SHAKO 2 Battle : Forced River Crossing

 The game opportunity on the 4th of December came about.

It was great to get the minis on the table in the hands of some interested players, all of whom had some experience with SHAKO 2 rules and plenty of tabletop games time.

Two of my sons even managed to get set on the same team - yay teamwork!

The battle was set in 1813, somewhere in the Dresden area, where an Austrian Corps with Russian help was to force a crossing of a river...

overview of table from the French right flank

I have added a time-lapse camera location

The first time-lapse here is the set up of the tabletop.

the effective cross-roads that were the
major objective here ...

my rivers, roads and related materials all got a chance to hit the table

the new woods also was put to the task

A French rearguard was to hold off as long as possible - if they made it past 8 turns a tie would result, if they made it past 10 turns a minor victory, past 16 a major victory.

overview, the French were infantry from town to right flank
light cavalry in the open ground to the left - with a column
of hussars ready to charge the bridge

Austrians had the road 'open' for the expected columns of
infantry to storm the bridge

French Hussars seen here in the center image

French horse on the Austrian right, cross the river ...

Russian Dragoons had been sent off the Austrian left flank to seek a crossing and attack the French from the opposite bank of the river ... in the meantime Austrian grenadiers and line troops would storm the bridge while the army Corps artillery formed up to blast open an area where the Dragoons might be expected to appear ...

by turn four the action was rolling
(I had missed taking pics on turns 2 & 3)

already there had been a couple of clashes at the vital bridge

the Austrians were stacking up to assault again

French infantry were grimly holding on, awaiting their own
reinforcements

turn five saw the reinforcements arrive for both sides

French forces engaged in multiple directions

Austrian columns surged forward

supporting Russian infantry arrived

all the Austro-Russian forces were standing by for the
bridge to be forced open

at last the French supporting troops were arriving ...

would it be 'in time' to hold off the Austro-Russian forces?

the French chasseurs were in a consistent state of inaction
due to the masses of French infantry blocking their access

turn six was the amazing turn of flank attack and
a display of combined arms by the Austrians and Russians

Russian Dragoon division massacres French battalions
that were disordered just before by the massed Austrian Corps Artillery

Russian Dragoons then over-run French artillery

all the while Austrian grenadiers storm into French
infantry formations

arriving French artillery are hustled to the river bank
in an effort to break up the Austrian attack columns

massed Austrian forces were pouring fire across the river
until masked by the Russian Dragoons

the ultimate turn seven

Austrian grenadiers managed to force fully across the bridge
note the Austrian jaeger force now also across the river

while the Austrian storming division was wavering ... it did not stop their
assault using the grenadier battering ram

half of the village was now burning and French infantry would have
to retire ...

meanwhile the Russian Dragoons continued to
force back the arriving French forces

arriving Bavarian and Italian divisions were forced
into defensive action immediately

French HQ realized the situation was non-recoverable
and began withdrawal

Austrian forces organized for an initial pursuit

the Austrian militia division had arrived and halted
further to the top of the image is the Russian division
equally halted

The final few photos as last of the action were collected after I had departed on a rescue call.

Here is a time-lapse of the game action:

After the game my eldest son wants to extend the action and see what defending the bridgehead scenario - with the French counter-attack might be like ...

So now there is a sizable new years eve game series in the planning ...