David R. Moody - Aug 3, 2007 5:49 pm (#19636 Total: 19643) On the Table Wednesday night at Endgame in Oakland, CA: the Avalon Hill edition of Napoleon, the old block game on the Waterloo campaign. I of course was the French, with Joe Oppenheimer taking the Prussians and Jason Pipes the Anglo-Allies. After a brief briefing on the rules, Joe and Jason set up, then I set up. When I viewed the map, I saw two things. One, Joe's Prussians were deployed a bit too far forward. Two, and most surprising, was a straight, unblocked route around the Anglo-Allied right to Ghent! If I forced marched cavalry, I could be there in two turns! In the game, Ghent is a supply base; if the French take it, the Anglo-Allies lose one unit at the end of each Allied turn (Liege has a similar effect on the Prussians, while Brussels acts as a supply base for both armies). So I decided to concentrate against Wellington, and try the move the Duke historically feared Napoleon would make: cut him off from the coast. Accordingly, I forced marched three cavalry units and a horse artillery unit down the main road to Ghent, taking attrition losses in the process, with the main body taking separate roads towards Mons (you are limited in how many units you can move down each kind of road, and that limit is cut in half if said road crosses a river; lots of damned rivers in that part of Belgium). The remainder of the army was further over, to keep an eye on the Prussians and exploit any weaknesses. The first clash of the campaign came near Ath, I think it was, with my forces driving in a small Anglo-Allied force. By the morning of June 16, I was in Ghent, with French troops cramming the roads behind. Jason. taken aback, tried to shift to meet me while Joe started moving up whatever Prussians he could. Anglo-Allied units began to melt away as more French units filed into Ghent. Phase I was working; now to bring the English aristocrat to battle before Blucher could come up. Easier said than done, given the constrictions of the road net. Lots of rivers in the area, limiting the amount of troops I could bring to bear. I moved to threaten Brussels, but Jason, striking back at Alost, inflicted a defeat on my forces before I could reinforce, sending them, already weakened from force marching, back toward Ghent. I tried to sneak a small force into Brussels, but Jason, with the bulk of his infantry, threw them out, after which they got stomped by Blucher's advanced elements at Wavre. A needless loss, though they did delay the Prussians--better to have tried to cram them in near Ghent. I then made a fatal error--instead of concentrating at Ghent for the decisive battle, I instead tried to offer battle at Sottegen, but Jason marched on Ghent instead, and at the first battle of that place (on June 19 or 20 I think it was) took it back. A couple of Prussian units were able to arrive and reinforce their allies, while my battered troops fell back on Grammont and Oudenarde to regroup. The situation was desperate for the French--I had lost too many units, weakened by force marching, and the Prussians were up at last. But Jason's army was one unit away from breaking too; if I could somehow commit all my troops and knock out the British, and maybe hurt the Prussians enough . . . and Joe, making an error, did not move to occupy the Sottegen battlefield, but instead continued onto Ghent, allowing me to bring all my forces to bear. So on June 22 came the titantic second battle of Ghent, which would decide the fate of Europe. And at first it went well--piling my infantry on my left, I had the Allied right reeling, so much so that Joe and Jason had to pile in reinforcements. I succeeded in breaking the Anglo-Allied army, but with the Prussians so close it was only a matter of time; soon an Allied massed battery broke my center, and my army routed. The Guard dies but never surrenders. Awesome AWESOME game! I was actually exhausted at the end of it, so intense it had been. Battle resolution is really cool, though we had a question about units allowed to fire at double Combat Value (do they get to roll twice as many dice AND hit on 5 or 6? Seems excessive--we played they just hit on 5 or 6) and I think we did one thing wrong with regards to battle moves for engaged artillery. At any rate, next week we will try it again. Vive l'Empereur!! David R. Moody - Aug 9, 2007 12:43 pm (#19689 Total: 19751) R.I.P. Bill Walsh, 1931-2007 Had a glorious and hard fought rematch of Napoleon last night at Endgame with Joe Oppenheimer and Jason Pipes. This time it went differently, and I think better, now that we knew what we were doing. Once again I was the French to Joe's Prussians and Jason's Anglo-Allies, and they set up with the lessons of our first playing in mind; Jason making damned sure I couldn't repeat my left hook into Ghent, Joe deploying a bit further back, along the river line from Namur toward Liege. I surveyed their lines, and thought briefly about trying a right hook at Liege, but decided against it, as Joe was well positioned to stop me and such a strategy would have me engaging his army while Jason's was unscathed, the reverse of what had happened last week. So I instead opted to be terribly historical and drive up the middle, for Charleroi. What could be simpler than Charleroi? This I did, leaving a cavalry corps behind to screen my left at Soire (because I couldn't cram everyone on the roads, what with only two group moves per turn). I also resolved not to force march unless absolutely necessary, as excessive force marching badly weakened my forces last time. Thus by the morning of June 16, the Army of the North was concentrating at Charleroi, with advanced elements at Quatre Bras. The Anglo Allies were concentrating around Brussels and Waterloo, with a large Prussian force at Ligny. I threw my weight at Ligny, but the Prussians gave me the slip, taking no losses in a sharp cavalry fight. June 17 was taken up with more marching and minor skirmishing, as I moved forward from the Ligny/Quatre Bras area to Waterloo, driving back the Anglo-Allies in another sharp cavalry fight. I also began bringing up the reserve cavalry in preparation for the big battle that was coming. But then, as night fell on the 17th, I noticed that I was in a bad position. My main body was at Waterloo, with the Anglo-Allies at Brussels and the Prussians mostly at Quatre Bras (they had regrouped after the skirmish at Ligny and come forward again). If I sat there, they would crush me under their combined weight. After some deliberation, I decided to fall back on Nivelles and Braine le Compte, leaving a small combined arms speedbump (it wouldn't fit on the road net) to delay the Anglo-Allies while I turned on the Prussians at Quatre Bras. Which I did. Thus on June 18 was fought the first of two bloody battles in the game: Quatre Bras. I formed a grand battery of four artillery units (I learned that lesson from last time, when Joe and Jason's grand battery savaged me at Second Ghent) and plastered Joe's right, then sent in my three four-strength infantry units on that flank, holding with the others. The fighting was fierce, and the Prussians hit me hard; my left, battered and bruised, was forced to fall back. I shifted my grand battery to pound Prussian center and left, moving my cannon with the likeness of a pistol, and also sent in a cavalry charge (Milhaud! Are you with me?!). Joe countercharged; many saddles were emptied as he advanced on my battered left. Soon it came down to which army would rout first. Turns out it was his--my grand battery smashed his left, after which I sent in fresh infantry to overrun his guns and annihilate that flank. Prussians routed off the field, and out of the game, hitting their break point. Among the spoils was a unit of Anglo-Allied artillery, the only unit from that army able to reinforce their allies that day. But what carnage! All my big four-strength infantry units, and too many other units to name, down to 1 strength point! I lost only two units in the whole battle, but the rest of my army was crippled. Still, Prussia out of the war--that's good news to slap on the walls of Paris. Now to deal with the English aristocrat, now concentrated at Brussels. On June 19 my battered but victorious army regrouped at Waterloo, joined at last by the reserve cavalry. Jason responded by sending out pickets to cover the roads at Hal and Wavre, confining me to the main road from Waterloo. Down that road I marched next day, to my destiny and the battle that would decide the fate of Europe for the next century. My army was so shot to pieces that I determined to mostly hold position until I could get it all up, using my grand battery to smash him. Jason was fairly agressive, advancing on my left, into which I kept feeding battered units as they arrived on the field. My grand battery did damage in the center, so much so that Jason tried a cavalry charge to tie them up, which failed (zey are ze noblest cavalry in Europe, but ze worst led). Heavy losses to both sides, as we whittled each other down. Soon the entire line was engaged. The freshness of Jason's army began to tell, as soon I hit my breakpoint, but I was not routed, and Jason's army got close to breakpoint as well. Before I could eliminate one last one strength cavalry unit, breaking the Anglo-Allies and at least giving me a moral victory, Jason was able to smash my right, and I routed from the field and the game. Another victory for the Allies, but a damned near run thing. We were exhausted when it was all over. A very intense, exciting, and hard fought game, with nearly every decision fraught with portent. Awesome, AWESOME game! Had Joe not mangled me so badly at Quatre Bras, my lads might have dried their boots in Brussels. Waaaaaaay cool anyway, and most glorious. Joe not available next week, so ASL with Jason instead--haven't yet decided on the scenario. ASL on Sunday too--Under the Noel Trees, from Yanks, with my friend Ryan Kent. Wellington in two weeks. Having a grand old time solitairing Gergovia at home--action heating up.