Pitched Battle #2: Black Powder Napoleonic "Practice"

 It's been awhile since I played a game of "Black Powder" and figured I'd throw a handful of units on the table for a small-sized engagement to see how much of the rules I'd forgotten since I played last.  

Plenty, as it turns out!

One Hour Wargames fans should instantly recognize this battlefield as "Pitched Battle #2" from the OHW book.  The hill and the crossroads must be seized!  The Russians are the "Red" player (atop the hill) and the French are the "Blue" player, deployed along the road.

This was to be a "practice" game to serve a few purposes - to see how quickly the BP rules would return to my feeble brain, and to explore how the game played with the One Hour Wargames scenarios.

Starting out, I rolled for OOB as usual, which probably could have benefitted from some additions when you consider the "broken brigade" rules from BP.  More on that later.  Both sides rolled "3" which is 3 infantry units, 1 skirmisher unit, and 2 cavalry units.  I also rolled randomly for the cavalry units and both turn up identical - 1 light cavalry and 1 heavy cavalry unit each.  (I was keen to put my recently completed Austrian lancers on the table so I substituted a Russian unit for the lancers (also my Russian units are only 4 stands at-present and I was using 6 x stand units because the 6 stand units look really good on the table)

Admittedly, I wanted Artillery on the table since it's been awhile, and I substituted the skirmishers for a firing battery.  But i could use practice with the "tiny" and "small" units as well.  

Anyways, the new OOB looked like this:

French: (2 Brigades, SR 8 each)

3 Infantry Regiments, 1 Artillery Battery, 1 Hussar Regiment, 1 Dragoon Regiment

Russian: (2 Brigades, SR 7 each)

3 Infantry Regiments, 1 Artillery Battery, 1 (Austrian) Hussar Regiment, 1 (Austrian) Lancer Regiment

Worth nothing here that the French had more advantages than the Russians in this fight - with the "heavy" dragoons and the Staff Rating of 8, they French advantages were stacked.

To The Battle!

Turn 1

The Russians on the left advanced towards the crossroads - Hussars leading the way and screening the infantry who were in march column.  They make good progress on the road and have the crossroads, and the French behind it, in sight.  On the hill on the Russian right, Lancers move up to threaten the French advance, while Russian infantry Regiments occupy the hill and switch to line formation.  Artillery has yet to unlimber.

The French right, starting directly in front of the crossroads failed their SR and sat there, unmoved by the sight of Russian cavalry and infantry trundling down the road to their front.  On the French left, the brigade advances but with conservative orders they make slow progress moving up towards the hill.

Turn 2 

The Russians on the left charge the French Hussars who are treated roughly in this combat and fail all of their morale saves, while the Russians pass theirs.  The French cavalry is sent reeling while the Russian cavalry conduct their advance after combat charge.  The French Light Cavalry's fate is likely sealed at this point.

Action on the French Right at the Crossroads - After winning the first round of combat on turn 2, the Russian Hussars conduct a post combat charge, sweeping past the crossroads and maintaining contact with the French Hussars who have 2 hits already.

Turn 3

The Russian Hussars win a further round of combat at the crossroads, destroying the French Hussar regiment while the Russian infantry catches up to the crossroads - but does not have the momentum to deploy into line yet.  Meanwhile Russian guns open up on the French, disordering a Regiment (this happened alot and it was not particularly noteworthy on the left flank of the French).  The Russian Lancers move up and charge the dragoons on the French left.

Hussar vrs Hussar as these 2 light regiments fight.  The infantry look on, unable to do much of anything except stay in line for fear of being over run.  The Russian infantry reach the crossroads.

The Russian Lancers charge and the French Dragoons counter charge.  Both interesting units in their own right, the Dragoons are "heavy cavalry" and receive a +1 to their final melee score.  The Lancers force a -1 modifier to the saving throw of their enemies in the first round of melee.

Lancers fighting Dragoons - apologies for the unfinished bases but you get the idea

meanwhile on the French right, the  French Hussars roll just about as bad as you can on a break test.

On the French left, the Cavalry remain locked in combat

Turn 4

More firing this turn as Russian infantry deploy at the Crossroads and French infantry at the crossroads fire on the Russian Cavalry, forcing them back.  The Dragoons on the French left are pushed back and the Lancers hold the field, though are shaken from the constant fighting.

Turn 5

Turn 5 sees a charge by the Russian Hussars at the Crossroads into the still-immobile French infantry, who have not passed a check once to move!  The infantry opt for closing fire (should have formed square as they have the "must form square" rule - oh well it is a practice game afterall) and the gamble pays off with the cavalry forced to take a break test and sent to the rear of the infantry.  

Austrian-painted, Russian Hussars charge the French infantry behind the crossroads!

behind the relative safety of the infantry, the Russian Hussars, heroes of the day, lick their wounds

meanwhile on the Russian right in front of the hill, the Lancers attempt to rally off a hit and fail.

The French move up to contest the crossroads

A firefight develops on turn 6 - with both sides' infantry not yet willing to charge the other.

On turn 6 the Russian lancers move to finish off the dragoons

Which they do!

By this point I also should have paid attention to the broken brigade rules because technically the French brigade on the right (at the crossroads) has been broken with a single unit remaining they should be headed for the rear.  

This is an important distinction, and with the broken brigade rules in mind, this makes the OHW scenarios a bit more "touchy" when using Black Powder, as you will need to either make sure your brigades are balanced enough to withstand the destruction of a unit or 2, and that involves either adding more units, restructuring your task-organization (IE making 2 brigades of 3) or changing the scenario outright ("Take the High Ground" has 2 units starting on the hill) if it bothers you.  

Of course the BP rules state clearly that this is all a guide and you can modify as you see fit.  Since I have been playing through with a single unit at the crossroads, we're continuing to play here, although as you will see, it gets a bit hard to ignore after some dramatic turns of events coming up!

Turn 7

Both infantry units are in rough shape after constant shooting and no rallying.  The French continue their hard luck of basically not passing a single orders test almost the entire game.

Speaking of failing to rally...Perhaps these Russians would be better-served with a Russian officer commanding them rather than an Austrian!

Lots of excitement as the French charge and bring up another infantry regiment to support.  This forces a wonderfully unexpected outcome as the combat is a draw, even with supports.  The Russian units fail their break test badly and evaporate - then the artillery - who were their supports, also fail their break test and evaporate!

You would be forgiven here for thinking the French were victorious - but then the French fail their breaktest!  Luckily their supporting Regiment hangs around.  It's an extremely impactful turn of events but that's not the only crazy thing that happens around this hill.

as a fun little aside, i roll a 1D6 for each unit that breaks.  if a "1" is rolled, the opposing side captures a color stand.

The artillery....always breaks from combat!

Turn 8

Even more chaos on this battlefield - and even when Im considering bestowing battle honors on the Russian cavalry for being so darned tough, too!  The Lancers are in a wonderful position to charge the French supports from the previous turn.  Then...disaster strikes in the form of my dice rolling.

Wouldn't you know it - the Lancers BLUNDER their command roll.  The result?  move to your left.  Full move.  and give your flank to the d**ned French!!!!  NOOOO!!!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  The dreaded blunder - and it could not have come at a worse time!  Time for these Lancers to ride into history - for all the wrong reasons!

"It's murder...but it's the order!" Russian Lancer officer mutters as he gallops across the front of this French Regiment following the blunder.  The firing wipes out the Lancers for good with double dice!

a whopping 8 casualties and they're disordered to boot.  A whopping minus 6 to their breaktest.

as mentioned before, the "broken brigade" concept becomes important here - the French attacking brigade has a single regiment left, and a battery of guns.  The defending Russians have an infantry regiment.  I forgot about this and kept playing, although I should have called it here.  There is an impasse at the crossroads, and an impasse at the hill.  

The Russian Hussars have rallied their morale down enough where they feel confident to charge the shaken French Regiment.  The hill cannot be reinforced at this point because the French at the crossroads are vulnerable and must be destroyed.  The grip on the hill, however, is tenuous.  The Russian cavalry charge.....  

Just to keep you in suspense, I ended the game there, with the Russian Hussars going for broke and charging the shaken French infantry, who immediately formed square per the rules.  I

f playing with the broken brigades rules here, the French Brigade at the crossroads must depart, while the Russian Brigade on the hilltop must also depart (and technically, the French Brigade with the guns, too, leaving the small, 2 x unit Russian Brigade at the crossroads in command of the entire field of battle!

I would like to play on, however and fight it out until Turn 15.  With 5 x turns to go, this is still anyone's game as the French still have a battery of guns and a full strength regiment in front of the hill, and a Regiment sitting astride the crossroads, it's hard to say it's in Russian hands at this point!

LESSONS LEARNED

So What Did We Learn Here in this "Practice" Game?  Much!  Some things that involve playing with Black Powder, and some all-too-important tactical principles that can be easily overlooked.

I have alot to re-learn.  Black Powder is a fairly simple game.  There is nothing complex about the rules.  But they are involved.  And the book has lots of text in small font and I found my eyes glazing over at a few points when trying to get in a game decision before my daughter's violin practice yesterday.  The special rules for close combats, the broken brigades rules, were some particular areas that caused alot of book-flipping.  That said however, all of my questions were answered.  Not a single question went unanswered, which is more than you can say for BP edition 1 (which I enjoyed very much, btw).

The Neil Thomas OHW Scenarios are universal and work well with BP - but you need to make some decisions prior to the game kicking off.  The broken brigade rules demand more units on the table, or some adjustments to the scenario numbers if you are going to play with broken brigades.

Dont Mask the Guns!  A few turns I ended up masking the guns and was not shooting the French guns at the hill.  Your artillery should be firing every turn!  And if it's not, it should be in the process of moving to a new firing position in order to be firing every turn 😁

Charging is Risky - but the risk from not charging could be much worse!  This game saw a few opportunities to carry a position by storm, just to see the charging unit break from closing fire.  I like to charge when the enemy is appropriately softened up.  What's interesting is that when you are playing with much smaller forces, the decision to charge is not taken as lightly as when you have much larger units and OOBs.  I was extremely reluctant to charge for both sides (except for the cavalry, who I charged until the hooves of the horses bled)

You must rally - in past games of BP I disregarded alot of the important orders like "Follow Me" and "Rally" but the Rallying kept this game from being a 6 turn game, as both sides managed their hits and rallied them off when they became shaken.  Another point for that is what I learned in the small but viciously personal battle at the crossroads ...

Keep the Pressure On!  Allowing a unit to "get back on their feet" after working hard to make them shaken just won't do.  You should have a plan to exploit battlefield opportunities as they arise.

So as you can see, many lessons learned as a result of this game, which I would like to play through to turn 15 and see how it ends.  I'm also keen to try with Valour and Fortitude 2nd edition but this game really reminded me how much I enjoy playing Black Powder for the sheer amount of unexpected things that are bound to happen.  VandF has similar concepts in it to include the fate cards and the brigade activation roll (which I like better than BP if I'm honest)  But the BP narrative produced even from a small game like this is hard to beat, and it creates legendary examples of both glorious and ignominious events on the wargaming table that I just love in my games.  Who would forget a blunder that sends your cavalry gallivanting across the front of an enemy infantry regiment?  Or both sides failing a break test after a devastating round of shooting, and both sides running for the rear?  These are the kinds of wonderful things I enjoyed playing BP for and will continue to play games of BP for just this kind of narrative.

Coming up on the horizon?  More WIP Wednesday action, and potentially a Friday night WWII game with Dave this week?  Stay tuned!