the bonus....

..the game was not as straight-forward a win as it might have seemed - DG suffered from poor dice throws on at least three morale throws in very sticky situations for me. In effect I was winning melee's on the back of his troops failing morale, rather than my superior fighting strength!

..the eternal conundrum of how to attack an enemy in a fixed position was analysed & aired yet again... power to his elbow but DG didn't do anything that I wouldn't have done... a regiment in line up front with as many more behind it as you can get in, then as each regiment is sent back in tatters as a result of the volleys from the unit they are attacking, the next one behind is that much closer and has that much less of a beaten path to cross... from memory this almost worked at least twice.... it certainly saw off Navarre (useless buffoons! 😏)

...attack and defence scenario's are difficult to balance but this one has it about right, with the attacker being about twice as strong...

...refreshments on this occasion - taken as all gentlemen do at the half time, was the standard Twinings Everyday tea with some very interesting home baked biscuits made by the spuds - they wanted to make chocolate one's but didn't have any cocoa powder so they substituted instant coffee granules.... I don't know whether DG managed it, but I was sleepless most of the night due to the caffeine rush!!

Most enjoyable - here's to the next one!