Wargames weekend - 22nd/23rd November 2003
Richard H was ill and so we were down to four participants.
Saturday - Malburian (Richard L - who also played)
Allies - Margaret, Chris
Franco/Bavarians - Richard L, Cliff
This was a playtest of the latest evolution of RL's Malburian rules, which have reverted back to being closer to the original version than the lat game we played.
The French lined up with their left flank protected by boggy ground around a stream and their right flank anchored on the village of Louvelle. Due to a mix up in orders on the right flank, it was discovered that the units which should have been defending Louvelle were in fact tucked up just behind the French front line of infantry. The Allies deployed facing the French positions.
The Allies attacked with their right flank in conjunction with part of the Dutch infantry on the left flank. The Allied left flank troops didn't advance very quickly and two Dutch brigades found themselves attacking the centre of the French lines unsupported and were driven off with considerable loss. As they were being beaten, the Allied right flank attack hit the extreme left of the French position, but they weren't able to bring all their troops up in a co-ordinated fashion and were met with a stout defence and began to take significant casualties.
The Allies brought more and more forces to bear on the French left, but took heavy casualties in exchange for relatively light French losses. As the day began to turn decidedly against the Allies, Marlborough prudently decided to cut his losses and withdraw his army while it was still relatively intact. At about the same time the French began to sense victory was in their grasp and began to move over into a general advance on the Allies.
The mauled Allied right made a resolute withdrawl in good order and the French were notably slow in putting their new orders into action and were unable to fully capitalise on their early success, but held the field at the end of the day and were able to report to their royal master that they had inflicted considerable losses on his enemies for only slight casualties in His Majesty's army.
Losses - Allied 14,500 French 3,500
Lessons learned from the playtest - The rules worked fairly well, though a few things caused problems by being more complicated than necessary.
- The way that generals leaderships works in combat is too fiddly and should be changed to a simple roll to inflict a hit.
- Artillery failing to move shouldn't block a square
- Artillery should probably be changed to being able to roll to make an attack to allow for preparatory bombardments
- Combat should be into the forward square if that square is occupied to avoid the bizarre zig-zag combats that happened during the game. Also once a combat is initiated it should be set and only a change in circumstances (new troops involved or enemy retreating) should allow a change.
Sunday - Crusades (DBM) run by Margaret
Crusaders - Richard L
Syrians - Cliff, Chris
Crusaders defending and trying to hold out until the military orders troops arrive, the Syrians trying to crush them first.
The Crusaders deployed in a rough line with their backs to the rough ground of the hills, face the more open ground where the Syrains were to deploy. Due to the relative narrowness of their position, the Crusader knights deployed in double line, which gave them some problems later due to the difficulty in manuoevering.
While the Crusaders desparately tried to hold their impetuous spearmen from running down the hills out of their defensive positions, they moved their knights forward to give them space to operate. As they did this the Syrians advanced although somewhat disjointedly at first.
The first significant engagement involved the left flank knights attacking part of the Syrian cavalry - their initial charge was relatively successful, but they bogged down into isolated cavalry battles, where the Syrian's better training and numbers allowed them to take advantage of the impetuous knights. As this was going on the Syrain infantry closed on the crossbowmen in the centre and weathering a hail of bolts attacked them. Meanwhile the Syrian cavalry advanced to meet the other Crusader knights and was eventually, after some manouevering, charged by them, though to no great effect.
As the losses in the right flank knights mounted and infantry casualties started to occur, the Crusader right flank reached its break point and became demoralised and began to flee the field, the troops running for the hills. The only thing that stopped the Syrians being able to capitalise on the collapse of the Crusader right, was the mounting cavalry casualties which broke them just as they were poised to pursue, giving the Crusaders and chance to withdraw in more order than would have otherwise been the case.
DBM rules to remember for next time
- Impetuous troops that win melee must pursue
- Missile troops shot at from the rear turn to face
- Impetuous irregular armies don't defend that well