Peninsula Battle, 1811, Part 2

...continued.
After the brief but bloody light cavalry action on the near flank fizzled out, the infantry had moved close enough for the battle to enter its primary action - the infantry fight. Allied troops moved against the line from their left center all the way to their right flank. British against the left center, Portugese against the right center, and Spanish against the right.

The Spanish moved against the French of Gazan's brigade who were moving aggressively to oppose them. As mentioned earlier, there was some confusion as to the referee's background talk, and the French on this flank were behaving very aggressively. Gazan's troops moved through the wooded patch beyond the bridge and formed into line. Spanish came at them in attack columns.

Spanish infantry and grenadiers moving up

Meanwhile, the Portugese of Campbell's brigade would tie up the French on the hill to their front, assaulting them in line formation. The French would hold, inflicting substantial casualties on the valiant Portugese, but would be pinned in place by their attacks.

Portugese of Campbell's brigade in the assault

To the left of the Portugese, the British brigade came on in one big mass of attack columns and lines. In the area where they hit the French line, they were opposed by only a single battalion of line infantry and a battalion of converged grenadiers. The British took pretty heavy casualties in their assault, but were able to stagger the line battalion and destroy the grenadiers. With most of the French right-hand brigade tied down in square formation to protect themselves from the unopposed British light dragoons lurking on their flank, there was very little to support the French center, which was crumbling quickly.

Massed British battalions hit the French center

In order to stem the tide of the British wave approaching them, the reserve brigade of French dragoons was split up and sent in two directions; one regiment to the right to drive off the British lights and free up the infantry on that flank, the other launched itself in a charge against the British infantry in the center. The charge was successful in breaking a British battalion, but cavalry cannot hold ground, and with Brits swarming around them to blast them in subsequent turns, I am sure this will prove true here as well, although it did buy some time.

French dragoons charge to buy time

On the French left, seesaw assaults between the French and Spanish continue while the Portugese continue to chip away at the French. In the last turn we played on this night, the French battery on the hill in the center of the photo below would fall to an assault by the Portugese cacadores facing them. This success, coupled with the British advance against the center adjacent to this part of the line would cause huge concerns for the French, and seriously jeopardize their goal of holding their position solidly enough to be sure of a secure retreat across the stream to their rear.

The French left holds, but at what cost?

At the end of the night, the French position was holding firm on both flanks. The problem was that the center was crumbling badly and in danger of total collapse. To make matters worse, two more British brigades were moving up from the rear; one behind the Brits in the middle and one into the gap between the Spanish and the Portugese. All that would be served by playing a few more turns would be to see if the French could stabilize things well enough to be able to exit the table in decent order. Frankly, that looks kinda doubtful.

Conclusion - This was a very fun night, and it is great to have played some Napoleonics again. It is one of my favorite periods, and one that we have not played much of due to a lack of satisfactory rules. As for LaSalle, my conclusions this time around aren't much different from before. Some comments (all of which come with the disclaimer that we were fumbling through the rules as we went and may have been doing some things incorrectly - further reading of the rules is happening soon...):

• There is a very substantial degree of abstraction here, but in general I like the feel of the game, so I don't consider that an issue.
• Artillery is quirky. Due to the tremendously restrictive fire arcs (i.e. absolutely straight ahead only) and the turn sequence, it is possible for enemy units to sidestep the fire arc and avoid being shot at. In our game we had a number of instances of British march columns approaching over clear ground at long distance and repeatedly moving out of the arc. With a broad field of vision, no obstructions, and all the time in the world, it is ludicrous to think that the French batteries would not be firing on those approaching columns. But according to our reading of the rules at the time, they couldn't.
• Size of artillery doesn't seem to affect anything but range. From a combat perspective, assaulting the front of a 3 lb horse battery would be no different than assaulting a 12 lb foot battery. This is silly.
• The devastating effect of melee combats takes some getting used to. It is a common thing for a completely fresh unit to lose a melee decisively (most of our combats seemed to be decisive) and vaporize instantly. No degrading over time, no getting pushed back, just gone.
• Lack of unit morale rules removes complexity but makes all units seem pretty similar. The best of the best and the worst of the worst don't play tremendously differently in this game.
• There don't seem to be any formation restrictions. For example, in our game, British foot units repeatedly attacked the French in massed attack columns. This goes against drill, doctrine and history. Early war linear armies like the Prussians would have the same issue. House rules can easily fix this.

Despite a few quirks, and some house rules we are mulling over (not to mention the need to learn the rules much better so the game goes quicker), this is a fun game that we will be playing more. Now to get to those Austrians...

Peninsula Battle, 1811, part 1

Five of us got together for a game last night, including Leo, Dave, Ryan and Ryan's friend Tim. The last time we had discussed what to play next, Ryan expressed an interest in Napoleonics, which was fine with me, as it is one of my favorite historical periods but one which we haven't played much over the last few years. I used to play From Valmy to Waterloo often at conventions, and really enjoyed the rules, although it is a little too complicated to be played with a mixed group of casual players. I picked up LaSalle a couple years ago at Cold Wars when it came out, and we played it shortly after and liked it. After a long hiatus, and given that I have spent the time recently getting my armies based properly to be ready to use, we decided that the game would be a LaSalle game.

The game itself was a throw-together, as I had to clean off my gaming table, set up a game and re-learn the rules (at least well enough to be able to fumble through) all during the day on Friday. Since my 15mm collection at the moment consists of French and British with a few Spanish and Portugese thrown in for good measure, we are pretty much stuck with playing Peninsula battles for the time being. I do also have some Austrians, but not enough yet to really so anything with them. That will go on the long list of things to make progress on.

Setup - French at left, Allies at right

The game pitted three French infantry brigades with brigades of light cavalry and dragoons in support, defending against an attack by three British, one Portugese and one Spanish brigade. The Allies had one light cavalry brigade at their disposal. The French goal was to hold their position long enough for their straggling brigade to get onto the board, join its comrades, and be able to withdrawal in good order off their table edge should they need to. The Allied goal was basically to attack the French successfully enough to prevent an orderly withdrawal. Ryan and Dave played the French, with Ryan taking two infantry brigades on the left (farther) flank, while Dave took an infantry brigade and light cavalry brigade on the right (near) flank. Leo and Tim would be the Allies, with Tim taking Spanish and Portugese brigades on the right (farther) flank, and Leo taking a British brigade and the light cavalry on the left (near) flank. The other two British brigades would enter as reinforcements.

First contact - light cavalry clash

Initial moves would see Ryan swing his arriving French brigade left towards the approaching Spanish after crossing the bridge in the distance. Tim marched the Spanish down the far flank at that brigade. The British and Portugese infantry moved up the middle, while the British cavalry moved aggressively at their French counterparts on the near flank. Ryan's decision proved to have a big impact on how the game developed, and was a nice example of the "friction" of war. In the short briefings I gave each side before the game began, I thought I was pretty clear on what the French goal was. Ryan heard something a little bit different than what I intended. Which would explain my slight confusion at his choice of actions - I fully expected him, at a minimum, to march the newly arriving brigade further along the road and tie better into the existing French defensive line. If he chose to be more conservative, he could march that brigade all the way behind the French center and set up a much stronger central defense. He chose to do neither, effectively moving forward to attack the Spanish.

British and Portugese advance in the center

The first real action was the clash of the light cavalry brigades on the near flank. Dave had a distinct advantage in quality even though the numbers were even, and he had a tactically superior leader. That didn't stop him from doing the statistically improbable and losing. LaSalle is a "buckets of dice" game, and in a combat between French hussars and British light dragoons, Dave was rolling a bigger handful of dice looking for easier numbers to get, and lost badly anyway. Poof, the hussars were gone, and his brigade leader was wounded. This would be the first of a number of such "how did I lose that one?" moments in this game. As expected, we fumbled with the rules, but I think we did ok in most major areas. Some of the same things that struck me as odd last time, still struck me as odd this time. The two most readily noticeable being the very restrictive arc of fire as concerns artillery (resulting in the ability of potential target units at long range being easily able to move out of the way of enemy guns), and the other being the fact that most melee combats seem to result in one of the two sides vaporizing. It is very much an all-or-nothing combat system. As I noted the last time, it is strange to see large, good, unscathed units vaporize in one turn. But that happens a lot.

Cavalry massacre

Anyway, the Allies continued to advance in the center, taking some hits from French artillery as they did so. The French and Spanish continued to advance on each other on the far flank, and the British cavalry pressed their initial upper hand in the cavalry fight. The next group combat saw the French chasseurs a cheval

Once the British cavalry chased away their opponents, Dave's infantry brigade on that flank was forced to deploy into square, preventing them from doing much to deter the British brigade that was advancing toward the French center other than to keep shooting long range artillery at them. This did cause a few hits, but the British kept coming. The French light cavalry losses did also force the French to begin moving their reserve dragoon brigade toward that flank to keep the British horse from getting too frisky. In the picture below, the British foot of Abercromby's brigade are finally in position to hit the French lines.

British attack the center

Next..the infantry fight.

Hobby State of the Union

So... What have I been up to from a hobby standpoint these last several months? The honest answer is "not too much". That being said, things seem to have taken a turn for the better. Part of it is just coming out of a general malaise, part of it is that the Fall In convention in Lancaster PA has energized me somewhat (as these cons always do), and part of it is that I never went completely dormant on the hobby front (blog silence to the contrary).

As much as anything these days, I am suffering from the attention span deficit that often (OK, always...) afflicts me. Too many interests and projects and too little time. Back to the original question... "what am I doing these days from a hobby perspective?":

• Seven Years War project - I have been packing an order to send to Sri Lanka for painting, This is an interest that I have that I will never ever be able to address properly on my own from a painting perspective. If I waited until I painted what I needed to do a modest game, it would never happen. So it is time to admit my own limitations and call in the pros. I am sending Austrians to be painted, while I still have hopes of doing some Prussians on my own, as well as a bullet point covered below...
• Modular terrain - Following the blogs of Olicanalad and others, it seems that many hobbyists use modular terrain pieces for their battlefields. I have always either used custom terrain boards carved out of foam (but not modular), or simple ground clothes with other terrain pieces. I have made a few half-hearted starts on making modular terrain pieces, but have never gotten very far. This time will be different, and I have already made some decent progress. More to follow in another post...
• Hundred Years War - As recently posted, I completed a mini project on a set of 24 archer stake bases. I had been planning to get around to this for the better part of a year, and finally set aside the 2 hours needed to knock it out. In addition to that, I always seem to have at least a unit or two of medieval figs on my painting table.
• Napoleonics - My 15mm armies need more rebasing work in order to use my existing figs better with the LaSalle rules, which we have played a couple of times and like. LaSalle seems to be a nice mix of period feel with modest complexity and fairly quick play time. In other words, a winner.
• Ottomans - Work continues, albeit at a glacial pace, on knocking out a unit or two here and there. Much more work to be done before even a modest game could be played.
• Seven Years War "ImagiNation" - It seems to be a fairly common thing amongst our English gaming compatriots to create a fictitious state for which to create an army and inject it into real history. Popular periods seem to be in the early horse and musket periods of Marlburian through Seven Years War. I have decided to exercise my imagination and create the Duchy of Alsberg, a small German state in the Seven Years War era. I have begun painting a few units and have begun sketching out the "history" and background of my little duchy. I envision my duchy as a sometimes ally of Prussia which is often at conflict with smaller neighboring states as well as occasionally getting caught up in the larger affairs concerning Prussia and Austria (hence the additional impetus to get some Austrians painted...).
• Lord of the Rings and some other fantasy stuff to be expanded on later....
• Last but not least, the Crusades Project needs to forge ahead. Theoretically this should be an easier one to make progress on as it requires little more than rebasing of figures.

So... as I said, lots of different things going on. If I could just focus on one or two things at a time, I might actually make some progress. Alas, it is not my way...

Lasalle Rules - First Impressions

Having had a chance to push some figures around using these rules for the first time last Saturday evening, it makes sense to post some first impressions. So, without too much editing or structure, here are some random thoughts and comments.

First of all, it was an enjoyable evening, which to me is honestly the most important thing. It was a little bit frustrating not knowing the rules as well as I like to, but we got through it without too much trouble. And with some subsequent reviewing of the rules, we didn't mess things up too badly. Mostly minor things here and there.

Obvious point: it is a "buckets of dice" game. It was not uncommon to be rolling 10, 12 or even 15 dice at a time in combats. While I don't necessarily think this is the most elegant way to deal with probability ranges, it works well enough, and should be familiar to anyone used to Flames of War or any Games Workshop games. And at least every combat wasn't a sequential process of rolling buckets of dice several different times to get to the result.

I also want to go back and look at the time scales these rules are supposed to represent. I didn't have an issue with the way units degrade over time until you simply pick them up and remove them from the table, but given that a unit that loses a melee combat decisively breaks and is removed, we had a number of instances where a large fresh unit lost a melee and disappeared immediately. It felt odd at times. Also, in instances where the French were able to throw more than one attacking column at a British line, it was difficult for the British line to hold. Perhaps more difficult than it should have been. I would also like to take a few minutes at some point and work out the probability of this kind of attack winning decisively to see if the math matches up with our experiences.

Movement seemed reasonable. The way units recover hits, but cannot do so while close to the enemy felt right.

Once again, all in all a good first experience, and we will be coming back to these rules for more.

Lasalle Rules - First Playing

Well, as planned, Leo, Dave, Ryan and myself got together Saturday evening for our first stumbling attempts at Lasalle. I threw together a straight forward Peninsula game pitting 3 brigades of French infantry and one light cavalry brigade against a similar force of English composed of two British infantry brigades, one Portugese infantry brigade and a brigade of British light dragoons. We did fumble with the rules quite a bit, easy as they are, but had a good time. It was a promising beginning. I am still mulling over various things in my head, re-reading the rules in light of a session, and figuring out what I did and did not like.

First, a few pictures.

The action begins with a clash of light cavalry in the foreground. The British (me) push the issue early, charging the 12th light dragoons into the leading French chasseur a cheval regiment. The dice favor me (6 rolls of 5+ on 8 dice) winning decisively and vaporizing the chasseurs, killing their tactically superior brigade commander in the process. It turns out this would be the high point for the British cavalry, but we didn't know it yet.

Tide turns against the British in the cavalry clash. The remaining French hussar regiment would maul the two British light dragoon regiments in sequence, opening up the British right flank to a massed combined arms attack in later turns.

French infantry advances on a broad front. The Portugese brigade makes a wide sweeping move to the far flank, but ends up bottling itself in and not being particularly aggressive, effectively taking itself out of the fight.

French attack columns moving up the hill in the distance.

French attack columns stalling and coming back down the hill...

Observations to follow in the next post.