Back to the Revolution, part 2

Continuing on from the skirmish on Thursday, Saturday saw the table re-orientated, terrain reset and more troops added. Those with losses from the earlier game started off carrying one or two hit markers depending on their losses. The Russian cavalry was too battered and useless and was sent off to escort the baggage as the army had been joined by a brigade of Austrian cavalry and another brigade of Russian infantry.

 

The French carried fewer losses over and received another brigade of cavalry and another strong brigade of infantry. The Polish Legion were also joined by their third battalion and two battalions of the Lombard Legion. The armies were numerically more or less balanced, except the French had four batteries of artillery against two of Russian mountain guns, and they had a slight advantage in squadrons and battalions, but not by much. Where the French were at an advantage was in their troops’ and generals’ quality, together with complete domination in the area of skirmishers.

What follows are the usual series of photos showing how the game progressed. John the Red, Nick and Shaun were the French while Neil, Nigel and Jon were the Russians.

The Polish Legion

The Lombard Legion

I've not annotated all the photos as I think they tell the story well enough. On the Russian right the French made very slow progress but did eventually drive the Cossacks out of the town. Their main line and the Russians barely fired a shot at each other, which given the poor quality of this French brigade may have been a blessing. (They were rated as newly raised with more enthusiasm than skill and experience).

On the right the Austrian cavalry got the better of the French horsemen but were unable to exploit their success. The French infantry on this flank advanced on the Russian positions. The Russians attempted several bayonet charges but to no avail and eventually only two of the six Russian units in the brigade were left, the rest having fled. While they could the Austrian cavalry survivors beat a hasty retreat.

In the centre the main attack was led by the Polish and Lombard Legions. They were facing four battalions of combined grenadiers (somewhat battered from their previous engagement but no less dangerous). The French were unable to break the Russian centre, even with their superiority in artillery and skirmishing capability.

The game had been set to last eight turns, by which time it was deemed the Russian baggage train had safely slipped away. The French had failed to prevent this so despite their success on the battlefield it was not enough to prevent the enemy escaping with a minor victory.

Valour and Fortitude are very much like marmite, with the added complication that some days I like marmite and others I don't.  I was less enamoured of them this time than I had been when playing the Paraguayan War.  But they work on big multi-player games like this and are imho infinitely preferable to Black Powder. Not everyone had used the rules but everyone was soon pretty much up to speed. With fewer players, and players who were familiar with the rules, I would probably have used General d'Armée II. 

Thanks to everyone for the game which hopefully was an enjoyable one. I now have the bug for another French Revolutionary Wars game next time. We shall see........