David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Wednesday 1 August 2018

Le Pont a Lembeek

This week’s game in GHQ between Phil and me was a Black Powder War of the French Revolution game, with Phil, as De Rawnslie, leading the Revolutionary French army and yours truly,  as von Bikkelberg, leading the Austro-Hanoverian defenders of Lembeek and its strategic bridge over the River Semme. The Austrians win if they deny the bridge to the French, the French if they have one Brigade over the river by the end of Turn 8. Either side can win of course by defeating the enemy on the field of battle.
Austrian cavalry hold the right flank, protecting a small 
Brigade of Hanoverian infantry and a Battery of 12ld guns.

The French have all their cavalry deployed on their left flank.
Two Brigades of Heavy Cavalry and one of Light.

The French right is held by a Demi Brigade of Light Infantry,
supported by two Batteries of 12ld guns. The centre is held by
two Demi Brigades of Line Infantry each of one Old Army 
Battalion and two newly raised volunteers who must check
their status on first fired on or being in action.

"Follow Me!" To compensate for my inferiority in cavalry I 
used this order quite a lot. I had mixed results I have to say!

Austrian Dragoons, Curassiers and Chasseurs surge forward
to halt the French attack.

The French advance on the Bridge supported by the Horse
Artillery on their left flank. The French cavalry seems reluctant
to advance to the attack!

Austrian infantry prepare to defend the Bridge as the French
advance on them. The Horse Artillery has deployed to support
the French attack.

Austrian Dragoons and Chasseurs surge past their Curassiers
and supporting Light Artillery.

The Austrian heavy guns are direted to fire in support of the
Hanoverian Infantry Brigade.

A view from the Austro-Hanoverian lines shows the ominous
numbers of French surging forward.

The Austrian infantry is under attach across the river and by
the Bridge. Time to show what they are made of!

Fighting is fierce around the bridge, with both sides having
some success.

After several gallant but indecisive charges and subsequent
melees, the Austrian cavalry is battered and weakened.

Despite a spirited and very gallant defence, numbers begin to
tell in the French's favour. The 8th cavalry move forward to
finish off their Austrian opposite number.

At the end of Turn 7 the French have two Broken Brigades,
but the Austrians have three. The French are over the bridge
and the Austrians cannot drive them back. Its all up for von
Bikkelberg I'm afraid, the Austrians concede the field to the 
French.
Black Powder never disappoints we've found in delivering a game in which fortunes swing first one way and then the other. The game was on a knife edge throughout and could have gone either way a number of times. The Austrian cavalry performed heroically, but were ultimately defeated by weight of numbers. French Command rolls were often indifferent, but their fighting was overwhelming in far too many instances for their opponents. Despite the result being disappointing for me, I thought this was an excellent game and thoroughly enjoyed it, as did Phil.

16 comments:

  1. A lovely looking game David. Blackpowder has many detractors but I find it provides a great cut and thrust game that allows one to concentrate on the actual tactics and less on the rules.Well done.

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    1. Thanks Robbie. I agree wholeheartedly about BP too.

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  2. A splendid game indeed, as you say BP rarely fails to deliver.

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  3. Excellent looking game David with lots of surging going on it would seem. BP are great as you can play the period and not the rules. You know what I mean.....

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    1. Surging in 28mm is about my limit nowadays! See you tomorrow at Claymore I hope!

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  4. Fantastic looking game David! Black Powder does indeed give a good game.

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher, I agree about BP too.

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  5. Wow! What an exciting looking game! Makes me wish I had an attention span greater that that of the average gnat, so I could finish up large enough units to play with a table full of such colourful troops...

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  6. Beautiful figures and great report.

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  7. Lovely looking game,an unfortunate result for the gallant Austrians, sounds like great game though!
    Best Iain

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    1. Unfortunate doesn’t begin to cover it, sadly.

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  8. A great looking and sounding game David...
    Black Powder is our go to set of rules these days...... you can tweet them to suit most 18th and 19th century conflicts... and even some early 20th century.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, much appreciated. I agree about BP’s versatility entirely.

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