Monday, September 17, 2012

The Battle for Nöbele

So, this saturday EngBoris and I bashed our forces against each other. During the napoleonic wars there was this battle unknown to most, a small army led by an extremely incompetent French general on his way to talavera took the wrong turn somewhere and ended up just outside Nöbele, Sweden. As it happened, a force of equally lost brittish had searched for about 14,3 months for a second way to India, ending up near Nöbele, Sweden. Naturally, the only sensible thing to do was to engage the other force.
Here ends the only remaining document of this epic battle, and thus the outcome is a mystery even today. What became of the lost armies? Who survived? What became of all that bacon? We will never know...

The battle begins...

Boris, one of the British generals inspecting the manouvering troops.

The French foot Gendarmerie are taking positions in the villa while their six-legged comrades are taking position for a quick attack! The coconut riding dragoons are sneaking up behind a wall where they will be successfully dodging cannonballs for a few turns.

The Gendarmerie charge the brave line infantry holding the right flank, the nimble mind of brigade commander von Flagg quickly orders a square tactic of forming a square!

A sound tactic as the courageous infantry fend off the attack, causing enough pain and shame for the surviving cavalry to leave the battle!

 
On the other flank the french cavalry and infantry advances, and the brigade commander Le Baguetelle think highly of himself and steps into a field, becoming a field marshall in a quick field promotion.
(About here Boris bring the generals some coffe and joking level return to normal)

 A unit of british line infantry forms a square to hold french cavalry at bay on the left flank while a tiny detachment of the 95-th rifles sneaks upp through a house tacing cover behind some pigs in a pig-pen, causing small tears in the helmets of advancing french cavalry who barely notices.
 
The half sleeping brittish brigade commander von Flagg at last manages to send the brave cavalry killers on the right flank forward to recieve bullets from the gendarmeries while giving their own to the french cavarly, causing enough disruption and smoke to hold the horses at bay for the remainder of the battle!

Back to the 95-th. The french cavarly split up and the heavy curiassers decides to go around the pigfarm and cause mischief somewhere else. 
Simultaneous a small band of skirmishers smells the 95-th's and begins to shoot, causing panic amongst the civilian pigs, thus confusing the riflemen who begin to smell bacon in the smoke.

In the centre of the fiels much have happen. A large unit of british rifles have been destroyed by cannonballs and a cowardly charge by several french units. A unit of Napoleons old guard advances to the brits and after some shots and a quick melee causing them to retreat.

The flanks are held by line infantry disrupting the cavalrys lines and hindering their advance. A lot of manouvering in the centre keep the battle tense and all but the still sleeping von Flagg are on their toes, using every braincell to the fullest. But the british centre is finally overrun by heavy cavalry and  a retreat is called by the british generals, leaving only von Flagg and some bacon to the french.

The victorious general Le Eng is celebrating with a surprisingly quiet indoor salute!

So, I finally managed to play Black Powder, and with some great guys too, thanks for a fine day of gaming!
About the game, we decided to keep it simple with few special rules for the inexperied british generals. We also halved all the ranges to allow for more manouvering. In hindsight I should perhaps have given the rules a read instead of painting like crazy the days before battle to know not to deploy in line before a charge by two units. But better do die in style (painted) than an ugly win!
Besides, the game was tense to the last turn and the outcome was not sure, even if the french probably had the better army.

1 comment:

  1. A great game it was. To all who was not there, you should have...
    Now bring me, me musket and me whiskers and a tall hat.

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