THE BATTLE OF PARK FARM

My good friend John made the journey to Welsh border country last weekend, bringing along his steadily growing 28mm Napoleonic collection.

British deployment

British left

the thin red line

overview of the Brits

I played the British supported by a battalion of Prussians, whilst john commanded French and Poles.

the French centre

the French right flank

overview of the French

marching through the fields

This would be our second game of General de Brigade Deluxe, the last one being before Christmas, so we were both a bit rusty on the rules.

The scenario was that a battle had been raging for a few days and the French were outmanoeuvred and were looking for a weak spot to break out. To win John had to move at least 20% off his army off the road in my deployment zone.

Hussar!

The Brits move up to face the threat

the French hide in the hay

Without going into to much detail i will give you two highlights of a very fun game. My highlight was the Scots Greys charging down hill at the Hussars and with a double 6 roll on my BDDs (black dice of death) took their standard and kicked their butts! This eliminated the threat to my left flank in style.

 

Whilst on the other flank an impetuous regiment of cuirassiers dodge past a nice big square to crash into a horse battery rolling over it and causing a brigade morale check which was failed....

the French move through the ruins of the farm

line v column

In the centre the British lines saw off the French column in the old fashioned way, faltering them, then charging in to finish them off.
All in all it was a great fun game and a fantastic first use of my wargames room.
Rules wise I felt once we were into it the rules worked excellently. For me the volley firing from the lines disrupting the squares had great period feel, but were not a guaranteed success, so led to fun drama.
 With hindsight there were a few details we managed to get wrong but nothing that would of changed the game to much. Also I managed to pull off a win and a rather meek chilli....
A testament to a good game is it enthuses you,  John has since painted a battalion gun and is working on his rocket troop and I have bit the bullet and started ordering in my white horde of Austrians!