FOB Battle Report: Elixheim: Turn 1, Initiative 5 "Now it's on!"

 Wargamers Prayer: Dear Lord, You give us games that allow us to enjoy each other's company, share in fellowship, experience joy in play, learn from our past and memorialize those who came before us for the sacrifices they made. May you be with us in our games and learn about You as we play. Let's be ferocious opponents on the "battlefield" but even better friends in life. In Your Son Jesus name I pray. Amen. 

Now It's On!

This initiative sees the arrival of the French infantry and the first cavalry melees of the game.

Initiative

Duke of Marlborough vs. Marquis D'Alegre

French are the Active Side

British are the Reactive Side

7 - 3 = 4 actions each side

French Actions

French Action 1: 2nd Move. The French infantry brigades and artillery now arrive on board!

French focus on the cavalry first.

5th Bavarian Cuirassier Brigade 

3 - 2 = 1 = 1 move

The 5th Brigade moves further down the field but makes no contact with their opponent.

8th Bavarian Cavalry Brigade

3 - 6 = -3 = 1 move

The 8th advances just out of contact of the British.

The 6th French Cavalry Brigade

4 + 1 = 5 - 2 = 3 = 2 moves

However, they cannot interpenetrate the brigade in front of them so they advance behind the 8th should things not work out right and they have to jump in.

7th French Cavalry Brigade

2 - 6 = -4 = 1 move

The 7th moves their columns to get around their Bavarian cavalry so they can form lines and charge later.

Here is the 5th Bavarian Cuirassier Brigade and the 8th Bavarian Cavalry Brigade on the right facing their British opponents

The infantry now arrives on the battlefield.

4th French Infantry Brigade enters the battle at the furthest road at the top of my table. They are in March columns so they can use the road movement bonus to quickly get to their opponents.

3 - 1 = 2 = 1 move

3rd French Infantry Brigade enters even further to the top edge above the 4th. 

10 + 1 = 11 - 6 = 5 = 2 moves

Here is the 4th and 3rd's positions:

The 2nd Bavarian Infantry Brigade enters the board just below the fields in march columns.

2 - 4 = -2 = 1 move

Finally, the 1st French Infantry Brigade enters the board at the lowest end. They are coming in directly behind the cavalry so they enter in line formation. They also unlimber their guns just in case the British cavalry breaks through.

6 - 3 = 3 = 2 moves on a win even roll! This will allow the artillery to move onto the board in their first move then unlimber in the second.

So here is an overview of the entire French side of the battlefield. The British cavalry is positions are included (Blue box = Bavarians, Gray box = French, Red box = British, Orange box = Dutch)

French Action 2: Leadership

The only use for this card is to move Marquis D'Alegre to a more central position to help the cavalry if necessary.

French Action 0: Army Morale (no destroyed or routing units)

French Action 3: Infantry Fire (No opponents in range.)

French Action 4: Lull. Marlborough vs. D'Alegre = 10 vs 9. The British get an action in the French initiative!

British Lull Action: Army Morale

the British have no destroyed or routing units.

British Actions

British Action 1: Move 1 Command.

The British decide to move the 6th Brigade. D10 vs D6 = 5 vs 1 = 4 = 2 moves

This allows the British 6th Cavalry Brigade to move into contact with Bavarian 8th Cavalry Brigade (3 regiments on 3 regiments). However, since the roll was not a win even roll the British are not able to force a melee.

British Action 2: Tactical Advantage.

This will help them in the future!

British Action 3: Melee!

Now the combat begins with the British 6th Cavalry Brigade on the Bavarian 8th Cavalry Brigade.

Note: Scenario rule: This scenario is being adapted from Black Powder, 2nd Edition. The British cavalry in that scenario have a special ability that gives them ferocious chargers. This ability closely mimics the FOB modifier when an charger initiates a melee and gets an up 1 bonus for a single round. Therefore, in this scenario, the ferocious charge modifier works the same as initiate melee. The difference is that instead of an up 1 bonus it gives an up 2 bonus for a single round where they initiate the melee.

There were other special abilities but those were best applied in  creating the stats for units before the game began. More on that in a concluding blog post, later.

1st Melee Cavendish's regiment attacks  Santini's regiment.

    Round 1: D12 vs D12

    British Modifiers: Ferocious Chargers (Up 2)

    Bavarian Modifiers: Tactical Advantage (Up 1)

    D12 + 2 vs D12 + 1

    

    (9 + 2) - (3 + 1) = 7 hits on the Bavarians! 

    Results: Every 3 hits is a Unit Integrity point, or in better                   language, a casualty. So, French suffer 2 casualties and rout 7 cm.      They also lose 2 AMPs. The Cavendish regiment is disordered.

 2nd Melee: 2nd Plymouth regiment attacks Monasreol regiment.

      Round 1: D12 vs D12

    British Modifiers: Ferocious Chargers (Up 2)

    French Modifiers: Tactical Advantage (Up 1)

    D12 + 2 vs D12 +1

    (3 + 2) - (10 + 1) = 6 hits on the 2nd Plymouth!

    Results: The 2nd Plymouth suffers 2 casualties and routs 6 cm.        They also lose 2 AMPs. Monasreol rolled a win even with 10 so        they remain in order and follow-up 2 cm.

3rd Melee: The Queen Dowager's regiment vs the Garde Karbineres

Round 1: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Ferocious Chargers

French Modifiers: None

D12 + 2 vs D12

(9+2) - 12

Results: 1 hit on the Dowager's regiment and they are disordered. The French are still in order There are no casualties so the melee goes into a 2nd round.

Round 2: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Disorder (down 1)

French Modifiers: None

D10 vs D12

10 - 10 = 0 hits. There is no change. The melee goes into a 3rd round.

Round 3: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Disorder (Down 1)

French Modifiers: None

D10 vs D12

4 - 2 = 2 hits on the Monasreol regiment and it is disordered. However, there are still no casualties yet. So, the melee goes into a 4th round.

Round 4: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Disorder (down 1)

French Modifiers: Disorder (down 1)

D10 vs D10

10 - 7 = 3 hits on the Monasreol regiment. They take 1 casualty and  must fall back 3 cm. They also lose 1 AMP.

The Monasreol's red marker is just out of the picture but it's there.

That was one tough fight!

British Action 4: 3rd Move

The first unit that has to move is the routing 2nd Plymouth. They roll a 3 on a d6 and move 15 cm to the rear having to pass an extra cm to get past the 7th Brigade You can see them below indicated by the blue routing marker.

6th British Cavalry Brigade

Their 2nd Plymouth is routing but their two other regiments are still fighting.

D10 vs D6 = 8 (Win Even!) vs 3 = 5 = 2 moves

The win even allows the 2 regiments to charge up to there allowable move distance (in this case 6 cm for disordered cavalry) and melee immediately. That is exactly what they have in mind to do.

Melee 1: Queen Dowager's regiment vs. The Garde Karbineres

Round 1: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Ferocious (up 2),  Disorder (down 1) = up 1

French Modifiers: Disorder (down 1), 1 Casualty (down 1) = down 2

D12 + 1 vs D8

(6+1) - 5 = 2 hits on the Garde Karbineres

Results: There are no casualties yet. The Gardes hold and the melee goes into a 2nd round

Round 2: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Disorder (down 1)

French Modifiers: Disorder (down 1), 1 Casualty (down 1) = down 2

D10 vs D8

8 - 4 = 4 hits on the Gardes + the 2 from the Round 1 = 6 hits! They suffer 2 casualties. They also suffer 2 AMPs. Since the 2 hits were not from a single dice roll the Gardes only fall back 4 cm. However, The regiment has a total of 3 hits on it. It's amazing they are still standing! Just one more hit and it is destroyed.

As for the British, since they rolled an 8 win even roll they get to follow up 2 cm.

Melee 2: Cavendish vs Santini

Santini is routing from the field but have been hit again in the rear by Cavendish's cavalry.

Round 1: D12 vs D12

British Modifiers: Ferocious (up 2), Attacking the Rear (up 2), Disorder (down 1) = up 3

French Modifiers: Disorder (down 1), Being Attacked in the Rear (down 2), 2 casualties (down 2) = down 5

D12 + 3 vs D4

(12 + 3) - 1 = 14 hits on the Santini regiment. This is a perfect result for Cavendish. It must of been a slaughter! 4 casualties on top of the 2 already existing. The unit is destroyed. And in the face of the Marquis D'Alegre no less!

5th Dutch Cavalry Brigade

D12 vs D6 = 9 vs 1 = 8 = 3 moves

The Dutch move all the way up to contact D'Arco's Cuirassier brigade. However, it wasn't an win even roll so there is no melee.

7th British Cavalry Brigade

D8 vs D6 = 7 vs 3 = 4 = 2 moves

The 7th moves up to contact with the Monasreol regiment that had earlier routed the 2nd Plymouth.

1st British Infantry Brigade

D10 vs D6 = LD 1 = No moves. They remain off road

3rd British Infantry Brigade

D12 + 1 vs D6 = (8+1) vs 4 = 5 = 2 moves

They advance 2 moves into the farm field with their artillery following behind.

2nd British Infantry Brigade

D8 vs D6 = 2 vs 2 = 0 = 1 move

This brigade doesn't need to move but needs to turn into a line formation. To do that, it needs a win even roll which it did not do. Their artillery, however, does take a move into the field.

Here are the British infantry positions now.

4th Dutch Infantry Brigade

D12 vs D6 = 5 vs 3 = 2 = 1 move

The Dutch side step the Pallandt regiment to move facing the field the other 2 regiments move to prepare to enter the town sections. The artillery starts to move between the town sections.