Saturday 18 April 2015

Game Seven : A short but lively action.

The last battle of this mini campaign is Scenario 6 : Flank Attack (1). I deemed that the Altstein forces would be falling back to Hecksheim after their recent reverses but find a small blocking force in their way and a larger force attacking their flank.

 The situation on turn one.
 The Altstein column is led by the Grenadiers.
 The flanking force, two battalions of infantry and two companies of skirmishers.
 The blocking force, a battalion of infantry a gun battery and a commander.
 The shooting begins.
 The Altstein guns turn to cover the retreat.
 The grenadiers come under intense fire.
 While the hussars attempt to outflank the blocking force.
 The Eisenburg grenadiers are taking a lot of punishment.
 The commander steadies his troops but their flank is threatened.
 The Altstein Grenadiers are wavering under the weight of the Eisenburg fire.

 The canaries break!.
 And so do their Altstein counterparts.
 Charge!. The hussars roll a six and rout the Eisenburg Musketeers.
 Next turn they charge the guns in the flank too.
 As one Altstein infantry battalion escapes up the road another turns to face the enemy.
 The gunners are routed. The hussars rolled another six.
 The Essling Fusileers are in dire straits now.
 The commander rides over to rally them but rolls a one!.
 The Hussars charge again, frontally this time on blown horses.
 The next volley breaks the Essling Fusileers.
The Blue Hussars fall back, this time they rolled a one.

This was turn seven but the Eisenburg army was down to two effective units, both skirmishers, which were unable to stop the Altsteiners leaving the field.

4-3 to Altstein a narrow victory on the field but a strategic stalemate. Peace comes to the Teiner valley again, for a while.

Once again an enjoyable game with One Hour Wargames. I'm planning to try out the Rifle and Sabre period with my 54mm toy soldiers and some Pike and Shot next. I'll publish them on my other blog.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Late Arrivals: more One Hour Wargames

Next I played Scenario 10: Late Arrivals. I deemed that the Altstein forces would have retreated after their setbacks and are coming together near Korbruck.

The Eisenburgers are attacking and are led by Fritz von Essling, who has recovered from his injuries and Prince Johan.

The Altsteiner have a couple of battalions trying to hold on until the reinforcements arrive.

 As the Eisenburgers advance down the road to Korbruck they are met by an infantry battalion and a company of jagers.

 The Altsteiners bravely stand their ground and pour volleys at their enemy.
 Captain Weingartners jagers fire upon the grenadiers and a lucky shot wounds von Essling.
 Prince Johan brings up the rest of the column.
 He dashes about steadying the men.
 The Altsteiners take a lot of punishment and their commander takes a bullet.
 Reinforcements arrive, pull ya hats doon lads that sun is blinding!.
 The first battalion breaks, some of the photos aren't taken from the best angles because the sun was streaming in the window and I had to block it out with my body, it probably looked like I was twerking!.
 The new arrivals give out a hail of lead.
 And break the Grenadiers.
 The Eisenburg musketeers engage in a duel with Weingartners men lurking in the trees.
 The battle rages on.
 Another battalion arrives to aid the hard pressed line.
 But one of the Altstein battalions breaks.
 Johan rallies the skirmishers.
 Captain Weingartners men are holding their own in cover of the trees.
 The Eisenburg musketeers are close to breaking. I may have forgotten to shoot with them once or even twice, I suppose they were low on ammunition.
 Prince Johan falls in a devastating volley.
 And the irregular skirmishers break.
 I withdrew the Eisenburg musketeers to save them from breaking but Weingartner came after them even though his jagers were close to breaking themselves.
 It was too late though, the Altsteiners broke at the other end of the table.
 The last turn of the game saw the guns abandoned under the firepower of the Essling Fusileers (below).
3-3, I did not expect that as I said to my friend Cesar Paz last night.

The decider hopefully will take place next weekend.



Sunday 12 April 2015

Battle at Bellenheim

Another One Hour Wargame, I played Scenario 12.

After being repulsed at Hecksheim the Eisenburg column falls back to Bellenheim and guards the crossing awaiting reinforcements and or further orders. The Colonel has recovered since he was wounded at Hecksheim but he has failed to guard a ford on his left flank.

The Alsteiners have scouted out the ford however and aim to cross there while demonstrating against the town. Their objective is to seize the high ground close to the town.

 The Altsteiners head for the ford.
 The defenders are all deployed around Bellenheim.
 They begin to cross.
 They prepare to engage the Eisenburgers in a firefight across the Nord Teiner.
 First over is a squadron of the Meissen Dragoons.
 The Eisenburgers hasten to redeploy.
 Kazinskys lancers take the hill.
 The dragoons charge the lancers but are repulsed while the infantry crossing continues.
 Fighting begins in earnest.
 View from the riverbank.
 The dragoons move to outflank the lancers.
 The Altsteiners give fire.
 An overview. On the far right an Eisenburg battalion has abandoned the town to join the fight for the high ground.
 The lancers charge the Altstein foot.
 The dragoons receive a volley.
 The Eisenburg commander visits his guns to keep them in the fight. They rolled nowt but ones and twos in this game.
 It eventually dawned on me that the town was undefended so I sent a battalion over the bridge.
 The fighting around the hill is still fierce.
 This unit breaks and the Commander is wounded too.
 The lancers break another battalion!.
 The dragoons are taking more fire.
 Altsteiners enter Bellenheim.
 The bluecoats are well outnumbered now.
 The dragoons almost break their tormentors.
 The Altsteiners emerge from the town.
 The brave colonel keeps his men in the line.
 A last desperate charge sends them packing!.
 The Altsteiners surround the Eisenburg position but there aren't many of them left.
 The lancers outflank this weakened battalion.
 And charge them sweeping them away.
 The Eisenburg infantry are still standing, just!.
Then a timely volley from the Grenadiers routs the Meissen Dragoons leaving only one battalion of Altstein infantry in good order who then join the fugitives streaming back across the Nord Teiner.

Game five is an Eisenburg victory, the score is now 3-2 to Altstein, best of seven to win the campaign!.