OT2019 Round 2

Open Tournament 2019 Round 2
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OT2019 Round 2

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

A remarkable come back for the French. A hard opening hand concentrated in the Center gave no real response for the Allied cavalry charge on their Left flank, despite seeing it form up. Russian Curassiers swept the French artillery away, all 3 on the left, and the 4th on the Allied right. At the cost of the Prussian HC, the Allies had destroyed the French artillery, chased Maisson off map, and straddle Gallows hill. French are down 4-1 and no real options in sight.

However, cometh the time, cometh the cavalry. The 3 French cavalry proceed to roll up the Allied left twice, Pahlen escaping through the French twice. French infantry helped a little, destroying 2 cavalry, but the bulk of the work is the 3 French cavalry hacking down the Allied cavalry. 6 dead Allied cavalry, and the banner for Liebertwolkwitz, Brent takes a chance and retreats the Cossacks off map, meaning Desfours takes a 1d leader check. His horse trips and Desfours falls to his death. Couldn't touch Pahlen, but Desfours cops it.. and self-inflicted!

A pretty stunning reversal of fortunes.

M508 - Liebertwolkwitz - (afternoon) 14 October 1813
Game 1
French Army: Bangla 8
Allied Army: Andràs 3

The battle started with an Allied probe towards Holshausen, but the Grenzers were immediately eliminated. The Allies persisted and the second Grenzer unit was eliminated as well. With the Allies looking to pause, and develop elsewhere, the French then pushed away from Holshausen , attacked and eliminated the Horse Artillery on the hill to their front, and scared off both Light Cavalry units.
The Allies countered by pushing towards Liebertwolkwitz and the battle raged around there for the rest of the afternoon. One Austrian unit did get a toe hold before the French countered and they were eliminated in their turn. A decisive push might have been able to hold some of the town but clearly the Austrians didn't have the right cards to do so.
For much of the action, the Allies had lined up a cavalry charge and it finally came. The Russian Cuirassiers hit the Artillery on Gallows Hill, and the Light Cavalry went after a square of depleted Light Infantry. The Lights were successful, riding over the square and then turned their attention to some French Dragoons. The Dragoons held firm, protecting the flank of Gallows Hill. The first of the Cuirassiers did no damage and were sent packing by the Artillery. The second Cuirassiers fared better, but couldn't break the Artillery.
The French then countered by a combined arms attack by more Dragoons and the leftmost battery on the hill to destroy one of the Cuirassier units. The leader also suffered, which brought up the 8th banner.

Andràs suffered from some good French dice throughout, illustrated by the leader kill to close out the game. Unbeknownst to him though, the French were fighting fires for most of the action ... just in an aggressive manner, often with one section card and nothing else to back it up. The odds will probably change for the reverse match.

508 Liebertwolkwitz - afternoon (14 October 1813)

Game 1
Simba28 (French) - 1
Gileforn (Allies) - 8

That was a big battlle with many losts from the allies troops. On the other hand they were lucky and didn't lost any banner. Mainly Allies army focused on the town in the center, but all the game was done by three cavalry charges on the right French flank. Cuirassiers destroyed step by step all French artillery their and get also two banners according to the hills rule.

Game 2
Simba28 (Allies) - 2
Gileforn (French) - 8

Allied forces tried to push out French army from the town and also destroy Young Guard on the left flank. This time French army was lucky. Sometimes all was done to kick them off from the positions, but too much miss rolls. Heavy French Cavalry worked well and gathered a lot of banners, before was destroyed. Well played game with a lot of losts but not so much banners.

P.S. logfile from the first game I'll add after get it from the laptop.

Game 1
Gonzo (Allies) 8 banners
gottoman (French) 3 banners

French charge their HC on the right with great success, killing 2 COS and Prussian HC. Allies Cav responses mixed, losing a CU and getting most of rest beat up, but killed both Frnch HC. French Forced March from middle to right flanks and Bayonet charge killed a LT and pinned 2 cav against bacl edge, then the wheels came off. Five dice against a 1 pt CU gave ignored flag and strike backs killed one LN and Allied Cav charge with HA support killed another and crippled and squared the third with loss of a leader going down with his men. Cav charge had also shot up the French FA on French left. Follow up mv eliminated it and killed a shot up French LT in the left most town hex. Another leader died with the FA for last medal. French FA on Right never fired a shot. Thanks for the game to Greg,

M508 - Liebertwolkwitz - (afternoon) 14 October 1813
Game 2
French Army: Brent 7
Allied Army: Mark McG 8

played quite differently to the first game, this was mainly a tussle over the village, and then the French left flank.
The Austrians used their artillery and the hill cover to push into the left end of Liebertwolkwitz, but were firmly pressed out again by the French infantry. The French cavalry came up in support, but the Allied cavalry charged in as well, for a pretty equal exchange. From here the action switched to the French left where the rescue of the Young Guard square became over extended and the Austrian cavalry and Grenzers formed a killer combo.

Ultimately, Brent re-aligned with a LGM card to bring his artillery into the centre and occupy the villages. A stand off then took place as both sides sought cards to get an advantage. The gradual drain of units off Gallows Hill to reinforce the centre and left, in particular the final French cavalry gave the Allies an opportunity, and the Cossacks and Curaissiers came up, with the Cossack managing to grab a Hill for the win.

M508 - Liebertwolkwitz - (afternoon) 14 October 1813

Game 1
French Army: mantra 5
Allied Army: RiverWanderer 8


An early opportunistic short supply allowed Austrian Light Cavalry to risk an attack on the French left flank Foot Artillery. The risk paid off, leaving the French Left out-numbered and under threat. From this beginning, the Austrians were able to rely heavily on artillery, helped along by 3 Bombards.

Next, an initially successful Austrian assault on Liebertwolkwitz was repulsed and a renewed advance held up by French cavalry action, in turn beaten by Austrian counter-attack. French Light Cavalry was at hand to reinforce their centre and this soon dispatched both the over-extended Austrian Cuirassiers and the Horse Artillery they were supposed to protect.

As the French Light Cavalry swept backwards to give much needed support to their left flank, the second Austrian assault on Liebertwolkwitz got underway. Again this took out a unit but Austrian reluctance to take ground into the town was repaid with a fierce melee response that sent the Austrians reeling back again. By now, it seemed that the Austrian assault had run out of steam and both sides had traded equally in banners, with the French retaining their initial advantage for occupying Liebertwolkwitz.

Austrian artillery had continued to chip away at the French left. Seizing the opportunity to reorganise, the French moved weaker units out of harm's way and instead placed their still intact Light Cavalry into Holshausen with an full-strength Line unit on the nearby hill. Anticipating the threat to their remaining Horse Artillery, the Austrians reorganised as best they could and hoped for the best. The cavalry attack swiftly followed but Austrian luck held, even when the counter-attack (Cold Steel) was challenged by First Strike. The French Light Cavalry had been very effective and their demise was a key point in the battle. Austrian artillery was now free to continue weakening French units and soon a depleted Line was picked off from the French rear, bringing the banner score to 6:5.

On their own left flank the Allies had held back, cautious of the combined might of French guns and heavy cavalry. Russian Cuirassiers paraded at long-range from the French Grand Battery, avoiding casualties despite the occasional, sometimes large, volley. With victory in sight, they made to advance to attack range, one unit was hit hard and had to be retired but the remaining one made contact with the unsupported right-most Foot Artillery. A fortunate retreat ensued and the French Foot Artillery was finished off on the back-line.

The French now emerged from Liebertwolkwitz to chase down depleted Austrians in the centre. Austrian cavalry and infantry came forward to resist whilst, on Gallows Hill, the undaunted Cuirassier unit resumed its roll-up attack on the French grand battery. Once more, the French artillery retreated and was finished off on the back-line, ending the game.

Thanks to Chris for an entertaining game (all 3+ hours!). Looking forward to the next one which we have scheduled for next week.

"From this beginning, the Austrians were able to rely heavily on artillery, helped along by 3 Bombards."

was this 3 Bombard cards without a reshuffle?
Looking hard at a card fault in the VASSAL module, and the Bombard card seems to be a regular contender.
Maybe just because it is more noticable!

“was this 3 Bombard cards without a reshuffle?”

I would have to check the log for exact sequence, but we had 2 Elans played and I am pretty sure that the 3rd if not 2nd was after a reshuffle, and of course “only” 1 or 2 in hand at one time. No specific sign of the card bug whereby cards disappear from both hands at once.

Mark B

Game 1
rfdoane (Allies) - 8
tyler (French) 5

The Allies began the game by approaching the village of Liebertwolkwitz in the center. They took some shots at French units in the village and caused significant damage, but not before the French formed a solid line anchored on the village and extending to all three sectors. An Allied attack against the weakened French units was beaten back and resulted in the first eliminated units of the game. The action now turned to the flanks as both sides advanced on their respective lefts. The French took advantage of a spread out Allied right and picked off a few more units, advancing as far as the base of the hill. Simultaneously, the Allied cavalry moved up to the French artillery line and took advantage of back to back cavalry charge cards to decimate the French guns. The French right gave way and more eliminations, combined with the VPs for occupying the hill hexes, resulted in an Allied win.