In the culminating action from Charles Grant's mini-campaign, "The Wolfenbuttel War," we engaged in battle this past Sunday. Now that it is over we can reveal that the campaign is loosely based on the 100 Days. Sadly, the reference book used has gone missing so I don't have access to the names and details.
The Imagi-Nations of Odessenau and Latveria had come to common cause against the Ottoman-style country of Vaneria and their vassal state of Russians. Getting wind of the plan, Vaneria launched a preemptive invasion of Odessenau. They forced the crossing at Charleroi, were stymied at Quatre Bras, were less than fully successful at Wavre and now the main forces met their Waterloo.
Rules are Batailles de l'Ancien Regimes, figure ratio is 1:10, full-strength battalions are 60 figures and squadrons are 12 figures. Firing is deadly but saving throws negate half the hits. Sometimes.
The Allies had to deploy first with their six battalions. Then the Venarians, then some adjustments were allowed. In total the allies had 12 battalions available, some weakened from previous engagements and the Venarians had 15.
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| The Vanerian left and center after the first move. |
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| Vanerian cloaked grenadiers and Janissaries lead the way on the right. |
Action is determined by card draws. First for movement then for firing. For this game we went by brigade with the respective commanders deciding the order of who got the card. It started inauspiciously for the Allies when the first card drawn was a joker that went to the Vanerians. By playing a joker you can "trump" an unfavorable card to steal the fire, or rarely, move.
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| The Janissaries advance with their distinctive look. |
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| The edge of the left brigade and the rapidly advancing center. |
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My Croats were happy to shelter behind nice sturdy walls and
after plundering everything went to work loopholing it. |
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| It's easier to be brave when you have a joker, or even two! |
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| The Janissaries mix it up with the Odessenau Guards and friends. |
The early run of cards favored the Vanerian cause, but that is always balanced later as one works through the deck. There are no reshuffle cards used, so they are all played first. We received both jokers, usually a decisive advantage if they come early in the game.
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| The Vanerians advance in depth as the Allies bring on reserves. |
My understanding is that the Allied reserves could be brought on at any time, anywhere on their long table edge. Knowing their strength we wondered where and when the hammer would fall.
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The Allied center begins to look sparse as the Vanerian left
advances in support. |
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| Fresh forces square off on the right. |
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| The Allied center is now held by three batteries. |
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| More reserves arrive on the left, but too late! |
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| The exploitation begins as ammo wagons advance to resupply. |
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| The Vanerian numeric edge becomes even more decisive. |
It was a very unusual game in that although cavalry was on table, to my knowledge the only cavalry charge came up 2" short of reaching their target, and no sabre clashes.
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Having fallen back disordered behind the structure, we see the
cavalry preparing to charge. |
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| The unfortunate charge that rolled poorly on their gallop bonus. |
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| Final view looking down the table. |
The Allies were in shambles in the center and right. Only the left held promise but they faced relatively fresh troops as well, plus the galling fire they would take from the built up area. That and our host store, Adventure Games, was closing so we packed up. Leave it to the respective cavalry to see whether it was a defeat or a rout.
New units were painted and debuted in the game, along with many proxy units since I'm the only one currently with a dozen or more of one nationality. But additions are already being planned, as is the next mini-campaign, which will be a bit of a departure. Game on my friends!
