Sunday, July 26, 2015

Battle of Ligny, 1815 at Historicon

I ran the Ligny scenario (to be posted soon) twice at Historicon, once at 7 PM on Thursday evening, and again at 9 AM Friday. It was a good thing that I started it as late as I did, and that the large, "L" shaped table (essentially, two 6 x 10 foot tables side by side and overlapping 6 feet on the sides)  was available early, as it took me nearly 6 hours to set up all the troops and terrain. The Prussian troop mix in particular was such that it would have been difficult for anyone to assist with setting them up, although I did have some help doing the much more straightforward Frenchmen! In any event, I was very happy with the final appearance of the table.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera, and although I was sure that I had packed it, was forced to conclude that somehow it had been left behind at the last moment. Therefore, I took NO pictures at Historicon this year (I had my cell phone camera, but the pictures from that are so awful for this kind of thing that it isn';t worth taking them). That's ;part of why this post isn't up until well after the fact. The photos here are courtesy of Tim's Blog, Victor's blog, and the indispensable Czar Barry. Thanks, guys! Of course, when I got home, I discovered that I had the camera with me all along - just buried at the bottom of my bad, where I had in fact placed it first thing to be SURE I wouldn't forget it. Duh!!!!


Overview of the Table nearing completion of the setup Thursday night (and of Peter fretting over some issue with the OOB). From left to right, the villages along the heavily overgrown Ligny stream  are:   Wagnelee, St Armand la Haye, St Armand, Ligny (near the junction of the two tables), and far off are Tongrinelle, Baignee, and finally Balatre. 


This shot shows the view from the opposite direction, once again with Ligny in the center, and now with St Armand, etc in the distance.


The Thursday night game started with the Prussians wining the impetus roll by 6, and deciding to give the first run to the French, fearing that they'd waste good cards (especially the Infantry Firepower card)  while the French were too far away for them to use them. As is often the case when one makes this bet, the French then proceeded to turn almost a perfect run of Cards - Artillery Firepower, Move, Infantry Firepower, Artillery Firepower, Move, Melee. Above Jim Mauro, assisted by Dr Tim, attacks Ligny. 


The MOVE cards allow the French Reserves to enter as well... Old Guard and the Cuirassiers!  The Prussians got well and truly pounded by this superb card sequence, and were nearly ejected from Wagnelee, St Arman la Haye, and St Armand, and were pushed back in Ligny. We had a full slate of 12 players, but almost half were new to the Field of Battle rules. If I had thought about it, I would have made sure that veteran players were opposite newbies wherever possible so that they could assist them at learning the rules. Naturally, the Prussian players started to loose heart after the string of French successes, despite the fact that they had tons of un-engaged troops in reserve, and their Morale Point reserve was huge. Of course, the thing about a big run of cards in Field of Battle is that an equally long run of cards is going to come to the other side, so as long as you haven't been crushed yet, you'll have your turn. That is of course what happened, and on their run of cards, the Prussians hammered the French, and they lost virtually all of their gains in the villages... and a huge amount of Morale points as a result. The French forces were rather thin opposite the Wagnlee - St Armand leg of the Ligny, and when the next French run of cards proved less than spectacular, the Prussians used their cards to counterattack and severely maul their opposing numbers. Despite the fact that it was only about 10PM, a number of the players were tired and drifted off, so we ended the game then. The French were unable to make any further headway around the villages, and were down about 35 Morale points to the Prussians. Had play continued, a very convincing French defeat was virtually assured!


We used the time to reset most of the troops for the Thursday AM game, and finished the process starting about 8 AM that day.  Here's a shot of the French Right , with Ligny in the background.


Soldier's eye view of St Armand La Haye, with the Bussy windmill in the background, as the French prepare to attack.


Terry's Prussian brigade prepares to advance from its reserve position to threaten the weak French flank near Wagnelee. 


The initial French assault on Ligny was repulsed with heavy losses, but once again they achieved initial major successes at Wagnlee, St Armand La Haye, and St. Armand.



La Garde arrives, along with the Cuirassier Divisions. The French have a decided advantage in the numbers and quality of their cavalry, but the nature of the battlefield makes it very difficult to put it to use! The Prussians, however, have far more infantry, and no lack of places for them to hole up!


The Imperial Guard Artillery is moving up to a position so that they can shell either Ligny and/or St Armand. 


Tim, a renowned beau-sabre, looks for the cards to get his Prussian cavalry across the steep banked Ligny stream to threaten the battered French near Ligny itself.  For the Thursday AM game, we had only 8 players so we left off the other leg of the table. Almost all the players for this game were FoB veterans, so things went far more smoothly. The fighting in and around the villages was vicious!


And they do eventually come! Here Tim's Dragoons, Hussars, and Landwehr cavalry have forded the treacherous Ligny stream  forcing Phil's French infantry to form square. Phil had rolled several "1's" on his Move cards, and thus the French assault on Ligny went nowhere fast.


Overview looking towards St Armand. The Young Guard is preparing to assault St. Armand, the Guard cavalry is heading up the road to counterbalance times troopers, and Sam is sending his Cuirassier Divisions to the French Left to intimidate Terry's Prussians, who have recaptured Wagnelee and St Armand La Haye, and have boldly advanced across the Ligny, threatening to mop up what remained of the French attackers there.


Having re-taken the lost ground in the villages, the Prussians are sending heavy reinforcements to support St Armand, which is threatened by the Young Guard. Poor Bill (grey sleeve) needed a little professional advise about the sudden development of some nasty GI symptoms he was experiencing, but he boldly soldiered on (and felt progressively better as the game progressed). The Prussian Artillery is being used very effectively to pound the exposed French.


Once again the French Morale pool was being rapidly exhausted, while the Prussians maintained and expanded their starting lead in that critical area. A major Prussian victory seemed likely in the offing once again when we had to halt play to set up for the Die Fighting 2 game that followed. Overall, I found myself impressed that historically, the French managed to pull off a fairly convincing victory over Blucher's Prussians, given the strength of their position, and their decided advantage in numbers. I'll have some thoughts about that when I present the scenario itself. 

18 comments:

  1. Awesome display of figures and units - lovely looking terrain, battle field, playing area set up - great photos of the battle too ;o) - marvelous!, thanks for sharing and putting in a lot of work and effect to show us a great game played Awesome! and once again Peter, lovely writing of the game too!

    cheers,

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  2. Fantastic! Thanks for sharing Peter! All the hard work payed off!

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    1. Thanks, Mark. I would have liked the game play to have gone a bit smoother, but the nature of the battlefield precluded effective use of cavalry (although that might have changed in the later phases of the game, as it did in real life).

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  3. Massive and handsome setup and game, Peter! Six hours to set up? That is dedication. Seems like an awfully large undertaking for a convention game. Not for the faint of heart or weak of back.

    Outstanding windmill specifically and troops and terrain in general.. My gosh, that is a HUGE game! I bet the lads loved participating in this one.

    Chapeau to you, my friend!

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    1. I had plenty of help moving it all in and taking it down, so that spared the back pretty well. The set up time was part of the reason for running it twice. I had a number of people come up to the table and take pictures and say that it was one of the best looking tables at the Convention. Considering the quality of many of the offerings, I was very happy to hear that!

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    2. Very high praise! Congratulations!

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  4. A great looking table and a much larger game than I expected, although it probably should not have been a surprise given the number of Prussian units you have put together over the past few months.

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    1. Thanks, Laurence. There were over 1,000 "Prussians", including Czar Barry's contingent, and some proxies (Westphalians for the white coated ex Berg regiments, and a few Russians as ex- Russo-German Legion troops)

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  5. Wow that looks like a hell of a game! I really like the set up with the Windmill and stepped gables for the houses.

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    1. Thanks, Oli. The gabled houses are from the Hovels "Northern European Village" range, and, like their half timbered, Russian, and Spanish (Italian) villages, are excellent models that don't take up excessive space on the table. Highly recommended. This style was common in the Low Countries, Northern France and Northern Germany, and in Scandinavia.

      The windmills are probably oversize compared to the other buildings, but if you're gonna scratch build them, they may as well be impressive, eh? :-)

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    2. The windmills certainly look the part. I have the Spanish hovels and I agree they are great little buildings, small but not too small. I am considering collecting for the Dutch Revolt and I will bear the Northern European range in mind if I go in that direction.

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  6. Looks Ace Peter, many a long our you've spent building for this. Great achievement!

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  7. Excellent Peter! Prussians evened up the score (twice it seems). So the French will have to rebalance the victory tally some day.

    Love that windmill!

    Michael

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    1. Thanks, Michael. The original plan was tio run Waterloo, but when it became clear that wouldn't be feasible, your Ligny scenario came immediately to mind. There are actually two scratch built Windmills on the table, one taller, one shorter.

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  8. Wow Peter, I must be the only one who noticed the huge table, I mean typo: 120 feet long, sensational! :) Yeah, I know, no-one else is silly enough to make comment...!
    Silly jokes aside, sensational set-up. I have to pinch myself to realise that you produced this, not in the 'comfort of your own home/club', but at a convention. Brilliant looking table that just is Ligny.
    Interesting how the serendipity of rules meant that, the first game in particular mirrored the real thing, at least in the initial stages: a massive French attack, making good head-way, then being pushed back by determined Prussian counter-attacks.
    I guess that this is another re-fight in which one gains greater appreciation for the 'achievements' of the combatants on the day, particularly the attackers?
    Ditto other commentators, that windmill looks even more superb on the table for the game!!

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    1. Sharp eyes there, James. I think I was originally going to say a 120 square foot table and then changed my mind - since corrected two 6 x 10 foot tables, ! :-)

      I was especially pleased with the appearance of the windmills on the table, too, considering all the time I had spent building them!

      It is a pain to pack up, drive all the materials 6 hours down and back, for sure. Indeed, I am spending time this weekend sorting out the Prussians and placing them back into their clear plastic boxes. I think I am going to do a Grand Review of my French Army once that task is done... they too will need to be sorted out anyway, so not that much extra work.

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