MT 11
Semi Finals
Eylau Plateau
Game 2
French: Tarheel 7 banners/25 blocks lost
Russians: Scipio 4 banners/31 blocks lost
The larger question that evolved from this match is if its better to have bad dice or bad cards. In this case, it turned out better to have bad dice. The french had periods of really cold dice, sometimes at the
most wretched times...such as during a CA action against field guns, leaving ugly retribution. However, the command problems for the russians turned out to be the real killer, with inability to order units to take out weak french unsupported units deep on the board.
The initial action began with a French cavalry attack supported by horse artillery and Light Infantry on the russian left flank. The cav caused some significant damage and destroyed an overstrength infantry, and eventually dented the artillery but were wiped out in repayment. A countercharging cavalry unit from the russians failed to rout the HA, and ended up getting demolished in return.
Action from there saw the French baynot charge the russian left flank with good effect. The right side russian artillery caused mayhem on the French reserves, twice consecutively hitting with 2 INF results at range 3, forcing the French to fishhook their forces towards and behind the central hills to get out of sight of the deadly 12# guns and to avoid having units destroyed from long range.
The remainder of the battle was all about pursuit of the russian left flank remnants with russian attempts to pick off weakened pursuers. The finale climaxed with a russian unit, about 1 turn away from its moment of glory, getting trapped between FR HA and FR LT and a FR LN. A combined arms attack finished the match.
This game, and in fact, the entire match was bloody as hell. Both generals were madmen, sending their forces into the chopper, and the outcome was crazy close.
Thanks to Scipio for a real fun, and often very frustrating, experience!
