OT 2018 Round 4

OT 2018 Round 4
...

OT 2018 Round 4

Mark, how many rounds will we have, total?

5 normal Rounds with Swiss Pairing, followed by
Quarter Finals (top 8 )
Semi Finals (4 winners of QFs)
Finals (2 winners of SFs )

Game 1
Mark McG (French): 8
Kandras78 (Allies): 5

After the initial move, the French came out on their right for what turned out to be a protracted struggle that absorbed all efforts for most of the game. Losses were primarily from this flank, with the French infantry under Fery having the best of it, and the French cavalry repulsing the Austrian horse and Cossacks. Ultimately the total loss of the French cavalry, Margaron, the artillery and one Line were the extent of the French losses, all from this flank.

Melle brought the French Light across to reinforce, and effectively dropped the Russian Light infantry that was dangerously close to Telnitz, with the depleted French line in occupation.

With the flank exhausted, and the score 7:5 to the French (so 5 losses each, and the 2 banners for no Allies in villages), the attention turned to the Left flank. As the Allies maneuvered in closer, the French set a surprise, Forced Marched across the stream for an ambush on a Russian Light, which stole the game.
Convinced I had lost this game when Margaron's cavalry suffered a disaster.

Thanks!

Game 1
RiverWanderer (Allies): 8
Cavie (French): 2

The game started with a brief Allied volley forcing a French retreat on their right flank; the game switching then to the centre for the next third or so, with the French there soon facing massed Russian artillery and an infantry assault. The French counter-attacked on their right flank, whilst re-inforcing the centre and repulsing the Russian attack.

Much of the action was now on the French right, with the French cavalry making good sport at first, to be seen off by the Allied cavalry and horse artillery. A timely rally kept the pressure up on Telnitz and now an over-extended French Line unit was caught by Austrian Lancers in combined arms with Horse Artillery. Telnitz was now unable to resist the final Allied attack, bringing the game to conclusion.

Thanks to Dan for an enjoyable game.

Game 2
RiverWanderer (French): 8
Cavie (Allies): 5

Early in the game, the French retired from Sokolnitz to re-inforce both flanks, leaving just garrisons behind. Meanwhile, the Allied cavalry spear-headed an assault on Telnitz, forcing one French line unit into square. Grenzers followed this up to eliminate the square. The French were just about able to repel the attack, weakened Allied cavalry and Grenzers getting away to the rear. However, Keinmayer fell; a bad omen?

As the Allies took advantage of the weak French centre to take Sokolnitz, a French light cavalry unit came up from reserve and penetrated to the Allied centre/left rear. Four weakened Allied units were taken one by one, desperate Allied volleys not withstanding. The loss of Sokolnitz and French infantry units was now offset and banners stood at 4:5 in favour of the French. The French gained a further banner as a Russian Light Infantry unit was lost in an attempt to repel the other French cavalry, before the action around Telnitz came to a pause.

Now the Allies menaced Sokolnitz Castle. Fortunately for the French, the Allied attack there was repulsed with heavy loss, and a seventh banner was gained. Finally, in one desperate last attempt, the Allies used Elan to launch multiple attacks. The heroic French Light Cavalry unit fell to a 6 dice volley from the remaining Grenzers. But the Russian Heavy Cavalry had ended its attack on French artillery weakened and exposed. A French Leadership card finished it off for the final banner.

Thanks to Dan for another enjoyable game.

Log file got corrupted due to Vassal logging failing to mirror the "undo" of one of those accidental "select cards and random blocks" that plagues move actions from time to time, Therefore this is a repaired merge of the two halves.

Game 1
Mike Stanley (scipio1zama) – French – 8 banners
Twan van Dijk (soul1st) – Allies – 6 banners
I’m not going to write my usual long battle description this time, as this was a hard-fought, 4-hour long battle of attrition with a lot of grit and very little finesse. As the French, I played mostly defensively. Even when I crossed the Goldbach Stream on my left near the game’s end, I was trying to protect a couple of weakened units, including a LN w/leader that Twan had forced into square earlier. (In this I was unsuccessful.)
The Allies attacked mostly on the flanks, but it was a long time before ANY unit was removed from the game. The French eventually lost all three LN units AND leader Fery on the right but were able to hold Telnitz. The Allies assembled a Grand Battery in the center that blew away a French LT in Sokolnitz with one roll, but there was another unit standing by to move into the town, and Sokolnitz held throughout the battle, too. Each side lost six banners, so the difference in the game was the 2 Temporary Victory Banners that the French start with. A tense, fun game with a good opponent – what more can one ask for?

Log file for scipio1zama (Mike) vs soul1st (Twan)

Game 1
Mark McG (Allies): 8
Kandras78 (French): 4

Again the game was mostly played around the village of Telnitz, with a lot of action in the land between the village and the lake. In part this is because the 3 strength Russian infantry is so useless at assaulting towns. The French and Austrian cavalry wrote down each other, with one 1 block Light Cavalry left each. The Grenzers did some good shooting, pushing back the French infantry. Eventually the Austrian Horse Artillery forced it's way into Telnitz after a spectacular failure by the Russian Grenadiers, and in truth it was mostly the Austrians that won this match. Really the only useful Russian units were the cossacks (as irritants) and the Russian Heavy Cavalry, which charged across the river, knocked back the French artillery, onto the hill and sabred the artillery completely. Surviving the French riposte, they counted as a banner across the river.

Usual dose of funky VASSAL dice, though mostly just cold, rather than weird.