I Won My Bit

Club night again and I jumped into one of Rob's games, it was a rerun of the successful Napoleonic cavalry battle we played a few weeks ago. Once again I was one of Napoleon's favourite dashing cavalry commanders and given a brigade of the Guard along with a heavy cavalry brigade. Opposite us was a conglomeration of Russians and Austrians, I held the French right opposed by Stuart's Russians, he didn't seem very confident as his brigades were much lighter than mine, he obviously knows more about Napoleonic warfare than I do, I simply saw it as a contest between heavy and light, and of course elan of which naturally I have oodles of.

Stuart, Rob and Andy with some of their impressive numbers of cavalry.

My plan was simple, I would ignore the rest of the battle and destroy the enemy to my front, if time allowed I would turn into the centre and bring about a French victory, huzzah. Stuart played a cautious game while I thundered forward, despite not having dazzling leaders I was only held up once, there was a gun battery on my left flank which thankfully turned against the French centre and left me alone. The Austrian commander in the middle did send one unit to outflank my Guard but it didn't get very far due to the advance of the French centre. My boys were free to unleash hell.

My dragoons head for the Russian left.

 Sure enough the assault by the Guard smashed two Russian regiments and narrowly missed a third, thankfully my troopers recoiled and would be ready to come back after a severe talking to. My second brigade shook off the doldrums and thundered into two enemy batteries, French eyes rolled to the ceiling while the enemy whooped with glee, attacking guns with cavalry, "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." 

The Austrians in the centre.

To everyone's surprise bar mine the gunners were sliced down where they stood and the guns captured, as the dust settled massed ranks of Russian light cavalry could be seen advancing on my bedraggled dragoons, Sacred Blue! Again my companions shielded their eyes from what was about to happen to the French right, grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory came to my mind as my troopers stopped and destroyed the Russian lights. Stuarts command was decimated and we agreed that it would seek to escape, my men took a well deserved rest.

The French centre.

Elsewhere things were not going well for us, after a promising advance in the centre Andy was now on the back foot and almost surrounded, Rob on the left had also dashed forward with elan but not enough, he had suffered grievious losses and was being forced to withdraw, Madame Guillotine awaits in Paris, while Napoleons favourite seeks out a cheeky little Beaujolais.

A flurry of horsemen.

Another good game and proof that Black Powder can handle large forces, I still have some lingering doubts about the rules and will have to read the damn book myself but they certainly work for a large club game and do ensure good fun for all.

I seem to have lost my painting mojo over the past week and did not get a lot done apart from some German road signs for Normandy and some half hearted work on the Scot's Greys. I think I have turned the corner and am now once again concentrating on the Jocks, there are so many fiddly wee bits on SYW figures.

Am I doing something wrong with my paint palette, I got the super new one and during a painting session and a few hours later it is fine, but the next day when I open it the blob of paint seems to have drawn in a lot of water and is ruined for use being reduced in consistency to a wash?