Today saw the Farnborough Wargames Society play host to a Blucher tournament Volley!, the follow up to November's tournament.
16 people attended plus the organizer, Lance, and I'm confident everyone had a great day out for which Lance should be congratulated!
The competition was 200 points, relatively small, so that 3 games could fit into one day of action.
I took photos of my own games as the French and also of other people's games and I hope you enjoy them!
Game 1 - Russ's Russians
I didn't get a lot of photos of this game, and even fewer came out decent but this battle saw my French defending against my opponents numerically superior army, 25 Russian units to 17 French.
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| In the centre of the field during the middle third of the match, French infantry and Russians stare each other down under the watchful eye of the French Dragoons. |
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| Some plucky Russian Infantry had managed to get behind my lines, and onto the objective on the hill! Fortunately my infantry were able to return and oust them from this position. |
This first game ended with 6 Russian units broken (break point 7) to 4 French (break point 5) in an extremely close and bloody encounter. Fortunately I was in possession of all 3 victory points and so scraped a close 16-14 victory.
Game 2 - Ray's British
My second game featured Ray who's British army afforded me the rare opportunity to outnumber my opponent, even if only by 1 unit. I was nominally the defender in this game but the game rapidly devolved into a desperate struggle over VPs in both deployment zones.
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| Early on in the game the British army is pushing hard on my refused right flank with 3 quarters of it's number. My I Corps is making it's slow march towards the British troops still defending their own VP whilst light cavalry from both sides prowl the centre looking to disrupt the enemy advance. |
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| After a few cagey turns sizing each other up the British launch into a full assault on the French positions with reasonable success. In the middle by the ploughed field a fresh unit of British infantry is wiped out in a single combat by French Dragoons, a fantastic early result for my army. to the top of the picture my I Corps continues it's long march towards the British reserves. |
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| A couple of turns from the end of the game the situation for the French in the bottom of the image is rapidly deteriorating, but they are still able to bloody the British noses. At the top of the image the fresh I Corps are starting to take the upper hand against the outnumbered British defenders. |
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| The finished game. The French positions has completely collapsed at the bottom, however the British have been smashed just as hard around their own Victory Point. |
I entered the final turn of this game with 4 broken units to only 2 British however I was able to break 3; a heavily battered unit in the ploughed fields by Dragoons, a unit of infantry in the forest holding the British VP by French Line, and a Spanish Cavalry unit with accurate long range artillery fire, to ensure I won yet another nail-biting game 16-14.
Game 3 - Colin's Russians
In my final game of the tournament I came up against Colin's Russians, the winners of Volley! 2015. Once again I was able to secure the role as defender in the hopes of forcing Colin's larger army to come to me on my terms.
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| Early on in the game Colin's Cossaks signal their intent by looking to sweep by my right flank. The Hussars to the left of my line of cavalry were able to resist a charge from Colin's Cuirassiers, a great surprise but typical of my cavalry who had performed excellently all day. |
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| The Infantry stare at each other in the centre of the field, Colin's artillery having good success targeting the elite units of the French army. |
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| My cavalry continued their great success, Dragoons and Hussars combining to wipe out the Russian Cuirassiers on the right flank, whilst also charging and destroying a unit of Russian artillery. This forced the Russian infantry to hole up into squares and halt their advance. |
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| My cavalry returned from their charge to take up position on the hill, not willing to stay too close to the Russian ranged fire or the still remaining fresh Cuirassiers in the centre. Colin's infantry in this time took the opportunity to advance against the French infantry. |
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| I don't have any photos between the last one, and this final shot of the game. The Russian Cuirassiers and Cossacks had got together to smash my weakened cavalry on the right flank and the Russian Guards had smashed a hole in the French centre. |
This game was far from decided when time was called at the end of the day, the situation on the right flank was becoming quite desperate for my cavalry who were being worn down by the quality of the Russian Cuirassiers and the numbers of the Cossacks. Despite this the Russian Guards had lost their impetus at this point and most of the Russian Infantry which remained in the centre were Militia and regulars with strengths of 2 and 3 ready to be broken by my fresh I Corps entering the fray from the left.
As it was we finished the game with 2 units broken apiece and a score of 15-15, a very close fought game!
Other Games
During the day both myself and Lance were able to take some photos of games other than my own which were in play so I will upload those as well and hopefully labeled correctly;
Round 1
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| Austrian v French |
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| British v French |
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| French v Russian |
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| French v Prussian |
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| Russian v French |
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| Russian v Ottoman |
Round 2
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| Prussian v French |
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| Russian v French |
Round 3
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| British v Ottoman |
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| French v Austrian |
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| French v British |
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| French v Russian |
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| Prussian v French |
Summary
With that we reach the end of the images taken during the day from me. My French managed a respectable mid table position with a respectable brace of close fought really fun games. I'd really like to thank Lance for organizing the event, and my opponents who made all three of the games both very interesting and a load of fun to play.
