Monday, January 8, 2018

LANNES Campaign: Set up for game 5 - The Battle of Wheeling, 1812

Part of Warplan 5/5 Card 12A; the atlas indicates that the distict is firm grazing land with fences and orchards. 


    At the conclusion of game 4 of our LANNES Campaign (Fitchwoods), [played almost 8 months ago, the determination of the next battlefield came up as 12A.14, the village of Wheeling. I recognized this location immediately, because Wheeling  was the site of the climactic battle of our very first Warplan 5/5 Campaign back circa 1971. Charlie (Red, using British figures) and I (Blue, using Bavarians and French - of course!) were allied against Paul (Green, using Russian Troops) and Chuck (Yellow, using Austrian and Westphalian troops).Charlie and I were attacking from the South,  with a significant numerical advantage, but that meant facing the walls of Fort Wheeling (12A.13) Fortunately, we had prepared for this and had our Siege train of 18 pounders  advancing through 12A 18. Meanwhile, Paul's main army was rushing to assist his ally, advancing from the East into 12A.15. 

    Notable events of the battle included Charlie's newly painted British Rocket battery shooting at Paul's lead unit, the recently painted guard Hussars, and by incredible luck managing to hit them with an air burst, causing them to rout and carry with them much of the Advance Guard of Paul's troops, and Chuck's C-in-C being severely injured and out of the battle, an event commemorated to this day by a figure in his uniform being loaded into a field ambulance! This battle was played on an 18 x 5 foot table (two ping pong tables end to end) in my parent's un-insulated attic in July, so the fighting was literally very hot indeed!

    The fort will play no role in this action, though. From the end of game rolls made according to the "pick up battle" set-up for Field of  Battle, Barry will have choice of side of deployment or orientation of the battlefield, and I will have whichever he doesn't take. I will have to deploy 2 command groups my first time laying troops out, and 1/4 of my command groups will be delayed D4 turns in arriving. As Barry noted, thus far in the campaign, if a side has had delayed troops, that side has always won!

    The status of my army at the end of the Batle of Fitchwoods is as below - as I had an advantage of 8 Morale Points at the end of the battle, I was able to modify 8 of my die rolls for unit quality upgrades, resulting in almost all units upgrading. The shaded 4 units are new reinforcements for this battle. 


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Unit #Unit NameDDCDRouts CausedFinal UI lossRouted, etc?End Game Result
1Vendémiaire LineD6D12+12DD+1
2Brumaire LineD4D101CD+1
3Angoulême HussarsD8D12+112YesCD+1
4Ardennes LightD6D12+1CD+1
5Bordeaux ChasseurD8D12+1DD+1
6Chaumont HussarD8D12+1CD+1
7Vertu 6# Ft ArtilleryD6D10CD+1
8Génie 6# HAD10D12+11DD+1
9Bouches-du-Rhône GdD10D12CD+1
10Frimaire LineD4D12CD+1
11Nivôse LineD4D12+112CD+1
12Côte-d'Or Light GdD10D10CD+1
13Rhône LightD8D12+14YesDD+1
14Morvan DragoonD4D12+1CD+1
15Travail 6# FAD6D10CD+1
16Gironde LightD6D124YesCD+1
17Loire LightD4D121DD+1
18Dijon ChasseursD4D12CD+1
19Opinion 6# FAD6D122YesCD+1
20Pluviose National GdD4D8Becomes Line
21Rouen ChasseursD6D10
22Jura DragoonsD6D10
23Nord LightD4D8
24Ventose LineD6D8
25
GeneralNameLDSpecialHit?OutcomeYearEnd Game Result
C-in-CFrancois FauconD12-no1799NC
ASimeon SourisD8poltroonno1799Down 1
BFabien LaFermeD12Fabianno1800Up 1
C Rene RenardD12+1Fabianno1799Up 1
DHenri HibouD10Fabianno1805Down 1
EBernard BelierD10-no1807NC

4 comments:

  1. I have always loved a British rocket battery since the old WRG 1685-1845 rules. Great memories Peter, and thanks for sharing.

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    1. With the rules we were using at the time (Frappe!), the rockets flew straight for 4 hexes (12"), and then for each additional hex on 1,2 it turned left, 3,4 straight, 5,6 turned 60 degrees right. Distance was deTermined by rolling 4 to 10 dice, and Charlie rolled 10 dice, so the odds of hitting something were incredibly remote. At the end of the flight, a 1,2,3 was a dud, 4,5 was a ground burst effecting the final hex, and a 6 was an airburst effecting the final hex and THE 6 ADJACENT ONES. Effect was greater vs cavalry (terrifying horses).

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  2. Warplan 5/5 now that is going back a while indeed !

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    Replies
    1. Product came out circa 1970 - but still nothing else quite like it.

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