Sharp Practice Peninsula Battle

I had the good fortune of hosting a game of Sharp Practice for five students this week. Our last engagement was with 28mm AWI figures. For this go around we took out my 15mm Napoleonic collection. However, we kept the ranges the same as for 28mm.

This is the table. The French DP is at the bottom of the screen, the British at the upper right.

The British Army

The French Army

The mission was for the French to get a supply train across the length of the table. The Brits job was to prevent this. The French started with 11 morale points, the British just 9. This two point differential would have a profound impact on the game.

The British players aggressively moved toward the French DP and the town situated on the cross roads. The French had a hard time unclogging the congestion around their deployment point, but were able to get their two troops of dragoons down the road and within striking distance of the town.

A group of British grenadiers impetuously tried to get into the town ahead of the arrival of the dragoons. They fell an inch short and had to take on the mounted French in fisticuffs. The red coats lost the combat, but not as badly as one would have thought.

This game we did a better job of keeping track of "Bad Things that Happened" which impacts army morale. As a result of their forced withdrawal, the British lost a point on the morale table.

Each side thrust more units toward the town and crossroads. The cavalry of both sides were caught in the open and riddled by controlled volleys of musketry. Leaders were lost and morale points continued to decrease.

A major error of judgement occurred when the French player mistakenly thought that the chip for his supply train had not yet been drawn. He had four command chips at his disposal, but failed to use them before the Tiffin chip came up. His three wagons and group of grenadiers sat idle as a formation of three British units charged home. The French grenadiers were driven off and the wagons seized; a disaster for French arms!

Both sides attempt to secure the key crossroads and town. A German unit has taken up a position in front of the town. The all important supply train is trying to make its way past the town ahead of the advancing British and Spanish.

 All would have ended well for the British if the Tiffin chip had come up, but fate played a cruel trick on the celebrating allies. The token representing the German formation appeared, allowing the green clad infantrymen to advance and fire upon the remnants of the British grenadier company. It was a lethal volley that forced two "Bad Things that Happen" rolls. The net result was that the British morale fell to zero, ending the game.

This is the end of the game. The three German groups can be seen surrounding the space that had previously held the now destroyed British grenadiers.

It was a good game, and our understanding of the rules improved greatly. One particularly interesting event was a shot from a British artillery piece at the French gun resulted in five kills! It was a remarkable event. It was decided that the accompanying caisson had been hit and the explosion wiped out the entire crew.