The CACCN Tournament 2016

Bangla and I completed our 2nd leg of "Eggmuhl - Day 2 French Right" today. Bangla won the first leg in March as the French by a slim 8-7 result in a scenario that is pretty tough for the Austrians.

As usual, the scenario kicked off on the centre-right where some Austrian LN are in range of French infantry. But as the French player, I had no 'Centre' cards and had to pretty much waste a 'Leadership' card to do this. It wasn't worth the risk of leaving these targets unmolested otherwise they would be able to get 2 x 5 dice blasts in themselves at my own troops should they hold such a card. It seemed to work well enough and also appeared to leave Bangla on the back foot for the rest of the game. Apparently, he started the game with his 4 card hand holding 2 x Bombard cards and never recovered from starting with these. The French right set about dismantling the Austrian left and if I am honest they pretty much destroyed what faced them. Within a short time the French were 5-0 up having got rid of 4 x LN units and exited a damaged CU unit of their own.

It appeared Bangla was now looking for a banner of his own just so he could record earning a banner and so on the other side of the battlefield, he unleashed a LC unit supported by guns to attack one of the three French CU units there. Through an attritional 3 rounds or so, the Austrians did eliminate a CU unit, but at the same time they too lost their LC unit plus an Artillery unit as the CU's counter-attacked. The final banner came when a 2 block Austrian LN unit sheltering on its own baseline received fire that included a flag. The 2 hexes they were unable to retreat because of the flag eliminated the unit and saw the French to an impressive 8-1 scoreline. Not an outing for those preferring something more knife-edge for this really was horribly one-sided.

This scenario has now had 5 of its 6 league plays and the French have won all of them, recording the results of 8-1, 8-3, 8-5, 8-6 & 8-7 for a combined banner count of 40-22 in the French favour.

Fairly accurate report from Vincent. In fact, I drew only one Bombard card at first, which I couldn't really use when all the pressure was on the other flank. In 4 or 5 turns, I drew the other Bombard card. So yes, I had 50% of my hand doing very little, so I had to waste them just to get a better hand. Also, in the whole game I think I drew on one right flank card, so it was very difficult to try and wrestle some initiative away from the French. Apart from a couple of poorly placed retreats, I'm not sure what I could have done differently to try and win the game, or even get close in banners. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.
Well done Vince. Whatever was happening at my end, you still had to play the right cards to win.

Wayne and I finished our Eggmuhl battle today and resulted in an 8-4 win for the French. Attached is the log file.



The start was the now typical start for this battle with the French firing on the units within range, however, only a single loss was recorded and a retreat for both units put them out of range. On the next French turn, a LN unit assaulted one of the Austrian LN and was setup for a combined arms attack but Wayne produced a First Strike that eliminated the entire French LN, blunting the attack. After maneuvering around getting the entire french force in a line across the board and slowly losing blocks to artillery and ranged fire, I was able to dislodge an Austrian LN from the center. This and the fact that I was finally able to draw a bayonet charge allowed me to weaken the Austrians on their left flank enough where it became a chase. Even at this point, I was behind in banners 3-1 but had plenty of targets within killing distance. A Short Supply and LGM cards saved the Austrians for a few more turns but another bayonet charge allowed a French LN unit to attack an Austrian LN in battalion mass, ending the game at 8-4.

There was very little cavalry work, where early on, a French CU was nearly eliminated and later in the game, another French CU was able to force the abovementioned LN unit into Mass which ultimately ended the game. Tense game to start but after the Austrian left was broken, it seemed a matter of time for the French victory. I don't know how the Austrians can win this unless the cards and dice are absolutely in their favor.

To add to Tony's report, I was happy with how the game started, managing to eliminate two French Line Infantry early on and forming a good line through the centre and left flank and at that stage I thought I may have a chance of snatching a shock win for the Austrians. However not to be, as the French launched a bayonet charge against the my line and although not eliminating any units weakened the line sufficiently to break through the following turn. The bayonet charge card is a very strong card for the French in particular and was very well used by Tony in this instance.
With the way open for Tony to advance off the board I was pleased to make him work for it and thought I was a little unlucky not to get another banner in the end game when I launched a attack with my LC against his HA which would have given us an equal banner count. Not to be though and Tony got a deserved win.

Oh - one of the things I forgot to mention in my report as a sort of humorous aside is that Austrian General 'Justin' Bieber was killed yet again on a leader loss roll. There is justice in the world!

Its the second leg of the Waterloo scenario up next as we close in on the finish of this tournament. Everybody still able to make that all important 2nd place.

The three players on 3 wins are hard to sort out. Langston has a better head to head v Wayne. Wayne beat Alan Theo in their one game but Alan Theo beat Langston in their two-way head to head. So as it is an incomplete circle (as Wayne needs to play Theo next month) I have gone by banner difference alone for now. Therefore 4th to 6th in reality is entirely open. Interestingly, as usual, league order appears to be decided by who has actually CONCEDED losing the LEAST banners (at present).

Standings after Game 8

Player	G	BF	BA	DIF	WINS
Vince Hughes	8	63	31	+32	7
Tony Reynolds	8	49	48	+1	4
Alan Sawyer	8	43	53	-10	4
Alan Theobald	8	51	53	-2	3
Tony Langston	8	46	54	-8	3
Wayne Baumber	8	44	57	-13	3

Here is the log file for the September Waterloo for Vince and Alan. A tough battle was had by both with the French taking the win but barely held on. Many interesting turns with hard decisions for both. In the end the French Old Guard won the battle for the French.

This was indeed a close battle where I had opportunities to win at the end but was frustratingly thwarted. The same for Alan, but he managed to cross the finishing line first.

The British started off well, taking out French infantry units and in particular, the attack of D'Erlon's men through the centre at La Haye Sainte was cut down. But the French Grand Battery continued to pummel British units all over the field and the reverse slopes had to be used as they were in real life. The British suffered some unexpected losses too. A battery was wiped out completely by a French Light Cavalry attack and 2 x leaders were taken out with double cross swords. Elsewhere, the French picked off units that were becoming weaker and played a patient game.

The end came around La Haye Saint. Two Allied attacks had failed to drive out the single block French LC in that location. Even eliminating him, or pushing him out would have saved defeat. But they failed twice. The Old Guard in the nick of time, then drove an attack into the lone artillery block that was supporting the La Haye Saint attack and wiped them out to gain the winning banner. Final score 8-7 French.

Waterloo, Part 2

tlangston28 (French) - 8 Banners

Bangla (British) - 6 Banners



Our second go-around at Waterloo switching up sides played Wednesday evening as Tony R. was in Cincinnati (Eastern time zone) only one hour ahead of me. This battle started off very conservatively as I was probing along the line without making a large commitment. Having an average mix of cards, I had to try and cycle through cards to get what I needed so a lot of Probes and Scout cards to allow me to slowly move up my units as I did not have any cards that would allow me to sustain an attack. My main concern was to try and neutralize the RL unit in the middle as that can cause havoc. I did have plenty of flank cards so I spent time going back and forth between Papellote and Hougoumont, clearing out Papellote early on, and then pressing in the center and slowly picking off units until Tony was forced to retreat them behind the hill line due to the loss of all but 1 blocks. This back and forth continued until I was able to move a LN unit through the woods on the left to threaten Hougoumont, with the LT unit there having been reduced it could not effectively fire though Tony used a Bayonet charge to re-position the LT unit out of Hougoumont and replace it with a full strength Hanoverian unit. However, an Elan card allowed my infantry to assault Hougoumont and reduce the Hanoverian to 1 block, preventing it from fighting back. On the next turn, the French LN unit successfully eliminated the Hanoverian unit as well as a LC charge eliminating another unit on that flank. The score stood at 7-6 with the French waiting for the start of the next turn to gain the 8th banner for the occupation. A final Cavalry charge by the Allies threatened but was unable to win the final 2 banners so the French won on the next turn with the occupation of Hougoumont.

I did not know it at the time but I believe he said that he had 3 cavalry charge cards in his hand, and since I did not aggressively pursue the Allies in the beginning, those cards acted as a dead weight for him so he had to play with 3 cards. Despite that, it was well-fought battle and was very tense as the score remained close throughout the game.

Attached is the log file for your viewing pleasure.

For a long time that looked like a British win. French leaders being killed, more banners lost and the Foot Guards moving into La Haye Sainte. But it turned around as the British seemed laced with too many 'Scout' cards.

Good game and well done Tony.L. Your resurgence continues.