Battle of the Crossroads AAR Part Three The End

So three weeks on the trot we managed to get to play, that's a record for me since rejoining the ranks and saw us finish the game.

Fortune was smiling on Lee with him getting the best of the activations at this point. He also managed to stop the retreat of the Nassau Brigade on the first attempt but it remained fragile with being forced to retreat again a real threat. The only real good news was that they could shelter behind the Brunswick reinforcements whilst they continued to try and recover order. I also was trying to take a breather to reorder my troops before taking on the fresh Brunswick troops.

Lee has brought up some of Picton's troops to the edge of Quatre Bras with a light regiment just outside the village. I bring up my Hussars and prepare to charge these troops in the following turn, my cavalry have been very busy and all of them carry cohesion losses.

Whilst Lee was weak on the hill in the centre, closing for the kill was difficult as his guns poured in canister causing severe cohesion loss on a number of battalions. It was inevitable that the hill would fall but the cost was surprisingly high, the Brunswick troops were not going to give up the hill before extracting a high price.

I bring the two flanking battalions onto the Brunswick flank whilst I reorder the troops to their right (blue marker means disordered) Lee knows I have numbers and position but can do little about it as the Nassau are very fragile and though these Brunswick troops are still fresh their Division as a whole is close to breaking so he can not afford to loose many more units.

 My charge against Picton's exposed infantry fails to be conclusive and the Hussars rally back behind the guns whilst a second Hussar regiment advances past the guns to try it's luck.

The central hill is almost mine now, the single Brunswick Battalion with the all important guns is now flanked and under threat of being attacked from two sides and the guns can now be flanked. The cost has been hign but the Brunswick's lost another battalion to a cavalry charge and are on the brink of being forced to retire the Division. Piction did have some revenge as many saddles were emptied as my Lancers passed two battalions of Fresh British troops were shaken and forced to retire to their own lines. Fortunately they were soon rallied and would be in position to rejoin the action after a few turns.

Another charge in the centre against Picton but this time I won the combat round but still failed to break the infantry being forced to remain in the melee. The last Brunswick battalion on the hill could not resist the attack being forced from the hill and bringing the total loss to the point of Division break. These were now forced to retreat with no home of recovery. The effect being that the exhausted Nassau would be uncovered allowing me to force these from the field. Picton was soon to have to fight on all fronts.

The troops crossing the bridge were now slowed down more by the need to use activation on other Divisions than the enemy as Lee had retreated into the safety of the woods. A wise move as one Battalion was forced to flee into the same woods due to being charged in the rear by one of the Lancer Regiments. My cavalry had done sterling service but were now were getting to the end of their usefulness unless I was prepared to rest them for three or more turns.

I forced my way into the woods on the right but was repulsed with a severe mauling but still it forced two of the three defending Battalions into disorder. I was in position to keep throwing fresh units against them or drive a wedge between them and Picton, but I knew Lee was unlikely to try an attack on my flank.

Now I was activating this flank early in the turn to increase my advantage. I had nine Battalions of fresh troops and now the activation rolls were going more often my way I was going to position my troops onto Picton's flank ready to bring greater numbers against his vulnerable flanks.

Picton is gathered around Quatre Bras and the only troops south of it that are not French are either cut off or in retreat. With his flank threatened and army morale showing signs of breaking he would have to fight with a very narrow front, extended flanks and still outnumbered and out of position whilst I as the French was bringing most of the reserve battalions through the worn ones and preparing to attack from all directions.

The last of the Brunswick's start to stream past the steady line of British and allied infantry who can do nothing to stem the retreat. The hill is starting to will with lines of French infantry, the day looks like it's going to be very long indeed.

The front line looks solid but these will be retreating soon as their Division has been fighting without support in the centre from the start of the battle. The only troops left are scattered, without cavalry or artillery support (the only guns in the area are being limbered up and heading back down the road). They have no hope to hold the ground they are standing on. These too will about face and march away from the sound of guns.

Meanwhile Picton has no choice but to use his forward units as a blocking force whilst he about faces and tries to out march the French flanking force.

So we left it at this point. Both of us felt the Divisions starting to melt away and become less able to even stand and hold ground worked well. Seeing them falter, recover and falter again was really nice. A few turns out of the front line could have made the difference but the Allies don't have the troops for that and whilst I was able to cycle units in and out of the front line, Lee was forced to keep troops in the line that had no business there.

So this was a rule we like and think does the job we wanted. I also had the idea that units that drop one or more cohesion levels in the game should not be able to rally back to full cohesion. This makes them that bit more vulnerable, less effective and will bring a game to a quicker conclusion.

It is still taking too long but that has as much to do with the chatting as the rules. More aggressive and better management of the attacking French would have speeded it up a notch as well. Sure the terrain is restrictive but I feel that I was not getting the best out of the attack and the victory had more to do with Picton's slow slog and Lee's weakness in force than my generalship.

Picton simply takes too long to get there fast enough to save the at start force from being soundly whipped. I have a number of ideas for this including the earlier activation of Picton but also bringing them on in a double column wide front would also help.

Lee certainly needs more troops earlier than they are brought into the action and whilst this is not full protection from an aggressive French player it would mean he can dish it out better.

Lee also threw his cavalry away too early, keeping them behind the line and forcing me to be more careful with my own cavalry would have slowed my down and half of the Brunswick casualty loss was down to my cavalry. I certainly got the better of the cavalry  scrap this time, one all then.

So a mixed result really. The rules are almost good to go, the scenario needs just a few tweaks and we are there. Not a bad result in my book.

Battle of the Crossroads AAR Part 2

Back to Lee's safe in the knowledge that Lee would have read my post and possibly started the plan to undermine my master plan. I was met with a "your early" as I walked in on the battle. This you understand is Lee for I'm not ready but in truth I was a little early.

The battle for Bossu woods continued to heat up as the close range musket fire was slowly reap results with the Nassau starting to loose cohesion and thus it was almost time to give them the bayonet charge.

In the distance you can see one Allied cavalry regiment in rout (blue token) with a second retreating towards the rear. Just in the front of them is a French Hussar regiment ready to put the shaken cavalry to flight. I have three other good order regiments of horse ready to sweep into the now open left flank of the Brunswick infantry. Lee leads the way towards Quatre Bras with his last two cavalry regiments (one just a few troops) with Picton leads his infantry towards the all important crossroads but can he afford to advance beyond the village?

With my right flank not being considered vital at this point, it is often the last moved Division meaning that often as not it does not get activated so it's moves stutter along. Here it is still held up by five Battalions and a few guns.

A breakthrough, even though one of my battalions is close to collapse I have finally sent an enemy battalion in retreat which will allow me to charge his remaining three with a good advantage. Support is coming but I am confident I can gain the woods before these troops can come to the battered defenders aid.

In an attempt to relieve the pressure in the centre Lee chargers with his two remaining cavalry regiments after I had routed his second regiment. One of his chargers was into a infantry battalion and I took the risk of not trying to form square due to the close proximity of Brunswick infantry and artillery. The poor infantry were routed but at least they dropped the enemy cavalry cohesion by one.

The poor infantry running for the rear and exposing more infantry but at least the charge has exposed his flank. The other cavalry were having the best of the cavalry fight.

Through marching along the edge of the stream and up against the pond and turning to face the hill. This is a dangerous move as they have no where to go if forced back but it will force the defenders on my right to take notice.

Centre right view from the field. The buildings on the left were painted for me by my father so very long ago and it was great to get it on the table again.

I get to go first in the following turn and charge home all along the line. This disorders the line battalions due to charging in light woods but the result was a landslide victory with two battalions routed whilst a third was badly shaken and left unsupported, nothing would help them stand against a whole Division! This was going to leave the two remaining battalions in the woods in a difficult position.

Meanwhile I play the guns of three batteries onto these two battalions in the woods as the French cavalry fail to take full advantage of the flank opportunity on the Brunswick cavalry though they push them dangerously close to being forced to retreat with no cavalry support whilst one of my cavalry regiments is forced to retreat behind the gun line where Ney himself waits to bring them back to order.

Lee seeing the dangerous position my right hand battalion is in charges and whilst he devastates them with a ferocious charge they themselves take a pounding. The melee was to go on for several turns before both units were routed from the field through mutual destruction, a first for us.

Neither of us could lend the fight support, itself an unusual situation but the hill meant that any units turning to join the fight would expose themselves to a charge so we watched each hoping the other would be driven back.

The forgotten flank seems to be low on the priority at the moment for both of us but when we had the chance we traded shots between the artillery though I was starting to gain the upper hand. Lee had moved away from the bridge. Possibly to try and draw me into attacking and thus changing my priority from the other flank and centre.

Lee chargers his remaining battalions in Bossu Woods but suffers a serious reverse as I win both melee's first round forcing two levels of cohesion loss which means they will fight at a disadvantage in the coming round. Whilst we move to contact and use the term melee a lot of this would in fact be very close quarter firing, with actual routing or forced retirements actually being the final physical charge.

With the rout of the last of Lee's cavalry I was in position to attack his infantry in the flank whilst another regiment had passed behind the hapless infantry. My plan to force the flank was now coming into reality though Picton was peeping around the corner of Quatre Bras, it was possible Picton could save the Brunswick's for Waterloo.

The cavalry regiment whilst blown was in a great position to charge the Horse Artillery way to the rear. Well being Lancers they kicked their tired horses into another gallop and charged through the canister to crash home and scatter the hapless gunners. Now all they had to do was return to their lines.

With the left flank now holding Bossu Woods I decided to rest them and regain cohesion and order before descending on the reinforcements. This allowed me to start the attack over the bridge as my cavalry started to work the other flank. Now it was possible I would be able to crush the Brunswick and Belgium forces between to fairly intact Brigades before the British could attack the flank of the centre Division.

I was able to force into retreat the two standing battalions in Bossu Woods but in my moment of triumph I rolled boxcars and another healthy battalion turned tail and routed from the table, of the disgrace.

The guns guarding the bridge having suffered losses to the guns could only slow down the French Infantry as they charged forward once over the bridge and another battery was silenced. The infantry holding the hill opposite failing to move down in support now has the difficult choice of attacking the bridgehead or withdrawing onto Pictons support.

Still a little worse for wear the Bossu Woods regiments start to descend onto the plain beyond whilst the Nassau are still disordered and their line broken. I need to also get more battalions down the hill from the rear ready for reinforcing my battered battalions as they take cohesion losses. Meanwhile Lee is bringing two strong Battalions into the woods but that will be nought if I can force his formation to crack. This Division is under no advance orders, one more rout or forced retreat will force them all to retire until he gets some of the forced retreats to be reduced to shaken. Not easy if your being attacked with vigour. This will be the first true test of the army break rules. One a Division is lost it weakens the army and it can have the domino effect so Lee needs to try and recover the Division but on doing so then really needs to remove it from the front line to further recover cohesion before daring to send it back into the line.

View from the Brunswick central position, Lee is stating to withdraw from the hill and hopes to get back to Picton, this is a major win for me as I get the hill and remain in good order and still have the opportunity to catch them as they try and withdraw. If I do it could be very messy.

The Nassau look up at Bossu seeing mostly good order French stream down the hill. The Nassau need to form up quick and face an opponent who has already beaten them on better defensive ground. This could be a long day if they do not get more help, especially if they remain unable to advance.

Through Quatre Bras yet more Allied troops pour. Lots more troops await their turn to enter the battle, it's all going well for the French at the moment but the allies have a lot more fresh troops to throw into the fight but now the defensive terrain is in French hands. The battle is in the balance, if Lee can keep his two weakened formations on the table and extract his cornered troops from near the ponds (or give me a bloody nose sending me back over the bridge) then he has every chance of giving me a bloody nose.

Building of the Week - Vendome Manor

One day late as I could not get any good pictures with the weather turning to rain yesterday. I have for you a yet to be released building from Leven Miniatures, this time based on a French Manor House and suitable for use from the Napoleonic period through to present day. 

This model is based on Vendome Manor House (NAP08) and is a fairly chunky building that I expect to sell around £3.50 based on current pricing rather than any inside knowledge. 

It certainly is an interesting building with lots of angles for what is essentially a square building. I will be buying one of these to mount on it's own board with an outbuilding or two and a few walls etc. 

My only niggle is that I would have liked to see the states of the roof represented somewhat smaller but when your not looking at images like the one above they don't stick out as obviously large.

I have to admit I really like this building and it was a treat to paint it up. The walls just got the base colour and a couple of dry brushes of lighter colours whilst the roof received a ink wash before colours were added as a drybrush effect.

Since Dave D. asked for some figures to be shown to compare the size on the last building post I thought I would best use some of his excellently painted Adler.

Here is the buildings from the last Building of the Week to help compare all of them. It would have helped to base the buildings to give a fairer view but they work well with the figures, just check out the last post for an idea of how they look in action.

Quatre Bras - Battle for the Crossroads AAR Part One

Friday night saw me over at Lee's with the aim of starting another playtest of the battle we will be taking to Joy of Six. It's really a dress rehearsal though some of the units will be swapped out and buildings replaced as well as added and yes more trees will need to be added, as well as the odd wall and hedge as required.

Here we have the start positions from the view of the French player (me). As you can see the brave allied defenders are rather under represented and need to try and hold on till they are reinforced. Of course all I want to do is smash my way through the thin lines and leave Wellington with a mass of routing troops to try and bring back into line.

From the allied perspective, goodness that's a lot of French, good job most of it is infantry. I have more troops but these will come on a little later whilst most of the Allied troops are off board and will come on over the course of the battle until they will have brought more troops into the battle but it's very likely he will never have a greater number of troops on the field at any point in the battle if formations are smashed before the allied numbers begin to mass.

Looking down the battle line. A single Dutch (I think) battalion contests the farm in front of the ponds whilst the French mass in front of it and all along the line. In the last game the farm was given away for free but I was unable to stand against the artillery fire and the bridge was never tested. This time the defence is lighter and I may be able to take advantage of a soft flank. The stream between the ponds is not fordable but it is west of the central pond.

Every time we have played these rules I have failed an early Cohesion Test with boxcars losing me a unit in rout. This time it was the third roll of the game for me and worse still it was a Ligre battalion which I was about to throw into the defenders in the woods in the east. This is bad news indeed as I need to smash this force and it's now going to take much longer.

Last game the battle for the woods was one of attack and counter-attack until both sides were fairly spent, I need to make sure Lee gets a bloody nose in any battles in this area as it's vital I have control of it come mid game.

 On my right the cannons of the allies force one of my battalions to loose a cohesion step, if they do not recover this before going into combat they loose the -1 to attack rolls, I have other fresh units I can throw into action whilst this battalion recovers so at the moment it's not a problem. As the game goes on and more and more units are committed at the same time it becomes a much larger problem as you lack the commanders to bring formations back into good order.

I shock Lee by throwing three Battalions against the farm, this will mean all three have lost their first fire bonus but such overpowering might sends the defenders packing after two rounds of combat. Unfortunately I could not quite make them rout allowing Lee the chance to recover them if they can get back over the stream.

Meanwhile on the other flank I am bringing more troops into the fight for the woods, at this point all I am doing is standing and exchanging fire which is gaining no advantage for either side but a charge before I have the troops in position could court disaster. The Allied Cavalry is too well placed for me to press my numbers advantage at this point. Two of my lead battalions are in square and have suffered a charge with one battalion losing one level of cohesion but my cavalry are now just behind the infantry and ready to give a hand. Unfortunately they had spent the first turn stationary after failing to be activated.

Allied view of the battle of the ponds, just look at the columns of French infantry, surly Wellington can't expect them to go too long without support?

At least the allied left has the ponds to hide behind, here in the centre the stream only covers half the line. Fortunately they have the hill to make a stand on and the allied cavalry covering the open flank, they have to hope that the cavalry have not exposed themselves too much my charging the French infantry to a standstill.

The woods are the only strong position the Allies have at this point. whilst the French could throw away the battle in a poorly executed attack the Allies need take no risks unless things become desperate. Even with the centre or left pushed back the troops in the woods could continue to resist whilst waiting for reinforcements to come up the road on to their flank.

The French take the farm and start to advance on the bridge, seems they want to force the Allies to fight on all fronts at once. To do this I will need to win the majority of the initiative rolls otherwise one or more of the attack columns will be forced to stagger it's attack over turns and risk being mauled by a more active if smaller opposing force.

Lee rather than suffer a charge by my cavalry took the advantage of charging my cavalry as they took up positions ready to make their own charge. However their Lancers having already charged had lost some punch whilst my supporting Lancers had enough in them to cause both Allied regiments to recoil. One under retire orders though it was brought back under control deep in the rear. In comparison all three of my regiments committed remained in good order and will be invaluable for the coming turns. Just as well as the first of the British Battalions are marching towards the sound of the guns.

Soon the woods will now heat up to full effect, within two more turns the two sides will close to point blank and I have the advantage of reserves whilst the two battalions Lee could have had in reserve have had to move to the flank which will be matched with twice as many of mine.

We called it for the night here. This Friday will see the battle continue. Despite the poor start in the woods I am more than happy with the situation at this point. Attacking the woods is still a risk, though I can insure against it going to far wrong by committing plenty of reserves. The negative effect is that it will water down those troops effectiveness for the later stages of the battle but I can't have that woods not in friendly hands come the later stages of the battle. 

However the centre is all mine, with the Allied horse having two badly mauled regiments I can attack into the now open flank and I still have four fresh regiments already in the centre whilst Lee just has two fresh part regiments making their way towards the centre. Meanwhile I can flood the gap with infantry that I hope to turn the flank and drive the centre back on it's left flank and thus crush it and the left flank in one.

We have yet to take a game to the point where one of the armies is broken, this is an untested part of the rules that I feel will work but yet to have proof. Hopefully we will stick with it to the bitter end. One thing I am sure of is that the game has a lot of story to tell yet and those reinforcements of Lee's will stir up a lot of troble, but that's a tale for next week.