Prepare yourself for an EPIC battle….
Seriously. Just bugger off if you can’t handle it. It is all a bit too EPIC.
A truly seriously awesome experience….
The French open with a deep strike on La Haye and press hard on Welly Right. They also take the Orchards with ease as I had a crappy block dot unit there [ black dots take one hit to rotate a block, white 2 and red three. We will discuss sharing hits later…maybe].
The deal with the Allies is to A. Hold on and B. Not lose your cool and C. do not get too far behind on the lost units curve. As you can see below we got a 4 pip Red dot and two 3 dot units. Once we take 3 hits we rotate the middle unit. Then I can spread hits across each unit as they will all have 3 pips each! It will take 4 hit to make one rotate and 6 to reduce all of them.
The Right flank is bottled up for now. So what to do about losing Papolotte and Le Haye so early? Nappy is pressing hard on my left and could even get Welly in his sights! See point B. above.
I rotate units out of threatened situations and reinforce the left.
By turn 2 things look a bit grim,if he gets lucky and attacks a line Arty unit we are in trouble.
Uxbridge and his Cav reinforce the left.
The enemy advances out of Papolotte.
All of this is of course to draw forces off the sunken road. Then it happens he strikes in the middle and in the gravel pit
A 2 pronged press and its deep in turn 2. I’ve lost 4 units to his 3. I have to recapture or capture 2 victory locations to recover for a win.
The heavy pressure on the left and center is driving me insane….I rapidly rotate fresh units into stymie attacks. All of these attacks are grinding down his resources (Leaders ) and taking a toll on his forces attacking.
Turn 3 and the first Prussians arrive!!! There is a God! I press deep, not worrying too much about cohesion, just needing to threaten exposed VP locations.
Nappy quickly re orients his forces, now somewhat content to hold what he has gained. We ahve forces at least 3 units to peel off and cover flanks and VP locations.
‘In a move that will end up being smart the Brunswick Cav drive into the breach and sacrifice themselves so as to isolate the French. Now a rescue must take place before I can strike and kill these four, and take a kills lead!! This forestalls attacks in the center!
Phew.. tense. Time for a walk in a nearby park.
Some Juice with a fresh baked Foccacia lightly dusted with OliveOil and Salt….OMG delightful hot and revitalizing. But first!
Cafe!
Back to the battle. The French indeed rescue their forces and the Brunswick boys die.
But we re group and try again! While the Guard finally crash thru and look to smash my entire center….OMG…Remember B….Stay cool.
The losses mount I’m up to 7 dead and down two VP locations and the Guard are in the middle of my Army.
Above I fient to the center, knowing the stack in the left is two leaders and two arty formations. I kill a unit and he has to respond or lose units, as his arty is down to 1 pip as are the leaders…or is it two?
Bam he counters and the Guard sit for 1 activation. But that costs me two units….I’m at nine…SHIT….PANIC….
Here is a nice overview above of the main battle field its 8v 6 units lost+ 1 Prussian who does not count to the 10. Wellington is down to two pips. 4 leaders are at heart level. But the four units of Cav can kill the two Infantry units menacing the left!. I muster my courage
and go for it!
Meanwhile I rotate the last of my half decent units into hold against the French Guard. I also lunge the Cav into Le Haye which Nappy leaves open. This claws back a vital VP location.
I attack on the right! Bam 2 more units eat it. I think I can hold on now. But I still must either take 10 or recapture the VP locations….I cannot recapture shit, I’m pretty sure he will counter to recapture Le Haye…Surprised he did that…Shit is it a trap?
So It is going to be down to combat to make anything happen. There is just one unit on the right holding me from penetrating his left and forcing more of his units back…hmm. We attack and knock off another French unit. Thus now he must cover his center VP location.
The last of Uxbridges best forces rally and take a chance. What are those units on the left? He must have weakened forces somewhere??? Yes!!! two reduced units. We attack!
Blucher co-ordinates to attack Papolette! This is it black dot units.
We have the Army on the ropes.
3 units collapse.
11 dead v 9….Phew.
The finishing positions are below as of turn 4. You can see that the British were not adventurous. they took careful risks, that even when losing a unit bought something….usually time.
While many units moved, they were usually just one area to reinforce an area or swap out for the defense.
The Prussians were not handled well by me. I think better usage might have made for a quicker less distressing victory in the last moments. But the Allies prevail. Launching back into Papolette and Le Haye thus contesting both on VPs. One more action by the French and he was going to kill something and win the game with the Guard. I had nothing there to hold anything back from crushing my entire army.
5 of his leaders were at heart level, as were most of mine. you can click thru to see a close up!
A superb and tense battle of two pretty equal players. We played another session and this time Emanuele popped the Init chip turn 1 first action. I played more aggressively and lost rapidly….Hunker down, hold the Initiative chit and pray for reinforcements.
