Pirimeister
Member
It’s the 16th of June, 1815 and I’m finding myself in the shoes of Lord Wellington (although not for long, as you shall see), facing most of the French army’s left wing. How did I end up in this situation? Surely I wouldn’t have agreed in playing the underdog on such a one-sided affair? What brand of liquor, what percentage of alcohol could have made me sign on that particular dotted line?
And more importantly, was I going to be able to perform as well as my historical counter-part? Or would I be swept away by the adverse odds gathering against me?
I knew I had to act fast to avoid being surrounded by the advancing blues, so after way too much soul-searching, I decided I was going to retreat as fast as possible to form a line near Quatre-Bras, extending the flanks as much as possible. And I knew that “as much as possible” was not going to be enough…
The terrain didn’t favor the defense: too many highs and lows created lots of covered approaches for the advancing French armies and made the use of my artillery difficult and its effects negligible. This single constrain, more than anything else, was the cause of much frustration and jaw-clenching. Even when I finally managed to establish a final, more stable line, still the broken terrain kept me from finding good arty positions to bombard Ney’s men.
And sure enough, Marshal Rich Hamilton revealed himself to be a skilled maneuverer of men, sneaking and dodging his battalions until they were within musket ranger or – and I’m not sure what’s more frustrating- keeping them just out of reach of the few guns I managed to properly deploy.
Hindsight from the real battle “inspires” the French player to be more aggressive and push faster than it would if this were a hypothetical scenario. And speaking for this particular English player, that same hindsight kept me on the edge, because I knew how perilous my situation was.
The French have lots of cavalry covering both flanks, so my idea was to use my small – but A and B quality- force to delay his advance. Since my right flank was the most exposed and the most favorable to cavalry attacks, that’s where I used most of my cav. I’m not sure of the effectiveness of my charges, but my opponent seemed to advance slower that what I perceived to be possible, so maybe it did work...
Once again my “Cautious Bob” side took the best of me and so I opted to create a strong defensive line on my left, where the terrain seemed more favorable to defend, instead of extending the line a bit further. My rational: even if I extended the line somewhat, the amount of French cavalry deployed against me would make it a dangerous tactic because I wouldn’t be able to stop any charge against the –literally- thin red line. Even more, that course of action wouldn’t be able to hinder his advance around the flank.
Still, this lack of audacity –for lack of a better word- annoys me. If any of you have any suggestions about possible courses of action regarding this particular situation, then fell free to post them.
Despite the fact that reinforcements showed up in a decent rate and number, it took me a long while to organize a good line that made me feel secure and eventually able to dish out some punishment, instead of just receiving it. Unfortunately, due to the relentless pressure of my esteemed opponent, I was forced to leave Quatre-Bras in a somewhat state of disarray.
Plus, I managed to get Wellington himself captured as I rode him headlong into a French cavalry patrol… Obviously, I had to find some new shoes to fill, and wouldn’t you know? The Prince of Orange was just my size! Unfortunately his command rating isn’t as good as the Duke “Is this a French cavalry charge I see before me” Wellington’s. So I knew that my unit’s moral recovery wouldn’t be as fast as I needed.
I finally managed to get that line in place, but the pressure of the French advance soon begun to tell and I had some units in my centre-left rout after some nasty cavalry charges and I only managed to plug those gaps by using my tiny reserve.
As you can see in the next picture, the flanks are thinly populated and even my centre-right isn’t looking that solid. My only advantage in that specific area of the line was the steep embankments that ran across most of it, thus shielding me from more cavalry charges.
If your wondering about that purple circle on the top right, it’s only to show a unit that helped to avoid the right flank from being, well, flanked. I caught some glimpses of Rich’s heavy cav maneuvering towards my extreme right, so I used that single unit to simulate a larger force maneuvering in his rear. I made sure that he saw that unit moving about and tried my best to simulate other units by making it go back in circles and show up in nearby places…
On my left, I managed to defend myself against any possible cavalry assaults by using the river to disrupt any charging units. Only problem was that the French superiority in cavalry was so strong that those units were in effect pinned down for the rest of the battle. So much for a cunning plan… You can see for yourselves how it looked like in the next picture.
Now, making a quick recap for those how have just joined us, I had my right flank loosely covered and my left flank was in a strong position. So strong in fact that it could not move, for fear of bringing down the whole line. The only thing left was my centre and here I was receiving the full “Quatre-Bras Special Treatment”.
Like someone has said, there’s quality in quantity and soon French numbers began to tell. Despite the overall good quality of the Allied forces in this scenario, there’s only so much they can achieve, especially with that moral handicap I recklessly created.
The heavy cavalry that was prowling around on my right was re-routed and came crashing into my centre, opening a huge gap through which the French infantry quickly followed. Of course, English musquetry took its toll amongst the French line, but not as much as it had to if they were going to push them back. So the end result was this:
All in all it was a great game, with all the challenges that it threw me, so despite being unbalanced for a competitive game, it sure has that excitement of trying to beat the odds – again!
Thanks to Rich for being such a nice opponent and making the whole experience even more enjoyable!
Now, gentlemen, if you have any comments about the game, I (and Rich, I’m sure) would like to read them. So feel free to write a couple of lines!
Cheers!
Paulo
And more importantly, was I going to be able to perform as well as my historical counter-part? Or would I be swept away by the adverse odds gathering against me?
I knew I had to act fast to avoid being surrounded by the advancing blues, so after way too much soul-searching, I decided I was going to retreat as fast as possible to form a line near Quatre-Bras, extending the flanks as much as possible. And I knew that “as much as possible” was not going to be enough…
The terrain didn’t favor the defense: too many highs and lows created lots of covered approaches for the advancing French armies and made the use of my artillery difficult and its effects negligible. This single constrain, more than anything else, was the cause of much frustration and jaw-clenching. Even when I finally managed to establish a final, more stable line, still the broken terrain kept me from finding good arty positions to bombard Ney’s men.
And sure enough, Marshal Rich Hamilton revealed himself to be a skilled maneuverer of men, sneaking and dodging his battalions until they were within musket ranger or – and I’m not sure what’s more frustrating- keeping them just out of reach of the few guns I managed to properly deploy.
Hindsight from the real battle “inspires” the French player to be more aggressive and push faster than it would if this were a hypothetical scenario. And speaking for this particular English player, that same hindsight kept me on the edge, because I knew how perilous my situation was.
The French have lots of cavalry covering both flanks, so my idea was to use my small – but A and B quality- force to delay his advance. Since my right flank was the most exposed and the most favorable to cavalry attacks, that’s where I used most of my cav. I’m not sure of the effectiveness of my charges, but my opponent seemed to advance slower that what I perceived to be possible, so maybe it did work...
Once again my “Cautious Bob” side took the best of me and so I opted to create a strong defensive line on my left, where the terrain seemed more favorable to defend, instead of extending the line a bit further. My rational: even if I extended the line somewhat, the amount of French cavalry deployed against me would make it a dangerous tactic because I wouldn’t be able to stop any charge against the –literally- thin red line. Even more, that course of action wouldn’t be able to hinder his advance around the flank.
Still, this lack of audacity –for lack of a better word- annoys me. If any of you have any suggestions about possible courses of action regarding this particular situation, then fell free to post them.
Despite the fact that reinforcements showed up in a decent rate and number, it took me a long while to organize a good line that made me feel secure and eventually able to dish out some punishment, instead of just receiving it. Unfortunately, due to the relentless pressure of my esteemed opponent, I was forced to leave Quatre-Bras in a somewhat state of disarray.
Plus, I managed to get Wellington himself captured as I rode him headlong into a French cavalry patrol… Obviously, I had to find some new shoes to fill, and wouldn’t you know? The Prince of Orange was just my size! Unfortunately his command rating isn’t as good as the Duke “Is this a French cavalry charge I see before me” Wellington’s. So I knew that my unit’s moral recovery wouldn’t be as fast as I needed.
I finally managed to get that line in place, but the pressure of the French advance soon begun to tell and I had some units in my centre-left rout after some nasty cavalry charges and I only managed to plug those gaps by using my tiny reserve.
As you can see in the next picture, the flanks are thinly populated and even my centre-right isn’t looking that solid. My only advantage in that specific area of the line was the steep embankments that ran across most of it, thus shielding me from more cavalry charges.
If your wondering about that purple circle on the top right, it’s only to show a unit that helped to avoid the right flank from being, well, flanked. I caught some glimpses of Rich’s heavy cav maneuvering towards my extreme right, so I used that single unit to simulate a larger force maneuvering in his rear. I made sure that he saw that unit moving about and tried my best to simulate other units by making it go back in circles and show up in nearby places…
On my left, I managed to defend myself against any possible cavalry assaults by using the river to disrupt any charging units. Only problem was that the French superiority in cavalry was so strong that those units were in effect pinned down for the rest of the battle. So much for a cunning plan… You can see for yourselves how it looked like in the next picture.
Now, making a quick recap for those how have just joined us, I had my right flank loosely covered and my left flank was in a strong position. So strong in fact that it could not move, for fear of bringing down the whole line. The only thing left was my centre and here I was receiving the full “Quatre-Bras Special Treatment”.
Like someone has said, there’s quality in quantity and soon French numbers began to tell. Despite the overall good quality of the Allied forces in this scenario, there’s only so much they can achieve, especially with that moral handicap I recklessly created.
The heavy cavalry that was prowling around on my right was re-routed and came crashing into my centre, opening a huge gap through which the French infantry quickly followed. Of course, English musquetry took its toll amongst the French line, but not as much as it had to if they were going to push them back. So the end result was this:
All in all it was a great game, with all the challenges that it threw me, so despite being unbalanced for a competitive game, it sure has that excitement of trying to beat the odds – again!
Thanks to Rich for being such a nice opponent and making the whole experience even more enjoyable!
Now, gentlemen, if you have any comments about the game, I (and Rich, I’m sure) would like to read them. So feel free to write a couple of lines!
Cheers!
Paulo
