Prussian Attack ~ Gd'A

We're still trying to get back our Napoleonic mojo so we played another game of General d'Armee. We're getting a better handle on the rules and hopefully we'll get more games in early next year.

This time it was my friend Fly as the French and I played the Prussians. Previous games have been multi player affairs but my troops just don't spread far enough for multi player games. As a result this game made a lot more sense to Fly (only his second try at Gd'A) and we got much further along than previously.

There were more Prussians than French so I decided to attack. Me attacking was also the best way to present the various aspects of the game. Beside that; they're Prussians and they work best when they're used aggressively.

The French were pretty much regular line quality with two battalions of veteran leger. The Prussians were a mixed bag with the veteran Leib regiment as the core with two reserve regiments and four landwehr battalions.

We both had quite strong skirmish lines. My Prussians are the historical 7th Brigade for 1813/14 which is very much a light brigade and, as a result, has a fair few rifle companies (I've just represented these companies with skirmish bases). I've also included Lotzow's Friekorps which I'm in the process of completing.

For some strange reason we both deployed our cavalry on our respective right flanks. As a result they never came into contact with each other. My cavalry (below) made some disastrous charges but the French cav just protected the deployed horse battery. This game changed my view about light cavalry deployment. They should be placed in reserve and not used as a strike force. I did this once previously to good effect. I should remember this in the future.

Below: The Lieb Regiment in the centre with the Saxon Thuringian regiment in support, advanced slowly across a stream. They are supported by a landwehr brigade on the right who are, in turn, supported by a light cavalry brigade on the flank.

The French cavalry did very little but their horse battery did a lot of damage to the Prussian battalions taking their time to get across the stream. Lutzow's Freikorp especially got themselves bogged down and became Hesitant several times on the banks of the stream as the horse guns pounded them.

Eventually the Leib crossed the stream and began shaking out to begin their attack. The skirmish lines in the centre exchanged several turns of shooting with casualties on both sides (the first base of the game that was removed were Prussian skirmishers). The skirmish rules also work well for protecting the battalions behind. The skirmish rules are one of my favourite aspects of Gd'A.

My cavalry got into position to charge but became Hesitant. This gave the French time to form square and successfully pepper them with skirmish fire. I had a choice to sit there and get shot up or charge. So the cavalry charged! It was a dismal effort. The squares shot well and causing  4 casualties (and that was halved for being in square!). They uhlans rolled snake eyes for the charge and the support re-roll was a 2 for a total of 3 followed by the deductions for casualties... A bad result?

The worst possible result!

And my Prussian cavalry routed. This caused the brigade to Falter but they did manage to rally. If they hadn't they could have broken and taken the horse battery with them.

I got the Leib Regiment in position for the attack in the centre and... They Hesitated! With one battalion sitting in front of a French battery I thought the attack was doomed. But the fire from the guns was desultory at best and the battalion remained in good order.

The reserve regiment supporting on the left were slow getting over the stream as they had become Hesitant several times. The only thing that kept them in good order was that the Friekorp was the main target of the horse guns and their skirmishers kept the French voltigeurs busy.

The Leib's attack went in and they took out the foot battery caused one battalion to retreat and another to rout . This caused the French brigade to Falter. It was looking grim for the French centre but a check of the rules and we realised we were on the wrong track. The French managed to hold it together and hold the centre.

On the flank the Prussian cavalry re-gouped and with the second regiment taking the lead they charged again. This time the French were in column... But they managed to form square and the result was the same with exactly the same dice rolls. My cavalry were pathetic on this day.

The attack in the centre lost momentum after a minor French counter attack which pushed back the lead regiment. The reserve brigade, left of centre, charged but stopped short of the French lines. The veteran leger attacked on their flank destroying one landwehr battalion and driving back another in a rout causing yet another brigade to Falter. With the cavalry also Faltering again and trying to re-group the landwehr had no support other than the horse guns. On the opposite flank the friekorp were still muddling around on the banks of the stream and getting nowhere fast. The Prussian attack had faltered all round.

Conclusion:

We came to a sort of result. It was getting late and we were getting tired. But the Prussians had run out of steam and the leger on the flank were going to overrun the remains of the leger brigade with ease and ruin their day.

After getting through about a dozen turns we had a good handle on the Turn phases and the basic mechanics. But a re-read of the whole rules over the Christmas period should iron out any mistakes and reinforce the basics. I'm planning to paint more Napoleonic's during the holidays whilst taking a short rest from Wars of the Roses. I have a French dragoon regiment ready and I'm also hoping to do the cavalry and artillery for Lutzow's Friekorp which will make them into a nice little independent command.

So that's it for now. Merry Christmas.