Foreign Correspondent reports on Enemy Wargames

 Ral Partha Colonial Egyptian Officer gussied up as Rossi Pasha. 

As Rossi Pasha,. Governor of Hantsia,  reviews his forces, 1 regiment of Anatolian Sehkans, a regiment of Albanians, 1 field gun and 2 regiments of Syrian religious volunteers armed largely with spears, and ponders whether or not the French can be relied on to land troops to assist him against the Emperor, a courier arrives bearing an account of the Imperial enemy carrying out maneuvers barely an hour's march up river.

Prince August Polish Lancer converted to Turkish lancer.

The following report comes via Ron Porter and describes a solo play through of Scenario 8 from Programmed Scenarios, staged as maneuvers between a force of Austrians and English units. In brief, a defender has split his force to try  and guard both banks of a river. The enemy arrives with a goal of pushing past.

 If all goes well Rossi Pasha will get a chance to try his hand at the game tomorrow. and now in Ron's words:

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Well here’s how it went.

Le Duc de Lorraine: 7 Line Infantry, 1 light infantry,1 Dragoon, 1 field gun, 1 howitzer, 1 commander. Total units 12, break at 7 destroyed (5 remaining)

Le Comte de Rhonne: 4 Line infantry (British), 2 Austrian Grenadiers, 1 light infantry, 2 Horse Grenadier, 1 Dragoon, 1 field gun, 1 howitzer, 1 commander. Total units 13, break at 7 destroyed (6 remaining).

Turn 1

Artillery: L’artillerie de Lorraine using counter battery fire the howitzer misses but the 12 pdr destroys the Rhonne howitzer. L’artillerie de Rhonne misses with both guns.

Le Duc rolls 10 action points and decides to provide fire support for the southern bank from the northern bank in case further Rhonners show up on the northern bank. 

Le Comte rolls 6 for activation points and moves directly ahead with the intention of capturing the bridge and preventing reinforcement of the southern bank by Le Duc’s forces. 

Turn 2

Artillery: L’artillerie de Lorraine 12 pdr destroys a British battalion on the southern road, while the howitzer pins the remaining enemy field piece. The Rhonner artillery manages to pin le Duc’s howitzer.

Le Comte rolls 7 activation points and continues his advance. 

Le Duc rolls 5 activation points and manages to destroy another British battalion with fire from the 2^nd btn Pallavicni, while the Pandours on the southern hill destroy yet another battalion. 

Turn 3

Artillery: All of the artillery fire results in pins on the enemy artillery. The only artillery unit not pinned is the Lorrainer’s 12 pdr field gun.

The Conte manages to roll 6 activation points which he uses to order his cavalry forward within double move distance of the Austrian line while continuing the infantry advance. Pic08

Le Duc rolls 8 activation points continues his northern deployments and the musket fire results in the loss of the Austrian Grenadier battalion on the southern road. 

Turn 4

Artillery: More pinning back and forth.

Le Comte roll 5 activation points  he orders the Horse grenadiers and the Dragoons to charge the Los Rios battalions. The fight was split with one Horse Grenadier versus 1 line battalion, and the second Horse Grenadier and dragoons fighting the other. The first melee resulted in a 1 for the Horse Grenadiers and a 5 for the line infantry, so the battalion was destroyed and the HG advanced into their position. The second melee results in a 6 for the Horse Grenadiers and 5 for the battalion, which was a draw the cavalry fell back. I was unsure what to do with the Pandours, they were not the attackers so I did not take a minus on the Grenadiers. They were not the defender as the Grenadiers chose to attack the line battalion. 

Le Duc managed a 9 on the activation roll. The line and the Pandours each fired at the closet cavalry target. Both enemy cavalry units were pinned. Then the Line battalion took on the Dragoons in a close assault, the Los Rios battalion rolled a 6 while the dragoons rolled a 3. The Los Rios battalion was destroyed. I ignored the Horse Grenadier unit as it was not the attacker or the engaged unit. The Horse Grenadier unit closest to the artillery is showing as pinned, but that is out of sequence as it only gets pinned next turn by the artillery. 

Turn 5

Artillery: Lorraine pins the Horse Grenadiers while the Rhonner artillery misses the enemy howitzer but destroys the command stand that had moved up in support..

Le Comte rolls 5 activation points and his pinned cavalry charge towards every enemy in sight. The enemy howitzer, the enemy Dragoons and the enemy Croats on the hill. The Pandours also moved on the Croats in support and as they moved after the Horse Grenadiers they became the attacking unit. The artillery melee results in the dragoons being pushed back from a drawn melee! The Horse Grenadiers (rolled 1) taking out the enemy dragoons (rolled 6). The Croats (rolled 4) were destroyed after the Pandours (rolled 2) attacking with support of the Horse Grenadiers. 

At this point Le Duc de Lorraine decided to move his troops on the northern shore to the southern shore. Rolling 3 activation points he began their redeployment.

Turn 6

Artillery: The artillery fire was ineffective due to the increased smoke cover I guess

Le Conte de Rhonne rolled 6 activation points. This time unpinning both Horse Grenadier (used the unpin and move option) squadrons but allowing the pinned Dragoons to charge the howitzer again. The dragoons (rolled 5) managed to be destroyed by the howitzer (rolled 1) in melee. 

Lorraine gamely pushed on and occupied the bridge.

Turn 7

Artillery: The remaining Rhonner gun destroyed the Lorraine howitzer.

Le Duc de Lorraine rolled 2 activation points and pushed the infantry battalion over to the southern shore, and engaged the Horse Grenadiers. Both sides were 1 away from their break point. How would the struggle be settled? Would the brave Lorrainers manage to prevent the British advance? Would the courageous Rhonners finally push through? NO, nether would happen. The Lorraine infantry battalion rolled 3 while the Rhonner Horse Grenadiers rolled 1. Both units are destroyed, and both sides decide to return to camp! 

As the scenario mission is for the attacker to push through the enemy and exit towards the opposite table edge I am counting this as a minor victory for le Duc de Lorraine.

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