Another Simple Neil Thomas Horse & Musket Scenario

Continuing on the simple Horse-and-Musket roll, I moved onto the second scenario in Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames book, another "Pitched Battle" scenario, using his Simplicity in Practice rules from Battlegames 23. 

 

Taking account some comments on the last battle, I used armies expanded by 50% from the six unit armies suggested by OHW to nine unit armies.

The forces generated were:

British Army:

6 Infantry units

1 Dragoon unit

2 Horse units

 

Franco-Jacobite Army:

 

6 Infantry units

2 Artillery units

1 Horse unit 

The aim of both armies is to take and hold of both the high ground and the crossroads simultaneously before the end of 15 turns.

The Set-Up:

Franco-Jacobite forces approach from the bottom, British from the top.

The British troops.

The French & Jacobites.

The Battle:

Again lacking any artillery, the British are compelled to attack: the British Horse boldly advances down the left (bottom-right); whilst the remainder of the British troops focus on the French centre-left, creating a pivot in the French position (centre-right); the leading British battalion has taken considerable casualties from the French artillery during the advance (just left of road)

The British Horse deploys, ready to charge (bottom-right); whilst the British Foot in the rear have moved to the left to pressure the French Right (centre-right)

The British infantry engage in a musketry duel with the French Foot and guns: the French have the upper hand initially.

The French infantry cause some casualties to the British Horse as it prepares to charge...

The French infantry on the left starts to take some casualties from the British musketry, but it is still looking distinctly stronger...

The charge of the British Horse (bottom-right) is defeated by their French opponents (bottom)

The British infantry is being progressively hammered by the effects of the French musketry and artillery fire

One unit of British Horse is chased off by its French (actually Jacobite Scottish, hence everyone in Red!) opponents

Wider shot of the same moment: the Royal-Ecossais Regiment reinforces the 'pivot' before the British attack can really develop (centre)

And a wider shot again.

The British pull one of the battalions out of the line before it breaks from French artillery fire

The Jacobite Scottish Horse (bottom-right) has charged and seen off another regiment of British cavalry (right), and the French Right flank is stabilized...

Whilst an Irish Regiment has seen off another British Foot battalion in fighting around the crossroads

No very decisive results yet on the French Left / British Right, although the number of redcoats on the floor seems rather high than the number of those in blue or white-grey...

The British attack on the centre and left (i.e. French right) has shot its bolt: its remaining intact units retreat to cover the more battered regiments

The British Right Flank has retreated to the high ground in relatively good order

A wider shot of the first stages of the British withdrawal

The Scottish Horse runs out of luck: it attempts to charge a British-Scottish battalion, which stands firm and sends it scurrying back

The British withdrawal has been largely successful, and the French have instead regrouped before beginning their own attack

The French Left advances in stately Eighteenth Century fashion towards the British-defended hill

Before launching its bayonet charge!

French supporting artillery fire has routed the British Foot astride the road, leaving a gap between the two wings of the British army.

The French assault meets with distinctly mixed results: one unit gains the heights, the other is thrown back with loss (bottom)

The French unit attacked again, but was thrown back with heavy losses by the intensity of the British (here, Scottish) musketry

However, on the other side of the road, the advance of the Irish infantry has proven unstoppable and the British Left wing has more-or-less collapsed entirely

A wider shot: the British are holding on around the hill, but have been cleared entirely from the French Right.

Desperate times call for desperate measures: knowing that a prolonged musketry duel must inevitably be lost, the British Dragoon regiment charges in! (centre)

But both it and the remaining British infantry are routed by the French fire in short order, leaving them masters of the field

The end of the battle, with only a single British battalion still in the fight (top, behind hill)

Game Notes: I am not sure whether this game demonstrated more the truth of Napoleon's maxim that it is with artillery that one makes war, of Voltaire's that victory goes not to the big battalions, but to the best shots.  Either way the combination of more French firepower, better delivered (the British musketry rolls were truly shocking in this game! - a dodgy consignment of gunpowder, perhaps) and some lucky/good Scottish cavalry meant that what I thought was quite an imaginative British plan was stopped and then the army trounced!

Remembering the previous game, I used a different weighting of melee factors , an additional movement action and an extra possible action for the general.  The melee factors I have discussed before, but basically amount to a heavier weighting for flank and rear attacks, and a smaller weighting for number of nearby friendlies.  I allowed a retire move to infantry whilst facing the enemy of half the movement rate.  I also allowed generals the chance to try and rally troops which had taken damage points at the end of a friendly turn, if the general was attached to them. A 4-6 on a D6 allowed the rallying of 1DP, but a 1 would indicate that the general had been rendered hors de combat if the unit concerned had been engaged in the previous enemy turn.   All this seemed to work fine.  I have started constructing a page to record the various rules options I have used over the years with these rules and I hope to get that to go 'live' very soon. 

Incidentally, I used a scouting roll in this and the previous game to determine which side had to set up first.  It is a D6 + 2 for each Dragoon unit and + 1 for each Horse unit.

Anyway, a good time was had by all (i.e. me!) and the next battle should be up soon...

All figures by Baccus 6mm.

For some reason Blogger saved the pictures in this post as links rather than in picture formats, so I have added this JPG to the end!