Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all.

Reinforcements in defence

The Weinpfalzers retreated again but still in order. After a long march through the night and most of the next day the river Wein was reached.  

There had been an exchange of ADC's with General Bojollay who had crossed the river further south and was marching to join forces. This was not wholly good news. Otto would have preferred to cross into friendly territory immediately and burn the bridge behind him.

Now however he must wait for the other half of his army or abandon Bojollay to another long march back with the risk of being caught by a superior enemy force.

Again Otto prepared his army in a defensive position. It was possible that Duc Reynard would let them slip away without a fight - no of course it wasn't.

More than likely he would swoop in for the kill quickly, before Bojollay arrived, and then turn to beat the old general.

Otto spreads his little army thinly on the high ground between the enemy and the river.

 The Duc de Fromagere leads his force swiftly forward.

 Weinpfalzer cannons blaze away with little success.

 By move three musketry duels begin. On the horizon the vanguard of old general Bojollay's forces can be seen

 In the centre the fighting is desperate and the Brie Fusiliers charge in beating back the Spatburgunders and capturing two cannon: the Weinpfalz centre wavers

However Bojollay forms up his force in a second line

The Scheurebe dragoons take that as a cue to charge the now depleted Brie Fusiliers

...and ride them down to a man

 On the Fromagere left the Dragoons Vert try their luck against the Riesling Regt, but are driven back by musketry.

The Weinpfalz front line has had a unit withdraw due to casualties and another has been brought back before it also collapses. The Fromagere front line is wavering too.

 .. and as the Weinpfalz second line moves up the Fromagere's are driven back off the hill. The battle is now between the second lines

Both sides reform and reorder

A squadron of Spatlesse dragoons finds the room to charge the guns. They are driven back but have taken the heat off the infantry who take advantage with a devastating volley into the Comte musketeers who are close to breaking.

The Green Dragoons persevere against the Weinpfalz flank and break through the infantry only to face the reformed Spatlesse Regiment.

In the centre a large gap appears in the Weinpfalz line, but the cavalry is not there to exploit it.

They have been routed by the Spatlesse Horse which means that the Fromagere army has now had more than half their units routed or withdrawing. The collective morale has failed and they must withdraw from the field leaving Count Otto and General Bojollay unlikely victors.

Holding Position

Count Otto sat outside the old inn in a despondent mood, his bread and cheeese untouched. 

The rash dash into Fromagere had been repulsed by Duc Reynard. There was no choice but to fall back to the river and join up with the main  army.

However as he rose from his repast a clatter of hooves rang on the cobbled street. A blue coated dragoon jumped from his horse and bowed before the Count. 

"They are coming my Lord, not three leagues away."

There could be no orderly retreat to the river.

Otto pointed to two low hills beyond the village. "We will hold them there," he pronounced grimly. "And we move now."




Otto's small army forms up on the low hills. They need to hold on until night fall.

The army of Fromagere advances towards the recently abandoned village

The two armies face each other

Weinpfalz artillery opens up at long range.

The Duc orders his dragoons forward. If the enemy flank can be turned it will over very quickly.

The cavalry clash

but the Duc's dragoons are driven back

The Duc waits for his dragoons to rally and orders a squadron of yellow dragoons across to support them. A couple of moves wasted?

The green coats are repulsed again and rally back behind their yellow coated friends

who are charged in turn

They drive back the Weinpfalz horse which is near to collapse and it falls back

Finally the Duc orders a general advance, aware that the sun is getting close to the horizon

Fire fights break out along the whole line. The Fromagere artillery is devastating at close range.

...and as the sun sets two Weinpfalz battalions fall back, but still the army holds on

Move twelve: and in a final attempt to break the Weinpfalz army a squadron is rashly thrown in

....   it takes five casualties from musketry and is beaten back 

The game ends with Weinpfalz still in position and they will be able to limp away under cover of darkness.

 Both sides will claim victory but neither will be correct. The Duc waited too long for a cavalry success and should have brought his foot and guns into action more quickly.

Chance Encounter

Perhaps in haste Count Otto gathered the units currently under arms and crossed the river Wein unchallenged. General Bojallay was to follow with a similar force within the week once the troops were brought back to quarters.

Otto's intention was to secure the bridgehead at Spatlesse, which he did unopposed. Now he could wait for Bojollay or advance on the village of Cathare and secure the important crossroads. He may manage it without a fight if undertaken speedily. Being young and adventurous he pressed on.

However as the army approached the village the enemy could be seen marching from the opposite direction. The race was on.

Count Otto leads his army to the field colours flying high, south of the orchard wall..

The Fromagerians come forth deployed

 The advance Weinpfalz battalion enters Cathare

...but the remainder halt before advancing cavalry and open fire with artillery 

The Duc's battery replies in kind

At the other end of the field the lone Weinpfalz squadron is charged by one of two Fromagere squadrons and is repulsed.

The Fromage infantry advance towards he village and are soon in musketry range... which proves ineffective against an enemy defending a village.

So it's in with the bayonet

But the assault fails.

On the Fromagere left the cavalry battle rages on.

After a successful artillery barrage the Duc orders another assault on the village but it is beaten back. However it brings the defenders to half strength - and they must withdraw

Sensing victory impatient dragoons charge in but are driven back by musketry.

Defence of the the village is taken on by another Weinpfalz regiment leaving the line depleted. The Fromagere artillery proves devastating whilst the Weinpfalzer's powder must be damp.

With their cavalry routed and an infantry battalion withdrawing the steady losses to the remaining infantry leave them susceptible to the enemy squadrons.

 Count Otto chooses discretion as the better part of valour and the field is left to Duc Reynard

It's war - again

The “War of Wilhelmina’s hand” was a short lived campaign but the countess still deemed it necessary for the victory to be celebrated and the fallen remembered. Revenge was on no one’s mind.

Until, a few month’s later, the Duc de Fromagere proclaimed that his “wedding day guard” withdrew from the lands of Weinpfalz only when he realised that Wilhelimina was not the beauty he thought she was and that he hadn’t wanted to marry such an old harridan.

"There are are better looking cows in the meadows along the river Wein,"  the Duke had said.

Such an insult could not be borne. Count Otto summoned his generals and called for the maps of Fromagere. 

It was to be war: again.

Summer Campaign 1735

After much deliberation including visits to the tomes of Bath and Featherstone, I have decided to KISS. Keep it simple stupid. I add things up all day at work so I have decided against a book keeping type of campaign.

So almost back to the original plan, but I am going with a campaign tree based on a number of choices from Scenarios for Wargamers. The idea is the that the next battle will be the sort of scenario expected from the result of the one just fought. This won't give the unexpected twists and turns but that's difficult playing by oneself. The aim is to have a simple game of soldiers without too much thought involved and to work out the simplest possible set of rules that give a feel for C18 battles.

We start with Chance Encounter. Which will be followed by Holding Position no matter who wins.

So the table is set and off we will go.