Thursday, July 21, 2016

Cavalry Engagement at Liebertwolkwitz at Historicon 2016

    I ran The Great Cavalry Engagement at Liebertwolkwitz on Friday night at Historicon this year, using Field of Battle, 2nd edition rules, by Brent Oman. The game kicked off pretty much on time at about 5 PM. It took almost 3 hours to set up the game, with "Czar" Barry thankfully providing and transporting all of the Russians, and setting up the Allied side, whilst I set up the French/Polish forces. I have presented the scenario previously. This big game rally needed at least 5 players per side (and could easily have handled 6 to 8). We wound up only having 8 players, which slowed things down a bit. Most of them were FoB veterans, though.


Allied players from front to rear - Bill, Tim, Barry, Luke
French players from near to far - Peter (moi, not shown) Hugh,? Kenneth, ??  


We French won the first initiative, but turned mostly a lot of  MOVE cards, which we didn't really use.... but probably should have! The Allies then turned a pretty decent selection of cards, with 2 ARTILLERY FIREPOWER cards in the mix, That lead to them bombarding our lines to considerable effect. In my case, Bill's Austrian batteries failed to inflict any real damage on their first attempt... 


but on their second, they "found the range" and inflicted considerable damage, routing at least 2 of my infantry units. 


The Allies then stared to advance, and then it was a tied impetus roll resulting in a quick reshuffle - not to our advantage as we had not turned a single ARTILLERY FIREPOWER card ourselves.


Starting off the 2nd turn, the Allies turned two more ARTILLERY FIREPOWER cads before we *finally* turned one of our own! 


The larghe Russian and Prussian Cavalry Corps on the Allied far left swung out, threatening Poniatowski's flank. 


Satisfied with their bombardment after firing 5 times, ther Austrians started to advance in eaaarb\nest, hampered by some very Austrian Leadership Die Rolls of "1" (which allows NO movement for that Command Group on that card).  Still, it was clear they would ultimately turn my flank, which was anchored on Libertwolwitz itself, and the nearby woods. If the French were to win this battle, it would have to be done in the Center, where we had a mass of infantry, Cavalry, and artillery. 


The Allied cavalry have a serious weight of numbers in their favor on the opposite flank, so the Polish troops practice "Form Square!" Indeed, I have never seen a Field of Battle game with any where near as many squares!


Luke's Allied Cavalry press the issue, heavily outnumbering the lone unit of Polish Hussars and their support Horse battery. 


A longer view of the situation. Did I hear the onlooking sheep say "Czar Baaaaa -rry?"


Maybe I did! Tired of waiting for the French to get of their collective derrieres, the Russian infantry presses forwards as well!


Polish cavalry? Was their actually Polish cavalry here last look. None top be seen now. Ooops!


In their Right  center, the Russian cavalry trots forth to support their foot-sloggers. Seen foreground is Barry's Ekaterinaslav Cuirassiers, just finished less than a week ago. Unlike the abysmal performances we have come to expect from Barry's Russian Dragoons, these Cuirasiers performed very admirably in their very first action.... AGAINST my troops! Don't you guys know that new units are supposed to break and run at the earliest possible opportunity?  Sheesh!



Pajol (Hugh) finally gets the bulk of the French cavalry moving in response, with Ken's infantry providing support. The Russian batteries are soon overrun, but they did  for more than their damage earlier!


The Allied cavalry have swept the French Right flank clean of cavalry - but are unable to make any impact on the Poles in Square and Town formations. With only a lone Prussian Horse Artillery battery in support, they will have to bide their time for an opening. 


Bill's Austrian uinch forwards slowly, while Battle Royale is going o in the center!


Many Russian infantry units are routing for the Home, team. These new Murawski Polish Uhlans (center)  in their first battle are performing better than their sister unit, which evaporated in their first melee. 


The French have punche a gaping hole in the Allied center, but the remaining Russian infantry forms square, and proves very stubborn to dislodge!


Much of my French infantry formed square as well, when their were enemy Cuirassiers milling around threateningly, but with Pajol's troopers having chased them off, they can consider changing formation again... if they get the chance!


Bill's Austrian infantry continue their slow advance. There sure area LOT of them, though. Quantity, they say, has a Quality all it own!


Move and counter move on the French Right flank. 


Robert (right) arrived and wanted to try some FoB, so I happily handed off my Corps to him...


just as the Austrians finally closed on our positions! 


Another view of the French Right and Right Center. 


French Left Center Infantry in square vs Cavalry = stalemate, as we try to bring up some fresh French infantry to shoot up the Russian squares!


Freddy A looks on as Bill's Kaiserlicks roll up the French Left flank. We are at Zero Army Moral Points and paying the Allies at an appalling rate!


MORE white coats on the advance!


While Luke's Allied cavalry has no trouble chewing up the French horsemen sent at him piecemeal, just a few Poles in Square/Town deployments have the Allied horsemen stymied, their horse battery having been eliminated. 


Although we French cleverly and repeatedly  evaded turning an ARMY MORALE card, by 11 PM, we conceded defeat and agreed to yield the field to the Allies after 6 hours of hard fighting. Congratulations to Bill, Tim, Barry, and Luke for prevailing in an epic battle! My special thanks to my friend, Barry, without whom the entire battle would never have taken place!

24 comments:

  1. Now *that's* a wargame! Bloody fantastic!
    I have only looked at the piccies so far (can you tell?), but had to comment, given the wonderful impression. Super stuff Peter.
    (I will look at it properly too :) )

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    1. Thanks, James! I was very pleased with the look of the game. I deliberately started a little earlier so that we'd have enough time to play to a reasonable conclusion, and that worked out as well. I really hadn't planned top do this big a game for 2016, but then they came out with that damned theme ("Cavalry through the Ages"), and that was that!

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  2. Wow, Peter! That is an epic layout with high troop density for a convention game. Quite a spectacle and I imagine quite a hit with the participants.

    With three hours to set up, how long to tar down and rebox all of the troops?

    Very well done!

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    1. It went well, just needed another player or two to move a bit faster. Take down time was less than an hour, with a lot of help from my friends!

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  3. Looks great, epic action ,fabulous figures and sounds like fun too! I hope the strike time was shorter than the set up!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain, and as noted above, yes it was!

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  4. Now that is a Wargame ! Super looking game and units. Just the sort this f set up FOB shines with

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    1. Thanks, Garry. I agree, while FoB works great for all size games, it's ability to handle these kinds of actions is especially good!

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  5. Wonderful looking game Peter and a very impressive post. So many wonderful looking figures and full of attractive terrain. Great job!

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Carlo! I enjoyed running (and playing in) it!

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  6. I tried to leave a comment earlier with my Iphone with o success. Wow just WOW Peter!!! what a battlefield!!!! Love it !!!

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    1. I can't leave comments using my smartphone I am either, Paul, but glad you took the time to come back and leave one later! Thanks!

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    2. This is pure inspiration Peter!!!

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  7. Just the sort of game I would have loved to have been involved in. Great stuff Peter!

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    1. Thanks, Lawrence. Be happy to have you make the trip some year, just as I must make it to Oz eventually!

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  8. Rabbit read, he viewed, he liked.... Applause for the man from Connecticut again!

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  9. So sad I missed a mighty cavalry clash! Next year I will be back.
    Game looks great, Peter...as always.
    Tim

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    1. Thanks, Tim. Your beau-sabre was sorely missed by the French this year!At present my tentative plan is to do Raab in 2017, which was mu original plan for this year, until the Theme for the year was announced!

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  10. Interesting that it seems that you had very much the same things happen in your game as we did in ours Peter. I too got beaten back from the left flank by the Kaiserlick avalanche and things were looking slightly worrying in the Cavalry scrap on the right whenwe had to finish.

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    1. Since that outcome is reasonably close to the historical result, I suppose that's encouraging for the respective rules!

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