The Battle of the Boinne (2/2)

When the battle resumed, I decided it was time for the Maritime army to press the attack.

A bridgehead has been established.

With the bridgehead finally secured, Maritime reinforcements poured into it.....until they ran out of room. The Rosmark forces had fallen back, brought up reserves and established a line on the heights.

The attention shifted again to the flank.

The flanking forces on both sides reform.

With both river crossings appearing secure and several defending units routed, I was tempted to call the game but the victory conditions require the defending army to be destroyed or driven off. A draw in this game would be a Rosmark victory and a quick review of troops and situation  soon showed me that the battle was not yet won for the Maritime Alliance.

A slow advance of reserves and several firefights followed as the Redcoats prepared for the final assault. At last the battle lines formed and advanced, one on the Bluecoats on the hill, one against the rallied frontiersmen in the marsh.

With 2:1 odds the red infantry marched up to point blank range then prepared to fire but the Bluecoats were ready... black court card BOOM  a handful of 4's, 5's and 6's, the Redcoats wavered, black Ace! (Yikes) BOOM  (they can't do that  ag...what?! A 2nd Ace BOOM! In seconds, two fresh battalions had been demolished with only a handful of stragglers running for the ford!

Only one unit escaped the storm of fire, the tardy Nordmark battalion was finally across the river, just in time to plug the gap. 

Again I was about ready to call the game after that unexpected blood bath but the toy soldiers had stouter morale and insisted that the fight was not over. The infantry assault in the bridgehead stopped to be replaced by a long range firefight between the Normark battalion, the garrison of the village and the long range artillery firing hilltop to hilltop on one side and the remains of the Rosmark infantry on the other. The Maritimers picked away at the enemy but the Rosmark troops seemed to have shot their bolt. As man after man fell they began to waver, their Brigadier rode forward but was immediately shot down and the remnant gave way.

On the flank, the Grenadiers cleared out the remaining frontiersmen while the Naval Battalion overran the gun.  When the Rosmark cavalry wheeled around for a 3rd charge, the Red infantry fell back into the marsh and began peppering them with musket balls while their artillery enfiladed the cavalry at long range from across the river. There was no choice but for the cavalry to fall back and dare the enemy infantry to advance in the open.

In the bridgehead, the Maritime cavalry finally moved to the fore. The 1st squadron charged the Carabiniers and was duly routed but not without doing some damage. Before the Carabiniers could rally, the Council Guards were on them with sword and pistol and scattered them to the winds.

The battle was over. There was only one option left to Rosmark. Fall back to the mountain passes. The Maritime army was too battered to pursue close on their heels. The question now is whether Rosmark can maintain a foothold east of the mountains.

The Battle of the Boinne (1/2)

Life does have a habit of interfering, instead of a tight series of games, this mini-mini-campaign has been dragging its heels with this game being played in three sessions over the course of a week. I haven't the time and "Mental Oomph" (technical term) to create a proper narrative so it'll have to be a quick recap, game thoughts and pictures, all rolled together.

Before I go further I would like to thank everyone who left a comment on the last post about Stuart Asquith and apologize for not answering any of them. I couldn't think of any reply other than "Thank you" and "I agree".   Being an Asquith & Grant Scenario and a Solo game with occasional bits drawn from Stuart's book on the subject, this game could be considered a sort of tribute but it was already in progress and is just the way my gaming has developed under those and other influences. However, I am planning an intentional Big Wars, Toy Soldier, Stuart Asquith tribute game for the near future.

But for now, "On with the Battle!".

The Maritime Attack Begins.

(See https://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/2019/11/theres-going-to-be-fight.html for the set up and forces). The rules used were A Gentleman's War by Howard Whitehouse ably assisted by Dan Foley. You should really buy a copy if you haven't yet. Its available from https://www.wingedhussarpublishing.com/ or from Amazon.

The rules were played straight up except for a) making the occasional mistake and b) being the biggest AGW game I had played, especially being solo on a 6'x4'6" table, (meaning lots of rushing back and forth from one side to the other)  with initial deployment set out by the scenario and thus beyond my control,  I fielded a few extra commanders to  increase the number of group moves I could make. To keep things under control I ruled that they had to stick with their own "brigades" and had the Generals sit at the back. I won't bother next time, afterwards I realized that it would have worked just fine out 'of the box' with the commanders being sort of "Wing Commanders" rather than "Brigadiers" and the Generals earning their place in history. ("Lee to the rear!")

I also used a minimum of unit attributes largely because I'm just getting this campaign set up and haven't sat down yet to review all unit histories and assign attributes, nor did I want to assign too many blindly. Still some units have already earned them or worse, in one case, assigned them and once assigned, in campaign terms, they need to carry them 'til proved inappropriate. So, the Red Grenadiers remained Brave and the Bluecoats were Slow, and they were slow, apparently they thought they weren't supposed to roll higher than 3 on their single die. I'm thinking of getting them their own Colonel and a burly Sergeant Major with a big stick.

MacDuff's Fusiliers are one of those regiments with a 20 year history of gallant, sometimes desperate battle winning charges and stubborn defences from their first game on, so I left them in the capital to guard the King. I'll figure that out another day.

Now I had intended to make most of the Rosmark cavalry Gallant based on past history but I forgot. They didn't though and rolled handfuls of 5's and 6's in every charge and never any melee die lower than 4!

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The game started out with the lead Red Brigade rushing across the ford and assailing the house but the Grenadiers took horrendous casualties and their Brigadier chickened out from storming the house though mid-battle analysis suggested it might have been safer to do so. A theory later proved correct as well as reasonable.  

Point blank volleys blasted holes in the plaster walls and occasionally hit someone on the inside.

The artillery on both sides proved remarkably deadly at fairly long ranges despite my forgetting that they get 1 die per gunner not 1 for 2. Halfway through the game I remembered but decided that it was best to just carry on. Perhaps the powder was wet on both sides.

Now the Furland Trading Company's brown coated troops, despite being used to garrison duties at trading posts and occasional irregular warfare, fought like lions. Both battalions were reduced below 1/2 strength without leaving the field while one fought to the last man. Just as well I hadn't laid some Metropolitan prejudiced negative attributes on them.  I'll have to take a note for the future.

The view from the other side as the Redcoats charge the gun and struggle in melee for THREE turns before they finally capture it by killing ONE gunner! (Lets see that was something like 24 dice for one 5 ...Argghh). Best note this battery as Stalwart.

At the far end of the table, the Maritimers made good use of Aces  to hurry across the bridge and deploy before the slow moving Frontier troops could wade through the marshy stream. (Why bother? Not sure, I'd ask the Colonel if he could be found.) The Frontiersmen were pummelled by musketry from the converged Flank Companies and raked by enfilading artillery fire and soon headed back to the marshy ground.

The Rosmark cavalry however, doesn't really like going backwards so they spurred forward.

The clash by the bridge, phase one. Please note the heap of red horsemen from the 1st Squadron and the hasty tactical retreat of the remaining 2nd Squadron Dragoons. 

At this point I had to leave the battle half done as I was overdue for a trip to New Brunswick to visit my big sister and the kids. 

Oh, and my brother and succeeding generations as well.

The battle however has already been concluded and this report will itself be concluded tomorrow. (If this approaching  snowstorm permits). 

There's Going To Be a Fight

Time has passed, the Maritime Alliance has landed on the Mainland, established a base camp and set out to drive the Rosmark forces back into the Mountains. Rosmark has had time to regroup and reinforce and General Eh has picked a good defensive position behind the Boinne River.

Rosmark is ready!

After studying the enemy position and sending out patrols to reconnoitre the surrounding countryside,  General Bee has decided to send a detachment of Maritime troops upstream to a bridge in hopes of turning the Rosmark flank or at least drawing off some of their forces.

The Alliance is keen to be at them!

Rosmark has managed to muster 3 squadrons of cavalry, 6 battalions of infantry and 2 batteries. The Maritime Alliance has taken the field with 4 squadrons, 8 battalions and 2 batteries but the river is a major obstacle. Scouts have only found one  fordable area, right in the bend of the river.

Dawn breaks.