Napoleonic Game 28mm

Last Sunday's Napoleonic game was a simple encounter scenario, which made a change from the usual 'attacker, defender' types we've been doing recently. Basically French vs Austrians rushing to control a hill and road in the centre of the board. Both sides began with advanced units, with French having slight superiority in cannon but the Austrians advantage in infantry and cavalry. Using the Republic to Empire rules we'd rolled for commander ratings, in which the French (mine and Ian's side) appeared to come off worse with a lot of 'plodders' and few skilful officers.

The Austrians started well, pushing quickly toward the objectives and getting their jaegers on the heights. Added to this was a large force of their cavalry rather intimidatingly advancing on the left. Ian took quick control of the situation on the hill by meeting the first units of Austrians with two regiments of French. Knowing full well that the further back he could push the Austrians, the further the main army would have to go in order to secure its target. Bracing ourselves with some chancy dice rolls and trusting the abilities of our unenthusiastic commanders we expected the worst, but surprisingly rolled high enough to give the Austrians pause for thought. This gave the French time enough to concentrate some of their own cavalry in countering the Austrian cavalry threat pounding down the road. Again some surprising results. Although the French cavalry were finally defeated it left the Austrians in a state from which they couldn't recover. Reminding us that Napoleonic cavalry is very much a "one shot deal". Thus the hill was secure in French hands as their primary force came onto the table unopposed. The same unfortunately couldn't be said of the Austrians, whose main army were only able to take one move before having to tangle with remains of the French advance who were still making a nuisance of themselves.

In conclusion, a good game which was fast moving and fun to play. It also gave me chance to photograph some of Simon's excellently painted Austrians again!