Napoleonics: British v. French take 2

Renfrey has arrived home from England for the summer & came round for Saturday afternoon game.  I took the easy option of redoing last Tuesday's scenario.  Renfrey has the brits & Jim again the French.

The French (far side) deployed much as they did last time, in a huddle with the cavalry behind the infantry.  The brits have rested their left on the farm & put all their cavalry on their right. 

The brits begin a general advance with their infantry.  The French have sent 4 cavalry regs to their left to face the same number of British cavalry & 2 cavalry regiments to their right.  They have advanced their right flank infantry a little but held their left back out of range of the British artillery,

On the far flank the French cavalry is still deploying. On the near flank the British rifles have formed square faced with 2 hussar regs.  the French infantry have carefully adjusted their deployment into lines with artillery support to meet the British advance.

With French cavalry threatening their left flank, the British infantry bravely charged the French infantry all along the line.  The French guns were over-run, but they took a toll first & 2 British battalions were broken by French musktry.  With 2 battalions pinned down by the hussars the Brits had no reserves to plug the gaps which the French infantry moved thru to exploit their success. 
The hussars have now charged a square shaken by artillery fire.
On the far flank the French cavalry were content to let their infantry do the work, but the British cavalry have taken the initiative & charged.

While one hussar reg keeps the rifles in square for artillery to pound them, the other one has broken the shaken square & swept across the British rear.  The British infantry is now below half strength flanked & doomed.  The British cavalry is however beating the French cavalry on the far flank.  The French cavalry division is about to break, but it's too late for the British cavalry to save the day. 

The French plan was similar to last time & this time it worked, due to better attention to detail in the infantry deployment to ensure the French line wasn't overlapped, plus a better deal from the dice gods for their artillery.

Napoleonics: French v. British

 After a break in proceedings due to an expedition to Nepal, Camp Cromwell re-convened again tonight.  But due to Covid, car troubles & other circs only Mike & Jim were able to attend.

It was decided that it was about time we gave Mike's Brits a run. 
He is deployed on the far (right) side of the table.  Jim's French are on the near (left) side.
The Brits have deployed their two infantry divisions either side of a gap in the middle with all their cavalry on their left flank.
the French have deployed in a solid block, infantry in front, cavalry behind.
The Brits have more & better infantry, the French have more artillery & cavalry.

The Brits got first move & immediately advanced their cavalry while making small adjustments to their infantry.  The French are redeploying their cavalry to their right, advancing their right flank infantry & deploying their left defensively.

The French cavalry have attacked the British cavalry.
The French infantry advance has been halted & the the troops deploy into a defensive line as the British infantry advance to meet them.

The French are getting the better of the cavalry fight & have turned some cavalry to support their infantry which is being pounded by superior British musketry.  The French artillery is well deployed to support their infantry, but at this stage the dice gods are favouring the Brown Bess over French cannon balls.

The British cavalry is reduced to half strength & looks doomed.  Some of the British infantry has been forced into square to take some pressure off the French infantry.  The French artillery should be pounding the square, but continues to fail to hit while the Brown Bess' 6's keep on coming.  

The British cavalry have finally been put down, but they took 3 French cavalry units with them, leaving only 3 to support the hard pressed infantry.   
On the far flank the highlanders & rifles have finally made an advance on the French left.

The French infantry is in a bad state, but the British line has a weak point with the line beside the square now being shaken, providing an opportunity for the cavalry to save the day. Dragoons charged the shaken line.  Hussars supported them behind & the other dragoon unit attacked the square to cover their right flank.  The attack on the shaken line succeeded, making  a gap in the line, but the attack on the square was met with a hail of 6's & that unit was broken.   This left the French cavalry division below half strength, thus it was shaken & unable to continue their advance.

With that, the French had no option but to order a retreat before the British musketry destroyed them.  The British had no cavalry left to dispute this, providing some scope for the Paris Bulletin to describe a successful hit & run attack on a superior British force resulting in the destruction of the British cavalry.  The Times will have a different view.