Battle of Gorodetchna
(2nd Run) in Fast-Play Grand Armee

On March 31, Peter (of Duchy of the North) and I had the opportunity to have time to game.

I suggested a few different options that I had immediately available and he chose to go to east Europe in 1812 with a run at Fast-Play Grand Armee and the Battle of Gorodetchna.

This would be a second go-round with the rules set for me and I let Pete choose the side he wanted. He chose the attacking French-Austrian forces.

As before the Russians were set out in full view of the French, then they chose where to make their moves ... mostly off-map to the crossings of the river.



Pete opted for a fast moving cavalry force to come into the center, with part of the French forces to go to the long flank. Support of a mixed division was given to the left flank (which faced the Russians at the start).

I took advantage of my prior experience by having the large division of the Russians get full advantage from the wing commander attached (so that lapels could be grabbed if needed - something that the Russians needed a LOT of last time I played).

Also I made sure to keep the Russian Cavalry properly positioned to the flank of the Division. The massed Dragoons had little choice but to be in column and ready to move out to the left wing once clear of the swampy ground.

Ultimately the dice rolls early went horribly wrong for the Austrian forces and only so-so for the French ones ... this created a HUGE opportunity for the Russians - that was squandered by the Russian Cavalry commander standing totally still for a whole 'pulse' just when MOVING was the most important thing!

The French Grenadiers managed to get into the gap between the river and swamp - plugging it totally against the Russian Dragoons, meanwhile the mixes Austrians on their left wing were being mauled by effective use of combined arms by the Russian leading division ... not to mention that the Russians won the initiative rolls for the first three pulses!



Likewise the French cavalry moved into position to take on the small mixed Russian left flank force ... now totally cut off from the main body ...



Once again the combat die rolls of Pete were horrible, the Grenadiers managed to hold their ground - at terrible cost! Worn down to just a fraction of their strength while the Dragoons were equally damaged, there were more dragoons coming with no such quality to support the French Grenadiers. More over in the artillery exchanges the French had lost a whole battery, while the Russians were merely driven back to re-consolidate their batteries and come on again ...



Nasimov, commanding the leading Russian Division was able to totally clear away two Austrian Divisions opposite him, and once the Russian Dragoons were halted by French Grenadiers they fell upon the remaining Austrian Artillery sending it fleeing from the field!

Now the French went for the throat on the Russian Left, alone with his Division Count Lambert was to hold off two French Cavalry brigades and face off against an Infantry Division. Losses were high on both sides, yet the Russians managed to just stay alive on the table, while the French losses were enough to take off two units.

In the middle of the afternoon of the first day of battle, Prince Schwarzenberg of Austria was to call off the attack and order a general retreat.

Generallieutenant Tormassov, with no orders other than to hold his ground would be content to let them march off.



Photos of this battle were poor as my 'steady hand' was not so steady this day ... many pictures were just too blurry to use.

Next up ... Quatre Bras in Fast-Play Grand Armee, I have the troops and tags all printed up in color!

Fairy Queen

On a bit o a fantasy trip this week ... got a request do to some goddess minis and decided to try my hand at the fairy folk.

Now I get to see how well they sell!

Pete and I did another Gorodetchna last weekend, been too busy to get the post up about it ... and the pics are terrible (I must use the tripod more).

Expect it in another 10 days.

Cheers

Here ... there be DRAGONS!



Six Dragons and a Wyvern ....

no this is not the opening to a bar joke.

Finished and ready for sale via Rod's store in Courtenay. We'll see whether he can sell them as he boasted he could.

How many Olly points is a 25mm Dragon? They are 6" from head to tail and have a 4" wingspan.

CONQUEST of the EMPIRE


On March 12, the power was out and our boys were 'at home', due to the storm damage knocking out power all over the area. We set the plan to play out a board game together, my youngest asked for the Roman guys game ... he meant "Conquest of the Empire" by Eagle Games.

My youngest was most keen to play it out, indeed he stay with the game will the end of twilight and we used a flashlight to clean up all the pieces.

Here are some 'in game' shots.



The game components are very usable and quickly identifiable, allowing play even for an 8 and 6 year old!



My youngest likes to play wild, here is his Caesar out far from Egyptus (his base) to press into Italy.



Once the Caesars come out to move troops around you know that there has been some battles, because there are fewer Generals to move the troops around.

We ended off the game right near dark, my 8 year old had resigned, his attacks were not working against the fortified cities I had. My youngest laid down his Caesar and shook my hand when he saw that he could not got into my defenses and his ships were sunk.

Fun day with no electricity, great to have the woodstove.

My delay in reporting came due to having to do storm damage assessment and repairs - the few I could ... there are still 20-30% damage to the roof and the insurance people will have to deal with that.

Vimeiro (3rd run)

On March 6th I had the opportunity to again lay out my table and see if I could attract the few passers by in some tabletop miniatures action.

This was a second day in a row for me at the location and I had done more promoting - though the weather was very fine and even though there was a teacher strike, I would not see any young folks this day.

Again troops were laid out for the Anglo-Portugese as have been before ... I switched the guns to both on he ridge line to give them a better view of the French advance.

Again the French plan was simple, FULL COURT PRESS and have the CAVALRY arrive on the Ventosa flank as soon as possible.

The French were laid out as I had done them the day before, though this time, I had the right flank better positioned to get into their objectives quickly and leave room for the Grenadiers (now ordered to move off one turn after the line infantry) to maneuver.




The view of the British lines from the French ...



By turn two nothing great had happened, the Portuguese had new orders to move to Ventosa in order to shore up the flank from the inevitable fighting.



In the center the greatcoat wearing French Line Infantry were covering the Grenadiers, while taking a pounding from the well sited British Artillery.



By Turn Three the farm of Ventosa had been cleared in a very lop-sided 6-1 hand to hand combat that went against the British forces ...

The French Cavalry was marked for arrival, all that remained was to push into the Anglo left flank. Even the Left of the French was holding firm in furious musket duels ...


The Grenadier Division was pressing forwards!



Further, in the center-right the French had formed squares to defend against the nearby light dragoons.



The anglo center was a scene of desperate grapeshot, even with the casualties the French Division held their morale and continued to advance.



This Overhead view of the Anglo-Portuguese lines makes it appear that all is rosy ... the French Infantry has been halted in squares, no French Cavalry to be seen and the Portuguese are in motion ...



One major block of power that the French held was the Grenadier Division, seen here in motion at the end of turn Three, screened from the English guns by greatcoat wearing line Infantry, these elite troops were poised to strike!



Ahead of those Grenadiers the 91st Regiment was desperately holding the flank of the artillery positions against all comers ... though this could not possibly last. This was during movement of turn 4, and the Cavalry had arrived for the French as could be seen in the top left of this image, showing the 1st Provisional Chasseurs.



The 91st continued to hold their ground, though the columns of Infantry were stacking up against them ...





Meanwhile the Dragoons had arrived and struck behind the 91st at the British Light Dragoons that were covering their rear ... there were three times as many horsemen as the British had, and the feeble Portuguese provisional horsemen were no match for the battle hardened French Dragoons.



By the end of movement on Turn 4 the situation had gone to horrible for the Anglo-Portuguese.



Almost forgotten in the center of the line, and the object of the battle, Vimeiro itself was only the scene of limited skirmishing as the French Division had been cut in half by the massed artillery ...



From Kellerman's position his Grenadiers are set to fall upon a weakened Anglo line ...



An overview of the Ventosa plateau shows the extent to which the French Dragoons had pushed forward after driving off the Light Dragoons.



Into Turn 5 the Grenadiers had forced the 91st off the ridge and the Dragoons had smashed half of the artillery park.



At the end of Turn 5 the whole field was dominated by the French, who also held a score advantage. Without a miracle in dice rolling this battle was all but won by Junot!



Maragon's Merged Dragoon Division dominated the Ventosa plateau and was forcing the Portuguese to react by forming squares.



With the end of Turn 6, victory was all but complete for Junot.



In the center the Grenadiers had forced away British troops and captured the guns.





Unable to get into the fight on the plateau the Provisional Chasseurs were forced back to the extreme Right in order to follow the path that the Dragoons had followed earlier.






After movement in the center, near Vimeiro, the British Rifles were now being used to screen the remaining British troops from the French guns. Vimeiro itself had never been assaulted.



Meanwhile on the French Left, the 86th Linge and 4th Swiss had continued to trade volleys with their opposites in the British Line.



The coup de main came in the center, as the 91st finally buckled under assault from two battalions of Grenadiers!



Wellsley had been forced from his command post, now watching over the faltering lines as the Ventosa plateau is cleared of allied troops, French Grenadiers and Dragoons commanding it.



The Portuguese would have to perform a miracle defense in order for the Anglo forces to withdraw, not a likely event. More likely the Anglo troops would face even more losses as they fled across the Alcabrichella River.



Most certainly this was the threat that the Convention of Sintra was supposed to stave off ... Wellsley had to face a court about it, here in this re-fight, there would be no need for a court as the Anglo forces would be in retreat from Portugal yet again.

I'll wrap up this posting with a few more shots from the last positions in the game.