7 Years War

French (SteveD, Dave & Chris) v. British (Jim, Mike & Mark): 

A generic scenario:
Both sides had 3 infantry divisions of 4 units, 1 elite battalion, 2 guns, a hussar brigade of 2, a dragoon division of 4 & a heavy cavalry division of 4.
The French initially hold the town with 2 infantry divisions & artillery. The remainder of their force can come on their rear table edge after turn 3 at locations secretly nominate at the start.  The British then deployed up to 12" in from their table edge. 

The French deployed a division & their artillery in the village with another infantry div & their hussars in reserve behind it.
The British deployed their heavy cavalry, dragoons & artillery on their right, their hussars on their left & infantry in the centre.  They started a general advance thought their right flank infantry was late getting started.

The French have moved their reserve infantry up into the village as the Brits advance.

The British infantry are concentrating their attack on the far end of the village while engaging the near side with musketry & artillery.  The French Hussars have attacked the left of the British cavalry advance as the remainder of the French cavalry come onto the table in front of the them.  The reserve French infantry have come on down the road. 

The French won the cavalry fight decisively.  The surviving British dragoons have retreated, followed up by French dragoons.  But the French decline to press on when the British artillery is deployed in support of their dragoons.  The British hussars have crossed the creek in French rear causing some of the French infantry to turn to face them.

The French heavy cavalry & hussars are redeploying to their right to counter the British hussars. The British infantry are gradually pushing the French out of the village.

The British hussars held off the first attack by the French heavy cavalry, but have retreated over the creek.  The French grenadiers drove the Brits off the bridge, but one French infantry division has broken & the other two are on the verge of it.  The French decide to use their cavalry victory to cover the retreat their retreat & concede the battle.

The British lost the cavalry fight, but their cavalry still made a major contribution to their victory as they succeeded in their task of preventing the French cavalry interfering with the infantry attack on the village & delaying some of the French infantry reserve.  

 



  

Castalla 1813

 Suchet's corps v. Murray's British & Spanish

French (Jim):
3 infantry divisions of 4 line, 1 light, 1 gun + 3 cavalry brigades (2 hussars, 2 Dragoons, 2 Cuirasiers).
All regular.

British (SteveD): 6 infantry, 2 light dragoons & 1 gun. Veteran infantry, Regular cavalry & artilllery.
Spanish (Chris): 8 infantry, 2 light cavalry & 2 guns.  All Inexperienced.

The French started in road columnn.
The Spanish deployed with only the visible troops on the ridge line running the length of the table to the left of the town of Castalla.

Most of the French continued down the road while the rear division turned left & advanced towards the ridge.

The French have now deployed facing the ridge & are sending skirmishers forward to mask the visible
guns on the ridge.

The French right has gained the ridge & found that they outflanked the allied army.  Their centre has attacked the Spanish on the ridge.  Their left has seen British on the ridge in front of them & have been held back. 

The French infantry on their right  flank has inexplicably slowed their advance (bad command dice).  Suchet has galloped across to stir them up while the French heavy cavalry charged the Spanish left flank. The French centre has mostly cleared the Spanish off the ridge, but the redeployed into line rather than continue against the British veterans.  

The Spanish left has collapsed leaving the British left exposed.  The Brits tried to attack their way out of trouble.  On the far flank the British cavalry had attacked the French hussars, but lucked out. In the centre, the French on the ridge held the line & the British line was enveloped.  The allies concede the battle.  

 

Almondacid 1809

While Wellington is in ignominious retreat from Talavera Venagas' Spanish army on his left flank was attacked by Sebasitiani's corps.  Venagas' army has a good position on a ridge to defend & outnumbers the French by 30%, but is, well ... Spanish.  In our rules the French army is all Regular while the Spanish army is all Inexperienced & its units also break if shaken. The Spanish army will count it as a win if they hold until nightfall (10pm on the table) without breaking.
Spanish: Jim & Chris.
French: Mark & Mike.

The Spanish deployed first & are on the left.  They have 5 infantry divisions of 4 units & a battery plus 2 cavalry divisions of 4 units.
The French have 3 infantry divisions of 4 line, 1 legere & 1 battery & 2 cavalry divisions.

The French are attacking on their right.  As French cavalry advances around their flank, the Spanish infantry in reserve behind their left is deploying into a line of squares & the cavalry reserve ihas turned to move left in support.

The French cavalry trying to sweep around the Spanish left have been met by the Spanish horse from their reserve.  The left of the Spanish infantry line has been broken by the French columns.  Venagas is redeploying his second line on his centre & right to make a second line of defense on his left.

After losing a unit in the first clash the Spanish cavalry were ordered to fall back.  The Spanish infantry redeployment is proceeding slowly, but the French have given them a bit more time by choosing to go into line & finish off the Spanish left with musket fire. Venagas has felt the need for a dark ale.

The Spanish left is slowly disintegrating as the Spanish play for time, even being accused of spilling beer as a delaying tactic.

The French cavalry have renewed their attack on the Spanish left.  On the other flank, the French cavalry have now also advanced & the Spanish infantry on the ridge have formed squares on the reverse slope.  The spilt beer seems to have fortified the Spanish reserves who have finally sorted themselves into a neat defensive line. 

As nightfall approaches the Spanish cavalry on the left has beaten off the French cavalry & their infantry has withdrawn out of charge range.

With the 10pm deadline approaching the French have time for one move to break the Spanish before dark.  The Spanish tactical withdrawal has put their foot out of charge range.  French fire broke the overlapped square on the ridge, but that was not enough to break another infantry division.  Sebastiani's last chance was his cavalry on his right.  The Spanish cavalry managed to tie the combat, but their casualty made their unit shaken & the break if shaken if Spanish rule broke the unit, & the cavalry division, & the army at 9.59pm to give the French victory.

 

Flodden-ish

The scenario is based on Flodden 1513, but known details of the battle are so sketchy a simulation is really guesswork.  The basic situation is that the Scots with an army mainly of pikes & highlanders were on a hill.  The English had an army of mostly bows & bills & better cavalry & artillery.  Jim & Chris commanded the English, Mike & Mark the Scotts.

The Scots are on the far side of the table with pikes on each flank, bows in front of highlanders in the centre & cavalry in central reserve.  The English are advancing their bows & artillery with the bills in support & their cavalry as a central reserve.

After the English deployed their artillery the Scots retired onto the plateau behind the crest robbing them of targets.  The Scots also used hidden movement to send their cavalry to their left, only now coming into sight of the English.  The English are moving their archers to the left & right opening up a gap in the centre intending to attack there with their cavalry.

The English have abandoned their plan to attack the Scots centre  with cavalry & are moving their cavalry to take on the much weaker Scottish horse.  The English have extended their left with bowmen leaving bills in their centre in front of the guns. 

The Scottish mounted infantry have dismounted & their cavalry deployed to face the English horse.  On the far flank the Scottish pikes have advanced on the English bowmen. The bowmen withdrew, but a poor command throw made them retire further than intended.  In the centre, the Scottish bowmen also advanced to fire on the English billmen.  The billmen successfully executed a fall back manoeuvre to allow their artillery to fire.  

On the near flank it is clear that the Scottish horse is no match for the heavier English.  But the Scotts are now making a general advance on the English foot while the English cavalry is distracted & far away

On the near flank the Scottish horse is broken & the English horse as formed a column obviously intending to attack the Scottish rear.  The Scotts downhill attack on the English right had some initial success, with 2 English bow units broken, but the bowmen took a few with them & the bilmen behind are fresh.  On the far flank the English bows & artillery are hurting the Scotts who are having command problems with that division (their CIC being in the centre).

The billmen on the English right have stemmed the tide  & are now pushing the Scots back.  The Scottish attack on the far flank is faltering under the English firepower.

On the far flank the Scotts have finally got to grips with the English, but the English line has held.  On the near flank, the English cavalry is still manoeuvring around the wood.  But in the centre, the counterattack by the English billmen has broken the centre Scotts division & the Scottish army then fails its break test giving the English victory.

The rules we are using are our all-period house rules which have had a bit of rejig recently with some fine tuning in the medieval & renaissance periods to make it even easier to play.  This battle took us only 1 3/4 hours to fight & was a very enjoyable battle for all.  The Scotts made some cunning moves early in the battle, but the English modified their plan accordingly & turned it around.  

 
 

Bosworth 1465

Richard & the Yorks: Chris & Mark
Henry Tudor & the Lancastrians: Mike & Gary
Umpire & Stanley: Jim

Henry Tudor's army is marching onto the field from the far corner.
Norfolk's battle is deployed on the ridge.
Stanley's battle is in the right hand corner.
Richard's cavalry & Northumberland's battle is out of sight of Henry behind Norfolk.

Henry's army is deploying at the foot of the ridge.
Norfolk has advanced down the slope into bow range.
Richard's cavalry has appeared on Norfolk's right & Northumberland's battle on his left.

Henry's right has charged the Yorkist bowmen while his left forms up to face Richard's cavalry.

Henry's attack on Richard's left shuddered to a halt in the face a shower of hot dice from Chris.  Northumberland failed to obey Richards order to counterattack, but his bowmen sent Henry's billmen packing with a shower of 6's anyway. 

After a remarkable run of bad dice the Lancastrian infantry broke off their attack as Richard's cavalry pushed back Henry's on their flank.
Seeing the Lancastrians retiring, Stanley began an advance.  Richard prudently held back a cavalry unit to cover his flank, but the measure was rendered unnecessary by the general Lancastrian retreat.  All Stanley's doubts regarding Richard's claim to the throne evaporated the moment he saw Henry's cavalry break & he no intention of trying to pull Henry's arse out of the fire on his own.

With the Lancastrians in full retreat, Northumberland's battle also came to life & joined in the general pursuit.

The scenario had Richard's army significantly bigger than Henry's but had secret rules that Stanley & Northumberland would not do anything much until they could see who was going to win.  Thus Northumberland's battle halted on the crest & refused to move further while Norfolk & Richard slugged it out with Henry at the foot of the hill.  It should not have been as one-sided as it was, but in this battle the dice gods were firmly in the side of Richard.  

Medieval

 Jim & Gary of York v. Mike & Chris of Lancaster

The Yorks are in the foreground.  They have placed their cavalry in the centre with a division of spears & bows on their left guessing that the Lancs would mass their superior numbers of cavalry on their right.

On their left the Yorks have deployed their spearmen to face the Lancs cavalry with bow men in the orchard to fire at the enemy's flank.  On the right 2 divisions of York infantry have advanced with their cavalry kept in reserve.

On the left the Yorks spearmen are holding off the enemy knights.  On the right the Yorks withdrew their bowmen after a short exchange of arrows & attacked with their billmen.  The infantry are holding their own on the right, but not so good on their left. Half the York cavalry have been sent suport the infantry in the centre. 

Mitzi inspects the troops.

The Yorks spearmen are still holding off the knights, but sergeants are working around their flank.  The Yorls cavalry attack in the centre have a bad case of the dice yips & has failed to break thru.  The infantry continue to slug it our on the right.

On the left some York cavalry covered the spearmen's flank & the Lancs knights have broken.   On the right, the Yorks centre infantry div has broken & their cavalry has been destroyed.  But the Lancs left flank infantry has also broken.  The Lancs have lost 2 divisions, York only , but their cavalry is trouble.

On the left, the Lancs sergeants broke the York cavalry, but then fell back n the face of the York spearmen with bows on their flank.  The Yorks began moving to support their right, but the sergents returned to pin them down.  On the right, the York's other remaining infantry division is falling back , outnumbered by the Lanc's centre infantry div. At this stage time was called, the battle a draw with both sides blaming bad luck for their failure to win.  

The Lancs knights were unlucky against the York spearmen, but their infantry did threw very good dice in the centre beating the Yorks best infantry & half their cavaly, and several times bad command dice prevented the Yorks from exploiting opportunities.

 

Tank War

 Jim's Panzers v. Chris' Brits on 10'x6' table. Deployment in turn 0 up to 24" in.

Pics from behind German right flank.  Both sides put their 2 infantry squads in the centre.  The Germans concentrated their armour on the right with only a Pak 38 covering their left.

The Pak 38 drew 1st blood taking out the Sherman on the far flank.  In the centre the Germans have got to the objective on the bridge first.  On the near flank both sides have lost 1 tank, but the Germans have seized the objective on the hill.

The Pak is being suppressed by the 25 pdr & Honey, but still lives.  The infantry is exchanging ineffective fire in the farm.  The MkIVs are getting on top on the right.

The Honey has finally killed off the Pak crew & the German infantry are pinned down by the 25pdr & infantry, but a swarm of Panzer IVs is coming.

The British cannot stop the wave of Panzers.  By game's end only the British 25pdr on the far flank survives & the Germans have 3 objectives to 1 having lost just 1 MkIII & their Pak. 

Pike & Shot: The Empire v. the Swedes

 Swedes Mark & Chris v. Imperialists Mike & Jim

The Empire is on the near side of the table.  The Swedes are veterans & have a higher proportion of musketeers. The Empire's troops are regulars, but their pike, swordsmen & cavalry are more heavily armoured than the Swedes.   The Swedes put most of their cavalry on their right & are advancing that flank.  The Empire strengthened their right with their Landsknecht swordsmen brigade & are advancing on that flank.

On the far flank the outnumbered Imperial horse are so far holding on against the larger Swedish cavalry brigade.  Left of centre, the Swedes are using their superior nos of musketeers to soften up the Imperial tercios. On the right, Imperial cavalry have ridden down the Swedish gunners but are contained

On the left the Imperial foot is attacking while the cavalry of both sides have regrouped.  On the right one of the Imperial tercios has broken thru on the left of the cavalry.

On the near flank, the Swede's left has done well near the creek, but their left flank is crumbling & on the verge of breaking.

On the far flank it is the Empire that is hanging on desperately against superior nos of cavalry & shot.

On the far flank, the Imperial cavalry has been broken & the Imperial Infantry on the verge of doing so. But on the near flank, the hedgehog on the Swede's flank has been surrounded by Landsknechts & is broken.  With it, the whole Swedish left wing is below half strength & breaks giving the Empire victory.