Saturday, October 29, 2022

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.

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