My club played another Napoleonic game last Saturday and, as is usual, I led the losing side. At some point, I think the other fellows who get assigned to my side will wise up and phone in sick! Happily, the game was friendly and there were very few rules disagreements. The new version of General de Brigade is proving very popular in our group and it works pretty well.
Our game was the Battle of Montereau in 1814. The French plan was to refuse our left wing, assault in the center, and try to work our cavalry around the right wing. None of those things happened! Our left wing charged forward and tried to take a town that didn't need to be taken. This caused the brigades in the left center of our lines to veer left to cover space that should have been occupied by our left wing. Instead of shortening the left wing and giving us more troops in the center, our line was extended and thinned. This diluted the French strength in the center to such a degree that the Austrians were never in any danger of suffering a broken line. Meanwhile, on the right flank, our cavalry danced around for a while before finally engaging the Austrian cavalry. Our cavalry suffered, just like all of our other troops, from poor dice at crucial moments and could never inflict damage when the opportunity presented itself. Sigh... Combining our poorly executed plan with horrific dice rolling and you have the recipe for another French loss. Merde!
Here are a few photos from my phone camera. They are not good at all... I hope to have my real camera sorted out before our next game!
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| A French Brigade moving to assault a strong Austrian position |
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| A blurry shot of some French Lancers charging past a hastily formed Austrian square |
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| French Horse Artillery working on the French right wing |
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| Another French Brigade destined for ruin by joining the assault in the center |
