OT2024 Round 3

Game 2

Player 1 Allied    (DavidI)        5
Player 2 French (toganalper)  9

A battle royal ,with initial exchange across the river and on the French right, weakening Portuguese lights to 1-block before the French cavalry entered the river. Soult's brigade was short-supplied and the other, after breaking the Portuguese light's square and denting the horse artillery was decimated by heavy cav combined arms. Next came an indecisive exchange of fire outside of Orthez, and then the French Forward, coming off the hill on the right and back to the ford on the left where Soult dispatched the horse artillery, narrowly avoiding annihilation by Hill's charge from both of his cavalry units. The British cavalry had the better of another indecisive exchange with French lights at the ford and Wellington could be well pleased with the course of the battle.......until d'Armagnac's bayonet charge on the right.

Supplemented by Rarispe's destructive charge on Clinton's lobsters, this action left the British gasping for the rest of the conflict. There were now four 1-block units in the front line on the Allied left. Picton reformed and doubled his complement, and shooting in sequence with his artillery and Portuguese lights luckily managed to obliterate a full strength French LN and send a half-strength one back two hexes. Cold steel followed and Rarispe's infantrymen 1-blocked another lot of redcoats while d'Armagnac accounted for the remains of a brigade in the forest. Picton reformed again and, back at 3-blocks, hoped to scatter d'Armagnac's lights but was foiled by smoke and his wingman's poor marksmanship. A second  French bayonet charge administered the last rites as three 1-block units left the board, the banner count now being 8 to 3. Hill moved his Portuguese regulars into Orthez and Rarispe was forced to retreat with his now severely weakened heroes. D'Armagnac then assaulted Picton's reformed unit which evaded most of the onslaught, taking down a half-strength LN before succumbing to a third attack which brought the French banner count back to 8. Wellington now had to hold Orthez or yield. D'Armagnac's lights, almost on the Allied baseline, came under a withering combined arms attack and despite his ordering a fall back they were destroyed. His remaining LN was rather fortuitously retreated three hexes back to the central hill.  8 to 6. Despite all efforts no more banners were forthcoming until the Portuguese garrison was destroyed and the French assumed uncontested possession of the the town. It was a masterclass of French infantry maneuver from Togan, another wonderful contest.

Best wishes to him for the the last two rounds. 

Game 1 
French (Grecian formula) 4 vs Allied (Lornlane) 9

Despite the score, the game turned out to be very long, persistent with a lot of tactical moves, attacks and counterattacks. The allies were lucky on the dice several times, this allowed them to gain an advantage. I thank Marс for the game, good mood and responsiveness.

 

Game 2
Marc forfeited the second game 9-0 to me due to personal circumstances.
I'm really sorry that we couldn't play the second game.
Marс, thanks for the honest competition!

game 2
philippe france            9
melake alliees             4

plan anglais attaque au centre,,plan francais attendre les cartes.....au debut c est du +75  expected hit pour les brits et _20 pour la france et ca a fini en -30 et +20
la cavalerie francaise a fait des merveilles et apres une longue attente les cartes baionnettes sont sortie pour que la droite francaise nettoie les anglais
melake a le log

about a week to go, please get matches played and reported

Match 2

Craterus (British)  7 banners won

gheintze (French)  9 banners won

The British first attacked in the middle with some success, but the French were able to hold and then retake the town of Orthez.  The middle became a stalemate, but then the British tried to attack on their left. This also met with some success before the French were able to repel this attack. Then the French attacked on their left with cavalry and the light infantry and managed to get the victory. 

Round 3, Game 1, Orthez (French Left). Steve T, Allies. 9 banners taken, 22 blocks lost. Mark B, French. 2 banners taken, 35 blocks lost. 
The battle was mainly fought in the centre, with the French holding the ridge and part of Orthez and advancing when the opportunity arose, and the Allies holding the other end of Orthez (helped by a vice nice LGM and Rally) and mainly using musketry, winning with a forced march attack. Meanwhile the French LC threatened the other flank but were eventually destroyed, enabling the British LC to advance.Mark helped me get the new Beta module working, I liked the look of the blocks. The stats told the true story: while we each issued similar numbers of orders (59vs60) and rolled similar numbers of dice (82vs86), apart from Mark’s initial attack, with the French line in Orthez destroying the nearby Portuguese lights with 4/4 ranged dice, the dice were massively my way: +25% expected hits vs +8% expected!  

Round 3, Game 2, Orthez (French Left). Mark B, Allies. 3 banners taken, 41 blocks lost. Steve T, French. 9 banners taken, 27 blocks lost. This battle was very similar, mainly fought in the centre with some skirmishing on the French left. Ultimately, the Allies were hamstrung by the French LC forcing 3 British units into square, and the same imbalanced dice: while we each issued similar numbers of orders (64vs62) and rolled similar numbers of dice (102vs99), the dice were again massively my way: -13% expected hits vs +21% expected! 

Thanks for a pair of still challenging games Mark, he is a very tough opponent but was way too handicapped by the dice this time.

 

R3G1 session 2 log file

I can't add R3G2 logfile - too large. I'll see if Mark B can do it.

Match 1
gdnuke (British)  7 banners won
GomJabbar (French)  9 banners won

The action started on the French right and continued there for much of the battle. The British made an aggressive push on their right with multiple Bayonet Charges and eventually gaining the hills on that flank. The battle then shifted to the center with the French now taking the initiative and charging forward. Units were traded very evenly throughout the game until the very end when the British moved off the hill to try to finish off some weakened French units but failed. The French then finished off a British Light Cav to win the game before the British could retake the hill.
 
Match 2
GomJabbar (British)  8 banners won
gdnuke (French)  9 banners won

This time the British center pushed forward to try to take the town hexes and the center hill however they were repeatedly repulsed by the French in the village of Orthez. The British finally gained the center hill after heavy fighting on both sides with surprisingly few banners won by either side. The British had run out center cards so the battle shifted to the British left. The British had a hand full of left flank cards. They made some gains but the French had the upper hand. It was looking dire for the British. The French only needed 2 more banners for the win and dashed forward off the right hill after the scattered British but then were surrounded and picked off by the superior British ranged firepower to make it quite even. With no more left cards the British then shifted back to the center for a final push on Orthez. It was 8-8 when the British took a town hex. All they had to do was make it to their next turn to get the win. But the French pushed them out of the center hill so the battle continued. The British regained the hill and just needed to hold out to the start of their turn again but the French managed to eliminate a weakened British LC for the win.
 
So the French won both games with GomJabbar getting the match win. Thank you gdnuke for a couple of great games, very evenly matched and tense throughout.

Renaud (French, 9) vs Doug (Allies, 1)

The Allies moved on the left, with their Portuguese as (it turned out) sacrificial lambs. Poor die rolling by Doug and good die rolling by me (as well as a Forced March card) resulted in that flank being a big loser for the Allies. Nothing happened in the center. The French finally moved on their left and one thing leading to another managed to complete the deal, with their one loss happening when a bonus combat by a 2-block LC against a 1-block HA resulted in the LC's destruction. It could all have been avoided as the next attack was by a 4-block French LC against the same HA, which easily succeeded. Doug was hindered by the lack of cards in his right (although he did use 2 Cavalry Charges late in the game, but with poor die rolls, not helped by my playing Charge if Charged).

Return game on Sunday at 9 AM EDT.