Yesterday Koen and Mark came over for what, in good copying of JW/ Pijlie's, tradition is called a Garden Battle. Since the weather in the morning wasn't really very nice we decided to play a game of Space Dreadnought on my gaming table. Koen used my Star Wars fleet to kick the stuffing out of Mark's unpronounceable SDN fleet. The tiles were made by Mark on his laser-cutter and painted by him and his son. Like the total tit I am, I forgot to make overview pictures of both battles so my apologies for that.
The fleets meet and go on the attack:
Mark's ships get blasted from the firmament by the Imperial Navy, go Vader!
Close up of one of my Super Star Destroyers
As the weather cleared after lunch, we went outside and set up table for a big Black Powder Napoleonic game. The greater part of my, finished, Napoleonics collection is for the 1815 Campaign so we decided to play an action in the aftermath of Waterloo. The French are retreating and the Allies are in hot pursuit. A French rearguard tries to defend a cross-roads in order to let the rest of the Armée du Nord escape and fight une autre jour. There were 3 clusters of buildings on the board which we decided were the objectives to be held at the end of 10 turns of gameplay. Forces used were:
French: General Jardin d'Egale (Koen )
- 2 line infantry brigades with 3 batteries of guns
- 1 Guard brigade with 2 battalions of foot and a squadron of Polish Lancers
- 1 cavalry brigade with 2 squadrons of Hussars and one of cuirassiers
Allies: General Oberst von Zinnermann (Mark) and Brigadier Offstreet (yours truly)
- 1 Prussian brigade of 3 Line infantry regiments and 2 artillery batteries (Mark)
- 1 Prussian mixed landwehr and regular infantry brigade 5battalions in all (me)
- 1 British infantry brigade with 2 regiments of foot and the Black Watch and a RFA battery (me)
- 1 Dutch cavalry brigade with 1 squadron of hussars and 2 of Light Dragoons (me)
After deployment the Allies moved first, a general advance along the line came about more or less successfully
Here the Prussian left flank advances with the Landwehr, typically refusing to go anywhere...
The French centre then formed up in marching columns and went on the advance with drums rattling and screams of vive l'Empereur, you know the drill.
The French right flank awaits the Prussians patiently
The Prussian left flank advances, with the jäger failing to deploy in skirmish formation for about 3 consecutive turns.
In the Allied centre the British brigade moves forward toward the French Guard brigade
When composing the lists for this game I wanted to experiment with the special rules and so I gave the Highlanders ferocious charge, now as Koen pointed out, this would be more logical for Jacobite Highlanders but I liked the idea of the Highland lads charging home with cold steel in one great huzzah! And boy did they give the French an 'eadfull o dandruff indeed!
Meanwhile on the Allied right flank the Dutch-Belgian cavalry confirmed their, undeserved, bad reputation by failing to charge home for 3 turns.
On the left flank the jäger finally deployed in skirmish line and it looked like the Prussians had possession of the left cluster of buildings.
In the centre events were enfolding, for the strongest French brigade was about to start an unstoppable attack, we didn't know it at that time but this would be the undoing of the Allies. The French flanks held our troops in place and allowed the centre to wipe out Marks brigade and encircle my left flank-brigade thus effectively conquering 2 clusters of buildings in turn 9 with no chance for us to get them back... :-(
Mark's brigade had to tackle both with French Guards and centre brigade attacking him and went down fighting.
Oh and yes, these are the fusilier-grenadiers of the Middle Guard and YES they were nowhere near Waterloo since they were disbanded by then, but I had slavered till 24.00 the previous day to get them finished so here they are!
The Highlanders chased off two French line regiments, destroyed 1 and got stuck in the Guards
The Guard held firm and when the Highlanders were encircled and their supporting regiments charged in the flank, the tide was turning. The Black Watch fought on to the end but were annihilated.
A French attack in the centre broke through wall and was the beginning of the end
The Army General finally got the Dutch cavalry moving and charged the French left flank
The line regiment supporting the lancers were first forced into square, attacked because they were disordered and driven off. The rest of the cavalry brigade slugged on with the Polish Lancers and thus secured the buildings on the Allied right flank. With no time left and the French in secure hold of the centre and left flank, the Allies conceded the field.
At that time my son came home from his grandparents and sitting on his dad's lap took over the reading of the rulebook
Whether Mark and Koen had a good time, I do not know, but I had a blast!
Cheers Sander
Listening to: "Ghostboy" by Gabriel Rios
5 comments:
Great time, mainly because I wasn't bothered by any knowledge of the rules. (Both games you might say)
Looks like a great day of wargaming. I'd love to do the outdoor thing myself someday. Thanks for sharing.
Jason
Great day of wargaming indeed! Despite my massive attack of hayfever I had a great time.
Nice to see those superb figures of your getting an outing in the sun Sander.
Fantastic stuff here! It must have been a grand day out. Arthur rolled the decisive dice again, I take it :o)
Post a Comment