Today was my third game of Lasalle 2 with my good friend Austrian Ian. The French had a emphatic victory in the last game ... and I promised myself that I wouldn't use the same tactic of running the cav down the middle again. What a shame - it was the tactic to use and the French tasted defeat.
Simple rule ... play the game that is in front of you.
We played 250 points and both of us changed our armies. I was keen to put my Young Guard brigade on the table and hope the two batteries it could take would help me. Ian chose more cavalry and maxed out his good skirmishing troops in the avant guard - Jaeger and Grenz. This would aid in addressing the skirmish imbalance.
Above my two chasseur (yep, one is dragoons preteneding to be chasseurs. I rushed these to the right flank to stop the large Austrian cavalry advance. They achieved nothing - not even a charge.
In the centre the French stretched a brigade a little too thinly - I think in retrospect. I'm not sure Lasalle 2 has managed to adequately respond to the criticism laid against the original - that lines are not strong enough when confronted by attack columns.
I tried to put my infantry in line and use the firepower this gave me to put disruption on the enemy. In Lasalle 2 the enemy closes to 4 BW away then slow down drastically. If timed well, the defenders can release a volley into the advancing troops (hopefully) weakening them. At the moment this is largely theory as - from what we have seen - attack columns that press straight on and charge can break the enemy. The advantage is with the attacker.
My other mistake was spreading my Young Guard too thin. I allowed one battalion and a battery to pass beyond the 4 BW needed to retain coherency of the force. This meant a drain on my MO - the points generated at the beginning of each turn and spent to move, shoot, charge ... everything.
Above the Austrian fell back before the YG advance leading to an outflanking opportunity I had to respond to.
In the centre a unit of Jaeger performed well against the combined guns and volleys.
A trouble spot for the French. Above, two battalions of Austrians press through the wheat field against a line. My shooting proved poor and I failed to break the Austrian Grenz in the centre. These rallied then participated in a 2-on-1 combat breaking the French line.
Successful Austrian combats decided the day. A plentiful supply of sixes saw 3 French battalions broken while a failed artillery withdrawal roll consigned a battery to the broken box. This handed the game to the Austrians in quite quick time.
Above the chevau-leger, left, had broken the guns then stood there until game end. This right was a stalemate but drew in significant French forces. I saw four cavalry regiments descending on my wing and reinforced it. Was this right? Probably not but it seemed logical at the time. In reflection, I think my army was too spread out leaving 7 French battalion to take on 9-10 Austrian. With this advantage (and several rounds of poor French shooting and constant good Austrian combat dice) the Austrians could press home several charges with the outnumber advantage.
In all I really like Lasalle 2 and want to like it even more. One thing has worried me since game 1 ... combat is very 'swingy.' The D6 roll added to the unit strength is a VERY significant random factor. This is emphasised by an attacker who beats a defender by 3 or more - breaks the defender. The advantage is with the attacker. (The huzzah rule would increase this by giving the attacker bonuses for breaking a defender AFTER it has happened.) Roll well in combat and your unit strength doesn't matter too much. Even a full strength defender breaks if they roll a 2 and a attackers (on the same strength) rolled a 5. Also, is the line formation worth it? Not sure yet - but it doesn't look good.
We still got some rules wrong - parts of the skirmish rule and we forgot shaken altogether. Maybe we forgot shaken as we aren't using unit cards - just two types of dice for temp and perm disruptions. The Elite guard troops were very tough but didn't shoot or fight any better than anyone else - they were just harder to injure. My next experiment will feature some conscript in larger numbers to press home the massed attack column advantage.
But ... I really want lines to work as a realistic choice. I'm going to try Ordre Mixte and keep battalion with flanks in contact to reduce an attackers ability to gain the outnumber bonus. Lots of things yet to figure out about this tactically demanding rules set which gives the players lots of choices.
Will it replace Blucher as my favourite rules for Napoleonics ... atm I don't think so ... but it is a clear 2nd thus far. Then again, I think VERY highly of Sam Mustafa rules.
