When they were up...

...they were up, so as to speak, but mostly it seemed they were down! The latest games here in GHQ featured figures from my Wars of the French Revolution collections. Phil in his guise as Lord Rawnsley, scion of that family of military nobodies, Jon as Lord Walton, and yours truly as the inept French General de Bykli, of whose military prowess the less said the better! I played the game twice you see: on Monday against Phil, and on Wednesday against Jon. I won neither game! Well, now that’s out of the way I feel free to say a few words about each of the games in turn and to show a few pictures I took of the action. So, back to Monday first and the game with Phil ~

Turn 1: the Allies win the Initiative. They succeed in all their Command
rolls and advance all along their front.

On the French left its a familiar story: Advance? Non!

Turn 2: the Alies decline to move at all. The French centre and right
advance full of elan, or something...

Turn 3: the French right left finally moves forward but the centre stalls. On
the right the cavalry get stuck in to each other to little effect!

Turn 4: French Light Cavalry swirl forward on the left while the infantry
decline to move in their support. The Hanoverian brigade awaits the enemy
nervously.

Turn 5: the French Chasseurs a Cheval see off the British Light Dragoons.
Huzzah!

Only to be thrashed by the Hompesch Hussars in their turn. The French
Hussars decline to move, again!

Turn 6: an overview of the battlefield. The Allied centre is too strong for the
French and both flanks are stalled with neither side feeling strong enough to
win a decisive advantage. We called it a draw and retired for tea and cake.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening and the second incarnation of the Wars of the French Revolution game herein GHQ saw Jon, as Lord Walton, seeking to do better that Lord Rawnsley had. A fiercely contested game was the result with a decisive win for the British after Turn 9 when the French army's morale finally failed in the face of overwhelmingly Disordering fire over four turns. Jon's ability to throw 6's beggars belief at times, and with my dice too!

The French are advancing in the centre and on the right. But for the Allies the
Marines have occupied the farm. French Light Infantry advance to contest the
building complex.

French cavalry surge to the attack on the left but the infantry decline to move.
Sound familiar?

On the French right the Heavy Cavalry is doing well forcing the British
Heavies to fall back. The Marines still hold the farm though and give flanking
fire on any cavalry passing by!

The French cavalry falls back and the right flank becomes a rather non event.
The Marines still hold that farm!

Turn 9: the French army has four Broken Brigades and retires from the field!

Two very different games and two different outcomes. French Command Roll failures in both games hampered their attacks on the left while Disorder did for them in the second game. I half joked with Jon before the second game got underway that I often spend half our games in a state of Disorder: I should have kept my mouth shut! No games now in GHQ or elsewhere until the end of the month as Phil and Di are away in the USofA on a touring holiday of the Deep South! I hope to get some painting done and will have something to show early next week.In the meantime I'm of the Derby Worlds tomorrow, so time for bed I think!