The French with their Saxon allies decided to stand their ground after occupying a village and a farm and the land inbetween to face the British and Prussians from a position of strength. Dense woods effectively split the army in two, but with plenty of space behind to join each other if the attacking Anglo-Prussian force focussed the point of attack on one or the other.
The French guard brigade deployed to their left and the less-prestigious Saxons to the right. The British infantry with a battalion of Portugese faced the guard, and advanced quickly, expecting the French to remain entrenched with their three-gun battery in support. As usual, the French defied expectations by advancing in three flying columns to meet the British, and after some swift skirmisher interchanges, all three columns charged at the British, deployed in line. Only the central guard battalion passed the test to charge, the other two being shot into retreat by the disciplined British volleys of musketry. The lone column charged home and and sent the British battalion backwards into retreat, from which it subsequently rallied. Testing for friends retreating then forced a morale check on the spearhead French guard unit, which, having taken significant musket fire, then broke and routed to cries of 'La Guarde Recule !'.
On the other side of the battlefield the four battalions of Saxons with a three gun battery and a small unit of cuiassiers in support faced the massed Prussian cavalry. After some manoeuvering on both sides which included the lead Prussian hussar unit being forced to retreat through skirmish fire, the leading Prussian units charged at the Saxons, the lancers getting home against the Saxon artillery without taking any casualties as the battery was low on ammo, and the Cuirassiers and an attached unit of Cossacks crunching into the lead Saxon infantry battalion, which managed to form square before the charge hit home. The unfortunate Saxon artillery battery were wiped-out to a man, but the subsequent pursuit test forced the lancers (fortunately as it later became obvious) to retire to their lines and re-form. The cuirassiers and cossacks won their melee, but not by enough to break the staunch Saxon square (second line at that !). Although they inflicted six casualties on the Saxons, the cavalry bounced-off and also retired to their line to re-form. The Prussians decided to keep up the pressure and sent in a smaller unit of heavy Dragoons against the Saxon square, but this lost the melee and also retired to re-form.
The consensus at the end of the night was for an Anglo-Prussian victory as all three French guard battalions were either retreating or routing.
Another really great game for all concerned, a lot of fun, and with quite a few double-sixes and double-ones to spice things up.
Words: Guy
Photos: Ian
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