River crossing AAR & WIP

Quote of the night:

Robin, on entering late and passing a critical eye over our game:

"Garry, you're f**cked!"

As a change for our usual set-'em-up, knock-'em-down Friday night match, Tim and John R organised a scenario night with 2 tables laid out to play 2 games of the same scenario; a river crossing with one side attacking and the other defending. The object of the game was for the attackers to capture 3 defensive positions, while the defender attempted to prevent the attackers form gaining them. All players would have the same amount of troops with all rated as regulars: 72 figures in whatever size battalions fit, one foot battery and one general.

Tim and Andrew S. played one game with the French attacking and the Swedes defending, while on our table, Pete E. was blooding his new Victrix British army with me seconding him, and Garry defended, outnumbered 2-to-1. Garry was spread thin trying to defend 3 points against the attacking British. Pete went for the left and centre, while I went for the right, concentrating all my forces on the BUA to my front. My artillery was concentrating against Garry's battalion of Legere infantry which was protecting the right of his BUA. A line regiment protected the front and another the left flank of the BUA. I came across the river and gathered my forces for a charge while the rest peeled of to the right flank to take care of the line French line battalion on that flank. 

Garry and Pete, meanwhile, were having a ding-dong battle in the centre and the left. Pete had spread his forces thinly with his major concentration on the left. Consequently the struggle in the centre was fairly even, and with Garry's lucky dice rolling, his artillery managed to break a British battalion within a couple of turns. Pete attacked the BUA on the left and captured 1, but didn't have the resources to capture the 2nd on that flank. Pete's later attempt at capturing the central BUA was easily parried with some accurate artillery fire and a timely shot into Pete's highlanders' flank.

I slowly brought up my forces and attached the general before sending in the required 3 to 1 ratio that should have guaranteed success, but all 3 of us misinterpreted the rules, resulting in what should have been a sure-fire success into a stand-off. My later attempts to outflank Garry resulted in these flanking units being broken, which spelled failure for my last attempt at capturing the BUAs. GRRRRR!

Garry played a very dogged defense, aided by some inept rule interpretation and some incredible dice rolling, to come out on top even though being outnumbered and with a hard task ahead of him. Maybe it was Robin's assessment of the game that spurred him on....? 

My concentrated horde of British and Portuguese goodness!

What Garry was up against

Garry gave the Highlanders curry with these troops and a little artillery help

Garry's far right wing and the BUA

A gunner's eye view

Garry's French ready to sell their lives dearly against Pete's virgin troops.

First contact at the hedge

Firefight and Pete seemed to get the better of it, but not for long!

My 92nd Highlanders and Portuguese deploy into line to shield the advance of the rest of the division behind them.

Pete crosses the river and deploys too close to the guns and pays the price: the battalion in line didn't last long in that position.

My guns knocked off a coouple of figures from Garry's Legere battalion. Good shooting, boys!

The 92nd approach the river.

Garry's thin blue line awaits.

Portuguese on parade

Protect the village, mes enfants!

Mais ouis, mon Colonel!

Garry occupies the central BUA

Garry's legere; victims of my artillery!

A brief exchange of fire...

...and Garry pulls the middle battalion back into the BUA...

...while his left tries to stem the tide!

Garry eludes my attempt to outflank him by steadily falling back.

The British approach  the BUA from all sides

The perfect attack that should have worked!

The charge fails! &%@#!

Finally, he stops running and offers a flank (only just, though!)

Plan B: Portuguese rush the other BUA, but narrowly miss occupying it this turn...

...only for the French leger to pip them at the post! D'oh!

The flank fire finally takes care of the slippery French line.

The Portuguese are sent packing from the 2nd BUA. What to do now?

I sent the leftmost battalion on a diversionary attack to teh rear of the BUA, but neglected to keep them far enough away from the legere-occupied building...

...and a dose of flank fire sent them on their way!

Meanwhile on the other flank, another flank shot on the right hand attack column also sped them on their way to the rear...

...resulting in a surprising (and lucky!) victory to the French!

Now for the WIP.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the 2nd Hussars and have started on a commission project for Comrade Jimski; WW2 Soviet infantry. So easy after fiddly Napoleonic uniforms! Maybe I should take up dub-dub-2 gaming instead!

Also on the table is a fortification for the Napoleonic landing scenario I'm planning. So far it consists of one resin gun emplacement and a second created form resin gabions and wood putty. The other sides will have musket embrasures using the smaller gabions and a gateway.

The first of many Soviets for Jim

The fort so far

2nd Hussar officer with leopardskin shabraque (thanks for the tip Peter)

2nd Hussar trumpeter