Battle Report - 16-Mar-2015 - Black Powder/100 Days Campaign

The next round of the club's Hundred Days campaign saw the Dutch-Belgian forces fight a delaying action at Fayt against the French 1st Corps under Ney, as well as some of Kellerman's heavy cavalry.

The DBs deployed covering the road into Fayt, anchored between woods and the river. The aim was (much as previously) to give the French a bloody nose then pull back, and it... mostly worked. The battle started around 6pm, leaving about 3 hours of daylight for the French to press home an advantage.

The French right did what it was supposed to do and advanced cautiously - the left, on the other hand, after a brief cavalry skirmish, rolled a double six on a mass order to advance carefully... and then proceeded to roll a six again - mass advance three moves. This led to one unit smacking into a column of militia, which latter surprisingly won, and another in a line of regulars which almost won.

Things could have gone very different there, given a different roll for the command blunder - not the least of which could have been most of the French right deciding to vacate the scene.

The French right continued to advance carefully, despite tempts from some over-keen DB cavalry. Meanwhile, on their left, some DB militia deployed to get a shot at the attacking infantry columns, and -- well.. my dice suck as usual. Not a solitary hit where it mattered. And the next round of melée proved pretty conclusive, not helped by the arrival of Kellerman's heavies, who did a decent job of cleaning up the DB right.

Fortunately for us, almost all the results were retreats, rather than destruction, so most of the DBs will live to fight another day. We lasted toll about 7.30 game time, giving us about an hour and a half to fall back, screened by the surviving cavalry, before it got dark.

Next up, I suspect, more on  the Prussians' flank.