OT2020 Round 4

OT2020 Round 4
Bit of an extended round to account for...

OT2020 Round 4

107 Alcañiz (23 May 1809) [OT2020 - Round Four - 1st game]
French(toganalper) 0 vs Allies(Kandras78) 6

French tried to pull their line towards the right under heavy cannonade. First a Take command had been sabotaged by guerillas then a French Bayonet Charge directed against the Spanish Left and Center met with stiff resistance. Gen. Musnier fell. Short range cannonfire scatterred the blue line. French Currasiers attacked the Spanish positions on the hills with artillery support but were unable to achieve a breaktrough.

Spain had the cards to use the artillery for great effect in the game.
We encountered a Vassal bug: When Togan drew Charged if charged, the one I had in my hands dissapeared.

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107 Alcañiz (23 May 1809) [OT2020 - Round Four - 2nd game]
French(A) 6 vs Allies(toganalper) 2

French opened the battle with a Bayonet Charge on the Left. Spanish Guerrilas were unable to intervene. The Spanish rallied and counterattacked and even Gen. Laval has been slained, but that flank was lost. As a last resort Spanish infantry advanced on their Left, but French were able to react in force.

We were able to finish both games in 2 hours. Luck was clearly on my side this evening.
This map has a strong tendency to snowballing, due to the Spanish Artillery in the center. If the Allies have the cards, they are pretty hard to deal with.

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Game 1

grecian formula(French) 6 banners

jfardette (Allies) 4 banners

I wrote up a long AAR which wasn't posted because the system logged me out -- much too quickly, mods, please set up these fields so the log out isn't only a 5 minute delay or whatever it is

I will just post the results quick and fast! French won on their left after a slugfest, finished with a cav charge to the center. no action on the right.

Game 1

EZPickins (French) - 4
Gileforn (Allies) - 6

That was a very hard game where Spanish troops tried to stop French with guerilla twice. But all times French patrols done their best and guerilla was blocked. The main fight was in the center where the main Spanish force - artillery has done the most part of the work. Chances were on the both sides but Spanish was more lucky.

Game 1

EZPickins (Allies) - 1
Gileforn (French) - 6

That was a hard game for Spanish army. French has bayonette charge, force march and elan to the third turn, so they were protected from the guerilla that was played on force march. The left French flank was the best one with bayonette charge. There were no fight at all on the French right. Good and fast rush game.

It was my pleasure to play with my opponent.

Marc took advantage of some strength on the Spanish left, and quickly destroyed 2 French infantry units. Trying to follow up on the attack and finish me off, he ran into a first strike card followed by a French bayonet charge which evened the situation out at 2 flags each.

The French followed up by launching further attacks against Marc’s left, destroying two more units and placing him in grave danger of losing the match. His artillery was ineffective at halting the French but a lack of cards forced the action to the French center where a cavalry charge destroyed one artillery unit and pinned down some infantry.

The Spaniards countered with leadership but were not able to drive off the French cavalry, which then countered with a probe to end the game, 6 flags to 3.

A fun match with some outstanding rolls at the beginning by both sides, but the Spaniards ultimately paid the price by coming off their hill on the Spanish left and engaging the French infantry on even terms, which for the Spanish is never even terms. Thanks for the games Marc.

Thanks Jim for the great lesson in how an attacking Spanish force can easily self-humiliate! Cheers, Marc

T2020 R4 G1
Spanish MjrCatastrophe 2
French stephent 6
Initially, the French were confronted by repeated effective Spanish cannonfire in the centre with resulting destruction amongst the French line, one unit destroyed and two others heavily damaged. The French riposte was to advance on the left but the French line were badly damaged by Spanish musket fire and forced back to their starting positions. The French then brought forward their Curassiers with the intention of launching a combined arms attack in the centre - Spanish bombard reply with 12 dice destroyed the unit before it could be launched. The score was 2-0 favouring the Spanish with the French Centre damaged and in retreat and the French left also damaged. The Spanish decided the time was right to advance on their right. This however revealed the limitations of Spanish infantry and the French were able to reply with infantry, light Cavalry and foot artillery resulting in the near complete destruction of the Spanish right and the death of Areuzaga. Score 5–2 favouring French. The last throw of the dice by the Spanish was an attack on the French right, coming off the ridge but with the resulting destruction of one more Spanish line infantry. The result was victory for the French in both flanks with the Spanish centre still looking invulnerable and final score 6–2.

T2020 R4 G2
Spanish stephent 6
French MjrCatastrophe 3
The French began with an attack on the left flank which was riposted by accurate Spanish fire and hold with the death of Laval, destruction of foot artillery and damage to a French line. Score 2-0. There followed manoeuvering on the opposite side of the battlefield and then also in the centre where the Spanish cannons began to fire, continuing intermittently throughout the battle and causing heavy damage to the French line. The French light cavalry scouted forward, breaking Ariezaga’s square, destroying his line, and following up with the near destruction of the Spanish light cavalry behind. The Spanish LC rallied, replied with combined arms against the French LC, but we’re destroyed by charge if charged and Arizaga fled battlefield 2-2. Things look bad for the Spanish right with three units of line infantry facing the French cavalry and line alone. The Spanish were able to survive by accurate combined arms fire from the cannons in the centre destroying the weakened LC (3-2) and protecting themselves from the curassiers with battlefield smoke. But recognising it would only be time before they were forced to square and then destroyed by the following French line infantry the Spanish played LGM and the entire Spanish right flank fled to the safety of their centre. The curassiers attempted to attack this formation but were destroyed . 4-2 favouring Spain. The French advanced on their right flank followed by heavy fighting with damage to most units here, destruction of a Spanish LC and one French line infantry unit with the other one being sent to the rear due to short supply. 5-3. For the remainder of the battle the French attempted to bring their left flank across to attack the centre while the Spanish continued firing cannons from the centre, finally destroying a further French line infantry for final score of 6–3.

For both Mark and myself it was the first time to play a game involving the Spanish. We both learnt that they could be effective in defence but very weak in attack and we certainly learnt the strength of a large grand battery in a strong defensive position. Thanks to Mark for enjoyable games and good luck for the rest of the competition.

I'm a little slow getting this in, as we played back on December 11.

Winner – Mike Stanley (scipio1zama) – French – 6 banners
Loser – Mark McGilchrist (Mark McG) – Spanish – 4 banners

The French started off by bravely charging the guns in the center, but when their attack was subverted by guerillas, they wound up taking 8 hits when they were bombarded by the Spanish guns. (But no French LN were eliminated.)

The French then shifted their attack to the left flank and got 2 hits on the Spanish LN, but return fire saw 4 hits on the French LN. So far, an inauspicious start for the French.

Now a French probe saw 2 LN advance and the French special capability at melee eliminated one Spanish LN and reduced another to 1 block. The following French Bayonet Charge eliminated 2 more Spanish LN (including a 4-hit roll), damaged another, and eliminated one of the Spanish Artillery. A Spanish Bayonet Charge then did more damage to the Spanish than the French. After the French moved some 1-block LN back from the fray, the Spanish used a Coordinated Advance to move up their LC and put two French LN in square – but this cost each LC a block. They also launched a LT/Art combined arms attack in the center that sent a French LN reeling with 2 hits and three flags – but it survived. At this point the French had four 1-block LN units sitting in the center, two of them within range of the full-strength Spanish LT.

But a French Cavalry Charge sent the CU against the LT, who went into square and took a hit. The Spanish moved Forward, whiffed some rolls, but succeeded in eliminating one of the weakened French LN for a banner. A French Assault was cancelled due to guerilla action, while a second Spanish Coordinated Advance saw an Artillery unit eliminate another 1-block French LN.

By now the battlefield had many weakened units. Ensuing turns cost the Spanish a 1-block LC and the French two 1-block LN. We each did some maneuvering, then a Spanish Grand Battery attack failed to do any damage while leaving the other LC exposed to an attack by the French CU, who rolled 6 dice and got but one Cav hit – and the winning banner.

A wild and wooly game, with the French blessed by good rolling and always having a card to play. Mark fought back hard from an early deficit, and had there been a couple of changed rolls….