Fightin', drinkin' and mateship in Mt Barker

"Turn 1 saw the French win the initiative and add 6 ADCs."

(Caption from Steve's notes sent along with the photos)

Unter Laichling table-centre, nearest camera.

Well... a wargame and a few drinks; but the mateship bit is definitely accurate.

John provide venue and troops (aside from Mitch's limbers) and he used the Laichling scenario from Michael Hopper's 1809 scenario book, adapted where necessary for General d'Armée (second edition).

He and Steve (initially) and then Mitch (once he was able to get there) played out the first two turns the previous Thursday afternoon/evening, "...bringing the forces into contact for the proper fun" as Steve put it in an email that he sent along with photos from the first two turns. I have used his photos and notes here.

"Two of these were added to Gilly's 15th léger, in the woods on the French left (forwards tasking). Another was sent to Lorencz's skirmishers, commissioned with the attack on Unterlaichling. Mitch arrived as the French were moving or just before and took over rolling etc. for the Austrians. The French rolled 'snake-eyes' for their additional (forwards tasking) move, but still caused some panic in the Austrian lines"

"The Austrians got 5 ADCs and used a couple of these for artillery assault. Despite a re-roll, the Austrian cavalry brigade and their brigade holding Oberlaichling, hesitated. The French were successful with all of their activations."

"Turn 2 saw the French gain 11 ADCs (out of 9 dice), thanks to rolling 4 sixes. These were used for forward tasking Davout's Immortals, and continuing to rouse the skirmishers at Unterlaichling. The Austrians weren't so fortunate and subsequently suffered another one or two hesitant rolls. The Austrian ADCs were busy at the heavy battery on the hill behind Unterlaichling. Despite an embarrassment of ADCs the Bavarians also hesitated, having been fine the turn before without any interference from the brass hats."

"The Immortals surged forward (this time Gilly's brigade rolled a 3). The Terrible 57th added 18 cm (rolling an 8). The Austrians were checking rules for 'moving back'. Sounds like RETREAT! to me [Note back packs facing the enemy, JF]. Up on the hill the Austrians were trying to move forward but were struggling with congestion."

 

"The French began their fire phase. The only roll of note was the columns facing the Grenzers in the woods which scored two of three possible hits. Mitch shouldn't have worried. With his illegal blue dice in hand (these should be French) he delivered some devastating fire left and right. The French skirmishers at Unterlaichling suffered the brunt, losing a stand. However, with great rolls comes a reckoning. The Grenzers in the wood (near Unterlaichling) panicked and lost their fire discipline. Oooh. Mitch was right to worry."

This was where I joined in.

I left home on Thursday morning, arriving a little after midday. "Good timing," said John, "Steve and Mitch should be here around 1 pm."

That gave me a bit of time to see the table for real, to hear more about what had transpired and so be ready to 'leap in'. Steve arrived first and, realising that Mitch had been delayed, we made a start.

John had a 'wicked' plan for allocating commands. He wrote little cards for Austrian and French right and left and then we drew from those available. I got the French right, Steve the Austrian right, John the Austrian left, which would leave Mitch the French left once he joined us. For the time being, I was the sole French commander.

Steve had set-up an attack on the Grenzers in the small wood beside Unterlaichling, so I duly sent Lorencz's lead troops in under infantry assault (having rolled well for ADC availability).

With their lost 'fire discipline' (indicated by the smoke), the Grenzers inflicted minimal casualties,

... and were easily swept from the field. 

Overview of the centre of the table, from the French side, featuring Unterlaichling in the middle of the photo.

From the (roughly) northern end of the table, the independent brigade of the French 15th léger progressing towards the Austrian right flank, while the bulk of Gilly's men moved towards the Austrian line north of Oberlaichling. The French had also managed to bring on reinforcements—a small brigade of light infantry (top right of photo).

Mitch had arrived, so took over the French left, continuing the advance towards the Austrian defenders (above and below).

I tried to organise Lorencz's men for a feint against Unterlaichling, while the newly arrived reinforcements headed to support the French centre-left.

A successful roll to bring on the Bavarian cavalry bolstered the Franco-Bavarian right, while the Austrian light cavalry floundered in the heavy going (indicated by the areas of lichen) and due to hesitant brigade activation rolls.

Another particularly successful roll for ADCs—not quite matching Steve's record in the first turn, but a 'yield' of 10 was d@mned fine—allowed us to allocate infantry assault and forwards to 'The Terrible' 57e ligne.

Mitch's dice rolling did the rest. His blue dice now legally playing French! This was the beginning of too many poor rolls by Steve.

Clearly David Brown—or the Browns plural, since his son is now a co-author (which must be a huge buzz for David, I reckon)—likes the dice to feature heavily in his/their games. The random factor is given a large weighting in General d'Armée and its impacts are entirely random.

Brigades have a one in three chance of being hesitant. There is a one in six chance that a (non-élite) infantry unit will lose its fire discipline, or receive a fatigue casualty if artillery (increased from one in 12 in the first edition), and a one in 36 chance that an artillery battery will go low on ammunition or a unit will achieve a 'destiny' roll (bonus) when firing or charging.

This emphasis on the random factor has been increased in the second edition, since all combat modifiers are played out by adding or subtracting dice or re-rolling one or more die, rather than adding or subtracting factors.

The 2/57e ligne followed on and attacked the next Austrian battalion, but was not as successful this  time.

 Better rolling from Steve and much poorer by Mitch resulted in a bloody nose and a retreat.

Before Unterlaichling, Lorencz's men had copped a pasting from the Austrian guns on the high ground. John's rolling nearly as good as Mitch's.

Help was at had though as more Bavarians had arrived to bolster the Franco-Bavarian right.

A period of manoeuvre and less effective artillery fire affords these pictures featuring John's beautifully painted troops and Mitch's limbers.

Plenty of low rolls for infantry fire resulted in losses of fire discipline in the two main sectors of action (indicated by the 'smoke' markers).

A real mixed bag over on the French right. The battalion in line nearest camera incurred all nine hits in the one turn; thanks to two double-sixes for the Austrian artillery. In contrast, two of the six hits on the French battery were self-inflicted; rolls of four or less resulting in a 'fatigue casualty'.

We concluded the evening at that stage (end of turn 7).

The second part of John's 'wicked' plan came into effect the next day; our commands were re-allocated. This time John had the French left, Mitch the French right, Steve the Austrian left and me the Austrian right. Like the mercenary commanders of the previous age, or perhaps the emigré or even 'turn coat' commanders of the day, we would put our all into the service of our new 'lords'.

The pressure on the Austrian right had left brigades interpenetrated and unformed. A hesitant activation roll did not help matters.

John formed the 15e léger from the woods into l'ordre mixte ready for a big putsch,

...as did the remaining troops on the French right. 

Around Unterlaichling, Lorencz's weakened legions prepared to attack through the small wood.

The Bavarians advanced in force.

An overview of the battlefield from the (roughly) south.

On came the 15e léger.

Blunted by Austrian defensive fire of the 'helmut' boys.

More success for the French against my hesitant Austrian brigade beside Oberlaichling.

A clear shot for the battery from the recently arrived 'be-helmeted' brigade was wasted with a loss of fire discipline and fatigue casualty. 

The French light cavalry were intended to charge, assisted by a forwards command, but a real command blunder (by the French players) failed to estimate (or to measure*) the distance correctly, so they were unable to charge. The Austrians formed square in readiness for the next attempt.

*Pre-measuring is allowed in General d'Armée. We were slow to come to it as I don't think that any of us particularly like it, but it is in the rules as writ, so we began to do the 'sensible'(?), if 'gamey' thing and to check all distances during and prior to movement, more and more as the game progressed. 

On the French right, Mitch had the French and Bavarians ready for their big putsch.

On the subject of measurement. Steve used the imprimatur to the full to position two regiments of Austrian hussars, in the heavy going, at the appropriate distance to attack the Bavarian cavalry on the right flank of the Franco-Bavarian army.

Steve had to leave us at this point (end of Turn 9), leaving me as the sole Austrian commander. [He probably saw the writing on the wall, so filled his saddle-bags with the Emperor's gold and headed for greener pastures.]

Mitch was available for a bit longer, probably enough for two more turns.  It was time for some 'last turn' specials!

On came the 15e léger,

... into a mêlée,

... driving the 'helmut' heads from the table.

A little further south, their contemporaries proved a bit tougher.

The defenders around Unterlaichling blunted the Bavarian attack!

Perhaps Steve's parting gift of the cavalry poised to charge could tip the scales a bit in the Austrian's favour?

Time for some 'magic'. Two ADCs allocated to provide a C-in-C command of post of honour. Automatic activation of the brigade, recover of a casualty and a charge with glory!

Unfortunately, I had 'wasted' all of my good dice rolls on the infantry. Mitch's famed blue dice came through.
Being a cavalry mêlée, the four to one 'hits' was not completely devastating, resulting in a retreat for the unit in combat. Or should that be for both? We spent some time looking for the answer in the rules and had a long discussion about which made more sense, given the intention of a first round mêlée (or 'combat' as it is termed in the rules) in General d'Armée—which, surprisingly to us all, "... represents the psychological battle in the last stage of the Charge, where one unit would probably break before actual melee."

The rule book for General d'Armée second edition is generally clear and well written (and in a fairly large font size, so the Lardies know the demographic of their current clientele!). Still, improvements are always possible.

Rules for specific aspects are dotted throughout the chapters. There is an index and table of contents, but neither of these is sufficiently detailed to allow one to go to the precise page(s). To check a question such as 'what happens to the support unit(s) in a combat?' required us to check every page indicated in the index and then to go through the rules, chapter by chapter to try to find the answer. Either we missed it or it is not there. Being heavily invested in the rules, John was going to pose the question on the forum.

This long pause and discussion had two effects.

Firstly, I found more typos and grammatical errors. This was pretty frustrating and disappointing, given the length of time that had been taken to check the rules prior to publication (something well advertised by devotees of the system as well as the writers/designers). It's not the first time that I have considered that publishers need to ask an anal proof-reader like me to go through the text! 😀 [I am not meaning to 'blow my own trumpet', although it's good to have (small) skills (hahaha), but I reckon it is reasonable to expect such attention to detail, perhaps minute detail, isn't it?]

Secondly, we decided to call the game at that point (end of Turn 10). That was no matter as the Austrian position was weak to crumbling. More importantly, the intention of the session had been to give the rules a good 'work out' and, hopefully, to bring up so 'tricky' situations for us to work through.

What is more, we had a great time while doing so!

John is firming in his comfort and liking for the rules, so I reckon we'll be having another game at his place in the not too distant. That will be just beaut!

Thanks so much John for the game, for the sensational dinner that you provided us all on Thursday evening and to you and Vanessa for letting me stay chez vous.

A couple of final photos of the field at game's end.

The pressure on the Austrian positions is in clear evidence.

Some details of the game

Rules: General d'Armée second edition

Scenario: largely based on Michael Hopper's "Eagles Over Bavaria"

Figures: 1/72, mixture of Esci/Italeri, Hat and Zvezda, all painted by John (except Mitch's limbers which were Hat Austrian and 3D printed for the French).

Mat: vinyl material painted and flocked by John