My good friend John brought his toys round last weekend. So we finally christened my enlarged table.
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| 12'x6' |
We played David Browns General de Brigade rules using the points system. 1000 points aside plus command. To add a bit of suspense, The commanders abilities were rolled for. Luckily we both rolled high giving us the much needed excellent CnCs. The scenario was basically seek and destroy. I was intending to write a detailed battle report, but as its been at least four days and my notes didn't make it past round one. This will have to be an overview with lots of pretty pictures.
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| French left |
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| British Right |
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| Scots march to their positions as the French roll forward |
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| 6th Hussars and Polish lancers |
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| more French |
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| British centre |
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| awesome figures those lancers |
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British heavy brigade
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The battle opened with John lighting the fuses on his rocket troops, then he must of fallen over them. As he rolled
DOUBLE ONE!! resulting in the whole troop disappearing under the smoke, which panicked the Household cavalry regiment standing next to the rockets. They shouldn't of stopped running until they reached the sea. But after we'd stopped laughing (or more rightly i'd stopped laughing) we decided that was a little unfair to lose so much with the first roll of the game. So we allowed them to roll every turn to rally and come back on at the base line.
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| run away!!! |
The first two turns so the armies maneuver towards each other. both trying to occupy the small town on the French right whilst trying to gain the best position for their artillery. On the other flank the generals were a little less cautious and immediately sent the cavalry to see off their opposite number.
Against the odds the French light cavalry out fought the British heavy cavalry forcing them to retreat, The Polish lancers eagerly chased them down refusing to stop and leaving the battlefield in their dust. Luckily the 6th Hussars managed to keep their discipline and return to their lines. This left a huge gapon the British right so i brought on my cuirassier brigade with the intent of rolling up the British thin red line.
The battle for the town heats up with the French taking mounting casualties form musketry and artillery fire whilst the 95th rifles take the buildings.
In the centre the French chasseurs supporting the main infantry brigade, begin to get whittled down by accurate musketry from the British lines.
The infantry form square aware of the danger of the victorious French cavalry. Whilst now recovered from the firework display the Household cavalry try to fill the large gap left by the heavy brigade.
As the day draws to a close, the French cuirassier brigade marched forward to outflank the British right only to be blocked and then smashed by the Household cavalry regiment!
Well it was a great game and i'm sorry i didn't take more notes. We decided to call it a day after six hours of battling and i claimed a small French victory (it's my blog after all ;).
lessons learnt
1. Do not brigade your elite cavalry with a troop of rockets!
2. Do not park your chasseurs a cheval in front of a British line
3. If the enemies elite guard cavalry flees in the first turn DO NOT feel bad about, just laugh and mock until your ribs hurt. Then go on to smash the rest of their army without quarter! otherwise it will come back to bite you in the butt (see last pic).
We are now hoping to do a campaign, so i best paint some of my own figures steadily climbing the mountain as all these figures you see in the pictures are from Johns collection.
My initial plan is for Deroys 3rd Division in the VII Corps in the 1809 Danube campaign. This unit consisted of the 5th, 9th, 10th, and 14th Infantry Regiments, the 5th and 7th Light Battalions, the Taxis Dragoons and Bubenhoven Chevau-légers, and 18 pieces of artillery. So 8 line and 2 light battalions, 2 cavalry regiments and 3 batteries of artillery. So a pretty well formed wargames army in its own right. and what with the very colourful units in the 3rd it should look great on the table top.
The battle for the town heats up with the French taking mounting casualties form musketry and artillery fire whilst the 95th rifles take the buildings.
In the centre the French chasseurs supporting the main infantry brigade, begin to get whittled down by accurate musketry from the British lines. 
