Neil Thomas Horse & Musket Scenario 18: A Polemos Ruse de Guerre game

Next scenario up in Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames is called "Counter-Attack" and is apparently loosely based on Langensalza (1866) - not a battle I was familiar with.  

 

As with all these recent battles, I have been  using Polemos Ruse de Guerre as the tactical ruleset to play out the OHW scenario.

The Forces:

The Franco-Jacobites:

2 bases of Dragoons

1 base of Artillery

6 bases of Foot

The British:

2 bases of Dragoons

1 base of Artillery

6 bases of Foot

 

The British set-up with 2 units defending the bridge; the other units arrive any turn after turn 3.

The Set-Up:

The British are defending the bridge, whilst the Franco-Jacobites are moving out of the town to attack them

a wider shot: the fords at the edge of the river are known to the British but not the Franco-Jacobites.

The Battle:

The Franco-Jacobites advance

And move into position to try and force the passage of the river

The fire of the British artillery decimates Clare's Regiment however, which breaks and flees

Berwick's Regiment moves into position, preparing to attack in its turn

The British reinforcements arrive and the counter-attack begins: British Foot reinforces the centre and the right, whilst the Dragoons cross the ford to the left

The flanking force of British Foot crosses the river too

The fight develops around the bridge: casualties are taken on both sides (note the losses to Dillon's Regiment and Seymour's Marines on the right side of the bridge); a French; regiment has been moved up from reserve to protect the flank (right); on the left, the dismounted and mounted French Dragoons look to contain the British Dragoons.

The dismounted French Dragoons (centre) inflict some casualties on the British Dragoons, despite the flanking fire they are receiving across the river; this allows the mounted French Dragoons to charge home!

The broken British Dragoons flee back over the ford!

And run for the rear!

However, after a short but vicious fight, the French on the left have been broken by British musketry, Fergusson's Regiment in the van

The French run back towards the town

The musketry and artillery exchange around the ridge continues - eventually the slightly outnumbered Irish infantry begins to give way, here Berwick's Regiment starts to run

Leaving Dillon's Regiment and the French artillery quite exposed

They aren't the fighting Irish for naught, though: Seymour's Marines give way first!

The Jacobite general orders a retreat towards the town covered by Dillon's Regiment, the dismounted Dragoons and the artillery

The mounted French Dragoons try to interpose themselves in front of any British pursuit

A wider shot at this point in the battle

The advance of the British centre over the bridge begins

The Royal Ecossais valiantly defend the town: one of the Scottish regiments is sent right to the rightabouts

However, the last Irish regiment (Dillon's) breaks under fire and starts running for the cover of the town

=

]=

...badly unsettling its garrison

And the retreat dissolves into a general rout!

The position at the end of the battle

Game Notes: 

All good fun, although in the end the set-up of the scenario and the rub of the green favoured the British here. I was quite hoping for a Franco-Jacobite victory, they seem to have not had much joy recently!  In any case, it all worked fine: the 'action point' and 'shock' model of Ruse de Guerre giving a very different type of game to the 'orders' and 'attrition' model of Neil Thomas' Simplicity in Practice. I wouldn't say I prefer one or the other exactly...I think Ruse de Guerre's action point system is a better command system for the solo gamer than any 'orders' system as a game mechanic, although perhaps realism points to Neil Thomas...I think the combat and morale mechanics produce slighly more realistic effects than in Neil Thomas, although perhaps the attritional nature of some of the infantry fighting in particular is better in NT. 

Figures by Baccus 6mm, think most of the buildings here are by Leven (with maybe one or two by Battlescale in there too).