This week Lasalle 2 was back on the menu again. Our little group had four players who are enjoying the rules now - and they've mostly read them too!
It was Ian commanding my Prussians against Nick and I with my French. We were playing Scenario 2 and both armies would be struggling for the town of El Zurdo. The French had 240 points against the 300 of the Prussians. This time there was no sudden death victories, it would be a full 8 times to hold out for the defender.
The first two images show the two Prussian brigades advancing across the field of battle. We still can't figure out if the defender's units can start in line or column so we just put them in line of march like everything else. The Prussians won the initiative roll - this would set a trend of absolutely RED hot dice rolling from Ian all evening. (He is famed for his ability to roll six after six ... but he excelled even his normal deeds on this occasion.)
The French awaited the onslaught. Both sides had a brigade of light cavalry which was in reserve. The French brigade did not show up while the Prussian cavalry promptly popped onto the table on the first roll.
After Prussian ran out of MO, it was the French turn to shake out. Concentrated cannon fire from two batteries removed a Prussian battery on round 1. This was a significant event as it reduced the Prussians ability to harm the French. The central French batteries carved lanes of destruction throughout the game.
We're still figuring out how to defend and attack in this uneven games. Above you can see the French line in front of an objective marker. The French deployed only slightly ahead of it then fell back twice to slow the Prussian assault. This was a very effective tactic. I suspect the attacking brigades should probably advance in two sections to always keep some units within 4 BW.
Whatever disruptions the French could land on their foe was rallied off as the Prussian elan and morale gave them great enthusiasm. More men simply replaced those fallen and stragglers rejoined their units. All those sixes showed the Prussian officers were very effective in this regard.
The Prussian general, Ian, had to be repeatedly goaded into driving home his attack. I suggested it was due to smug confidence at having his cavalry on the table and looping around behind the French. If this was true or not was unclear as - in the end - we had to finish a little early due to tired players and early work starts the next morning.
One of our club's catch phrases, or maxims, "There are no lead orphans" was quoted more than once to encourage some tardy attacking.
The Prussian cavalry were outflanking the French.
The light brigade passed around the forest to take up their positions. It was not the most direct route and perhaps cost a turn or two giving the French additional rolls to muster their cavalry to the table. This, however, did not occur.
This force was under the control of the notorious Brigadier Mick the 'Horse Killer.' He is infamous in our club for repeated inability to control cavalry in any horse and musket game. Perhaps tonight he would break that juju?
The French packed almost all their battalions into the line leaving only two units in the rear. One took up position in square (far left of the above image) block the Prussian cavalry's ability to strike the undefended rear of the units near the objective town of El Zurdo. The French commander figured we could hold the town and - at least - salvage a draw. The Prussian commander's tardy tactics meant it was not until turn 6 that he marshalled any battalions into a position to strike the town.
This final image shows a battered French line. The red numbers show disruptions on almost all units. Despite this, the French held in the first Prussian charge and even consider a counter charge - but we were playing for time. As it turned out, we needed to pack up slightly early but it seemed clear while the Prussians might take the left objective - it would be unlikely if they took the right too.
As for the rules ... well even a casual reader of the blog will detect a clear bias towards Mustafa rules on my part. I think they're great with a strong focus on command and control without complicated or wearisome rules. Despite being 60 points in arrears (and with our cavalry not showing up due to hopeless reserve rolls on our part) it never felt we were out of the game. The onus is firmly on the attacker to drive home the assault and there are several ways to obfuscate the advance for the defender. Mismatched scenarios like this can often be an achilles heel for wargames rules but tonight showed another strength of Lasalle 2.
