When I arrived, Mark had already set up the majority of the battlefield and my first thought was "We'll never get this done in an evening!". The battlefield was huge - and considering that we had three large corps on the Prussian side it was going to be a slog.
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| Mark's map showing deployments |
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| The battlefield - HUGE! |
At least I'd finished the Prussian mixed units (11 in total) just in time so we had (with Jon's Prussians) just enough bases to meet our needs. Jon took Pirch and Zeithen (holding Ligny, St Amand and St Amand la Haye. I took Thielmann holding the right wing (Sombreeffe and Tongrinne).
Facing us Vandamme (Ian) and Gerard and Grouchy (Russ). In general Ian was facing off John and Russ was facing off me and Jon. Ian was going to be in charge of the forces of Drouot and Milhoud - the French reserve (including the Guards).
Our plan was relatively simple - hold the river banks (as the French would be vulnerable when they cross the river). But we left a token force in St Amand on the other side of the river in order to take some strength off the French before they crossed.
We were under no illusions - the Prussians were numerous but weak. The French would field at least the same number of bases but most were much higher strength - so we'd struggle to hold them up let alone win. We just agreed to grin and bear it while the French whupped us.
Mark gave us a briefing before we began.
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Mark lays down the law.
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| "You put them THERE! THERE, I tells ya!" |
We rolled for initiative and command dice. Mark gave us a cup to hold our dice in (so the opposition couldn't see how many we had left.
"That's no good - they've got Ian "Rain Man" Taylor on their side! He'll know how many we've got with his eyes shut".
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| The French - laid back and confident of victory |
We won and rolled for movement. Zeithen went immediately on hold (great) so Jon had to move Pirch off the hill to plug the gaps. I also started to eschelon Thielmann over towards Jon's troops.
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| The guns open up |
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| Jon move Pirch down to support Zeithen and protect the flank |
Russ moved Gerard to attack me rather than Ligny (triggered by my echelon) which took a bit of pressure off John. I was still not in position to cover the whole of the river bank but luckily Gerard was held up by the fields between him and Thielmann and slowed him just enough to allow me to get across.
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Gerard held up by the fields. Good!
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"Try It On" Taylor also tried to move Napoleon 40" (rather than the 20" he was allowed). "Is he in a helicopter?". But he managed to take St Armand with no trouble at all. The Prussians were now all behind the river.
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| The French take St Armand. Boo! |
We therefore moved as many troops as we could to the riverbank and to protect Ligny. The French were chucking Vandameme and Gerard at us simultaneously and it looked like a lot coming to hit our thin Prussian Blue line. I manged to slide across just in time...
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| Thielmann covers the riverbank as half the French army tries to get over the river. |
As the action heated up, so did the banter - like Jon requesting that Russ mark off casualties as soon as they were inflicted - "Just keeping you honest". So tight did it get that I had the dicing equivalent of the yips and couldn't seem to let go of the dice when it was my turn to roll.
There were also claims that Russ had been cooking his dice in the oven as 6 after 6 was rolled.
The French artillery was moved up (and we Prussians couldn't afford to move) so much damage was inflicted as our troops hugged the river banks. Gerard's charge over the river though was harsly repulsed by Thielmann and Russ consequently took an absolute kicking. This weakened his troops to the point where he felt he had to withdraw next turn and rely on his artillery to kick lumps out of Zeithen's troops in Ligny and Grouchy's cavalry trying to get around Thielmann's right flank.
To stop the latter I turned some troops around (hinged on Tongrinne) to stop him - but this also meant that Thielmann was pretty much trapped (albeit holding Grouchy and Gerard in place). Jon was on his own.
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| Gerard takes a licking on the riverbank. |
This was bad news as the French reserve had turned up and Ian immediately aimed to get the Guards over the river. As his toughest units they were the equivalent of Panzers he could roll them anywhere he wanted.
In terms of a single battle this is exactly the thing to do. In terms of Waterloo it means that Wellington would have a much easier time as the Guards took a whupping dduring the battle (Mark went as far as declaring Waterloo won before it was fought given the damage inflicted).
Gerard withdrew (as my cannon shooting inflicted further damage) and aimed towards Ligny instead - while Grouchy went the long way around. Ian instead chucked everything between Ligny and St Amand and soon had a breakthrough.
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| Grouchy goes the long way round |
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| The Guards and everyone else from France goes in against Zeithen at St Amand la Haye. |
The Guards strength managed to achieve the crossing and the Reserves around St Amand la Haye fell as they were surrounded. The Guards ploughed on into the hills behind Ligny where Pirch's troops did some surrounding of their own - killing one unit of Guards and giving the other a very bad day.
But the French were over the river in force.
It was getting on - no decisive outcome had yet been achieved. The Prussians had been knocked around (mainly Zeithen) but many of our units were intact and uphill. Certainly most of Thielmann's corps were undamaged and could swing around to support Pirch as Grouchy was getting further from Napoleon (and so likely to be out of command radius). But the French were pouring across the river and it would certainly have been a bloody and messy encounter.
I supopose in the context of the overall campaign, the Prussians had done a good job. The French were pretty knocked about and with Waterloo beckoning they were a lot weaker than they would have been.
So a tactical French victory...but Jon and I can feel that it was a job well done.
