This week saw another Lasalle wargame. This time, after a close withdrawal but my regular opponent, I ran my friend Nick through the rules. He is a veteran of Blucher and this would be his second game of Lasalle 2. We used my Prussian and French armies and the same list (ie: 8 foot battalions, 2 foot batteries, 2 light cavalry and 1 horse battery.) Roughly 200 points.
Nick tried repeatedly to work around the flanks while I tried to push forward and catch his troops before this could occur. It was an extremely close run event with a 1/3 sudden death victory condition and an 8 turn time limit.
Before the Prussian could push forward on their right, the French lapped around, moving their battery into enfilade position. This did not have a telling effect but whittled a couple of hits from the extreme right unit.
The rear brigade of French struggled to get into position and make an attack. The Prussians pulled back using the forest to impede movements against their flank.
The centre saw French lines form to use firepower to break up Prussian attacks. This had reduced effect as the Prussian light cavalry made their advance in the centre.
Uhlans charged past the village to rout the first line of the French central brigade.
The Prussian left advanced to try and impede the French chasseur brigade who were trying to draw infantry away from the centre. This was effective but concurrently denied a cavalry presence to negate the Prussians.
Prussian infantry advanced but were consistently unable to come to grips with the faster horse battery or cavalry. The ability of the French to strike the centre was reduced by this action.
As usual with Lasalle, a major element was getting your units untangled to have enough room for the attack. Above, Blucher struggles for sufficient space to deploy his guns.
To the decisive action, the Prussian cavalry charged again and again. Some rallying, most ineffectual, restored their ability to carry on the fight. Weakened French units succumbed over time. The pressure to have enough skirmish points to challenge the MO rolls and seize the initiative stopped the French player from putting infantry into square. This left several battalions vulnerable to cavalry attack.
The Prussian left had pulled back, leaving the French left - dispersed into line - a difficult chance to try and envelop. Now attacking a single unit - protected by forest - the French did not manage to shake out from a conga line before their third unit was taken.
Finally, after moving to right and left to obfuscate, formed for an attack. But, the Prussians utilised their commander's ability - forgoing additional MO - to snap into square. Without hits on the infantry, the French chasseurs would delay in charging.
Meanwhile, Prussian cavalry sealed the victory ... but at 2 units lost to 3, it was a very close affair. Untangling units is still a major difficulty to maximise attacks. A forgot the creation of a grand battery in the centre which may have been useful. This game was decided by pushing to charge at the expense of volleys or cannonades.
A very enjoyable game which uncovered an interesting conflict in tactics. This time direct assault triumphed ... but it could so easily have gone the other way.
