Quatre Bras 1815

Last Friday I joined up with Nick B, Nick G and Steve at Martyn's to refight Quatre Bras using General d'Armee rules and the scenario in the 1815, The Hundred Days, Scenario Supplement. 

Steve and I played the French, using mainly figures from my collection while Nick G and Nick B played the Anglo-allies using mainly figures from Nick G's collection. Martyn was mein host, umpire and provider of terrain and more figures.

The scenario plays out over 18 turns with initially six brigades of French against two brigades of Anglo-allies but with more Anglo-allies swiftly arriving at the battlefield. If the French can get a crack on then they can clear Germincourt farm and threaten Quatre Bras before the allies can stop them.

Well it did not go to plan. Steve and I rolled terribly on our early ADC allocations and struggled to get an attack together with many brigades going hesitant, our left wing did not move for two turns and the Brunswickers were swiftly deploying behind the stream line in anticipation.

In the centre the Dutch-Belgian conscripts repeatedly threw back the veteran French light infantry tasked with sweeping them aside, I kid you not, every combat the French went in with more dice than the Dutch-Belgians but lost four rounds of combat before finally ejecting the Dutch militia.

Eventually though Germincourt was cleared, the supports on our left decided to join in and we pushed on towards the stream.

But, the delays had allowed many of the Anglo-allied troops to no only arrive at the battlefield, but also form a solid defensive line. Surprisingly though the French infantry to the right of Germincourt were able to force the stream line and push back Packs brigade.

Our heavy cavalry had now arrived, so a brigade each of Cuirassiers, Chevaux Leger and Chasseurs set upon the weaker and less well trained Brunswick and Dutch-Belgian cavalry, looking at the odds, this should have been a overwhelming victory to the French, but the dice rolling seen trying to take Germincourt farm was repeated all over again, every French attack was beaten off and our second wave of fresh troops was still unable the overcome the rallying Dutch-Belgians. 

We had to break four of the Anglo-allied brigades or take Quatre Bras to win, we were not even close.

I was so engrossed I forgot to take many pictures at all.

Steve and I may rue our misfortune in the game but it was still a great day spent with great company. 

The Battle of Bairen,1097 at Partizan

It seems that everybody else who went to Partizan has already updated their blogs, but pressure of work and a trip to London last weekend have left me rather tardy.

James, Martin, Tom and myself put on a rather huge game of Midgard to refight the Battle of Bairen  1097 using the extensive El Cid collections that we have been working on these past twenty years or so.

I'll not write a full report, it's been far too long for me to recall all the details, but what follows is a selection of photographs from the action.

Moorish boats offshore prepare to raid arrows on the flank of the Aragonese forces

A rather spectacular shot of the initial deployments

James fashioned the sea and shore from a sheet of perspex

The Aragonese Jinetes launch themselves at the massed Moorish camels

The one where Martin points at Toms cock, so Tom does too.

They have calmed down a bit now

After an initial missile duel, eventually the battle lines close to contact

The Moorish camels supported by the boats swiftly gain the upper hand on their left flank

Forces start to clash in the center

King Pedro leads his Caballeros in the charge, but is swiftly cut down in single combat

The Aragonese left force the Moorish right almost back onto their camp

With King Pedro dead  and the Moorish camels raiding their camp the forces of El Cid and Aragon collapsed, El Cid cut his way out through the Moorish camp and would live to fight another day.

The game played really well, it's by far the biggest game of Midgard we have ever played by, I reckon, a factor or about three, but the rules scaled up really well.

We were well chuffed to win the McFarlane Shield for the best demo game. Not bad considering some of these figures were painted 20 years ago.

Hope you enjoyed, I'd suggest that if you are thirsty for more check out James', Tom's and Martin's blog posts:

Partizan Round-Up and El Cid Vignettes

El Cid: the Battle of Bairen, 1097 CE

El Cid at Partizan 2021 (1)

El Cid at Partizan 2021 (2)

Partizan.. an actual show.. in real life! (El Cid battle of Bairen 1097)

Seven Days to the River Rhine

Thursday evening at the club I gave Daz a game of Seven Days to the River Rhine as he had wanted to give the rules a try for some time.

I set up the table as shown in the image above, although the "under the cloth" hills are a bid obscured so I put a couple of the coniferous trees on each crest to make them stand out more in the photos.

As it was Daz's first game and I've been struggling to finish a game on a club night I reduced the points values to 500 points per side.

Soviets:

• Three T-64B
• Three Infantry in BMP-1
• Three Infantry in BTR-60
• One AGS-17 in BTR-60
• Two BRDM-2

FDR: 

• Three Leopard 1A1
• Three Infantry in M113G
• One Milan in M113G
• Three Infantry
• One Milan
• One M113 PanzerMoerser
• Two Luchs

Daz elected to take the Bundeswehr and soon found out that the Leopard 1A1 is not that good in a firefight with a T-64B

The Soviets did not have it all their way though and were soon down a T-64B of their own as well as one of the BMP-1 being toasted!

After last weeks game, at least I had remembered to put the objectives on this time and a BRDM-2 was rushed into the industrial area to secure one while the German Luchs held one of the others.

My commander sifted two times during the game as my command tank fell victim twice!

A close range firefight developed around the other objective, the Soviets lost two infantry teams in this engagement, but at the end of the game neither side was in the ascendancy here.

By the end of the game, neither side was close to breaking, the FDR having lost their three Leopard 1A1 and a Luchs while the Soviets lost two T-64B, a BMP-1 and two Infantry teams.

A solid draw, I think Daz enjoyed it and I think that 500pts is probably a better sized game for a club night.

Anglo-allied casualty trackers

Before I did the dice holders to use as casualty markers I purchased a couple of packs of BH55 British infantry casualties from Perry Miniatures and some casualty dials from Warbases.

Although I think for my General d'Armee games I'll stick to using the dice holders, these will still make great Shock trackers for our Sharp Practice games.

There are bags of character in this figure pack and they were a simple enough paint job.

There is also a wounded Riflemen in the pack for a bit of extra variety.

This soldier helping a wounded officer is very nice, although being "Scum of the earth" I reckon pockets have already been picked.

It was not until the photographing that I realised that I'd forgotten to paint the markings on the water bottle of this chap.

There are also a couple of Scots in the mix, so I was able to check out this article from almost a year ago to remind me how I did it last time.

I've got a busy few weekends coming up with a trip to Partizan this weekend, London the weekend after and shock-horror working the weekend after, so progress may slow down for a while.