Return to Blasthof bridge.
For the last couple of games that I have played, I used Neil Thomas` excellent rules, One-hour Wargames. I love how quickly they play, and the 30 scenarios are always an inspiration. There are times when I want a bit more from my games, though. Trying to choose which of the many rules sets I have, to use can be a little daunting, but for the game today I thought I would break out a classic set, Donald Featherstone`s War Games. Like a lot of rules of its era they are not as complicated as people imagine. There are some areas, mostly around failed morale, that could have been clearer, but as a solo war gamer I just made a ruling and went with it.
Of course, I could not help tinkering with them a little and introduced card activation, where each unit had its own card, and the obligatory end of turn card. This led to some situations where units did not move for quite a few turns, but it certainly helped to make for a fun game. I think that I may return to Keith Flint`s system from Honours of War, or Henry Hyde`s activation from Shot, Steel, and Stone for a future game .
I thought that it
would be fun to refight the action at Blasthof Bridge from Charge! by Peter Young.
I tried using the original troop numbers
from Charge! but Donald Featherstone`s rules are a little too deadly for so few
troops. I increased the number of units
and troops but tried to keep the ratio from the original scenario. The game you could say was a blast, and I
will definitely use the scenario and rules again.
The Battle
Following his defeat at the Vallée des Ormes
the Lord Warden Philippe Le Duff, Duke of Monfort realised that his position as
Head of State was not as secure as it once was. So, he decided that the only way to stop the
machinations of the other nobles was a fall scale invasion of Volgar.
The Lord Warden of the Five Duchies could not lead the invasion himself as he was too busy dealing with issues at court, so he sent a force under Robert du Ouestbourg to secure the bridge over the river Blast.
The army under Robert du Ouestbourg
General - Robert du Ouestbourg
The Ouestbourg Regiment- Col. Wadoux
The Duchess du
Burgoyne`s Own Fusiliers – Col. De la Côte D'or
The Burgoyne
Hussars – Col. Leblanc
The
Montfort dragoons - Colonel
Douker
The Capel – le- Ferne battery – Capt. Le Bigot
Ouestbourg`s orders were to secure the bridge over the river Blast and bloody the nose of any Volgan troops he faced.
The army under
Theodoric Von Martinez.
General – Theodoric Von Martinez
The Dijl Regiment –
Col Joannu
The Fouksten
Highland regiment – Col. Huss
The Feweszem
regiment – Col. Chomski
The Sytynbon
lancers – Col. Dragos
The Tanbrydz-Lelz battery – Capt. Lehmann
Von Martinez was
commanded to destroy the bridge, and deal as much damage as he could to the
forces of the five Duchies.
Battle Plans
The army of the Five Duchies
Robert du Ouestbourg,
always an aggressive commander, decided to utilise his cavalry advantage and sweep
up the eastern bank of the river Blast while holding the western side with his
infantry.
The army of Volgar
Theodoric Von
Martinez, the wily old campaigner, knew that his lack of cavalry could be a
deciding factor and realised that he had to dislodge the enemy infantry as quickly
as possible. He planned to send his
lancers across the river to delay the enemy cavalry while pushing south down
the western bank with the rest of his army.
Turn one
In the first turn,
the two commanders started to move most of their units towards one another. Both the Montfort dragoons under Colonel Douker and the brave Sytynbon lancers commanded
by Colonel Dragos failed to advance with the rest of their armies.
Turn two
In the second turn, Colonel Dragos spurred his men on, crossing the river to face the Burgoyne Hussars.
An ineffective exchange of musketry broke out between the two armies, the Ouestbourg Regiment, and the Duchess du Burgoyne`s Own Fusiliers both firing on the Dijl Regiment, while the Dijl Regiment and the Feweszem regiment shot at the Duchess du Burgoyne`s Own Fusiliers.
The Tanbrydz-Lelz battery raked the Burgoyne Hussars with cannon fire as they stood waiting for Colonel Douker and his regiment to come up in support.
Turn Three
Having stood waiting under cannon fire for long enough Colonel LeBlanc ordered his hussars to charge across the bridge into the flank of the overexposed Feweszem regiment. The infantry couldn`t stand up to the charge of the ferocious light cavalry men, broke and were cut down to the man. The Dijl Regiment, a regiment of mostly untested soldiers, broke and fled from the battlefield.
The Burgoyne Hussars
did not have it all their own way, though.
They had come into cannister range of the Tanbrydz-Lelz battery and the
punishing fire from the cannon forced them to retreat across the bridge.
Turn Four
With the loss of two of his infantry regiments the battle was lost for Theodoric Von Martinez, but the old commander could not order the retreat (I probably should have stopped playing here as the battle was over, but I was having too much fun).
The Montfort dragoons moved forward to block the Sytynbon lancers, who had just cut down the remnants of the Burgoyne hussars. The blood of the lancers was up, though, and they routed the dragoons with ease.
Across the river, the Fouksten Highland regiment was taking a pounding from the Cherry Blossoms, and the Capel – le- Ferne battery.
Turns Five, Six, Seven
For the next few
turns both sides stood and exchanged fire with one another. The Sytynbon lancers, their horses exhausted
from destroying two regiments of cavalry, came off badly as the Ouestbourg
Regiment had them squarely in their sights.
Colonel Dragos decided that his regiment had done their duty that day
and calmy led them off the field of battle.
Turn Eight
The Duchess du
Burgoyne`s Own Fusiliers came under scathing fire from the infantry and
artillery that was left under Von Martinez`s command. The Capel – le- Ferne battery`s supporting
fire could not find its mark in all the smoke covering the battlefield.
Turn Nine
The Ouestbourg Regiment pushed up the eastern bank of the river Blast and engaged in close-range musketry with the Tanbrydz-Lelz battery. The canister from the artillery ripped through the infantry, but the cannon was running low on powder and shot.
On the western bank, the Capel – le- Ferne battery continued to pound the Fouksten Highland regiment, while Robert du Ouestbourg tried to rally the Cherry Blossoms.
Turns Ten & Eleven
With both
artillery batteries out of ammunition, and their soldiers spent, the two
commanders broke off the engagement. The
battle being a marginal victory for Robert du Ouestbourg.
