MT19 The Prussians

Log file for MT19 final game 2 to accompany Gonzo's write-up...

Final Game 2
Gonzo (French) 9 banners
RiverWanderer (Prussian) 6 Banners
A marathon match of 3 1/2 hours. Prussians initially take town on their right and drive off French with a loop holes tactic. Prussian left refuses battle as the guard advanced. French fire and break the square able to kill two Prussian LNs. Prussian Cav charge in middle killed a lancer and an LT and beat up some other cav, but lost all three Cav in swirling battle with French cav and a bayonet charge. The French then did a Forced march with OG, YG and LN killing the Prussian FA but lost several units and the French remains fled and hid. The Prussian LT in the town on there right flank steeped out to take a shot, then was killed by a CA from a LN and HA. This opened the town to the French which ended up negating the town VPs for The Prussian. French beat up cav was able to finish off 1 pt FA and 1 pt milita for the win. Several times the Prussian with 8 VP were rolling for the win, just could not get the 2 out of 2 hits he needed. Very bloody match with French having 5 1 pt units, 4 2 point units and 1 3 point unit left at end. Thanks to Mark for an extremely tight and enjoyable match. Both games could have gone the other way with only minor change in luck.

And here is the log file for the 1st game in the MT19 final

Final Game 1
Gonzo (Prussian) 9 banners 32 blocks lost
RiverWanderer (French) 5 banners 34 blocks lost
Frecnh scouts and Prussian manuevering to start. French play OOS on Prussian FA and General Advance with 2 Beak the Squares to rout the Prussian right. The Prussian left held tight with a Fr LC/HA ca whiff and following turn killed the advancing YG with range fire. The French OG had moved to the middle and a Prussins Cav charge killed the center HA and beat up the French LC and HA on the Prussian left. Another whiff from the LC/HA on the Frnch HC and bothe French units and the French right were lost. French played several right flank cards with no actin while the Prussianinf moved to the middle. A Prussian competent tactician for OOS sent the only healthy French OG out of the path of the Prussian bayonet charge over the ridge. Three French losses along with the town banners put the Prussian over the top. Score could easil bee reversed with only a couple of die rolll changes. RiverWanderer played a great game, but ther were a couple of critical rolls where his luck deserted him. Three 1 pt Prussian inf were trying to get desperately to rear at end. Thanks to RiverWanderer who is to post logfile.

Here is the files for our SF match, watch at your own peril...

good grief..

OK, Finals is Gonzo vs RiverWanderer
Scenario: 417 Laon - French Left (9&10 March 1814)

I'll fix up the tables later in the week

Semi-Final - Laon, French Right, Game 1
Gonzo (Prussians) 8 Banners 20 blocks taken
gottoman (French) 2 Banners 14 blocks taken

Action almost entirely around Athies. Prussian methodical advance followed by Grand Manuever into town, establing 2 art battery and secure right flank and other town initiated big fight over Athies. Prussian battlefield smoke vs CA, Inf fires first tactic retrieved with a capable tactian card took town ove course of 3 turns. Concentrated cav killed backing art and wore down and killed another inf sq for win. Game noteable for two double sabers, one for each side killing leaders.

Game 2
Gonzo (French) 8 banners 27 blocks taken
gootoman (Prussian) 0 banners 2 blocks taken
Whew. Dont know what to say about this one. French hand always had 3 bad cards and the one perfect one. Very agressive start by Prussians met with withering fire and Battlefield smoke. Good French shooting, 2 forced marches and horrid Prussian dice decided this short game. Thanks to Greg for the match. Better luck next time.

Semi-Final - Laon, French Right, Game 2.

ToganAlper (Prussians) 5 Banners, 29 blocks lost
RiverWanderer (French) 8 Banners, 24 blocks lost

The Prussians opened with a frontal assault across the centre and into Athies on their left. However, the left flank ran into stout opposition when taking Athies and Prussian grenadiers soon had to fall back from the town. Prussian Cavalry advanced to re-new the attacks and soon French infantry were pinned into square. A desperate fight now developed in the centre, as both sides pitched more cavalry and infantry into the melee to try and gain the upper hand. On the cusp of disaster, French squares repelled the Prussian cavalry attacks just as Nansouty's cuirassiers arrived and now the tide of the battle began to turn.

The Prussians tried again to take control of Athies. However, now safe from Prussian cavalry, Fabvier and Mortier were able to attack from the centre and the Prussians were forced out of the town once more. Meanwhile, Nansouty, sweeping past Athies, routed the Prussian guns near the town and then turned to block an advance by van Preussen.

Prussian Militia cavalry kept Athies in contention and a fresh assault by Prussian infantry claimed two banners in the centre. However, Nansouty's Cuirassiers stood firm against a desperate attack by v.Preussen, costing two Prussian banners and giving victory to the French.

Overall, a close run battle, largely decided in the centre. Truly, Nansouty pulled Marmont's chestnuts out of the fire on this occasion.



Thanks to Togan for two exciting games.

Semi-Final - Laon, French Right, Game 1.

RiverWanderer (Prussians) 8 Banners, 14 blocks lost
ToganAlper (French) 2 Banners, 26 blocks lost

The Prussians opened the battle with a push between Fabvier's force and Athies, spear-headed by uhlans and heavy cavalry. The fierce tussle weakened French defences around Athies and now the Prussian infantry charged in and took the town, along with three French line units and Fabvier himself. Mortier retreated towards the Festieux Defile which was already blocked by Prussian Cavalry. In the centre the French attacked to claim two banners but, with the Prussians left in majority control of the towns, Marmont had lost the day.

Same here, tried Gonzo via his email (AOL address) but no response since 8 August.

sorry for the late resopnse I just send you an e-mail with all my available times

Hi all.... please can Toganalper get in touch? I have emailed and PM’d on here.

Mark

So I've listed the Ilya matches as forfeits, and the Semi-Final draw is now posted

in short
Allies Match gottoman vs. Gonzo
French Match toganalper vs. RiverWanderer

Scenario: 416 Laon - French Right (9&10 March 1814)

good luck to all

Round 3 Grossbeeren

Ezpickins (French) - 1 ( lost 23 blocks)
Giulio (Prussian) - 8 (lost 9 blocks)

French tried to repeatedly attack in all the sections but the Prussians always had the cards to push them back. All the bayonet charge and forced march of the game has been played by the Prussian side. The Prussians were also favored in terms of dice rolls and by a steady supply of scout cards (four in total), whence the final limited losses.

yes.. fixed up now. Why, dunno. Think I got distracted..

why is the score for the soul1st round4 (with Mark G) missing ?. I understand soul1st won since Mark has 8, so it should be 11 for soul1st, I guess )

Not that matters much, if Ilia can’t play his battles, but I have seen you have updated the Mt19 scores. Apparently you miss my Rnd1 battle with Cavie. You can find the report a few posts below.

Thanks Mark for all your commitment in keeping this tourneys running.

Max

So I haven't heard direct from Ilya in a while, and indirectly I've heard he is too busy to play.

So unless I hear he is playing, and getting results in this week, I think we need to score his results and concedes, which is a bit of a nuisance.
Anyway, let's see what happens.

Round 1 JENA

French (Togan Alper) 8 banners, 16 blocks lost

Prussians (Giulio) 3 banners, 26 blocks lost

The french right flank under the command of Hilaire pushed all his forces forward, with a grand manev. the french young guard and the center right also established itself in the forest line. The dice and card luck were on the french side. The French successfully continued to push on the left flank. Upon completely destroying the left they then bayonet charged from the treeline into the center right of the Prussians ant that was enough for the Prussians to decide to surrender reaching he limit of 8 banners.

Round 3 Grossbeeren

Soul1st (French) - 8 ( lost 39 blocks)
Giulio (Prussian) - 10 (lost 23 blocks)


Fast-paced battle. The French start strong and exert a lot of pressure on their left flank, assaulting the Prussian batteries. The maneuver succeeds but with casualties. The losses on both sides are comparable. At this point the Prussian maneuver on the French right flank taking control of the ridge and inflicting some losses. Twan is probably lacking cards in this section to counter the Prussians, so he decides to advance in the center taking the mill and hill objective points. A couple of cavalry charge by the Prussian increase the loss differential and also reduce the hand size of the French. However, a rally restores a French lancer unit to its full strength and allow Twan to capture two more units. But a Prussian Bayonet charge against squared infantry units closes the game.

Twan played smart: not being able to counter the Prussian in all the sectors, he clinched to the objective points and achieved a very good final score notwithstanding the reduced mobility and hand size. Well played!

Round 6 - Wavre

Viridovilas (Max) (Allies) 3 blocks; 21 blocks lost
Soul1st (Twan) 8 banners; 26 blocks lost

The block loss count says it all, this one was won by getting 4 French units on or across the bridges of the Dyle river. The Prussians get extra banners in this scenario by playing scout cards. Unfortunately for Max he didn't get any.

The scenario rules have a major impact on the balance for this scenario I think.

Round 4 - Ligny

Cavie (French) 6 banners, 42 blocks lost
Giulio (Prussian) 11 banners, 41 blocks lost

A long scenario played in two sessions, whence two log files. Quite early the French army sustains heavy losses in the left flank and is forced to retreat toward the center. The Prussians, however, don't dare too much with their militia. They are content to keep the buildings and fire from afar. The central part of the game is essentially a sniping exercice. When the Prussians finally move to attack in the center, the French reaction is strong but not so effective essentially due to bad dice rolls. They manage to capture St. Amand and rapidly advance their artillery, mauling the weakened Prussian units that run around like chickens with their heads cut off. But alas it's too late. More Frech units fall under the sniping fire of the few still organized Prussian units and the game is over.

Thanks to Dan for an entertaining game.

Rnd1 - Jena

Cavie (French) 5 banners, 30 blocks lost
Viridovilas (Prussian) 8 banners, 25 blocks lost

The French started bombing the Prussian on their right and centre, but the latter immediately fell back behind the town hexes in order to take cover from the artillery heavy fire. Napoleon than decided to advance with all its army, but a strong counterfire (lucky rolls) welcomed the French, repelling their attacks one by one. The final battle was fought around the town of Closewitz: French took it for a little while, but Prussian infantries immediately counter-charged retaking the city and suppressing the surviving French infantries fleeing from Closewitz.

I see there is an EPIC Ligny and EPIC Quatre Bras in Expansion 7

I wonder about a double EPIC map (40x11)

Round 4 - Ligny

French (Soul1st) - 11 banners, 28 blocks lost
Prussians (Mark-McG) - 8 banners, 47 blocks lost

The game started with the French driving the Prussians from St. Amand and the adjacent woods. After that most the action was mostly on the French left - Prussian right where both armies scored some hits. After that they were battle worn on that part of the field.
The Prussians then launched a series of cavalry charges in the center and on their left. The French answered with some cold steel and other counterattacks, eliminating two of the three Prussian cavalry units.
The Prussians tried to retake St. Amand but failed doing so, after which the last Prussian cavalry unit and their leader were eliminated, scoring the final hits for the French.

The Prussians had bad luck with their command cards during the battle but still managed to score 8 banners.

Thanks Mark for another great game. We both hope to see someday an epic scenario for Ligny in combination with Quatre Bras.