Back into it

Gaming wise :-)

Last Friday night saw the return to gaming for 2018!

And back to Black Powder.

900pts per side. French vs. British.

The difference.... this time I would be commanding the British. Uh oh... the British winning streak in 2017 was, well, non-existent.

I'd be commanding them with Brent whilst Dallas & Paul commanded the French.

We assembled our forces. Quite the mix for the British based on what was available (or able to be proxied).

3x Line Battalions
1x Highland Battalion
1x Light Battalion
1x Rifle Battalion
1x Cacadores
1x KGL Light Battalion
3x KGL Line Battalion
2x Portuguese Line Battalion
1x Hussars
1x KGL Hussars
2x Royal Artillery
1x RHA

Split across 5 Brigades, each commanded by an Officer with a rating of 8. Div Commander had a rating of 9.

Don't ask me what the French had.... other than loads! :-)

British forces deploy (refused flank)...

Forces of France deploy and seize the initiative by taking first turn. Suits the British just fine though, particularly as two French Brigades fail to move! :-D

Not that I was laughing for long... my very first order roll..... double 6. Blunder! Next roll.... 1... crap. All 3 KGL Line Battalions retire from the field..... Well, there goes that flank!

Still, the main British line advances and attempts to use its firepower to slow the French advance. It's at this point that I pay closer attention to the French force. The bastards had upgraded 6 Battalions to large!?! And it only costs 8pts to do so!?! Well, this just got a lot tougher.

The centre starts to turn into a mess of lines, squares and close combat as both sides Cavalry makes it's presence felt..

The large French Battalions are just too much though. Although most of the French Battalions have multiple casualties on them, some super saving throughout the game prevents them from being shaken.

Not so for the British who slowly start to collapse.

But, not before the highlight of the game. Sensing victory... one of the large French Battalions (who had done nothing all game!) sighted one of the Portuguese Line Battalions.

Thinking they'd be an easy beat up - they charged in.

At the end of that first round of combat..... 1 completely broken Large French Battalion and 1 soundly victorious Portuguese Line Battalion! :-)

But that was pretty much it. Victory for the French. But, just a few rolls going slightly differently and I think would have been a very different outcome.

Some lessons learnt though and it was good to try out the British (especially considering how much I have now invested in them!).

Next time! Needs to be a British victory.... I think it can be done.

Thanks for reading.