La Hermandad Redux x 3

This past week has been a busy one for GdA. I had planned three games in one week to insure that I know how to use the ruleset, we will see how it goes. I had actually planned 4 but I had to cancel one. Both the GdA community on the TFL Forum and the GdA FB Group have been very helpful, so I have had a lot of support and I did ask a lot of questions. I have played 8 games of GdA to date, but 4 of these were more then 2 years ago. I have played 4 so far this year, but I felt 3-4 games in one week might cement the rules for me. 

I decided to use the La Hermandad scenario from the Vitoria source book, it has artillery, cavalry and infantry in various configurations as well as on and off table reserves and most importantly lots of skirmishers. I was hoping to not play the final game as the games master but that did not pan out. I had already played the scenario once with David about a month ago, I took the Brits that time; so this week, I played the Brits once and the French twice. I thought this would be educational for me!

Well I will give a brief description of each game below followed by a summary. I think one of the most interesting thing about these 3 games was the background of each of my opponents.

Game 1-Monday

This game was with Pierre-Yves. This was I believe his third game, but the first was virtual. As previously mentioned P-Y comes from a skirmish background and the only non skirmish game I believe he had played was "O" Group also from David Brown. He took the French.

Early in the game, I forgot to take a set up photo

The British launch their left flank attack

92nd firing line

The Centre

The French defence

Over the ditch

The final position of the troops

We started this game pretty late after 7pm, thus we called it at around turn 6-7. P-Y's dicing was pretty dismal in this game, and the game was a little slower than usual. No victory was declared but I believe that the Brits were in better position, so a marginal British victory.

Game 2-Wednesday

This game was with Graham, who has been wargaming for more then 40 years mostly I would guess tactical and grand tactical games. I am sure he has played some Napoleonics in the past but I understand that he does not have Napoleonic figures, being more focused on the SYW, ACW and AWI. I felt this would be the most challenging introduction. Graham took the Brits and I played the French for the first time.

The French initial dispositions

As you can see the British got most of their troops over the ditch, one of the French artillery batteries had to withdraw behind the BUA. They were also low on ammo.

French in line!

Portuguese in Attack Column!

The British right flank early in the game, it was big mistake putting the French in line, they really can not out dual the Brits with musket fire.

I was able to take the 92nd down to 12 casualties but they are a large battalion so refused to disperse.

Étrangers brigade

Portuguese approaching La Hermandad

Lots of smoke

The French cavalry kept on hesitating 

The British take the French right flank

I believe we got in 10+ turns in this game over 4-5 hours, even though Graham had not played this ruleset in the past. Clearly experienced tactical wargamers, even playing a novel ruleset, can make decisions quickly. I believe Graham believes that he was not winning but when I surveyed the table when he left, it was clear that he had got most of his troops over the ditch and was about to take La Hermandad. We will call it a marginal British victory.

Game 3-Friday

The final game was with my friend Iannick, with whom I have been wargaming off and on for years when I could get to Montreal. He has played a lot of Napoleonics, and in fact my first Wargame was with him and we played Napoleonics. I believe we started with Black Powder, went to Lasalle, played a game of Rank and File and if I remember correctly Field of Battle. We have played 1 or 2 games of GdA but I am sure that would be more then 2-3 years ago. I took the French.

Starting positions for the opposing divisions

Do not often get this opportunity, two fresh brigades but the English were hesitant and the French were on infantry assault orders, I decided to charge all 3 units. No supports on either side as the sole non involved British battalion was still on the other side of the ditch. If I remember correctly there was two melees both ending in routs and one retreat.

Final position after 6 turns.

The elite British brigade was in reserve and did not get engaged.

Neither did my off-table cavalry, they got on the table and hesitated!

My artillery brigade did cause some damage but for the 2nd game in a row, I rolled a double 1 and ended up low on ammunition. I was able to reload in this game.

We cut this game at after 6 turns as it appeared that the Anglo-British assault on La Hermandad had failed. We had wasted sometime talking about Quebec politics (I spend a lot of time trying to figure out my adopted province) before the game started and we still had to discuss the "Habs".

The game started off well for the Brits, the French actually had one turn where all 4 active brigades were Hesitant! Suddenly, however, my dice just changed for the better and Iannick's changed for the worse. I ended up getting two brigades on Assault orders on each of my flanks and they were essentially able to drive both Allied brigades back across the ditch. The Allies now had 2 brigades with a Falter status, and although Iannick was able to recover them both, it was now almost 11:00 pm and they were going to have to re-initiate their assault. We decided to call it, maybe a marginal French Victory.

Summary

So this is 7 games since September 1st, and playing 3 games in one week accomplished the goal of cementing the rules for me. In the last game, I referred to the rulebook only once and the QRS only occasionally. I do not even have any questions to ask on line. I am sure mistakes were made, but I am pretty confident that I could now finish a 16 turn game in 4-5 hours.

I have to say that I am really appreciate the help I got from both the TFL forum and the GdA FB page. There are a lot of active players on both sites and you can get answers quickly. There was real only one question that I posed that lacked clarity in response. This was in respect to intermingled brigades, specifically with one being a two battery artillery brigade.

I also learned some tactics that one should use when playing the French or the Anglo-Portuguese but I will keep what I learned to myself.

And finally thanks to Pierre-Yves, David, Graham and Iannick for joining me in these 7 games, I really appreciate it. I am hoping to get some more players involved soon.