Battle of Albuera, 1811- General d'Armee AAR

My second game at Fall In was the Battle of Albuera, 1811, using General d'Armee 2 and run by Chip (with assistance from Ted).

The game focused in on a section of the overall battle. Four French infantry brigades started on the attack against just two Spanish infantry brigades. Over time, two British infantry brigades and a Spanish cavalry brigade would reinforce the Allied line, while the French would see a cavalry brigade added to the battle. 

The French advance was generally cohesive, with only one brigade falling behind from multiple Hesitant results.

The Allies had a tougher time dressing their lines. With the British coming on after the initial deployment, the plan was for the two Spanish brigades to fall back and drift apart, forming a space for the British battalions to fill. 

You can see the problem the Allies found themselves in. Hemmed in on both sides, the British had to squeeze into whatever gaps they could find. I unfortunately also made the mistake of masking my guns with my skirmishers and prevented them from firing. 

The Allied right was also being threatened by the French cavalry brigade. 

One of the Spanish brigades began to falter as the French columns charged forwards. 

On the other side of the battle, French battalions shifted to line as the flagging infantry brigade caught up. 

Unfortunately, one of the Spanish battalions in square was charged by French infantry and routed, leaving another battalion isolated. 

After seeing the Spanish battalion routed, the British formed square while a single Spanish battalion awaited a mass of French columns. 

On the Allied left flank, the pair of Irish battalions held firm as the French filtered around the small village (which acted as rough terrain instead of a proper Built Up Area. 

The Spanish cavalry sat in it's position, unwilling to advance but keeping a French brigade out of the action by doing so. 

After weathering multiple French charges, the British decided to launch their own assault, throwing back a few enemy battalions. 

Unfortunately, my poor artillery battery was doing poorly in the Spanish heat, and my dice rolling was causing more damage to the crews then enemy fire was. 

And to add on another calamity, I managed to fail two rolls to keep my other faltering British brigade from fleeing the battlefield. This opened a massive hole in the Allied lines. 

We decided to call it there as we were close to the time limit for the game and the Allies were in a bad position. Thus, a French victory!
 

I feel like I need to play more GdA2, as there are plenty of nuances that I just don't have done, especially with the changes from the previous version.

However, I'm always happy to get a chance to game with Chip and Ted!

Return to Osma - General d'Armee AAR

This past weekend, Kelly hosted a game of General d'Armee (first edition) at his home.

We were refighting Osma, which I have played before with Ted and the others in the New Jersey group (using the second edition of the rules).

The scenario was the same as before; three French brigades attempting to hold back a combined force of four British and one Portuguese brigades. The British had 10 turns to break the French.

Kelly GM'd, Larry and I commanded the British, and Scott and Jeff commanded the French.  

The game started with the British pushing forward as quickly as possible, with the Portuguese using a Forward! order to move up their flank.

The French elected to have one brigade defend the wood-covered hill that extended across half of the table, while the other brigade was split between defending a line of hedges and the small town. 

On the other British flank the King's German Legion light brigade moved in skirmish lines towards the French brigade that was quickly taking position on the hilltop. 

The French garrison, on seeing the waves of British uniforms approaching, realized it was likely better to move up from their position to halt the enemy advance. 

Both sides exchanged skirmish fire as battalions moved into position. 

In an incredible feat of dice-rolling, Larry managed to secure a Retire from an opposing French brigade through the Destiny table! This gave the British a chance on their right flank to keep advancing. 

Meanwhile, I was making a hash of things on the left. A failed infantry assault saw the KGL light brigade pushed back and out of firing position, while a battalion of KGL line infantry was being battered by two French battalions. 

Unfortunately, the Portuguese brigade hesitated, giving their French opponents time to recover and shake back out into formation. The third French brigade advanced up the center. 

The battle for the hill continued. The KGL cleared the French skirmishers, but the formed enemy battalions held strong. 

The British center advanced towards a strong French presence. 

And the Portuguese were having trouble following up on their earlier success, as they exchanged fire with French skirmishers. 

While the British had gained an extra two turns from the Retire result the French had rolled earlier, the scenario wasn't looking good for them overall. The French still held the hill, keeping two British brigades checked. And none of the French brigades were likely to end up Faltering without some very lucky dice. 

And I definitely didn't have that luck! My hope of a successful infantry assault from the KGL line brigade went up in smoke, despite attacking a pair of French battalions that had lost fire discipline. 

The British decided to call off the attack at the top of turn 12, as there wasn't a likely avenue to cause another French Retire or Sauve Qui Peut result. 

My impression of this scenario from the last time I played it holds; this is a tough scenario to get a historical result with. Though I've seen other online reports with the British succeeding. I wonder what they're doing differently? I may have had more success had I been more aggressive with the KGL light brigade and fed them Skirmisher taskings for the game. They can really throw out hits, especially against formed battalions. 

Maybe we'll return to Spain at some point and try it again. 

The Wizard of Osma - General d'Armee AAR

As I was back in New Jersey over the past weekend, I met up with Ted, Chip, and Steve for some classic Saturday night gaming.

The guys have been focusing on General d'Armee V2 for the past couple months. I was happy to hear this, since I had purchased the rules but not had a chance to play them yet. 

We were refighting Osma (during 1813 in the Peninsular War), with four British and one Portuguese brigades clashing against three French brigades. The game would last 10 turns, with both sides trying to break the other. 

Chip and Steve commanded the British and Portuguese, while Ted and I commanded the French.

The British were deployed a fair distance from the town (which gave them a tactical advantage if they managed to take control of it, giving a negative initiative modifier to the French), with the Portuguese anchoring their right flank.

The French defenders seemed somewhat anemic on the ground, with a decent gap between the two brigades and my own left flank wide open.

Ted put his veteran troops into skirmish lines to try, giving him a wider front against Steve's advancing battalions.

Meanwhile, my troops were backpedaling as fast as possible while also trying to shift to the left. Apparently garrison fire is much more effective in this version and I was hoping to get a clear line of fire for the battalion in the town.

Chip's British brigade was hot on my heels, but the Portuguese seemed less enthused about the whole affair, lagging far behind.

I realized that I wasn't going to get a chance to shift my battalions like I wanted and instead elected to stand and fight.

Of course, that would have been easier had Chip's counter-battery fire not forced my artillery battery (and the only artillery battery on the French side) into retreating behind the town.

Ted and Steven continued to skirmish, with Steven slowly forcing Ted back.

With some forceful language, Chip harangued the Portuguese into finally moving forward. Once in position, he was able to use one of the new C-in-C commands; Flank Manoeuvre! This allowed Chip to bring in another infantry brigade, threatening to overwhelm the French flank.

Luckily, I was able to bring on and double-time a third brigade of Nassau troops (low quality recruits, but hopefully enough bodies to throw into the British lines!) to cover my flank.

My dice were pretty good that night, and Chip's British brigade was forced back after losing a battalion. I also lost a battalion, but was able to keep my brigade from faltering by using a C-in-C command.

Steve's advance had brought him into range of my recovered guns, allowing me to rout one of his battalions. Ted's troops had formed a solid wall and were exchanging fire with the British.

We reached the end of 10 turns with two badly mauled British brigades. The French had taken casualties as well, but came out of the fight better off and were still in control of the town. This gave them an non-historic victory.

Apparently it's quite a tough scenario for the British to win. While they have the numbers, the British have a good distance to cover. Even a single British brigade becoming hesitant during the advance (especially a flank brigade that restricts the placement of another flanking brigade!) helps the French.

I appreciated Ted, Chip, and Steve helping me learn the new version of the rules. My first impression is that I like them! Fire combat (skirmish, volley, and artillery) seems much deadlier. Modifiers for fire combat have been drastically reduced; instead of needing to balance negative and positive modifiers on both hands, negative modifiers just reduced the effectiveness of your fire chart and positive modifiers give you extra casualty dice (which have been standardized across the board to 4+ effectiveness). 

I also really like the C-in-C Commands and Ammo Caissons. An issue of the previous version was the feeling of never having enough ADCs to do anything but make sure your brigades wouldn't go hesitant. With Ammo Caissons able to affect your artillery and C-in-C Command giving you that pivotal extra boost, the lack of ADCs at critical moments can be circumvented.

I think this has reinvigorated my interest in my Napoleonics project, which was sorely needed. And I always appreciate gaming with Ted, Chip, and Steve. 

Paint the Town Red - General d'Armee AAR

This past weekend I was back at Kelly's place for a game of General d'Armee. 

Kelly had set up a scenario based on the Battle of Jakubowo-Kliastitzy, compressing the two days of fighting into one. 

I was assigned to be one of the attacking Russian commanders, alongside Gary and Alex. Scott, Kevin, and Chris played as the French defenders. 

The Russians had four attacking brigades, three infantry and one cavalry, with two more infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade in reserve. The French had three infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade on the table, with two more infantry brigades in reserve. 

The Russian assault started well, with infantry columns streaming towards the town of Klyastitsy. 

The Russians had some problems from the outset. Our somewhat cramped deployement meant we had two options; either 1)deploy the artillery forward, move them into effective range, fire for a turn or two, and then the move the infantry in or 2) deploy the infantry forward, try to take the town via infantry assaults, and use the artillery as overhead covering fire.

We elected to do the second method, thinking we wouldn't have long before the reinforcing French brigades arrives.

Looking to take part of Klyastitsy before the French reinforcements could arrive, I ordered an Infantry Assault with one of my infantry brigades.

(Unfortunately, I think we messed up the rules for this, which really effected how the rest of the game went. 

Battalions in BUA should only get Casualty Dice for firing like skirmishers, but the defending French fired as normal. There's also no Charge resolution for attacks against battalions in BUAs; the defenders gets to fire and the fight goes directly to the Melee phase. 

This resulted in the Russian infantry battalions getting stuck in multi-turn attack, taking casualties before being able to get stuck in).

While my brigades were struggling to take the town, Kevin's French infantry came streaming up and over the hills, squaring off against Alex's brigade.

Meanwhile, Gary was pushing his infantry forward through the cover of the nearby woods. Skirmishers from both sides dueled. A gap in the Russian line opened as the cavalry brigade spent multiple turns as Hesitant. 

It was about halfway through the game when the tide turned against the Russians. I had failed to take Klyastitsy, with one of my infantry brigades hesitating and not able to join the fight. Gary had attempted to attack Scott's artillery battery with his cavalry, but the Russians were repulsed. 

The French had managed to establish a defensive line with infantry brigades flanking the town.

Finally, my infantry assault finally broke through, but with heavy losses. As a counter, Scott brought up fresh infantry to take the BUA back. 

Gary's infantry brigade was slowly being forced back, as the initial French reinforcements charged into his flank. (At this point, Gary had to leave, and Chris took over his command).

You can also spot the two French reserve brigades making their way towards the battle.

Scott's counter attack was successfully, forcing my brigade to Falter (and dispersing one of my infantry battalions).  

Alex had moved his battalions back into columns to meet Kevin's advance closer to the town.

Chris' Russian infantry brigade was in a bad position. Scott's charge results were fantastic, forcing two infantry battalions to Rout and the overall brigade to Falter.

At this point the Russian attack was really falling apart. With my one infantry brigade faltering, it opened up Alex's flank, allowing Kevin to charge his cavalry into the side of Alex's artillery battery.

We decided the call the game there, with a minor French victory. Technically the Russians still had three fresh brigades (one on-table Grenadier brigade, and two off table brigades), but any newly launched attack would do so into the face of a relatively fresh and well position French position.

Despite the poor showing by the Russians, it was still fun! General d'Armee always makes for a good game. I'm looking forward to seeing what changes in the second edition (which should be releasing in a month or so from the time of writing).

Double Time!, Part 2 - General d'Armee AAR

This past weekend the crew gathered together at Ted's to finish our refight of Corunna. 

From last week, the British were on the back foot, with the French pressing hard up the hill and advancing from Elviña. 

A round of poorly conducted charges, however, saw Steve repulse both French brigades commanded by Ted and me. 

Près John and loin John continued their advancing, exchanging fire with Chip's Guard brigades. I was supporting their attack with long-range fire from the artillery brigade. 

A poor Destiny roll forced Chip's Guards brigade to retreat. He rallied the brigade, but the British were stuck in a poor position, overlapping and unformed. 

One of Steve's British Battalions also routed after taking continued fire from Ted's horse artillery, but the other battalion in the brigade not only held, but advanced in the face of my French brigade. 

The game ened with two French retreats. Près John's charge against the defending Guards battalion failed, and Steve brought his Highlanders down from the hill to hit one of my infantry battalions that was in poor form. 

We decided to call it there, as GdA's timescale would place sunset (which ended the historical battle) at around turn 14. 

After some deliberating between the players, we decided the game was a draw. Both sides could claim a victory from the battle; the French absolutely battered the British units defending the retreat, but were still kept from sweeping down onto the transports. 

We'll be picking GdA up again in a couple weeks with another scenario that looks like a lot of fun! And in the mean time, I'll be sure to pick up a copy of GdA for myself.