Round 1

Round 1 Game 1

Gonzo (Allies) 2 banners
gdnuke (French) 5 banners

This game started with some decisive moves by the Allies. Gonzo must have read my mind regarding this scenario. I wanted to fight on the French left and target the Portuguese units, but Gonzo redeployed his British infantry in the center to his right. His powerful forces assembled there immediately outnumbered anything I could throw at them. Plan A was out the window. 

Gonzo was aggressive with his powerful Light Infantry unit on his left, moving them up to the forest just 2 hexes from the right flank of the hill line. Those guys were a huge ranged-fire threat with their 5 blocks. I backed my cavalry away from them and shifted the artillery and my own Light troops toward them. My guys were luckier with cards and dice and soon had that Light Infantry down to one block and heading away from danger. That flank was pretty secure, but Gonzo had threatened some real destruction with the grand battery of British artillery in the center. With the banner count still 0-0, it was time for the French to move before the artillery slowly but inevitably ground them down. Thankfully my cards had gone from a bunch of weak center cards to some robust and flexible ones. Time to take advantage of the French melee ability.

Three French center infantry used a Forced March to come off their hills and attack the Allied treeline to the French Left/Center. One French Light Infantry moved up to try to finish the weakened British Light Infantry on the other flank but failed. Generally, the results were good and the Portuguese in the treeline were weakened and in the way of the more powerful British units, or so I thought...  The British had a Bayonet Charge up their sleeve, so the French were in for a real fight. The French tactics cards helped a lot here. I had 2 Infantry Battles First cards that weakened one attack and very luckily destroyed another full-strength attacker. Wellesley's unit still was able to destroy the French LN that had rolled such good dice seconds before. Now the French Cavalry joined the attack with a Charge card. They eliminated the Portuguese cavalry and one British Artillery unit. The bonus attacks went poorly, and the other British FA put 3 hits on the French LC, almost destroying it. The French were ahead, but there were weak units scattered around the battlefield. The French managed to survive the next Allied turn and played the last of their excellent cards - Elan. The dice roll to order units would be key and I am usually unlucky here. Not this time. Dice to order 5 units! The extra dice in the ensuing combats were just enough to eliminate a couple 1 block Allied infantry units in the woods and secure a French win in the 9th turn.

This was a "closer than the score shows" scenario. Gonzo had some good cards - Bayonet Charge, Fire and Hold, and Counterattack come to mind, but my dice were definitely hotter. His Tactics cards were not as strong, but he made really good use of them. He stopped one of my Infantry Attacks First from retreating an attacker with one and used another to allow the Portuguese LC with leader to join in his Bayonet Charge. He was unlucky on a Leader Rally on a British LN that went 0 for 2 dice, but the thought was there, if not the dice. I think it was a well-played game on both sides and really could have had the score reversed with a couple worse dice rolls on my part.  I look forward to our rematch. 


 

Azzy (Alies)- Gileforn (France) 5-4
Azzy (France)-Gilefron (Alies) 5-1
In the first game, I followed the story. I went on the attack on the left flank. I got counterattacked on the right. I could have lost, but I was lucky.
In the second game, I hid behind the hills and waited. At the right moment, I counterattacked, and the dice worked out. The French infantry on the march took out the center.

Return match

rjvonline Allies 5
vs
Scipio1zama French 2

The French played it a la Wellington, and pulled back behind the ridge, while anchoring their right on Rolica. The Brits advanced prudently, making sure that their Portuguese right would not become too appetizing, but then moving Trant and the Portuguese LC all the way to the first hill on their right. Eventually the French saw an opportunity on their right, moving their LN, LT and LC forward, but it didn't pay off as they scored no kill and eventually lost the LN and LT and saw their LC reduced to 1, pulled back from the line and sent to garrison duty on the left. Using a grand maneuver, the French tried to overwhelm the Portuguese right, but failed to do so, largely thanks to plucky work by Trant. The French did nab the British LC on the ridge, scoring 2 cav hits when the HC attempted to r&r. Eventually, the Allied counter-attack on their right flank, with Wellesley leading the effort, and the work of the Light Brigade in the center allowed the bad guys (err, the good guys) to get the win 5-2.

Rolica (French First Position) - Game 2
Jarib  (Allies) 0
RiverWanderer  (French) 5

British artillery opened with a hit on their French opposite number before the French Artillery and a Light Infantry unit, in reply, stepped back off the hill to take shelter. The next phase was an attack by British cavalry with - it turned out - two Cavalry Charges to dispose of. By now the French had consolidated more forces behind the ridge and had managed to accumulate some means to respond. The balance of dice rolls weighed heavily against the British at this point. Both British cavalry units were seen off and the British Horse artillery, shortly afterwards, three separate attacks on the French Foot Artillery failing to gain a single hit. As we were using module v5.1, some insight was afforded through the stats page (the balance of luck somewhat closed to reach  -16% nett gap by game end).
 

Meanwhile, the Portuguese Light Infantry unit was lost to a coordinated cavalry & ranged attack and even the British Light infantry reeled back before the French Cavalry escaped to the rear. Soon the remaining effective French units were all infantry and faced superior British forces but they retained the advantage of the ridge. The French advanced to face the British right in ranged combat, narrowly avoiding a banner loss from the British "Fire & Hold" and managing to gain their fifth and final banner with a second turn of ranged attack.

 End game disposition:


Log file ( v5.1beta13 ):
 

Thanks to Jarib for two interesting games and for his patience with the dice gods.

Game 1
Kandras (allied) 2 banners
Soul1st (french) 5 banners

The game started very slow. The allies tried to use their advantage in artillery to soften up the french defences. The french were waiting for the allies to come within musket range. The french put one light infantry unit closer to the allied line and this lure worked. The allies advanced. The french side had managed to collect some good cards by this time and were lucky that the allies rolled some poor dice against the french light. They charged with their cavalry and kept attacking. Two portuguese and one french unit were destroyed. The allies replied with an attack on their left against the french center with heavy cavalry and horse artillery. During these attacks the french were very lucky to survive and managed to destroy the allied cavalry and horse artillery. A portuguese unit in square held out for some time but got decimated in the end. A long and tense game.

001 Roliça (French First Position) (17 August 1808) [OT2025 - First Round - 2nd game]
Allies(soul1st) 1 - French(A) 5

Another long and tense game against an excellent and gallant opponent.
The French went on the offensive on their Left. The Portuguese were putting up a stalwart and flexible resistance for a long time. Twan had fought an effective delaying action against superior numbers of French forces, utilizing terrain masterfully and grabbing every opportunity. When the Allied Center hurled forward, the French managed to disrupt the manoeuvre with a devastatingly lucky combined arms attack. The blue coats were finally able to roll up the Allied Right, just before the other British wing could seize momentum.

Game 1
British (toganalper) 5
French (javelinthrower) 2


Game 2
British (javelinthrower) 5
French (toganalper) 3

5:2 FoxK (Br) - Mark McG (Fr)
5:3 FoxK (Fr) - Mark McG (Br)