Hail Napoleon: French v. Austrians & Russians

The scenario started with a Russian infantry division & cavalry division facing 2 French infantry divisions.  The Russians had an Austrian infantry division & an Austrian cavalry division coming.  The French also had an infantry & a cavalry division coming. 
The place where the reinforcements were coming on was decided by lot & known only to their own side.  The time of arrival of each at the table edge was decided by dicing at the end of each turn after turn 1.
The command ratings of the forces are: French 9, Austrians 8, Russians 7 (8 if charging).
Players: Russian foot: Chris. Austrian foot: Mike.  Allied cavalry: newbie JohnS. 
French cavalry: SteveJ. French centre: Mitch. French left: Mark.  Umpire: Jim.
Rules: Hail Napoleon = house ruled Hail Caesar.

 The Russians are on the right.  The French began with an advance on the their left.

The French softened up the end of the Russian line with skirmishers while waiting for their reserves.  Their infnatry came on behind their left, their caavlry on their right.
The Austian cavalry came on the near end of the table, their infantry behind the Russians. 

With their reserves coming up behind the French attacked the Russian right flank.
The Austrian infantry are moving towards the French centre.

The Allies have been trying to attack with their cavalry, but poor command has slowed them down.

The French attack has stalled in the farmyard & the attack on the house beaten off.  The Austrian foot has gone into line in the centre.

The Austrian cavalry has finally attacked the french cavalry on the far flank & is doing well.
The French infantry attack in the farm yard stalled & that division has been withdrawn before the Russians could break it.  The French have mow attacked in the centre & are driving the Russians back there.

The French cavalry has been defeated, but the victorious Austrian cavalry is in no fit state to do much.  The Russian cavalry finally got a good command dice & charged French infantry in line.  They failed to get into square & were ridden down.

The Russian infantry get less dice than the French, but deduct 1 from their Break Test dice under our Stubborn rule.  The French columns pushed the Russians back in the centre but they failed to break them before their columns became shaken & unable to continue the attack. 
The Austrian attack left of centre has stalled due to heavy casualties from French fire.  

At this stage the French called a retreat.  Their attacks have run out of steam & Russian cavalry is behind their right flank. 

More Musket Action

Dave scored a leave pass to come & try out  Musket Action, bringing his 1,000 pt American force with him.   We fought a modified Bolt Action Key Positions scenario.There are 5 objectives - the 3 farm houses & the church, plus the ridge on the near left.

The Americans are on the far side.  American regulars in the centre.  French regulars on their left & woodsmen mostly marksmen or riflemen on both flanks.
The Brits have their regulars in the centre, Indians on the left & grenadiers, light infantry & Indians on their right.

The British plan was obvious enough - advance quickly, grab the church & hang on.

The British advance succeeded in taking the church but the line came under heavy converging fire from the Colonial regulars & their supporting artillery & skirmishers.  The grenadiers advanced to cover the right of the line infantry taking on the French threatening their flank.  On the other flank the Indians advanced to distract some of the colonial fire.

By the end of turn 6 the Brits held their original 2 farmhouses & the church so were in a winning position.  But in the wood on the right the Colonial light troops had swept the British light infantry & Indians away & had the last unit there - close to taking the farm on that flank.
The dice gave us a turn 7 & there was nothing the Brits could do to intercept the Colonial light infatry taking that objective & turning it into an American victory.
Dave used his Inspirational leader & his marksmen particularly well in his first game of Musket Action - demonstrating how easy it is to pick up for Bolt Action players.

Good Friday Musket Action: French & Indian Wars

Chris's French v. Marks's Brits
The forces are both 1350 pts & 15 units. 
BA Envelopment Scenario with some tweaks for large table.

The Brits are the attackers on the near side with Regular infantry on the their left, Colonial infantry in the centre,  Indians on their right & cavalry in reserve.
The French are defending with Canadian Militia on their right, Indians on their left & brought on regular infantry from reserve in the centre.  The cavalry from reserve was delayed but later came on their far left.

On the left British grenadiers have broken the Canadian line.  On the right the Indians of each side have had mixed fortunes. 

The British regulars have taken the farmyard.  One British cavalry unit charged the French line - it broke a front line coy, but their follow up charge on the 2nd line failed.  The other Brit cavalry was sent to the right to deal with the French hussars.

The battle ended as decisive British victory collecting VPs not only from getting units into the French deployment zone, but also destroying a lot more units than they lost.  The French erred in putting their best infantry in reserve.  The Canadians were no match for the Brit Regulars & the French regulars took too long to get into the action.  It was all over in about 2 hours so time for a couple of schooners at Knoppies.

Shenandoah 1862 Campaign Ends

The map below shows the campaign moves after the battle of Winchester.

After Winchester Banks & Shields retreated over the Potomac at Harpers Ferry hotly pursued by Ewell & Ashby.  The Rebs declined to charge over bridge under the Union guns but raided the arsenal for weapons & supplies.  Jackson's div rested up a day at Winchester collecting loot before striking east at Leesburg.
The Reb victory at Winchester had finally convinced Lincoln that McDowell & Fremont had to be sent to the valley to deal with him.  McDowell marched north from Manassas just failing to prevent Jackson taking Leesburg.  McDowell's 2nd division (Geary's) came up the next day & pursued Jackson back to the valley.  Jackson blew the bridge over the Shenadoah near Snickers Gap  & rested his battered division at the crossroad while Geary's engineers repaired the bridge, Ewell marched south from Harpers Ferry to join Jackson & Ashby's cavalry went to Winchester. 
After resting up a day after the battle, McDowell's div took over from Geary at the bridge while Geary marched south west to find another crossing over the Shenadoah.  He found the next one also blown & having left his engineers at Snickers didn't try to cross there & headed off towards the Manassas Gap (taking a long way round due to dense forest on the river bank).
Fremont marched his lead division from West Virginia to Winchester where he found Ashby - who conceded the town, but maintained a watch on Fremont.  Fremont moved west to New Town & was joined by his 2nd division.
After rest & reorganisation on the safe side of the Potomac, Shields' division was able to resume operations & follow Ewell on 1 June & Banks' div moved off towards Winchester on 2 June.
The Rebs turned left at the New Town-Front Royal crossroad towards Front Royal with Ashby's cavalry left as rear guard.
Union cavalry from all 3 Union commands converged on Ashby's rearguard to fight the last action of the campaign.

The road to Front Royal heads off the bottom left corner of the pic.
McDowell's cav has come cross county from the right foreground.
Fremont's cavalry is the column far left.
Shield's cavalry is the small brigade next to them (he came on from the far right.
Ashby's Reb cavalry is in the left foreground having already had 2 units broken by McDowell's 1st charge.

Despite early success, McDowell's men dithered while Freemont's & Shield's came up.

The Rebs never recovered from their early reverse & were also pushed back on their left.  With half their units broken they broke off the action & the remaining units ran down the road to Front Royal having done enough to allow the foot & the wagon train of loot to safely cross the Shenadoah.
 
With the bridge blown behind them, the Rebs had a clear road home & the Union forces were all too far north to be able to intercept them.

The Rebs were deemed to have won a great victory in the campaign having accumulated 8 VPs.
1 each for taking Winchester, Harpers Ferry & Leesburg.
1 each for forcing both McDowell & Fremont to come to the valley.
1 for winning more battles than they lost.
1 for getting the plunder from the Union supply bases at Strasburg, Winchester & Harpers Ferry home. 
1 for getting back to Dixie with the army still a fighting force (while failure to do so would have negated all the above).

Banks was rated the best of the Union generals. 
Banks fought in 3 battles & though he retreated from all of them, he put up a good enough show for the Washington post to laud them as valiant rearguard actions against the odds.  So 3 VPs for battles minus 1 for losing Wincheter = 2 VPs.
McDowell got 1 battle VP for Leesburg but lost 1 VP for failing to stop the Rebs taking it, so net toal 0 VPs.
Fremont's didn't lose any VPs as Jackson chose not to invade West Virginia, but he headed too far north to cut Jackson off & had no opportunity to gain battle VPs.

The real Jackson only got 7 VPs (all the above except Leesburg), so our Rebs (Mike & Chris) did very well - despite the fact that Banks (Mark) & McDowell (Steve) probably did better tactically in the battles.  But the Reb's rolling advance of 2 divisions in succession leapfrogging each other so in each battle they had a fresh division to the fore, while Ashby's cavalry distracted part of the Union force, gave them an advantage in the first 3 battles that better Union tactics couldn't overcome.  The Union on the other hand missed strategic opportunites.  Geary could have cut Jackson off west of Leesburg, but McDowell took the safe option in calling him up to Leesburg in direct support.  The Union had enough men to make a serious attempt to send troops further south (for instance all of Fremont's & some of McDowell's to intercept Jackson's retreat in the Mt Jackson-Laray area), but instead went directly at him & he was able to evade the pursuit.

The campaign was run using our own campaign rules - the same as last year's Spanish campaign with an umpire to provide hidden movement & limited intel.  The battles were all fought using Hail Mr Lincoln = Hail Caesar with our house rules.

Sunday Musket Action at Good Games

No Bolt Action at Good Games this afternoon but Chris & Jim did some Musket Action.

We fought the Bolt Action Sectors scenario with the same 1,350 pts armies as last time.  The dice gave Chris the French starting in the near table quater & Jim the Brits in the far table quarter. The French deployed their Indians on the left, Caadian Militia in the cntre & French Regs behind.
The Brits put their Regulars on the left, their Colonials on their right with Indians in front & cavalry in reserve.

In this scenario VPs are gained both by destroying enemy units (1 each) & by getting units into the neutral quarters (1 each) or enemy quarter (3 each).  So both sides attacked.

The Grenadiers of each side faced off in the wood.

It was soon apparent that the Brits had a better strategy than the French. 
On the left of pics the Indians neutralised each other, but the Colonials got into the in support before the French & got the upper hand through weight of numbers.
In the centre the Canadian Militia were shot up by British regular volleys.
On the right, the 1st British Cavalry troops destroyed the French Hussars then rode over the guns.  They were then broken by the French infantry about facing & shotting well, but the 2nd British cavalry is heading into the 3VP zone unopposed.  

By the end of turn 6, the Brits were way ahead on VPs.  One French inf coy had stormed thru the village into the 3VP zone, but that was negated by the Brit cavalry & the Brits also had many more units in the 1 VP zone as well as lower losses.  The dice gave us a turn 7 & we played it because we had plenty of time, but it was really all over.

Playing straight Bolt Action last week I noticed that Musket Action is much easier to play than straight BA because there are fewer unit types & most of the complicated bits just don't happen in the Musket era. 

Shenandoah 1862: Battle of Leesburg

After the battle of Winchester, Ewell's infantry & Ashby's cavalry chased Banks' Union army all the way to Harpers Ferry where it crossed the Potomac to safety.  Banks has stayed there rallying & reorganising his fatigued & battered army. Meanwhile, Jackson's division had a days rest in Winchester before marching east through Snickers Gap to Leesburg - an objective thought to be close enough to Washington to put the wind up Lincoln & make him withdraw more troops from the Richmond front (so worth a campaign Victory Point).  However Lincoln had sent orders to McDowell at Manassas Junction allowing him to move to the Shenandoah to help deal with Jackson.  McDowell moved north & his advance guard of cavalry found Jackson on the road to Leesburg.  McDowell hurried his infantry north to give battle late in the day.

The head of Jackson's column is coming out of the pass through the hills on the far side of the table.  The Union advance guard of cavalry is in front of the town.  The Union force is coming up the road on the left (after a delay).  The rest of the pics are taken from the other end of the table.

Before the Fed infantry arrived, the Fed cav retreated through the town. The Rebs sent a brigade forward to disrupt the Union deployment & occupied the town.

The Feds deployed a brigade to meet the Reb van & pushed it back while their other 3 brigades deployed to their right.  The Fed cav made a pest of themselves as skirmishers on the far flank.

The Union deployment to the right was painfully slow with inexperienced troops, but the Rebs did a pretty poor job of deploying & did not take advantage to make a sound defensive line.

The Rebs arguably moved too many troops to their centre & left their right too weak & the Union left is gradually pushing their right back.

The Union right has finally got into action & although the pesky dismounted Fed cav has been blown away the Reb left is suffering from a ring of Union fire.   However, they have stabilised their right by bringing some troops back from the centre.

At nightfall the Rebs still hold the town.  No brigades of either side have been broken.  The Rebs have 3 inf units broken, the Feds have had 2 inf & their cav broken.  But casualty count is well to the advantage of the Union & the Union players feel they have done well in pushing back both flanks of the enemy & they appear very confident of finishing the job tomorrow. 

Shenandoah 1862 Campaign: Phase 1

Now that the first phase of the campaign is over I can provide a report on the campaign in general without compromising the hidden movement aspect of the campaign.  The campaign started with Jackson's force deployed in the centre of the Shenandoah valley with 3 Union armies around him - Banks to the north, Fremont to the west & McDowell to the east.  Initially only Jackson & Banks are involved, Fremont & McDowell being constrained in their own areas until Mr Lincoln is sure enough of CSA overall intentions to release them to move against Jackson.

The campaign started on 20th May with the initial deployments of Jackson & Banks' forces as shown on the map.  Jackson has 2 infantry divisions (Jackson's & Ewell's) & a cavalry division (Ashby).  Banks has 2 divisions (Banks & Shields).
On the map, the CSA forces & moves are in red, the Union in blue. 
The campaign started with Banks waiting for Jackson to move.  Initially Ashby moved to Front Royal to observe Shields while Jackson marched up the pike to Strasburg with Ewell following.
At Strasburg Jackson attacked Banks.  Banks held off Jackson's division until Ewell arrived late in the day, then withdrew in good order.
Banks withdrew to New Town & called for Shields to join him there. Jackson's depleted div rested at Strasburg while Ewell followed Banks.  Ewell attacked Banks' depleted division at New Town & took the town.  Shields arrived late in the day but in time to save Banks from defeat.
The next day Ewell's div held their position in New Town while the Union withdrew before Jackson's div came up from Strasburg.
The Union withdrew to Winchester, their main supply base.  Jackson's div followed them while Ewell's rested up at New Town).

On the 26th, Jackson attacked the Union at Winchester. Shield's fresh div took the brunt of the attack while Banks' battered & fatigued div was held back on the Union left.   Shields held Jackon's div off until Ewell arrived but could not stand against another fresh division while Banks' div was in no fit state to launch a counterattack to help him.  Banks broke off the action with his whole force now in bad shape.
Before the battle, Banks had sent his cavalry to Charles Town to guard against Ashby cutting off his line of retreat to Harper Ferry.  It was well he did, as Ashby had been sent to Charleston to do just that.  But the Union cavalry got their first & the Union army, though closely pursued by the Rebs was able to retreat through Harpers Ferry & over the Potomac.
Safe on the far side of the Potomac Banks will need a few days before his battered & fatigued force is fit to fight again.
So far all has gone well for the CSA.  They have driven the Union back over the Potomac scaring the hell out of the North, collecting all the military supplies they can carry from captured Union supply depots, & in campaign terms racked up a lot of Victory Points.  However they are surrounded by three Union armies & it's a long way back to Dixie before they can claim victory.

Sunday Bolt Action at Good Games

Not a lot of action there today.  Steve wanted to try our his Australians so I took them on with my Ities in a Meeting Engagement to get myself back up to speed with BA rules for the upcoming comp.

The Italians are on this side of the table. 

Things starting going bad for the Italians when the Honey won the tank fight with the A14.  They came back as the Paraducitci stormed thru the village.  But the Oz flame thrower took it back & the Italians didn't have the firepower left to come back from there.

The Oz were well in front at the end of turn 6.  There was a turn 7 & the Itie's nothing-to-lose counterattacks got in some wins, but not enough to even save a draw.