And of course the French make yet another attack on Wagnelee and Le Hameau.
They also make their first attack on Ligny, lead in person by Gerard.
It fails miserably.
To the north of Ligny the French launch a devastating counterattack on the Prussians who had bravely ventured across the brook.
The Prussian general in charge of those troops is not impressed.
The French cavalry ignore him as they thunder by in an uncontrolled follow up.
Blucher yet again leads a counterattack on Wagnelee and Le Hameau.
The French cavalry that crossed in hot pursuit north of Ligny are roughly handled and sent packing.
Gerard is trying to rally his troops, bottom left hand corner.
The French artillery has got the upper hand in its duel with the Prussian guns of II Korps.
And on the western side of the battlefield at the end of the 17:30 turn,
the troops from I Corps are being moved to the centre.
(The old Minifig is Jacquinot leading a brigade of lancers in march column)
(The old Minifig is Jacquinot leading a brigade of lancers in march column)
I also realised after I took this photo I had not completed all the combats. The Prussians recaptured Wagnelee and Le Hameau, yet again. I am really happy how the toing and froing is going.
But the French attacked Wagnelee and Le Hameau again.
They were defeated and it now looked like the Prussians would hold this village.
The Guard attack!
The heavy cavalry of the IV Cavalry Corps supports the attack
that is occurring between St Amand and Ligny.
Prussian cavalry try an immediate counterattack and are beaten off.
Blucher rushes over and leads an attack against the French Guard
who had formed square to see off the Prussian cavalry.
His attack fails miserably, despite the use of a Free Roll and cries of "free beer".
The French had deployed their secret weapon - le vin rouge.
The big picture at the end of the 18:00 turn.
There had also been an attacked by the Young Guard on St Amand that had been rudely repulsed.
The Prussians who valiantly held Wagnelee and Le Hameau perished under a hail of shot and shell from the would be French assailants. (Most units disperse at around half accumulated casualties).
The Old Guard are securely across the Ligny brook.
The French 13th Cavalry Division are a bit exposed,
but they have done their job in protecting the flank of the Old Guard.
One of the optional rules we are using from the 4th Edition is unit self rally, but without the penalty of a further rout if a 10 is thrown. My reason being that such a risk doesn't happen with the existing rally system, a further rout only occurs if the unit is moved, shot at or assaulted. Also rout is not "the unit routed off the table" type outcome (that is dispersal), just that the unit has temporarily lost its fighting cohesion.
I've also decided to allow cavalry to cross the brook in "line formation". My initial immediate research has a regiment of squadrons in line but those squadrons stacked one behind the other, suitably spaced, in column and taking up what is a four figure cavalry base. I stress I am still working on this.
Well done Biko!
ReplyDeleteCan we have a tally of re-rolls used so we can gauge the level of wargaming moral high ground occupied by the French players?!!
Your decision regarding the brook seems appropriate given that it does not seem to have been much of an obstacle then, or now, especially at the scale of this game.
From memory, the Prussians have used up their five Free Rolls and the French haven't used any of their five. There was at least one, maybe two occasions when the French should have used Free Rolls. On the other hand, with I think only one exception, most of the Prussian Free Rolls were frittered away on insignificant die rolls. The exception was the counterattack lead by Blucher against the Old Guard in square, the odds were in their favour, but the dice, twice, were not.
Delete