Our first game at Julians for 2026 saw Chris and I as the Brits take on Julian and John. A small action set in Spain - the game started with Mr Sharpe and his small command retiring rapidly, having stumbled upon a larger French force while scouting ahead of the main army. The French had three units of dragoons in hot pursuit and had the potential to catch the scouting party before they made it back to the larger supporting unit of British infantry. Chris took Sharpe, I had the other Brits, John led the dragoons and Julian had the main French infantry forces
The initial layout below- Sharpe in the middle, Brits on a hill at the far end. The French infantry were off table at this point, the dragoons behind the wood to the bottom left were on table and in pursuit!
Fortunately, Sharpes card came out early in the first turn and he made a decent move. I advanced the main British force slightly to close the distance
I had one small unit of Light Dragoons - not much to counter three units of dragoons!
And speaking of French Dragoons......
The French infantry advanced in column, supported by two units of voltigeurs
Sharpe and his men sprinting across the hot, dry Spanish plain....
With those bloody dragoons right behind them!
With great skill (or luck!) Sharpes command made it back to the British lines and managed to turn just as the leading dragoon unit caught up with them - a crashing volley rang out across the field
The charge was stopped dead, with half the dragoons tumbling lifeless from their saddles. A second round followed shortly thereafter .........
And the dragoons departed for the safety of the nearby woods!
One the other flank a good dice roll enabled me to send in a line unit supported by a light infantry unit to clear out some cheeky voltigeurs
And my small unit of Light Dragoons also rolled well for movement
Allowing them to catch the retreating French heavies in the rear!
The second unit of voltigeurs tried their luck, charging the superior British numbers - and came out with a win, pushing my boys back whence they came!
The French dragoon unit was wiped out and their colonel captured- huzzah!
But the British cavalry, with traditional impetuosity, took their charge one step too far; attempting to catch the French infantry column in the flank, they overlooked the fact the French had three "command" cards sitting unused, which allowed Julian to interrupt the charge and change formation into a square - I think it ended up 3 dice to 15 or something like that - bye, bye, Light Dragoons!
After suffering several minutes of galling fire from the voltigeurs in the woods, the Brits finally got annoyed enough to put in a decent volley and wiped the Froggies out!
With the dragoons all dead or fled, and the voltigeurs severely depleted, only the main French infantry column remained (the French command was also now dangerously low at 4, having started at 11)
The Brits advanced, with Sharpes command pouring fire into the massed ranks of the column
As it was after 1030pm, we decided it was time for the French to pull back - all we needed was an attractive female character to interact with Richard Sharpe, and we could have the basis for another best-selling book!
The lone survivor of the British Light Dragoon unit - he escorted the French colonel as a prisoner from the field and so avoided the denouement of his colleagues!
A fun game - well for Chris and me, anyway - but it was strange how easy it was for Sharpes infantry to see of the initial dragoon charge - with the Brits being lights, supported and having first fire bonus, it ended up being something like 12 dice for the infantry v 10 for the cavalry. John was incensed and didn't stop moaning about it for the rest of the night - I did think it seemed a bit odd the cavalry was not at some kind of advantage but thems the rules!
My latest Temu purchase below
It is quite narrow, vehicles added for scale
And I wonder how long it will be before I try purchasing one of these....
Not a huge choice available so far but perhaps only a matter of time.....?
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