The French got off to a spirited start with Goya attacking St Amand-La-Haye and Tony attacking Ligny. |
The two French units on the large bases are from Tony's collection. He brought these along as they are mostly Hinton Hunt figures and they performed annoying well. |
As the French close in on St Amand-La-Haye the 1st Silesian Hussars rush forward to intercept - well, they had to didn't they? |
The same scene from slightly further back shows the solid French infantry columns pressing forward. However there are Silesian Landwehr holding the village so I'm not worried! |
This is from behind the French left showing that Goya's infantry are starting to take some casualties as they advance. |
My hussars mix it with French lancers whilst the dragoons move up in support. This is the first ever action for these hussars so they're bound to do well. |
A close-up of the intense fighting for St Amand-La-Haye. |
Pretty much the same scene but I like the photo. |
Meanwhile over at Ligny, Tony has just captured the town. This was a bit of a shock and I only had a unit of Landwehr on hand to plug the gap (S-range from Goya's collection). |
Over on my right things were not looking so good. My hussars were following the time honoured tradition for new units by legging it to the rear, and St Amand-La-Haye had fallen. |
This was the do-or-die moment at Ligny as the counter-attack goes in. Sadly as you can see from the markers it was not a huge success and very soon I had 3 units streaming to the rear. |
"Rally, mein kinder, rally!" Well they did but it was too late. |
At the 11th hour (turn 8 actually) the Brandenburg infantry managed to retake St Amand-La-Haye denying the French a decisive victory. |
Finally the Young Guard arrive but it's all over now. The Old Guard (top left) appear to be having a picnic but roll on June 18 I say... |
The final result was a marginal victory for the French with a win of 8 points. It was a hard-fought affair with a fairly historical outcome. My thanks to Tony and Goya for a most enjoyable day.