EZPickins (Allies) 3
Stanislav27 (French) 8
All of the casualties and almost all of the action took place on the French right. John's Austrian Grenzer Infantrymen did not distinguish themselves and melted away in the face of concentrated French musketfire. I pressed my luck with a reckless Bayonet Charge, which led to some gains, but also led to an overextension of the French formation. John immediately pounced on my mistake, and the Austrian cavalry brought the Allies back in the fight. John executed a coordinated push towards Telnitz, redeploying infantry support from the centre. However, the French cavalry detachment in the rear galloped across the Goldbach in order to shore up the desperate defence of Telnitz. The French cavalrymen showed great courage and skill, and the Allies' fate was sealed by a thunderous combined arms attack. The final action was a flanking maneuver by one of the French cavalry units, which dispatched a weakened Grenzer unit in the Austrian rear.
The Allies never set foot in Telnitz, and the French won 8-3.
Throughout the battle, John was plagued by very, very poor luck - especially with the dice. I had great tactician cards and probably could have gotten even better use of them. Once the combined Austro-Russian push towards Telnitz began, I was really starting to fear for my situation, as John would have been able to cross the stream unopposed and attack the Sokolnitz positions from two sides. So taking that into account as well as the imbalance in luck, the battle was much closer than the scoreline might suggest.
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EZPickins (French) 4
Stanislav27 (Allies) 8
The second battle was much longer and waved back and forth.
The Allies took the initiative early, maneuvering on all three sides in order to camouflage where the blow would fall first. The key move came when the Russian centre was blessed by a Forced March (followed up by a second one some turns later). This allowed the great number of infantry to get closer to the French positions. The Russians massed across from Sokolnitz, seeking to soften up the defenders with musket fire while other units crossed the bridge in order to take the two town hexes. At the same time, Light Infantrymen and Grenadiers struck against the French position in front of Telnitz. Meanwhile, the French used accurate fire to repulse probing attacks on their left, while also inflicting damage on the immobile Austrian Grenzers.
However, the main Russian push in the centre was eventually successful, helped by a lucky LC2 kill on Merle. Soon enough, it was 5-1 to the Allies, who held all of Sokolnitz and began massing towards Sokolnitz Castle.
Undeterred by his horrible luck, John devised a careful plan with which to get back in the fight. Helped by a complete drought of Centre-cards for the Russians, John severely weakened several Allied units on both flanks. The damage could have been even more significant if only Fortuna had not abandoned the French almost entirely. Then came a perfectly timed Give Them The Cold Blood with which the French sought to retake Sokolnitz. Using both capable tacticians and sappers, the French were successful in the bitter hand-to-hand fighting on the blood-soaked streets. The Russians then played a completely blank Rally and the French regained control of half of Sokolnitz.
The Russians managed to retake Sokolnitz and the French centre was entirely shattered. So John attempted a very bold Grande Maneuver, pushing the strong units on his right towards the weakened Austrian Grenzers at the Allied rear. The ploy almost worked, but the luck of the dice was again with the Allied, who used their unused cavalry to counter the French assault. John managed to make it 6-4, but then the Allied played a perfectly timed Cavalry Charge, which claimed the 7th victory banner and placed Allied horsemen in range of 3 separate ways with which to ensure the 8th victory banner (one of the Telnitz hexes, a French 1-block unit in square at the Austrian rear line, and a 1-block Light Infantry at the French left rear). This was a threat too many. The French attempted a glorious counterattack on their left, where their brave units had never lost control of Sokolnitz Castle. However, the poor luck persisted, and they did not even manage some conciliatory banners at the very end.
The Allied army held all of Sokolnitz and half of Telnitz at the end of the bloody battle. 8-4 to the Allies.
This was a thrilling battle. John was again cursed by bad dice luck, and there was a lenthy segment, where we both played a bunch of "Probe [Flank]" cards, while a bunch of units sat idle in the centre around Sokolnitz. I was impressed by John's counter-attack (especially the bold one on the right). Without my cavalry charge at the end, I might have been in serious trouble. So thanks for two fun battles, where the luck of the dice was very one-sided indeed. One of those days.
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