Saturday 11 August 2012

'Take the Village' - opening moves.

I'll post this small battle report probably in 3 parts in order to be able to remember the flow of events. As said previously I wanted to try this small game in order to see how it worked down table, which with my hex grid is interesting. Facing does not normally play a big part in C&CN, which can take a bit of getting used to at first, so for example a unit can be standing on a hex effectively beside an enemy unit, but if it battles it does not count as attacking in flank, it being presumed that the battalion is manoeuvring itself and changing face as required.

The opening moves. 
The French were lucky enough to hold a Grande Manoeuvre card, which would allow a rapid march towards the Portuguese line, but they first sent forward 2 regiments of light cavalry, who immediately charged the 2 line battalions drawn up in the open. British Heavy Dragoons were ordered forward in support of the Portuguese, while the rest of the army was hampered by poor command cards and proved very sluggish. A battery of horse artillery was however ordered up onto a hill in order to fire at a French Brigade as they move East. One French brigade now used the GM card to advance 4 hexes towards the enemy, with a Legere battalion ready to assault the Cacadores up on the hill. The Portuguese squares continued to battle against the cavalry, taking gradual losses as the fight continues, but holding ground. With great Elan the leading Legere battalion attacks up hill (-1 dice) but still manages to rout (remove) the Cacadores, and takes ground. Things are looking bad for the isolated Poruguese squares, and officers can be seen peering through their telescopes hoping to see the advancing British infantry moving up in support. They are still a long way off, but  the Dragoons should be across the stream next move hopefully, but with 2 command cards now sitting on the square tracker, options will be limited.









5 comments:

  1. Smashing stuff. I've been following this project with interest as I'm working on C&C:Ancients in 6mm. If you don;t mind, would you shoot me an email? Jay.d.arnold AT gmail DOT com

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Jay, thank you for the comment. I also intend to do C&C ancients in the future, they look great rules. I'll send you an email, no problem :-)

    Cheers,
    Lee.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lee - very interested in your "sideways" battle, not least because my own hex-gridded table has the hexes the "wrong" way round for CCN (I do intend to repaint it, but don't hold your breath!), simply because the hexes were painted 30-odd years before CCN came along. So my table is the right shape, but wrong in the sense that the flat sides of the hexes are parallel to the long sides of the table. Anyway, the point is that the games work without problem - only slight issues are that retreats can be in 3 directions instead of 2, and published scenarios have to be revamped slightly to fit.

    I was interested to know what you have done about field sectors for this battle - have you put temporary markers to show Right Flank, Centre etc? For a lengthwise CCN-type game, I have used an alternative Activation system, where I rolled 2D3 to give the number of units (anywhere) to get orders in a turn, and did away with the Command Cards. That worked, but it lost a lot of the CCN feel. I've also heard of a system where the Command Cards are used, but in a small hand (4 cards), and all Sectors are useable, so that (for example) a "Probe Right" card can be used for any two units anywhere on the table.

    I don't recommend either of these methods, necessarily - just interested to know how you did the Command Cards for a non-standard shaped table.

    Cheers - Tony

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  4. Hi Tony - I actually had your 'wrong way round' hex grid in mind when I laid this battle out so I knew there would not be any issues. Command cards - I ensured troops were deployed across 2 sections so that there would mostly be something to move and unusable cards could be exchanged as required, which I hoped would pose an interesting tactical delay. The main British force have been very sluggish so far as a result. I wanted to explore 'facing' mainly with bases facing other than neatly straight ahead. It looks quite realistic to me.

    Cheers,
    Lee.

    ReplyDelete

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