Posts by Bryan B

reinforcements

How about a follow on from last week, with the Prussians and their new Barbary friends, trying to escape the vengeful French?

Couple of quick games of One page rules firefight last night with Dave. In line with club policy Dave was allowed to win the first game, the Space French then rallied and wiped out his "Prime Brothers" in the second battle.....Le Tommi Cooper once again was a French hero laying waste to the Prime Captain twice!

a few more shots of the Prussians bravely advancing ......behind the Austrians ! The Prussians held steady, right up until the point they released everyone else had gone home!!!

Unfortunately the strain of command was telling for Capitanne L'Cul, despite being promoted after the battle, he had taken to drink......his traits now being cautious drunkard!!!

I'm up for either, but will 9nky be down around 8.30, so if you want to start earlier no probs

a couple of fun games and you're the loss of the psychic Le' Tommi Cooper was a severe blow. The amount of fire required to kill grots was also something of a shock for the Space French.

Warmaster the Comte D'El Monte shall forever hold a grudge.....and reevaluate the amount of flame throwers he deploys.........

the French navy arrives........where's the royal navy????

fast attack vehicle WIP

0 honour is still better than.....captured by Brunswickers!!

Fridays tend to be more boardgames, Sundays are usually more miniature gaming, wargames etc.

Complete beginners are always welcome to join in.

Craig kicked off his entrance into the napoleonic campaign, his Austrians led by Baron Von Schnitzel took on the French commanded by the recently promoted Capitanne Charles L'Cul.

With the Brunswickers and Prussians suffering a series of setbacks so far the Austrians had rushed into the theatre with the intention of hemming in the Franco-Spanish bridgehead, Von Schnitzel himself being eager to cement his reputation by rescuing the situation......obviously this would also have the long term effect of bringing the Adriatic into the Austrian sphere of influence....at the expense of their allies!!

We kicked off with a 12 point scout battle, Von Schnitzel started on 10 honour ended up (after a re roll) with the Aggresive trait. He decided to pushed his light cavalry forward towards the French lines, supported by the rare Austrian skirmishers to provide fire support.

Capt. L'Cul polished his cuirass and led his cuirassiers forwards, supported by creation conscript skirmishers and a poor quality light cavalry unit.

Both sides pushed towards each other with the French light cavalry naturally staying in the rear after failing to advance....both units of skirmishers only managing some ineffectual shots. Despite his cautious nature Capt. L'Cul wasn't willing to allow Von Schnitzel any glory, the cuirassiers sounded the charge........the Austrians trembled ......Von Schnitzel tried to evade the big Frenchmen hurtling towards him but as he gasped in fear he couldn't give the order, the cuirassiers smashed his unit from the field following up into the second Austrian light cavalry unit sending them into flight as well.

Austrian skirmishers looked on aghast, but feeling safe in some difficult terrain they managed to shoot down several of the cuirassiers, feeing confident the cuirassiers charged into the dead ground where the skirmishers were cowering.....the result was inevitable......Capt. L'Cul had thrown back the Austrian advance scouts, securing the French flank.

We moved on to a larger game, Bridge over Widow Creak, the Austrians continued their methodical advance hoping to cut off the French from their pontoon bridge, cutting them off in coalition territory.

Von Schnitzel had managed to put two green units into defences on the bridge, a larger column of infantry were advancing to support them, L'Cul must secure the bridge before the Austrians could secure their position.

The French faced off against the Austrian column with some poor quality conscript infantry, two units small Hannoverian infantry, two guns and some skirmishers......and the obligatory poor light cavalry.......definitely not being fielded as a sacrificial screen for L'Cul.

In typical Austrian fashion their relief column plodded forward in a very, very slow manner.....with one unit rolling a double one twice and running out if ammunition, whilst Von Schnutzel pushed towards the bridge a very stoic unit of landwehr was pounded to death by the French artillery.

The slow rate of advance allowed the French medium gun and line infantry to slowly chip away at the Austria defending the bridge.

Despite taking numerous casualties they held firm, the moment was ripe for the cavalry to charge in........this was what they were made for.....charging into defences against poor quality infantry (Dave take note) ......the Austrians were utterly routed. The race was on between the French and Austrian infantry to get to the bridge.........

Obviously Craig's run of appalling fire rolls continued and the French force secured the bridge and defences......the Austrians with Von Schnitzel arrived just in time to be charged by the cavalry and thrown back.

0 honour earned for Von Schnitzel.......he didn't lose any though!!! L'Cul earned 13 honour over the two games, taking him to 17 overall......could he be on route for the Legion D'Honour!!!

Another French victory over the Austrians, the flank secure and another game in hand for Craig......

However whilst the Austrians were distracting the French Lt. Luchs and his Prussians tried to recover the guns left behind by the Brunswickers ....the generic French force (led by Dave as a stand in commander) obviously couldn't allow this and had secured them in hilltop battery supported by the light infantry of the Hanoverian legion . The Prussian advance was relentless and the French were thrown back abandoning the guns to the Prussian light cavalry............ a shameful episode that will surely given the allies an advantage in the campaign to come .....even worse Lt. Luchs edged towards promotion with 6 honour.

myself and Dave are looking at a game in Sunday if anybody down and has suggestions

couple of firefight reinforcements

hopefully there should be a couple of games tonight as part of the campaign, if anybody wants to jump in.

Following on from the earlier scouting mission between me and Herr Dave were joined by Pete and Mitch for a 48 point battle......the bloodied French joined by Pete's mercenary barbary corsairs.

The Brunswickers were joined by the Prussians. Could the coalition build on Dave's earlier success .......or would they continue their retreat.

We decided on the straightforward battle. Mitch fielding Lt Luchs and his impressive Prussians made up of a gun, line units and two light cavalry units.

Mitch faced off against the French......who fielded two line, two skirmishers some useless light cavalry and a medium.gun.

Herr Dave on again reverted to type and deployed two guns and shock cavalry against Pete's Barbarys .....made up of a gun and light infantry.

Confidence on the allied side was high whilst the new French leader knew he had it all to do.....else he fell foul of the Emperor like his predecessor.

Things started well for the coalition, the Prussians advanced quickly seeing off the French light cavalry. In another unbelievable turn of events Herr Dave managed another double 6 and a unit of hidden snipers fired on the barbarys...seriously reducing the gun crew.

The Brunswick heavy gun kept up a steady fire on the Barbary units . The Prussian luck soon tapered off though.....the timid Uhlans fleeing and causing panic tests........several disordered units later and the Prussian gun broke and left the infantry to advance against the French unsupported.

The Barbarys saw off several Brunswick skirmish units and naturally Pete rolled a double six .......Barbary snipers causing casualties on the Brunswick Hussars (twice!!).

Meanwhile the French line had advanced to the objective.....the hastily raised Croatian line units receiving a lot of fire from the Brunswick horse artillery.....but they held firm.

The Prussians pushed forwards but unbelievably weren't able to see off a small skirmish unit.....who carried on fighting despite being reduced to one man!!! Despite this the Prussians were holding on and inflicting steady damage on the French.

However the Brunswickers suddenly decided that it was time to fall back.......lest they loose their guns to a bunch of pirates!!!!

With all their support gone the numbers were against the Prussians.....Lt Luchs fell back and the French claimed victory. Unfortunately Lt Luchs had cowered with some jaegers in the rear .....hardly heroic and deserving of the double one which robbed him of one honour.

Naturally Dave earned no honour, but had managed a staggering 9 honour from the earlier scout game!!

The Barbarys managed to accumulate 6 honour. Whilst Capitaine L'cul earned 4 honour.

A very enjoyable game which swung a few times, the Prussians making an impressive appearance and robbed of a victory by the desertion of the Brunswickers.............

Following the French victory over the Brunswickers Herr Dave and myself had a smaller follow up game, to represent the French advancing into allied territory to chase down the Brunswickers.

We each took 16 points. Chef De Battalion L'pew feeling confident took shock cavalry, light cavalry and light infantry. Maurice of the Rhine, took a unit of line, three skirmish units and shock cavalry, the famed Brunswick Hussars....yet to complete a successful charge.

As Dave advanced towards the French in an effort to disorder them with skirmish fire, the almost unbelievable occurred......Dave rolled a double six and received an extra unit of light infantry. The French light cavalry boldly advanced and charged the nearest skirmishers, who just managed to evade them causing a single casualty........obviously this left the cavalry both disordered and open to alot of fire from the Brunswick line.

Dave threw his skirmishers forwards at the French, and quickly saw off the vulnerable French light cavalry. Things started to get even better for the Brunswickers when a fluke shot downed L'pew ......the French were left disordered by this turn of events.......The Brunswick Hussars now fancied their chances against the cuirassiers.....who boldly counter charged.

Despite being disordered and fighting at half strength the cuirassiers held off the Brunswickers and pushed them back. However it wasn't long before even more Skirmish fire drove the French off. An extremely bloody nose for them!!! I rolled to see what the outcome of L'pew being felled was......captured dishonerably.......but he could be ransomed for 5 honour!!

The Emperor does not appreciate failure .......a new commander would be promoted to take on the Brunswickers and make them pay......Capitane L'cul (0 honour) accepted this mantle of responsibility......however he was clearly shaken up by what had happened he rolled cautious as his officer trait.....he can't use his discipline to help attack orders.

We followed this battle up with a larger 48 point game.....the French using all that remained of their honour to hire Barabry mercenaries to help them, whilst the Brunswickers consolidated their position and were reinforced by Lt Luchs and his Prussians...............report to follow.

The club is open early on Sunday, but hopefully we will be running a larger game if Rebels and Patriits in the evening as part if the campaign if anybody wants to join in.

Mitch and Andy kicked off the start of their campaigns to dominate the Adriatic.

Mitch was given the chance to secure himself an advantage card, previously won in the pulp game.......he failed, was this missed opportunity a sign of things to come..........

Taking Andy's idea of each rebels and patriots Battle being a small mini campaign in itself, the board was set up for a small clash between two 12 point vanguard forces, with 1 honour being rewarded for each enemy unit routed and each if your own still active.

Mitch's commander Lt. Luchs, temporarily attached to his most Brittanic Majesty's "forces in the mediterranean", officially as a liaison officer from Prussia (ie spying on the British), rolled "enfants perdus " as his trait....allowing him to ignore defence bonuses when attacking obstacles. Mitch lined up some timid, green line Highlanders. .. ..freshly arrived from Scotch land and suffering in the hot sun, some good shoot English Line and a unit of light cavalry.

Andy (who alleges he can't roll dice), rolled a double six for his officer trait..heroic leader, +2 officer bonus........a trait that pretty much he needed for every activation thereafter. Capitano Jose Fernando De Sagres y San Miguel Mounted his heroic donkey, donned his pink sash and bravely joined his Spanish line units, for such a hero he remained at the rear as a heroic leader is easier to wound!!

With Herr Dave lamenting that Mitch should have fielded a gun to scout with and Andy receiving encouragement from his loyal French allies, the two forces faced up.

Lt Luchs cunning plan of using the Highlanders as a distraction on the flank didn't pay off when they failed to advance and left the English Line to absorb relentless Spanish musketry, which drove off the small British force, they clearly didn't like having a Prussian in command!! Capitano San Miguel managed to accumulate 5 honour, Lt Luchs gained an honour, which he lost after a double one.......the disgrace of of wanting to sacrifice the Scotch troops clearly being something to regret.

With this small action over, we moved onto a larger 24 points game. Patrol at Mclures field. This being being a dawn patrol mission with Andy trying to scout the four table quarters-No shooting in turn 1 and then shooting was limited to 12" until turn 6.

Lt Luchs took a string cavalry vidette, two light cavalry units protecting his left, lt luchs joined a shock unit in the centre and the dreaded Scots Greys took the right. Two timid line units, clearly still not happy with a prussian in charge provided fire support.

Capitano Jose.....fielded a shock cavalry unit, on quite underfed mounts but looking splendid in their blue uniforms and several line units, boldly splitting his forces two maximise his scouting opportunities.

The Spanish cavalry boldly, with much French encouragement, charged the Englìsh light dragoons breaking them and following up unto the second unit, but not without taking several casualties from the English counter charges. The line infantry procrastinated at the rear not wanting to be exposed to the shock cavalry. Lt Luchs charged his unit at the depleted Spanish, and Mitch's dice rolling failed again and they couldn't drive the Spanish off. The Scots greys were ordered forward and lined themselves up to deliver a killer blow before the Spanish line were in a position to open fire.

Capitano Jose was looking worried, but once again a Scotch unit failed to act.....the crucial moment had passed. Lt Luchs unit was now suffering and he decided to return to the rear to complain about Scottish disobedience.

The best unit of Spanish line had bravely occupied a pig sty by now and the rest cautiously advanced . The overwhelming volleys were too much and the British line crumpled.

Capitano Jose secured another 4 honour points, but the delaying action had earned the British 1 point. Capitano Jose quickly wrote a dispatch to Madrid extolling the virtues of donkey mounted warfare and his own tactical brilliance.....he knows promotion is in his grasp.

A very enjoyable couple of games, with a third in hand....possibly a joint Franco Spanish action against the coalition..........

sounds good

I was thinking we could maybe fit in a smaller (12-16 points) skirmish game first, to give Mitch a chance at securing plot points, leading into a larger game following the outcome of the skirmish