Civs Foray into Sharp Practice

So my forces have been painted and readied for our second larger clash with the French. My opponent had also made sure he had a painted force and it looked like really thematic game was underway.

We rolled meeting engagement and randomly rolled our deployment third of the table. Fate had it that i rolled the far left and my opponent rolled his far right, so we set our deployment point directly opposite each other, it would be a close battle.

The first few turns saw our forces arrive, my skirmishers moved up to start harassing the line troops facing them behind the house, my level three leader with two groups of line troops followed up behind to engage the same.

My larger formation comprised of a level two leader, a level one leader and three groups of line troop marched in column over to the right of the battle to open up the field and find some open space to engage the French.

My opponent got his line troops on first and marched them to meet my line troops, his skirmishers were a little late to the party which is why in the early photos you will see them behind the main line of battle.

The French continue to advance to meet my troops, the French line troops on the left start pressing my skirmishers and because i only have a level one leader with them i shoot and start backing off, also getting out of the way of the forthcoming line troops which are ready and present their muskets ready.

The French right also continue to advance and my larger formation swing round and form a line partly behind some low brush ready.

Next turn the French on the left move round the building and i use this opportunity to fire my troop and with two flags to hand i make it a crashing volley to try and build up some early shock. It works better than i thought with benefits from frist fire, controlled volleys and the French being in the open i put 12 shock on the unit, really cramping their effectiveness in the coming turns. The French only have a level 2 leader and so struggle to remove this shock during the remainig turns.

On the right my line troop are harassed by skirmish fire and lose a few men. I wait presented for the line troop to come into my firing arc and fire. This puts shock on the skirmishers and line troops but doesnt kill any troops. The Prussians just need to hold here whilst the formation on my left press hard.

The French on my right keep firing at the larger Prussian formation but the line troop struggle due to the range (meaning 6’s to hit) and my troops being behind light cover. I also have a sergeant to clear excess shock so the formation stands firm.

My skirmishers start coming round to the right to help tackle the groups of skirmishers threatening the larger Prussian formation, due to the French line on the right being on the far right i really want to swing my line round to face them but with skirmishers on my flank i cant risk it.

The Prussian skirmishers being light infantry really start to put the pressure on the skirmishers and the shock starts to mount. The French skirmishers are led my level one leaders so find it difficult to remove any shock. The French also focus on the line troops leaving my skirmishers free reign to reposition and keep firing (this was mainly because the skirmishers count as being in cover where the line troop dont).

The Prussian formation on the left follow up their early success, using four flags to move up reload and get another volley off on the reeling French forces. The four flags also allow me to get my skirmishers moving again putting more pressure on the French equals.

We had a few random events during the mid phase of the game with the French being the most affected. One group (on the right) run out of water and the group on the left create a smoke cloud making it harder for both our troops to hit.

The shock on the French skirmishers in the centre proves too much and they start to fall back. Similarly the French left starts to waver as men starts to fall and the shock builds. My Prussians have been continuing there advance, firing controlled volleys when they can to keep the French from regrouping. A cry rises up form the French “Pas de Charge!”. This removes four shock but there is still too much and it slows the charge meaning the troops fail to make contact.

The French skirmishers engaging my right hand formation have also had enough, being in the line of fire from my large formation the shock has built up and some surprinsingly accruate firing from my own skirmishers have reduced their numbers to the point that they break. Its looking bleak for the French, can they rally on the left and push up on the right to get back in the fight.

My Prussian troops on the left, after the failed Frech assualt, charge them in turn. It is a VERY one sided fight, with the amount of shock, qulaity and number of models remaining the French threw two dice and i was rolling handfulls. The formation now thouroughly broken, a leader two killed and the group wiped out cuase the force morale to tumble and the French route from the field.

It looked like a very one sided fight looking at the aftermath. The prussians lost three men and the French many more.

There were a few things that really swayed the battle:

• The Prussian early crashing volley on the left put the opposing French line on the back foot from the early game and they never recovered.
• The fire fight on the right was actually quite one sided as the French can only fire uncontrolled volleys and at long range were always hitting on 6’s whereas i could fire controlled volleys and so hit on 5’s and 6’s, double the chance to hit. My prussians were also behind some cover which helped whilst the French were in the open.
• The skirmishers are incredibly fragile, not being able to remove shock meant any shock stuck fast and being caught in front of line troops meant it built on the French skirmishers quickly. I think being more aggressive with the skirmishers would have paid off, getting to the flanks of the rigid lines causing more shock.
• I benfitted from having four flags twice in the game meaning my left hand push really had the advantage meaning all the right hand Prussians had to do was hold.

All in all a great game with a great opponent, it was his first game and my second so we had to do some rule searching but we both learnt a lot from this. I also now both have a fully painted force for once…until i add the cannon waiting in the wings…and perhaps come calvary…

Thanks for reading!