Friday Night Game - Sharpe Practice Napoleonic Skirmish

 So, it was back to Sharpe Practice again, using Julians very nice collection of Perry plastic miniatures. 

Initial layout with Julian and I commanding the French (bottom edge) and John and Chris leading the British. The aim was to occupy the small hill that was slightly closer to the French base line and hold it to the end of the game.

Voltigeurs commanded by moi.

The British opposite me, commanded by John

A couple of very nice terrain pieces that were made for Julian by gaming buddy Mark S of 1866 and All That fame.

Julians line infantry advances in column and with a double move (four command chits used at once) occupy the hill by the end of the first turn!

Vive L'Empereur!

In the second turn, Chris moved his riflemen and light infantry out of the woods to flank the French position. Both sides exchanged volleys. One French unit was already broken and heading for an early bath!

The volume of fire and its effectiveness - bonuses for "Present!", first fire, being within close range (12") AND in the case of Chris, being rifles and/or light infantry, meant the Brits could hardly miss (I think in one case, Chris could only miss if he rolled a one!) - meant the densely packed French column was ripped apart!

Mr. Sharpe and his boys

Two of Julians four units were soon broken and heading towards Paris, while the remaining two were likely to meet a similar fate in the not-too-distant future!

Allez les Dragons, en avant!

Julian was still claiming we were winning the game, as ONE of his units was clinging grimly to the hilltop! His hope now (not mine, I had already accepted this game was going to end badly for les Bleus!) was that my cavalry could miraculously flank John and then roll up his infantry - Yeah, Right!

We gave it a go, nonetheless.

Julians smashed units heading rearwards

The French light infantry were about to get involved

As the dragoons took up positions in the wood on the right of the British line.

John, however, had time to turn two infantry units to face the woods, refusing his flank, and killing one of my dragoons in the process!

"Ou sont tous les autres?"

And with one more devastating volley, the last of the French infantry were wiped out!

The Voltigeurs got in one good volley at John, and did similar damage to him, but it all seemed a little too late in the day.

The empty hill, ready for the British to march onto at their leisure.

At this stage, Julian started to say " Well, I think we can call it ..........  A DRAW!"

His deadpan delivery had John, Chris and I rolling in laughter - a perfect end to a pleasant evening of good beer, wine, food and companionship.

This is a long weekend in New Zealand as Monday is the day we mark the birthday of the reigning monarch (has been Queens Birthday for about 50 years but is now, of course, King Birthday), so I am hoping to get a decent amount of hobby time and have something for "show and tell" in a couple of days' time! Until then, I hope you enjoyed my report, and I look forward to reading your feedback!