I was meaning to write this up over the weekend but my illness came and bit me on the arse in a big way which has meant that I’ve been stuck in bed or just plain unable to function very well for the past few days. Oh well.
Anyway, last Monday I had the pleasure of joining Martin and Ian in a game of British Grenadier and I had a great time doing so. The rules are written by Dave Brown of General de Brigade fame and I really liked them, they have a great mechanic for introducing friction to movement which can also, possibly, cause ‘Disruption’ that gives some knotty problems to solve during the course of a game.
Apologies in advance for the lack of photo’s in this report, this is due to 2 causes: 1, I was dealing with new rules so had to concentrate a wee bit more and 2, we were having Christmas Pizza night at the club and I was also busy stuffing meat and bread based circular food down my neck! (Many thanks go to Dave in organising the Pizza and pop).
The scenario was pretty straightforward I, as the British commander, had to destroy a force of traitorous colonials, commanded by Ian, who were encamped near a river. All the figures were from Martin’s lovely collection and he umpired the game too. The terrain was slightly difficult with swamp areas making the field resemble a funnel which would benefit the defenders no end so getting to grips with them quickly seemed to be the best plan.
I had three brigades at my disposal, the first consisted of 2 Line battalions with a Veteran battalion and 2 guns. The second had a Line battalion and some Light Dragoons whilst the third had some Loyalist militia types and some militia cavalry. The plan was for the strongest brigade to engage the rebels whilst the smaller regular brigade supported from the rear as a reserve, the Tories would support the attack on the left flank.
So, without any further ado I stepped off to engage the Yanks and to exact revenge for the dastardly raid on my Mum’s home town of Whitehaven by that blaggard John Paul Jones. Straight away I started to appreciate just how difficult just marching straight forwards would be in this game. Movement is randomised by a die roll – I never have a problem with this although I know some people do – with the added problem of the possibility of adding Disruption Points if you roll a 2 (these negatively effect combat and firing and don’t help with morale either!).
As you can see from the photo above my right hand battalion (also the veteran unit) was in a good position to outflank the rebels if they decided to hold the line that they were currently in. Luckily for me they had decided to do just that whilst their second brigade decamped down the defile between the swamps (the lighter green areas to the sides of the camp). Just after this photo was taken I suffered a slight set back when the rebel artillery fired on my central unit. Ian rolled really well and I had to test to see if anything happened to my C-in-C as he was close enough to the unit being fired at. I duly rolled disastrously and my chief Rupert’s horse bolted and he ended up in the American, captured and no doubt having to be stared at maniacally by Mel Gibson.
This did not stop my advance, however, and whilst my 2 line battalions kept the main line busy, my veteran battalion slowly manoeuvred into place to take the Yanks under fire from the flank. This firstly destroyed the rebel gun and started to hurt the large militia unit holding the centre. My artillery had also move up and was starting to whittle away at the militia unit holding the other end of the line whilst piling on the Disruption points. Pretty soon it was time to get stuck in with the old cold steel (like I said disruption points are not good) and I launched a double attack. Over on the left the militia cavalry hit the wavering minutemen who fell back but rallied, then the veterans on the right charged forwards with levelled bayonets in a flank charge which duly swept the yanks from the field and caused the rest of the defending brigade to disperse, including the recently rallied militia from the other flank!
Now all I had to do was to advance into the funnel and destroy the remaining rebel units which Ian had been busy retreating whilst their comrades had been holding me off and now had formed a line between the swamps to the rear of their camp. I re-organised my force into a column with the veterans to the fore and the other battalions arrayed behind them and advanced to finish the Yanks off.
Unfortunately we then run out of time so the next part of the battle couldn’t happen which was a right shame as I thought I had the upper hand and was sure of victory! Martin said he is up for running this game again so hopefully next time we will have slightly longer.
I’d also like to congratulate Martin in winning the painting competition held on this night too – his India Service Light Dragoons saw off the challenge from some lovely Saracens and Crusaders and an assorted collection of Space Marine and other sci-fi/fantasy types much to his surprise! Take a look, they are properly nice.
Tracks and Threads 