10mm, Franco-Prussian War again this time the Prussians, outnumbered, had to defend a town and two small fortresses agains the French Guard corps and another division. We used/tested my new rules "Second Empire" for that. Bart was with Gordon and Alisdair on the French side and me Andrew and Tim were fighting for Prussians Glory! The collection of miniatures (Pendraken) was mine.
The scenario was impossible to win for the Frenchies simply because of the time restraints, but they came pretty close. The 3rd corp was sitting on a road / and a small town surrounded by hills with a few fortresses, that needed to be cleard for the retreating French army. The Guard corp just got half a corps as auxilliaries to do the task! Allez!
The advance was a bit slow (NOTE: and I really should think of introducing multiple moves!! including faster moves for skirmisher!). Gordon and Bart Came down from the left with heavy artillery and loads of infantry, while Andrew, in charge of the Prussian cavalry division, and Tim in charge as CinC and commander of the hill fortress and the other division faced the cavalry of the guard of Alisdair and the cavalry reserve on our right flank.
First we peppered them with some gun shots, but my dicing was abysmal. Then Alisdair invoked THE cavalry battle which turned into a major slaughter on the right flank, but Tim in exchange for the complete division of cavalry held the line (NOTE: to upgrade the cavalry a tiny bit, they were fragile, but no eggshells either!).
Then finally Bart centre attack was coming down, his troops stayed outside the needle gun range and raked my lines. The most devastating effect had the conservative flanking attack from Gordon, he just annihilated my left and the gate for occupying the left fortress and the small town would be achievable in the next three turns. BUT thanks to the time out, that did not happened.
49 Prussian bases vs 38 French bases "killed" speaks a clear message, the moral victory definitively belongs to Napoleon III! Congratulations, Bart, Gordon and Alisdair!
I have to tinker a bit again with the rules for the next time, but it goes smoother everytime...
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| The initial set up |
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| Alisdairs Imperial Horse Guard |
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| The Prussian centre |
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| My left flank looks thin already |
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| The French commanders, Gordon, Bart and Mad Alisdair! |
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| We got to the road and the order to defend it |
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| All quiet on the hill |
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| The French are coming! |
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| On the right ... |
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| and in the centre... |
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| slowy they come nearer and the shooting starts ... |
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| unfortunenately out of range of my needle guns |
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| BUT in range of the chassepots ... |
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| The town defended by Krupp guns ... that did not hit this time ... |
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| The Prussians are going prone! |
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| The French left flank crosses the (minor) river ... |
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| Leve en masse! |
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| The attack begins and my Prussians start melting away ... |
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| my few guns are silenced ... |
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| and complete regiments are wiped out ... |
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| The attack on the centre town only begins ... |
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| Less and less Prussians on the map... |
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| On the right the cavalry clashes! |
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| A massacre the casualties are running high! |
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| The left Prussian flank ceased to exist... |
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| But the centre and right hold ... |
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| 49 Prussian losses |
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| 38 French losses |
