A Napoleonic Quickie...

Since I last posted I've been diligently painting 10mm French for the War of Spanish Succession (this included rebasing too!). This has taken me longer that I expected due to other nighttime commitments getting in the way of painting but I'll make a post soon regarding my progress.

In the mean time I played a game of General d'Armee last weekend at my club. Once again this game pitted my Prussians against my own French. My opponent was Darryl (he who won the Battle of Bach-Sachenkrach earlier in the year - Link). I played the Prussians (again) and Darryl commanded the French.

The battle was fought for control of the chateau and adjacent farmland in the centre of the table. He who controlled these objectives would be declared the victor!

With the opening moves the French advanced right across the centre, threatening the chateau. The French guns were well sighted and pounded a Prussian battery unlimbering on some high ground opposite. The Prussian guns held but became unformed due to a poor morale result.

The Prussian Leib Regiment also advanced boldly in the centre. Unfortunately their flank support failed to get moving. No matter, they'll get into position soon enough and catch up! On the far left (and out of shot) a brigade of uhlans moved up to threaten the French flank.

Lutzow's Black Legion advanced cautiously until they saw a brigade of French dragoons cresting the hill to their front which caused them to halt and form square. At least their rifle armed jaegers were able to take shots at the dragoons from a safe distance whilst the considered the solid block of Prussians in front of them..

The French reached the chateau first and one of their battalions invested the grounds. They also sent a line of voltigeurs out front to confront the Prussian skirmish line.

In the fields a landwehr regiment took up defensive positions whilst the Turingian battalion (off camera), attached to the Lieb Regt advanced through the rye towards the French line in support of an impending attack on the chateau.

Now, I seem to have lost all the photo's of the Prussian attack on the chateau and other pieces of action. The Prussians took it easily and drove the defending battalion back. Subsequent attacks by the rest of the Leib also drove the rest of the opposing French regiment back.

On the Prussian left the uhlan brigade advanced & their attached horse guns pounded a French leger regiment hard as the cavalry forced them into square. The Prussian cavalry then charged a single regiment of chasseurs a cheval and performed dismally. They were driven right back and then, after a very dismal Faltering Brigade moral check, the entire brigade routed leaving the Prussian left flank wide open.

The entire left flank I hear you ask?
Remember that brigade that was supposed to support the Leib Regt in the centre? I said they'd get moving...? Well they didn't. They were Hesitant every single turn. They sat there in front of the well sighted French guns and got pounded. Only an Out of Ammo result on the guns saved them from further destruction.

In the fields the Thuringian Battalion was thrown back after a short vicious firefight and the French advanced. The landwehr lined the hedges and put a couple of volleys into the French but lost fire discipline. The Prussian guns on the hill beside the landwehr got very heavily beaten up but managed to stay in the line. They saw off one regiment of dragoons and the other regiment was charged by Lutzow's cavalry.

The game came to an end. The Prussian controlled the chateau but the French were contesting the fields. The Prussians were declared the winner but it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. They had lost one flank and the landwehr were unlikely to be able to stand up to a concerted French attack even if they were defending the hedges.

A thank you to Darryl for this game. I wasn't keen to go to the club as I've lost a bit of my love for it recently. But I'm glad that Darryl coaxed me out for this game as I really enjoyed it and enjoyed the company. We have a Dark Ages game set for the near future my veteran Anglo-Saxons against his newly minted Normans. Black Powder or Saga... I'm not sure.

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And then I found some other photo's:

Two fine generals at the height of their martial prowess!

Below: The uhlans that bravely fled the field.

General Darryl standing tall and looking in the wrong direction as the Prussians prepare to assault the chateau and liberate their stolen sausages from the clutches of his garlic munching Gallic hoards.