Today the group got together for our first Face to Face game
at Barry’s place for a couple of months. The era chosen as the First Carlist
war 1830ish - Barry, Rick and I took the loyalist Isabellina forces, comprising
Spanish, French Foreign Legion and British Auxiliary Legion troops, whilst
Mark, Paul and Chris took the Carlist forces of the pretender to the throne.
The Carlists were holding a small town on the far side of a
river that was fordable at all points for everything except wheeled guns. The
Isabellinists aim was to take the town.
Our plan (mine mainly as Rick was a dissenting opinion) was
to concentrate as many units as possible in the left centre of our side of the
table and attempt to refuse our right flank, held by Barry with our best troops
– FFL and the Spanish Guards (who were classed as trained, whereas most of the
other troops on both sides were raw). I would lead the attack with the BAL –
four raw battalions and one small battalion of British Royal Marines supported
by a small battery, a troop of cavalry and a rocket battery. We were prepared
to lose this command to pave the way for a secondary assault across the river
by Barry’s command. Rick was on the extreme left flank with most of our cavalry,
not the best position as he was confronted by a densely wooded area.
On the other side, Paul was occupying the woods opposite
Rick on the Carlist right, Chris held the centre and Mark had the cavalry and
some infantry on the left wing with the empty half of the table to exploit with
his horsemen.
Rick struggled to get going with a number of poor activation
rolls and did not get to grips with Paul until well into the second half of the
game. For some reason, the Carlists were allowed to deploy a brigade well
forward, on our side of the river and this hampered Barry’s movement from the
start. The advance across the central plane under constant artillery fire went
as well as could be expected and our support fire from guns and rockets
whittled down Chris’s defending forces. Marks sweeping advance across the empty
half of the table meant Barry had to deploy a number of units in a defensive screen
but it proved to be insufficient, and Chris added to his discomfort with the
brigade that had started on lour side of the river.
It was basically a battle of attrition where both Barry and
I got to a point where under the rules, we were required to do a brigade morale
test on the same turn and we both failed. This left Paul in a very bad state as
Rick had the upper hand, the majority of Chris’s command gone from the field,
but Mark coming in from Ricks rear with several units of fresh cavalry. As with
many games, the dice decided things in the end – if Barry and I had held on
another move or two, we might possibly have crossed the river and taken the
town.
Initial layout showing the town on the far side of the river
– all buildings scratch built by Mark
The Isabellinist deployment on the left of the road dissecting
the battlefield
My command – troops are all mine bar the gun, Royal Marines
(at rear), cavalry squadron and officers
The Carlist force defending the small town that was our objective
Barry deploys in a defensive posture – note Chris’s Carlist
troops in the middle distance – they started the game occupying the small built
up area
Pauls forces moving through the woods to confront Rick
Marks infantry cross the river on the Carlist left to march
against Barry
First line of the BAL brigade close in on the river
The FFL wait for the Carlist onslaught
Close up of some of the FFL figures – everything we used in
the game bar my four BAL battalions were supplied by Mark
Rick finally got some decent activation rolls and managed to
deploy to engage Paul on our left flank
The wide open space on our right that was exploited by Mark
with the Carlist cavalry
The BAL Scots battalion fires at the Carlist defenders
across the river
The Carlist defenders advanced across the river and engaged
in a close range fire fight with my BAL brigade. The eventual outcome was one
Carlist unit quit the field, another routed and the third pulled back, but they
did some damage to my units too
The struggle in the woods was going Ricks way for sure
This looks impressive for the Isabellinists, but in reality,
all the troops in this image were on their last legs..
…as can be seen in the next image, where a couple of our
units have quit the field
Rick was triumphant in his fight with Paul and was all ready
to throw some cavalry across the river to complete his victory….
….but Barry and I both needed a brigade morale roll of 6 to
hang about – and this time, both of us failed.
One more work week to go – then a three day public holiday
weekend, Labour day here in NZ – and then we are off to Lake Tarawera by
Rotorua in the central N Island for our week long annual wargaming retreat –
yeeha!
