GdA2 - Russians attack Austrians and give them a damned good Paggering (but lose the game)

The attacking Russian (Robin and Guy) force broke several Austrian (Jeremy and Adrian) infantry battalions and cavalry regiments through judicious use of artillery, musket fire, and charges.

BUT the Russians failed to take the two key objectives before the night came to a close, and so the Austrians won the game...damn their eyes....

**STOP PRESS** GdA2 French cavalry force Russian withdrawal and win the day

This GdA2 game was fought as part of the Battle of *******. The French had to attack the Russians across a valley with a stream running laterally across the centre of the table between the two opposing armies.

The Russians (Robin) occupied a village on their right wing, and being the defenders, had built an artillery redoubt to cover their left wing, allowing them to concentrate their infantry and other artillery on their centre and right. The Russian cavalry reserve was held back behind the artillery redoubt.

Opposing them, on a slight ridge, the French (Norman & Guy) infantry and artillery maintained their distance, as advancing and crossing the stream (rough terrain) under infantry and artillery fire would have been suicidal.

However, with the Russian left wing being free of troops, the French quickly sent their cavalry across the stream within the lee of a wood, and out of the direct line of fire of the Russian artillery in the redoubt.

The Russians committed their cavalry reserve to try and stop the French cavalry moving towards their left flank and potentially getting behind the redoubt. 

French quality (and good gameplay by Norman) meant that the Russian cavalry were charged and a retreat move forced on them. The French cavalry continued to advance forwards, and the Russian artillery in the redoubt failed to make any impression. 

The French cavalry were approaching the flank of the redoubt when the Russian cavalry charged again, and failed again, once more heading back along their rear line in retreat.

Now a Russian infantry column moved swiftly into position to cover the flank of the redoubt. When the French cavalry charged, the Russian column failed it's test to move into square, went disordered, and was hit and destroyed by the French cavalry. 

Now the French cavalry were able to charge the Russian artillery within the redoubt, and the Russian artillery was destroyed. 

One last attempt was made by the severely weakened Russian cavalry to halt the French cavalry attack, and this time they lost big and dispersed off the table.

The French infantry in the centre were starting to move towards the stream unopposed as the main threat from Russian artillery fire had been mostly silenced, which would have allowed them to consolidate the cavalry gains.

The game ended at this point with a resounding French victory and the Russian infantry opting to evacuate the village and leave the field.

Well played by Norman, and big thanks to Robin for organising the game and helping us through the new 'faster-play' GdA2 rules.

At this point the French cavalry have already imposed one retreat on the Russians

The French and Russian cavalry lining up for Round 2, another retreat for the Russians

Now the French cavalry charge the Russian infantry column, which failed to form square

The French cavalry annihilate the disordered Russian column

The Russian artillery in their redoubt left with no defence

The Russian artillery is destroyed

One final attempt made by the Russian cavalry to halt the French advance, but to no avail.

Victory to the French.

15mm GdA Napoleonic French & Prussians versus Russians battle

The French army complete with Prussian allies fought against the Russians in a bloody battle that saw much charging and slaughter, along with some frustrating inertia.

The French (Stevie) occupied a church and churchyard (one of the two battle objectives) and managed to fight off a sustained attack by multiple Russian (Martin and Robin) battalions, whilst at the same time using their artillery to force one central Russian cavalry regiment to approach dispersal level and retreat to hide in a wood behind their own lines for the rest of the battle.

Next to the church saw another sustained Russian attack, this time their cavalry against French dragoons, who showed their quality and fought off no less than three Russian charges. impressive stuff. 

Things weren't quite so hot in the centre, with two brigades of Russian cavalry moving forward, only to move back to their own lines due to French artillery fire. The Prussians (Guy) 'cossack cavalry' reserve moved onto the table into the centre after a few moves, and shielded the left-flank Prussian infantry slow advance from Russian cavalry interference, although one battalion of Prussian Landwehr was eventually shot into dispersal. These two mounted forces didn't see any actual fighting, just a lot of sabre-rattling.

On the Prussian flank the major infantry advance (of two brigades) failed to make much progress due to continued hesitancy throws (despite having extra 'brigade' cards played), but eventually managed to get into some open woods and force the lead Russian infantry battalion backwards. 

What could have been an interesting battle within a battle ran out of time, as did the Prussian 'all-arms attack' on the second agreed objective of a small village, again due to hesitancy throws.

A few more turns and maybe a more decisive outcome could have been achieved, and although both sides retained their objectives, the French and Prussians had the better of the combats on both flanks. A great game and lots of laughs to boot.

15mm GdA - The French retreat from Waterloo through Genappe, pursued by the Prussians

Robin organised a 15mm General d'Armee scenario game based on the French retreat from Waterloo. This took them through the village of Genappe and over the 'bottleneck' bridge at the rear of the village.

In this scenario three battalions of Young Guard (Napoleon's unused reserve) plus a cavalry brigade were used to delay the pursuing Prussian cavalry, light infantry, and a British heavy cavalry brigade.

A very good game with some awful dice-throwing (and a couple of schoolboy errors) which meant the French were handed a marginal victory having successfully marched seven of the required eleven battalions over the bridge, with the Prussian light infantry hot on their heels. Lots of laughs, and thanks to Robin for umpiring as well.                                           

                    

                         The French stream towards Genappe in the distance

                           The Young Guard and some cavalry act as a speed bump

                           The massed Prussian cavalry in hot pursuit

                             Getting closer

                            French battalions crossing the bridge to safety

                       Prussian light infantry getting in behind the retreating French

**STOP PRESS** British blitz the French away from Hill of Arinez - GdA 15mm

 A scenario game, based on part of the Battle of Vitoria, Peninsula War 1813.

The French army were deployed and set-up to to defend the village and hill of Arinez, complete with cavalry reinforcements should they be needed.

French were Adrian, Steve K, and Bob, British were Robin, Norman and Guy.

The British moved forward quickly with infantry on the two flanks, and an artillery battery in the centre.

The British strategy was to advance quickly with the heavier force up the British right, push back the French, and then turn into the village and capture it, before moving on to the actual hill of Arinez.

Norman's infantry stormed forwards and quickly made contact with Bob's French left, using skirmishers, artillery and volley fire to force the French back, including a number of well-timed charges. This eventually meant the French lost two brigades.

Robin's smaller artillery and infantry centre, backed-up with some reserve cavalry, had slightly less initial success, but eventually forced Ade's French brigade to leave the table, and as the sun started to set, occupied the village after a short battle with the French occupiers.

Robin also saw-off the French cavalry.

On the British left, Guy's two brigades of veteran light battalions and 95th advanced through trees to the edge of the Hill of Arinez, and then up the rough slope to commence skirmisher and volley fire against Steve and Ade's defending infantry and artillery. Accurate and concentrated fire meant the British destroyed the French artillery batteries and all their skirmishers, and were preparing for the final infantry assault as the game ended.

The British won the game, having achieved three 'sauve qui peut' results and occupied the village of Arinez.

Thanks to Robin and Ade for organising the game, Steve K for his baking, and the rest of us for bringing along food. Lots of laughs and a great fun game.

Robin's battalion takes the village of Arinez

The British veteran light battalions inflict damage on the French skirmishers and artillery on the Hill of Arinez

Normans infantry brigades rush the Bob's French in the distance, while Robin's brigades prepare to face a French cavalry charge in the centre.

Steve's central brigade defends the village of Arinez

Norman's brigades get stuck into Bob's French.

Adrian and Steve's defenders on the Hill of Arinez await the British advance

The British light veteran battalions climbing the rough slope of the Hill of Arinez

The village of Arinez early in the game when all was quiet

Norman's forced march approaches Bob's French defenders

Yet another shot of Norman's battalions

Napoleonic Peninsula battle - French vs British

 ***STOP PRESS***STOP PRESS***

Players: Robin, Ray. Pete, and Adrian, Guy.

The French suffered a resounding defeat as they attempted to chase the British out of Spain.

The battlefield had a stream running up the centre, with a tributary (both of which had parts 'good going' and parts 'rough going', and a castille (chateau) where a bridge crossed the larger stream, somewhere approximately in the centre.

The French army was numerous, having a majority of line and recruit infantry across three brigades, four artillery batteries, and two cavalry brigades. Their main deployment was to the east of the stream, with two infantry brigades aimed at the castille area, and one infantry brigade to the west of the stream. The French cavalry also deployed well to the east, using the open ground to make quick progress around behind the castille.

The single French infantry brigade to the west of the stream set up a defensive position, placing their heavy battery on a hill to fire over their own troops.

The British deployment was entirely to the west of the stream. 

A brigade of KGL infantry quickly occupied the castille and set up a defensive position to the rear with artillery and a single square of infantry to face the massed French cavalry. A small Guards infantry brigade of two battalions reinforced this position, also setting up in squares behind the castille. 

Meanwhile the remaining larger British infantry brigade moved forward to the west of the castille to face the defending French infantry brigade, also sending two regiments of British cavalry around to attack this same position from the flank.

The battle in summary:

• One French infantry brigade attacked the castille and was rebuffed, going into retreat. The second French infantry brigade didn't reach the front-line.
• The French cavalry, having made quick progress around behind the castille, charged over the stream at the British flank, but were shot into retreat by determined British artillery and the three staunch squares.
• The defensive French infantry brigade, heavily outnumbered it has to be said, had two battalions shot into dispersal, and although they rebuffed an initial British cavalry charge, succumbed to the second charge when a battalion in column failed to get into square, became unformed and was ridden down. The brigade effectively ceased to exist.

The battle was over, and a famous British victory was had (and a good job the victors get to write the battle report 😁). Tally-Ho.

In fairness to Robin, he had two inexperienced GdA players on the French side.

Robin's painting progress

Here is half of my 15mm Russian Napoleonic Dragoons. Consists of 2 troopers, a standard bearer, 3 trumpeters and 3 officers.

The other 9 troopers are waiting a final coat of vanish which I'll do when the Command figures are complete.

This is the first of two Russian Dragoon regiments. This will give me another Cavalry Brigade option for the "General d'Armee" Napoleonic rule set.

Kind regards,

Robin

Force 10 from Navarone

Our demo at RECON 2011 was a WW2 Skirmish game loosely based on Alistair McLean’s book Force 10 from Navarone. The rule set we used was “Operation Squad,” which we’ve found to be a very good set of WW2 skirmish rules with some additional house rules. The Demo was split into four scenarios

Scene 1 - The Air Drop

Scene 2 - Rescue 1

Scene 3 - Rescue 2

Scene 4 - The assault on the dam.

Scene 1 - The Air drop

The Landing zone

Force 10 Parachuted in at night into the drop zone which has both Partisans and Chetniks.

To simulate the vision at night we used a d6, upon a 1 to 3 no moon = 40cm visability, 4 or 5 Moon but obscured by cloud = 60 cm and on a 6 Full moon = 80 cm, also a further 20 cm in each case there was a possibility of spotting.

The land zone was the field in the above picture. To simulate the Force 10's parachute jumps we roll a d6 for wind strength from light to strong, to determine how many additional dice to throw for wind strength, and a directional dice for wind direction. The result was a light wind blowing from bottom right to top left across the above picture. 

Force 10 Lands

Rolling Deviation dice + a D6 for initial deviation from drop-zone + x D6's for additional deviation caused by wind strength and direction. Resulted in the landing (right).

Partisans or Chetniks?

The next problem was to determine which were the Partisans. With 4 members go off to meet one group going to meet one group and Mallory and Miller being intercept by the actual Partisans. Thus the Chetniks capture 4 of the 6 man Force 10 team.

Scene 2 - Rescue 1

Mallory and Miller escape the Chetniks by linking up with the Partisans

Blockhouse and surrounding terrain

Mallory learns that the Germans hold the rest of his team. So with the aid of the Partisans he decides to mounts a daring daytime rescue to release his captured team Agents.

The blockhouse

The blockhouse is guard by Germans.

Mallory and Miller plus 4 Partisans approached the blockhouse down the right of the ridge. After a brief firefight at close range Mallory and team overcome the German guards. How ever one cowardly German executes two of the team whilst locked up.

Scene 3 - Rescue 2

Captain Droshny

Captain Droshny (right) discover two more British Agents in his camp Maria and Blind Pete (see below).

Maria and Blind Pete

Incarcerating them in the blockhouse he leaves to look for the remnants of Force 10. 

Meanwhile, Mallory learns that Maria and Blind Pete have been captured and decides to mount another daring rescue. This occurs in late afternoon. 

Hauptmann Neufeld and Sgt Bauer

At the same time the  Chetniks led by Captain Droshny and accompanied by Hauptmann Neufeld and Sergeant Bauer (right) are returning. 

As both squad approach the blockhouse down either side of the ridge. The Chetniks moving slower as the are examining the area for any clues of Force 10's whereabouts. Who’ll get there first and will Mallory and his team be successful?

Rescued

Again there are some Germans guarding the blockhouse. The Germans open fire on Mallory's approaching group even though they've tried to imply they prisoners. After the last scenes debacle the Germans are more cautious. However again after a brief firefight Mallory rescue Maria and Blind Pete. Fleeing from the returning Chetniks. 

Scene 4 - Assault the Dam

The Dam

Close up of dam.

Mallory and the remainder of his team with Maria as their guide along with Blind Pete make a night time assault on the Dam. Chased by Dronshny ’s Chetniks and Neufeld’s Germans. Not forgetting the Germans guarding the Dam! 

Can Mallory and company succeed? 

We didn't find out as time ran out!