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| The British were deployed covering the road to an important bridge, the French wanted to take it. |
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| Napoleon kicked off by advancing his right, with the 24th & 45th ligne taking the lead supported by the 1st Grenadiers of the Guard. |
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| Wellington decided to launch a spoiler attack of his own by ordering the 11th Light Dragoons to charge. Fortunately the 45th ligne managed to form square - there would be no easy pickings of French Eagles today. |
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| Meanwhile the French columns tramped forward towards a hill held by the 49th Foot. |
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| Recovering his poise, Napoleon ordered a counter-attack on the Dragoons by the Guard Light Cavalry. |
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| Whilst under the watchful eye of Lord Hill, the 49th Foot fired a devastating volley that dropped 6 Frenchies and turned their column into a disordered mass. All that training was paying off! |
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| However, in the centre, the French cavalry had gained the upper hand. |
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| And the infantry now attempted a passage of lines to bring the Old Guard forward but this just caused the Grumblers to become disordered! |
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| Although things looked up again for the French when the Poles broke the 30th Foot with a spirited charge. |
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| But at this critical point Moore led the Guards forward and with a loud 'hurrah!' they saw off the 9th legere. Behind the Guards the Black Watch moved forward to shore up the flank. |
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| Whilst the Hertfordshire's charged down the hill to complete the victory - not bad for new boys! |
Nice to have a British victory for once – there will be jubilation at Horse Guards.
26 comments:
"Fortunately the 45th ligne managed to form square"...? FORTUNATELY! Whose side are you on?
Now the 'Herts' of Oak have seen off those grumbling grenouilles I think there may have to be an inquiry into who was cheering for whom...
Super little action - there's something about smaller games that always seems to make them more enjoyable, not that that stops me trying to use every figure I have at every opportunity - there's a psychology thesis in there somewhere.
Of course a lot of it has to do with extremely pretty figures on attractive but simple terrain that doesn't detract from the spectacle of the little men having at each other.
Great stuff - never mind jubilation at Horse Guards - there will be great relief at Paddy Power that word didn't get out about the Old Guard getting repulsed, or they'd have been paying off some big bets now. Game looks very good, and the fact that the new unit performed well will put huge pressure on all new units from this point on. We need a new proverb, quickly.
Excellent - a heartening sight on a wet morning!
Thanks Rob, I was strictly impartial of course! I find it hard to start a solo game as I never think it will be much fun but I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy playing once I get started.
Hi Ian - Spectacular looking game showing your splendid forces - absolute joy of getting the new recruits into the winning circle. Cheers. KEV.
Tony, the repulse of the Old Guard was a bit of a shocker - should have kept them safely in reserve!
Kev, yes good to see the new boys on such great form!
Interested to see your deployment . In Cirencester, a while back, we were debating whether columns should have enough space around them that they could deploy into line and were they expecting to do that? I suspect that would need far more skirmishers out than your fine looking game shows, perhaps an entire battalion of Legere? I would have thought that the close deployed columns ( a la MacDonald’s formation at Wagram) would have given the French an advantage as they would have faced less firepower per column and thus some woukd get thtough. But apparently not which is good shooting!
Roy
Wat a wonderful way to begin the day! Fresh coffee and scads of brightly painted Napoleonics. All is right with the world.
Best Regards,
Stokes
Roy, as you know, normally under M&M columns have a good chance of breaking a line. The British were fortunate here that the French became disordered and thus susceptible to the bayonet. The Hertfordshires were doubly fortunate to force the Old Guard to retreat!
Stokes, glad to help get your day off to a good start although the coffee does help!
Just superb, in every way. As, Stokes says, there's no better way of starting the day than with a fresh cup of coffee and pictures of your wonderful wee men in action.
Best regards
Matthew
Thanks Matthew!
Oh yes, your lads showing off their colours, disordered grumblers and glory for the Home Counties. No cracks about “what are the Poles doing in Cambridge?” Please. I was even content to see the other Poles seeing off the light dragoons. Splendid show, Ian. Now for some coffee....
I've always been fond of the 49th. They played a critical role over here in 1812, earning the nickname the "Green Tigers" .
I see no issue with being enthusiastically & emotionally engaged with both sides in a solo game. Makes it more like a 'real' game really. (sometimes an issue with me but not for myself so that's 2:1 in favour)
A lovely looking game indeed...
It brings to mind the articles by Charles Grant in Military Modelling in the late 60s and early 70s...
All the best. Aly
Nigel, you have to have the coffee BEFORE you read the blog!
Ross, Green Tigers I like that!
Thanks Aly!
Was this done as a solo game? I've ordered myself a copy of the Programmed Wargames reprint from Calivar. Its yet to come but once it does some Napoleonic's is on my list to try as we've not been able to do this in a socially distant way.
I have a few units of mine that are yet to see some action. Perhaps a few small encounter actions will give them some experience.
I use the 'Charge' rules and a line has advantages of a column as the casualties caused by firing are added to the melee loses to determine the melee victor.
Stu, it was solo as we have not resumed face to face yet but it was fun to play!
Mark, I must confess I have never read Charge let alone played it - on my to do list!
What a fun read and a beautiful game! Were you using the newer M&M 7th edition? I'm interested to get your take on what the effect the adjustments to the casualty levels on the morale table have had. WM and I have decided to stick with the levels in version 6 since hostilities have already commenced, but are curious how it goes.
David
David, I played this game with version 6 but I will be testing the changes over the next few games!
No dastardly Froggie upstart can beat British glossy greenery!
That's the spirit Jeffers!
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