At my last battle at the club, Darren and I took on the dogged defenders, Garry and Monsieur le Rosbif, of Rosbif Ridge. It was also deemed The Battle of the Blogs.
Monsieur le Rosbif has had a blog for a few years now and is a fantastic blog. Very informative and full of hints, tips and one for the lovers of 1/72nd scale figures. (and I am not just saying that because he is going to read this)
Through emails we had organised a game with the British defending a ridge (what a surprise) ans the French, with greater numbers, attacking them. It was a practice for our big game in January, Waterloo.
I set up on the right of the road, opposite Monsieur le Rosbif, leaving Darren to face Garry to my left.
They were set up with the WYSWYG method, (What You See is What You Get) with artillery and a few scouts on the ridge, in the same old fashion, so we decided to attack, in the same old fashion
Or where we? The ridge was deemed a steep hill but it was only after we had 2 turns did we all realize that meant no cavalry charges. That changed Plan A slightly....
Darren and I decided to engage the British Artillery from the start. We had 8 gun batteries to the British 6 gun batteries. Once they were off the ridge, we could mount a very effective assault........... or could we?
The Rosbif Ridge
My French about to begin their assault
The British show us a facade, their true intentions, and troops, are yet to be seen
Monsieur le Rosbif taking a photo of me taking a photo of him, or was it me taking a photo of him taking a photo of me?..... The Battle of the Blogs has begun.
Avance Mes Amis
The targets of our artillery
A hit with my first shot, this looks good for me
Monsieur le Rosbif returns fire and hits one of my batteries
That was not in my script, he shall pay for that
A view from the right shows my Dragoons moving to the right
A hit again knocks another gun off le Rosbif's gun
What.....he hit another one of mine too
At least it was a different gun battery
To protect my batteries, I lined my Cuirassiers behind my artillery while some of my troops start to move to the right. It was about here that we all found out that we couldn't charge with cavalry.
(We usually only use gentle hills on a Friday night and Saturday afternoon, no excuse though, we should have picked it up at the start of the game.)
I am about to move my cavalry up and over the ridge to the right of the copse of trees
Darren moving his troops up to assault Garry's side of the ridge
Garry's Artillery and 95th rifles wait for them
le Rosbif's British appear in line at the top of the ridge, bold as brass
While some of his cavalry sneak around to threaten my flank
My artillery keep up the pressure on his guns
But he decides to kill one of my Cuirassiers
Now he has lost 4 out of 6 guns, time for a Morale test
Which he passes with ease
I formed square as soon as I saw the cavalry
And backed them up with all of my cavalry
le Rosbif forms line, but there is not much room to do anything dangerous
Meanwhile, my troops in the centre move through the rye fields, only to be shot by the artillery.
They definitely didn't see that coming....
My 6 gun horse artillery lost another gun, time for a Morale Test, ha easy..
Oh no, my usual luck, now I have to retreat 6 inches.
One of le Rosbif's guns has to do the same
Now his uck has changed and he has to retreat 6 inches off the ridge
I turn my Dragoons and move them over the hill to deal with the cavalry threat.
One of the few times that I could leave my flanks reasonably unprotected
More cavalry pour through the gap
Darren attempts to counter the 95th with his own skirmish screen
The battery returns and loses another gun, also gains a couple of disorders
Same roll as before, time to retreat again
A view from the right
My light infantry protecting the flank of my Cuirassiers
Something is building here
The British lines move off the ridge and engage my light infantry in a firefight
I had to retire after the Morale Test requirement of the Firefight procedure
This allowed me to get into the flank of the Artillery
A high die roll means it is time to run away
I manage to get into the flank of the British line
They retreat 6 inches (see the orange drum marker)
Another flank shot opened up for me
I couldn't hit the side of a barn with my shot, but le Rosbif's subsequent die roll was the same as before, meaning another retreat.
While moving my square toward le Rosbif's light cavalry, I was charged.....the cheek
It ended in a draw, which meant he moves back 6 inches and I stopped
This resulted in a line of exhausted cavalry (see blue "Blown" marker)
My brave square lost a figure but stayed in square
Meanwhile, I got shot in the flank on the ridge and had to retreat
I am starting to build up for an assault now
Monsieur le Rosbif's heavy cavalry charge my artillery, who run away. My Cuirassiers counter
But fail the Pre-Melee and stand with 2 disorders
They retire
And are "Blown"
My Dragoons charge the "Blown" light cavalry
And they disappear of the end of the world
I charge with 5 battalions
And smash the centre of the ridge
Time ended the game at a very interesting point. Darren did not have much luck with his assault but was still strong enough to have a second shot at it later.
All in all an interesting encounter and a great, friendly game.
We only have one more game until Waterloo in January. I am going to be The Prince of Orange and have organized a game with Van for Saturday. We may end up playing on a table with another couple of guys, depending on how many tables are free.
See you then,
The Duke
