Shako 2 Meeting Engagement - solo

 Today, Sunday July11, 2021, was to have a remote play game of Shako with a player met via twitch games.

 

Austrians v French

 

Unfortunately after the start of turn one there was a power failure in the area where the online player lived and I was faced with either waiting an indeterminate time period, or taking down the game, or ... running on with what was already on the table and using my solo play system AI to pick up the game from where it was left off.

I decided to jump in!

Setup for battle

after some challenges in communications
we were able to set up the map
four 1's made for a lot of open space

troops deployed

view down the French lines

French HQ

Irish legion in French service

Austrian HQ

a Hungarian force, with Grenadier battalion
(left foreground)

view down the French lines

We were able to do the artillery and start movement, then power failed for my remote player...

after a time I took over the game and ran it solo mode:

end of first turn as the French surge forward

shaken, though now under the guns one battalion
of the Italian Division moves forward in line

other French columns are badly mauled by
Austrian artillery

still the French columns advanced

some of the columns broke out into lines
to give a harder target to the
Austrian gunners

at the end of the first move the Austrian division
commanders were still unaware of the mass
of French foot bearing down on them ...

two French columns were destroyed
this one was nearly ... left in a desperate morale situation
behind the horse guns

meanwhile French artillery rattled forwards

Hungarians and Jagers held the flank of a tall hill on
the Austrian left flank

the Italians were facing them, managing to rally

while on the Austrian right, the Austrian horse
were now mobile ...

The solo AI system had left both sides unable to make any plan changes ...

overall view start of turn 3

the hill would see a major assault start up the slopes

merged grenadiers would move to hit
the Italians on the flank, while taking
artillery fire themselves

morale rolls were not going well for the French

many battalions did not manage to rally

and another column had been put into desperate
morale status

overview start of turn 4

General Merle's 1st Division, was looking over
their shoulders and having trouble with moving forwards
because of 40% losses in the division

still they struggled forwards

now the French horse were in motion
the Austrians had move close enough for
them to 'react'

the confused situation in the center

Austrian HQ, kept managing to stay in the lead
of the movement rolls, breaking ties

the French right wing was a charnel house at the base
of the steep hill ...

Austrian guns would eliminate another French battalion
this turn

while the Jaegers and Hungarians were
just able to maintain the top of the hill

the opening to turn five left the French
desperate ...ready to risk all to win!

the risk did not pay off - at the start of turn six
now the French were behind 6-1
needing to break 6 battalions/squadrons
before loosing even one more of their own!

it was a killing field on the slopes of the hill
merged grenadiers hit line in the flank in melee

the center of the field was left open as the 1st Division broke

Austrian HQ was going to win, and they knew it

the cost of victory included a full battery of horse artillery
being over-run by French Dragoons

a desperate series of shots were made from the rear covering
French guns ... not enough kills - too many were needed in
the short time remaining

it was the hilltop and guns that managed to hold off
the 1st Division, then the Grenadiers finished off the survivors

no battalions on the hill were un-harmed
they did what was called of them to stand
as the Grenadiers charged the French flank

Great little game, I am looking forward to next weekend when my online opponent will take another shot at the battle situation.  He certainly had a great deployment and I was concerned they might make it into the lines ...

Next Sunday, 18 July 2021, at 11 am.  Watch the action on https://www.twitch.tv/murdocksmarauders

 

Corunna AAR :: SHAKO 2 rules

 I love it when a plan comes together!

I was asked by an east coast group to support the virtual Huzzah convention with a tabletop game online.

I chose Corunna as a candidate as I had not done that one, and the event was happening over the anniversary of the battle.

the situation at Corunna

 A player from the convention list who had signed up for the game had a family emergency and ended up cancelling all his convention games.

It meant that I was going to have to fill in his spot for opponent as I had Chris ready to go.

I used a scenario from the Programmed War-gaming Scenario book that best 'fit' the general situation of Corunna.

Chris chose to be the British defenders, so he got this map for planning out his forces:

the 'left - center - right' of the table, with the top end being for
the defenders to set up - in this case British

This left the French, attackers, to me to plan out.  I have attempted flank attacks many times before and each time something did not go quite to 'plan' - still I know that the flank attack has worked out very well from history - so flank attack it would be again ...

the 'left - center - right' of the table, with the bottom end
for the defenders to set up - in this case French

overall table view and broadcast booth

troops deployed from French left view

troops deployed from British right view

right flank of British line

center and right of British line

French division on hill with HQ and artillery

marching French division on French right wing

only a little shift in turn 1 movement

the British horse was on the flank ...

view of the field at start of turn 3

British guns were firing consistently, hitting on the averages 30%

that British Light Dragoon force was intent on holding the flank

they had a view over the whole battlefield

British foot and guns lined the hill ...

French voltiguer were the first to get a clear view
of the horse on the flank ...

unknown at the time, yet suspected, turn 4 would be the pivotal moment
in this engagement

British horse would be hit hard ...

French at the center would start to move off

the French right flank ... scene of the action

British center, artillery continued to pound away ...

French Chasseur and Hussar engaged the British Light Dragoons
from front and rear!

surrounded in melee

The Light Dragoons did not survive

... and neither did General Paget!
(future Earl of Uxbridge)

We had some viewers in the twitch stream and one asked about the terrain pieces, so we took a moment to feature my 'weeble' trees:

overview at turn 5

the French right flank moved forward while the horse
'rested' to remove the 'blown' markers

British right flank realized the battle was all on the
left and was frantically maneuvering to get into the battle

by turn 6 it was almost too late as the French horse
now slammed into the flank - thankfully a 'hasty square' was formed

French horse guns press forward

placing the square at 'point blank' range for turn 7

the British square held ... for now

French columns were pressing forward ...

Turn 7 would be the final moment for this battle ...

a rush from the British right to left would not
make enough difference now ...

valiant though it was

French columns smash into the lines on the
British left

further on the left artillery pounded away

at point blank range!

while British artillery did do some damage, it was not enough

the French at the center held

firing back at the British center from in front of HQ
(Soult and staff in the foreground)

artillery fire (as seen online)

close range

cavalry charge into the flank of a line
which failed to make 'hasty square'

shattering the British line unit

pressing on into the first square - then failing in close combat
forced to retreat

British batteries were charged by French columns

both were hit

both were utterly destroyed

General Moore would not be able to hold the field this day ...

not boding well for the evacuation at the port either

French light horse reigned supreme on the field today

while the foot were doing the job of smashing artillery

leaving the British foot vulnerable ...

while not a rout, this was certainly a French victory

view online (see video at end of post)

thanking the viewers

our 'tech' section

my miniatures storage system
in mobile mode

All-in-all it was a great way to spend a day in study of Napoleonic tactics in a much more open field situation than I have used in a while.

Video of the final wrap up follows.

And a copy of the French 'planning map':