Monday, December 30, 2013

The Battle of Liebertwolkwitz, 16 October, 1813 - An Age of Eagles Scenario

We return once again to Matt's Basement Bunker to play his 2nd battle of the year.  Matt hosts at least two major battles at his home in Denver and this was the last for 2013.

This battle was a major engagement that was part of the Battle of Leipzig.  The battle lasted about 4 hours and was scheduled for 8 full turns.  To save time I went to Matt's and as the CinC of the Allies made our initial move onto the table to save time.  This was done a few days before the big event.

We were joined by the French Command of: Andrew (CinC/Center Command), Bob (Polish Commander), Doug (French Right Flank Command) and our Host Matt (French Left Flank).  The Russian/Prussian Command was: Dan (Myself as the CinC and Russian Right Flank Command), Pat (Russian Center Command) and Eric (Prussian and our right flank command).

All of us have played a version of Fire and Fury so the game went very smoothly as far as game play was concerned.  The actual battle fought was probably pretty close to the historical outcome.  There were no major breakthroughs just back and forth actions but I have to hand it to the French today, they really pushed hard and starting bending the allied lines by the end of the battle.  We went 7 turns when  the Allies finally called it off and it ended with a French victory.  You will see in some of the pictures how much of the battlefield the French controlled when Turn 7 rolled around.

As the Allies the major problem we had at each initiative phase was that we were rolling with a -2 and won the initiative maybe once?  That had us on our back foot for most of the battle.  Hat's off to everyone that commanded because everyone seemed to carry out their missions but me.  I was on the Allied right flank with an easy target town objective in front of me.  I just couldn't get there quick enough because the French moved their reserves over to the center and their left pretty quickly.  So there I was trying to pry Matt's forces out of the Town but too late with too little to dig him out.  Well played Frenchies.

Other parts of the field had Pat and Andre duking it out with their large cavalry clashes in the center which was joined by Bob's Polish coming on fast to help press the Russian center.  Doug and Eric had a good fight on their side of the battle too.  Eric's Prussians took up defensive positions when Doug broke out into an immediate attack the second the battle started.  It was getting pretty interesting for the Prussians during this fight.

So it was another great time and another great battle.  Thanks Matt.

Here are some pictures with more captions of the battle in progress.

Happy New Year!

Dan







































Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Spanish Ulcer - The battle of Granja de la Abundancia, Spain 1810 (Black Powder)

This last Sunday I was joined in battle by my friends, Kurt F., Matt V., Andrew Y., Bob T., Steve B. and Eric E.  This was the scenario "The battle of Granja de la Abundancia" that is right out of the Albion Peninsular Scenario book.  We played it with some modifications to the forces in 15mm scale.

Many of you have seen and played this battle before but this is our first time trying this scenario.  Let me introduce our full house of players.

Player Introductions
So we finally got Kurt to show up.  I have missed putting him in bad situations and above all missed his trash talk from across the table.  And of course we are to always suffer from his Monty Python like French accent.  It has been a little hard to get him to play with us so it was a pleasure to finally have him join us.  Life just seems to get in the way of our gaming doesn't it?  Andrew Y. was in attendance.  He is fairly new to the Club and has a big interest in Nappy and Civil War.  He seems to really like Black Powder so he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to play again.  Good to have you with us.  Matt V., Bob and Eric are regulars and we have been wargaming together for years now.  Steve is new to our group.  I worked with Steve for years and I found out about a year ago his interest in history so I finally got him to join us for a battle.  It was great having him join us and we were surprised at his knowledge of history.  Thanks for coming over.

So we had a really good bunch of guys play in this battle.  Everyone is pretty laid back and having fun was the order of the day.

Of course I served up some food and drinks and I also displayed the map (below) with a memo stick on my TV in the Theatre room so either force could step away from the table and discuss tactics.

The Battle
There are points for objectives as you can see by the map from the Albion Triumphant book below.  We used the special rules for the British Steady Line and Pas de Charge and Attack Columns for the French.  We had Kurt, Matt and Andrew playing the French Commanders and Eric, Steve and Bob playing the British/Portuguese commanders.

As it describes in the scenario book the French are hard pressed for supplies.  The British find out about this "raid" on the "Farm of Abundance" and attempts to cut them off.  The hill at the top of the map I call "Cross Hill" to make it easier to identify.  And of course being in Spain I made a Cross on a mound and placed it on the hill.

The battle was listed for 12 turns but were able to call it around turn 10.  As you can imagine the French had the numbers in Infantry, Cavalry and Guns but the British/Portuguese forces had the quality.  If the tables were turned and the British had the good opening moves then this could have been a totally different battle.

Notes
The French plan was for Kurt on the French right flank to send his large battalions at Cross Hill and grab the 3 points.  In the center Matt was to rush his Cavalry command to the center to start pinning down the British in place.  Get them into square and overall be a nuisance which was accomplished.  Andrew was to take the Farm and hold it from the British.  And I have to say that they pretty much stayed to their plan and accomplished their missions.  Very good maneuvering by Kurt and Andrew keeping the momentum and taking their objectives.  Although, both of the French flanks took many hits and a majority were shaken or close to it by battles end.

The British Commanders took a similar plan but with lousy movement dice it was going to be a long battle.  Steve on the far left stormed the hill but the French were already well emplaced.  Eric on the far right took his Light Brigade and moved on the Farm.  His elite Cazadores ended up breaking but he had enough troops at the fences where we decided to give him some points along with the hill he controlled.  Now for the center which also had some tough fighting.  Bob did everything he could to keep the center from breaking.  He was charged by Attack Columns, Dragoon's and Chasseur's, suffered Horse Artillery fire but he stood his ground.  Special mention has to go out to the Highlander Battalion.  They took it on the chin and kept making their Break Tests.  Nice work in the middle Bob.

Honorable Mention
On the French side we have to give Andrew the player of the game for accounting for 5 points of the French 9 points.  For the hill he controlled and the Farm.  On the British side we have to mention the stand of Bob and his Highlanders.

Again, great job by all.  Thanks for coming over and I will schedule another battle soon.

Dan
P.S. The allies lost both Portuguese units  which might say something for quality?  The line did not get the British Steady Line, First Fire, etc rules.  But the Cazadores did get some quality attributes, Light infantry, Elite, etc.

So I have again tried to create a "picture book" of the battle with the captions embedded (ala Tony Fryer).  I hope you enjoy the post.

(I think some of  you don't know you can just click on the pictures to explode the view.  Better to see the captions.)




You can see that if you don't move quickly it can
become a difficult fight.
Slow Allied movement


French Cav and Horse Battery denying the road


Need to note the French Horse Battery was deployed well
forward by the tree line. This made them targets for the British
Rifles who ended up breaking the battery. 








I think I mentioned the square being destroyed when it actually
had to retire two moves from the Attack Column attack by Kurt.


There was a point where Kurt "Blundered" with this Attack Column
but he rolled well enough to save it from doing something
embarrassing like run off the table.
It was the only "double 6" roll in the game for orders, damn!

Andrew's capture of the Farm. You can see his units
flanking the Portuguese!


We called it after 10 full turns.  The British were not close
to penetrating into the French half of the table at this point.

Okay that's all I got....man this takes some time...lol.