Tuesday 26 September 2017

A cracking game of Blucher

I'm back again after time away from posting on my blog, not that I haven't been active in wargaming (actually I have been quite productive in painting, well for me that is πŸ˜‚) it's just that with spare time been at a premium, something has to give and the blog posts are what suffers at the moment unfortunately. However I have got myself around to posting some pictures of my latest Blucher game against my dad which turned into a cracking afternoons napoleonic battle. 
The game lasted around 3hours taking out the lunch break with most of the action centring around the objective at the church, (there were four other objectives around the board) this was a special objective with a random number of victory points and realistically the holder of this church would probably go onto win the game. My dad playing his Austrains was the first to get a foothold into the church as he managed to grab the first turn, from then on it was a almighty scrap as the objective changed hands on a number of occasions. 
The first of many French assaults onto the church
Close combat is the only way to drive a garrison out of a urban area in Blucher 
The Austrain infantry Corp marches foward towards the French guns
The Austarain defenders are driven from the church although the attacking French brigade is all but exhausted as it takes the ground
After the leading Austrain brigade was shot to pieces by the French artilley the JΓ€ger fix baynots and drive the battery from the hill but not destroying it.
On my right flank a cavalry engagement lasted the majority of the second half of the game as both sides on the charge had sucess, but when on the receiving end of the counter charge were driven away again. Come the end of the game the extra number of Austarain cavalry was staring to tell as my French cavalry were steadily been pushed further and further back and the brigades were to depleted to launch anymore counter chargers, although the Austrain cavalry had suffered high casualties too
Again the church changed hands in the last moments of the game and despite bringing my horse artillery into canister range I just couldn't quite drive out the Austrain defenders who just about held the objective
The Austarin advance in the centre towards the objectives is halted in its tracks as the French Currasiers launch attack after attack onto the Austrain infantry squares (prepared) 
Unfortunately the remaining French brigades were to depleted to launch another attack onto the church so at the game end it would be in Austrian hands. I had made a error in turning a brigade of French infantry away from the church when I last controlled it,  if I had remained stationary I would have been able to attack the defending Austrians with superior numbers and probably (dice gods permitting) would have reclaimed the objective, but it wasn't to be.
The final battlefield after a very exciting game
I really enjoyed this game of Blucher, maybe it was because its been a few weeks since a historical game with all my attention at the moment on 40k , but even so it was a very exciting wargame, especially after my last outing using my French which was a torrid disaster. Although the action around the church was the standout moments of the game there was still plenty of action across the field, the cavalry engagement in itself was a exciting engagement and there was plenty of fire fighting across the centre of the battlefield which I was probably edging. The command rolls were non to kind to my dad as on a number of occasions I only rolled 7 or 8points for him to use which obviously hampered his own plans but my dad repayed me in kind later in the game by rolling aon three dice a 2 1 1 giving me a shocking 4command points! Hopefully we will have many more games like this Blucher game in the future.......

10 comments:

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    1. Alright Colin, thanks for the comment πŸ‘

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  2. Great to see the Napoleonics out on the table. Its a toss up between the original Volley and Bayonet and Blucher rules. Both are great rules. As usual Neil a lovely looking game.

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    1. Alright Robbie, it was good to get the Napoleonics back out again and as I stated a really enjoyable game even though Napoleon I most certainly am not haha, you never know I might try the volley and bayonet rules some day, I know I've probably used them sometime ago in the past but I can't remember how they played. Thanks for the comments

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  3. Hello Andrew, thanks for the comment πŸ‘

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  4. You are more than welcome Neil

    Take care

    Andy

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  5. Cracking - I do like the look and feel of Blucher, it's very much the level and scope of Napoleonic stuff I want in a rules set and feels really period specific!

    Bad luck on the church, but as an habitual Austrian player, well done to the one true Emperor and his lads :D

    Nathan

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    1. Hello Nathan
      Thanks for the comments and I completely agree on your option of Boucher as a rule set
      Thanks
      Neil

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    2. When I started wargaming "properly" the rules we'd had for Nappies were cumbersome and a real faff.

      Supposedly they were forming battles but they were such a chore I was soured for ages.

      We then played Shako! by Arty Conliffe which I really enjoyed but felt we're still too low level - you push about a division, usually. Just not massive enough!

      Bluchers use of Brigades as the "game piece" and pushing around several Corps with troops marching in and out and all over with grim clinging on, exhausted last charges, shooting the arty dry etc was spot on the nail, and Scharnhorst to set the game up was magic!

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  6. Very good AAR. Can't wait to finish my Blucher based armies and get started. Congratulations to the Austrians

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