100 days campaign finale

Being live tweeted on @TatM_blog

Battle Report - 27 April 2015 - Black Powder

"Battle" might be a bit generous, as this was a somewhat onesided encounter in our 100 days campaign at Quatre Bras between a couple of French Divisions and a considerably smaller force of Nassauers.

Yes. This was as one-sided as it looks, even given the late arrival of the Prince of Orange and another group of Dutch-Belgians.

Hopefully, things will go better next month :D

My tuppence worth to the points systems discussion...

...with thanks to Joe McLaren, who found it and posted it on the Meeples and Miniatures Facebook group, and a nod to Gary who's running our 100 Days campaign.

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.

Battle Report - 16-Feb-2015 - Black Powder 1815 Campaign

The first set of orders in the club generated a battle between French forces under Napoleon himself (Grahame, assisted by Dan, RichN and AndyM2 ) and a Prussian force under von Zeiten (Carl, assisted by AndyM, Ash and Pippa). Battle (on a fairly densely populated 8' x 6' table) commenced (at around 3pm, 15th June, 1815) .... The Prussian brief - to give Napoleon a bloody nose, delay him and then fall back.

The French left (top right corner, nearest camera) charged and drove off a bunch of Uhlans, then advanced a brigade against the Landwehr in the village (bottom right). And were repulsed - no casualties on either side, but the defence factor of the village outdid their supports, and AndyM2 rolled dreadfully for the unit doing the attacking... and for their supports. (They were my temporary command, so I was somewhat proud of the Landwehr.)

Meanwhile over on the French left/Prussian right, the Polish Lancers and another infantry brigade got well stuck in, and started slowly forcing units back/off table.

In response on the right, I threatened the remaining French infantry that were attacking the village with my heavy dragoons, and in the best tradition of Napoleonic combined arms, swung the cavalry away and had a lot of infantry unload on them. Rubbish dice, unfortunately - they didn't break.

On the Prussian left, the Lancers kept up the pressure, aided and abetted by yet more cavalry. Back over on our right, the French made yet another attempt to take the vlllage, this time by offloading the fire of most of an infantry brigade and some horse artillery on it, coupled with a cavalry charge on the centre right. Once again, the brave Landwehr... ok, let's be fair, hid behind every available bit of timber and masonry and emerged unscathed. The French cavalry charge was met with a countercharge, which drove off the French, but sadly left my heavy Dragoons shaken, spoiling my cunning plan to force the French infantry advancing on the Prussian centre into square.

About here, Napoleon was buttonholed by his subcommanders, who apparently had a better plan than the one which had one battalion of Landwehr holding up his entire left flank (I shouldn't rub it in, but they were amazing - two entire brigades broke against the Prussian extreme right!). Sadly for us, and for his reputation, they were right. Two whole brigades of infantry smacked into the Prussian centre, and while we managed to survive for the most part, it was clear that now was the time for the Prussians to fall back.

We'll move on next month (it's a third Monday campaign).

But in the meantime, if you'll excuse me, I have the Duchess of Richmond's ball to attend.

Black Powder - teaser pics

Just got in from club from the first proper night of our 1815 narrative campaign, using Black Powder/Albion Triumphant and Gary's massive collection of 28mm Napoleonics. Me? I'm Wellington. I don't have time to do a write up tonight, but here's a couple of teasers:

Most of the French forces. About half of Gary's collection of French.

View from the Prussian left flank, or what's left after the Polish Lancers'
first attack.

The French columns pile in on the Prussian right.