A Hard Grind

A little bit late I know but this time for reasons mostly out of my control, here's an update on the second week of our final battle in the current campaign.  Things have once again not gone well for the Allies, outnumbered and outgunned they are struggling to assault fortified positions through woods and across broken ground.  Even Neil who is surely the most optimistic of the Allied commanders seems to be wilting under the pressure.

French commanders attempt to find some space for yet another battery

Eric who devised this scenario came along but was strangely ill on the night and had to spend the evening away from the game fiddling with my computer.  I hadn't realised that Francophelia (possibly a made up word) was infectious.

No points for guessing which of the above is an Allied commander.

The picture above gives an idea of the situation facing the Allies.  A large semi circle of woods, broken ground, villages and entrenched 12lb'er batteries makes for tough going.  In addition the Allied right and left are also being attacked in the flank as they try to push forwards.

"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough"

Anchored by guns the French infantry await what remains of the Allied assault.  In the rear, untouched infantry divisions sit idle.

You're having a laugh!

Adding to the woes of the Allies, French reinforcements in the shape of two regiments of dragoons and another two of cuirassier arrive to join the fun.  This effectively puts a stop to whatever slim chance Neil had of advancing as he now has to protect his flank against infantry and heavy cavalry.

Suom Hussars taking one for the Emperor.

I put a picture of the lads in the last post but wasn't particularly happy with it.  Neil took this shot with his mini-Hubble and the result is much better.

Well that's it for this post, I appreciate it's been pretty down-beat regarding the Allied situation but if you think this is bad wait till you see the next one. 

More Random Shots

We've moved game night this week to Friday night due to some of the guys social commitments.  Imagine that, wargamers with social commitments.  They'll be having girlfriends next.

Two Austrian battalions painted using very different techniques.  My personal preference is for the right hand one.  The Hungarians on the left were painted in Sri Lanka as part of a large order and the Germans were a one off buy from e-bay. 

A Westphalian square, part of the division holding the French left.  These are part of a six battalion division painted by Neil Sheardown.

Smiling through adversity, Eric throws yet more sixes in the cavalry combat which see off my Prussian heavies.  It's a good thing he can't read my mind.

I really like this photo, Prussian light cavalry advancing to mix it with Eric's French dragoons, though outnumbered they managed to win the melee and Eric's apalling morale dice did the rest.

Not a part of our current game but the latest arrivals at the garage are these Suom hussars.  Mr Sheardown has developed a taste for experimenting with a soldering iron and has modelled the lead squadron taking casualties from fire.  He's also used pins for the sabres a couple of which have already drawn blood.

Random Shots

Neil Braddon has been taking lots of photos over the last couple of weeks with his swish new camera and its' obscenely long lens, and last night he downloaded them from his "stick" to my PC.  So I thought I'd share a few with you, they're in no particular order other than being the first ones to catch my eye when I was browsing them this morning.

 Andy's Austrian infantry advancing against a Westphalian held village.  Andy first had to clear the small but extremely annoying skirmish building on his left before he could press forward.  

The afore mentioned Westphalians, who took heavy casualties prior to Andy's assault on the village and retreated when charged.

   

On the Allied left things have not gone well for the Prussians,  attacked on one side by a light cavalry division supported by a division of Swiss and to their front by artillery they are being forced back to their starting position.  

 

One of two reserve twelve pounder gun positions that the Austrians will have to clear in order to have any chance of success.

 

 A panoramic view of the game with most of the troops deployed.  Ominously for the Allies more blue tiles are appearing, to bolster the French centre.

Cavalry combat between Prussian cuirassier and Wurtemburg lights.  Despite the Prussians having a decent advantage the first round of melee was drawn and the french were able to make their superior numbers tell in the following two rounds. 

There are lots more where these shots came from so I'll look at posting a few more over the weekend.