SYW Edition

 I was supposed to be playing Cruel Seas but Rob was unwell so Mike and I managed to get shoehorned into Dan's large 10mm Seven Years War game which was planned to last two club nights before we needed to pack everything away as the school would once again be open to educate Generation Z, or try.

So, Prussians vs Austrians, four infantry brigades a side well supported by cavalry and artillery, there were four players a side, I was a Prussian and had a large infantry and cavalry force on the left flank. The rules were Black Powder with amendments and tweaks for the period, as you know not my favourite set. Anyway the game kicked off and I, being schooled in the Prussian manner went forward with elan to tackle my opponent, this was spectacularly successful and the enemy lost several cavalry units while their infantry were brought to a halt. There were shouts of foul play as the prevailing impression is that I am a very unlucky die roller, this is wrong and it is usually me just being unhappy that I didn't roll better than rolling badly. No matter as the sun set on the first half of the game I had forced the enemy right to withdraw and it tottered on the edge of being broken. Next to me Ed's men had been forced back but not broken while Paul and Mike on the far right seemed to be close to destroying the Austrian left.

The Prussian centre.

My troops advance confidently.

The enemy fall back and I turn on Dan.

 Round 2 and sure enough Ian did not manage to save his forces and as I kept the pressure up he had to withdraw, I was now beginning to bring fire against Dan's brigade which had had a lot of success in causing poor Ed a lot of damage. As I slowly reorganised my cavalry for a sweeping advance on the Austrian centre things went awry on the right, the Austrians recovered and Mike's advance had been stopped, Paul on the other hand was dealt a number of hard blows by Austrain cavalry and his men were in disarray. Just as I was feeling good about my movements the Prussian centre collapsed and fled, with the army broken I could do nothing but retreat with my banners flying and my honour intact, I had won my bit!

Just before our centre went south.

 A good game and everyone had a good time, even me apart from what I considered a bad rule that although their brigade was leaving the battlefield being broken some skirmishers in a wood could ignore this and continue to be a pain to my brigade and my men were unable to enter the wood to despatch these stalwarts.

I was at a loose end and decided to set up a solo Italian Wars game based on the battle of Marignano, I thought it would be simple but it is not a simple battle, no matter I had started to deploy troops when I got an email from Matt offering a game, he was coming to me and was happy to play, yes, Seven Years War.

I found a scenario on the Honours of War website where Red (British/Matt) force were retreating and Blue (French/me) on a parallel road were attempting to intercept, it was basically a meeting engagement. Although the French had the edge on troop numbers they had two cavalry units which I knew were not going to be of much use in this affray.

The British on the march.

The French opposite.

The French move on the British left.

The French right crests the heights.

 

All the French troops were on the table and one small mixed Legion were already on the flank of the British column, the rest of the British would turn up later. I set my forward brigade to move and take a position to block the British retreat route, this was not an objective but it might allow me to turn their flank. My second brigade of Scots, Germans and Irish simply turned off the road and advanced towards the enemy on the other side of a ridge which spanned the centre of the battlefield. Matt's forward brigade was led by a 'Ditherer' and several times he failed to move his men, I had the same problem with my lead force and had to send my Commander along to ensure they did their duty.

Scots and Germans on my left.

The Irish about to advance on the thin red line.

The British in confusion.

The British got into a line on my right and a firefight ensued, much to my surprise I lost a regiment very quickly as the superior British shooting got the drop on me and I suffered, so much so that it took me quite a while to begin to get the upperhand helped enormously by my attached artillery. Meanwhile the British main force had arrived and confusion reigned, Matt kept two regiments and a gun back to protect his right while the rest of the brigade moved to help the hard pressed left, this caused many to become uncommanded and played havoc with his reorganisation. At the same time my boys eventually started to hit the British hard and several units fled for the rear adding to the confusion.

The French centre.

The Scots try to escape.

The end.

It was now that Matt attempted a charge against the Irish holding my left, it turned out to be a bad move and the charging regiment melted in the face of Irish lead. British losses were climbing and the French were closing in, with only one loss to go before breaking Matt handed over his sword.

A good game and one I at first thought was going to go badly for me, I was the first to lose a battalion, the British held a village in the centre of their line and their reinforcements were an even match for my left, it was only the disastrous charge which opened this up for me. On my right I had a frustrating time getting a good firing line deployed and it was stopped a couple of times as battalions were forced back, but it managed in the end. I could not get the cavalry into action and hoped at one point to be able to ride down some unformed troops but it was not to be. The French artillery played a large part in reducing British strength and supporting my right. A good days wargaming.

It was time for another Italian Wars order, it has been a while and I have kept up till now on my drive not to spend as much as last year. I got figures for two Imperial generals and followers, one unit of Ginettes and one of Italian Elmeti along with two artillery pieces and crews, this will leave maybe another couple of heavy cavalry units and one pike block to finish the army, I am on track for around Christmas. Hot off the tray is a Neapolitian pike block, they do look good.

Talking of Christmas I am now on the second last book I received, and while I was in Morecambe at the weekend popping into a pathetic 'Comic Con' I popped into the second hand bookshop on the front. I treated myself to three large tomes for a measly £17, I had a nice chat with the owner and might drop these back when I am done and give him some I have lying about. The mortar book was a little dig at Matt and his mortars in the Smolensk campaign, albeit they are not Russian.

 

Although Farcebook has been a pain for me lately with tons of rubbish I do not want to see I did manage to track down another War and Conquest player 45 minutes away, a quick chat and we have a game organised for next week, Normans vs Saxon Heptarchy. Rob and I are on Chain of Command on Tuesday, Early War French vs Italians, he does like his Ice Cream makers, oops, is that the Old Bill at the door.

I am stuck in TV limbo again, I just finished the excellent Queenmaker on Netflix, OK it kind of slowed in the middle a tad but overall I love revenge series/movies when the baddies get sorted.