Burchitt's Green

Last week we fought the 4th scenario in the For King and Parliament Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario book.

Situation after both sides first move. 

The Royalists (foreground) started out marching along the road, with just 2 siege guns deployed. 

Parliamentary forces are to the right, Royalist to the Left.  The rocks indicate that the last row of boxes to the right are "off table". 

Parliamentary view, as the bulk of their cavalry, for once facing little nearby mounted opposition, move forward...  boldly?

Further advance by the Roundheads, commanded by yours truly. 

Royalist cavalry cover the tardy shaking out of their infantry. Thomas and John shared command of the Cavaliers. 

The roundhead Greycoat Foote use the woods, which the enemy Horse my enter, to anchor their flank, while the Royalist cavalry in the center turns to confront the cavalry on the far Royalist Right. 

Overview of the situation on the Parliamentary Left. 

Quite a hodgepodge of units from both sides  in the Center!

Developments on the Parliamentary Right. 

Royalist cavalry charge, as is their wont.

For once their charge is repulsed by the dour Puritans. The new Royalist toys, Siege guns, miss three times in a  row, in spectacular fashion! 

Another Cavalier charge upon the enemy deep "Dutch" horse over on the Royalist Left. 

The charge inclicts heavy losses upon the Roundhead Horse, but it ultimately stands its ground. 

Meanwhile the greycoat Foote is charged by another troop of Horse. 

Loses in the melee are about equal, and the Horse rein in and return to their starting position. 

More of the very fluid situation in the center and Royalist Right.

Unble to resist such a display of flanks, the Parliamentary Foote surges forward!

Situation on the Parliamentary Right, as the forces continue their deployment. Meanwhile, the Greycoat Foote has rallied!

The red troop of cavaliers charges the Greycoats again, with indecisive results. 

Situation on the Parliamentary Right after the charge,

Closer shot of the Parliamentary Left. 

The Royalists fail to activate their cavalry, leaving them very vulnerable, with many exposed flanks! The Blue commanded Shotte fire into the flank of the Bluecoat regiment of Cavaliers; they play 4 hit cards and achieve three hits, which the demoralized Horse fail to save. Poof - gone! 

Second verse, (almost) the same as the first, as point blank flank fire by the Red Regiment inflcits heavy losses on the Buffcoat Horse. 

Overview of the Parliamentary Right. The greycoated deep Parliamentary horse have achieved the flank to the small veteran troop of Cavaliers, but at the cost of leaving their own flank vulnerable!

Action on the Parliamentary far Left;  The whitecoat Horse have run down one of the Siege guns, whilst the Bluecoated horse have nimbly hopped the hedge and gained the flank of the Royalist Green regiment. 

Disordered and outflanked, the Buffcoated cavaliers have little choice but to wheel to their right and charge their tormenters.

It ends... poorly. However, the small but plucky veteran Red troop charges the much larger, deep Roundhead Horse. The defensive fire of the Pistoliers fails to make any impression, and the red demons score 3 hits whilst playing 5 cards,. The Roundheads fail to save even one hits, and are thus swept away without striking back. Worse still, the General commanding is hit and killed as well! What a massacre!

Eh, remember the Morale Test for destroyed units and the Pursuit rules, Milord!

The Greencaot Foote turn onto the flank of the Blue Horse, but can do no more this Turn! 

Situation on the Roundhead Right. The Horse will have to pursue right into the gun, and only a single hit is needed to eliminate the Small unit. 

What be this trickery?!The blue Horse has swept around the Green Foote, who are also now threatened by being shot in the flank by the deadly marksmen of the Blue Commanded Shotte! The Dragoons try top maneuver to create yet a 3rd threat to the embattled Foote, but fail. 

The Parliamentary white Horse are unable to withdraw from in front of the Royalist Whitecoat Foote. 

The Parliamentary Yellowcoats advance upon the pursuing Cavaliers, and eliminate them! 

Sometimes a price must be paid for such audacity, and a vengeful charge by the friends of the dear departed wreaks awful slaughter on the Canaries!

The Parliamentary White Horse manages to disengage. and their blue Horse sweeps around the hedges and charges home into the rear of the Royalist Bluecoated Foote. Note the Greencoats in Hedgehog formation!

Splat!  Scratch one regiment of Foote!  However, the Horse are left in a vulnerable spot, and are also now in Pursuit mode! 

Overview of the Center after the charge!

Badly Disordered and under threat, the Yellow Regiment adopts Hedgehog formation, and the Parliamentary Gunne turns to lend its support. 

You want flanks, Guv? Here's yer bloomin' flanks! 

Another view of the dicey situation for Parliament now unfolded! 

Caught in a crossfire, the Blue horse take heavy losses, and then pursue off the field! Elsewhere, the Times declares :hedgehog to be the fashion of the day! 

Overview of the Parliamentary Right. 

The Cavalier cavalry charge both Hedgehogs!  "This ain't Water-stinkin-loo, boys!"

The badly damaged Yellow Regiment is trampled underfoot, sending the Green Horse into a frenzied pursuit, with the gun once again being in the wrong place at the wrong time! The Red regiment however, calmly crushes the enemy charge, eliminating them for no loss of their own!

Thomas and John consider their tactics for the Kings men...

The Battered Blue Horse return from pursuit, tootle-pip, whilst the White Horse manage some fancy footwork to face off against the Green Horse!

Overview of the remaining units of the battlefield. The Parliamentary Gunne has at least managed to face the threat of the Cavalier Horse. 

The Gunne misfires as the Horse ride down the hapless crew. A shout of "Twisted bloody knickers!" is heard to fade away into the moans of the stricken. 

On the Parliamentary turn, the White Horse once again maneuver with alacrity, and charge the Greenies in the flank. The Cavaliers are wiped out, and with that, the King's men are left with no Victory Metals!  For the first time in the Campaign, Parliament has prevailed! 

The Battle of Konin, Spring 1807: Day 1

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I went to Jared's home for a Napoleonic game using Field of Battle, 3rd edition. The game was an encounter battle between the French and Russians in the Spring of 1807, taking place after the winter slaughter at Eylau but before the Battle of Friedland ((June 14, 1807). General Bennigsen, wary of a flanking advance by Napoleon, sends Major General Rybak to secure the vicinity of Konin. For his part, Napoleon plans to threaten such a move but make his primary advance elsewhere. He dispatches forces under General de Division d'André to take control of Konin, but makes no mention of the fact that his advance is diversionary!

The day is still young when French and Russian forces begin converging on the village of Konin for many directions! General d'André has 2 of his commands now on the field, whilst General Rybak's are lagging somewhat, with just one command to be seen...  so far!

    The set up for the game was that each side had six commands, and four possible entry routes. Before the game, we diced for sides and as a result,  I commanded the French, and Jared the Russians. Each of us then designated on the map of the battlefield when and where each of our commands would come on, with the following restrictions:

1) On one turn (MOVE card) only, TWO commands could enter at the same time, from the same or different routes. 

2) At least three of the roads had to be used, and no more than two commands could arrive via any one road. 

The game used Jared's excellent 15 mm figures; the red beads indicate infantry units that have not used their first fire bonus yet. 

General Ryzbak's Map; the entry point and turn for each command are noted. TYhe other scibles are Night Moves (see end of this post). 

General d'André's map; same idea different style. C3T4 means Command 3 enetes on Turn 4 along road 1 (on the sketch). 

The French bring on their 3rd command, whilst the Russians still have only one on the field. 

General Ryabk's 2nd command arrives on his Right, while he ponders his maneuvers. 

"You shall take your Cavalry Division and harass the enemy!"

4 French Commands are now on the field, with the arrival of the heavy artillery on French Left Center. The Russians are catching up, with a lot of Cavalry directed towards their own Left. Poor Command rolls have prevented the French command on their Far Right from deploying or advancing!

"Nom de dieu", thinks General d'André, "that isolated command on my right is looking in serious trouble!"

He uses his LEADERSHIP (card) 2 deploy most of his infantry in squares, whilst alone elite Leger outfit maintains line formation, its flanks secured by said squares. The accompanying battery unlimbers, but the restrictions necessitated by the card mean they have no real filed of fire at present!

The French and Russians advance in the Center, whilst the 5th French command, consisting entirely of cavalry enters in the left center. 

The battle unfold with artillery exchanging fire in the center, and both sides bringing on their final commands on the French Left/Russian Right. 

The French squares are peppered with Russian infantry and Artillery fire! 

The Legere unit faces and delivers a crushing initial volley, routing the opposing Russian infantry! 

Mid battle overview. 

General LeBlanc, commanding the French right flank command, is struck down (on an ARMY MORALE) card. His entire force is now Disordered!

On the French Right, a Triple magic move results in the (line) Polish lancers charging home upon the detested Russians!

In the manner of Russian Dragoons everywhere, they stream to the rear in a panicked Rout, while the Lancers coolly reign in (they rolled even) and maintain their  order. 

Polish infantry infiltrate the woods, with one unit firing point blank into the flank of a Russian unit. Alas, a low roll means the tough Russki's shake it off without comment! More French cavalry pour out along the French left center. 

Better late than never - the final Russian command starts to make some ground on their Right. Ominously, more of the numerous Russian artillery unlimber and prepare to bombard the French!

Back on the French right, losses to  Russian artillery fire have thrown one of the squares into Disorder. 

French infantry and Artillery moving to relieve some of the pressure on their beleaguered compatriots; including a point blank volley into some Cossacks! Meanwhile, the opposing batteries in the center continue to batter one another's troops. 

Situation on the left after French cavalry rout the opposing Russian Hussars, and the Russian infantry pulls back. 

At this point, night fell, and the fighting for the day was over! 

We made a Night Move, including a rally attempt. All LD dice were down 1, down 2 if any movement towards the enemy was made. Failure to win the roll resulted in no movement, while a roll of "1" would indicate units getting lost in the dark, resulting in random displacements in both direction and distance.

The French right flank command managed to redeploy and improve their position, whilst one of the Russian cavalry commands blundered, with the units moving of in various directions! 

Situation on the other side of the field after the night moves. The plan is to fight Day 2 with several players on each side shortly after Christmas...