So I was celebrating a birthday and Goldie decided to host a game at his place in my honor…how cute!

Goldie chose the game to be a Dresden 1813 refight. The set up and orbats are below.

The French right flank forces are below. John came down from Auckland for the game and bought his lovely French heavy cavalry with him. Steve T. pulled out at last minute so John got be Mortier as well as Murat. Opposite him is Stephen as Gyulai.

More Allied commanders from right to left Keith(Wittgenstein), Alan(Kleist) and Graham(Hessen-Homburg).

Allied left flank(Stephen).

Turn 1 and Robert(St Cyr) had charged his Uhlans forcing Graeme to form square. In our turn Graeme then charged them with Hussars…risky as the French have pointy stick advantage. Thankfully no one won and they both withdrew damaged.

This sight had me lamenting…loudly…the rain rule which allowed cavalry to charge squares if it was raining…Goldie threw for rain…….there were accusations of foul play as dice roll was not seen…..that was me of course…..the right hand unit failed to form square so fights disordered…a better result than forming square.

The Dice Gods are not on Johns side…..he needed 3’s to hit…..he got 4 out of 10…he then lost the combat and withdrew. Gorgeous!!

A look down the flank…..the initial French attack is repelled. I have moved Grenadiers up to line the riverbank and Graeme has moved his Grenz into the Village.

Metal Front Rank Grenadiers jeering at the plastic French Cuirassiers.

In centre PaulW who was over from Vanuatu had his reserve cavalry arrive on table…6 Russian Cuirassiers, 4 Guard infantry and 4 recalcitrant Grenadier bttns who refused for several turns to arrive. I suspect in protest at Paul leading them and not me…I am their normal commander. In front of them are Alans Prussians advancing in line…yes line…its 1813….I didn’t think Prussians knew what a line was then…..its a COLUMN Alan…a COLUMN.

On the right Keithy has it sorted. A skirmish line…supported by columns…with artillery and then pointy stick cavalry. Was a thing of Beauty.

Frenchie’s rush reinforcements to this flank…..Rob and Russ with his Guard cavalry ready for action. Any French Guard losses count as a Division…and the Division lost counts as a Corp.

Roberts conscripts were skulking in the walled gardens…the perfect spot for them. Especially when musket fire from LINES are not really going to hurt them.

Skirmisher fight starting in woods.

His cavalry having failed him….John throws his Young Guard in.

Prussian Cuirassiers take on French Guard Lancers….the Lancers are destroyed. Russ replaced his dice.

More French have lost.

To be honest…so much was happening I can’t recall what happened here….but imagine was not good for the Prussians. The must have failed to form square so fight disordered.

The other Guard unit is gone.

A bit further on…and…no French Guard cavalry……Russ replaced his dice a couple of times…..there are 8 Allied Cuirassier units over here…and 3 pointy stick units.

Graeme blunted his Austrian Division clearing the front of Dresden and I handed over the reserve division to him to do more carnage and then allow the Russian Grenadiers to take Dresden. There tardiness let us down.

Alan is now skirmishing in front of the walls. Supported by…LINES.

An out of sequence shot…..but shows some good fights.

Dear oh dear…John charged a battery to take it out and carry on and hit the shaken columns behind…hopefully destroying one and causing some tests……but the dice Gods really deserted him…his Cuirassiers were shaken going in…as was from artillery doing closing fire…had to perform a break test and…failed…popped and the Division Commander died with them..HEROIC!

I could have sat my Grenadiers behind the river and shot Johns cavalry all day…but where’s the fun in that for John…he had come all this way…… so I headed over and attacked his infantry…expectation of being destroyed eventually…but it would stop him retiring cavalry back across Dresden to help the other flank.

Stephen has lost his 2 infantry division’s,,,rain does that to you……so he had 2 Hussar units left so he charged French Cuirassiers……and…won!

Keithy moved his Landwher Cavalry over to block our side of the river and the Russian Grenadiers can at last be seen advancing to the right of the village.

Robert threw his last light cavalry regiment into blunt the infantry advance making them form square. I retaliated with Cuirassiers…the French lost. Grenadiers and artillery are moving up.

To the right we have Austrians forming for another attack…the Prussian guns are about to move into the gap in the front. A couple of turns of arillery from the 4 batteries and then 12 bttns will charge in! Oh for another hour……….

French still hold the Gardens..I don’t even think they got charged…but Rob has a solid force supporting it.

End of game on right…Russian Guard are advancing into the Fray. Keiths infantry are behind them rallying casualties.

So that was Dresden 2023. Another couple of turns and I think Allies would have taken Dresden…….Goldie agreed was Allied Victory.I am sure he did…honest guys…..thanks to John and PaulW for coming and playing.

Time for the Whisky section of the tale…and what a Tale it is! Being my birthday weekend John and PaulW came out for dinner. My partner had slaved all day cooking and we had a superb Lamb Shanks meal accompanied by a wonderful Pinot Noir PaulW had ordered and had sent to my place.

Now PaulW and I enjoy a good Whisky tasting night…..where we taste …discuss the tasting…rate them…debate our scores…..play music and then move onto the next one. PaulW had been sending bottles to my place…I had some PaulW had not tried…Paul bought me the Glenrothes as a bday prezzie…..so we had…a few to taste….the list is below…I will rate them as future battles are discussed.

Cadenhead Glentauchers-Glenlivet 14years(Winner)

Bladnoch Liora

Glenmorangie Extremely Rare 18years

Glenrothes Elders Reserve 18 years

Arran Sherry Cask

Edradour in the Cask

Lagavulin 16 years

Laphroig 10 years

Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dha

Caol Ila Distillers Edition

It was a great night……the ending was……I can’t recall it so it will just remain a mystery of legend!

Til next time…Terry out,

So into July and the planned game for the night was our first ‘Pike n Shotte’ game…. however Stephen was providing most of the figures and had to pull out at the last minute. So I quickly alerted the ladz and planned a Naps practice. It’s been a while since as a group we had a game, and we have a Dresden 1813 refight coming up. So, I asked each player to bring 1 foot brigade and a light cavalry brigade, with the aim of boosting it with Garage stocks.

In the end I boosted each player up to 2 brigade’s of foot and 1 of light cavalry. Each foot brigade also had 1 battery. Commanders were to be 8’s, however each side was to randomly make one a 9, and then make another ‘Aggressive’ which added a +1 to ‘Charge’ orders. Goldie insisted I give him the ‘Aggressive’ when I won the roll off on our side…apparently unlike me, Austrian commanders are not allowed to be ‘Aggressive’.

Franco-Bavarian force commanders from left to right were Alan with Bavarians, Graham with French and Robert with French. The Allies from left to right were Goldie with Prussians, Keith with Russians and me(Terry) with Austrians. Terrain was rolling fields with a scattering of woods and a central village with another small village in Allied deployment zone.

Goldie has taken the central village to the right of the central road and the arm of Graham is moving a brigade into assault the Prussians. Robert is in foreground with Alans Bavarians flanking Graham.

Prussians occupying the village…buildings are Hovels…painted by Hovels http://www.hovelsltd.co.uk/Russian%2025/rusvil.html. It is quite hard to evict a unit in a village unless you can attack multiply sides or you have softened up the defenders with artillery fire at medium range…as Graham found out.

Behind and to the right of the Prussians, Keith has a skirmish line out…. although a base of line troops think they are Jagers(while trousers).

Over on the Austrian flank Stephen has managed to make the game after all…and brought along some of the British he is painting so these replaced some Austrian units, and he played this side.

French attack on church.

Alans Bavarians were a wee bit slow to start moving…but are now moving up in support of Grahams central advance.

The Bavarians support comes a wee bit late..Grahams brigade is thrown back.

So Graham sends his Dragoons in against Russian Hussars…who have pointy sticks. I swapped a French light cavalry unit with the Dragons to even out the odds…pointy sticks inflict a -1 save in cavalry combat and -2 versus infantry. Dragoons get an additional attack and add +1 to combat resolution.

Bavarian line with skirmishers out front advancing.

Prussians Landwher cavalry also with pointy sticks………Calpe are such lovely figures. https://www.calpeminiatures.co.uk/

A lone Austrian column!

But another Austrian large column has found a target. The Austrians get 8 attacks…hit on 3, save on 3 as are a column. Bavarians get 3 shots as they close in….hit on 3’s and then get 6 attacks in combat. Supporting units assist in the combat resolution stage.

Now below the British skirmishers have charged the Bavarians skirmishers. As both are skirmishing, neither can evade. Skirmishers hit on a 5+, as the British are charging they have +1 for charging, so hit on a 4. Neither side can be supported.

Then the Bavarian and Austrian cavalry charge/countercharge. With light cavalry where numbers are matched, it devolves into a series of attacks ending in mutual extinction. Light cavalry are not Battle Cavalry, unless they have pointy sticks… or are Guard types.

Another attack a turn or so on…..

Back in the centre and Graham is still trying to get into the church. But more important in the top left corner is Grahams Hussars getting a charge in on Keiths shaken Uhlans….this was to be decisive for the game.

The aftermath of the French Hussar charge…..the shaken Uhlans popped…..surrounding units failed morale tests for friends breaking and popped…the Hussars then swept into the other Uhlan unit…and as its a sweeping advance are caught stationary…….so no pointy sticks bonus….they popped…….surrounding units failed friends breaking rule…..and Keith lost his centre. Graham wasn’t in much better shape!

Over on the Allied left flank Goldie sent his Prussian Grenadiers into Roberts columns and loo and behold…the Grenadiers lost…badly….. and popped.

As we see below….they are no where to be seen.

Now at games end…Graham has pulled back from the village….unable to capture it.

Stephen is still trying to take out the Bavarians with his large Austrian Bttns…but with minimal success.

In the final action…….the supporting Bavarian bttn has moved to not have an open flank…..as 2 regts of Prussian Landwher cavalry are facing it…..if they can get in…they should be able to take out the shaken unit in combat…..6 attacks into a shaken flank…hitting on 3s…minus 2 save…..and only 3 attacks back on 6s…..perhaps cause break tests…and perhaps even sweep into the flank of the Bavarian line unit…..lots of perhaps…alas…they failed the order to charge….and that was that…..

There were lots of combats I have not covered….it was a fast moving fun game……in the end the French/Bavarians had a victory. Well down to them.

The Whisky of the week is a ‘Glenfarclas 15 Cask Strength 57.8%’ which a friend shared the opening of with me.

Now…it is rather special, and I could not find an actual review of this very limited release…..needless to say….it was truly wonderful. Below is the review of the standard 43% release……I feel it is like comparing the Dog car I drive(its a Toyota Ractius…bought to drive the 2 Leonbergers around in) to the Bro in laws new Mustang……

At 15 years old, this whisky shows the complex and mature style the Glenfarclas distillery is renowned for – light butterscotch, dried fruit and an big oak and sherry character are mingled with hints of malted barley and a touch of dry peat smoke. The finish is long, with Christmas cake spices lingering on the palate, making for a complex and richly satisfying single malt.

Anyhow……a good great game, and a great whisky.

Until next time, Terry out.

Rob made this lovely poster above for the game we staged at the Hutt Wargames Club annual convention ‘ValleyCon’ Saturday 22nd April 2023. There were around 160 gamers playing in a variety of competitions(including the DBMM’ers at the local school that is the Clubs normal gaming location) and we 6 GarageGamers with the demonstration game being a Waterloo re-enactment.

First up some pictures of the other games in the hall to start the report. It’s a great venue, the ‘Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre ‘ in Upper Hutt that has a large well-lit hall, a fantastic cafe on the other side of the door from where our gaming table was plus ample parking. For after gaming festivities its a mere 200metres to ‘Brewtown’ which hosts a number of Craft Breweries, Eateries and a Distillery! SO A PERFECT VENUE.

This is the picture from the stage where the ‘Bring and Buy’ was. I deliberately did not check it out knowing I cannot be trusted not to buy something I probably don’t need!. On the right are some double grey doors…we are just past them with the doors leading to the toilets and the cafe.

Here we have GarageGamer Graeme and sometime GarageGamer Simon wearing the Organising Team T-shirt. They were part of the 24 strong Flames of War Competition.

This is Gamer Reg playing in the SAGA tournie…I believe were 16 players.

Shock Horror! A 40k table!! Playing on it was a friend Craig who a decade ago tried to teach me how to play 40k. He failed. But he does paint beautiful armies.

The Bolt Action tables with Al from New Plymouth(the tall chap). Al has graced some of our Big Games in the past. Great Chap.

The Main event. The table is 17.5 foot long and 6 foot wide. Alan has made 3D buildings for the game. They are stunning.

There were only 6 of us playing in this game but with Russ and Goldie(at SALUTE buying up Perry French Franco Prussians!!) overseas and others busy it is we happy few. From left to right, Mike(Allied left then Prussians as arrive), Robert(Napoleon/ French Centre/Old Guard/Guard Cavalry), Keith(French left), Rob(French right), Alan(Wellington and Allied Centre) and Me, Terry as ‘Prince of Orange’ with Allied right.

And here I am….’Prince of Orange’ survey the enemy lines.

View from Alans position.

Mike’s view from Papelotte towards La Haye Sainte.

Lobau(Robert) advances both his Division’s at La Haye Sainte.

Keith(Reille) advances his Division’s towards the Beautiful model that is Hougoumont. Alan has made a superb job of this one. Nassau’s can be seen in the garden.

I was a wee bit shocked to see on other side of table Rob(D’Erlon) had thrown a division straight at the Hanoverians…with minimal support…and minimal damage on the Hanoverian Lines troops!

Went I checked a couple of turns later (the first few hours of the game I had 10 a minute timer on sides so the early turns roared along as I expected game would slow later in day) the French Division commander was surrounded by…no one….the entire division was gone burger.

Keith uses his Legere to try and damage the Nassau before charging in.

The French GungHo battle plan carries on… Robert charged a column at the Brunswick Leib(see more about them below)…..they arrived but with no supports…..they outfought the Leib..but…the Leib had supports and won the conflict. The ‘W’ counter is used when a combat carries on so we can keep track of the winner for the next round of combat.

For those more informed readers…yes the Brunswickers are actually Portugese…..for the very good reason that the Brunswickers…..who belong to friend Weakley who is in Vanuatu…were not based…so this week…I based them…and here is a picture to prove their existence…on my paint table. DOH!.

Robert has forced the Brunswick Lights out of the orchard and they have retired towards their rear. Bright lads. British rifles are hiding in the sandpit.

So we arrive at Turn 5 in next to no time! On the Allied right flank, Chasse arrives with his Dutch Division. Love these guys. They didn’t actually do much…but…I do like them.

Also on Turn 5, Mike rolls for the Prussian arrival… and he succeeds and Von Hackes 13th Brigade arrives.

Woohoo… Robert had thrown units into an assault on La Haye Saint and a unit out as a flank blocker as he assaulted La Haye Sainte from 3 sides…..the Brunswickers had held….the French flank bttn was shaken….meaning if charged by Cavalry…they form square…but.. the cavalry can then charge in. In the combat…Alans Brunswick Uhlans(rather than a large Hussar and a small Uhlan I made all regts in game standard size…easier) made 5 wounds……the square pooped.

On the other side of La Haye Saint , Alan threw the Brunswick Lights into the flank of the French locked in combat with the Garrison. Open Order troops can charge into a flank of formed troops from a flank/rear position.

Further to the Allied left, Mike threw Nassau Jager into the flank of a battery…allowing a bttn to charge it from the flank and not be shot at. Perfect! Another Bttn moved up in support.

Alans Uhlans had destroyed the broken square…and he sweep on into a column….the combat was a draw and Alans Uhlans retired.

Sensing the time was now…the French Cuirassiers charged the Uhlans who were carrying 2 wounds….. a second unit moved up in support. The Uhlans lost…but only retired…the Cuirassiers sweep on and destroyed the Brunswick battery…. then retired.

Now the fun really started for me! On the right you can see Keiths infantry in a fire fight with the British which lasted all game….. then Keith threw a Cuirassier/Dragon combo attack in against a battery…they defeated it as you would expect…but sustained a casualty. They then swept onwards and hit my stationary Dutch Dragoons….and several combats then ensured…before……

we arrived at the 4 French heavies sitting in the middle of the table…with no supports..and the 2 right side regts both shaken… so cannot counter charge and being shaken…are at a serious disadvantage……

Meanwhile Keith finally succeeded in getting his troops to charge the Garden!

Over on the Allied left….. the combats continued non stop.

Now this is where I got so excited I never took any photos……I charged British nutter cavalry into the flank of the shaken Dragoons(they had been lurking all day behind Hougomont waiting for a flank charge opportunity…sadly the second unit with Prince William leading them failed to charge!)…who turned to face as hit in the flank…I then sent the Belgian Carabiniers (my Favourite Front Rank Models) into the now exposed flank..with Tripp leading them….in the resulting melee…the French Dragoons popped…the British Cavalry sweep off into the flank of a Cuirassier unit…while the Belgians hit the shaken Cuirassiers…..at the end of it all…the French Heavy Cavalry were no more…and the Allied cavalry retired out of danger.

The French now forced the Nassau Jager out of the garden.

The French were still attempting to get into La Haye Saint…..Alan threw the Brunswick Hussars into there flank. Behind them on the ridge are my Hanoverian Landwehr, part of a command that twice blundered(meaning I rolled 2 6s) and then they had retired off the table…but each time came back straight away! Alan is still holding La Haye Saint.

Lordy…look at this fight! 2 Prussian brigades have made it onto the table….Young Guard have made a rapid march and are attempting to hold the flank. Allied light cavalry are fighting it out with French Cuirassiers and light cavalry……and Alan has even had a rush of blood and sent light cavalry into a battery! British Cavalry have the ‘Ferocious Charge’ so that in their 1st round of any combat they reroll any misses. So where standard light cavalry are normally at a disadvantage against heavy cavalry…the British lights almost get an even playing field.

With Rob not having a good day with his dice and saving throws, the British cavalry were carving up his Cuirassiers. Below is not what you want to throw… believe me.

Another Cuirassier Division is now broken… the Young Guard have their flank totally exposed…but the BATTERY repulsed the cavalry! Alan was looking embarassed…as he should!!

It was at this stage the Napoleon conceded the day. The Old Guard Infantry and Cavalry had taken the field, however his right flank was gone..the Allies were largely undamaged, and Wellington had not committed the Guard Cavalry to the table as yet.

So that was an exciting game…..the early turns were all about getting units into position then the game was one of continuous combats….and I do love getting some good cavalry attacks in!! I lost count of the turns at 10 …we played for roughly 5 hours with a pleasant break to eat some lovely food from the cafe and then after packing up…adjourned to Brewtown where I shouted the lads a lager at the Good George Bar and we talked crap for a while as gamers do….a great way to finish the day!

Now my recent Whisky Purchase was largely to get the bottle so when almost empty I will use as my infinity bottle(ie. take last wee bit from each bottle as nears empty…and put in it..idea from neighbour John. It is a VERY HEAVY BOTTLE.

So this is a bottle of Bladnoch Liora and the review online :

Liora is created using an exceptional pairing of casks: Bourbon and New Oak, and sits alongside the likes of Alinta, Vinaya and Samsara in Bladnoch’s ‘Classic Collection’ of whiskies. Master Distiller, Dr. Nick Savage, elaborates that “Liora embodies the delicate balance between the intensity of the New Oak and the sweetness of the Bourbon casks. On the nose you can expect juicy fresh cut apples along with toasted caramel and floral notes. As you taste Liora, on the palate you’ll get caramelised toffee apples along with peppery spices and fresh cut oak. A truly magnificent dram with a long finish with a slight warming dryness.”

Which in Terry speak translates to…. very pleasant to sip while sitting in front of the fire watching an episode of ‘The Mandolorian’. It is being accompanied by a slice of Lumberjack Cake that Keith made and brought along to yesterdays game…he knows I have a weakness for it! (what remains is shown below….coconut..brown sugar…butter….its syruppy and luscious..yummyum).

Til next time….a very content Terry……signing off.

So on Saturday I journeyed out to the Hutt Club to have a Black Powder game with Reg, Alan and Robert. As am planning on a small Waterloo Game at the Hutt Clubs annual ‘ValleyCon’ convention next month, decided to practice with a Quatre Bras refight.

We used the scenario straight from the ‘Albion Triumphant – Volume 2 The Hundred Days Campaign’ book. Scenario recommended for minimum of 12′ x 6′ table however as club short on tables, Reg had snared 2, I brought 2 with me so we settled for 10 foot long table(had 2 more tables in car…but after several trips to car…one more was a walk to far!)

The Allies were Alan and Reg with Robert and I as French. The Game was 8 turns long and is a meeting engagement with both sides having troops on the table at the start. The Allies were at the Crossroads with Bylandt’s Dutch Brigade in the front with Picton’s Division to its rear/flank. Reg commanded the Dutch/Hanoverians and Alan Picton’s 2 British brigades.

The French started with 2 Divisions on the table, both of 2 brigades. There were meant to be 2 cavalry brigade’s also on the table…but the reduction in table width resulted in not enough space to deploy them.

Below is set up positions.

Allies had Dutch and Hanoverians(Reg) on left flank with British(Alan) on the right. French had Robert on left and Terry on right.

View from Ney on centre road.

Robert must have had too much meat in his diet, he charged straight in while I was having trouble moving so was not supporting him!

The Dutch Brigade gets lots of Robert’s troops charging them.

View from Reg’s position with Dutch holding centre and Hanoverians moving up to the left flank. Robert has a bit of a bloodied nose but has given as good as he got. My 3 bttns of Legere are moving up in skirmish supported by columns. My 2nd brigade was having trouble crossing the stream and lagged behind.

Dutch and Hanoverians before my troops…….slooowwwlllyy advancing get into contact.

Dutch Militia at right angles…..there was a French bttn there a moment ago. On other side of road French and British have been at it…….light cavalry from both sides moving up.

On Robert/Alans side the infantry were committing mutual extinction and now the cavalry went at it. They both bounced in this combat.

It got bloody very quickly on this side….. Robert retired the remains of this brigade to rally them…Alan had a unit retiring out of line(or popping…can’t recall).

Back to view from Reg’s position….. my legere are inflicting casualties as the columns move in. Reg is having disordered/shaken units falling back from front line. Sadly for me …none were popping at this stage!!

The start of my attacks going in. Been a while since playing Black Powder and forgot that Dutch Militia and Hanoverian Landwehr are morale 5 not 4…… silly me.

Centre attacks.

Dutch and Hanoverians suffering badly and multiple units are shaken and disordered but Brunswickers have arrived and Reg threw the exact die roll to get them on table and in position! I had legere on his flank and in woods before Brunswickers beamed in from no where…damn them!!

French Cuirassiers have been resting on table edge for some time….. they really did consider themselves a reserve! A field of juicy targets and they just sat and looked at them!!

Ahhhhh… this warms the wee cockles of my heart……the remains of the Dutch and Hanoverian Brigades have been pushed back to tables edge. They are all hurting. I have obscured the guns with legere and then sent Uhlans into a shaken disordered bttn that formed square … but as shaken and disordered I still get to charge….they exploded and units within 6 inches had to pass a morale test to stay…..

There were now not many units left…as I did a sweeping advance into the remains…..they all popped or retired off table as well.

And it is here we stopped the game on turn 6. There were 2 turns left….Alan thought his British could hold the village……wishful thinking! But Dutch and Hanoverians were gone….Brunswicker foot wouldn’t last much longer…..I still had 10 intact bttns to throw at village… Roberts Cuirassiers am sure would carve through the Allied cavalry(they certainly weren’t tired!) but was time to pack up!

I thought it was a fun game and a good practice for our Waterloo refight at Hutt Club’s ‘ValleyCon’ convention on the weekend of April 22-23.

Til Next time…

Now a while back Goldie suggested playing a Big Napoleonic Cavalry Bash..and in particular the Day 1 Leipzig Big Cavalry Bash around Liebertwolkwitz. Somehow this turned into the Ligny refight we had last month. Soo….without further ado…..the delayed Big Cavalry Bash!!

Now the game I staged was LOOSELY based on the actual battle…… in that the terrain was kind of correct…..the formations were…kind of correct…..but for ease of a good game in one evening…I…..went with the feel and flow of the Evening…..

On the night only 4 Gamers made it…so they had a FEW regiments each to play with.

Rob and Robert were French…Goldie and SteveT were the Allies…I made drinks and….kept replacing destroyed formations and on last turn actually got to roll some dice…….which was not a good idea.

So here we are at start of game. It’s the 14th of October 1813 and Murat has sent Divisions of Dragoons supported by light cavalry down the rise towards the Allied lines. The village of Wachau is on the left and Liebertwolkwitz on the right. Guilden-Gossa is in the foreground where the Czar, Emperor and Kaiser are watching the battle.

Looking down the ridge from Mark-Kleenburg(MK) to Wachau(WH) and then Lieberwolkwitz(LZ). Each has 2 units of French infantry in them who are not allowed to move. The only Allied infantry is Wurttembergs 2nd Corps in squares slowing escaping the massed French gun’s(now masked by French cavalry). The only artillery on the table are 2 Russian Guard Horse batteries in front of Gulden-Gossa(GG) which are not allowed to move and only shoot threats to their front.

Here is Murat behind his massed attack.

The Kaiser watching the battle unfold in front of GG.

Turn 1 and Steve assaults with Russian Cuirassiers to the front…Austrian Cuirassier and CLs go in one flank and Russian Hussars the other. French counter charge or turn to face.

Austrian Heavies took some punishment but saw off a unit of Dragoons.

Hmmm…there were 8 French regts there a moment ago! More Allied cavalry roll in from the rear.

One would hazard a guess this French Dragoon unitis…..in a wee bit of trouble.

Yep…they were…have disappeared and now the Cuirassiers have swept forward into the next Dragoon regt.

Nice clear space for more charges has been created.

Oh look…..2 of my Cavalry regts have appeared…..these are my 4th and 6th French Cuirassier regts…..close to 20 years old now……Front Rankers…I tidied them up as were a bit battle weary and rebased them for this game.

On the French right, Robert through forward the Polish Uhlans (which I also had tidied up and rebased for this game!) supported by several squadrons of Empress Dragoons against Prussian Dragoons/Uhlans. French Lancers advance to the ridge line.

Aerial view…. Empress Dragoons is covering the flank and giving support……otherwise is a fairly even fight.

The Empress Dragoons are very pretty.

I do like Uhlans/Lancers.

Combat was…interesting…Robert charged…Goldie countered…..Prussian Dragoons beat Uhlans who popped…Empress Dragoons then decided to withdraw off table…..then the other Polish Uhlans beat up the Prussian Uhlans…who decided to be elsewhere (Goldie’s hand is a giveaway).

And a crowded section of the table…suddenly…looks like this…Cavalry combat is brutal.

Over on otherside of Wachau….. its not looking good for the French.

The Cossacks over by LZ moved towards French lines…so Rob moved light cavalry to counter….and in response Steve…having a GREAT GAME…sent Cuirassiers into an open FLANK. Sigh…FLANKS…will they ever learn.

Recovering French Dragoons watching the carnage in front of them.

Now Steve had moved the Russian Guard Light Cavalry up to support his Cuirassier thrust through the middle…..so Robert sent Polish Uhlans into an exposed FLANK….. Rob then sent Cuirassiers into the front…..and Robert sent my Cuirassiers over there in case needed as well.

Close up below.

BEAUTIFUL.

Much to everyone’s surprise….the Guard Cossacks…..survived….I know….miracle.

Robert resetting his lines.

Steve was like a ‘Pig in mud’…..attack after attack……for the game I reduced cavalry movement to 2 and not 3 moves so attacks and responses would not be so dramatic…and we could fit more cavalry on the table.

Another division of French lights arrive on the table…..

The previous view of Cuirassiers hitting Hussars in the flank was a pre cursor to the destruction of the French cavalry in this sector. They were in that empty bit of field. That included the NEWLY ARRIVED Saxon Cuirassiers!

Huzzah!

On come Imperial Guard Cavalry…4 regts!

Beautiful.

The Allies will be terrified at this line opposite them!

Over MK way…..Robert and Goldie were throwing heavies at each other…..Austrian and Prussian Cuirassiers, supported by Landwehr Cavalry up against French Cuirassiers and Uhlans. Round1 to Goldie who has wiped out a French unit and swung onto the flank…..my 6th could be in trouble…..

But then I noticed they had 3 wounds…so shaken…so cannot perform a ‘Sweeping Advance’….naughty naughty Goldie……tsch tsch

It then got really bad for Goldie….he lost all the combats….and 3 Prussian Kuirassier’s popped and others ran away……I lost count but he may have lost 6 ot 8 Cuirassier regts alone during battle……

Now what’s really embarrassing is that I finally got to roll some dice…last few games I have spent games in woods or trying to cross streams…….unsuccessfully…so French Guard…I MUST be able to beat someone up with them..alas….Russian Cuirassiers are pretty even…Steve rolled good…I rolled…not so good……the Guard Uhlans refused to charge…and that was that…..but I take solace in the combatants were my troops!!

On other flank…… Robert had the better of Goldie……but Allies had the overall win.

And that was that……we will probably rerun it when rest of guys are available……will lengthen table…remove woods at end…and add the cavalry Russ/Alan/Keith can bring. As it was there were around 60 or so regts used ….ladz seemed to enjoy game…lots of dice were rolled and hopefully the gamers had some fun.

Til next time…Terry out.

So after the Waterloo refight the question was asked over what would be next big game and Ligny was suggested. The 3 wise men of Robert, Rob and Goldie elected themselves to organise this game.

Now Goldie has moved to a new, much larger abode so he hosted the game in his lounge as no furniture is in it yet so was perfect for a large game. So last Saturday the game was fought on a 15 foot x 6 foot table.

The map for game is below.

The Victory conditions are as below.
Prussia
 Hold at least 3 of the 4 villages, or
 Break the majority of French forces
France
 Capture at least 3 of the 4 villages, or
 Break the majority of Prussian forces or
 Breakthrough Prussian northern side of table.

The players for the French side were Russ, Rob, Steve, Robert and me. On day I swapped over to Prussians as they were down to 3 players and needed 4.

The Special Rules for game were:

Rivers/Streams
 6” movement penalty crossing the La Ligne stream, artillery cannot cross except by way of bridges
 Units are disordered while crossing or in are contact with the river. Disorder automatically
ceases once unit is no longer in contact with the stream
 Units disordered prior to crossing the stream remain disordered after crossing Villages
The villages are sprawling areas of brick buildings and walls, trees, orchards and gardens, rather than single strongpoints. The battles for villages were extremely bloody and saw attack and counter-attack as the two sides would feed troops into the meatgrinder (rather than a prolonged siege of a single strongpoint):
 Villages are impassable to artillery and cavalry except roads.
 Villages use Rules as Written.
 Defenders get a +2 Combat Result.
 Defenders get all HtH combat dice (i.e. usually 6).
 Defenders ignore Withdraw results from Break Tests but become Disordered. (Note: Losers always lose their cover save).
Woods
 As per the Rules as Written
 All Napoleonic infantry who do not have the ‘skirmishers’ special rule can form a skirmish
formation only to go into terrain they could not otherwise enter, and will automatically
revert to line when they leave it
Broken Brigades
A brigade is broken when the number of units destroyed is greater than the remaining unshaken units in the brigade. Any shaken or artillery units in a brigade are ignored in the assessment.

Orbats were:

Prussian Order of Battle
Prussian Korps had dual command, with the senior commander supported by a junior officer from the GeneralStaß. Each Prussian Korps can be commanded by two players – the corps commander and his chief of staff. In game terms they act as two commanders-in-chief for the Korps, with two players.

Commander in Chief – Blucher SR9
I Korps – GenL Zieten SR9 (Ob.Reiche SR8)
1 st Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr- Steinmetz SR8
2 nd Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Pirch II SR8
3 rd Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Jagow SR8
4 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Henckel SR8
I Korps Cavalry Reserve Roder SR8
Uhlan, Dragoon, Landwehr Kav (3 total)
I Korps Artillery Reserve Holzendorff SR8
Artillery Brigade (3) 3 foot batteries
II Korps – GM Pirch I SR8 (Ob. Aster SR8)
5 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Tippelskirch SR8
6 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Krafft SR8
7 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Bause SR8
8 th Infantry Brigade (4) 1 Fusilier, 3 Musketeer, 2 Landwehr – Bose SR8
II Korps Cavalry Reserve Wahlen-Jurgass SR8
Dragoon, elite Hussar, Landwehr Kav (3 total)
II Korps Artillery Reserve Lehmann SR8
Artillery Brigade (3) 3 foot batteries

French Order of Battle
Commander in Chief – Napoléon SR10
Imperial Guard –
Old Guard (4) Grenadiers & Chasseurs à Pied – Friant SR9
Middle Guard (4) Grenadiers & Chasseurs à Pied – Morand SR9
Young Guard (4) Tirailleurs & Voltigeurs – Duhesme SR8 Aggressive
Guard Heavy Cavalry (2) Grenadiers & Empress Dragoons – Guyot SR8
Guard Artillery (3) 3 12pdr foot batteries batteries – Drouot SR9
III Corps – Vandamme SR9
8 th Inf Division (4+1 foot battery) 1 Légère, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Lefol SR8
10 th Inf Division (4+) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Habert SR8
11 th Inf Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Berthezene SR8
3 rd Light Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chasseurs à Cheval – Domon SR8
7 th Division (4) 2 Légère, 2 Line, 1 6pdr – Girard SR8
IV Corps – Gerard SR8
12 th Inf Division (4+ 1 foot battery) 1 Légère, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Pecheux SR8
13 th Inf Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Vichery SR8
14 th Inf Division (4) 1 Légère, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Hulot SR8
6 th Light Cavalry Division (2) 2 Hussars & Chasseurs – Maurin SR8
IV Cavalry Corps – Milhaud SR8
13 th Reserve Cavalry Division (2) 2 Cuirassiers – Walthier SR8
14 th Reserve Cavalry Division (2) 2 Cuirassiers – Delort SR8
Total
4 Old Guard
4 Middle Guard
4 Young Guard
28 Infantry
2 Guard Horse (Grenadiers & Empress Dragoons)
4 Hussars/Chasseurs a Cheval
4 Cuirassiers
10 artillery

Additional French formations possibly arriving later in the game:(Terry Note…needless to say..THEY ALL ARRIVED)
VI Corps: Lobau with three Inf divisions and a Cav division
19th Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Simmer SR8
20 th Inf Division (4) 1 Legere, 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Jeanin SR8
21 st Inf Division (4) 1 Legere, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Teste SR8
5 th Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chevauleger-lancier – Subervie SR8
I Corps with one Inf division and a Cav division
4 th Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr -Durutte SR8
1 st Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chevauleger-lancier – Jacquinot SR8

First up below is view from Wagnele on right and La Haye on left at the advancing Vandamme.

View from St Armand which held 2 Prussian bttns. Note on right a sole Prussian bttn guarding area to La Haye.

Alan’s Prussians linking La Haye to Ligny.

And we have Ligny in the corner with another wood…it also held 2 bttns.

Old Nappy has set up shop in front of St Armand.

Vandamme closes in on Wagnele.

Here’s my 7th Prussian brigade….in woods…..my plan was to rush through the woods…..and beat up Steve quickly so that Nappy would need to despatch troops to this flank….foolish me!!

Turn one and the Prussian plan just fell apart……Pirch(Goldie) sent the Reserve artillery of 3 batteries racing towards La Haye on the right flank…….howeverrrrr….. this left them exposed to a French attack…while in march column…yep…they all died.

Brilliant start…turn one and half our artillery gone. The mantle of never being allowed to command artillery again moved from SteveT to Goldie. Thats a really big gap to run through isn’t it.

Over by Ligny Gerard(SteveT) advances onwards….

Dear oh dear….. Rob had painted up a new unit of French Legere…looked darn good…nice bright yellow……they charged Keiths skirmishing fusiliers….so means pretty even..Rob has slight advantage being the attacker…but the curse of the new unit struck yet again…they lost the combat and popped…..

Pain has arrived…..massed Guard artillery….

And over on French right…some heavies arrive from the Reserve.

Big gap on Nappy’s right….. has someone got lost??

A bit further along….Vandamme is really rolling forward……Prussians are still holding Wagnele.

Close up of attack ..it lasted a couple of rounds…..

Way over on other flank…..Gerard(SteveT) spent the game assaulting this piece of wall…..he never got into the village….took lots of damage and kept coming back for more….my troops can be seen in the woods….

Talk about ‘Gung Ho!’…no preamble…Russell threw the Young Guard straight in!

Vandamme(Rob) has taken Wagnele…1st Objective taken.

Hmmm…the Young Guard seem to be..missing…dear oh dear….Nappy is not going to be happy. Sadly the Cuirassiers didn’t care…..now that really would have been a good result had they failed morale!!

French have taken half of St Armand. Oh look…Lobau has wandered onto the battlefield…what..a …surprise…….

Goldie has managed to get a brigade over to the La Haye/Wagnele sector……actually did some damage…

Lobau(Robert) threw units over stream to support Guard moving out of St Armand……at start of game I said to ‘Watch your FLANKS!’…..Robert had left a beautiful one..Alan ordered Uhlans to charge it…fools blundered and rushed ahead…across stream….(next turn French Cuirassirs charged and wiped them out)……but he did then manage to get the bttn we can see on the left which took out a unit….another pooped…good result..stopped French..briefly….

Oh look… d’Erlon has arrived…..expect Ney and Davout will arrive ….kidding guys…..KIDDING……we all know Davout is in Paris and can’t quite make it.

Sigh…back in the middle….a lot of popping occurred in the Prussian ranks…….

As for my bold flanking manoeuvre……move into woods…fail move orders for 2 turns….French manage to get to stream so never going to cross now…so back out…form up…and then…Blunder back into the woods! LOL. They can now join with my 8th Brigade and cavalry and form a rear guard!

So clear French victory….WELL PLAYED BY THE 4 FRENCH PLAYERS…..the Prussian left flank was intact…but the right was gone burger……quite a good game for those that did something….at least I had a comfy chair and twitter to entertain me…..solace is taken in only suffering 2 casualties all game….wood splinters from the trees…. I really hate woods…next game will have NO TREES ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE….OR DISORDERING STREAMS.

Whisky of the week is still the Wolfburn Fathers Day……really enjoying it……have managed to finish a bottle of Jet Fuel(Infrequent Flyers) I got back in the first Covid Lockdown 2 and a half years ago.

Now Infrequent Flyers was recommended to me by buddy Murray…he who owns the lovely Calpe Prussians I was using in the game. Must admit struggled with it at first…not used to the style…but couple of years of Whisky appreciation and yep…my palate has improved……and was really enjoying it when bottle sadly emptied. So will be getting another one!

So that’s it for now….next game is an 1813 Leipziggy mega cavalry game with a gazillion heavy cavalry…be quick..and bloody…fun fun…

Terry out.

So 3 of the ladz are working on a Ligny refight so this Thursday night we had a refresher game on Prussians v French. Russ/Rob/Graham were French while Alan/Keith and Goldie were Prussians. I was tea lady.

French had 4 brigades of foot, each of 2 legere and 2 ligne with 3 batteries. Then 2 Light Cavalry arrived on turn 2. Prussians had a brigade of 9 bttns and a brigade of 10. There were 9 bttns of Landwehr who are Unreliable(ie need to beat command role to follow an order). They had 2 batteries as well and Goldie had 2 cavalry regts.

The Prussians had a small village on their right and mix of streams…trees and hedges with large farmhouse on the left. Picture below looking down road from village on right at French.

On the Prussian left view of French over stream with woods on left.

Turn 1 and Russ sends his brigade straight into attack on Alan’s defenders.

It didn’t go well…one bttn down in first French attack for Prussians!

Over on Prussian left Goldie sends his cavalry forward who see off the skirmishing legere. Hordes of French on other side of pond.

Overview on the Prussian left. Goldie had 6 of his 10 bttns being Landwehr… so at times they just won’t move. But they hate the French so get a reroll on a failed to hit in combat…just have to get them in!! I got to use my BIG BRIDGE in a game as well!!!

Graham launched attack on the landwehr in the farmhouse. It didn’t go well…after several rounds of combat the French popped. Some ones thumb got in the picture.

Russ is busy rolling up Alans line.

Graham charged some Chasseurs into the skirmishing Jager who evaded…the cavalry redirected onto the Landwehr who formed square. The cavalry retired…and are missing from this picture as they then got shot to smithereens.

So here is area BEHIND VILLAGE. Alan still holds the far building…..Russ is advancing steadily forward. Following turn Keith loses the closer building….Graham gets a unit into the rear of the Landwehr in picture….Russ has 5 of his 6 units shaken…but shaken is not destroyed so its a clear French victory here.

Over on other flank….a large combat had gone on for a number of rounds.. the Prussian Grenadiers were unable to roll over their opponents…..the Prussian Cavalry wouldn’t take any orders so feeling charitable…lets call it a draw…….

Below is the ongoing combat…Prussian pushing forward but the French do have reserves.

So that was that…. good to get Nap cobwebs out of the way.

Now I celebrated another birthday and after a lovely dinner out with my beloved, my eldest daughter and her lad we visited a whisky bar. The wonderful barmaid suggested I try the tester tray of a Ardbeg, Laphroig, Port Charlotte, Bowmore and a Bunnahahain! How could one refuse! There were even little cards under the glasses telling me all about them.

Feeling quite chipper I then asked the bar lass to get me a bottle down from the VERY top shelf…I could see a Cadenhead bottle…so she rolled out the long ladder..clammered up and returned with a 31 year Cadenhead…. without a seconds thought I ordered a drink(Anita was paying!). So this weeks review is the Cadenhead 31.

The tasting notes are:

Tasting Notes

Nose:

Vanilla ice cream, raisins, pecan pie, peach slices in syrup.

Flavour:

Dark chocolate orange, dense madeira cake, soft spiciness.

Finish:

Creamy. Pistachio ice 

And am sure I could taste every single one of those…truelly I could!!

Now the 5 tasting whiskies were from Islay so were peaty but being at the lower end of the $$$ range were not to robust in flavour or complex. The cost of these 5 combined is less than the Cadenhead! I don’t think I would ever spend that amount on a single bottle(unless win Lotto) but was a wonderful wee drink to end a lovely night(thankfully I had taken the following day off work).

Next Game is an Antietam refight….Goldie tells me I am some bloke called Burnside so best read up on him.

Til next time…Terry out.

So Gamer PaulW has returned from soaking in Whisky by the pool in the tropics for a short visit and requested a game while he was here. So….let’s do Waterloo! Its at this stage I must confess…its not really a battle I have an interest in…..as I prefer to game with Austrian’s and Russian’s…….and the only troops I have for it(apart from French of course) are Dutch. Namely a Brigade of Chasse’s 3rd Netherlands Division and von Tripps Heavy Cavalry Brigade, plus of course a command base of that Military GENIUS the Prince of Orange!

Thankfully I have PaulG’s base cloths he made for our 2015 multi player, some of the hills we made for it and Alan has been making the buildings(Hougoumont, La Hay Sainte and Belle Alliance) on his 3D printer, and PaulW has a Papelotte set sourced from Hovels so we are okay for buildings. Troop wise we are fairly okay, except Alan had to go and sell the Household Cavalry the weekend BEFORE the game to fund new Victrix replacements. Arrgghhhhhhhhh.

So the Saturday just past the Garage Gamers available assembled for a Waterloo refight in my Lounge…as its winter…..and more pleasant in the lounge and I can fit an 18ft by 6 foot table plus the dining room…kitchen and 3 toilets are readily available! The only Gamers missing were Russ who was out of town at a gaming convention and Keith who was ill.

So after spending evenings all week working out sides…troops..scenario and printing sheets for the players we actually started Turn 1 before the start time of 10am. The French players were Rob, PaulW, SteveT, Robert and Graham. The Allies were Moi, Alan, StephenC and PaulG. Rob was Napoleon and Moi was Wellington…and Orange and Uxbridge and….I was very confused and didn’t do much all game needless to say.

So below are the the ladz…from left to right… Robert…Graham….Rob….SteveT…PaulW who has already started on the whisky….Alan…StephenC and PaulG(Goldie). The painters have just finished on the room…no new curtains up yet!

So Turn 1 and Graham leads off the French attack. Now somehow…the French High Command( am sure I had NOTHING to do with it :)) got the force allocation wrong which I did not pick up on. PaulW was meant to be on the French left….with 2 Division’s of infantry and 2 Cavalry Corps seeing he can handle that many troops…and had not had a game for a while. But he was put on the right…so I got him moved to the left…but he somehow lost control of the larger infantry division and the Cuirassiers which I did not notice! Bugger!!

The Allied left anchored on Papelotte……. this is a lovely set from Hovel Models. I made small command cards for each side as I had downsized all the troops so a table top bttn represented arrox. 1700 men, a cavalry regiment 1000 sabres and batteries way down to 5 or 6 a side! A shout out to JaysWargamingMadness for the downsizing idea. The command cards listed the commands/units and any special abilities for the commander. Took these from the Albion Triumphant book.

And here is Hougoumont which Alan has printed on his 3D printer and painted up. It is smaller than the Hovel’s version which would have been way to big a piece for the game table! Alan the clever sod has made a base mat for it as well as the walls and gardens. It is beautiful. Trees are a recent purchase by Goldie from K&M Trees…..I bought some from them couple of years ago during first lockdown…outstanding service provided by Rebecca again!

So here comes PaulW and his sidekick SteveT around the side of Hmont. They did not actually attack the buildings all game. Mix of Brits and Nassau awaited them.

Close up of the action as skirmishers from both sides shoot it out.

Back on the ridge….the French can be seen advancing…they didn’t do much of this…..except towards La HayeS where the Brunswickers and some rifles were encamped.

Young StephenC has a thingk for Highlanders…has these lovely painted models and also been working on English Civil War ancestors. This is the other side of La HayeS.

More Nassaus in Papelotte and also in trees to its front. Robert’s French advancing in distance.

Back on the French left….somehow my Dutch brigade has arrived early..who would have guessed that would happen! PaulW’s whisky glass in background…..the Whisky of the day will be reviewed at end of report.

I do love a good blunder…Robert gave his battery an order…they got real confused and blundered…they limbered up and raced across the field and unlimbered by troops in woods to front of Papelotte. …and were so exhausted..they……missed!

Back on the French left….PaulW and SteveT march on…clearing all before them.

Meanwhile back over at Papelotte…Goldie charged the battery…destroyed it and retired. Graham replied with Cuirassiers + Kellerman…who added extra attacks.

PaulW is getting the casualty markers out…its getting bloody. The ‘W’ counters tell us in continuing combats… who won the last round.

So back on the right..the Cuirassiers beat up the Allied Cavalry who retired…the Cuirassiers followed on …fought some infantry…didn’t win and retired. So Goldie hit them as below…the Cuirassiers were shaken so could not counter charge…it didn’t go well…and Kellerman died!(apparently his replacements kept dying……as good cavalry commanders should!)

Turn 5 arrives and the Prussian 4th Korps arrives…..Goldie had command of them. The French had been alerted to the arrival and were moving cavalry and Young Guard over to support the flank.

View towards centre where Kellerman is heading for Valhalla…the French did not press the centre of the battlefield which was a wee bit surprising. The Allied lines look impressive…but..a lot of Landwehr there. The French infantry either side of La HayeS advanced…carefully….and were held by Alled shooting…a special star were the Brunswickers who stopped Grahams attempts to advance by disordering fire……and with so many troops trying to get around the far right flank…..the French were stopped in the centre.

Back on the French left…..Allied line is getting pushed off table……..what remains.

On right…. Goldie’s cavalry falls back from destroying the Cuirassiers.

The British in Hougmt have clambered out and shot up a French column in the flank…didn’t do much…..French turned to face and British attacked…still didn’t do much.

Sigh…..it was another of my wonderful suggestions to Alan…..

View from French centre towards La HayeS…the black smudge are Brunswicker’s..who were real stars!

Its heating up over on the left…..Ney has lead a unit into combat…he added extra attacks…he…died a glorious death…like a Dwarf Slayer in Glorious Battle…Gotrek would be proud of him! The Cuirassiers are looking for opportunities….but…its very cluttered.

Prussians are relentless…..Robert’s attempt to stop them on edge of table did not go well….

We had run out of Allied cavalry so I used Austrians……if Sri Lanka ever sorts themselves out will send some Dutch cavalry over to Fernando’s to get painted.

Allied infantry almost gone…but the cavalry had a good flank attack into some French..so some French have joined the casualty list.

Woohoo…..if you roll a 12 to form square….the cavalry complete their charge into you….ouch.

More and more Prussians pour onto table.

Oopsy…what’s that behind the French..is it a small force from Halle! I think it is fair to say this did not go down well with the French.

No matter how often we discuss open flanks…….. this happens…..

The French push around the flank has stalled…..

Sigh…open flanks…..rampaging Cuirassiers hit a Guard unit in the flank…..for 2 turns I had been suggesting moving said unit to change facing and block off rear of Hougmt….. thankfully the Gods of War smiled…somehow the French lost…in 2 Cuirassier combats…SteveT rolled 20 dice …and achieved…2 wounds! Heavy cavalry have now been added to the list of troop types SteveT is NOT ALLOWED TO COMMAND!!

End Game…..the French Guard Cavalry are sitting in rear..Grahams infantry are in trouble…the Brunswickers were amazing….I never had to use the Household or Dutch Heavy cavalry. The French Old Guard never arrived on the table..I hadn’t noticed or would have made sure they did!

On other flank…..British have had minmal damage and Prussians are rumbling forward…so we called it quits.

There is a LOT of Allied troops on this flank.

So at the end of the day…its a crushing Allied Victory. The French plan to attack around Hgmont did not work…..the Allied ridgeline defence was never really tested…and the Prussians were….unrelentless.

So onto the Whisky of the Day….PaulW had procured a bottle of Arran Sherry Cask

The toasting notes are:

Nose: Orange chocolate, with Christmas spices, lots of dried fruit and toasty oak.

Palate: Loads of juicy sherry influence, with chocolate-dipped cherries, raisins and a touch of caramel.

Finish: Oak spice, dark chocolate praline and oak char.

So we tried this wee beauty during the day….Paul then stayed for dinner…we watched the Rugby….why oh why…and then played music….drank whisky(the Arran…..a Bowmore 15 and the last of the Aberlour 14!) and wine and sang til late.

A Great Day!!

Til next time….Terry out!!