The Bikelburger Raid

Just one week late Phil and I gathered in GHQ for a small SYW game. Small as Phil says he is still a tad wan following his illness. The scenario is a raid on the Bikelburger farmstead by both Allied and French all arms forces. 

Bikelburger farmstead, a tranquil scene of rural idyll, soon to be shattered by the roar of musketry and the clash of steel on steel!

The Comte du Merde entrusted with a command once more. His force is a motley assemblage of foreign infantry regiments in French service, supported by artillery and small elements of Dragoons. Oh, and the Hussars de Bykli! As is my wont now an anotated photomontage which I trust will carry the gentle reader into the heart of the action ~

Lead by the Royal Deux Ponts regiment the German regiments, supported by the Hussards de Bykli advance briskly on De Merde's right flank.

In the centre the Voluntaries de Fischer cover the advance of the Scottish regiments, while on the left the Irish advance supported by the Royal and Colonel General's Dragoons.

On the Allied right the Duke of Brunswick brings his infantry brigade into position supporting his sole battery of artillery.

The Hanoverian contingent of the Allied army is very slow by comparison to rouse itself for action. It looks very encouraging for the French with their bold strike forward in Turns 1 & 2!

The Duke's ADC consults the rule book with glee, the French have Blundered again and fall back. 

Meanwhile the Voluntaires de Fischer find their progress under the cover of the flock of sheep has not gone unnoticed and Hanoverian musket volleys Disorder them. Suddenly things look less rosy for the Comte!

Having decided on a policy of bold assault the Royal Dragoons clash with Hanoverian Hussars, unsuccessfully as it happened. Defeat is suffered due to lack of support and they Rout!

The Brunswick artillery fail to hit the proverbial barn door! Jubilant German infantry smashes into the improvised redoubt without losses!

As the infantry overrun the Brunswick battery position the Hussards charge home against the supporting Grenadiers! If the French are victorious the Allied right will be in disarray and might be turned!

Alas the Hussards are repelled and Rout ensues. For some inexplicable reason the victorious infantry do not occupy the redoubt. The Deux Ponts are in disarray too, caught in column by a Blunder!

Musket volleys from the Brunswick infantry break them and they flee to safety! All the promise on the French right has evaporated in one Turn!

On the French left the situation has stabilised allowing the leading Irish regiment to crest the low rise and pour a volley into the Hanoverian infantry! All is not lost for the Comte despite the defeat of his right flank 

In the centre though things are unravelling rapidly. The Voluntaires de Fischer have absorbed all the punishment man can take and their morale breaks resulting in a Rout!

The Scots Dance but are halted by Disorder from massed volleys and artillery fire, while a second regiment has retired as a consequence of another Blunder! The second German regiment has broken in Rout leaving the right vacant and the remnants of the centre open to a flank assault!

The French army is Broken, it's morale shattered by a series of dismal losses and defeats all across it's front!

The Comte de Merde concedes the field to the Duke of Brunswick's Allied army as he takes to his carriage to depart in some comfort to his estates in the south. Rather that than face the wrath of the king!

All up in Turn 7 from the planned 12. The Allies were slow to move initially and for four Turns the French were pressing all along their front. When it all changed suddenly the Allies could do little wrong, the French almost nothing right! A proper trouncing and no mistook! But great fun of course with Black Powder and grand to see Phil feeling well enough to make it to GHQ and administer a chastening thrashing!