MT18 1809 or 1862

MT18 Final
Game 2
Scenario: DM01 Sacile (16 April 1809)
Mark McG (French): 5 (26 blocks lost)
Gonzo (Austrians): 6 (25 blocks lost)
Very close game and match. French seized town on left which was never challenged by the Austrians. The Austrians advanced in middle and then Cav charged. French center well defended with Cannister and inf fire first, eventually killing 1 HC and sending 1 pt off to back row the next turn. However enough got through to kill a French art in return for one HC. The French Right flank art also killed eventually in return for Austrisn LN A French Cav charge on French left with 5 dice missed Austrisn lt cav and were killed by the bb and next turn attack. That was the critical exchange. Next French charge with inf on left, killing a LN, LC, and leader. Austrian response was Assault on that flank. A CA of 7 got a French LN even after he played the leader rr tactics card. They also killed a weakend LN there to end game. Again Mark killed a leader, this time with 1d roll., but that hurt him in total blocks. Gonzo wins match by 3 blocks. Very exciting games that could easily gone for Mark. Enjoyed the match buddy.

MT18 Final
Played Game 1 last night vs Joe
Scenario: DM01 Sacile (16 April 1809)
Mark McG (Austrians): 6 (29 blocks lost)
Gonzo (French): 5 (27 blocks lost)

An interesting scenario, where the board is diagonally divided in two by a river. Both sides have forces on both banks of the river, each with a large force facing a smaller force. Victory to an extent hangs on bringing the larger force into action, and for both of us, it was easier to bring the small force into attack.

The fortunes of war were pretty evenly divided until a poor French die roll, and a fortunate 2d Leader loss check. At that point the Austrians surged ahead 5-2, but the riposte, and especially a Grand Battery bombardment by 2 Austrian Guard artillery brought the score back to 5-5 with two Austrian leaders passing 1d leader loss rolls. Austrians managed to grab the last banner, so ultimately the game revolved around the lucky leader check on the French leader.

A pretty good scenario in my view.

Round 4
310 Eggmühl - Day1 (21 April 1809)
Gonzo (Austrians) 6 banners
Togan (French) 3 banners
Austrians took objective town and little else went on that front. The Austrians shifted to the left and a fight over woods developed with wildly swinging fortunes. Dice were consistently inconsistent. Austrians finished game with 3 1 point line inf on back line. Could easily have gone other way. Thanks to Togan for hard fought match.

Round 5
318 Wagram - Gross-Enzersdorf (5 July 1809)
Gonzo (French) 6
Mark McG (Austrians) 5
Mark just had poor cards and dice all game. Gonzo had great cards and good dice. Austrian right flank collapsed under inf sustained assault. French art deadly, then cav charge brought to a head. Austians had killed one French with 2 banners from scouts. Did a last turn charge and had best dice of his game and bagged two wounded French units but could not push French Cav from objective hex for the French win. Masterfully played by Mark with little resources.

Round 5
318 Wagram - Gross-Enzersdorf (5 July 1809)
RiverWanderer (Austrian) 6
Gottoman (French) 4

The French infantry initially made rapid progress towards and into the town. This was repulsed on the French Right part of the town with separate melees from Austrian Infantry and Artillery, and then kept at bay there by cavalry attack followed by an Inspired Leader infantry double-melee, eventually costing the French a couple of infantry units in return for an Austrian cavalry unit. A French cavalry charge on the same flank left the Austrians down one Artillery unit and with a militia unit in square but the Austrians pushed French cavalry out of a town hex with a combined arms melee, that resulted in the loss of a French leader. By this point, the French had gained two permanent objective banners; four banners in all. The French were pressing hard on the Austrian right flank, aided by an earlier Force March. Things were not looking good for the Austrians, with not a single "Scout" card in sight (and indeed, none were to appear for the whole game).

However, the Austrians had useful command cards to blunt French attacks - an attack centre and a bombard, in particular. At four banners each, the final French turn saw weakened units melee with even weaker Austrian units with a win in sight but Austrian luck held and the result was a lost block for the French. The Austrians now had their chance at better odds and brought the victory home with a infantry melee attack and artillery fire.

Overall, a hard fought encounter which very nearly went to the French at the end.

Thanks to Greg for the game.

Round 3
107 Alcañiz (23 May 1809)
RiverWander (Spanish) 6
toganalper (French) 1
The French infantry advanced in the centre to attack the Spanish artillery. However, their Fire and Hold was frustrated by Guerrilla Action and instead the Spanish were able to play their own Fire & Hold, drawn just the previous turn. As a result, the French were repulsed, the Spanish gained their first banner. The middle game was then mainly on the Spanish right, the French Infantry again attacking but coming under heavy counter-attack with the aid of a couple of Force Marches and a Bayonet Charge. To cap it off, the Spanish were then able to withdraw from the French FA/LC with La Grande Manoeuvre. The final banner was not long behind.

The Spanish had a good run of cards for this scenario and the French had difficulty bringing a decisive force to bear before an attack was dissipated.

Thanks to Togan for the game.

Round 2
107 Alcañiz (23 May 1809)
Gonzo (Spanish) 6
Gottoman (French) 3
As French deployed around middle, Spanish advanced their art on right. Engagement on French left swung back and forth, but Spanish losses sent to rear while French losses had nowhere to go. French advance in middle ran into prolonged and accurate Spanish art fire. Bombard was deadly, incl killing French cav next to art . French HA closed and killed Spanish art and leader on last turn, but ready to kill more over there but Spanish range fire got last medal first. Well played to Greg.

Round 3
107 Alcañiz (23 May 1809)
Gonzo (Spanish) 6 banners
Sansmerci (French) 2 banners
French started with a center assault to rear and focused on left flank. Eventually routed the Spanish there but only able to pick off two of them. Spanish art devastating with 2 bombards, one getting 4 of 9 hits on CU unit for kill, other killing pinned art unit. French now totally fled center and pushed forward on right. However French hand terrible with center probes forever. The Spanish hand rocked however and was able to destroy the French right wing for the game. Thanks to Steve for bearing what must have been a test of patience for him.

Round 2
106 Medellin 28 March 1809
Mark McG (Spanish): 6
toganalper (French): 4

Spanish could take any advantage of the exposed French left, and they quickly escaped. From there it was a grinding battle of French probing versus the Spanish line. On the whole the Spanish were doing well until a French cavalry charge slipped through the Guerrilla screen and being fended off with 2 squares, devastated the Spanish left. Spanish return fire was pretty good, and it looked like a balanced stand off at 4-3 French lead!

The Spanish artillery then managed to kill of a 1 unit LT, and kill Lasalle, bring it to 5-4. The French assault on the left didn't have sufficient power, and the Spanish managed (eventually) to drop the final banner. 2 hour match, so there was a lot of play here.

thanks to togan for staying up so early for the match!

Scenario 2

Sansmerci Spanish 6 banners
RiverWanderer French 1 banner

106 Medellin 28 March 1809

Fast game only one hour. The Spanish had the command cards today. Two cavalry charges two Elan and a force march also. These put tremendous pressure on the French left and had them reacting the whole game. After the first cavalry charge it was 3-0 Spanish. The second charge made it 5-0 Spanish. A bombard got the lone French banner then the second Elan finished off a two block LC for the win.

Round 4
310 Eggmühl - Day1 (21 April 1809)
Mark McG (Austrian): 6
RiverWandererer (French):2

Austrians copped the usual flogging on their left, losing 1 unit. From there it tilted towards the Austrians, despite the cards. Two Cavalry charges is normally something I desire, but with a single LC, the charges were just blocking my 4 card hand. Managed to tied up 2 French Line into squares on the Austrian right. Short Supply got rid of the artillery.
Meanwhile the Austrians were kicking butt over on the left, killing Gilly on double swords, and some fortunate clashes in the centre favoured the Austrians. The coup de grace was a leader Unit Reform and a Rally card, putting enough fire to knock out the a French Line, and kill another leader (Barbanegre) on a double swords! 6 banners, made up of 2 leader kills with double swords.. my lucky day!

Round 3
2nd Bull Run
Mark McG (Confederates): 6
Greg O (Union): 1

One of those games where nothing went badly for me, and most things went unreasonably well.
Union pushed up the left flank, but I drew the right cards here, and my BattleCry card (like Elan) went perfectly to rock the Federals back, killing King on a double Swords!! The Rebs then went forward and pushed the Union out of the flank entirely.

On my right flank there was some minor action, a Reb hit & run which knocked 2 artillery figures at the cost of 2 cavalry figures. The Union advance to try and polish off the cavalry marched into rebel rifle fire and was decimated.

Round 1 Corruna
Gonzo (French) 6, RiverWanderer (British) 4
Almost all action took place on French right and center. French advanced to outskirts of village, but British firing line on hills too intimidating to go in. French bayonet charge on middle/right into hills followed by several assault middle and right cards ground up British inf. British push around village caused French losses, but Fresh French units moved up for the win. Interesting, we each lost a leader to double sabers.

Round 1- Scenario 004 Shiloh, Tennessee (1st day of battle) - April 6-7, 1862
Mark McG (Union) 6
Steve (Confederate) 2

Steve's first play of the modified BattleCry rules, which are essentially the CCN rules with the following mods
- no squares
- ART fires 5-4-3-2-1
- INF has range 3 (range 2 when moving into woods), halved (round up) moving
also my first time using the BC Tactician Cards with the new rules, and they seemed to work out painlessly.

So the battle itself was is essentially a small part of the Shiloh battle, the Hornet's Nest, which was a vital defense point for the Union
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiloh#Hornet's_Nest
Bragg assaulted the the position over and over, and the defense there was possibly the main reason the Union wasn't swept off the field that day.

In our game, an early attack by Wallace on the Federal right chipped the Reb artillery, but then fell back from a wall of Rebel guns. Then the Rebs came up several times, and nearly flanked the position on the Union left, but were repulsed and chased off by Prentiss (4-0). He pressed his luck, and got a dose of grapeshot that sent his unit off the field. (4-1) A number of Rally cards had the Yankees bringing units back to strength, and this was the key advantage for the Union.

Wallace then tried another attack on the right, which turned into a bloody shambles, and the Yankees turned and fled back across the field. Cheatham then led his boys across to finish one Yankee off (4-2), but the Yankees rallied and fought back to defeat him (5-2). Wallace then gathered up the remaining Union infantry strength to charge across the field, push through the woods and assaulted Cheatham's survivors for a win (6-2).

I enjoyed the game, and hope Steve did too.

Yes, exactly the same symptoms as me, except mine does it once, say between 75-120 minutes of play. I restart and then I'm good to go for the rest of the game. Again, like you ..... Only with VASSAL, nothing else.

Hi MP, yes I lose connectivity. It happens multiple times during a game and is very frustrating. The really bad thing about it is that I often don't know it has happened, as there is no indication. The VASSAL support forum says it is a connectivity issue, not a VASSAL issue; which is a laugh because it only happens with VASSAL, not with SKYPE or FaceTime, or any other live stream or peer-to-peer connections.
So, I cannot really use VASSAL for live gaming.

Hi Proyce,

Re your VASSAL issue. Did you lose connection when playing by any chance? I'm asking because every game I play on VASSAL, my internet connection gets lost and I have to restart the computer to get the connection back. Its not the laptop, because it only ever happens on VASSAL.

Ok no problem. If I'm the odd one ignore my message. I'll learn how to use the tactician deck and be back for the next tournament.

This is a default Napoleonics tournament, and there is no obligation to play BattleCry scenarios. However, the default does include the Expansion 5 Command and Tactician decks!

I'd like to try and get this rolling next Sunday, and ideally an even number of players would be great.

Hi guys,
I'm rather new to Napoleonics, just played the scenarios of the base game. I'd take the MT as an occasion to learn the game from experienced players. I have to say that I'd prefer to skip the Battle Cry scenarios (love the idea but I prefer to learn one game at a time) and if possible I'd like to play my scenarios using the base card deck. I understand that this might sound too annoying so feel free to say no and I'll wait for the next round. I take no offense.

yes I am in GMT+3

I wish I could play, but as you know, both of my computers have a compatibility issue with Vassal in live peer-to-peer play. Thanks to you all for your patience when playing with me last time. Good luck and have fun! - Phil