OT2019 Round 1

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz (Morning)

Game 2
RiverWanderer (French): 9
ToganAlper (Coalition): 7

After a cautious opening with a limited French cavalry attack and both sides preparing their lines, French plans took a nose-dive with a succession of appalling luck frustrating their early attacks and claiming two leaders in the process. Allied spirits were soon flying high (5:1 banners). A solid Fire & Hold from French artillery kept the French in the running, bringing banners to 5:3 but the Allies kept the pressure up, with a combined arms attack on Artillery taking banners to 6:3. Allied cavalry continued to prove hard to dislodge but gradually the weight of the French cavalry advantage began to take its toll.

In the final moments, with banners at 7:7, the French Left flank advancing and key Allied units under threat, the Allies launched desperate attacks to win the day. Unfortunately, militia lancers were annihilated trying to attack French artillery and a combined arms attack on French cavalry resulted only in a retire & reform. This left the French with just one easy attack to make and, this time, dice performed to expectations to bring the game to conclusion at 9:7 to the French side.

Our second game had dice once more very unfriendly to the French but this time, French fortunes turned just enough to close the gap and steal the win.

Thanks to Togan for another good game.

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz - (morning) 14 October 1813
Game 1
Russian Army: Rik (1)
French Army: Bangla (9)

The French began to push out their cavalry early, whilst the Russians advanced on their right flank. Ripe for a cavalry attack, the French charged, putting the Russians in square, almost killing off the cuirassier unit and generally looking in total command on that flank. But the Russians somehow stabilised the situation, and even looked threatening there so the French withdrew.

On the other flank, as the Prussians deployed, the French took the woods. This manoeuvre seemed to work as it tied up several Prussian and Russian units eliminating the lead unit. It turned out the distraction was simply because the Allies had no right flank cards to operate elsewhere so, when the French attacked on the other flank again, it was difficult for the Russians to resist.

A second French cavalry charge and follow up eliminated the two supporting artillery units on the Russian right, then forced the infantry that was left into square. It became a matter of time.

As the French player, I had a superb opening hand, and the die rolls throughout were pretty good as well, so Rik was up against Lady Luck as well as myself. For a while, it looked like the Allies could get the upper hand, especially after the first French charge, but you have to have the cards to seize the opportunities when they come along.

Logfile attached.

Game 1
mantra (Coalition): 9
rfdoane (French): 6

The game started with the French playing a lot of scout cards on their left. This gave a little space for the Coalition to position up and start pushing the center for the first few banners. The French held a lot of center cards for the first half of the battle, and could really only push there. The Coalition pushed back the center thrust, taking the lead with 4 banners, all the while massing up both L and R flanks for their push. I was dreading this, especially on the French L because of a lack of CC cards there. When the French finally did come in hard on the left, a few timely TC cards (Inf. battle first and canister) where able to blunt their offense and repulse them. Gradually, the Coalition were able to beat back the hoard on the left and crawl ahead in banners. Feeling emboldened the Prussian CUs started hitting and squaring up the French on the other flank, which were later dealt with the Russian Inf. for the win. It was a long battle (2 files worth). Rob fought well, but a few timely cards reversed his advantages.

Game 2
mantra (French): 9
rfdoane (Coalition): 2

The French HC came out of the gates fast and attacked the HA in the center for the first banner. The Coalition countered and were able to bag both the HC and its leader. For a little revenge the French Arty on the hills let lose and mauled and pushed back the Coalition Cav. The French really tried to press hard on their Right here, pushing into the 2 wood hexes with Inf. and range firing on any Cav. that were holed up in that corner. The Coalition were in a bit of a bind for a while, as Cav vs. woods don't really work well; especially when the French drew up some Cav. out of range but in striking distance just in case the Coal. Cav. decided to come out to play. Eventually, the French Inf were retreated out of the woods, but they were still a threat. Switching flanks the French then, pushed into the other woods on their right. This drew the Russians forward there, as well as in their center. Fearing a Coalition Cav. charge (6 units?? of HA and Cav. at least were lined up 3 hexes away from the central hills), the French Short Supplied one HC and then charged in with 2 LCs and an LT (in the woods). This worked very well in the French favor, and as it turned out the Coalition didn't have the Cav. Charge card after all. The French LCs were driven back to the hills, but largely still an effective force. The battle finished off mainly in the center, with back to back combined actions of French Cav. and Arty.

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz - (morning) 14 October 1813

Game 1

Gonzo (French) - 9

Gileforn (Coalition) - 5


Start was not a classic for this map. French didn't push the Russian horse artlilery. Otherwise French army was building a line, also with artillery. Cossaks helped Coalition to block for some time French artillery, but then were destroyed. The first part of the game was very quick and without any big casulties. All have been changed when coalition lost there leader. Step by step French army was going to there victory. As a result Coalition tried to take a maximum at the last turn, but can't doing anything special.

Game 2

Gileforn (French) - 9

Gonzo (Coalition) - 5

This game was very nervous and started from the attack to the horse artillery and battle back with canister. French heavy cavalery made a good raid to the Coalition position. As a result it was destroyed but previously made some casualties. At the next step French army used a GM and created an artillery line, but Coalition used Short Supply that destroyed that line. Cavalery attack with leaders destroyed one atrillery and pushed back the other. Only one thing helped to the French - two Hold line tactic cards. So artillery stayed at position and made a weak battle back. After this Coalition had a big problem with throws and luck. Good rush at their right flank was finished when 4 blocks lancer cavalery can't destoryed 1 block Light cavalery with a leader. They tryed to do this more than wice, also with banner reroll. As a result 14 dices were thrown and it was still alive. Light French infantry at the same flank was pushed to form a square in the forest and stayed with 1 block after Coalition light infantry attack. French side had more luck and after rally these two units were recovered and 2 blocks were returned to them. Meanwhile Coalition has taken a position for cavalery charge that can change the situation. But French arny used smoke and stopped them a little bit. Then it was again unlucky situtation for the Coalition. All French units stayed alive, casualties after very good cavalery charge were too small. Artillery had finished unlucky Coalition day with bombarding. It was really very strange and I undesrstand my opponent. No luck is awfull. Thank you for the game and hope that next time dice throwing will be with better result.

OK, hope I did this right this time.

Logfile for Mike vs Nigel game 2

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz - (morning) 14 October 1813
Game 2
Allied Army: Michael Stanley (scipio1zama) – 9 banners (Actually a sudden death win – 4 French Cavalry & 3 French Artillery units were eliminated, as well as a Light Infantry unit.)
French Army: Nigel Douglas – 7 banners

(NOTE – both of our games were erroneously played with the 90 card Command deck. While reviewing the log file for game 2, I noticed that Chris had pointed this out to us, but in the heat of battle, neither Nigel nor I noticed his comment at the time. Future games will be played with the correct 75 card Command deck.)

The game started off with some French artillery Grand Battery shots in the center which badly damaged a Prussian HC. He was eventually chased back into Gulden-Gossa, where he remained cowering for the rest of the game. After some back & forth, an Allied Grande Manoeuvre combined with a Call Forward Reserves placed 5 Russian units right in the face of the French left. The Russian FA was quickly destroyed, but Allied Élan (5 for 5 roll) caused severe damage to French LT, LC and HC units. French command (card) problems limited their response, and another Allied Élan card eliminated the French LT. The Allies also Called Forward more Reserves and a Prussian CU joined the fray. The French now played yet another Élan card, got a 5 for 5 roll and destroyed a Russian CU and LN, and severely damaged the Prussian HA. Eleven turns had passed, and the decks had been reshuffled 3 times already.

At this point the French lead in captured banners, 3-1, but there were a lot of weakened units in the front lines for both sides, especially the French. The Allies played a Recon in Force and a Leader Bonus Order Tac card, and amazingly were able to eliminate a French LC, FA and 2 HC. A French Grande Manoeuvre allowed him to pull back other damaged units from the left to the center and protect two lone leaders. Now another Allied Élan card with a good roll resulted in the elimination of a French LC and damage to two French FA and a LT, but also severe damage to a Prussian CU. The fighting having shifted to the center, the French probed and reduced the Russian and Prussian Lancers to 1 block each. The Allies attacked and, completely whiffing the battle that was expected to succeed, instead succeeded in the battle that had little chance of success, eliminating a French FA, but losing the Prussian CU in the bonus attack. The next 3 turns saw the French picking off damaged units – a Prussian HA and Lancer and a Russian HA – while the Allies only succeeded in damaging the last remaining French FA on Gallows Hill. Each side was now just 1 Cavalry or Artillery banner away from a sudden death victory, and each side had a 1-block unit in range. But it was the Allied turn, and a Center Assault saw Gorchakov and a Russian LT melee the French 1-block Artillery with 3 dice – two horses and a single crossed sword for the winning banner - a close, just-in-time victory over a gallant opponent. (Side note - units on the Wachau flank never engaged, most never even moved.)

After posting this, I will attempt to post the log file for this game, and also the log file for game 1, which Nigel won. He posted the write-up a week ago.

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz (Morning)

Game 1
ToganAlper (French): 5
RiverWanderer (Coalition): 9

True to historical form, Murat's French quickly organised for a cavalry assault, a strong formation pushing into the centre of the battlefield. Meanwhile, the coalition had adopted a defensive posture and intercepted the attack from the coalition left flank. Both sides gradually ground the other down through a succession of mediocre attacks and counter-attacks. Eventually, the melée became an even exchange but Milhaud had broken through with his cavalry unit deep in coalition lines. A sweeping manoeuvre by Prussian Uhlans, supported by artillery, was enough to finish off the unfortunate French Dragoons and Milhaud himself was unable to escape, leaving the banners at 2:4 to the coalition.

Now, the coalition cavalry was emboldened enough to press forward; Hertier was lucky to evade. Further exchange of cavalry resulted, bringing the score to 3:5. With the centre quiet and much cleared, French infantry started to advance. Coalition cavalry retired at first but Cossacks then surged forward to harass the infantry on both flanks (aided by "Cavalry Charge"). One French light unit was able to withdraw in time but another fell to artillery fire (3:6). A French infantry attack seemed imminent on the coalition left flank which reorganised its defence accordingly.

In fact, the next French attack came on the opposite flank; light cavalry made short work of a Russian square ("break the square"; 4:6) and pressed on into Russian Uhlans. Thus, the scene was set for the final moments. Russian Cuirassiers came forward along with infantry and artillery to support the Uhlans. A devastating combined arms attack swept away the French light cavalry, taking Subervie with them (the second leader to fall, 4:8 ). Now at last, but late in the day, the French were able to play "Cavalry Charge" and take their revenge on the Uhlans (5:8 ) but the Russian Cuirassiers stood firm (barely). The coalition was now able to cut off the French heavy cavalry and attack it with a final combined arms attack, ending the battle on 5:9 to the coalition.

The dice were not friendly to the French on this occasion. Cossacks in particular led a charmed life and so were able to give great service throughout the battle.

Thanks to Togan for a good game.

Return match to be arranged soon.

Yes, thanks for posting Mark. Game 1 was a classic back and forth. French led off with a successful kill on the leading HA, but the heavy and leader were cut off and killed in response. The cavalry charges and Elans flowed free and fast and the losses piled up. The flanks were sideshows with infantry moving around but accomplishing little. The French were able to achieve the 7 kills on artillery and cav for the narrow win.

Game 1
Mark McG (Allies): 8
Greg O (French): 9

Greg can talk on this one, but it was a series of bloody cavalry clashes that Greg won by a banner.

Game 2
Mark McG (French): 9
Greg O (Allies): 6

I aimed to play this using the Grand Battery to smash the centre and then clean up.
This does require the Grand Battery to actually hit things, which wasn't it's forté. Lack of Centre cards didn't help.
Only thing smashed was me, with a nasty hangover.

So things did descend into cavalry and infantry skirmishes, and at one point the Allies were up 3-0
Gradually the French whittled down the Allied cavalry, and started scoring some kills, but it wasn't until the cards turned and I drew a Cavalry Charge that got the French cavalry moving, and the banners started rolling in.

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz - (morning) 14 October 1813
Game 1
Russian Army: Bangla (9)
French Army: Rik (7)

The battle started with a French push on their left. The Russians countered by advancing there too, and with the Cuirassiers to the front! This turned out to be a mistake, as the French cavalry charged, beat up on the Cuirassiers, but the Russians stabilised the situation and even pushed the French back. But more French cavalry arrived and, along with the their Lights pushing through the woods, the Russians' advance in the area proved catastrophic. 4-2 up by this stage, the French looked on course for the win. At this point, we had to adjourn and puck up the game on another evening (logfile 1).

The "second half" of this battle saw more French cavalry attacks, but this time often piecemeal, where they did have success but lost their own banner in the process. So both sides kept trading banners. But still, the French moved out to 7 banners and things looked desperate for the Russians. One more attack against a 2-block HC might just do it. But the Russian cavalry staged a fighting withdrawal, retreated beyond the range of the French grand battery, and then the Russians went to work. First they eliminated the advanced French cavalry. The leader got away ... though he was later killed by some marauding light infantry. They, with the score at 7-7, the Russians poured artillery fire into a square in the woods. Three turns they tried. In the final turn, two blues, then a leader kill (1 in 54 altogether) sealed a very hard fought win.

Rik had the cards early on, and definitely made the most of them. Thank heaven the cards and the dice changed as the battle wore on.

Second game next Thursday (Oct 10).

Kandras, without seeing the logs to identify what went wrong, there are some stumbling blocks with Vassal and this module in particular, that can't be entirely avoided but can be mitigated.

The vast majority of breakage occurs when click-dragging game elements, particularly cards, and accidentaly having other units, cards or whole decks group selected....so that they follow to the discard pile or disappear into the ether along with what you were planning to drag. This can be difficult to see because the selection outlines are not always clear. As excellent as this module is, this is also exacerbated because almost all the card functions, including drawing and playing require click-drag instead of being automated (as they are in the new Ancients module, for example).

Some suggestions for minimising these catastrophes:

- Get in the habit of clicking an empty part of the map to deselect anything you might be unaware is selected, particularly before moving cards (this becomes as second nature as saving a document as you go).

- Use the right click option on a card rather than dragging it wherever possible....e.g I think there's a discard option, rather than manually dragging from the board to the discard pile.

- Make use of the backup button any time something goes screwy, rather than trying to manually correct it, which can often just make things worse.

- If just one person's game is glitched, resynching to your opponent can get the game back on track.

Some of this may be obvious and sometimes it just crashes no matter what you do, but I think 90% of the major issues can be avoided or corrected with these steps.

Brent.

507 Liebertwolkwitz - morning (14 October 1813) [OT2019-Round One - 2nd game]
French(Tyler) 3 vs Allies(A) 6 - French resigned

Allied cavalry went on agressively to cut off Heritier's heavies. While succeeding, they suffered heavy losses. The Allied forces tried to keep up the pressure, but suffered further losses under heavy artillery fire.
Gorchakov slowly and purposefully commanded the Russian curassiers in good position for an attack. With the aid of the Allied artillery and a series of luck and good cards he managed to run down 2 batteries of the French Grand Battery on Gallows Hill.
As the Allied had a good hold on their flanks occupying the forests, the French decided to retire.

Another long engagement with a fine opponent, and awul lot of issues with Vassal. Disappearing decks and units. More cards in player hands than the deck should have... Quite frustrating.

Round 1 - M507 - Liebertwolkwitz

Game 1 - Joe Keller (Stonewall) (French) 9 - Max (Viridovilas) (Allies) 3

The Russians dragged their 3 artillery into a line in the center and began firing. Two short supplies played against the R-FA made them drag it up into line 3 times. Max worked on getting all his cavalry moved out to where they could participate in the attack. The French moved their FA and HA up just left of Wachau into a solid line from right to left on the board, and moved the leaders onto the artillery and commenced firing at the Russian Artillery. The Allies reduced a F-FA to 1 block and a Cossack retreated it to the edge of the board, but failed to kill it. A F-HC dispatched the COS. Over time Joe's French artillery reduced the P-HA to 1 block and it retreated, and reduced the R-FA to 2 blocks.

Max decided the Allies could not win the Artillery duel and that he had to send in the cavalry. An Allied cavalry charge hit and eliminated the F-HA and FA just left of Wachau, and an HC. The French eliminated two Cav and damaged others, making it 3-2 in the Allies favor. Up to this time the dice had much favored the Allies, but at this point there was a big swing in the dice.

The Fr did not chase the retreating Allies. Instead the Fr Cav on the left (2 LC and 1 HC) struck the French right center, eliminating a P-CU and the 2 block R-FA, and reduced a R-LNCR to 1 block, making it 4-3 in the French favor. The Allies played a "Give Them the Cold Steel." The R-CU destroyed 3 blocks of the 4 block F-LC, but the battle back hit 1 block and killed Gorchakov. A 1 block R-LNCR rolled two but missed the 1 block F-LC, and the battle back eliminated the LNCR, making it 6-3 in the French favor.

Joe had many weak cards for much of the game, but great cards at the end. A 1-2-1 allowed 4 French Cav to attack again. The first two attacks were on the right side of the board. A F-LC right of Wachau killed a Cossack and a 2 block HC. Then a French HC left of Wachau killed another 2 block HC, making it 8-6 in the French favor, but this was the seventh Allied 7 artillery/cavalry eliminated, making it a French win at 9-3.

Max played a great game and I am sure he will do just as well as I did with the French.

Joe

Round 1 - M507 - Liebertwolkitz - (morning) 14 October 1813


Game 1
BrentS (French) 9 - Nemo2333 (Allies ) 2

Game 2
Nemo2333 (French) 9 - BrentS (Allies) 6


Game 1

I played a Forward to get the artillery battery together and for Heitir to charge the Russian Horse Artillery (must be a standard opening for this scenario). I was emboldened by having a First Strike in hand. He eliminated the artillery on one roll and reduced Pahlen’s Light Cav to 1 block. Sure enough the response came with multiple allied cavalry attacking. A First Strike flag on the Lancers was neutralised by an Iron Will token and and Heritier’s Heavy Cav was eliminated but he survived to fall back to the artillery. Nemo played a succession of Scout cards he was obviously stuck with from the start, which was probably good for building his Command and Tactician hands but lost tempo as my left advanced in force. Gorkachov’s unit went into square, was eliminated by the French Light Infantry and he died on a leader check. This precipitated a rout on that flank which the allies could do very little about as I had a hand of left cards and an Elan, and it was clear from the cards played that Nemo was unfortunate not to have any good orders for that flank. The allied left attempted to switch the play by charging the French guns and infantry, an attack which was blunted by an Infantry Combat First play and the final allied unit, a Militia Lancer, died to multiple flags from a 9 dice combined arms attack from Heavy Cav and Foot Artillery. All the right cards for me, nothing Nemo could do about this one.


Game 2

Same opening move as Heritier charged the Russian Horse Artillery with pretty much the same result (except with the allies playing an ineffective Artillery Cannister and First Strike and Heritier playing a Hold the Line……3 Tactician cards exchanged in one passage of play). The artillery was destroyed but Pahlen’s unit survived intact, bloodied Heritier’s unit and was able to come back and destroy it. We both advanced on the French left and centre but the allies struck first with a cavalry charge, eliminating both Pajol’s and Suberervie’s units and getting up on the plateau and among the artillery, where the Russian Cuirassier caused carnage. I thought he was positioned to take out the whole battery and with it the game (it would have triggered the special victory rule) but the French Short Supplied him…..and from there it became a deadly grind. The French pushed into the woods on their left and there was vicious hand-to-hand fighting there in which the Russians came off the worse. I pushed more cavalry forward and sent a a 1 block Lancer in to take out the last French 1 block Foot Artillery shielded by the hills…..one hit would have won the battle (I would even have taken a flag!) but rolled an infantry symbol. With the French at 4 banners and the allies at 6 and needing just one more cav or artillery kill for the win, I threw it all at him……and couldn’t do it. Nemo played very well, shielded his vulnerable units and pushed his infantry forward on the left, collecting banners and finally Bayonet Charging to take out Gorkachov’s unit and kill him on a leader check for a well deserved victory. A 5 banner turn around when I needed one to finish it. Excellently played by Nemo.

Thanks to Nemo for two very enjoyable games. He was terribly unlucky in the first and that determined the tie.

Gentlemen, I'm sorry but I have to pull out of the tournament for personal reasons. I apologize for mucking up the mathcups for Round 1. Enjoy the contest!

M507 - Liebertwolkwitz - (morning) 14 October 1813
Game 1
Russian Army: Nigel Douglas (9)
French Army: Michael Stanley (5)

The French sensing an easy victory against the skittish Russian Army pushed up on the French Left flank. The Russians started to fall back in an orderly fashion and formed squares where possible. Eventually the French casualties started to mount and the entire left flank was cleared of French troops. Subervie fell with his men.
The French artillery remained silent on the hills in the Centre, while the Russians sacrificed some Cossacks on the French Right flank probing for a weakness. There was none. The French had been manoeuvring their Cavalry for a charge in the Centre and the Right flank. They seized this moment and sent their cavalry forward to devastating effect against the overextended Russian and Prussian troops, quickly despatching 3 units. Pahlen though, managed to escape back to the town of Crobern unscathed.
The Russians then counterattacked, with their own cavalry charge. Destroying what remained of the French cavalry charge. Albert also falling with his men. The Russian Lancers and Heavy Cavalry charged the still silent French artillery in the centre despatching one of the artillery units.
The French had lost. Two of their leaders Subervie and Albert were gone. The Russians were victorious and all their leaders were safe.

De repente mi Vassañ dejó de funcionar.
Siempre me dice "conexion perdida con el servidor" !!

Thanks Gileforn. Nemo made contact and we’re scheduled.

Brent.

Hi,

I can also help with him. He'll contact with you today.

Can anybody help to connect with Gonzo?

Hi. I tried to connect with FoxK by message, But have no response.
What must i do?
TY

I'll contact with Nemo and say about your message.

507 Liebertwolkwitz - morning (14 October 1813) [OT2019-Round One - 1st game]
Kandras78(F) 9
Tyler(A) 2

French were able to position the heavy cavalry for a charge in the center early on. The Cavalry Charge card played turned out far from being decesive. The ensuing mud war in the center was dominated by the French batteries and some combined arms attacks by the decimated cavalry.

Extremely long engagement, with plenty of annoying Vassal issues, including duplicate card entries gone missing from players' hands, and the logfile getting corrupted.

While we're doing a roll call....Nemo, I've emailed you a week ago and not heard back. Can you give me a heads up if you read this?

Thanks,

Brent.

Hi!

I have the same situation with Gonzo. I have sent private message here and sent an email. I am not sure that found his email right. So, please, Gonzo, contact with me if you are reading this message.

Thank you!