Thursday 20 June 2019

Quatre Bras – C&CN

We played the C&CN Quatre Bras scenario on Tuesday and an excellent game it turned out to be. Goya, as host, was umpire while Tony commanded the French and I took control of the allies. We played Tony’s Ramekin rules variant with a few new tweaks and the result was another very near-run thing.

This is the view from behind the French left-centre at the start
of play. The stream is fordable along its entire length. Quatre
Bras is represented by the building in the distance and was
worth one victory banner to the French.
This is the French right flank. The troops on the opposite base
line are Picton's British regulars whilst those further forward
are a mixture of Dutch, Belgian and Brunswick allies.
And this is the view from behind the allied right showing the
Bossu Wood on the extreme flank.
Tony opened proceedings with a spirited attack on Bossu Wood
and quickly removed my Dutch artillery battery from play.
However, thereafter it proved much more difficult to dislodge
my infantry who hung on in possession all day.
The French are starting to think they may have to bi-pass the
woods and attack in the centre. Tony had a grand battery on
the central ridge that was soon pounding away at my infantry.
This is the view along the entire allied line from the Bossu
Wood. The very large British unit in the trees is one of my
Guard ones, these are like the Napoleonic version of Tiger
Tanks and proved very effective.
Here you can see that the French have started to advance
across the stream. I've pulled my own front line back to the
shelter of the reverse slope of the ridge to avoid the galling
artillery fire.
Of course I had to move the men back on to the ridge as the
French columns approached. There were unit losses to both
sides and it looked to me like Tony was getting the upper hand.
The Black Duke steadies the Owls supported by one of Goya's
excellent Hinton Hunt Hanoverian units (not strictly right for
the OOB but they were standing in for |Dutch).
These Dutch cavalry are also from Goya's collection - all
Hinton Hunt.
A 'classic' wargame shot as the two sides grapple for control
 of the ridge (in the background you can see that Goya's
servants are getting ready to lay the table for dinner as
soon as we finish playing).
Eventually, somehow, I managed to push the French infantry
back prompting Tony to throw in his Cuirassiers. Luckily for
me he had no horse artillery with which to crack my squares.
A lucky run of dice then brought me to the 9 victory banners
required to claim victory - game over!


This was yet another game with a lot of ebb and flow that went right down to the wire. My thanks to Goya for hosting, umpiring and providing a very nice lunch, and to Tony for a most enjoyable game.

15 comments:

warpaintjj said...

Good looking game - neat and tidy presentation.
Looks like you all had a load of fun too - perfect gaming!
Best wishes,
Jeremy

Stryker said...

Thanks, yes it was good fun!

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Looks like your game was a blast!

Best Regards,

Stokes

Stryker said...

It certainly was Stokes!

MSFoy said...

Another rollicking game (once I got going!). Well played, sir.

Man, I really hated those woods. You're sure of a big surprise...

Stryker said...

Cheers Tony, always a pleasure!

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Looks great, sounds like a fun game, what more could one ask?

Stryker said...

What more indeed Ross?

Wellington Man said...

Another beautiful display of vintage marvelousness, and gripping too. My congratulations to all.
Best regards
WM

Aly Morrison said...

Lovely toy soldiers,good company and a tasty looking lunch... what’s not to like.

All the best. Aly

the Archduke said...

Brilliant looking game. Are those SHQ Nassauers? I really like their Hanoverian neighbours. What a treat to be able to field the "bouillabaisse" (spot the cultural reference) of nations from the 100 days.

Rob said...

Missed this post for a while as I think I kept confusing it wit the one is aspic.
Nice to see lines in dead ground seeing columns - nice to see lines in C&C game, presumably only possible because they'd lost a block? IMO not having different unit formations is the only down-side of C&C for Napoleonics.

Stryker said...

Nigel - yes I think they are SHQ, these are in Goya's collection.

Stryker said...

Rob - they were in line as this is they way Goya has his troops based. There are no formation changes in Tony's Ramekin rules system (other than square) just as in normal C&CN.

MSFoy said...

This is a sympathetic response to Rob's concerns about lack of formations in C&C and it's derivatives. There is no reason why, in the miniatures game version, C&C should prevent the players deploying their units into column, line or human pyramid if they so wish - it does not affect the game at all, but it is certainly possible. The problem this introduces is that big games just won't finish. It is a downside if that's the sort of thing you like - I fully accept that. The C&C philosophy is that the commanding generals have a limited amount of attention and time available, and stuff like changing tactical formations is mostly the job of the regimental officers and their sergeants. We have to assume that it is sort of going on in the background. Marshal Ney did not order his individual regiments into line or column at Quatre Bras - well, actually, Ney might have... :-)

Cheers - Tony