General de Brigade Tutorial Part Two

I was able to play out two more turns after work today.  Several interesting results occurred that I am glad to be able to illustrate.

Turn three- The D/B won the initiative by rolling a 12 to beat the French modified roll of 11.  This was an omen of what was to come.  Again, there were no compulsory moves or order changes, but this time the French attempted to charge their skirmishers against the enemy's skirmish line.

The French attempt to charge the enemy skirmish line.

The French skirmishers were moved half way towards the enemy.  There they awaited the fire phase.

The French then moved the rest of their units into position to be able to charge the next turn.

Gauthier's men advance.

The legere battalions continue to move forward.

Some of Jamin's men move into line to diminish the affects of the enemy guns.

Next came the fire phase and here is where things got very interesting.  The D/B artillery fired first and rolled double sixes.  This is a very important part of the game.  In this case, the French enemy suffered six casualties, but even more significantly, General Gauthier had to take a risk to general test.  He rolled a three, so his horse bolted off into the enemy lines and he was captured!

Double sixes. Very exciting!

The chart that indicates the results.

Gauthier's terrible luck

Elsewhere, the French skirmishers met with varied results.  The legere screen was faltered (a morale roll of 4), but the line lights passed their morale check.  This meant that the D/B screen needed to take a morale check.  They rolled poorly and suffered a result of "retreat."

The morale chart.

The French morale roll.

The Dutch roll poorly and must retreat during the next compulsory movement phase.

Turn four- I must admit that before I begin I forgot a couple of details.  First, Gauthier's brigade should have taken a brigade morale test at the end of turn three.  I decided to do it at the end of turn 4. Secondly, without a brigade commander, the charge I conducted in turn four should not have been allowed, but I got excited and plunged three French columns into an assault.  But the opportunity to go through the mechanics was important. so here we go.

The Dutch/Belgians won the initiative yet again.  During the compulsory move phase the D/B skirmishers moved back their 20cm.  In the charge phase, the three battalions of the 93rd Ligne moved half way towards the 3/2nd Nassau and waited there for the fire phase of the turn.

The 93rd attacks!

During the movement phase, the 92nd Ligne moved a half turn towards the Dutch battery.  The Dutch guns were not as effective this turn, inflicting only one casualty.  The French musketry wasn't much better, also inflicting only one casualty.

Now to the melee.  The 3/2nd Nassau unleashed a volley.  With 37 figures and the modifier of shooting at a massed column, five hits were distributed among the three battalions.  Each battalion rolled for moral.  The 2/93 rolled a seven, but had to subtract two for casualties and one for being 2nd line.  This battalion faltered.  The 1/93 in the center rolled a nine and also suffered a minus three.  But a six was what was needed to pass, and so they did.  The 3/93 rolled a 3 and had to subtract 2, resulting in a modified roll of one.  This unit was forced to retreat.  The 1/93rd would be going in alone.  The Frenchmen rolled a five.  They added two for charging and one more for being in column. The net total was 8.  The 2/3rd Nassau rolled and 8 and were able to add 2 for outnumbering the enemy by 2 to 1, a net of 10.  The 2/3rd won by two which means the 1/93rd was pushed back.  More importantly though, winning infantry inflicts one casualty for every six figures.  At 37 strong, the French lost 6 while only taking out one of the Nassauers.

Morale results from the Nassau fire.

The 1/93rd is repulsed with great loss.

The last phase of each turn is morale checks.  In this case, the D/B skirmishers had to see if they could shake off their retreat marker.  They rolled high and were successful.  And then it was time to check the morale of Gauthier's brigade as losing their commanding officer mandated one.  All of the units in the brigade were 2nd line which is a minus one modifier.  A six was rolled, knocked down to a five: the brigade breaks and must retire 30cm on the next compulsory move phase.  This is a staggering blow to Foy's offensive.

So close, yet so far.  The brigade fails morale by one.

It will be up to Jamin's men to achieve the victory on the French left.  We'll see how that goes in the next post.