Evacuation at Kaallais AAR :: Black Powder battle Saxe-Bearstein v Stagonia

Now for the full After Action Report from the battle between Saxe-Bearsein and Stagonia

On the last Sunday in June 2021 we were able to stage a first multi-player face-to-face tabletop game in nearly a year.

Players came from up to 155 km away to join in this engagement.

All of the minis are in the care of Cod Sticker, having inherited them from Bluebear Jeff.

Deployment briefing

battlefield in simple (before adding pebbles
to outline hills)

Saxe-Bearstein's lines and a hill outlined

view from Stagonian right down the lines of deployment
our broadcast booth at the end in the shaded garage

Saxe-Bearstein horse and foot

We had a tent shade set up to get maximum airflow - yet we were also dealing with one of the two hottest days ever recorded on this part of Vancouver Island - most certainly later in the day we were all 'melting' in the heat.

For the game Saxe-Bearstien was retreating by boat (ship?) and Stagonia needed to stop them.

the lines of Stagonia move forward very fast on turn one

getting a 3x move and almost taking a hill

Saxe-Bearstein were not so lucky at the start

with only a few units making small moves forward

while the main lines stood in readiness to board boats

Stagonian command was set on the left with plans to halt all
boat loading ...

Stagonian Artillery provided the first victory ... rolling a '6'
to cause boat loading times to double.

Turn 2 overview

horse of both sides now clash on the Stagonian right

the foot lines crept forward

boat loading continued ... yet another '6' from
Stagonian artillery would cause loading times to
go to three times the starting value

More Stagonians arrive

fire was now exchanging on the hill top

other limited firing was happening on the Stagonian left

overall not much change

Turn 3 overview

failed command rolls from Stagonia left many units unmoved

causing a traffic jam along the road ...

the horse units tied each other down

while a few more Stagonian units got to arrive

command rolls were still not going well for Stagonia

turn 5 was busy as Saxe-Bearstien had now abandoned
the boats - another '5' was rolled so it would now take
five turns to load one unit

this was now going to be a field battle

all across the lines there were either exchanges of fire
or charge-counter-charge

though with so many 'steady' and 'veteran' units
almost no progress could be detected

the charm and character of the Blood Axe minis
shows up in these closer pictures

the situation for Saxe-Bearstien was not a lot better
yet it was not as dire as it was looking at the end of turn 3

more failed command rolls for Stagonia had
stranded a column of foot

turn six would see ever more desperate fighting across the lines

horse on the Stagonian right

a massive charge in the center from Saxe-Bearstien horse
was halted in its tracks by a steady veteran unit

Saxe-Bearstien neatly arranged lines

great view across the table

Stagonian command rolls finally awaken two formations
and support the hill battle

though Saxe-Bearstein had also sent in supporting troops

all the forces on the hill were worn ...

turn 7 would see some units finally break

still the S-B lines held

artillery continued to fire - no more hits though

Stagonian high command

the hilltop was now fully engaged by multiple units from both sides

Hussars cover the S-B guard from taking more hits
(which would have broken them)

Stagonian horse now join the melee on the hill

in the center failed commands keep a fresh unit from advancing

a no-mans land had developed in the center with the loss
of many horse units

Cameras were not used to capture turns 8 & 9, though essentially all that happened was a few more of the 'steady' units were stripped of their 'steady' status and could finally be vulnerable to break tests.

The S-B guards were rallied by their commander so as to keep them from breaking.

turn 10 overview

still the hill was in contention

though S-B troops had pulled back from the larger numbers
of Stagonians

neither side would give an inch

S-B command doing another rally to keep the horse
brigade from fleeing
with nowhere to go, this would mean a break
and off the battlefield

many times the hill was struggled over

S-B command doing the critical rally

then a failed rally from Stagonia on the hill with their
horse brigade

all would now hinge on the Stagonian Cuirassier
and if they could rally and attack ...

the roll first worked, then the charge failed

this left a broken brigade for each side

nothing more would happen on the Stagonian right
as both armies had broken brigades there

while a musketry exchange on the Stagonian left had caused another
Stagonian brigade to be in 'hold' condition
unable to advance ... while S-B did not want to open any
part of the beach to Stagonian aggression

Saxe-Bearstein lines near the end of the day
everyone was damaged

a great view down the road of the Cuirassier
which had failed to rally, thus bringing the battle to an end

Stagonia were awarded the most slimmest of 'victories', though they managed to stop the loading of the boats - they could not destroy the Saxe-Bearsteiners before the end of the day.

You can view the whole game action from the perspective of a twitch.tv viewer HERE.

I want to thank again all the players and those who tuned in on that hot, hot day.