Volley! 2016 at Farnborough - March

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Austrian v French

British v French

French v Russian

French v Prussian

Russian v French

Russian v Ottoman

Round 2

Prussian v French

Russian v French

Round 3

British v Ottoman

French v Austrian

French v British

French v Russian

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.

250 Point Blucher Battle Report - Austrians vs French

Last Friday I played a 250 point game of Blucher, my French vs Austrians. My mostly veteran French army was significantly outnumbered by it's Austrian counterpart which was comprised mostly of conscripts with a core of elite troops.

Break points for the 2 armies were 6 for my French and 8 for the Austrians.

 The deployment in the centre of the field, the Austrians are deployed in three large chunks whilst my French are deployed mostly in a long line with 2 small groups of mobile reserves.

The Austrian first thrust is sent between the urban areas and the forest and is met by French cavalry and allied German Infantry. Horse Artillery also closes in to punish the Austrian infantry who faced with cavalry will have to form square.

Whilst more Austrian Infantry move up on the other side of the urban area to engage the main French line the Austrians in the gap are pushed back, but not without dealing heavy damage to the French Chevaux-Legers.

The very central advance of Austrians has got in range of the main French line now, the French have much better of the initial skirmishes due to their supremacy in this department.

In the background the right flank of the Austrian army prepares to swing in on the French left flank, threatening to stretch the limits of the smaller French army. In the foreground the French continue to take their toll on the Austrians at close range.

On the other flank a stalemate begins which would remain largely unchanged for the rest of the game, mostly featuring long range bombardments of artillery.

The Austrian right flank finally lands on the French left, Austrian Cuirassiers trading blows with the French Dragoons but the Austrian Chevaux-Legers fare much worse, being repulsed with heavy losses.

An overview of the battle at this key point, the disparity in the number of Austrian Infantry is apparent, but at this point 3 Austrian units have been broken to 0 French. Austrian numbers are going to need to start making a large dent in the French lines soon in order to take back control of the game.

The battle towards the right flank continues at a slightly lower ebb, with heavily weakened units from both armies falling back towards the rear .

The far right objective remains under no pressure. These units would be far more useful in the centre for the French than for the Austrians.

 

French units slowly try to move behind the line to reinforce the heavily outnumbered left flank.

The Austrian General looks on at the cavalry stalemate in the gap, both sides are extremely thinned out by this point.

Austrian Cuirassiers have dislodged the French cannon on the hill, forcing the French reinforcements behind the ridge into immobile squares. The elite infantry on the French left would continue to punish the Austrian infantry, but now had no hope of reinforcement. 

By this point the right flank Austrian cavalry have been replused, 2 Cuirassier units, one Chevaux-Legers routed, and 1 light Hussars reduced to 1 strength point for the loss of 2 French Dragoons and 1 French Chevaux-Legers, 1 unit of French Dragoons was able to break into the Austrian rear lines, threatening weakened infantry who had been moved out of the action. 

towards the end of the battle the Austrian attack in the French centre had finally collapsed the entire lot. By this point the French Break point of 6 has been reached, with the help of some Austrian Cavalry on their left flank finally breaking the deadlock to rout some weak French artillery.

The French had one last chance to force a mutual break, but were stopped short at 7 Austrian units, with the Dragoons which can be seen in the backfield routing a very weak unit of infantry.

In this final image we can see the final body count.

Austrian Losses came in at; 2 Cuirassiers, 1 Chevaux-Legers, 2 Veteran Infantry, 1 Conscript Infantry, and a massed battery of Heavy Guns (7/8).

French Losses were; 2 Dragoons, 1 Chevaux-Legers, 1 Line Infantry, 1 Allied Infantry, and a massed battery of Medium Guns (6/6).

Overall the game was extremely close, a 14/16 loss for my French boys under the clubs scoring rules, and could have gone either way up until the very end where my opponent managed to prevent my reinforcements from reaching the left flank whilst also keeping the pressure up so that the units trapped there could not simply get away from danger.

6mm Austrians - 200 point Blucher Army

As I said when I posted my 200 points of French, my next task was 200 points of Austrians to match them an now here they are.

I really do love how colourful the Austrian Hussars are especially.

The Army.

I Corps - 4 German Infantry, 1 Conscript Grenzer, 2 Artillery.

II Corps - 4 German Infantry, 1 Conscript Grenzer, 1 Artillery and 1 Cheveax Leger.

III Corps (Cavalry) - 1 Cuirassier, 4 Hussars.

The plan is to add on another 100 points to both the French and Austrian armies in time, but I haven't decided what the make up of this will be yet.

6mm French - 200 Point Blucher Army

After pausing for Christmas and Boxing day I've completed my French 6mm army up to 200 points in the Blucher rules. I will be of course making this army bigger than it is, but first I will be doing 200 points of Austrians.

This has been my first foray into 6mm as a scale, using Baccus 6mm figures, and I'm really pleased with how quickly painting the figures is and I really like how they look all based up.

The Army so far.

I Corps: 1 Elite Infantry, 3 Line Infantry and 1 Foot Artillery.

II Corps: 1 Elite Allied Infantry, 1 Elite Infantry, 2 Line Infantry, 1 Allied Infantry, and 1 Light Cavalry (Hussars).

III Corps (Cavalry): 4 Dragoons, 1 Horse Artillery.

The army is in fact the same as the list I have been using in 10mm just for ease of use and because I have found it fun to play. I will be adding more units up to 250 and then probably 300 points which should distinguish it.
I'm really pleased with how these have turned out, and in only just over a week.

Next, on to the Austrians!