Wednesday 11 April 2012

15mm 1813 Peninsular Napoleonic Game and Pictures.....

....fought between the British and Portuguese forces against French forces in 1813 in Spain.

The mountain range of La Rhine in the Pyrenees lies behind the French position at Boars Back a hill on the southern slopes of La Rhine. The British are slowly forcing the French army across it's own border with Spain which is only 2 miles away. The French army is strung out along the border not knowing where the big push will be unleashed by Wellington.
                                           Wellington has sent several armies out to look for any weak areas in the French line of defence, the French have gathered various units together to try and hold a range of hills called the Boars Back (they were called this because the outline looked like a Boar's back) but have only just arrived due to incompetence at headquarters. A heavy morning mist covers the valley and hills, visibility is poor, every ear is listening for any sound that could give away the presence of an enemy unit in the area.

Thus the scene is set as the two armies blindly head towards each other in the morning gloom, did I hear something or was it just my imagination?

Will the mist clear?
(Above commentary supplied by Postie)

Ray, BigLee (French), myself and Martin (probie) turned up for a good game.

Turned up to the table divided in two by some suspicious laundry!

1st Alcantara Heavy Cavalry......

Some French git representing Ray.......

Reconnaissance picture, now some people might call this cheating (Postie did) but I call it tactics and a hot air balloon helps!

2nd Coldstream Guards and 3rd Foot Guards, the French never realised these were guards until they were virtually upon them (a normal unit is 16 figures and guards are 20!).

Wellington or me!

At the beginning (4 turns before the dice were rolled for good weather) you had no control other than this template and a D6 for movement and direction, a good idea but..... 

.......my bloody guard units are in the fecking woods and disordered!

The sheet was removed and this was on my flank.....

BigLee was quite smug at this stage (the man even had a tripod)....

.....until I did this with the 3rd Dragoons!

The French went the other way and I hit the other French cavalry unit, cue insane laughter!

He's not so smug now the French git, that's Jack who is Posties neighbours son who turned up and ended up playing for both sides ( he currently plays WH40K but we will lure him to the dark side!).

The French cavalry rout.......

I don't know who wrote this on the wall of fame........

Martin (probie) a possible new Reject but the initiation process is quite brutal and terrifying!

An ammunition cassion hurries to the front as Postie rolls for ammo for your artillery and it didn't go well for the British but even worse for the French......

The Portuguese have found the hidden ford and hurry across.....

........but the bridge is another matter!

Ray mentors Jack in the art of cheating and Jack would eventually team up with the British when Martin had to go early.....

The British advance against the hill........

Lee in a fit of rage takes it out on a tape measure while Ray cackles beside him....

The hill had several levels and you had to roll for disorder every time you went up them, I rolled a fecking lot of disorders....

The French view.....

The Life Guards or Horse Guards turn up too late to do anything but they were pretty....

The bridge was a stalemate for the Portuguese....

The final turn before the French conceded and when the victory points were totalled up we won 15-0!!!!!

A good game but very little went right for the French and both Lee and Ray did batreps for the game.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ray today as he turns 45!


50 comments:

  1. What a fantastic post Fran, made me laugh out loud. Great to have you back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A good read and some nice pictures. Looks like you had a bunch of fun!

    Cheers
    Monty

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great report... somehow your games always turn around after the curtain is lifted and the chaos ensues!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great opening.. oh wait its from Postie.. so normal that its great then!
    Report is great too though, and the pics of BigLee are priceless.. also.. a win is a win right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice game Angry and good win, I thought you would have thrown the game cause it was Ray's birthday, you know, thats what mates do....

    ReplyDelete
  6. The horses are really cool. And a whole army marching!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy B'day to Ray. Loved the story details followed by awesome figurines. sea dragons, horse carriage, everything is cute. Wall of fame couldn't read completely. Great job as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great report Fran. I kind of like the fog of war system that you guys used. Make things much less predictable. An enjoyable read and cool photos.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Replies
    1. Happy 44th Ray - is it today? If so, that's scary as crap as it means we share the same b'day (although different ages)

      Delete
  10. Nice batrep. That's the third one on this battle I've read and have enjoyed each of them. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Another great report with so much humour tucked in. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fran - congrats on the win and good write-up. Not surprising as you had Ray's and Lee's to pilfer ideas from ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Cripes a cracker of a post. Well presented Fran.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great looking game Fran. Victory!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Looks like a striped lavender storm front moving across that battle field. Those can be tricky.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fun stuff. The Batrep is a "winner!"

    ReplyDelete
  17. Brilliant stuff - even got my old battalion, 2nd Coldstream Guards on parade - perfect ;)
    The Regiment won several Battle Honours during the Peninsula War, not sure of any for Postie's shed though... :)
    Regards,
    Monty

    ReplyDelete
  18. Woah, that's a big battle!

    Exactly, how is the initiation to become a Reject?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And lots of pain , i havn't been able to sit down for a week !!!!! cheers fran . Martin..........

      Delete
  19. 'Some French git representing Ray' ..... Lol...that made I chuckle that did.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good to see you back in the blogosphere angry! Happy birthday to Ray!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Man I wish I had the patience to do all this stuff, looks so cool.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The French grit look so amazingly detailed!

    ReplyDelete
  23. A happy birthday to Ray. I love the history behind it, and how you used a sheet and such to simulate poor visibility.

    ReplyDelete
  24. So you beat Ray and he's older than you! All in all not a bad day for you Angry. He's creeping up on 50 now. I should shut up as I'm not creeping up on 50, I'm right behind it mugging it. Dammit.

    Happy Birthday Ray!!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Happy birthday Ray! If it is 45, we are on the same boat...A good report, with a fantastic 3 levels-hill, ouch!
    A great work!

    ReplyDelete
  26. haha love the smug and not so smug look, sounds like a fun game was had by all.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Good pictures and funny commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Always interesting to read your side of it. I like the wall of fame it's a lot of fun to remember the exploits of your units.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for a exelent AAR !

    Best regards dalauppror

    ReplyDelete
  30. Looks great fun, Cool looking figures and Happy Birthday to Ray!!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. hey glad your back. i would like to get some mentoring from ray on cheating as well. i bet it would be funny.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Great batrep...and that tape measure had it coming!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Great battle report and pictures

    ReplyDelete
  34. Congrats on the result Fran. Got to keep the Frenchies on the run!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Happy Birthday Ray! Great photographs Fran. I enjoy reading battle-reports from different perspectives.

    ReplyDelete
  36. That's intense.. also pft, recruiting poor kid!

    Happy birthday Ray! Lol

    ReplyDelete
  37. A.L.

    I would like to invite you to my new website which is designed to showcase and promote varied hobby works.

    Please see info at my blog my friend.

    Sincerely
    Kriz

    ReplyDelete
  38. very nice. well done, I cannot believe that that your cavalry would get disorderd wht happened to the franonion dictarors orders??

    ReplyDelete
  39. Nice to see your report of this battle, must have been a fantastic day - and as i already told Ray, i'm going to adapt that idea of playing wit a separated table. :-)

    Cheers, Thomas

    ReplyDelete